Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do?

[Karlin]

http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/index.asp?Language=E

"The 39th Parliament is scheduled to meet on Monday, April 3, 2006. The first item of business will be the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons"


We sit back and watch the fallout from the clash of titans in our Canadian Parliament. It will be on the evening news.

However, it is OUR Parliament, those people are supposed to be assembled to do what "we" feel is needed, not for their agenda. Thats what the constitution says anyhow. Beneath that paper, there is the general feeling that Canadians are not smart enough to know whats good for them, so these elected ones will just go ahead and do what is needed. We thank them for their good works.

NOT!!! The interests of Canadians will ONLY be followed if we hound these parliamentarians, if we threaten to not elect them again, and if we can find a way to usurp the corporate powers that are getting into line ahead of us everytime.

Now that the session has started, we need to let them know we are watching, and that we have some priorities for this session.
"People Like Me" will be demanding these:
1][ Global Warming - the #1 problem that requres urgent attention!! We want to reduce our fossil fuels emissions and introduce alternate sources of energy and fuels. NOW!!!

2] Cancer causing chemicals in everyday products are killing us more than ever before, the latest prdiction says that one in two will get cancer.
There is a LIST of products that contain chemicals that cause cancer, and we want that list published. NOW!!! Order it in Parliament, and it has to be released.

3],4],5] etc:
- USA causing too much suffering in the world;
- corporate influence in government;
- War on Drugs is causing too much damage to society, more than drugs ever could on thier own- Laws need changing... Legalise Pot for starters, and stop jailing the dealers eh? Violent Crime is getting less time behind bars than drug drimes!!

Anyone want to add a few priorities that this session of Parliament should cover?
PS - I bet not one of "my priorities" will be mentioned this session.

 

[sanch]

Re: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do

The first order of business is the Accountability Act.

 

[The Gunslinger]

RE: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do

And then I want my GST cut! Hurrah for lower prices!

 

[FiveParadox]

RE: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do

The Honourable Peter Milliken, M.P., the Member for Kingston and the Islands and the Speaker of the House of Commons, was re-elected today. I would like to congratulate him, and to say that I think it is quite a good thing that we have such an experienced Speaker to preside over what could turn into a very contentious 39th Parliament of Canada.

As for the first orders of business, in my opinion, I think that it should be for the opposition to unite in the passage of the piece of legislation proposed by the Honourable Olivia Chow, M.P., the Member for Trinity—Spadina and Child Care Critic for the New Democratic Party of Canada, in terms of enshrining the child care agreements with the provinces in legislation.

Secondly, I think that it is extremely important for the Government of Canada to co-operate with the opposition parties in a renewed effort to come up with a realistic and effective strategy for combatting global warming and pollution. I think that it would be worthwhile for the Government to reconsider its planned tearing-up of the Kyoto Accord, and to work with the opposition parties to come up with a realistic strategy on dealing with its goals (as opposed to the previous Government of Canada which, despite my membership in the Liberal Party of Canada, had failed in this regard).

 

[Karlin]

Re: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do

The first order of business is the Accountability Act.

It appears to be the first order of business allright.

#1] The Ethics and Accountablity package should include a section on the corporate lobby problem.
NDP's Pat Martin declared today that "several Tories have allrady broken ranks and taken up with lobby-ists". I don't know WHAT he means exactly, other than the lobby force is active in Ottawa and getting what it wants form this crop of MPs.

Corporate control of government is obviously a threat to democratic ideals and will result in further concentration of wealth, already at sinful and dangerous levels. Danger? - Social unrest from poverty, and the general negative effect on 'society as a whole' with such disparate income levels as we have now.

The Ethics Package must address the unwanted influences in government, but I believe we will not see any action from the Harper led government.

#2 - SECRECY isthe reason the Liberals got away with so much patronage and scams. More open processes and more access to information [with a bit less priority to protection of privacy for white collar criminals!!] would be part of a good ethics package.
\\



What do you see as ethics reform Sanch?





One-Off ideas for this Parliament:
- People need and want labeling of products,GMO or not
- we need the list of products that causes cancer now that one-in-two of us will get it. Government has such a list but will not release it.
- medical authorities need to be scutinised by government bodies with no allegiance to the medical industry and corporations. We are suffering needlessly with current treatment and therapy that is being offered, which are "Patentable Meds that never cure but just treat ongoing symptoms Only" and not the often more effective CURES offered by non-patentable therapies.
Please, everyone needs to look into what I am saying, we will all get sick sometime , and we have been trained to "do what the doc says" to our great detriment. Its another corporate controlled area that we used to have great faith in but the reasons for that faith have all been eroded by now.

Environment and personal heath are the biggest factors in every person's life quality. They are almost the same thing - as goes envirnmental health, so goes our health... thats why one-in-two of us are getting cancer now.

Karlin

 

[sanch]

Re: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do

Hi Karlin
The way I see it the accountability act would open the door for other reforms and inquiries.

In order to initiate reforms one has to know what is going on between business and government. In the seventies Walter Clement demonstrated how the corporate elite were using interlocking directorships to do business with each other and the government. Now this methodology has become a cottage industry of sorts for sociologists to measure if power/influence is increasing or diminishing through the use of the directorships. The problem with this approach is that as soon as something like this is publicly recognized the elites will change their behavior.

Canadian Business in December published this big chart on the way the richest and most powerful people in Canada interact. It shows not only what boards they are on but what clubs they belong to and what their favorite charities are. Something akin to this should be published every year. Then we could see the degree of inclusiveness or exclusiveness in this sector and if it changes over time. Can networks within this group that appear a little to cozy be dismantled? All business contacts between this group and the government should be totally transparent and should be published annually.

It’s not only the relationship with government that needs to be examined, but insider trading and other deals that further the interest of a select group of people at the public expense. We have to remember that in Canada the Justice Department does not pursue white collar crime. Give them a single mother living at poverty level who is behind on her student loans and Justice is raring to go. Some kind of commission needs to be established to determine what the relationship between Justice and business is. Put someone like John Gomery in charge of it.

Then there is the Halliburton argument. It gets its contracts because it is the only company big enough to handle them. This is the logic Martin used to justify his shipping company getting so much government business. Government contracts favor big companies and many of these today are US firms. These contracts could be broken up into smaller service packages to allow Canadian companies to compete. With this kind of a strategy government business for outside contractors would be more competitive and this would improve services. Right now the big companies get the contracts and they are always renewed and they have this entitled attitude.

This would be a start.

 

[Karlin]

Re: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do

sanch, that reply really has MEAT! Thanks

This was in your post:

Canadian Business in December published this big chart on the way the richest and most powerful people in Canada interact. It shows not only what boards they are on but what clubs they belong to and what their favorite charities are. Something akin to this should be published every year. Then we could see the degree of inclusiveness or exclusiveness in this sector and if it changes over time. Can networks within this group that appear a little to cozy be dismantled? All business contacts between this group and the government should be totally transparent and should be published annually.

Do you have a LINK for that report, or the group who did it? [I have a personal interest there too - some of my own family will be in that list...]

There must be ways that "the public" can monitor government - corporate conspiring. And it is "conspiring", we cannot stop using that word just because they make fun of conspiracy theorists in general, there are serious ones amongst us. But if we knew, as some of us do already, that these corp-govt. interactions are hurting "the people" and that the corporations have hi-jacked OUR goveernment to act in their interests and not ours, there is still the huge problems of informing the public and taking corrective actions.

Informing the public has traditionally been something the government would do... thats the only way the people wil believe it.{for eg., I've told them, but the people didn't believe me...], and mass media is their lapdog now too. So it will be a problem getting the word out... unless we find an honest politician who is willing to risk his career, life, family's lives, etc.

Fixing the problems of an economy hijacked to an elite group hits a huge roadblock right away with the law. "They" own the law too. That might point to revolution, but violence will not beget a better society, never has yet. That leaves information... and you and I and the internet and our desktop printers might have some potential. We can see a swelling of numbers of enlightened people coming forwards these days - is there hope?

what say sanch, how to fix this problem of govt-corp conspiracy?
K

Ps - the link?

 

[LittleRunningGag]

RE: Parliament in Session

The last time I wrote to my MP it took four months for his assistant to write me back.

Damn you Jason Kenny! Damn you! :lol:

 

[Colpy]

RE: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do

What I want them to do:

- Dump the Firearms Act and replace it with legislation both constitutional and reasonable.

- Bring in their child care plan, but double the maximum payments and attach it to the Child Tax Credit, so only those that need it, get it.

- rebuild the military.

- mend fences with the USA

- legalize marijuana

-cut off special interest groups from the public purse

- Do away with the Anti-terror Act.

- deport immediately those found in Canada illegally.

- deport immigrants who commit criminal acts immediately.

- Reform Parliament through an accountability act.

- Institute recall

 

[I think not]

Re: RE: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them t

- Institute recall

I'm not familiar with this Colpy, could you please elaborate what it is?

 

[LittleRunningGag]

Re: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do

- Pay off the debt.

 

[Colpy]

Re: RE: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them t

- Institute recall

I'm not familiar with this Colpy, could you please elaborate what it is?

Recall is the process by which citizens petition for the removal of their representative in a legislature.

For example, if the people of David Emerson's riding could get some legally mandated percentage of the riding's voters (say 35%) to sign a formal petition asking for his recall, he would be forced to run in a by-election. If that were possible, but it is not.

I believe the provincial government of BC has a recall law, but it is probably the only place in Canada.

This is an old Reform plank.

Funny, it exists in many states. I believe the governor of Arizona was recalled not too many years back.......

 

[JonB2004]

RE: Parliament in Session

-pay off the debt
-increase health care spending
-give us a tax cut
-fix foreign aid system
-fix transportation problems
-meet our Kyoto commitments
-increase the minimum wages
-build more schools
-increase military spending
-lower voting age
-lower tuition fees
-pull out of Afghanistan
-government reform

And I'm just getting started!

 

[Lineman]

RE: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do

-Accountability act
-dispose of the long gun registry
-keep the GST at 7% and pay down the debt What will a 1% drop really do for your pocketbook. Being debt free may eliminate our kids need for the GST and lower other taxes
-Reform military procurement process
-Immediately purchase helicopters and strategic aircraft for military
-Colpy's child care plan
-Colpy's recall plan but at 60 to 65% of constituents
-Immediately start planning and implementing our sovereignty of the north
-build and rebuild crumbling infrastructure across Canada, not only are their reserves in need of sewage treatment but some of our cities still dump raw sewage into their harbours
-Reform the senate to equal representation from each province and territory. Enough of running the country based on southern Ontario election results and appeasing Quebec.
-Tax breaks for new energy technology. Make hybrids as affordable as regular vehicles.

 

[LittleRunningGag]

Re: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them to do

I really think that debt repayment is a non issue. No one wants to address it because fiscal responsibility doesn't look big and flashy like tax break. I tell everyone I talk politics with that debt repayment should be our number one priority. Its the only way to spread the message.

 

[FiveParadox]

My Priorities, This Parliament

My Priorities for the 39th Parliament of Canada

:arrow: In Terms of Taxation and Revenue

I would hope that the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P., the Member for Calgary Southwest and Prime Minister of Canada, would reconsider his endeavour to decrease the G.S.T.; the Government of Canada should, in my opinion, continue to make an honest effort to decrease the debt, and I don't think that such a decrease would assist Canada to reach that end.

:arrow: In Terms of Child Care

I would agree with the idea put forth by Colpy; however, I would propose another possible alternative, although this is just being thrown out there, so don't expect anything elaborate. I would think that perhaps the agreements put forth by the previous Government of Canada should be retained, and the funding continued (to a reasonable extent) to increase affordable child care spaces; however, I think that the House of Commons should order Sheila Fraser, the Auditor General of Canada, to conduct a "continuing report" on the program, and be authorized to report to the House at any seasonable time with concerns, to ensure that beaurocratic problems do not impede the program.

:arrow: Repeal the Anti-terrorism Act

I think that this Act has been one of the biggest mistakes of the past few Parliaments of Canada; we should not be restricting the rights of citizens who have not been proven to have done anything — and I don't think anyone, including, but not limited to, the Minister of Public Safety, should have the right to order persons to be detained without disclosing the cause, unless in the case, I suppose, of some sort of catastrophic emergency (and even then, only until the emergency has ended). The security certificates idea, in my opinion, is one which should be dropped and abandoned.

:arrow: Reform the Senate of Canada

I think that the Senate of Canada should have its mandate renewed in the eyes of Canadians; however, I am more conservative on this issue than many. In order to retain the memory of the Senate, I think that Senators should serve the current-length terms (until the age of seventy-five — this way, we don't have to amend the Constitution Act, 1867, or any of its predecessor Acts). I think that the Governor General of Canada should, by a new convention, only summon a Senator when she is advised to do so by the Prime Minister, and the Lieutenant Governor of the Province which that Senator would represent (the advice of the Lieutenant Governor would, obviously, represent the opinion of his or her Legislature). This way, the province could have a say in the person that would be representing him or her. I would agree with the above idea, too, that provinces each receive the same amount of Senators.

 

[LittleRunningGag]

RE: Parliament in Session

An other option, with the Senate, is to appoint Senators that have been elected by the provinces they are supposed to represent. This does not require Constitutional change either.

 

[I think not]

Re: RE: Parliament in Session again - what do we want them t

- Institute recall

I'm not familiar with this Colpy, could you please elaborate what it is?

Recall is the process by which citizens petition for the removal of their representative in a legislature.

For example, if the people of David Emerson's riding could get some legally mandated percentage of the riding's voters (say 35%) to sign a formal petition asking for his recall, he would be forced to run in a by-election. If that were possible, but it is not.

I believe the provincial government of BC has a recall law, but it is probably the only place in Canada.

This is an old Reform plank.

Funny, it exists in many states. I believe the governor of Arizona was recalled not too many years back.......

Yes, I am familiar with this, I wasn't sure if it was what I thought. Thanks for the info.