November 2000 - Nr. 11
Down On The Town
by Alexander Oolo
Harry Potter's Magic Show
Question: What do 20,000 screaming kids ("wizards") have in common?
Answer: Why, of course a visit by the world’s most famous children’s book author!
None other than J.K. Rowling (OBE) descended upon Toronto’s Sky Dome, October 24, 2000.
Rowling is the creative force behind the phenomenally successful Harry Potter book cycle.
Her numbers, notwithstanding her beautifully written work, are nothing but dizzying and record breaking.
The first four Harry Potter books have already sold over 32 million copies in 40 languages and 200 countries!
So you can imagine how excited the organizers of the 21st annual International Festival of Authors were (October 18-28, 2000) when Rowling agreed to read from the 4th chapter of her 4th book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
And what a special treat it was to witness Rowling deliver "the largest reading in the history of the world", so the always-lively Greg Gatenby, Artistic Director of the International Festival of Authors.
And so, after being preceded with readings by Canadian children’s authors Kenneth Oppel and Tim Wynne-Jones and Gatenby’s fitting introduction, it was time for Rowling to enchant her fans with the wizardry of Harry Potter et al.
Rowling would not disappoint the mostly pre-teen crowd alongside numerous teachers, parents, adult fans and a fully assembled media corps.
And so, after having taken centre stage in the true fashion of a Magus, namely, walking serenely and upright with both hands in front of her chakra (point of spiritual energy in the human body), Rowling spell-bound her guests from beginning to end.
She did this famously as you could have heard a pin drop among a crowd that was obviously on the proverbial edge of their seats; that’s right, even in the acoustically challenged Sky Dome.
Which brings us to what J.K. Rowling has actually done for today’s kids.
She has virtually wrenched an entire generation away. Away from remaining in the confines of a passive and mindless world - a world that only exists on television-, computer- and play-station screens.
Instead, she has enabled – literally – millions of young people to liberate their minds and become active, avid readers!
And since reading is the very activator for creating, dreaming, envisioning which in return enables (especially) young inquiring minds to formulate independent ideas, thoughts and concepts, I would say that there is a wee bit more hope for this world in which we all live in.
So it was almost inevitable that Greg Gatenby, following Rowling’s animated reading, planted one more vitally important seed into the minds of the young audience: "We want you to go home and read, read, read!"
I have all the confidence that they will...
Book V of the Harry Potter series, titled Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, will be ready for release by July 2001, with the film version of Harry’s first year at wizard school being released in November 2001.
Change You Can Trust?
Well, welcome to the 2000 version of Canada’s federal election circus!
My, what a sight for sore eyes.
Just have a gander at all this wasteful campaign literature in your mailbox, just witness the launching of one wishy-washy party platform after the other, or just "simply" observe (very closely, if you please) all 5 of Canada’s media-driven party chiefs in action.
Speaking of which, someone recently said that all the leaders were equal --- they all suck!
Sadly enough that’s actually a truism about the current state of our nation’s political figureheads.
None of them can claim to be true leaders say in line with one Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
Namely, leading-instead-of-opinion-polling, being pre- and concise, issues-driven, passionate & resilient, focused, visionary & big-picture prone, well educated- and read, fearless, a bridge builder, but all the while remaining distant enough so to preserve ones independence to make reasoned decisions.
So how do the parties and their so-called leaders stack up this time around?
Let us start with a no-brainer, the Bloc Quebecois (BC).
Led by the non-charismatic but relentless Gilles Duceppe, a former hospital orderly, former Communist and labour organizer, the Bloc is of course just a regional-interest party. It promotes the creation of a sovereign Quebec state.
The Liberals have ambitions for taking some seats from the Bloc but will come up dry. Especially when the federal campaign will (unfortunately) see the return of negative advertising between the Liberal and Alliance camps.
That’s when Duceppe will once more be able to "expose" ‘all this Ottawa-based bickering’, subtly reminding his constituency that ‘they’ will never offer an alternative to Quebec - the Bloc will be resoundingly re-elected.
Next in line is the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP).
What ever happened to the party that was the home of great social activists such as Tommy Douglas, Stanley Knowles and Ed Broadbent? A party though never in power, was nevertheless the driving force behind what most of us still cherish to this day, our social safety net.
Why is it that we saw and heard so little from Alexa McDonough, the phantom-leader of Canada’s social democrats? That is not exemplifying the traditional traits of an NDP-leader: bold, engaging, passionate and visible. To come out only really now is simply not good enough.
Also, the NDP has harmed itself by moving into the mushy middle. In times like these, were the main political battle is between the right and the center, it would have been ideal had the party honed in on its left roots.
Such a move could have really distinguished the NDP from the fuzzy Conservatives and Liberals and especially the ultra-right Reform-Alliance - offering a true choice to the electorate.
Ultimately, I agree with the pundits, the socialist are fighting for their political life and could likely meet the fate of the post-Mulroney Conservative Party, virtual oblivion, loss of party status.
Which brings us right to the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC).
It’s leader, The Right Honourable Joe Clark (Canada’s 16th Prime Minister), is well known the nation over. Having witnessed three defections in the last Parliament, the PC party has only fifteen seats left to its name (out of a total of 301 parliamentary seats).
They too could face election disaster come November 27th (the date of the federal vote of 2000). Nevertheless, I don’t quite believe the hype the national media has made about the fate of PC’s. It predicts the utter demise of the Tory party. Impossible I say, not after only 1½ weeks of electioneering.
In fact, the Conservative Party is just too deeply rooted in this country and will NOT lose all its support just because of this election. Yes, there might be a 5-7 seats gain or loss, but I don’t think the PC’s will lose their current share in the public vote.
Why do I believe this? Well, the Conservatives not only have the best slogan, Change You Can Trust, but there seems a new vigor about them alongside a kind of no-fear attitude among its numerous canvassers.
I believe this to be attributable to a huge presence of young campaign workers (at least in Ontario). Obviously kids that have grown up in a traditional Tory-voting households and that has not jumped onto the Reform-Alliance bandwagon.
This was no more evident than at The Millennium Dinner the Hon. William Davis, the former conservative Premier of Ontario, hosted for Joe Clark, October 24, 2000 at Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle.
At least 20% were late-teenagers or young adults! That the former Prime Minister of Canada, The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, was at that same dinner you know already from the national news.
But his presence, as charming and audacious as he was that night, will give you a clear choice as a voter. Either you are indignant at the Tory party for having invited the head of one of the more corrupt governments in our country’s history = you will not vote Conservative.
Or you decide to look to the future by turning a page on history and vote for your Conservative candidate. And if you would do so you likely ended up looking up the Tory platform. Ironically, it holds its own when compared to the ones from the Alliance and Liberals.
Notwithstanding the arrogant and deceptive images the name Mulroney might have rekindled in you (are these not the same labels thrown at our present-day Liberal government?), here comes the Canadian Alliance.
Created by Preston Manning, the regional Reform Party of Canada grew on the fertile ground of a real grass roots movement. Honourable and above all disclosing in its original intentions, it grew to become Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in our House of Commons (1997).
By the time the Reform call to "unite the right" failed (the Conservatives rightfully refused to merge with Reform) party strategists realized that the only way to ever beat the Liberals was to offer a real national alternative. Born was the defiant Canadian Alliance with Stockwell Day elected as its leader.
Personally, I do not see how an alliance that is based on defiance spells out reliance, but that’s just my point-of-view.
That a new party, however, equipped with a differing vision is desirous to receive a mandate from the people is a natural development.
And again, speaking only for myself, I have never been real sure about Stockwell Day being the right man to head the Reform-Alliance (my pick would have been the Alliance’s Dr. Keith Martin). Something just rubbed me the wrong way about Day, even the very first time I witnessed him in action as it were.
It was right after the state funeral for Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Everyone was sombre and respective. After all, we had just said farewell to a great leader and witnessed the birth of a potential new one, Justin Trudeau.
Well, after exiting the basilica, Stockwell Day was the only one to wade into the crowds, glad-handing to his heart’s delight (actually there was also Brian Tobin, but here it was the crowd that prompted him to come over and say hi – not the other way around).
With all respect, folks, what’s up with that? Remember this is way before the writ was dropped (the election call).
The other thing I don’t appreciate about Stockwell is his knack to recreate himself every step of the way, just like the electioneering Al Gore, stateside from here.
First it was a flat tax of 17%, and then it became a staggered 17 and 24%. First the Liberal job creation program was not good, and then some of it would be retained under an Alliance government. First it was the casual wood chopping, grand daughter holding, running away TV-commercial spots, and now that’s been replaced with an office-based, suit wearing, more prime ministerial looking Stockwell.
If you just want a change by any means, then, by all means, vote for the Alliance!
But remember theirs is a totally different view of the country. They envision a very decentralized government with the strongholds being the actual provinces/territories. In short, Canada would become an assembly of independent fiefdoms.
Lastly, ask your self quite objectively: does Mr. Day come across as someone that will succeed in keeping Canada united - its peoples, its issues? He does not appear to be able to - more often than not do we see him behave in an adversarial and/or cocky manner.
Although in that department Day and our bullying Prime Minister seem to see eye-to-eye.
And on that queue, let’s deliberate the Liberal Party of Canada (Lib).
Jean Chrétien and his Liberal horde of trained seals have left behind an abysmal record of mismanaging this great nation of ours. In their seven years in power they have become arrogant, deceptive and wasteful.
But what’s outright shameful is the fact that they have broken more promises than you can shake a stick at. Can you say GST! Where you not going to abolish that nuisance tax, Mr. Prime Minister, way back at the beginning of your first mandate?
Of course, the Liberals do advocate a strong united Canada, with a strong, centralized government at its helm; much in keeping with the original Trudeau vision for our country. But can it not be argued that that model is perhaps outdated, not valid for our present day-to-day realities.
On the other hand, it could be said that the land is strong, the economy is booming, and so, why would one want a change in government? Especially now that the Liberals have – supposedly – fezzed up to cutting taxes.
And on it goes this endless carrousel of political spinning.
I say that none of the five parties reflects my idea of a healthy Canada, reflects my wishes and desires. But I will not forfeit my most important democratic right, I shall vote.
Please do so as well, dear readers. Good luck in reaching a trusting and lasting decision.
Comments to: oolo@echoworld.com
