I spent one day last week watching the videos posted on the web where CBC news anchor Peter Mansbridge has interviewed each of the national party leaders and asked all of them some very pointed questions concerning their platforms. There are serious holes in all of them and I take major issue with the challenging parties, who make empty promise after empty promise because it seems they will do anything to get themselves elected. My main problem with Prime Minister Stephen Harper is his continued denial of the corruption that exists within his ranks when overwhelming evidence suggests the contrary. To, openly, tell half truths and lies concerning this matter, which party insiders say isn’t a big deal, leads many of us to draw a line from Point A to Point B and think if he’s lying about the corruption, what else is he being untruthful on? But, the bottom line is that public safety has become, in my opinion, the number one issue and Harper’s Conservatives are the ones best equipped to maintain it. This doesn’t mean I’m going to vote for them. I’ve seriously considered spoiling my ballot. I’m that disenchanted with everything.
I wonder if I am only talking to a minority of people, or whether the majority of Canadians do not want an influx of refugees. I think the consensus seems to be we are not opposed as long as the screening is strict, rigid, and thorough. A CTV news report last week suggested 69% of all refugees from Syria were male. That tells me there is more to the story than to suggest these are displaced families in search of safety. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is correct when he says no matter how many people we bring over, we are still going to say the similarly sad images that we saw a couple of weeks ago when a dead child washed up on the shore of a beach. We have to keep up the fight by helping them in their country and not just opening our doors to anyone who wants to come in. The other issue I have is that there are serious economic issues within Canada and until those are sorted out and we are all happy with the direction we are going, then we can’t be spending millions of dollars on people who aren’t ours. It’s nice to save the world, but if you think about it in a more simplified tone, there isn’t a single one of us that would help a stranger over one of our own family members and that’s what the Liberals and NDP are, basically, saying they will do.
Canada became a country in 1867 and our veterans fought for its continued freedom in World War I and World War II. A lot of what is being suggested by the socialist parties is a slap in the face to, not only, the political figures who helped shape Canada 148 years ago, but it also erodes and destroys what many of our ancestors lost their lives believing in.
When I think of our freedoms, one of the first things that comes to my mind is religion, and yet with every passing day of violence that hits my television screen and internet feed I end up thinking to myself, “You know, if we could just eliminate religion the world would have peace.” What a sad thing to say.
Enough serious talk…
Kevin Glenn gives the Saskatchewan Roughriders their best chance to win, say those that run the saddest sack CFL team in the league. However, they have one win and rookie Brett Smith was the quarterback of record in that game. The belief is also that until the Riders are, mathematically, eliminated from the playoffs it makes the most sense to field your line-up that can give you the best chance to win. This reasoning is why the Riders are where they are. They don’t think like a franchise that’s rebuilding. For every week they keep up this charade, they lose a week evaluating their talent against teams who are fielding their best line-ups and who are trying to position themselves for a Grey Cup championship, something you can’t get when you play preseason games.
Someone has started a very silly rumour that, somehow, has sprung legs concerning Marc Trestman as the new Coach/General Manager of the Roughriders. Trestman makes, approximately, $1 million a year as offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. People just don’t leave NFL jobs for CFL ones. It just doesn’t ever happen. Now, if Trestman were to get fired at the end of the year and no NFL team hires him, then yes I’m all for the Riders giving Trestman the key to the franchise to run it as he sees fit. But, again, the Riders didn’t do that when Kent Austin became available in 2012 so there’s no reason to suggest a football messiah is on the horizon for this franchise.
Nice person mentions to: Ron Hedley, Geoff Grimwood, Darcy Haugen, Krista Pawlik, and Chris De Rocchis.
