March, 2004 - Nr. 3
Letter from the Editor
Dear Reader
No doubt the winter blues haven reached most of us that had no opportunity to go search for warm sunshine in milder climes. But the promise of spring made itself felt in different ways just now. The various horticultural shows, which enjoy so much popularity, such as Canada Blooms are back in town. A major melt due to balmy plus temperatures to melt the glaciers in our back yards and vigorous bird chirping make us look for more signs of spring. In the front yard, where the sun has melted most of the snow, under an evergreen, the first tulip leafs tentatively stick out first tendrils. I have even seen a patch of real green grass here and there.
Along
with this promise of spring comes good or better news from the economic
front. The last quarter saw well over 4 % increase in the USA. Maybe that
will make for a bit more confidence all around and increase the statistics
in our domain as well.
I am sure you have been watching what has been going on with our governments and the lack of confidence it created on the various levels. The federal scandal is certainly something we all want to watch very closely.
Just imagine what this could mean! With voters ticked off at the Liberals and the Conservatives choosing a new leader, it could mean that Belinda Stronach has a crack at becoming Prime Minister! And why not? It is no more a gamble than voting in anyone else. She would not be governing alone but have seasoned advisers by her side. May be it takes a mother and a corporate personality, not a lawyer, to make doable plans and get them executed.
We are supposedly dealing with the field of Political Arts and Science, but let’s face it, we all know there is no science to it. And it cannot possibly be an art, because so few do it artfully, govern that is, or else the results would not always be so dismal.
Be honest, aren’t governments just running from emergency to emergency? Where is the art in that, where is the science, maybe of economics, to handle the situation permanently.
Closer to home the emergency handlings are just as apparent. I need to report to you that you are lucky not to have chosen one of the past candidates for Mayor. It was the variety that spends money that does not exist but buys stuff, like advertising, in the hopes of raising the money after the fact.
We can say that it was not the candidate that made this happen, but the surrounding advisers, volunteers, the help, sort to speak. No matter, the lead player, in this case Barbara Hall, would be held responsible. All our efforts to collect were met with extreme indifference.
Praise goes in retrospect to John Tory, who’s campaign wanted very much to book space and cancelled in the last minute because over there someone knew that there was no more money in the kitty.
Disappointing for us, but much more responsible than in the Hall camp.
Now we hear that all candidates of that race and other friends are still holding a fundraiser to fulfill the Hall campaigns promise.
Hurray for the help…. Someone from Queens Park had told us that after a certain time in February there is no more fundraising allowed. Let’s see how they are justifying this one, unless we were led down a garden pass with that information!
What this fundraising effort tells though is that no matter whom you elect, in the end all the speeches did not matter. There is hardly a difference between candidates. The bottom line is that someone has to run the show and the one with the best ability for rhetoric will get the job, doing what almost all of them would do, because there really is not that much leeway to do things differently anyway. The difference lies in how we are being sold the story.
And since most of us love our creature comforts we will not allow things to be turned around, not in a democracy. Those things could only happen by decree. We are not willing to go back to those practices that work to reduce the deficit and curtail overspending. I think that it is just pretence. All the posturing and screening is a smoke screen of political correctness and expediency to further the election process. Please, let’s prove ourselves wrong!
But back to that promise of spring, which will certainly be kinder to the homeless. We found one in our hunt for the front page in Allen Gardens.
Not exactly what I was looking for.
There are lots of things in our society that require fixing; getting folks of all ages and descriptions off the street is one of them.
I always marvel at how incredibly grandiose we posture and wail when it come to the plights of people in other countries. Should we not be crying out for our own first?
Have a wonderful spring!
Sybille Forster-Rentmeister
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