Author: Doug Rutherford

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I’m a Little Tired of Senate Whining…

Could we stop talking about the Senate? The embers of disbelief from the Prime Minister appointing three losing candidates to the Senate are still cooling. Now, with the Ontario provincial elections on, we have the Liberal Party screaming to have it abolished.

Let’s just take a quick reality break here. First, the Senate exists by legislation of the Constitution Act (1982) and its previous versions. You want  to abolish it? Go for it. All you need is pass it through the House of Commons and then get the approval of 7 out of 10 provincial legislatures, where those provinces comprise more than 50% of the population. Because that is the only amending formula for a major revision of the constitution.

By the way, you’ll notice that passing it through the Senate is not a requirement. If the Senate does not approve a constitutional amendment, the House can wait 180 days and re-approve the amendment and Senate approval is no longer required.

And, bluntly, don’t think that this sort of thing is just going to happen. Most of the provinces would like to do a bit of constitutional wrangling, rather than one single piece. Therefore, a First Ministers’ meeting on the constitution, or probably several, will be needed to get any amendments going. As we remember from the election earlier this month, the NDP stated that, as part of their platform, they were willing to reopen the constitution in the aim to get Quebec as a full signatory to it. This was criticized by both the Conservatives and Liberal Party. Mr. Harper, in Asbestos, QC, said:

“We are in the middle of an economic recovery and the real priority for families are jobs, growth, affordable services and keep their taxes down and those will be the priorities of the Conservative government, not resurrecting old constitutional debates.”

When we consider that this looks very much like “I’m not interested,” we do have to remember that a politician’s opinion in April isn’t necessary a politician’s choice in May. That being said, we can probably safely assume that a Conservative Prime Minister is not going to do anything that vaguely looks like he’s meeting the demands of a Liberal premier during an election. We all know that certainly isn’t happening…

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Politician Excuses: Revised

For those of you who missed it, there is a neat story running around about George Lepp, a Conservative candidate in the upcoming Ontario provincial election. It seems that pictures of his private bits spent 20 minutes posted on Yfrog, an online social media site, with a link on Twitter. Yes, this is one of those news stories that make you scratch your head. But, as the details come out, more than normal head scratching appears to be needed.

I know, all of you are asking about where the pictures came from or, maybe, why he posted them. Remember that posting the picture to Yfrog and then linking it to Twitter isn’t something one would normally do by accident. You see, according to his campaign spokesman, the picture was unintentionally taken when his Blackberry in was “in camera mode in his front pocket.” Apparently, the next step in this sad tale is that his Blackberry was stolen when he was jostled by protesters and apparently posted by whoever stole it. Notice that there is no dispute on the ownership of the picture’s contents.

OK. The Toronto Sun reported “The pictures — too graphic to reproduce in the newspaper — are of a man naked from the waist down, showing a close up of his penis and his crossed legs.”

So, explain to me the following. First, seeing your crossed legs, not counting anything else, in a picture taken from as close as the contents of your pocket makes me wonder what sort of lens is in a Blackberry camera. I haven’t seen the picture (nor do I want to…) so I can’t really determine if the picture is taken from as close a source as is suggested. Secondly, how much of your skin can you see from inside your pocket? A friend on Twitter said he tried to take pictures of his junk from his pocket with his iPhone but had no success. Obviously, Blackberries are way better than iPhones. I mean, picture the ad: Need to take pictures of your penis from your pocket? There’s an app for that!

So if you think I believe the explanation, you’re a bit off target. I’m a bit unsure how it got posted to Twitter, but I really wonder why someone runs around with pictures of his own bits on his cell phone camera… and, who believes you should vote for him….

Additional Note:

It seems someone has decided that the story was a bit weak so the new version seems, according to CBC, that the ownership of the bits in question is now a mystery. Mr. Lepp’s spokesman is saying that no one knows the source of the picture or how they were posted. The best part of this… same spokesman, different story. Don’t you love politics?

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Retirement Parties

I’m going to a retirement party this afternoon. It’s for three people, and sadly, not one of them is me.

I wouldn’t mind retiring, although I’m still young enough that, if I did retire early, I would take a huge penalty on my pension. Said penalty, by the way, is age dependent and permanent. The age dependent thing isn’t awful to think about, although the permanent bit certainly is.

And, there is the double whammy thing happening, too. Clara retired on January 12th. Fortunately, that’s long enough ago that she’s stopped gloating for the most part. I can live with the odd little zinger sent my way. You know, complaining about how cold it is when it hits -40 and then saying, “Oh. That’s right. I don’t have to go the work this morning… but, you do.” The worst one was, “Do you know the hardest thing about retirement? You never get a day off from it.” I’ll concede that the last one made me go down to the basement and have a little cry…

So, I’m going to head upstairs to the cafeteria in a little while and give best wishes to the three people who are getting ready to move on to better things and are not taking me with them. But, really, I’m still not ready to retire. After all, I’m still, for the most part, having fun. Notice I did qualify that with “for the most part.” However, the college is kind of neat in that the things that happen that aren’t fun are always really entertaining….

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Got Me a Hot Date

Woo hoo! I got me a hot date. Don’t tell my wife…

Actually, my hot date is with the knee surgeon. I’m going back for another scope and debridement (no, this has nothing to do with divorce) on June 7th. My last one was 3 years ago and probably represented about a year of no knee pain at all for the first time since about 1970. No, it’s not the replacement I was told I needed in 1985. Instead, it’s the 6th repair job on the same knee and, while I’m happy I’m getting something, I’d much rather be getting a new knee than a duct tape and baling wire job.

That, sady, is not going to happen soon, though. It’s not that I don’t need a replacement, but rather the lifespan of a replacement and the cost to the medical system of having it done. See, right now, a replacement knee lasts between 10 and 15 years. Apparently, as my surgeon tells me, they last even less time if you use it as a knee. (By the way, that is my plan. No, I’m going back to downhill skiing or anything along those lines, but I would like to go back to biking again.) As things presently sit, replacements done again do not last as long as the earlier ones too. Therfore, if they replace my knee now, they will probably have to replace it two more times afterwards. Yes, it also costs the territory about $15,000 each time.

One would think that wouldn’t be an issue. However, we recently made national news with the story of a man waiting two years for a hip replacement. The reason given is that the territory only does six hip replacements a year because of cost.

Even if I do end up on the waiting list, it will be about tw0 years before I actually get my knee replaced. Considering a first appointment with the orthopoedic surgeon took 14 months and can take up to 24, needing joint surgery here is a lengthy process. Of course, a lot has to do with the problem that the surgeon has to come up from BC to do clinics since we don’t have one here. And, this is the part I don’t really grasp. When I first wrecked my knee, Sydney, NS had a population of less than Whitehorse does now. Sydney had a greater outer area population, but we also have the rest of the territory as potential clients too. At the time I was injured, we had three orthopedic surgeons living and practising in Sydney. Sadly, the territorial government doesn’t seem to understand why we don’t have one here, although expecting the current government to have a clue (hey, our premier is a convicted heroin dealer, after all) is apparently more than one could hope…

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Memorial Service, Part II

As I have mentioned previously, we went to a friend’s memorial service on the weekend. It was quite well attended and was a very nice service. Emile Aubichon was 52 and killed in a motorcycle accident. There was a large number of friends, family, friends of family, and the biker community turned out in large numbers as well.

We met Emile through his brother and sister-in-law. I worked with both at the college, and Clara worked next door at the Archives. We would go to the Kopper King, famous in Stan Rogers’ song, on Thursday evenings for cheap beer night. Shortly after this tradition started, Emile showed up as well. He was a good friend, lots of fun, and despite his quite large size was really nothing more than a big teddy bear. I think it was almost impossible to not like Emile. Even after most of us stopped going to the KK when its food and service deteriorated badly and the realization set in that their cheap beer night wasn’t cheap, I’d still run into Emile around town and we’d hold long gabfests in parking lots or Tim Horton’s.

So, several of have gotten together and decided that his memorial service, regardless of how nice and well run it was, had to have a Part II. After work Thursday, we’re heading over to the KK for a beer or two in his memory. No, not everyone will be there, but if you knew Emile and can make it, we’d be glad to have you.

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New MPs

I am  suprised by the number of people who automatically assume that the NDP will fail as an official opposition party. Interestingly enough, almost no reason is given for this presumed failure… and when one does show up, it’s usually that their MPs don’t have a great deal of experience.

I find this particularly strange since all of the other parties have a number of new MPs. For example, the Conservative Party has  37 new MPs, 22 from the province of Ontario alone, yet no one is saying that the party will fall apart because of their inexperience. The Liberal Party has only 2 new MPs out of 34 seats, but they have far greater problems than inexperience on their back. The Bloc has a single new MP,  but that also represents 25% of the 4 seats they hold. And, of course, the Green Party’s single seat is also filled with a new MP.

So, why would inexperience be an issue? Policy is not set by new MPs, but rather by the parties themselves. And, it’s not like all of the members are new, just as is the case for all of the other parties (other than the Green Party). All parties have methods for ensuring the training and indoctrination of new members into parliamentary procedure and function. The House itself also runs training for new MPs. It seems strange that people would put forward a reason for poor performance that crosses all party lines.

Actually, I don’t have an answer as to why the NDP would perform more poorly than any of the other parties. Let’s be honest. They do have a leg up on other parties. For example, the Liberal Party doesn’t have a leader (and the last one they had wasn’t even capable of defending himself against out of context or just invented slights put forward by the Conservatives, so would hardly be capable of running either an opposition, or heaven forbid, a federal government). Yes, he did teach at Harvard but is a perfect example of where book smarts don’t work out in all contexts. Worse yet, the best bet for an interim leader, Bob Rae, probably won’t garner any more respect than Michael Ignatieff or Stéphane Dion. If they make him permanent leader, my first assumption is that the party won’t exist after the next election… if it does before the next election.

One thing to note. A number of those new NDP MPs are currently, or were currently, political science majors. This probably gives them far more insight than new MPs with a background in business or law. I’m expecting the NDP will do an excellent job at holding the government accountable, or at least as good a job as any opposition can do against a majority government. At the very least, since I haven’t really supported any particular party for the last 10 years, I’m willing to do the responsible thing and at least give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, it seems to be a better approach than whining, which has been far more prevalent…

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A Nice Weekend

A long weekend is always a good time to head out of town and enjoy the fact that we live in a beautiful place. The weather was less than perfect. Saturday was far and away the best weather day of the weekend but we spent part of that day in town. We went to a friend’s memorial service for part of the day. There was a great turnout and it was a lovely service.

Sunday and part of today, it rained, quite hard at time. However, there were still some high points.

sunset image
Sunset, 11 PM.

For example, we had a marvellous sunset on Saturday evening. The sky had turned a neat shade of red and yellow and the sunset picture had a lovely view of the horizon over the ice and some open water. The additional bonus is that this sunset happened at 11 PM. It is late May and there is still almost a month left until solstice. So, there is still an awful lot of daylight left to add.

The lake, as you can see in the picture, is still largely iced over. Some of this is not really solid and much of the lake cover is more like a slushee than ice but it will still be a week or two before anyone gets to throw a boat in and do a bit of fishing . I’m still trying to figure out how my knee surgery will fit into the lake’s schedule but we will see. I have to get the boat inflated and put the floor boards in and then configure the trailer since that has yet to be done. I also have to determine whether or not the bloat will function with the motor as a long shaft or whether I have to remove the adapter and convert it back into a short shaft. And, since I can’t take any real vacation until after June 1st to make sure that everything gets done, this may not happen.

So, when will I get out next? Ryan’s grad is next weekend so we won’t go anywhere then. Therefore, we must wait and see, wait and see…

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Parking

I vaguely remember learning how to drive and dealing with the concept of parking. It wasn’t an abstract concept at all. You put your car in the areas you’re allowed to and during the time you’re allowed to. Yes, you can try to say, “But my name is Noah Parking and I’m the only one allowed to put my car here between midnight and 4 AM.” Good luck with that, by the way.

But at work, parking seems to be on the level of calculus when it comes to comprehension of the, oddly enough, very few rules involved. Staff are allowed to put their vehicles in some places. Students are allowed to put theirs in others. Contractors, etc., also have places to put theirs. And, interestingly enough, there are signs indicating who can park where.

This being said, the rules don’t seem to apply to anyone… or, at least, most people who seem to think that rules are a completely unnecessary thing foisted upon them to make their lives miserable. And, as such, I am constantly amazed at how people seem to interpret the rules. Its a double whammy for me since:

  1. I am a firm believer that, since its a relatively easy component of a more complicated system, if you can’t park, why would we trust you driving.
  2. The staff parking area behind my office is far closer to it than any of the handicapped parking spaces, which I need until I get knee surgery. The nearest handicapped spot is about a 500 m walk from my office.

For example, one of our staff members, part of the job of his department being reporting parking offences, doesn’t want anyone parking next to his new car so he parks in a two spot parking area diagonally. Students on short term courses, who of course aren’t there for the full semester so aren’t “students,” park in the staff lot. One student had to be told five times in one week not to park in the staff lot, so he moved his truck to the fire lane in front of a hydrant and security asked him, daily, every day for the next week not to do that either. No, they didn’t have him towed, although if the fire department came up the hill for any reason during that week, they would do so automatically.

Despite the fact that we have parking regulations, we don’t enforce them. Not only that, we hired 24/7 security staff at substantial expense (no, these are not rented security but staff members with salaries and benefits), part of which to do parking supervision. However, the head of security has no interest in enforcing parking. And, despite signage to the contrary, management will not order a tow truck because they don’t want to offend people.

So, in short, parking here is a free-for-all. And, I’m not totally sure why since, I’m not sure how you got into this post-secondary educational institution when you can’t determine what the words “No Parking” mean. Don’t make me give you my explanation for why you can’t occupy a single parking spot at a time…

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Slight Alteration in Camping Plans

Looks like we get a slight change in camping plans for the weekend. I’ll probably spend part of Saturday in town. A friend of ours was killed in a motorcycle accident last weekend and Saturday is the memorial service. I know several folks were planning to come out over the weekend, so you might want to aim for a day other than Saturday.

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Why No REAL Canadian Want to Abolish the Senate

Today, in a demonstration of possibly the most arrogant act in Canadian political history, Stephen Harper announced the appointment of three senators. These were Josee Verner, Larry Smith and Fabian Manning. What was so arrogant about this?

First, considering the Mr. Harper has gone on record on numerous occasions against the actual existence of the Senate, he has appointed more members to it than any prime minister in Canadian history. Secondly, the three members appointed were people rejected by voters less than three weeks ago in the election. Basically, these nice patronage appointments were cheerfully handed out to “Capital L” losers.

Lastly, two of these losers’ names should be very familiar. Fabian Manning was elected to the riding of Avalon in Newfoundland in 2006, taking the seat formerly held by John Efford who had retired. However, Manning was beaten by Liberal, Scott Andrews in October 2008 and was appointed shortly afterward to the Senate by Stephen Harper. He resigned his Senate seat to run in the same riding in the May 2nd election, but was soundly defeated by Scott Andrews again. In short, Manning is a two-time loser who left his senate seat to get his arse beaten, only to be reappointed before his cushion even cooled off.

Larry Smith should also be familiar. He was formerly a defensive halfback with the Montreal Alouettes and eventually was hired as club president. He was appointed to the Senate in December 2010. His tenure was quite short, as he resigned his seat in March to run in the May 2nd election, as well. He, also, was beaten in the election but was reappointed to his Senate chair today. Larry Smith, of course, was famous for his remarks after his appointment in December that his Senate salary of $132,300 base was a hardship and he would find it difficult to live on that amount. I guess he’s just going to have to go back to biting the bullet again.

All told, with the salary (a large percentage of which is untaxed), the many perks, the guaranteed job security to age 75 and the gold-plated pension plan, no real Canadian wants to abolish the Senate. Why would we, when most of us would love to be appointed to it…