The Story Of Food from USC Canada on Vimeo.

Help stop Genetically Modified Alfalfa by sending a letter to the Minister of Agriculture.

 http://www.cban.ca/Resources/Topics/GE-Crops-and-Foods-Not-on-the-Market/Alfalfa

JCPenney Spokeswoman Ellen DeGeneres Responds To Anti-Gay Group.

It is now time for the community to move forward. We all need to learn from the trials we as a community have faced over the past few months with the referendum and now the recent civic election. It is time to mend the fences that have been broken. We are strongest when we are united and we need to move into the future with a united front. The global economy is still a mess. The Canadian economy is forecasting slower times ahead and we would be fools to think that we won’t feel the impact. We have been lucky so far with the opening of the mine and the growth based around it.

It will now be our elected officials’ jobs to guide us through these uncertain times with a balance of fiscal responsibility and community growth. They will need to make some tough decisions on where to spend tax dollars to bring the highest rate of return to the community without damaging existing programs.

There are a few things that have come up during the election that I hope council will deal with right away, such as changing the realtor selling the lots at the industrial park, and seeing if there is a way to fast-track the deer strategy that Councillor Earle has started. There is a lot of work ahead for Council and the new mayor. There is a lot of work ahead for our Area H representative. The words “open and transparent” came up during the election and I hope that all elected officials respect that the community wants its elected officials to be open. People feel like the dialogue between Town Hall and the community is lacking. I would ask that once you are all settled in, please have an open meeting with the community and the Doctor Recruitment Committee. The community wants to know what is happening.

The Doctor Recruitment is only one issue that needs to be brought into the public. I know that past councils have had public consultations with the community, but having a public meeting once in a while is just a start. Have you heard of social media? Cities, mayors and councillors around the province now use Twitter to keep their constituents up to date on what is happening from public meetings to what they feel about the issues at hand. Candidates took to Facebook during the election to connect with voters. Please don’t stop. The Town of Princeton should have a Facebook page where issues can be discussed openly with the public. Use the tools available to you to reach out to the public.

The job of being an elected official is a thankless one, so let me thank you all for running and for serving our community.

The game of politics: some days you want to stop and shake your head at the things that are said. Take for instance a phone call that my wife received from someone asking us to vote for Charles Weber. The person made his pitch as to why he thought we should vote for Charles over Brad. Personally I think this is great, grassroots boots-on-the-ground type of campaigning. It is the type of thing that encourages people to vote. Then the story moves away from the Area H arena and enters the municipal stage. The person on the other end of the line told my wife that he was going to support Fred Thomas, but can’t now because he is too close to Brad. I find this comment a little funny because it was the same thing that was said last time around about Brad and Randy McLean. The caller told my wife that he would not be supporting Fred Thomas but would be supporting Randy McLean.

Before I go any further I just want to make clear I am not sure if this person is working directly with Mr. Weber or Mr. McLean’s campaign. I cannot help point out the irony of the accusation that Brad Hope and Fred Thomas are too close when you are actively seeking votes for an Area H director candidate, and then intentionally or not place that person on a ticket with a candidate for Mayor.  I know Mr. Thomas and Mr. Hope are acquaintances but so are Mr. Hope and Mr. McLean, and Mr. McLean and Mr. Weber, so to make an assumption that because people may have similar feelings, thoughts or a relationship makes them too close in a community of our size is reaching to a questionable conclusion.

The same caller brought up another point about Fred Thomas that was a little confusing to me. He was annoyed that Fred Thomas was putting his website address on his advertisements because not all people in Area H have access to the internet. The caller would much rather have seen Mr. Thomas’ bio in the paper. To this I can only say, please check the Spotlight’s November 1st edition of the paper where not only Fred Thomas’ bio was published but all the candidates’ bios were published. As for the use of websites, I thankfully welcome the fact that candidates are reaching out to the public with all forms of communication. Fred Thomas’ bio states that he worked for IBM. I would naturally assume that someone who had worked in the tech industry would utilize such a powerful tool to disseminate information. For instance, on www.FredThomas.org, Mr. Thomas recently posted an interesting piece about the pool referendum.

For the record, Mr. Thomas is not the only one who is using the internet to get his message across. Facebook has become a destination for a number of our local politicians, including Randy McLean, Brad Hope and Fred Thomas.
What I am trying to say is if you are going to try and paint people with the same brush, you need to be careful. To say that www.FredThomas.org is out of touch with voters is like saying that Randy McLean’s Facebook page is too. To say that because people may have a previous relationship means they are too close in a community as small as ours is setting a precedent that we don’t want.

I am guessing he doesn’t.  The Prime Minister appointed 3 defeated conservatives to the Senate in what can really only be another slap in the face to the people who voted for him.  Not only has Harper in the past accused the possible coalition of trying to form a government without being elected he out right appoints failed conservative candidates to serve in government.

Conservatives like to try and blame opposition parties from blocking Senate reform in the past despite the fact that the NDP has always advocated Senate reform. Now that Harper not only has a majority in the House but the Senate I doubt very much that he will make any moves to abolish or reform the upper house.  It is in his favor to keep the antiquated system as it now works for and not against his agenda.

Harper gave his supporters yet another slap in the face by appointing the largest cabinet since Mulroney.  Really makes you wonder when conservatives will learn that small government actually means smaller government not more ministries, cabinet and patronage positions.

People need to stop blaming the internet for people’s lack of responsibility and inability to take responsibility of their actions. Why not look deeper into the issues, why are these people seeking attention? Why do these people seem to think that they need to risk their lives for a picture to put on the internet? There are so many questions that journalists should be asking but they aren’t they are looking for that ticker tag line that will get them on the news. Sensationalist journalism is all that they seem to be doing while kids are dying.

When the votes were all tallied up and the dust was settled, the NDP had won in ridings across Quebec that no one could have predicted at the beginning of the election. Across the country, even non New Democrats were ecstatic that a federalist party had reduced the separatist Bloc Quebecois to all but 4 seats. But the media being the media and always looking for something to make the front page, they started in on the new MPs who were democratically elected by the constituents in their ridings.

I understand that the NDP gaining the official opposition status in the House of Commons is big news, and on the national scene it is new territory. I understand that the NDP will be under the microscope because of its massive seat gains and that people will be curious about what the next step will be. That is fair. What isn’t fair is to single out new young MPs who were elected by the people in the ridings that elected them. It is not fair to the people of the ridings and is not fair to those who had the courage and conviction to run in the election.

We are told time and time again that young people are too apathetic to vote, that they are not engaged but here we have young Canadians who decided that they would put their money where their mouths were and put their names on the ballot.

I was elected to council when I was 24. In many ways I was unprepared for the world of civil politics but so is everyone else who runs for the first time. Maybe this is why I am so upset with the way the media has come out attacking these new young MPs. Some people in the media are trying to suggest that they are too young, too inexperienced and that we should take a more American approach to our elected officials with age limits.

This is ageism and it is wrong! If you are old enough to vote then you are old enough to stand up and run. Show me a newly elected Conservative politician who, just because he is older has more right to be in the House of Commons as someone who is younger? Just because you are older doesn’t mean that you have more experience at something that you have never done before, and to suggest such is not only insulting, it is inappropriate.

It takes a lot of courage to put your name on a ballot and run for office, something I would like to see these pundits and spin doctors try and do. In their attempt to cook up a story and attacking these new youthful MPs they are only alienating even more young people from getting involved. If people wish to judge these new MPs or any MP, do it on their record not on their lack of record. Everyone must start someplace and these new youthful MPs have done what most critics do not have the courage to do, run for office.