Category Archives: politics

Elizabeth May Comes to Calgary (and Shares a Car)

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Out and about on Calgary’s streets.
 It was great to see Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, come visit Calgarians today. She’s the first party leader to stop in since the election was called and it was great to see so many people come out and hear what she had to say about the environment, foreign policy, poverty and how the federal government should support cities. My favourite quote: “Are we are warmaking country or a peacemaking country? Canada should be a country that supports conflict resolution and stands for peace.”
Waving goodbye from the Calgary Carshare Prius.
It was also exciting to see a leader who “gets it” when it comes to transportation. She came down from Edmonton on the Red Arrow (our inter-city bus) and commented on how it would be great to have high-speed rail between the two (which I support). Calgary Carshare (our local carshare co-op, where I’m on the board), which is being used by some of the local Green Party candidates, was booked to take her from the bus to the event and eventually to the airport. (She had to be back in her BC riding for an all-candidates forum tonight, which necessitated a quick trip back.) IMHO, climate change is THE issue for this election, and while I’m disappointed/frustrated/angry that it’s not being talked about, I am glad that May and others recognize that it also impacts the way campaigning is done. Well done!

Carsharing rocks! (Photo by @Tisin)
Edit: There’s story/photos/video in the Calgary Herald and I’m in the background of one. (It’s like “Where’s Waldo?” if he had a pink scarf.)

(Political and Transportational) Choices

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I’ll admit it – I have a political crush on NDPer Megan Leslie (who’s running for re-election in Halifax). Why? 

  • She was voted “Rookie MP of the Year” in 2009.
  • When she spoke on Bill C-449 (giving seniors free access to transit in off-peak hours) she talked about the impact of free transit (“Free transit would greatly increase the quality of life by removing the terrible choice between rent, food, or heat and bus tickets.”) and called for the development of a National Transit Strategy for Canada.
  • She’s had some great clips recently on CBC because of her role as NDP spokesperson on health.

But, most of all, she’s running a carbon-neutral campaign that includes transit, cycling and carsharing. It’s nice to see someone who actually gets it – how we do the work matters as much as the work we’re doing. I look forward to the day when this is the norm, not the exception. Until then, I’ll work on convincing people that I’m not a saint just because I use Calgary Transit to get to work-related events, ok? (I’ll point out the other reasons instead, hehe.)


**Bonus points for her reference of climate-change discussions in this election campaign as an “issue of inter-generational equity” because, really, isn’t it?

(Cross-posted at Zero-Fare Canada who kindly invited me to post with them. Go check them out!)

Let’s Think Bigger, or What’s Our Vision for Canada?

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There’s been a lot in the media this week about the federal government’s decision to cut the number of family reunification visas that they will be issuing for parents/grandparents from 16,000 to 11,000. Most of the concern seems to be around the cost to Canada as these people age and receive benefits, specifically:
  • CPP: In order to receive benefits from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), a person has to have contributed to the program through payroll taxes. The benefits are calculated based on how long a person has contributed and at what rate, so it is really based on a person’s work experience in Canada. (There are problems with this, of course, such as the role of stay-at-home parents in the system, but that’s for another blog post.)
  • OAS/GIS: Old Age Security (OAS) provides you with a “modest” pension that starts when you turn 65, but you have to live in Canada for 10 years in order to qualify.The Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) provides additional income to low income people who already qualify for the OAS (10 years in Canada). The rates for both are dismally low, with a maximum monthly benefit of about $1,200 a month – if you’ve lived in Canada for 40 years after the age of 18. Benefits are reduced for those who’ve lived here less.
  • Other Benefits: There is an Allowance or Allowance for the Survivor for those aged 60-64 whose spouses are collecting or who collected OAS. People receiving this allowance have to be in a low income bracket, have to be a Canadian citizen or legal resident and have to have lived in Canada for 10 years.
Personally, I see this as a bigger story than just numbers (just like I see the secondary suite debate as a bigger debate than parking and neighbourhood density, which is also another blog post). The impact of caring for aging parents on a family is enough of a task; putting legal barriers in the way of family responsibilities just adds to the stress. And it’s not just permanent immigration – trying to bring a family member here for a wedding or celebration has also become an almost impossible task for many immigrants. (If a family member has applied to immigrate, they are not allowed to visit until that claim is dealt with. The current wait for a claim to be resolved is 13 years. What’s happened in the last 13 years that you would have missed?)
As the population of the world ages, this is an issue we’re going to see again and again. As a country, we need to develop better ways of addressing the needs of seniors, their families and the greater communities in which they live.  The debate needs to be bigger than money – it needs to be about values and ethics and how we support each other in creating a better future for all. The vision needs to include how seniors age in community and how we support families as they address the needs of aging parents and grandparents – and it needs to include how we’re going to pay for that support. I’m not immune to the funding debates. I’m just not willing to have them be the only thing guiding my thought process.  
(Cross-posted at the Bow Cliff Blog, where we’re sharing our programs, services and opinions about growing older.  Check it out!)

When The Government Hands You (^ Not) Lemons…

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After being rebuked by the Speaker of the House last week, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda admitted today that she had altered the document (by inserting the word “not”) which recommended KAIROS be given $7 million in funding from the federal government. And because I’m all about bigger discussions, I hope this leads to some press about how ministers should act when they disagree with the recommendations of their departments.
The bigger story – and kudos to them – is how KAIROS is handling the situation: tongue firmly in cheek. 

You can order a shirt of your very own on their website. I just love the creativity of nonprofits, don’t you?

Proud to Be Pink

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I confess, I’m a buton-a-holic – but that’s the topic for another blog post.

On today’s to-do list: order a button from Spacing Toronto.
If you missed it, here’s Don Cherry’s speech (at the Torontoist) that he delivered at Toronto City Council’s recent swearing-in, which explains why several people on my social media feed are also ordering buttons.
Oh, and insert celebratory “Our Mayor/Council Rocks” post here: they lowered the cost of low income transit passes! 
(Cross-posted at Zero-Fare Canada who kindly invited me to post with them. Go check them out!)

The Purple Revolution

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For those of you just tuning in, yep, I’m supporting Nenshi for Mayor of Calgary. I don’t have time to blog about all the reasons (hey, blame the term paper schedule!) but this video pretty much says it all:


Purple Revolution Music Video from Chris Hsiung on Vimeo.

More info on Nenshi can be found at www.nenshi.ca – go check it out, then get out there on Monday and vote! (23,791 of us already have!)

CBC News Investigates: Your Charity Dollars (and mine)

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I  just finished reading “Charities paid $762M to private fundraisers” (A CBC News Investigates piece) and I have to say, I’m incredibly disappointed. Why?

1. Numbers, numbers, numbers. We’re talking about a small number of charities: 651 of 85,0000. That’s 0.008% – less than 1% – of the charities in Canada. We’re talking about a small amount of money: $762 million out of $8.2 billion. That’s 9.29% – less than 10% – of the money raised by charities.That’s not what comes across; instead, the reaction in the comments is “Well, I’ll never donate to charity again.” There’s a lot of great charities who are going to have an even harder time fundraising now.
 
2. “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” Those of us working in charities – both paid and unpaid (and yes, I do both) – put our hearts into this work. We get there early or stay late (or both). We work evenings, weekends and holidays. We spend our time advocating and educating about social change. Sensational reporting doesn’t help get the job done, it makes the job harder.

3. They completely missed the big question: Why are charities having to focus so much on donations? Could it be because governments are downloading service expectations onto charities and then cutting the funding? What about the role that private foundations play in helping wealthy donors avoid paying taxes, which leads to those funding cuts? What about grants that don’t allow for admin costs, which means the staff have to be paid from other sources, or grants that are only open to “new” projects? How did the change from program to project based funding impact these factors? All of these impact far more than the 0.008% of charities using professional fundraisers.

I’m not going to stop donating to charities (obviously). I do my research and know which ones do good work (and which don’t).. I wish the CBC had thought about the long-term impacts before doing such a hatchet job on the charitable sector in Canada, because the work is only going to get harder from here.

How to Build a Brand New Blog: Day 6

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Day 6’s challenge is to Link to a Blogger in Your Niche, and my recommendation is for the site CalgaryPolitics.com. This is actually a group of bloggers writing about the Calgary General Election (that’s #yycvote on Twitter if you’d like to join us). There’s been some great posts on the site, including today’s post “Does a new mayor matter if we ignore the other 14 races?” and details on the upcoming Twibates (that’s debates on Twitter for you non-tweeters out there). If you’re even nominally interested in Calgary politics, this is the site for you!

31 Days to a Brand New Blog: Day 5

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Day 5’s challenge? Comment on Three Blogs You’ve Never Commented on Before:

Manhattan’s Non-Market Economy
It will be difficult to wean people off “free” parking, but it can be done with a carrot and not a stick. My city (Calgary, Alberta) tried to address the free parking situation at our local park and ride lots (located at train stations and major bus stops) by bringing in a $3 fee, and it caused a minor revolt amongst drivers. The difficulty was that they had not put any real alternatives to driving in place (such as frequent feeder bus routes to the park and rides or making transit more cycle-friendly) so most people felt they had little choice in the matter. If the investment had been made in good infrastructure, there might have been a different reaction to the fee. Instead, we have people who now drive downtown instead of paying the fee, even though it is more expensive, just to make a point. Very frustrating for those of us advocating for a better way!

Did Consumers Cause the BP Oil Spill? 
It’s not “just” about consumer choice, but that certainly is a factor in how we’re going to re-develop our future together. Point #3 and the development of car culture is accurate, but if know it was created then we know it can also be taken apart. Reducing the need for a personal automobile can be done in many ways: moving to a more walkable neighbourhood, taking transit or cycling, joining a carshare co-operative, etc. Yes, these are individual actions, but they also impact companies (less cars sold, less need for oil) and governments (more need for transit, more demand for high-density neighbourhoods) will act and how we will live in the future. That in turn will help create our next positive action and so on until we have something much better than the tarsands dependency we’re building on.

Monday Morning Rock Out
Happy Birthday Hildy! Great points about time and accountability. In the end, we all have the same amount of time (no one’s getting more than 24 hours in a day no matter how hard we beg!) and we’re ultimately accountable to ourselves for how we spend it. Now get out there and celebrate!