One Red Hot Country Mama!

I have been a bit distracted lately, with the intensity of the motherhood experience, keeping my business going and enjoying life as a red hot country mama in Port Hope. But, so much bigger than my life… there are a lot of changes going on in my country, and I worry.

The G20 Experience in Toronto – With mass arrests and human rights violations, this was a dark day for Canada. Yes there are inquiries, but the Bill Blair, Chief of Police is still there, and though a few individuals have been taken to task, no one is holding any of the politicians responsible.

Rob Ford Becoming Mayor of Toronto – Conservative Rob Ford  got elected on a platform of fighting the “war on the car”. That’s right, he convinced the voters of Toronto that the problem was not the fact that there are too many cars on the road, and we should look at why, but instead that there is some mysterious “war on the car”. This saddens me, since we have an opportunity to increase transit, and with his mishaps with MetroLinks mean that probably there will be no forward movement on transit in the next 3 years of his term. He has recently distinguished himself as the first mayor in decades not to march in the pride parade. I lived in Toronto for 10 years (and may be going back next year), and I cannot believe that the people of this diverse cultural capitol chose this guy to lead them.

Conservative Stephen Harper Getting a Majority – I noticed that even the political pundits are rolling their eyes. When an new scandal came up recently with him re-appointing an ex-senator to the senate, who had left to campaign and failed, one of the pundits on Evan Soloman’s Power and Politics said “well, you elected them after outlandish scandal after outlandish scandal, what do you expect?” Yes, perhaps this has more to do with the implosion of the Liberal Party than anything else, but I am saddened that this man represents me and my country on the world stage.

I don’t know why Canada has changed so much – especially when we are seeing a predicted Conservative win in Ontario as well… I think that these politicians are preying on the apathy of the voters. I think that, since I cannot believe that the average Canadian is aligned with these guys. Maybe everyone is just busy like I am doing the day-t0-day, and we are letting the wolves manage the henhouses.

I have always liked the saying: “Canada is not great, but it is good”. But, now with this awful collection of leaders with their backwards agendas, I am afraid we can no longer say that.