On Death

On Death
Kahlil Gibran

You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

A Christmas Carol

I attended the Christmas party for the Conservative Party's Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca Electoral District Association last night. It was hosted by future MP Troy Desouza and featured a "Special Surprise Guest". The guest turned out to be former journalist turned member of the upper house, Senator Mike Duffy. It was quite a treat to hear this man speak. With his wealth of experience and self-deprecating sense of humour, he kept the group entertained. One anecdote that I will attempt to re-tell is from the days when Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister. It went something like this:

When Mr. Trudeau was PM, he had a press secretary by the name of Jean Charpentier. Jean passed away recently, but not too long before, told Mr. Duffy this story. At that time, after a session of Parliament there wasn’t too much trouble with security and they even used to scrum outside. At one such scrum, Mr. Trudeau noticed a younger man eyeing him that made him feel quite uncomfortable. Later, he spoke to his press secretary about this man. “Jean, who was that guy today – the one with the black hair, lots of Brylcreem?” he asked. “He was looking at me with a weird look in his eye and it was making me uncomfortable” he said. When Jean Charpentier said that he didn’t know him the PM told him to find out and make sure he didn’t come back. Jean traced the man to a National Newspaper where he worked. Jean spoke to the editor who then confronted this intern reporter. “What were you doing staring at the Prime Minister at the scrum yesterday” he asked. The reporter replyed sheepishly: “I was doing homework”. “Homework! What do you mean?” the editor continued. “Well I’m taking a course at Algonquin College on hypnosis” he said. Mr. Duffy concluded his story by saying : “What followed was 15 years of bad government”.

MP Keith Martin's Flip-Flop

I listened to MP Keith Martin explaining his flip-flop on the long-gun registry last evening. I found his assertion that all along, his position hadn't changed to be quite incredible. First of all, he campaigned to scrap the registry during the last election. Then last fall he supported bill C-391, the bill that would have scrapped the registry when it came before the house for second reading. Now that he has just voted to keep the registry, he's saying he supports it because police have said its needed to do their jobs. In fact, it wasn't the rank-and-file police saying this, it was the politically motivated Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP). Clearly, MP Keith Martin's vote was motivated by the decision by the Liberal leader to "whip" the vote on the motion to kill bill C-391, derailing the bill that would have scrapped the long-gun registry. This has prevented Keith Martin from properly representing the will of his constituents and undermined our democratic process. I believe that democracy should come before Parliamentary discipline and this is why I've decided to volunteer my humble efforts to elect Troy Desouza in Esquimalt Juan-de-fuca in the next federal election.

The Excellent Long-Gun Registry

This Long-gun registry has saved countless lives and prevented the loss of billions of dollars in theft and property damage. Violent crime has completely stopped as have suicides, spousal abuse, child abuse, road rage, shoplifting, graffiti and jay-walking. All of these benefits are due to the excellent long-gun registry. It is a highly cost effective, accurate and secure system. Those evil western farmers, hunters and target shooting enthusiasts should just shut up and register each and every nasty firearm so we can live in peace and harmony, safe in the knowledge that the government is there to protect us from these gun-loving knuckle draggers.

Now please excuse me while I find a big red tent to hide under.

Rally to Scrap the Long-Gun Registry

Prior to attending a Labour Day rally in support of Candice Hoeppner’s private member's Bill to scrap the controversial long-gun registry (Bill C-391), I thought I would write about my reasons for attending. I am normally not someone that attends political rallies. However, I feel this is a crucial time to get involved in some way because of the actions of the Liberal Opposition to defeat this Bill and retain the costly and ineffective long-gun registry.

On September 22, there will be a crucial vote in the House of Commons on Private Members’ Bill C-391. This vote is in response to a motion raised by the Opposition-dominated Public Safety Committee that recommended the House of Commons should not proceed further with Bill C-391. What I find particularly distasteful is that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has decided to whip Liberal MPs in this vote to effectively defeat the Bill, even though 8 of his Liberal MPs voted in favour of Bill C-391 at second reading. In the past, these 8 Liberal MPs voted to scrap the long-gun registry because it made sense and it is what their constituents wanted. They put common sense and the will of their constituents before partisan party politics. However, now the Liberal leader has decided to prevent MPs from properly representing their constituents by forcing them to vote along party lines.

I believe that democracy should come before Parliamentary discipline. These MPs will either answer to their leader after the September 22 vote, or to their constituents later at the next election.

Green Party Seeds

I received the strangest piece of mail at my house yesterday. It was a packet of seeds. I wondered if this was some kind of prank. I thought for a moment that Mark Emery , the Prince of Pot had started sending out free samples. Then I noticed the cover of the packet, it featured the smiling face of a familiar female. It was Elizabeth May, the Queen of Green, she was the culprit! The back side of the packet reads: "Sunflower Seeds Courtesy of Saanich-Gulf Islands Green Party EDA". Sunflower seeds? The packet also contains growing instructions along with the words: "It's Time - Vote Green". I wondered how she might start making her presence known after her recent arrival in the riding held by Gary Lunn of the Conservatives since 1997. But why sunflower seeds? Are residents of Saanich-Gulf islands expected to shift their support from the long serving Lunn to the Green Party leader because of a handful of seeds? Then it occurred to me that the logo on the packet resembling a green lotus flower is actually supposed to be a sunflower, the symbol of the Green Party of Canada. After a little research I found that the logo used to be a yellow stylized flower on a green background, making it look more like a sunflower. However, this motif was striking similar to the symbol used by British Petroluem and for obvious reasons was changed within the last few years. So its sunflower seeds to everyone in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands. Though a vote for Elizabeth May would only be sowing the seeds of a Liberal/Bloc/NDP/Green coalition government.

Prime Minister at the BC Legislature

I was fortunate enough to be in the public gallery of the BC Legislature today, accompanied by my 11 year old daughter, to hear the Prime Minister's address to the Legislative Assembly. Thank you to my MLA, Rob Fleming for affording us this privilege. This was an historic and inspiring event that we will always remember. The Prime Minister, the Premier and the leader of the Opposition each spoke of how the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games unite us as Canadians. This unity was definitely apparant. At one point during the speech by Premier Campbell, the entire chamber joined in the chant: "Go Canada Go!" I'm glad I was able to share this experience with my daughter, the spirit of camaraderie was exceptional. Political leaders of diverse stripes: Conservative, Liberal, New Democrat, each speaking in support of the other in the Legislature. This truly is a rare occurance. This was in contrast to a small group of protesters outside the Legislature. For whatever reason, they would rather hold onto their partisan political differences rather than share in the unity that these games foster.