This morning we're winging our way
home from Mexico.
It's been great, but two months out of country, does make one truly appreciate what it means to be a Canadian. Today a few thoughts on Mexico, the U. S. Republican presidential-election gong show and British
Columbia politics.
Mexico is a country of contrasts. For example, Mexico is the home of Carlos Slim, for two years running the richest man in the world. Mexico also has a decreasing poverty rate, yet the highest minimum wage (in large cities and a few prosperous states) is about $5 Canadian a day.
In the rest of the country it's marginally lower. Mexico has one of the world's largest economies with a GDP of $1.69 trillion U.S. Canada's is $1.3 trillion U.S.
Mexico is 60 per cent Mestizo, or as we would say in Canada, Metis. Mexico's first indigenous-ancestry president was Benito Juarez who served five terms from 1858 to 1872. Given the brutality of the initial Spanish conquest in Mexico, the native people and their Mestizo descendents have faired extremely well as the GDP figures show.
The Mexican drug war which escalated in 2006 has taken 47,000 lives as of 2011. It is fuelled solely by American - and to a lesser extent - Canadian drug addicts who spend billions annually on illegal drugs. With a national minimum wage of $5 a day, it's not much of a stretch to understand why young Mexican men would be ready willing and able to enter the army of the Mexican drug cartels. It's a vicious industry but one with the allure of immediate and enormous wealth.
Today I'm taking home a suntan but also the lesson that any group of people, including aboriginal people, will prosper when forced to stand on their own
without entitlements. On the drug wars; if you want to eliminate an industry - any industry - take away the profit motive.
Most of the English-language news we've seen here on the South coast of Mexico has dealt with civil unrest in Syria and the Republican presidential nomination. Both are disasters. I'm sure the whole world is praying for a peaceful and quick resolution to Syria's problems, but I'm equally convinced the Republican
selection process will remain a disaster.
This contest is literally a race to the bottom. Candidate Rick Santorum - who is doing well with the conservative crowd - is on a keep'em-barefoot-and-pregnant campaign. On contraceptives, Santorum says, "It's not OK. It's a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be." We understand that if elected Santorum will flood the country with old Doris Day movies. If you don't know about Doris Day movies, ask your
mother, or perhaps your grandmother.
Front runner Mitt Romney is the real dull knife in this fight. Speaking in Detroit this week, he said his wife had two Cadillacs. Detroit's unemployment rate is 20 per cent and I'm sure the good folks of Motor City are delighted to know
Mrs. Romney doesn't have to skimp when it comes to owning nice wheels.
Romney's genuine claim to fame was the introduction of comprehensive health care coverage for the State of Massachusetts when he was governor.
Yet he has spent the entire Republican nomination race backing away from this one significant accomplishment.
I'm convinced President Barack Obama - a Democrat - has had the Republican candidates secretly lobotomized.
As I write this column I'm looking forward to the relative sanity of the British Columbian political scene.
After writing two columns berating the Christy Clark government for throwing fluff at the serious business of being government, it was heartening to see a tough provincial budget hit the floor. Clark has to stay determined and resolute in showing the electorate, her caucus and the
opposition that she's in charge.
Clark is also taking the correct approach to the BCTF dispute, bringing in legislation to stall the teacher's
proposed job action.
Now quick class, hands up, who said, "We have to make it perfectly clear to the teachers that there is no more money."
That sage admonition came from none other than NDP labour minister Moe Sihota as he legislated teachers back to work in the 1990s. In B.C. politics some things never change.
What's in a name
Abbotsford city councillor Simon Gibson has suggested Prince George needs a new name. He says rebranding Prince George will bring it more into the mainstream.
How about Lodi? This suggestion is not in reference to the Italian city and province of the same name or the California town of CCR fame - although there is a certain lively cachet attached to old rock songs.
No, in this case Lodi stands as an
acronym for Lots of Disposable Income.
Think about it: our housing prices are affordable and commutes to work, school or any other activity are short and inexpensive. Salaries being equal, anyone - including teachers - moving from the Lower Mainland to our city would realize an immediate and substantial increase in tax-free disposable income as well as a lot less time spent in heavy traffic. There's nothing wrong in being stuck with Lodi.
