Excited Delirium

The British election exemplifies that consistent thread of cynicism and contempt that Conservatives exhibit to all voters, be they in Britain, Scotland, Ireland or as far away as little Canada.

Minorities rules.  Majorities drool.

If the ‘Labour’ party (which to me is a bit of a misnomer given that there’s nothing Labour about them) are interested in retaining their position as official government, they will have to negotiate with the Liberal Democrats and form a coalition.

They actually have that right as the current ruling party.  I hope they exercise this right.

However, such a step may also motivate them to finally lead the Commonwealth by making Proportional Representation (PR) a major requirement and possibly a referendum question for the voters of the UK.

Another point of instigation in this respect is the first time ever election of a Member of Parliament representing the Green Party.  Not only is this possibly the biggest news item that the media world missed out on, but it will ultimately push PR to the top of the list of policy decisions that any government need to agree on.

Action on the part of the majority of seats will be a real and genuine win for the voting public and will likely be a watershed moment for democracy around the world.

Ultimately, this begs the question:  if the root of Parliamentary democracy (Britain) turns to PR, do Commonwealth countries even have a choice about staying stuck in the past.

My answer:  NO.  Many will, including Canada, but ultimately, we won’t have a choice.

For the record, I like the idea of coalitions.  I like the idea of negotiating for everyone that we represent and I like the idea of finding consensus.  I also like the idea of policies taking time to develop as opposed to being driven by one party that’s obsessed with their view and their view only and making things happen as quickly as possible before their tenuous hold on power slips through their fingers.

This is why I think the central platform of any progressive party in Canada should focus on democratic reform and REAL institutional change when it comes to getting Canadians engaged.

How about it folks?

I had these thoughts in draft for some time and then I read “The Progressive Left Needs a Manning Centre Equivalent” by Scott Tribe.  He managed to stir quite a debate and discussion with this and has actually attracted some really cool ideas as well.

At extreme risk of looking like I”m jumping on the band wagon and with even bigger risk of pissing off anyone who even remotely ‘aligns’ themselves with a specific party, I want to say this:

I WANT TO START A NEW PARTY.

As the Canadian Parliament FINALLY returns to work after the ‘recalibration’ of the Harper Conservatives (like they all got a little dizzy on a teacup circus ride and needed a chance to stop before they all puked in their $400 shoes), I watched, ever hopeful that someone with enough fortitude would make a stand against Stephen Harper and his ongoing charade as an elected leader of this country.

The Liberals caved quicker than a sand castle facing a tsunami.  In fact, when you look at the voting numbers in the House, the Liberals are as blue as the Cons.  The Cons have belly-ached about the possibility of a coalition for the last 2 years, and yet they’ve received support from the Liberals with nearly all of their bills … when they’re actually able to work in the House of Commons.

The NDP did no better.  While I don’t want to suggest that Jack is Stephen Harper’s ‘Left-Hand Man’, I’m regularly forced to acknowledge that when he cuts what look like good deals in the short-run, I can’t help but feel that he’s selling Canada out in the long-run by helping Slippery Steve stay in power.  The NDP, lead by Jack Layton, have helped keep the Conservatives in power for nearly 1,500 days, following their initial great amalgamation that occurred back in 2006 when they acted together to bring down the Liberals.

The Bloc, busy sucking the life out of Canada, did nothing as well.

The Greens weren’t there but I think I heard Elizabeth May doing a book review on the CBC.  And let’s look at the cold reality with the Greens:  they’re a single-issue distraction, offering nothing more than a SIGG water bottle elitist kind of feeling when it comes to political disobedience.  When you scratch the surface, they’re Cons, hiding their market ideologies behind an environmental flag, fracturing votes across the country for all parties.  They are nothing like their European counterparts.  In time, the Canadian population will realize that voting for the Greens is like kicking democracy in the junk.

When ‘Steve’s Big Break’ came and went, no one in the ‘opposition’ took the opportunity or time to recalibrate their own lousy platforms and they all now continue to play the same cat and mouse bullshit that we had before the extended holiday.

THIS NEW PARTY SHOULD BE COMMITTED TO PROGRESSIVE IDEALS.

Maybe all we need to do is reawaken the Rhinoceros Party just to keep the other parties on their toes.

Maybe all we need is an advocacy group (or many) that will bury the Canadian public with opinions and ideas about decent things to do with our future instead of crying about how we don’t have enough guns to shoot people with or how our prisons will need to be run out of basements like crappy day-care centres because our public institutions are packed with first-time offenders.

However, I’ve hit a peak in frustration and none of the parties represent me or my ideas in the House of Commons.

So, I officially propose that we start a new party that is committed to progressive ideals for this country.

Canadians need a party that act in the best interest of Canada, and not just for themselves.

I’ve held off on this as long as I could, but I believe it’s time we started a new party.

Here are some things I’d want to see from this party:

• A true commitment to democracy.  Voting lead by constituents and not by coercion of the party leaders.
• A declaration that the first act introduced would be one to institutionalize proportional representation in this country.
• A commitment to powerful, progressive income and consumption taxes that will help all levels of government balance their books.
• A commitment to true-cost pricing, effectively ending the carbon monopoly that exists in this country.
• A party that doesn’t cave at every turn to calls from the labour movement and that doesn’t have to flinch if it says that not every strike is OK.
• The elimination of the office of the Governor General.
• A republic?  Why not?  Why should an unelected official decide the fate of Canada when strong-armed by Steve and the Harpoons?  We need a real discussion about why we’re still effectively ruled by a monarch from England.
• A REAL plan to wean Canada off carbon energy and to invest in all forms of renewables.  The starting points of this plan might include ideas like never spending money on roads again; only putting money into public transit; divesting ourselves of GM and Chrysler because they are an abhorrent conflict of interest; and creating a transition plan for the Tar Sands of Alberta so that we can attend international events without feeling the shame of creating one of the world’s largest environmental nightmares.
• Support for a broad-based open-access philosophy for all public institutions.  If I want information, I can get it.  In text format, and not PDF.  Further, all government institutions would have to make a commitment to using open-source technology and platforms so that we can stop dumping billions per year into the pockets of the likes of Microsoft.
• A plan to incubate and protect (yes, protect) Canadian businesses that focus on local, organic, natural or fair-trade.
• A plan to incubate and support new technologies and online platforms for all Canadians.
• A requirement that ALL houses built in this country starting on (pick a date) be net producers of energy.  There’s no reason why we should have new developments that are net consumers of energy.  We have the technology to do it.  We lack the will to make it happen.
• A severe crackdown on monopolies in this country, starting with our communications companies.
• Recognition that the corporation is not the only business model in Canada.  Support for non-profits, co-ops, partnerships and other formats, particularly those that favour small businesses, would be part of the party platform.
• A requirement that the CPP divest itself of all shareholdings related to companies that manufacture weapons.
• Complete and absolute withdrawal from Afghanistan.  Immediately.
• A FULL inquiry into the Afghanistan detainee torture issue, including imprisonment of any officials associated with War Crimes.
• Funding and moral support for the UN, particularly its peace keeping bodies.
• Borrowing from our one true Bank (the Bank of Canada) instead of commercial lenders.

These are just top-level ideas about ways we can differentiate ourselves from the rest of the pack.

And don’t tell me that a new party would just dilute the left or progressive mind-set of this country.  In Alberta, the Wild Rose Party sprung up to capture the level of resentment and we can do it for the whole country.  The Bloc did the exact same thing in the 1980s and nearly destroyed this country.

We can do the same.

We owe it to future generations of Canadians to take action today.

Lists bring a sense of order to the world.

More importantly, I look at lists like filters.  They help me (and hopefully others that read this list and my Heroes list) identify what I think the most relevant activities / people / events in 2009 were.  They help separate all of the noise that’s going on around us and get us right down to the fundamentals of who was naughty and who was nice during the last year.

Anyways, here goes (and apologies for the growing list):

#22:  Scouts Canada

2009 was the first year that my son could enroll with Scouts Canada as a Beaver.

Having grown up with Scouts myself, I couldn’t wait.  I was looking forward to reliving my own youth through my son’s eyes.

This was not going to happen.

Scouts Canada has failed to adapt with the times.

At the very basic level of the Beavers, they decided to ‘teach’ the young kids about soldiers, marching, using guns and even encouraging them to engage in gun play (with fake guns, of course) where they would chase each other and ’shoot’ at each other in mock games.

To top it all off, it was on the night before Rememberance Day.  I was disgusted and complained to the local leader, only to get a response that it was OK and that gun play is fun and harmless when done right.

I was furious and took my complaint to a local administrator, but was shut down and told to take it up with my local leader, even though I had forwarded the email from the local leader.

Scouts Canada faces extinction if it cannot adapt with the times.  In the grand scheme of things, this was a small issue, but what happens when religion and the Queen enter the weekly running dialogue and series of chants that my son ‘must’ learn in order to ‘get the most’ from this institution?

What also bothers me is the constant ‘tithing’ or requests for donations that we receive every week.  We already paid $150 for the year so that my son could run around a church basement.  Yes, there are things that they provide without asking for more money, but we’re donating a loonie or toonie with every session, bumping up the annual commitment to something more like $250.  There are also the endless fundraisers (Apple Day, Popcorn sales), all of which make me wonder why Scouts Canada needs so much damn money.  I’d rather give this money to charity.

I now attend every meeting, but will not renew my son’s membership in 2010.

Also, I’m looking for a new group that my whole family can participate with.  I’d like to join something that acknowledges and explores world cultures without being religious, but more importantly, something that we can join where we learn some basic outdoors skills while also learning how to be responsible about them.

Suggestions?

#21:  Darlington Spill

The tritium spill at Darlingon in December 2009 was glossed over by the OPG, Ontario’s government and the general media in an unbelievable wave of simplicity.

We have been told that there’s nothing wrong, but should we believe this?

This story was a small glimpse into the hazards related to the nuclear industry.

Please never install another nuke again.  To be honest, I don’t care, but the future of our planet depends on not being so stupid.

#20:  Religious Zealots (especially as Political Advisors)

The Toronto Star finally did a tell-all about how people like Charles McVety are effectively controlling policy direction in the Prime Minister’s office.  We need more exploration of a similar and more intense nature.  We need all Canadians to understand how these people are shaping policy for their own profit and gain, with little regard for the population at large.

No Apologies blog offered a little more detail on the subject.

These issues have reawakened the desire of all Canadians to separate Church and State.

It’s time.

#19:  Don Cherry

Canada’s hockey ‘Don’ is a frustrating ‘tour de force’ that perpetuates two things in this country:

1. ‘Support the troops’ flag waving that we just don’t need.
2. Hockey violence.

I support our troops just as much as I support our doctors, public policy analysts, our nurses, road workers, and the millions of other people in Canada that provide public services to all of us all the while having deficit cuts and public inquiries hanging over their heads.

And hockey violence?  I will never enlist my son with hockey so long as nothing is done to curtail hockey violence in Canada.  Don Cherry could do something about given his stature as a Canadian commentator with Hockey Night in Canada, but he doesn’t.

Why?

#18:  The Nobel Peace Prize Committee

Barack Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize like I deserve an award for being the first male to give birth.  Giving someone an award for something that they promise to do or might do is not the same as rewarding action.  The likelihood of this happening, however, is marginal.  I think even Obama knows this.

Therefore, the decision to give him the Peace Prize in 2009 is one made in error.  Until the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are actually ended and the hundreds of US military installations around the world are untangled from the rubric of local affairs, I’ll insist that the man get the award.

Until then, find someone who is actually doing peaceful things.

#17:  Asian Carp

Asian carp – a voracious and destructive breed of fish – threaten to invade the Great Lakes within the next few months to few years and this will spell disaster for the natural environment of these water systems.

The Toronto Star covered the issue recently.

The history:

Asian carp were first brought to Arkansas in 1963 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which wanted a natural way to control aquatic weeds, reducing the need for chemicals. Fish farms brought more carp to function as pond cleaners.

The fish started to escape as early as 1966, according to a Fish and Wildlife Service history. The Asian carp were spread by Mississippi River floods in the 1990s.

Once released, the insatiable fish quickly conquered local rivers and headed north to spawn and eat. Asian carp now dominate many parts of major rivers, including the Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio, Columbia and Platte rivers. A survey in an offshoot of the Mississippi River near St. Louis found 97% of the fish were Asian carp.

The other sad part of this story:  the Asian Carp represent just one of the more than 150 invasive species to occupy the Great Lakes since the beginning of the 20th century.

#16:  The CBC

Yes, the CBC most certainly deserves a unique mention in this year’s list, mainly because the management has done everything it can to grind ‘the mother ship’ into the ground, buy American programming, and regurgitate all of the PR and spin that comes from various spin doctors.

I think they also deserve to be singled out since they made the exceptionally poor decision to join the hordes of corporate shills behind the ‘LocalTVMatters’ campaign.  Not only is CBC extremely lacking in local content, but their support gives a level of authenticity to the campaign that it otherwise lacks.

To top it all off, they (through CBC Radio) continue to produce the most abhorrent piece of propaghanda known as Afghanada.  It is the bottom of the content barrel and even Goebbels would be proud.

#15:  IOC / VANOC

When I was a kid, the Olympics meant a lot to me.  It was a brief moment in time when all of the world stopped to cheer on the youngest, strongest, fastest and most talented athletes that we could offer to amateur competition.

Today, the Olympics represent nothing more than a big drain on public coffers, a massive never-ending advertisement, support for repressive  regimes (has anyone seen reforms from China yet?) and, worst yet, near-Fascist in the control of information that will come from the Games as they’re played out in February of 2010.  And I haven’t even begun to touch the issues related to native land claims.

The latest casualty of censorship and control was the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, which refuses to ‘mime’ their performance for the grand opening.  Good for them.

I, for one, will not spend a minute watching the Games.

#14:  Rupert Murdoch

In 2009, Mr. Murdoch of News Corp and Fox News fame essentially told Google to go screw itself and that all content produced by his companies would be hidden from search engines.

While thinking ‘hey, that would be a good thing, right?’ I also wondered if Mr. Murdoch had read the stock pages recently of his own Wall Street Journal for the list price of Google?

#13:  The IMF and World Bank

2008 ended in near-complete financial anarchy.  The economies of the world were barely pulled together only because the world’s largest economies and treasuries responded to the clarion call of a number of international institutions, particularly the World Bank and IMF, to generate a massive and unprecedented level of spend from public coffers.

I believe the action taken to encourage economic stability was misdirected in the form of incredibly large bailouts for companies and activities that needed them least of all (the banks and car manufacturers).

The short-term result was unprecedented deficits of all western governments.

The longer-term result:  we will see 2010 and beyond be years of incredible slashing and burning of all public institutions.

I predict that anything that we hold dear in Canada – health care, the CBC, a legal system, etc – will be put on the block by Jim Flaherty.  The entire array of government-owned property will be sold off at fire-sale prices to finance a fraction of the inappropriate spending on home renovations and tax-free savings accounts for the rich and roads for the mob.  In fact, this story will prove to be a scandal of much larger proportion in 2010 than the Ad Scam was, assuming someone has the stones to do something about it.

#12:  Dalton McGuinty and Gleb Campbell

The HST will sow the seeds of ruin for both Dalton McGuinty and Glen Campbell.  It is Harris downloading at its best and will help the Cons shine while the rest of the country gets mired in political wrangling and the perception that it’s the provincial leaders brining about a tax increase.

Both of these men got screwed by the Cons, but we’re all going to get screwed by downloading.

Thanks for nothing, gents!

#11:  Elizabeth May

“Where’s my home?”

Elizabeth May has run in 4 jurisdictions (London North-Centre, Central Nova, possibly Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, and in the next election, the Saanich-Gulf Islands in BC) since being elected leader of the Green Party and she needs to settle down.

Of course, I like Elizabeth.  I like her broad knowledge base and ability to cite specific details in relation to environmental issues, legislative challenges and other elements related to her party’s platform.  I like her the fact that she seems approachable.

In fact, I think that the Greens should still consider some way to partner with the NDP (despite vast political and ideological viewpoints) and find a way to minimize the destruction that both parties bring to each other at the benefit of the Cons.  If they do, it will guarantee that either May or Layton will be top-ranked as Heroes in 2010.

And those are the only reasons why she didn’t get graduated to the Top 10 list of curmudgeons in 2009.

#10:  Michaelle Jean

In 2009, Canada’s Governor General proved that the office was redundant and an insult to Canadians.  Stephen Harper leveraged the office of the Governor General to prorogue, or effectively cancel the notion of democracy in Canada.

The situation proved that Canada is nothing more than a blob on a map for monarchists to do with as they please.

Thanks for another year of Conservative dictatorship, Michaelle!  Thanks.

#9:  Alberta’s Tar Sands

I don’t think I’m going to say much about the Tar Sands with the exception of this:  Ed Stelmach is right in that we all have Tar Sands muck on our hands.  As long as we accept transfers from the Wild Rose state province, we all have to accept responsibility.

#8:  10 Percenters

It used to be that Parliamentarians tried to communicate the wonderful things that they did in the House of Commons using what are called ‘10 Percenters‘.  These mass mailings could go to households in other ridings – at no cost to the politician sending them – so long as the distribution did not exceed 10 percent of the households in their own constituency.

This ‘perk’ has proven to be a complete sham and is being abused by every single federal political party in Canada to spread malicious BS about anyone else that is a Parliamentarian.

Will 2010 be the end of the 10 Percenter?  Let’s hope so.

#7:  The CRTC

During 2009, the CRTC proved to Canadians that it doesn’t have a purpose.

Whether it was rules and regs about Net Neutrality, licensing and copyright issues or policies related to broadcast television, they clearly demonstrated that they are not connected with Canadians, but with the monopoly institutions that lobby the CRTC day and night.

Canadians are being lead to believe that we need things like CanCon or rules related to content programming for our broadcasters.  Unfortunately, neither of these or other rules have done little to benefit Canadian artists.

If you feel the same way about the CRTC, call for its demise and support DissolvetheCRTC.ca.

#6:  H1N1 ‘Hysteriosis’

The insanity that surrounded H1N1 vaccinations, the clinics, the media and people that were threatening violence if they didn’t get their shots was beyond obscene.  All of the actors involved did nothing less than depreciate the human experience in 2009 and they should be ashamed.

2009’s H1N1 mania exceeded the insanity we saw with 2000’s Y2K.  It was a mess that was compounded by the media’s inability to apply scrutiny to an awful situation.  Moreover, several company did their best to act in their own interest and not with that of the public.  It opens up the likelihood that any federal party that promises a public medical research institution will gain credibility with a wide array of Canadians that don’t believe companies should profit from hysteria.

The hidden story with the H1N1 fiasco:  it highlighted the ways in which certain privatization zealots would attack Canada’s revered health system.  Because private institutions were given medication ahead of public flu shot clinics, many wealthy and powerful Canadians will do their best to continue to get front-of-the-line access like they might at a Lexus dealership.

#5:  Canadian Broadcasters

Read this article.  It will change your life.  Save Local TV, but for what?

The dark side to the whole Canadian broadcast story the past decade or so has been the limitless, reckless overspending – especially by CTV – in order to attain total dominance in the marketplace. CTV has owned the Canadian Top-20 nationally the past decade with its deep line-up of American hits – American Idol, the CSIs, The Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, the list goes on and on.

During – and, really, because of – that drive to dominance, the cost of importing American shows skyrocketed. Still, it seemed, no price was too high to keep a potential hit away from arch rival Canwest Global.

…

Now CTV wants you to cover their losses after recklessly overspending on the rights to the Olympic Games. The CTV-Rogers consortium paid a record $153 million U.S. when you include the rights to 2012. It was, some estimate, about $50 million more than CBC was prepared to bid at the time.

Times have changed. The companies that used to race to sponsor Olympic TV – mainly car companies and banks – got in ahead of the broadcasters for bailouts. The grand plan by CTV and Rogers to charge the highest ad rates in Olympic history ran smack into a stiff recession.

So now they’re going for the gold by asking Canadians – also hard-hit by the recession – to reach into their pockets and help them cover their losses.

If overspending was an Olympic event, CTV would win the gold, Global the silver, City the bronze. Don’t get taken for another ride in the KITT car, Canada. Let the buyers beware.

Now … go out and give some money to the folks with Net Neutrality.

Along with the need to abolish the CRTC, we all need to send a signal to our politicians and broadcasters that we’re really not interested in watered-down pablum from the US.

Canadians can produce good content, but you have to let us go.

#4:  Jim Flaherty

When this man talks, I have to turn off the radio or TV (although I have to admit that I don’t watch TV much anymore).

I’m left with a single question:  did the people in Oshawa not learn their lesson when Flaherty was Michael Harris’ axe-man in the 1990s?

Shortly after Parliament was dissolved for the holidays, ‘Diamond Jim’ crouched over the collective fire pits of millions of Canadians and took a dump on their Christmas by threatening unprecedented cutbacks in public programs in order to finance the growing deficit.  This was most likely a tactic done to appease the Conservative base but also avoid any real public scrutiny in the House of Commons.  Bold move, Jim.  Bold move.

What’s next?  Stealing presents from under the tree and ‘taking burned out lightbulbs to repair them there and bring them back here’?  When’s the moment when you and Max ride to the top of Mount Crumpet to discover that your heart is three sizes too small?  Is there anything that will make your heart grow to normal proportions?

Probably not.

#3:  Christie Blatchford

I’ll give her this:  blogging in Canada wouldn’t have taken on the relevance that it has in just the last few weeks if Christie Blatchford hadn’t trashed Richard Colvin the way she did.

Her unfortunate acts against Colvin have not only ruined his character, but they’ve damaged the reputation of the Globe and Mail to a point where I believe there will be an internal riot that will ultimately destroy one of Canada’s most influential media institutions.

In fact, I would argue that her acts of bias have pushed the Globe into irrelevance, much like Rupert Murdoch has pushed Fox into a world of ‘Faux News’.

Congratulations!

#2:  Stephen Harper

I’m honestly not sure where to start.

Stephen Harper spent 2009 being at the centre of Canada’s rapid descent into last place with pretty much everything on this planet unless, of course, you’re talking about the world’s worst and we’re at the top.

The great thing about Steve is that he’s helped the world of bloggers develop a broad new lexicon to describe him and the Conservatives:

• “Harpooned” – anything that gets in Steve’s way gets Harpooned (democracy, Parliament, environment, etc).
• “Slippery Steve” – to date, nothing has stuck to Steve, but give it time.  You can’t be mired in so much shit and not stink.
• “Harpocrisy” – the constant state of saying one thing and doing another (example:  destroying the Liberals for their efforts to bring a carbon tax to Canada and then suggesting it might happen here simply because the US might want us to).

#1:  Jack Layton

That’s right.  I’ve saved Jack Layton for the very end.  We all know that Stephen Harper is the most manipulative politician since Macchiavelli himself, and that Michael Ignatieff will continue to lead his party sideways for the rest of 2010 and beyond.

However, Jack Layton deserves the #1 spot for zeroes in 2009 for one simple reason:  he helped the Conservatives retain their hold on power in Canada.  I think Jack is the ‘friend’ that Stephen is singing about here.

I love the man, but the NDP made a single bad choice in the fall of 2009 by not stepping in to defeat the Conservatives when they could have.

Of course, an election wouldn’t have helped us collectively avoid our shameful disgrace in Copenhagen.  However, we could have opened up the books on the Afghanistan detainee issue.  We might have even been able to get what Jack wanted (EI reforms) if we simply pushed the Cons over the edge and brought on a new election in Canada.

That’s right:  I would have welcomed an election in Canada again so that I could celebrate the fact that I live in a democracy and not in a tempestuous brine of political swill that swallows my sense of pride and dignity when I say I’m Canadian.

Maybe you’ll be reading this Jack and you’ll get the message that if you don’t want to lead, please step out of the way because there are lots of Canadians who believe our country is more than just about political aggrandizement and power grabs.

And if you’re reading this Jack, please take a note from your ‘friend’ and start thinking ahead 4 or 5 steps like Stephen Harper does.  I don’t like the man, but I’ll give him this:  he and the rest of the Cons are exceptional strategists.  If you’re ever going to bring the NDP to power, you have to start thinking ahead instead of having knee-jerk reactions to various ‘turdblossoms’ that the Cons hurl at you because it’s exactly what they want you to do while they work behind the scenes on dismantling this country.

Another consideration (which I mentioned above) is that Jack needs to talk with the Greens.  Together, they could come to rule this country if they work out some way to cast aside differences and stop chipping away at each other’s base.  If they do, it will surely be an exceptional action worth noting in 2010.

In fact, I believe the future of our depends on it.

Conclusions

I’m sorry about writing such a massive list.  However, after several days of effort and a lot of thought, I’m happy with my list, but I know that I missed a thousand examples of people being small, petty and miserable in 2009.

Please share your thoughts about who deserves the crown as a zero in 2009.  I look forward to it!

P.S.  I expect to have my list of ‘2009 Heroes’ polished and published within the next few days.

For those of you who don’t understand the Long Tail , check out what the concept’s creator, Steve Anderson, has to say about it .

Generally, the idea is this:  we live in a world of fragmentation and being ‘number one’ is no longer as important as representing all opportunities in the economic (or social or political) spectrum.

There’s really nothing new to the idea:  imagine a rainbow that’s all white.  Apply a prism and you get the full range of perspective on things.

Canadian politics have evolved to become very much like the Long Tail.  We have a ‘number one’ party (the Conservatives), although they represent just a little more than 30% of the popular vote.  3 out of every 10 Canadians that voted in the last election don’t want Harper as our leader. They think he’s just a step away from Jim Jones and he’s not the person that should be representing the voice of all Canadians, despite the fact that the Conservatives believe this is what happened October 14, 2008.

Following out last election, nearly 70% of the voices of Canadians were scattered across a disparate range of views.  You might be called a separatist, a moderate, a ’socialist’ (although I think calling Jack Layton a socialist is as dangerous as calling Obama a socialist.  Not quite, but kind of) or you may be called a whole bunch of people that get get classified as ‘other’.  Regardless of what colour you are on the spectrum, you get white and you don’t get a voice in the House of Parliament in Canada.

This is unfortunate.  Seven out of every ten Canadians are being shut out of the decision making process and I think it’s safe to say that a coalition represents the first effort in acknowledging the future of politics in Canada.  Unfortunately, it will be lead by someone who has already quit the job.

No wonder voter turnout is reaching up to touch bottom.  It’s disgusting and it’s depressing.

A solution you ask?  I think we all already know what I’m going to offer:  Proportional Representation or PR.

By understanding the point of the Long Tail – there is much profit to made in acknowledging the opportunities of the majority of activity – we can address the future that politics in Canada MUST take.

PR represents the Long Tail of politics in its purest form.  Voices get heard, voting counts and the true diversity of Canada is reflected in our main political and legislative body.

The challenge now is finding a way to introduce PR.  The Conservatives are seen to be power-hungry and few in Canada could conceive that they should be the ones to introduce such a bill.  The Liberals plus NDP:  not enough votes.  The Bloc:  no national mandate and PR would drastically reduce their number of seats.

But again, I have the answer (thank you for asking):  the Conservatives should introduce a bill declaring that PR will be on the next election ticket , regardless of who calls for the dissolution of Parliament.  There could be other requirements, including fixed election dates (that everybody abides by) and an expanded communication effort to ensure that all Canadians understand the benefits of PR.  Another idea might be to include a separate vote for who the leader should be versus who should make up the Parliamentary mix for that person to lead.

However, do not over-complicate the core mandate, like the governments of Ontario or BC have in the past .  Make it a simple yes/no question.  Make it contigent on the majority (50%) of Canadians accepting it.  Bring it to law.  Make it law.

The evolution of Canadian parliament would be quite exciting in a post-PR world. To appreciate what PR might look like, look at your family, a corporation or Not-for-profit organization.  We surround ourselves with well-educated and well-meaning people that may disagree offline, but who agree when it counts.  They push things forward, find ways to make concessions and negotiate for the best interest of that organization among thousands of other organizations.

We make progress.

Also, the reality is that the Conservatives have little choice.  Proroguing the government is not an option.  Chaos will ensue and the people of Canada will never forgive the Conservatives for eliminating the right of Parliamentarians to rule just when we need leadership most.  Proroguing the government would spell the end of the Conservatives in Canada, as they will be seen as demagogues and polyannas wanting to maintain a grip on power – at any cost.  Reformers, Alliance members and all of the other splinter right-wing groups would fragment and disappear into oblivion because they’ll be out for blood and Steve will look like a fat zebra on a Savannah packed with lions.

So the solution must be presented by the Conservatives.

By acknowledging that the Canadian ‘first part the post’ system fails the majority of Canadians and ties the hands of Canadian politicians, the Conservatives would set an unprecedented level of expectation and distinguish themselves from the bickering that’s taking place today.

It would be the ONE opportunity for the Conservatives to redeem themselves and could very well earn them a majority (something that’s still possible with PR), as many Canadians would see them as taking the high road through all of the nonsense that our leaders seem desparate to perpetuate.

The biggest losers would be the Bloc, but the reality is that they should be.  The people of Quebec have a right to be at the table, but no more than those of Alberta, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, PEI, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, the NWT or the Yukon.  If the people of Quebec disagree, the risk is a Constitutional Crisis, but I think we’re heading that way already.

Of course, the onus is on Stephen Harper to broker a deal that makes Quebeckers feel a part of Canada without surrendering their unique status.  As he does so, his stock will gain and he’ll make an accomplishment that he can be proud of because it will preserve This Nation.

The Long Tail of politics isn’t about winners and losers.  It’s about understanding our differences, finding peace with your neighbours and making our country a better place.

Go, Steve, go.

Ron Love, organizer of the ‘United Alternative’, explains in this article how his efforts to unite the right paid off in 2000 and how they continue to pay off as Stephen Harper comes closer and closer to a majority government.  He shares his wisdom for the ‘left’ and demonstrates what ‘we’ need to do in order to mount a force that could oppose the ‘right’.

Read it.  Digest it.  Critique it.

And then you’ll realize that his basic premise couldn’t be more wrong .

My guess is that the ‘left’ probably won’t subject itself to the same kind of ham-fisted tyrannical forces that the right did.  What allowed the right to unite is that they had common ground that could arguably be found outside the political spectrum, such as religious dogma.  As a result, their basic political program (that which they revealed to Canadians in their public platform) was easily agreed upon by all of the founding members.  Examples:  neo-con economic policies (including disclosure of what they would do if they had a majority, like sell off public assets and allow banks to merge), tough on crime policies and money for defense.  The ‘Progressive’ part of the Conservatives disappeared.  Even Mulroney looks like a socialist compared to some of the ex-Harris brown shirts.

The challenge for the ‘left’ is that we have become the ‘bucket’ for everything that the Conservatives are not.  Green.  Socialist.  Marijuana Party.  Liberals.  Without speaking for anyone else, I feel that putting such a divergent range of political viewpoints into a single ‘bucket’ would destroy my sense of democracy.

Someone like Ron Love might argue that the ‘left’ would need to find a steady middle ground as we face media pressure and scrutiny, but I think that can only lead to failure because so many opinions and views would be left scattered at the perimeter.

Here’s an example:  right now it looks like Michael Ignatieff is the front-runner for the Liberals.  He has brow-beat every socialist and person with a cause into voting Liberal already and I would NEVER vote for the man if he lead a coalition group of progressive parties.  His views are just marginally left of Harper and if it were up to him, we’d be in Iraq today shooting babies.

More importantly, this viewpoint doesn’t reflect the Long Tail of politics, where everybody should be able to have an opinion and these opinions are negotiated (however long it takes) rationally in a legal setting, such as the House of Commons.

At the core of my opposition to this kind of ‘ramming of the right’ comes the notion that people need to be able to express their point of view and they need to do it within a democratic framework.  The Harper campaign has and continues to focus on leadership.  A single person.  Anything else would be tantamount to anarchy.

So, Mr. Love, you’re wrong to assume that progressive voices in Canada want to be silenced or marginalized into a single voice.  We represent an orchestra.  A choir.  All singing different parts, hopefully in great harmony.

In the short-run, this would take shape as a coalition that represented a balance of progressive opinions.  It would take the form of many people making many educated and informed decisions, with a lot of discussion taking place.  In public and not behind closed doors.

The long-run it’s Proportional Representation where the single angry voice of the right is muted by the rising swell of an entire chorus.