” Kites Rise Highest Against The Wind---Not With It.”

Over the past hundred years in Nova Scotia and Canada, either the Liberals or the Conservatives in their various evolutions have governed the provinces and the country. Today, we have governments rife with nepotism and cronyism. We have politicians who, once voted in, become unavailable to their constituents. They are powerless to make any real changes that their party caucus doesn’t want to make because there is no political motivation to do so. The average person who pays his taxes has become powerless as he watches ineffective laws caudle criminals with light sentences or none at all. Young murderers and bullies are protected by absurd legislation that tacitly encourages their activities- even though those who are in the positions of leading agree that the criminal acts and punishments are wrong on every level but are not prepared to give any more than lip service to the people who put them in power. The recent Sponsorship inquiry has shown Canadians the tip of the proverbial iceberg that has floated for too many years. Taxpayers in Canada know their “leaders are stealing from them but are powerless to get any redress. No wonder. The political parties who have control of our governments are heavily populated with lawyers whose profession in recent years has demonstrated less than a stellar performance that would inspire public confidence. Not a week goes by that a lawyer somewhere in Canada doesn’t make the papers for stealing from a client or otherwise manipulating things through law that legitimize his criminal acts. The legal profession continues to be self-policing and, only in those instances of blatant misconduct, are their associations compelled to actually censure them. In a similar vein, these attitudes have spilled over into the governments these lawyers populate. They expect to be very well paid while they are MPs or MLA’s and don’t hesitate to give themselves raises at the expense of the poor taxpayer. They feel, too, that their efforts should forever be memorialized in grandiose pensions that continue until the day they die. These people who get into government expect they should have tenure as well. If ever voted out of office they will be heard to scream loudly like Sheila Kopps, &,&. Those that have “inside information” on the people who remain in power are eventually quieted and otherwise compromised with liberal does of taxpayer’s money or positions in the Senate that allow them draw a Senator’s salary of 75,000 a year (whether they attend in Ottawa or not). In addition to whatever they would have in pensions and income from any other former or current political positions. Politics has become a very profitable growth industry – for some – in the provinces and this country. Our job has been to show you how the system fails the people for whom it supposedly exists. You can fight back by not supporting any of the parties who want, and will get, total control of your tax dollars, when you give any of them a majority. If you want sensible laws that do what they are supposed to when anyone under the age of sixteen commits a criminal act then the very least you should do is make sure no one party gets a majority. If you are sick of being ignored and put off when you call the MP or MLA who begged for your vote, then make damn good and sure their party is never given a majority. Keep a list of a all of the money deals governments make with their friends while they’re in office and make sure they don’t get a majority again, if ever. There are those reading this who believe that the only system that will work is for government to be provided by this party or that. Not so. Independent candidates who are free from alliances in a political party are less likely to be able to “take care of their friends” and act only on behalf of their constituents. They are more like to work harder when they don’t have a party to make their excuses for them or shield them from public scrutiny as was done with Alphonso Gagliano when he was given an appointment as an “ambassador” to Denmark when things started to heat up regarding his involvement in the missing millions related to the Sponsorship program. We must all learn to think “outside the box “ of party politics that has consistently been a vehicle for a narrow elite to fleece us all of our tax dollars while providing third rate leadership. That great statesman and leader who is credited with being the principal sparkplug behind winning the Second World War, Sir Winston Churchill, did not believe we should all be sheep if we want to better ourselves when he said,” Kites rise highest against the wind---not with it.” Clearly, our history has shown the current system of party-dominated government in Canada has been stalled for too may years. Our laws are regressive and our politicians are mired in party dogma that proves daily it is unable to provide honest and responsible government to the people. Parties have little in ideological differences. It means nothing for an individual like Jean Charest to jump from the national leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party to that of a Liberal Premier of the Province of Quebec. Those who remember John Crosby’s bombastic character as a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament may have forgotten he was once a Liberal. Scott Bryson of Nova Scotia easily made the jump from Conservative to Liberal when he realized his career horizons were limited. Peter MacKay had no conscience when he sold out the Progressive Conservative Party to the Alliance led by Stephen Harper. Jack Layton, the current leader of the national NDP comes from a family of Conservatives. Politicians in Ottawa today are hockey players who can play on any team and wear the sweater proudly if the rewards are sufficient and there is a position open. The common thread running through all of this is that these people have set themselves apart from the people they once vowed to represent. The only way to differentiate between them these days is for the voter to look and see the colour and, more particularly, the source of the money that controls them. When you give a majority to this party or that, YOU cannot benefit. You have no control because you have relinquished it to Big Business, trade Unions and those organizations who have bought and paid for future powers THEY can control when the party they supported makes it as government. You, on the other hand, can beat these people at their own game by electing independent candidates who will do what you want … if, indeed, you want good honest government that is respective of your rights and tax dollars. Leave the parties to twist with the people who bought them and own them if you want to finally put an end to the dirt and theft that they have been passing off as “good government” to us all. Wayne Coady Cole Harbour Nova Scotia B2V1Z2 wcoady@accesswave.ca