One of the few good things the Conservatives will do is to finally get people to get off the fence to declare which side they are on. Their first acts in this new Parliament show that they will not be afraid to show their true-blue right wing credentials and what better targets than the workers at Air Canada and Canada Post.
In cahoots with management they have declared themselves to be on the side of big corporations and against working people. That’s not a great surprise but the swiftness of their actions show that they know they have a majority and are not afraid to use it to support their friends and their interests.
Their allies in the media are already out there building support for these actions. Like Margaret Wente in the Globe earlier this week who said that in her view we would all be better off it we just got rid of those pesky unions and especially if we could get rid of their pensions along with them. What I don’t understand exactly is who that “we” is any more. I guess it’s more like the royal “we”: Harper and the Conservatives along with the big corps and their friendly media toadies. Not much new there except that the movie we have been watching is now in high definition. It will be easier to see whose side people are on.
It now looks like the CAW has reached a deal with AirCanadathat will allow that corporation to reduce wages and gut the pension benefits for new employees. That leaves only CUPW and postal workers in the Conservative’s line of fire. That will make them and the Sun (Fox North) News network very happy. Watch for even more use of the “dangerous and reckless” words over the next few days. It seems to be the Harper’s new mantra. But also watch CUPW and the posties. They may still have a few tricks up their sleeves and are to some people’s surprise actually winning a fair amount of public support, even with the demonizing that is going on in the media.
That’s where the rest of “us’ come in. CUPW will need active voices speaking out on their issues. They will need people like you and me who care about what kind of jobs our kids might have and whether or not both of us will ever be able to retire to stand with them. It’s time to show which side you’re on.
Change the Things You Can
By Mike Martin
One of the great lessons I learned in life was to stop focusing on other people but to focus on what I can change about myself. I only wish it had happened twenty years earlier, especially when it comes to dealing with the difficult people in my life. I have made every mistake in the book and then some but after all those mistakes and writing hundreds of articles about resolving conflict in the workplace, dealing with bullies, and trying to improve the health and wellness of the modern workplace I finally got it.
There are some common characteristics of difficult people but every single difficult person that we encounter is different. That makes it harder to prescribe a simple remedy and needs a wide arsenal of tools in order to deal with “your” difficult person. But two things are almost always true about any difficult person. One is that no matter what you do you cannot change them. They have hardened their skins and their brains against any attempt to alter their behaviors and they are determined to stay difficult.
Secondly, if you are particularly bothered by someone then you have to do something about yourself or the situation. As Mahatma Gandhi said “You must be the change that you want to see in the world.” But if it makes you feel any better go ahead and try to change the difficult person in your life. Let me know how that works out for you.
The good news is that if you are willing there are lots of things you can actually change about yourself, at any age. They include your thinking when you are open to new ideas and your attitude when you are willing to try a different approach. When you are faced with a particularly difficult situation in your life it’s important to remember that you always have choices.
The first is whether or not you want to stay in that situation. This can apply to a job or a company or organization, a relationship or even a marriage, even small situations like a restaurant that is too crowded or noisy for you to feel comfortable in. It is true that there are consequences if you decide to leave that may be extreme or very minute but don’t fall into the trap of saying that you are stuck. You always have a choice.
If your decision is to stay in that noisy café, lousy job or unsatisfying relationship then you will still have choices but they will be limited. It is unlikely that the company you work for will suddenly change how it treats you or that the restaurant owner will shop up and tell everybody else to be quiet. It is almost equally unlikely that the other person in your marriage is going to change the way you want, no matter how much you may want it.
The reality is that you can either accept the difficult situation or person exactly as they are and hope that someday they or it will improve or you can whine, complain, or work out. One path will let you sleep at night; the other has the potential to become a living nightmare. The choice is up to you.
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and consultant specializing in workplace wellness and conflict resolution. He is the author of “Change the Things You Can” (Dealing with Difficult People). For more information about Mike please visit:
Reports out of Europe and Israel say that Stephen Harper blocked Obama’s call for peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on the 1967 borders. Israeli media also reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Stephen Harper to ask him to do it.
Both European and Israeli media have been hounding Harper for a reply but the Canadian media seems to have already moved on. Harper refused to answer questions about it while visiting Greece but his spokesperson is quoted as saying that Harper did not discuss the G8 meetings with Netanyahu. Case closed, as far as they are concerned.
This whole thing comes as a backdrop for the greatest hope for peace in the Middle East in decades but instead of supporting Obama’s peace initiative Harper crapped all over. Both American and European diplomats are pissed and they have been quoted as saying that Harper insisted any reference toIsrael’s old borders be dropped.
Harper does not even deny this but mumbled something about the fact that Canada’s policy hasn’t changed.
Here’s what his spokesperson said:
“The PM’s views are long-standing and well-known on theMiddle Eastprocess toward a two state solution,” according to Dmitri Soudas. “Canadian policy on these issues is long-standing. It’s important that any statement on the Middle Eastalways have balanced references to the various positions and the G8 statement is a balanced statement.”
Excuse me, but what exactly is Canadian policy? I think I know what Harper’s policy is but that is not long-standing nor is it balanced. If you want to send a note to Harper with your thoughts here is his e-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca
The Ontario New Democrats have made corporate taxes a key campaign theme for the fall Provincial Election. Good. The McGuinty Liberals are following Stephen Harper’s lead and further reducing the taxes that corporations pay in Ontario and Tim Hudak’s PC’s would really like to get rid of all corporate taxes and stick the rest of us with the bill, not to mention kicking the s**t out of the public sector and making prisoners work the chain gang.
That leaves the NDP as the only real choice that progressive and dare I say it “liberal” voters have in this election. The NDP leader Andrea Horwath is also making a smart move to delineate small from big business and while raising big corporation’s taxes to 14% from 10%, she would leave small business and the manufacturing sector at the current rates.
I also like how she plans to spend the recouped revenue: by cutting the HST from heating and hydro bills. The NDP was the first out with a plan to help families by promising to cut electricity costs through a reduction of the HST and now she is showing how the NDP could pay for it. Smart!!
There will be the usual caterwauling from the big business lobby and the Sun media evil empire but it’s hard to knock a plan that would do so much for so many while hurting so few. It’s going to be a fun summer inOntario. If it ever stops raining!!
Despite my numerous failed attempts at predicting the future I march on undeterred. Here are a few things that I think will happen on the Canadian political scene in the days and months ahead.
We will have a strong opposition!!
The NDP under Jack and his 103 member caucus will give us for the first time in a long time a strong opposition in Parliament. For the last five years the opposition has been weakened by fear of another election, leadership disputes, and a focus on regional issues. That will change as soon as the House opens. For activists it means that we will have a voice inside as we organize outside. We cannot sit back and wait for the NDP to look after us, we have to organize ourselves and then ask them to carry the message.
Our new, young and old NDP MP’s will be great!!
Our returning NDP MP’s are already great and they will be rearin’ to go. And despite the caterwauling from the media and some sore losers the new MP’s will be exciting to watch. Most are young, smart and will bring energy into the staid old House of Commons. Some of them will screw up but they will be far better than many of the people who held the seats before them. At the very least they will be honest which is more than can be said for some previous MP’s and Senators.
We have a chance to turn some things around!!
The Conservative majority will likely keep a tight rein on their financial plans and that will mean that it is unlikely to make a lot of progress on that front. But together with the NDP we can continue to promote economic equality as a principle and tax fairness as a right. I believe that we have strong public support for both measures and can back the Tories into a corner on these issues. They may not break but we can make them bend and if these can somehow be turned into election issues then we do have a chance for government the next time around.
The NDP can get some things for us!!
The Cons will not want to fight the NDP to the wall on every issue and social activists should think about what our short list would be. The key is to make it a short enough list so that the NDP can actually deliver. I have an open mind on this but I think there are a few symbolic victories that we should get right away. They might include things like the Court Challenges Fund or re-funding the Sisters in Spirit campaign. They may be symbolic but they are also very real to the people involved in this work.
Peace will have a chance!!
After too many years of war Canadian troops will be leaving the battlefield inAfghanistanand maybe we start having a new discussion about the role ofCanada’s military as peacekeepers again. The NDP will play a leading part in these discussions and peace may finally have a chance again.
We can pull the compass back towards the left!!
There will not be too much middle ground left in the House of Commons, although everyone will try and play to it. The reality is that we will have two main parties, one on the right and one on the left. The Conservatives have managed to pull the compass far over across the centre into the right. Jack and his caucus have an opportunity to pull it back our way. We cannot count on the mainstream media to help us with this; we will have to do it on our own. But if we are smart, creative and use groups like the CCPA and Canadians for Tax Fairness to bolster our arguments we have a chance. It will be a lot of work but I am ready. Are you?
I have been struggling with how to respond to the Federal Election results. As a New Democrat I am elated at Jack’s success. But a big part of me is worried about the impact of four years of a Harper Conservative majority. Unlike others I take little solace in the demise of the Liberal Party. In some parts of the country they were the only allies we had and replacing a red seat cushion with an orange one will not make any more room on the couch.
I have watched, read and listened as all sorts of people, from the right and the left read the tea leaves and made great pronouncements on what it all means for Canada. I for one do not have a clue yet what it all means but some things ring true for me. Here are a few of them.
This was a strange election that produced a result that almost everyone got wrong. I don’t blame the pollsters and pundits, they didn’t know how to respond to the Orange Wave any more than the rest of us. Most of the media just went along for the ride. Them I do blame. The media did more to undermine democracy and democratic institutions by following Stephen Harper’s lead than anyone else. They spent the first half of the campaign allowing him to make the election about an imagined coalition (that would have been both legal and constitutional if it existed) and dismissing any and all calls to hold him to account for his contempt, corruption or callous acts towards women, workers and “not the right kind” of immigrants. They then finished the job, at least in the print media, by almost unanimously endorsing his call for a majority.
I also had the feeling during this election campaign that we on the left were talking to ourselves. Occasionally a voice from the CCPA or Judy Rebick on a CBC panel would speak to the broader world but for all my blogging and reading and writing I felt that I was only reaching my Friends on Facebook. It was great moral encouragement for me to get 5, 15 or 22 “likes” but these people already believed most of the same mantras as I had been reciting for 20 years. Facebook and Twitter may be a catalyst for change in the Arab world but if we keep on just talking to each other I don’t think we are even causing a ripple in the great Canadian conscience.
I also felt proud and excited as young people gathered in Vote Mobs to promote democracy and the women in the Stephen Harper break up videos were awesome and inspiring. But the small uptick in voter participation does not yet make a youth wave and even though women did much better than men when it came time to casting their vote for a positive future, none of the above was a game-changer. At the end of the day we are still left with a Conservative government that is promising a ‘kinder, gentler, machine-gun hand” and is likely to be harsher and swifter in its attack on our precious democracy.
Perhaps the saddest response I have had to the election results was from my son who is doing his PhD inAlberta(Edmonton-Strathcona). He said that his is so dismayed that he is thinking about leaving the country. I still don’t have a good reason to tell him not to go. I will write again soon about the way forward but I’m just not there yet.
Like many I was surprised, like some I was ecstatic with the Orange Wave. My question was how was the NDP going to convert their long-sought after popularity into seats during this Election? Now the path is clear and barring a total collapse or people listening to the fear-mongering from the Cons or Libs or their friends in the national media, Stephen Harper will be denied his majority and the NDP will be the Official Opposition. Here’s how they do it.
- All NDP incumbents and NDP held seats stayOrange. That includes several that the Cons thought they could pick up like Welland and Burnaby- Douglas.
- In the Atlantic they pick up St. John’sSouth-Mount Pearl from the Libs and in Nova Scotia, where people have shown they are not afraid of voting NDP they pick up South Shore-St. Margarets from the Cons, regain Dartmouth-Cole Harbourfrom the Libs, and best of all send Peter McKay home to play with his dog in Central Nova.
- In Ontario they regain Beaches-East York and send Peggy Nash back to the House fromParkdale-HighPark. Plus they add Andrew Cash from Davenport who will be a total ball of fun as an MP. Chris Buckley will put Oshawaback into the NDP family for the first time since Ed Broadbent back in the 80’s.
- On the Prairies Rebecca Blaikie takes back Stanley Knowles’ seat in Winnipeg North, Nette Wiebe finally gets to the House in Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar and if the Orange Wave is big enough Palliser in Saskatchewan and Edmonto East just might fall.
- In the North, and you heard it here first, Jack Hicks wins in Nunavut to join his Northern seatmate, Dennis Bevington in Western Arctic.
- In B.C. they pick up Vancouver Island North and we say good bye to John Duncan. They also regain Surrey North and win either the other Nanaimo seat or Kamloops. If the Orange Wave reaches the Pacific they pick up both as well as Esquimalt- Juan de Fuca.
- In Quebec there will be lots of gnashing of teeth for the Bloc, the Cons and the Libs as the Orange Wave runs over all opponents. The avalanche of seats will include:
Gatineau
Hull-Aylmer
Pontiac
Jeanne-Le Ber
Outremont
Westmount-Ville Marie
Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou
Ahunsic
Alfred-Pellan
Beauport- Limoilou
Brome- Mississiquoi
Brossard- La Prairie
Chambly-Borduas
Charlesbourg-Haute Saint-Charles
Chateauguay-Saint-Constant
Chicoutimi
Compton-Stanstead
Drummond
Laval
Longeueil- Pierre-Boucher
Marc-Aurele-Fortin
Regardless of the outcome of the Election the Conservatives will never be the same again. Gone before the election were Stockwell Day and Chuck Strahl. Long gone was Jim Prentice. Now at risk of losing their seats are:
Minister of Foreign AffairsLawrenceCannon
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea
Minister of Health Lorna Aglukkaq
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development John Duncan
Minister of State (Seniors) Julian Fantino
Minister of Veterans Affairs Jean-Pierre Blackburn
Minister of State (Economic Development,Quebec) Denis Lebel
Minister of State (Sport) Gary Lunn
And the biggest of them all Minister of National Defence Peter McKay
So here is my prediction. Don’t forget to Vote!!
Conservative 132
Liberal 63
NDP 91
BQ 22
Ind 0
GPC 0
mike54martin 
I Support Postal Workers
Here is my letter to editor sent to the Ottawa Citizen today. They may not print it but I want to show my support.
Dear Editor
I am writing about the labour situation at Canada Post. I have owned and operated a small business for the last ten years. I rely on the mail for my billing and payments. I support the postal workers in this dispute for a number of reasons.
I believe that postal workers are fighting not just for themselves but for the rest of us, and more importantly, our children. If Canada Post and the Federal Government can break this union then I think it will be bad news for everyone except the very rich in Canada.
Do we really want a future where our children make less money than we did? Do we really want a future where nobody but bank presidents and ex-CEO’s of AirCanadacan afford to retire?
I want my mail back but I also want a better future for my children. That’s why I am supporting the postal workers.