Archive for the ‘politics’ Category
|Canadian Foreign Policy I Agree With?
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
It’s not very often these days that I read something in the news about Canada’s Foreign Policy that I agree with. For an example, here’s some of the stuff I tend to disagree with and read about most often:
- Government of Canada refuses to petition the US government for the return of child soldier being held at the Guantanamo Prison.
- Government of Canada may have known their prisoners were subject to torture in Afghanistan
- Government of Canada will not request that the USA return a Canadian Citizen on death row to Canada for imprisonment.
- Government of Canada will not open discussion on family planning while promoting maternal health at the G8 summit.
- Government of Canada leads the charge against a moratorium on hunting and fishing Polar Bears and Bluefin Tuna.
- Government of Canada does not want a legally binding climate change agreement at the Copenhagen summit.
Then today, I find this gem:
“And some nations, including Canada, oppose any new bank taxes.”
It came out of this article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8633455.stm. Surprisingly enough, in this rare case, I can actually say that I agree with the Government of Canada. The idea of taxing banks to put money away for the next round of bailouts is in my opinion a very poor solution to this problem. First, having this tax will give international banks a feeling that they are insured. Instead of forcing them to operate more soundly and conservatively, they will instinctively feel that they can afford to take extra risks. If things go bad, they will just get their tax dollars back in the form of a bailout, and it will be business as usual. If things go well, they will be making huge profits, and realizing their past extraneously large bonuses.
Second, as long as one country refuses to adopt this tax, there will be a quick move of headquarters of major banks to this new tax free haven. The implications of this could be far reaching, especially if this tax free haven also has lax regulations, allowing banks all the freedom they need to bring about the next global financial crisis.
The way I would deal with this problem is through regulation. By forcing banks to keep a certain portion of their assets in low-risk, cash like investments, regulating risky debt based investment hedging and derivatives, and ensuring the lending criteria on loans are significantly stringent enough to ensure that those likely to default are not eligible for loans in the first place.
All in all, Canada seems to have a good track record of strong banks capable of surviving the economic crisis. Our regulation system should be the standard the world looks to emulate. Or more specifically the actions of our banks should be emulated. Adopting a new, untested tax regime is not the answer.
Tags: news, politics
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I’m a loser
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
The title just oozes self deprecation doesn’t it? I’m actually not referring to my social inadequacies, but to my political ones. There’s nothing I’ve disliked more about my time in politics than when I’m on the loosing side of a vote. Contrary to what some may think, this doesn’t happen very often, at least not on town council.
The council system functions much like the Cuban system, or a company boardroom. There is no official opposition, we are all elected to be on the same team, and work together in collaboration. The vast majority of resolutions are made with unanimous support.
The votes that are not unanimous are the ones I became a politician for. You see, several things have to come together for a vote not to be passed unanimously. First, either outcome of the vote has to be acceptable. Otherwise you couldn’t have people both support and not support the same motion. The difference in opinion then comes down to vision.
For me, vision is the whole reason I took up politics in the first place. I felt that I could make a difference for the better. My political vision is best categorized as, neo-liberalism but let’s not use that term as it’s poorly understood and even detested in some circles.
A better description is this:
Always strive to make decisions which will have the greatest long term benefit to all parties involved. Base decisions on fact, avoid group think, gut feelings, party ideologies, and political games. Remember that you are making decisions as a representative of your constituents not as your constituents would make decisions. Your job is to have a deeper understanding of the issues, and to make an informed decision, not a popular one.
So, when one of these rare opportunities to vote on an issue where I get to apply my vision comes up, understandably I get quite excited. Then, I quickly become disappointed as I realize that I am on the loosing side.
It’s made all the worse for me, when I hear the following statements during the usually brief discussions the precede the vote. “I just have a gut feeling, and my gut is usually right”; “We all met before hand and decided without you, so it doesn’t matter what you have to say”; “Your wrong, I can’t give you any examples as to why but your still wrong”.
As you can see, these statements are directly opposed to my own vision or reason for getting into politics in the first place. Very disheartening. I usually don’t sleep well that night, often thinking that I should send in my resignation, as I’m not of “like mind” with my counterparts. I feel that I’ve not made any difference, and I’m wasting my time and worse tax payer dollars by taking up space on council.
Eventually I spin it around and come to realize that you can’t win them all, and things would have been all the worse if my vision was not even at the table. At least it gives others a reason to pause and reflect and maybe, just maybe it will slowly rub off on them. And one day I will be on the winning side of a principled vote, and I will make a positive difference.
Of course this process is made all the more easy by venting to my wife, friends, and family and now for the first time, my blog.
Tags: philosophy, politics
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