Tomorrow marks a sad day for Canada.
It was one year ago on January 23, 2006 when the Canadian people said that they were tired with Liberal rule and had to pick someone else.
Thats how we got Stephen Harper and his merry band of Conservatives.
Lets take a look back at a year with Stephen Harper as Prime Minister.
First their is David Emerson the Liberal turncoat who Prime Minister Harper welcomed in to his Cabinet.
After his party called Belinda Stronarch such charming names as Tramp and Slut for leaving the Conservative party for a party that more closely represented her political beliefs.
We can't forget about Michael Fortier who was Harper's campaign co-chair during the election.
Who was and still is not an elected member of Parliament.
(He had an opportunity to run in a few by-elections this year but declined, maybe because he couldn't win)
This from the Prime Minister who promised that he would bring a new sense of accountability to Ottawa.
Then there was the Conservative "Environmental Plan" that had such lofty targets for reduction of pollutants some where in the year 2057...
But wait when he realized that Canadians were not dumb enough to fall for his plan, he fired the Minister for the Environment, Rona Ambrose, and replaced her with John Baird.
Who's new plan is the old Liberal initiative that Harper canceled when he took power.
There was also the cancellation of funding for Women and Aboriginals groups. Traditional strong supporters of the Conservative party....wait maybe that's where they went wrong.
Of course there was the whole same sex marriage debacle.
An issue that was decided before he was even elected, was brought up again to appease his right wing fanatical voter base.
Irregardless of the fact that he once again was attacking hard won rights of a minority.
Income Trust's remember that promise?
Harper was not going to change the rules at all, and he did.
Who lost the most?
The people who could afford it the least our Seniors.
Billions were lost overnight that many will never be able to recoup.
Alright thats enough for now this is starting to depress me.
We are fed up with hearing how everything is the Liberals fault, your in power now. You are now longer Canada's "new" government and it's time to take responsibility for your governments actions.
Mr. Harper please don't forget that you and your party were not elected based on your political beliefs, but the fact that a message had to be sent to the Liberal Party.
They seem to have got the message.
There will be an election before this year ends and I can't wait to send Mr. Harper a message of my own.
Well another milestone of sorts has been passed.
At some point in the last couple of days we had our 1200th visitor.
I can't believe that there has been that many people stopping by.
I know that Mary stops by almost every day I just need to teach her how to leave comments.
Thanks to everyone for stopping by I appreciate it.
This picture was taken at a logging camp in Sweden. It shows the roads leading into what remains of the forest. Its not photoshopped this the view from the air.
With the Gay Marriage debate in Canada finally put to rest, the debate is heating up among our friends. Last year while Mark and I were on a holiday with two other couples that we have been friends with for years, the marriage question came up. Okay I brought up the marriage question if were going to be honest. I wanted to see what the other couples were thinking. It was an even split. First of all a bit of history, Mark and I are the "newest" couple at 13 years the other two have been together about 17 years and 25 years approximately. I was really surprised by the fear that the discussion brought out. I have always seen myself as being married at some point, but it was only in the past few years tha
t it became a legal option, and took on more relevance for me. I have discussed marriage with Mark to some degree and he really does not want to get married. I don't think that it has anything to do with our relationship, at least I hope not, but he always tells me that its just a piece of paper. I won't go into all the reasons that it's not just a piece of paper as that's not the point of this rant.
Currently as a common law couple we share all the benefits of a married couple in the eyes of the law as well as our respective employers. The company that Mark works for and I used to work for is a very progressive employer and offered domestic partner benefits almost fifteen years ago. This was a time when there was no other legal option for gay and lesbian couples other than a common law situation. Now that there is an option, how long until companies start insisting that employees be legally married to continue to receive these same benefits. I don't think its a huge leap to make. Here is a link to an article from the U.S. where the trend has already begun.
Just something to think about while were on the quest for equality.
You maybe already familiar with the story of Allison Quets the Florida women who kidnapped her twins from their adopted family. She came here to Canada, Ottawa specifically because she head that we were a child friendly city, what ever that means. Here is an excerpt from the Ottawa Citizen today from the people who have been hiding her for the last few days.
Her Ottawa-area supporters are adamant that Ms. Quets poses no threat to the twins. On the contrary, they say, she's an honest, sincere woman who loves her children and didn't intend to give them away in the summer of 2005.
Ms. Thompson broke down at one point while seated beside her husband, recounting their experiences with Ms. Quets this past week.
"I'm just amazed," she said. "She works so hard and it's impossible to explain as to why a mother who was with her children has to prove that she's the one who should be with them.
"She didn't do anything wrong other than loving them."
Ms. Quets has stayed at their one-storey home since Thursday night, resting and regaining strength after six days in Ottawa police custody.
Where do I begin....
She didn't do anything wrong other than loving them??????
She kidnapped them and fled the country. That sounds pretty damn wrong to me.
I feel bad for this woman, who made a very difficult decision to give her children up for adoption, and now regrets what she had done. Except that she had nine months to think about what she wanted to do and decided to give her children away. What about the adoptive parents, they followed all the legal procedures, and lets face facts its not easy to adopt children in North America. These people that think there helping this woman, but I don't think they realize the harm there doing.
What do you think people would be saying about this kidnapping if it was the father of the twins that had snatched them from their legal family. I promise you it would be a very different reaction than the one your hearing now. They would be calling for his head on a plate.
What about all the future adoptive families.
As a person that has contemplated adoption, what kind of message does send to potential families? You can follow all the legal procedures and have all the details in place then two years after you have raised this child(ren) the birth mother can change her mind and say I want them back...
Or worse steal them.
I will be following this case closely I think that it could create a very dangerous precedent.
These children belong to the adoptive family now.
As much as I can sympathize with the birth mother who now regrets her decision to give her children away. There is no justification for her to break the law and steal these children away from their legal parents.
If she had followed the rule of law and proceed to fight this in the courts I would have been a bit more sympathetic. The fact is though, were talking about a woman in her late forties who had plenty of time to think about what she was doing. This is not a confused, scared, sixteen year old girl. This women was an educated person who had to now exactly what she was doing. Then to try and blame it on postpartum, depression which is an insult to all women who has suffered from this debilitating disease is unconscionable. You do not suffer from this before you give birth only after.
I hope that this women is given an appropriate sentence as well as some psychological counseling.
That and a strong message is sent to adoptive parents that their rights will be upheld.
