The past 12 months have been one heck of a year if you are a political watcher!
We had the resurrection of some political careers, the destruction of others, and two leaders quit. Right now, both the B.C. Liberals and the NDP are worse than a rudderless ship.
They have rudders that are still in the water but are not connected to anything else. Both leaders need to step aside and let someone else take on the responsibility until a new leader is appointed.
We had the implementation of a second set of taxes by a government that doesn't believe in taxation.
Their mantra when the first assumed power was that "taxes are bad."
First thing that they did was give everyone an income tax cut. And everyone was grateful.
But they have since clawed back those breaks with a carbon tax that increases with each passing year, driving up the price of gasoline but having little or no effect on our driving habits.
We are not driving any less. And then, in a move that has to be one of the most tautologically twisted political moves of all time in B.C. politics, they introduced the HST so businesses will pay less and the people will pay more. For example, the B.C. Restaurant Association has pointed out that, while the cost of meals has gone up by 7.5 per cent this year, the increase has been entirely driven by the HST.
We had a "law and order" federal government conveniently and repeatedly sink their own law and order legislation. Closing down Parliament every time one of these bills gets near to a third reading is a good way to look "tough on crime" without actually having to commit to doing anything about it. And mandatory sentencing doesn't curb crime. Whether or not someone commits a crime doesn't hinge on how long the jail term is that they might receive!
We had international meetings to discuss climate change that, well, got us nowhere but both a G8 and G20 summit that pumped more than a billion dollars into the Ontario economy.
At your expense. We paid for the party in Toronto and environs, in more ways than one.
The irony is that while the government was willing to blow a billion dollars on a three-day party for world leaders, they don't want to take action on climate change because that would have cost the Canadian economy a couple of billion dollars.
We had 1,100 protesters arrested. To what end? On both sides of the equation!
We had the rise of the "tea party" in American politics.
Kind of makes you wonder if we will have our own soon - except being Canadian, I am sure that it would be a "beer party."
The movement in the United States seems to be a call to return to "traditional" values.
It was echoed by the likes of Christy Clark, who said that she wants to be the leader of the B.C. Liberals to support the family by ensuring that "both dad and mom have a job." The funny thing is, I doubt that she saw the irony in her statement.
We had American mid-term elections which were laughable but, in the end, changed the political landscape in a profound and unhealthy way.
Let's face it, our economic well-being and financial security is intimately linked with the United States. They are the "elephant in the room."
If they go down, they will suck us under with them. It is in our interest to see a healthy democracy working south of the border.
And more importantly, a healthy economy because they are our single biggest trading partner.
We had a federal opposition that doesn't seem to want to oppose anything in a serious manner, resulting in a continuation of a minority government that doesn't want to be serious. Prime Minister Harper seems to be taking the approach that since he can't do everything that he wants, with impunity, then he is going to do nothing.
Actually, worse than nothing since he has taken to running everything out of his office.
We had the rise of the Senate as the mechanism to block pesky bills that somehow manage to pass the House of Commons.
After all, what do those elected representatives know? Appointees are, by definition, much smarter. They managed to get themselves appointed into a cushy job for life. The Prime Minister's Office finally has a way to get a majority - by appointing them.
Finally, we have been told that the Senate thinks that we should get rid of the penny. Annoying? Yes. Cumbersome? Yes. More expensive to produce than they are worth?
Yes. But getting rid of the penny is a dumb idea. After all, then all the government will be able to do is nickel and dime us to death.
Have a Happy New Year!
