New Federal tax cuts

Federal Finance minister Jim Flaherty yesterday unveiled a range of tax cuts for Canadians starting in the new year. All this, amidst clamouring from provincial and municipal governments for funds to be released for infrastructure development. The federal and provincial governments continue to enjoy enormous budget surpluses which is grossly unethical. Toronto has for sometime given strong support to the Liberal party hence our help should come from Premier McGuinty who chides the Feds for not sharing with Toronto. He got the votes, what is he waiting for?

Living the sheltered life

"For those who fought for it, life has a flavour the sheltered will never know" - John S Mills.

Canadians have a lot to be thankful for these days however, if you ask around there will be a number of our constituents who would disagree for a variety of understandable reasons. In Canada poverty and needs are defined in Canadian terms, and they should be. Yesterday a few hundred demonstrators were out adding their voices to what was a global effort against troops in Afghanistan. I am never sure what these demonstrators are thinking as there are many ways of looking at the situation with Afghans in their country today.

In Afghanistan a power vacuum was created in late 2001 and the UN Security Council unanimously agreed that help must be provided to get the country up and running again. I can think of three groups of people in the case of the Afghan situation namely; the anti-American fraternity who opposes anything the USA is involved in, those from the middle-east and eastern regions (living in the west) who are anti-American and believe that Afghanistan is better off without soldiers from the west (this group seems to have few or no Afghan members) and then there are those who think all things should be accommodated in the name of peace and dialogue should prevail ad infinitum. The last group however well intentioned, are largely sheltered and unlike their parents have not been exposed to any of the horrific wars fought by the Europeans in the last century. This group could also included some of those who would like to prosecute our military leaders for allowing members of the Taliban resistance movement to be tortured. They are not necessarily naive, they just never had to fight or fend for anything in life as yet.

It is that time of year again and I proudly wear my poppy in remembrance and appreciation for those who gave that we might enjoy Canada today. I know that in life there are always things worth fighting for, dying for, depending where you are on the needs hierarchy.

VW facing takeover?

The European court of Justice today ruled that the German law protecting auto magnate Volkswagen AG from hostile takeover is illegal. For years Porsche invested in the auto company which carries a full suite of vehicles envied even by Porsche. From the popular VW brand to the upscale Audi and topped off by the Bugatti and Lamborghini, Volkswagen has been the target of a number of European auto manufacturer. Full article

When scientist fall prey to their instinctive social upbringing

Nobel laureate James Watson expressed his honest belief earlier this week when he declared that Europeans were essentially smarter that Africans and that social policies to help Africa were based on the flawed assumption that they (Africans) were as intelligent as Europeans. He however did not reveal where or how the Europeans stacked against the Indians, Asians, Arabs or Hispanics and that in itself is a display of some amount of intelligence on his part. Watson was smart enough to single out the ethnic group less likely to react in kind to his comments. I am somehow curious as to his opinion on Nazi Germany's position that they were superior to the British and were bent on exercising that belief until deterred. In his defence Watson declared that he was misunderstood, particularly by the less intelligent journalists and commentators and maybe by a few of his own who would very likely have defective genes.

If James Watson were to state his understanding of intelligence as it relates to his statement earlier this week, I would be most curious as to his excuse for those Europeans who after invading Africa and plundering it for the last 400 plus years had not been intelligent enough to realize that their recent methods for resuscitating the African economies were not working. Is it that they were successfully making a fool of their population or James Watson on the eve of his 80th birthday needs help?

Is the number of parents seeking places in faith-based schools on the increase?

The Ontario election campaign is in its final stage and one wonders why faith-based schools were a constant focal point. I have already established that the issue of funding is moot as these pupils are entitled to paid tuition should they chose to access any of the two publicly funded school systems.

Is there a correlation between the changing public school curriculum to accommodate the more liberal views of today's society towards minorities like gays and lesbians, and the trend towards enrollment in faith-based schools? Is there a fear from liberals that the public school system could be replaced or outnumbered by publicly funded "faith-based" schools? While I research this further the indicators are suggesting that this divisive issue may have been precipitated by an earlier and equally divisive one.

John Tory moves to save campaign

Without even addressing the "non-issue" of funding to his constituents, PC leader John Tory changes his tune on the controversial faith-based school integration issue. While one could reasonably argue that the further promotion of faith-based schools was a dangerous path, it is very clear that the current batch of 53,000 students are entitled to public funding should they chose a school from the two public school boards. One of Tory's opponent chided him for being a poor leader who was determined to take a path even it was disastrous and linked him to other notable North American conservative leaders. Ironically, its the same camp that now questions Tory's leadership as a result of his change of plans.