Bon Fete, Quebec!

Today is St. Jean Baptiste Day in Quebec. Partygoers across the province will celebrate their "national holiday" through parades, commemorative events and social gatherings. This is a big deal to our French Canadian brethren -- this tradition can be traced all the way back to ancient France. The first-ever celebration of the day on Canadian soil was in 1636, during the earliest days of the colonization of New France, and the first patriotic celebration of the feast day of St. John the Baptist took place in 1834 in Montreal. Pope Pius X designated John the Baptist the patron saint of French Canadians in 1908, and June 24 became an official holiday in 1925. 

But it was the Parti Quebecois led by Rene Levesque that made June 24 the province's national holiday, thereby tinting the celebration with a political hue that hasn't dissipated since that decision was made in 1977. Throughout the separatist era, the sovereigntists have used Jean-Baptiste as the ultimate expression of their continued desire for statehood -- a muscular exposition of their drive for an independent state.

Sadly, most Quebeckers are disinterested in reigniting the referendum flame. The Bloc Quebecois are in a shambles and utterly irrelevant in Ottawa, the PQ is a leaking ship and plummeting in the polls, and a new political movement led by former PQ cabinet minister Francois Legault is the odds-on favourite to take out Premier Jean Charest's Liberals when the next provincial election is held. 

Legault's pitch? The battle for sovereignty is so 1995. People in our province have more immediate concerns that impact their families, businesses and communities. We need to keep Quebec strong, today. Let's get on with it, d'accord? 

So it is in this spirit that I raise a toast to my Quebecois brothers and sisters. Here's to you having a peaceful, free-spirited and enjoyable holiday. May the French Canadian fact in our country continue to play a strong role in the present and future of Canada. Vive le Canada! Vive le Quebec dans le bon pays du Canada! 

Did I say that right? Pardon my French!

Is There A (Spin) Doctor in the House?

Man, these guys are good.

In the Globe today, the Tories go after former Liberal MP Marlene Jennings, the person who instigated the RCMP investigation into the G8 Legacy Fund -- the big, sloshing pot of cash Harper cabinet minister Tony Clement liberally showered across his riding (ostensibly) in preparation for the summit held in Huntsville last year.

The way the Tories manipulate information is frighteningly impressive. After accusing Jennings of a "publicity stunt" and the Liberal Party of employing "cheap, baseless drive-by smears," they then seek to completely obscure the core issue of the G8/G20 controversy. The article ends with:

Tory memo concludes that Auditor-General John Wiersema “was clear when he said that he was ‘not aware of any specific law that was broken.’

“Every penny is accounted for, not one red cent is missing,” the memo says. “Mr. Wiersema acknowledged this when he said ‘we know that we got what we paid for in those 32 projects.’”

Indulge me for a moment as I parse these two statements:

1) It's wonderful the Auditor-General is unaware of any laws being broken. I'm not aware of it either, but the Tories won't crow about that in a memo, will they? Wiersema's opinions are completely irrelevant on legalities. He's an accountant, not a lawyer or a police officer. Which is why the RCMP is investigating if there are any illegalities that stem from this nasty bit of business.

2) We all know the money was spent. No one has attempted to say that it wasn't. It's great the government can account for every penny, but the problem isn't missing funds. The real issue is whether that money should have been spent that way in the first place. Spending money inappropriately or illegally is still inappropriate and/or illegal even if you can trace every penny of it.

This memo is spinning so hard I feel like I'm on a Tilt-A-Whirl -- and the last time I did that I was immediately ill when I stepped off.

Kind of how I feel when I read this drivel from the Conservative Party.

On Public Subsidies for Political Parties

In the upcoming federal budget, the newly-minted Conservative majority will initiate the phasing out of public subsidies for political parties.

This move has been coming for some time. Ever since the Tories first tried to do it in 2008, and in the process spurred a crisis that almost cost them government, they have been waiting for the chance to chop the transfers to the opposition parties. Of course, their piece of the $27 million pie will also disappear, but Harper's party has become much better at fundraising than the others since the current funding regime was put in place by Jean Chretien in 2004. The NDP aren't terrible at it, but still do not do as well as the Tories. The Liberals, however, are abysmal at raising money from individuals, and therefore stand to lose most from the elimination of the $2 per vote subsidy (unless you're a supporter of the Bloc Quebecois, who, as I've previously argued, are on the verge of extinction partly due to their money woes).

Individual contributions to political parties are currently permitted to a limit of $1,100 per person per year. For this measure to make any sense at all, this limit must be raised to give parties a fighting chance at replacing the lost revenue once the subsidies are gone. As Jeffrey Simpson points out: "Transparency, a higher individual limit and the end of public subsidies would be a reasonable compromise. But, of course, the Conservatives with their majority are not looking for compromise." Harper wants to use the baseball bat of his majority to kneecap his competitors -- especially the flailing Liberals.

I believe the Tories should be very careful they don't get exactly what they wish for. By tilting the playing field so boldly and obviously in their own direction, they risk incurring the wrath of the public over time. The subsidy will be gone in time for the next election, meaning the annual infusions will play a reduced role in campaign preparations for the October 2015 election than it has in the past few campaigns. If the Conservative Party of Canada means to use a perceived advantage to attack its adversaries through spending dollops of cash on negative pre-election ads in 2014 and 2015, the public may finally revolt.

If any lesson can be learned from the Orange Crush this year, it's that Canadians are tiring of the old tactics and want a different political environment. The Tories would be wise to heed that lesson, lest they start turning their perceived advantages into tangible liabilities at the most inopportune moment.

The U of T, or the Usefulness of Thought

Douglas Library, Queen's University

Today I will be travelling to Kingston, Ontario to attend the annual meeting of the Queen's University Council. I was elected to serve a six-year term on the body last year. Unique among the nation's universities, the Council brings together members of the Board of Trustees and the Senate, along with elected alumni representatives, to provide advice and guidance to the Chancellor. It is the highest body in Queen's governance structure.

In practical reality, the Council is a gab-fest where we talk about what challenges and opportunities are coming the university's way and provide ideas on how to address them. Depending on who the Principal is, our advice is either incorporated into decision making, or not. There's no requirement that our thoughts must be brought forward beyond the confines of our meeting room to affect the life of the broader university.

Massey College, U of T

My trip back to Queen's is causing me to reflect on Micheal Ignatieff's appointment as a senior resident at the University of Toronto's Massey College. After suffering a defeat for the ages in Monday's election, he wasted no time in finding somewhere to go. Ignatieff returned to the ivory tower, where he will never again have to personally test his ideas in the brutish real world of Canada's political theatre. He certainly has learned lessons about the disconnect between political theory and the reality of life at ground level; hopefully he can impart some useful wisdom on a group of graduate students that includes many with interest in politics as a future career.

History will not be kind to Ignatieff. Many thought the Liberal Party had bottomed out with Stephane Dion's leadership in the disastrous 2008 campaign. Unfortunately for them, it seems there was much further yet for the party to fall, and Ignatieff will always be known as the guy who led them there. The Conservative charge that he was in it for himself all along isn't helped at all by the following two quotes from the Globe and Mail:

“The life that I like the best is teaching. It’s the end of my life as a politician.”

“I’m quite excited about the next phase of my life. Without blowing my horn too much, there’s not too many people who have been full-scale academics and who’ve also been the leader of a political party. It’s a special experience."

These quotes give the impression that Ignatieff never warmed to politics, and that he has decided to use his Liberal party leadership experience as a résumé-padder. Ironically, Canadians could tell that he never had the right stuff for the game, and that he didn't ever truly understand them or their issues. I believe Ignatieff is an honourable guy who worked hard and tried his best to lead his party in the best way possible. But he never should have left Harvard, if these two quotes can be taken at their face value.

Le petit gars
Jean Chrétien

Canada needs more than a leader looking for a "special experience." They need someone who has the passion for the country bred intangibly into their bones. For all their faults and shortcomings, you never felt like people such as Ed Broadbent, Joe Clark, Jean Chrétien or Preston Manning lacked those qualities. Even current leaders like Stephen Harper, Jack Layton and Elizabeth May clearly connect with their constituencies and could never be accused of lacking a deep commitment to Canada (even though their conception of what Canada is and should be diverge, sometimes widely). But you never got that impression consistently from Ignatieff. It often looked like an academic exercise to him.

The passion only truly came out when he became desperate in the latter stages of the campaign, as his dream of becoming prime minister disintegrated. And passion borne of desperation cannot be taken at face value.

So when I head out to Kingston tonight, I'll be reading the pertinent documents and arranging my thoughts on the various agenda items for the meeting tomorrow. I go to Queen's knowing my ideas and perspectives will be listened to, but not necessarily acted upon. My advice may be seen as crucial, or heard only as so much noise. But I go, and have been actively involved in the university's governance since 1996, because I believe giving up on Queen's will only remove one more voice that might help it achieve its mission that much more ideally.

Michael Ignatieff will give his advice and guidance to the students of Massey College over the next year, in the hope they may go forward from U of T and help Canada become a stronger, more compassionate and more respectable nation, both domestically and abroad.

I take him at his word when he says:

“And there's some things you learn when you've done it, and it’s just not in the books. I did it. I've lived it. And I know what's in the books isn't what it's like. Everybody who's done it knows that it's really different – and you want to tell [students] that, not to discourage them from public service but to get them to commit, and take the risks involved. I'm very keen on using the time I've got to get people into the game.”

Bob Rae (l) was once a senior resident
at Massey College after a political
flame-out of epic proportions, too

There's an earnestness, tinged with bitterness, in these words that I think will serve his students well. I wish him the best of luck as he retreats to academia and a quieter life than the one he knew as a politician.

There's no requirement students bring forth his ideas from the university and into the public sphere with the aim of positively affecting the lives of Canadians. But if one student can learn the lessons and find a way to apply his principles for a more advantageous result for all of us, then perhaps his life's passion can find its best expression in that way. For his sake, and the sake of our country, I hope that is possible.

Change to the Look of PS&R

I decided the site was in need of a refresh, so I flipped up the design and changed a few small aspects of the layout. I hope you like the new look!