I have known about the consultation for the future of Canada Post for a while now. I felt; “Why should I speak, I had nothing to say, the union had said it all: Return to home to home delivery, postal expansion into more areas of delivery like groceries and the much hyped postal banking.” I had nothing to add to that. That is, until now. So the question being, what do you foresee as the future of Canada Post? I reply with my own question; will there even be a future for Canada Post?

To wit, let us exam this issue. The Minister, Judy Foote has asked Canada Post to explore service expansion. The union is more than willing to do that including pushing for the return of postal banking, and yet the corporation does nothing. Thus leaving what could be a large new area for the future and future business left wanting. So I ask why?

The union want to negotiate a new contract. The government wants this matter settled as well! Yet the corporation refuses to come to the negotiation table. Giving one and only one offer then saying they are done. This is not negotiating under anyone definition. “Take it or leave it;” is not an opening gambit for a resolution. The result is for customer business to lose confidence in the corporation, seek other providers and general hurt the business all around by their own action or inaction on senior management. Again I must ask why?

Why would a business deny expansion when it can easily do so.?

Why would it sabotage its already existing business?

Why would it alienate a work force that is nothing but professional?

Why indeed?

When the Conservative Government took over under Brian Mulroney, they expect that the public servants, so long working for the previous liberal governments would hesitate to bring in conservative legislation or fulfill their goals. So to make sure their policies were respected, they created a number of positions staffed by hand pick conservatives to watch over the process and make sure the government will was respected. In the end, it was found they were not needed. The public servants of Canada respected the will of the people and followed through on the government will. Yet the present day, clear government will, to expand postal services and settle this contract, is not being respected? I again ask why? By what right or obligation would public servants disobey in spirit if not in action their role to follow government directives? What outside Ideology or influence is so powerful that it would call them to their higher authority then their oath of office?  And that is where it hit me.

The Neo Conservatives in the USA have their own right wing. The right wing has a right wing making it even more right wing than normal. They call themselves the Tea Party. Their philosophy is that all government is bad, and anything that is good for business interests is good. No matter if it hurts the interest of the working class.

If we put this all together we can begin to see a pattern.

Expanding the government is verboten; opening up postal banking would hurt private banks, and pay day loans, also Forbidden. Having a happy productive work force is not necessary. In fact, the more unhappy, the more likely people are to quit and thus one less person on the government workforce, making government that much smaller. In sum, Canada Post is acting as if under the control of a group of right wing ideologies with Tea Party sympathies, if not outright allegiances. Their goal is to ruin Canada Post for future generation by destroying it from the inside at every step.

The solution, radical for North America perhaps, but also tried and true for Europe is a new direction must be called for and this includes new blood in the executive suit. Many European countries have created corporation laws where the union is not the enemy but on the board itself. Called Codetermination, it is in part the law in such countries as Germany, Austria and Switzerland. By including the workers and their representatives, there is less strife and more harmony. Both sides work together to make the company the best it can be.

If there is to be a future for Canada Post, it needs to enter the 21 century with a new governing body to oversee the place, made up with progressive thinkers and including the union in the same way they do it in Europe. This body would be in charge of oversight on the day to day running of Canada Post. And most importantly, it would be able to explore a growing future for change that includes all stakeholders. Rather than the stagnant, Tea Party, out for destruction, unwilling to change body we have now in upper management. If there is to be a future of Canada post, we need to secure it now, with the right sort of people inside the institution able to foster change but also willing to be a part of change as well.

With the Briexit this week in desperation people are resorting to scare tactics to win over undecided voters. Here is one example trying to get people to vote to leave the EU. In a race baiting video on Facebook, Britain First reported that birth rates were declining across Europe. They showed a number of countries include Germany whose reproduction rate was at 1.38. To reproduce your population you need 2.11. What this means is for every female you need to have at least 2 live births, one birth for replacement of each partner, and a little extra to account for illness and early death. Their claim is than that the western world is in decline by this falling birthrate. The Muslims are going to take over Europe and the Hispanics will take over America simply by out producing the so called “Home Team.” Coming just days after a Britain First supporter, or someone shouting their slogan, was accused of murdering Jo Cox, A British Labor MP, shows extremely poor timing. The simple fact is this; Britain First should stick with comedy because propaganda is not their thing. The only person who killed Jo Cox did not have an Islamic agenda. Britain First most certainly does have an agenda. The killer of Jo Cox was not shouting out “God is Great…” But even within their ramblings we can see this video’s failings most clearly. First, they assume all Muslims, of which there are 1.6 to 1.8 billion of them, will act with one will, one voice or even one thought. This is facile to start with but if it were the case, we would already have been overrun. We also the question of reproduction, the fertility numbers used in this video lie on their face as the average for all people means that all people are included, such that the people who arrived yesterday are lumped in with the people who arrive 200 years ago. When you migrate, you assimilate. Those numbers that Britain First used include Muslim and Hispanics and Africans who are coming but also the ones who have already come in. In other words, all this fear and trembling by racists groups like Britain First for their so-called “invasion” by these so-called “Others” are silly, as If the battle of the birth canal was merely the importation of raw demographic numbers from one country to another. Forgetting that the people involved might have something to say about it. They might have something to do about when they learn they have a choice in these matters. Where even if the first generation are longing for their lost land, the next generation and all who come after, call this new land, home,  Islamophobia merely shows an irrational hatred of Muslims in this case, or any other groups they don’t like. They arrive; they assimilate and disappear into the bed rock of society where they become the newest wave of protectors of the very bedrock they belong to. Think Irish and Italians in the United States, often portrayed as the criminal class such as the Mafia. Yet American law enforcement is filled with both ethnic groups because it is their family tradition. Here are three further examples to show how silly Britain First is; First Germany in the late 1960 and 70s, wave after wave of Turkish Muslims arrived as migrant workers to Germany. They came in with the same high levels of birthing, 8 children per female that BF is using to threaten us with today. And so what happened? By now they should have over run all of Germany. Missed that on the news? What happened is this. They arrived, they assimilated and they became “German.” The women stopped having so many babies, they got jobs and education, the same as German women had done before them. And with that they stopped having kids, because women with choices, i.e. not barefoot and pregnant, do not have as many children. The girls do not identify themselves as Turkish. They speak fluent German. Their children are as foreign to Islam as the blond hair blue eyed friend they are playing soccer within the local field. And ironically of all, the birth rate for all of Germany also includes these Muslim immigrants as well. So if these immigrants had kept up the same proliferation, they should have a marked increase in the birthrate? But they did not. Because that is what happens to people when they move; they adopt the ways of their new world, country or city to feel at home in where they live. Not some other place they do not know. Second example; the mayor of London, a Muslin named Sadiq Khan, born in London and educated in that city; same for the mayor of Calgary, Alberta, Naheed Nenshi. Both men are respectively British or Canadian. They are not Muslim then something else. In a similar vein if slightly different, Donald Trump calling out judge Gonzalo Curiel, the man who is presiding over Trump in his legal dispute regarding Trump University, as being a Mexican. This judge was born in American. His parents as well. We have to go back to his grandparents to see who last lived in Mexico. His family has been American longer then Trump’s own family. Yet he is the Mexican who is biased according to Trump. Our last example; when the offices of Charle Hebdo were attacked, the first police officer on the scene, there to restore order, protect the innocent and arrest the guilty, was brutally slaughtered by the gunmen for the uniform he wore, because he was one of their so called “oppressors”, of their so called “Islamic revolution”. Definition of a hero is someone who runs towards gunfire instead of away from it. This man, this hero, his name was Ahmed Merabet. He was 42 years old and he was a Muslim. Thus in the most ironic twist of fate, a so called Muslim coward killed a real Muslim hero on that day in front of the office of Charlie Hebdo. Isn’t that interesting, the people we are told to fear, are the ones who ran to their death trying to rescue us outside those offices. Remember that the next time you hear the words “Je Suis Charlie”

Just like the successive waves of Eastern Europeans, Irish, and Hispanics to the shores of the USA, just as they have previously done and so too will others continue to do. People will move around this world and will assimilate into the culture of where they live. They will in fact become embodiments of that culture. They will change it and be change by it, making it a living breathing thing that belongs to them as well as to the other people. This lack of live birth shows government needs to produce more female friendly policies such as time off work, family support, day care support and economic incentives to have children. Not foster irrational hatred of other people for having been born different from the present “norm.” Cultural biases against women such as occurred in China, where males vastly outnumber females, due to their one child policy and cultural valuation of male heirs, have created a rapidly aging population that threatens the very survive of the Chinese people into the 21 century. India’s treatment of women, seen in the all too frequent headlines of gang rape and child molestations, all because they were girls and of lesser value in the mind of their attackers, shows the horrors of third world women. When they escape those shores for a haven of hope, while not perfect, we allow women their choices. Including when and where to have children, how many to have and so on. This is the core of western civilization. The British First movement may live in England, they cannot be said to belong to anything other than to their narrow racist bigotry. Vote as you want for Briexit. But vote with a clear head not clouded in racist fears and bad demographics.

Dear Mr Prime Minister

I work for Canada post. Sort of. See, I just got promoted to part time but, well you can read below all about that “but.”

See I started as Christmas helper. But that offered me no real job, just some money to help out at Christmas. Then 5 months later, they offered me a real job, or so I thought, but it was not really a job. It was a position as a temporary employee. Meaning, I got little to no work for long periods of time, only called in as needed. They say in HR to keep your second job, even as the supervisors say “No” you should only work at Canada Post. In fact, many of the people hired when I was, quit to find other jobs that paid them a regular salary or 40 hours of paid work. As I got up the ladder in seniority, three long years to climb it, I was finally appointed, just last month, to a part time position. Can you imagine any job that takes three years to get just to part time? Not yet full time, just part time. To get a full time job, they tell me could take another two years. And what a lofty position this part time job is, I only get 20 hours a week which works out to a little less that 300$ per week. But the co0rperation says even that is too much.

I went to pay my bills today. Sadly, had to cut corners, as I did not make enough money last pay to afford everything I had to pay this time. Can you imagine that? A civil servant, living high off the fatted cow, did not making enough money? I make 300$ or less net per week. My parents were middle class. Now, better educated then they were, I have 5 university degrees, including 2 Master of Arts and with a “good” job the Government of Canada, I have fallen, along with the rest of Canada from such middling aspirations. The middle class no longer exists. Good thing I am used to living off my credit cards because that is how I afford to make ends meet. Those bank card are where the profits from my interest goes to private banks, not the general good or the general public as postal banking might help us all out with. But I guess since the Deepak Chopra is the President and CEO of Canada Post, this idea won’t happen. After all, the private sector banking might not like it if there was a bank in rural communities that did not start with the phrase “Pay Day Loans”. Or if people who want to work, actually earned enough to pay off their bills and get out of debt and could afford to think of themselves as middle class. I guess that sort of middle class Canadian dream died on the order paper in Harper’s government agenda to Americanise Canada to more business friendly country. Tory times are hard times. Don’t worry, they tell me that 23% interest is a fair rate for long term credit card debt.

I checked out my projected retirement income using a projection calculator offered by Canada Post. I cheated on what I filled the form in with. I imputed the amount of a full time employee, as if I were suddenly promoted to full time, as if… (Remember they say another 2 or more years for that.) What I would earn when I retired at the age of 71 after 25 years of service? Almost what I am earning now per week, only per month. They tell me that Canada Post has to cut my luxurious pension even more with this round of contract negotiations. This Cadillac of pension plans is too rich to sustain itself. I would work more and longer than age 71 but they say I cannot. I have to take my pension at 71. Now like Peter Mackay, former Tory Defense Minister, he will get 150 000$ per year starting from age 55 and on for the rest of his life.  It would take me 500 months or near 42 years to earn that much money he will earn per year. Good thing he gets that all free from the Canadian Tax Payers. I guess there are two classes of people. Former Tories and their rich friends and the working poor who’s pension are just too luxurious to afford any longer. Tory times are hard times, unless you are part of the elect of Tory inner circles.

What would I know about paying taxes, since I don’t earn really enough to pay taxes? You would think working for the federal government; I would earn a decent living. Perhaps to dream of being middle class? But since Tory times are hard times, there is no more decent living to be had in Canada, unless you get a bonus. How much does Canada Post pay out in bonuses? I know I am surely not getting any. They only go to rich. Being working poor, you would think after 3 years I would be somewhat better off. But it’s so hard to make any money with so few hours! The corporation does not want to offer too many full time jobs. After all, then people might earn a living. My salary won’t go up either. Wages are too high as it. They have a deficit. Except they earned a profit last year. But none the less wages are too high! They keep cutting jobs, no more full time position to be had, only part time and they want to cut those as well. Part time to be flexible, so flexible they don’t even care about the people doing those jobs. That is their problem, not Canada Post’s problem. In fact, at Canada Post, they want to cut my old wages as a temporary employee to one salary for the length of the contract, to make the poor people who take those jobs even more hard pressed. They also want to reduce vacation from three weeks to two weeks, what would I know about taking a vacation? As a temp, I never took vacation, if I did not work, I did not get paid. That would be where the work part of working poor comes in. But with the contract being negotiated, (sorry Canada Post is not interested in negotiating, they are just waiting to illegally lock us out again then get punitive back to work legislation) Canada Post wants to remove all that and more including my paid lunch. Well, the paid lunch that a full timer gets. I don’t get one being part time. I bring in a muffin. I make it from home. I cannot afford to eat out much. Not like the executive dinning that President Chopra and the 23 executive Vice Presidents get.  This is sad, because my local restaurants are all struggling with the same problem. Too many working poor, not enough people spending money on take out or dinning. No one can afford to eat out any more. Tory times are hard times.

I suppose I should smile but as a temporary employee I don’t qualify for benefits like dental. So I have not seen my dentist in years. Cause any sort of benefit is too good for us. In fact, nothing is too good for us and that is exactly what we get… Nothing. Tory times and all that…

I hear that Canada Post made a profit the last few years. Which is strange because it was not too long ago that a think tank, (ask President Chopra what the name is, since he is a member, I am sure long since forgotten by everyone else) said Canada Post would be losing a billion dollars a year by now. They earned a profit every year since that report came out. With friends like that, publishing a such tripe bias hit piece to start the ball rolling for back to work legislation with the last Tory government. Just like they are trying to do now. Just like they did last time, make a series of impossible demand that force a strike call. When the workers act collectively, the corporation illegally locks them out so said the arbiter in our collective grievance. Then the Tory government passes an illegal back to work law in Parliament (Again as an Ontario Judge has said no less in June of this year) that takes away 1% of wages that the corporation had already agreed to in negotiations just for Tory spite. How nasty is that? The corporation offers an increase that the Tories legislate away from the workers… I wonder if they took away anyone’s bonus like that. Or retirement plan? Took the union many years before a judge ruled that law unconstitutional.  And rightly so! But since we are not part of the elite, the rich or in bed with the Tories, those of us who are working poor, that would be the majority of Canadians, we just don’t count as being important enough to get a fair deal.

See Prime Minister; they are trying to do the same thing now. Force the workers to strike. Lock them out then run to you for back to work legislation. That is unfair. And worse, they tried it before and lost in the courts. How many more times will they use the same play book? When will they start to fairly negotiate a fair deal with the worker that actually improves the lives of so many Canadians?

As you know, North Carolina passed a horrible bill to limit the accessibility to toilets for transgender people. What did we do in Canada? Your government enshrined the rights of transgendered people into our human rights legislation. In Quebec, with the full approval of the opposition parties, yes more than one opposition party all agreed to allow transgender people the right to change their school name and sex in order to allow them a better chance at assimilation in high school. Can you see the difference between Donald Trump’s America and Canada? Where would you put Canada Post and their present administration on that scale? Are they going to do the right thing? The fair thing? The Canadian way? Or will they resort to crushing the working poor with illegal lock out and unconstitutional back to work legislation in Parliament.

Tory times are hard times. You are a liberal. Will you follow the old model of nasty hate? Or is it 2016, and times they are a changing?

In 1949, you father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, covered the strike by mine workers at Thetford Mines. Where Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis sided with the rich mine owners, to send in his goon squads to break the union. Your father stood with the worker and went on to be a force of good for the people Canada, all the people of Canada, not just the wealthy elites but for the working poor. So I ask you Prime Minister, when we strike at Canada Post, will you come to do a shift on the picket line? They last 4 hours, twice a week. We get paid 200$ per week. Where will you stand? With whom will you walk with?

Edit and updated

Word has just reached us that on July 2, 2016, Canada Post will stop all benefits to employees as a pressure tactic. This unilateral action is not covered in the collective agreement, nor is it allowed in the Canadian Labour Code. In other words, just like it was ruled in Ontario that the previous lock out was illegal, Canada Post will once again turn to illegal acts to intimidate its work force. Why won’t it negotiate a contract fairly?

Let’s talk about climate change!

Why screams the hecklers…

Why not.

As in why I am not into the whole climate change thing in the first place.

First, those who do not believe in climate change are called “Deniers”. They take that term from Holocaust deniers. This is a very overt Ad Homonym attack. If we look back upon the beginnings of Quantum Mechanics, today responsible for so many things like GPS and Quantum Computers, The great Albert Einstein would have been called a “Denier”. Yet true scientists of the time, like Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger and his cat, instead of crying foul, took up the challenge presented by such opposition and worked harder to perfect their theory. Never once did they whine, cry or moan. They worked harder to prove their case. Not assume that there mere utterance should be accepted as utterances from the Heavens. So why do they in the climate change camp need to do take such an unscientific stance to begin with? After all, as Al Gore said; “The science is settled!” In fact, science is never settled. Isaac Newton’s Theory of Gravity was published nearly 400 years ago and is known to be wrong. Einstein (such much denial from this man) had to re-write Gravity 100 years ago. Yet for all Newton’s version being wrong, NASA was still able to land men on the moon using it. But at no time was it every considered settled, not by Newton, not by Einstein and certainly not by NASA. So why the rush AL Gore? What’s with the personal attacks on those who disagree? Science is never about either, personal attacks or religious dogma? Yet for some reason Global Warming is about both. In a similar vein, we are told that the majority of scientists believe that Global Warming is to be the true facts in this case. Really? Well, see, at one UN conference, on a Sunday night as delegates rushed to take their planes home, a vote on the matter was called. Of those members who remained, a majority of them voted that way. This sounds to be as biased as you can get to wait to call a vote so late in the conference. Those who stayed until the end can be seen as having a reason to remain, creating a sampling error in the vote. Those that voted having a reason to give a yes vote into a higher percentage. Science is about careful consideration. Not a rush to judgement by people with false agendas. Science is the clash of idea, not name calling. And finally, science is the about unbiased consideration of the evidence, not merely who can rig the vote.

NASA says that this past April was the warmest month of April on record. That sounds scary, but is it? Our record keeping is bad, in fact, very bad. Today we use sophisticated measuring devices. But 140 years ago they looked outside for record keeping and wrote colder today. Not as rigorous as we might like. As well, the places where we measured those temperatures were once outside of the city limits to prevent and protect from micro enviromental factors warming their readings. Now the cities have grown around those same locations and they give out readings that show warmer. There seems to be another explanation here than global warming. The other point to discuss is; what does climate change mean? Yesterday, was warmer then the day before and today is warmer still. See Global warmer is proven! Except, not so fast, that sort of evidence is not considered by any side to be evidence of anything, let alone global warming. The reason is, too small a period to measure and say anything meaningful about. What if this was true from months, then years and then decades? Just what is the period needed to say anything with certainty. Alas, we have no answer. Would we dare call it climate change? Recall to mind that in the 1970tys, climate scientists were saying the world is cooling. Wonder how that theory worked out? But yes they scream we now have better models. In fact, scientists do have better models over the last 40 years. And they have better measuring equipment. What they don’t have is any sort of agreement on the size of sample, should they use; a day, a year, 40 years, 400 years, 4000 years? All unknown and uncertain. And in case you missed this point, they only have data of questionable veracity going back 140 years. Ice Core, Tree samples and other sampling methods are of limited value for the global expression, merely recording the local events over time. Then we can look at the computer models they use. These are based on large dimensions of the atmosphere, usually measured in square miles. They would need to have it at the level of square feet, preferable to the leve3l of square inches. This is like watching a very small bit video on a much large screen. The result is pixilation. Large blocks of square things fill in the picture as the video codex tries to make the picture larger without adequate information. It might work on the tiny level; it won’t work in the big leagues.

The whole Meta notion of climate change and global warming are red flags to a bull in a china shop. It enrages the community and draws out less then useful discussions. People simply do not believe in the whole idea because they have been turned off by the heavy handedness, overzealous, holier than thou approach. Instead of trying to form consensus and educate people, the entire approach by climate change advocates has been to threaten people; “a majority of scientist agree,” insult; “deniers”, or belittle; “The science is settled,” and allow for no meaningful debate when the basic facts are not agreed upon yet.

Now, back to reality. I think we all can agree that when a forest fire burns, you put it out. When a ship spill oil, you clean it up. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean is a mass of plastic, the size of Texas. I suspect that no one has studied what this does to the weather not to mention fish and sea life, but can we not agree that it needs to be cleaned up? How about this, we need to lower car emissions to prevent smog in cities. Not we need to lower car emission because they cause green house gas. Nope, we only need to agree so far on this matter to help keep the air clean in our city. No need to poison the well and go that extra mile to say climate change. For we do not need to involve that sort of speculation, Occam’s razor can be used here and still lower the toxic gas we have to breathe. Another example is the many proposed pipelines stretching from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Many environmental groups oppose this pipeline. As do I. But must I oppose it solely on environmental grounds? Or is this a big tent and we can all work against the idea without having to agree on why it should be stopped? Do I have to convert and drink the cool aid? Or can I say I oppose this idea for economic reasons without commenting on the environmental factors?

For all these reasons and many more, I will not agree with anyone that climate change is occurring. How it has been presented to the public, and whether or not it is even science, let along proven fact or “settled.”

Feel free to call me a denier if you like, but don’t make the mistake of calling yourself a scientist, or that you are doing science. It is all propaganda when you resort to insults proving what a weak argument you have indeed.

This would be why I am not a feminist. “When you’re young, you’re thinking: ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie,’ ” Ms. Gloria Steinem stated thus an interview with the talk show host Bill Maher. This is a feminist icon? In effect she has just labelled all women as hormonal sex objects in their quest for males. I wonder just how far that is from say; “What she wearing, she was asking for it!” The problem is that with most good ideas, they become institutionalised that are turned into ideologies. Those ideologies become intolerant of anyone who does not follow the most bigoted of paths according to the likes of some unnamed but all powerful cabal of haters, utter their pearls of wisdom as if handed down from Mt Sinai, similar to what Steinem has said above. In an effort to distance themselves from each other, “Oh were not like that…” Feminist theory have sub divided the ideology of feminism into theories, many, up to 6 different so called “waves.” As if, this makes a difference. “OH no, that is a femnazi, she is only a lipstick lesbian…” Err say what? Those are two different categories of feminism. No, the problem with being a “Feminist” is this; just like all Muslims are expect to apologise for all attack by terrorists no matter who or where they are, as if they were all close friends with any terrorist who raised a gun  in the name of their prophet. All “Feminists” are merely considered the extension of worst offenders in their demand for ideological purity. This is the 21 century; does any rational human being disagree with the idea of equal pay for equal work? Note Donald J trump does. But I repeat, I did say any RATIONAL human being. Thereby the Donald does not qualify. Enraging your audience with a term, “Feminism” that no one understands, (including those who seemingly must divide it into waves in the first place,) but everyone gets leery of, defeats the purpose. The real reason I am not a feminist can be seen as originally stated by Simone de Beauvoir; paraphrased thusly: “The point is not change names, the point is to change things for the better.” Feminism is dead! Long live equality for all, men, women, LBGT. People of world can get behind that phrase a lot easier than they ever will to get behind hateful, utterance of a so call feminist icon like Gloria Steinem. Oliver Cromwell had this to say to her likes; “You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go! (Address to the Rump Parliament)” I say to you Gloria Steinman, “Go now, you have staid too long atop that throne of false lives and thin veneer of contempt for other women. You are no friend to females as you pretend to be. Depart, I say; and let us have done with you and your tired old hatred of men and women who yearn to breathe their own free air, of their own free will, who won’t follow along your ideological path to oblivion.” That is why I am not a feminist.

Hilary Clinton seems to be destined to win the Democratic Party’s nomination. Where she will then be out-classed and out-flanked by Donald J Trump. This classic definition of hubris shows that even though Bernie Sanders is in the lead over Trump in national polls and would win the election if the poll numbers hold up, she will not let him do so. For her very own Greek Tragedy is not to be denied. This is her last chance to be the first female in the oval office, come hell or high water she is going to beg, borrow and steal every vote she can. Sadly, voters everywhere know it and will vote accordingly. Yet, one thing is clear, once she fails, like Icarus tumbling from the sky in a flaming trail of feathers and wax, she will turn to cast off any blame upon herself and point her fingers directly at Bernie Sanders for not dropping out of the race long ago. He is the one who has hurt her chances by staying in so long. Except for the simple fact that she is the second most hated politician in the USA with Donald Trump being more hated. Go figure why anyone would want to stay in the race to force real issues into the debate?

In other news this week, a lady entering a female bathroom was stopped by a security guard and forcible removed from the grocery store because the guard felt that she was not female enough to use the bathroom of her choice. Yes, she was transgender but this was in New York not North Carolina. Police were called and arrested the security guard for assault and hate crimes. This event calls to mind a YouTube’s “social experiment” of a man wearing a dress and makeup entering a series of women’s bathrooms with a beard. See how funny that is? And can you see the humor in the latest event? See the lady got assaulted, see funny that is? See the guard go to jail for up to 5 years for assault and addition 5 years for a hate crime, if found guilty? Come on, where your sense of humour? Hat is so funny… Oh wait, sorry, none of this is funny. Not the assault, not the social experiment humour. None of it. Because someone, a real person, who just had to use the bathroom, was humiliated and denied service as ever other person would be allowed to use, all because someone felt they had the right to pick on a weaker, smaller, minority group, seen as out of favour by the majority of bigots and transphobes. The people who find this type of humor funny are also going to find it hilarious for a bunch of men to don white sheets and plant a burning cross on the lawn of a black family. And then find it outrageous to be connected to a small, pathetic, mentally unstable man who walked into a black church and kills all the people inside praying. Hate is hate. You can try to call it humour but  people will see right through that and know you are nothing more than a pathetic passive aggressive wanna-be who has failed at being anything other then just mean.

How does one defend the Prime Minister after he brutally attacked Ruth Ellen Brosseau? A sharp, hard, cruel elbow to the chest, followed up by forcing her to relive the moment over and over again as he constantly referred to it in his frequent apologizes. Such pathos, such drama, such melodrama! Or rather what a load of … The problem with this narrative is this; the NDP members were blocking the conservative whip. Justine Trudeau came over to escort the whip to the speaker’s chair, rescuing him from a mob of NDP obstructionists. Wherein the jostling; Ruth Ellen Brosseau was struck in the chest. Lightly, (An NDP member pushed the whip, who in turn bounced off Trudeau, which then pushed Trudeau’s elbow that hit Brosseau) but she immediately took the dive for all the screen actor credits she could get, all the while acting as if she had been assaulted and injured. Thomas Mulcair the disgraced NDP leader immediately took up the outrage as if this had been a deliberate, vicious assault upon her being. As if this was the greatest crime of the century, as if…  And here in lies the whole point. What Mulcair and Brosseau fail to grasp is this; Canadians are not stupid. We can see the video, we can see the faux outrage and we can see the disingenuous hyperbole from the NDP on this issue. There is a reason why they, the NDP voted Mulcair out of his job as head of the party; this very disingenuous behavior on his part. Contrast that with his predecessor, Jack Layton. Like him or hate him, he was a genuine person in the way he talked, acted and behaved. Jack was the real deal, not some ready to scream outrage at any issue, any issue at all, no matter how small they may be as Mulcair clearly is ready to do, showing that  this type of “woe’s me” crying is all the voters could see from him. Thus, they punished the NDP in the last election by voting for the Liberals and remove most of the NDP Party’s historic gains under Jack Layton to another genuine person, Justine Trudeau. This is what drives this faux outrage by the former head of the NDP. The simple fact that Canadians like Justine Trudeau. They like what they see and what they have seen so far. The poll numbers don’t lie either. (http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-quarterly-polls-mar2016-1.3469716) If an election was held now, he might get a super majority on top of the majority he already had. So Thomas, scream all you want. It has worked out so well for you this far. Ruth, you need to watch more soccer to see how the professions fake a dive. You are not very good at it.

First, the good news: the Trudeau government plans to introduce legislation next week that will allow for Trans people to be protected under discrimination laws, and bars people from discriminating against them. As well, they will be adding them specifically to the groups protected under hate legislation. While this is long overdue, the ideological hatred of the so called conservative right for anyone not fit into their Neo Con mold, left this group of Canadians literally out in the cold. So far, so good! We await the specifics of the bill, but they tend to leak it for public review prior to actually releasing it. So it should go over well. Since the Liberals have a majority and they will be supported by the NDP so this bill should pass quickly with little opposition from the Conservative Reform Alliance Party. Canada thus is perusing Wales to have the best legislative protection for all members of our society and including the Trans people within out umbrella of protected rights, Wales being the first country to enact such legislative protection for Tran’s people. This is a trend we would very much like to see exported, adopted and duplicated around the world. The next new item would be the opposite, something not to be exported, not to be adopted and hopefully, never more to be duplicated around the world.

Having said the good stuff, let’s turn to the bad side of things. In the state of North Carolina, rather than accept they made a mistake, and change their anti Trans law, double downed on this issue. They filed suit against the US Government, who in turn quickly filed suits against the state. So now this is in the hands of the judiciary, where we have seen just recently that they can in fact be trusted to come down on the progressive side of human rights issues.

But wait! It gets worse! Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stated this week that Texas would rather forgo billions of dollars, likely to be around 10 billion dollars, in Federal education grants rather than be forced not to discriminate against teenagers. Now even if you are stupid, 10 billion dollars is more than pocket change. But to present ideological unity and to suppress the rights of as many 13 000 Tran’s students in Texas schools, the Lt Governor will toss out 10 billion dollars. Where that money then will come from is unknown. But as education is not on the list of importance for Republicans they may just as well not replace it. After all, they have no education and look how they turned out; mean spirited religious bigots. Heck everyone should be entitled to be that insane. 10 billion dollars over which bathroom a few people will use? Now that is hardcore ideology. For people who claim to be strong supporters of the Constitution, they read the 2nd Amendment and forgo the rest. Like the Supremacy clause (Article VI, Clause 2) that allows the Federal Government to set the minimum standards for things. You can do more but never less. When there is conflict between federal and state law, whereas the federal law says more is to be done and the state law mandates for less, the federal law must be supreme and be the only law allowed to carry the day. SO the states can do more, imagine just for an instant, the bigot stats doing their job and shaming the federal government into being progressive? What a fine day that would be.

At what point will someone walk up and say; “Stop”? There are real issues to be dealt with, important issues to deal with. This is not one of them. This is the question of who goes to what bathroom. And yet more money will be spent on this issue that could be spent on real issues, health care, education… oh wait Texas will forgo education grants… The face of ideological hatred is scary. With no claim to reason, they will literally cut their nose to spit their face just because they would rather be hateful then be reasonable. At what point along the lines of 10 billion dollars do we pause just for a second to ask, well is this so bad? To allow teenagers in school to be accommodated and allowed to go to the bathroom that they identify with?

An open Letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Congrats on the win, now it is time to get to work. Bring forth a legislative agenda to rock Canada with progressive legislation that helps clear the way from the destruction left by Stephen Harper’s government.

• Legalise Marijuana. You ran on this, time to deliver. But, least this become a freak show, free for all, it must have limits. I think that we need to commercialise it and tax it. The best way to do so is treat it as if it was a new round of cigarettes. Simple as that! Collect tax revenue from it as well.
• Call off your tired old morals or something like that. The courts ruled the old prostitution laws where unconditional. So the Harper government brought in even worse laws. Get rid of them all. Again legalise it, make it a legitimate business and then, you got it, tax it. Require a license, that needs a medical exam, and a check or proof the person is over 18, and we cut out organized crime, the trafficking of women to fill this niche and under age prostitution. Best of all, we collect GST on the whole exchange.
• Pass private member bill C-204, or whatever it will be called, allowing for gender identity and gender expression added to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code. A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. Let’s add one of the most vulnerable groups to becoming full citizens. (Note that this will be introduced in the House of Commons next week. Score one for the good guys!)

People say this is all too simplistic. We need to study the ramifications of this all before we go forward. Really? “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Albert Einstein. Let’s try something new. In one draft we have added two new sources of sin tax to Revenue Canada’s collection plate, decriminalised many acts that people were going to do regardless of what the law says, and last we embrace a sub group of Canadians who have been sorely abused by our neglect.

But wait, you think that is radical? I have one more thing to say. If the above is radical, then the next piece of advice is revolutionary. Surely, it will burn down Main Street in its wake. But… the tax revenue it will generate will be enormous. Take the follow, you go to the store and buy yourself some chips and a coke. You pay the lady at the counter the price for both and she charges you provincial sales tax and Good and Services Tax from the federal government. In Quebec, this amounts to some 15.5% which is a large bit out of your wallet. I will only ask that we collect the same amount of taxes that corporations are charging! I suggest that we tax all stock trades at 1.5% of purchase price. This is the same amount that you will get charged by the trading company or trader that you deal with. The difference is this. Whereas GST hits all Canadians as a regressive tax, this tax only affects the very wealthy and the rich. The TSX could generate tax revenue nearing 3 million dollars per day, perhaps as much as a billion dollars per year or more. Best of all, this sort of tax effects only the wealthiest of people and spares the middle class from its reach. Same deal for my last suggestion. Presently, there is no inheritance tax for wealthy Canadians. So for those with estates worth over 100 million dollars, we should charge them 1%. The counter is that this money was already taxed once and would now be taxed a second time. While this is true, the money belongs to a dead person who seemingly no longer has any use for it. But seriously, the money was made by the help of Canadian society to raise it, safe guard it and now can be used again to help Canadians. The only people who would complain are those who inherit it. They are merely not getting as much as they would have and 1% less is hardly noticeable for the estate. But it will help out the deficit and other social needs of Canadians.

So in short, here is a legislative agenda bordering on revolutionary. Best of all, it amounts to untapped sources of revenue that government can use to pay from infrastructure, education and health care. These bills that are due today and need funding at an ever increasing amount will need to be paid from somewhere. New sources for revenue must be found. And the middle class cannot be where the money comes from. They already pay their share. Take a small bit from the rich or charging people tax on new forms of legal entertainment are a great way to help out the public purse.