McGuinty Government Accused of Election Fraud

Those of you who faithfully read my column every week, know how hesitant I am about voicing my opinion. This is especially true when it concerns politics. Everyone knows that politics and religion are two subjects that should never be discussed in friendly conversation.

This week I am going to ignore that rule.

With that in mind, I am about to get on my soapbox and lay it on the line. I am not talking about a box of Tide either, but the bona fide, down and dirty, wooden box of the good old days. And, what I have to say is, "enough is enough!!"

I have been watching with great chagrin the behaviour of our current government. The Liberals, under the leadership of Dalton McGuinty, seem to care very little about the promises they made during their election campaign. Everyday it is a different promise broken.

We will, of course, be told the deficit is the cause. Yeah right! If I hear that one more time I am going to scream! (at which point, some men in white coats with a special jacket for me, will probably come to take me away). Not that there will be that many surprised.

The problem is we have come to accept things this way. We all expect the politicians to lie to us. We have created a culture where we are expect to be sheep and just accept what we are told. Then the politicians wonder why voters are cynical.

Well, I for one have had it. As they said in the movie Network, "I am mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore".

I mean really, if you or I were to stand up in front of a crowd of people or reporters and promised things, it would be considered a contract. If we broke that contract, we, at the very least, would be sued. Not that they could get anything out of me because, as the saying goes "you can’t get blood out of a stone" but, they could try.

Purposely misleading the public, to me, is fraudulent and a breech of contract. The Liberals are acting more like we are married than as guardians of the province. They are not a husband who promises to do something but never quite gets around to it, they are our workers (used loosely). When we voted we hired the politicians as employees of the province and, as you could with any employee, if they lied during the interview they could be fired.

It is time this ended for good. This breech of the public trust every election is criminal and needs to have a stop put to it. We don’t accept it from companies like Enron, why should we allow it here?

This is what I am proposing. I have started a petition on my new website. In it, I am petitioning the Solicitor General of Canada, Wayne Easter, to immediately ask for either a public or RCMP inquiry into this affair.

If this request is turned down, or ignored, (a more likely scenario) then this list could immediately be used as the basis for a class action lawsuit. I figure what the heck. If it’s good enough for the Americans, why not us?

Of course, I would need the help of a lawyer, so if there are any out there who are willing to help for free, email me. I won’t hold my breath waiting but you never know. I heard a rumour about one with a heart once.

So, people, let’s stand up and be counted. Let’s show them that we expect integrity and honesty from our appointed leaders. Let’s show them what we are made of and that we are not going to take it anymore. Let’s immediately go to www3.sympatico.ca/robb.macqueen.

At the very least, it may scare them enough to make any future politician think twice before they jerk the public around. Then again…

Restructuring the Canadian Armed Forces

The Canadian Armed Forces is in dire straits.

With a reported shortfall of $500 million, increased deployments and an indifferent government, some drastic decisions must be made.

First, and foremost, the government in Ottawa must stop the double standard of treating the military as yet another government department while sticking its nose into every little aspect of the CF. It is mind boggling that $100 million can disappear in the sponsorship scandal, Human Resources Development Canada can blow $1 Billion and the Federal Gun Registry is allowed to balloon from a couple of million dollars to a projected cost of $2 billion, yet the moment Paul Martin became Prime Minister he froze the program to replace 25 year old armoured vehicles with new ones made in London, Ontario and then acted like he was so wonderful for resuming what was allready in place.

The military is a unique entity and must be allowed to operate as such. It must be allowed to use its budget on the priorities determined by National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ), not by parliament. By necessity, the military must work on extended timelines, as capital procurement takes years, where as politicians only seem to look as far as the next election. These two visions do not mesh nor should either side expect them to.

Unfortunately, even if the military where given discretionary use of its budget, it will do little good without a total revamping of the military hierarchy.

In the past, whenever NDHQ has been forced to make reductions due to spending constraints, the cuts have come from the bottom, leaving the military top heavy. Even under the direction of the Minister of National Defence, NDHQ has continued to play with the numbers to keep the compliment of Flag Officers fairly steady.

The current structure does not reflect the realities of the modern world. Since World War II, the army and navy have carried out the majority of deployments. Even now it is army units in Afghanistan, and naval units in the Arabian Gulf. Yet, the Armed Forces Council, whose job it is to advise the Chief of Defence Staff, has only two army members out of eight people.
It is obvious that a major restructuring is long overdue.

An independent review of the CF command structure should be immediately convened. It should include military experts from all fields as well as representatives of all ranks in the CF. In order to give a semblance of impartiality, it must not contain serving members or anyone currently serving in parliament. And the recommendations must be implemented.

The current financial state of the CF also calls for radical cuts in personnel. With prevailing foreign policy leaning toward ever-increasing commitments to peacemaking, as opposed to peacekeeping, proper equipment also becomes essential. There is the vital replacement of ageing equipment to consider as well. 25 year old Combat Support Vehicles, trucks that are rusting away, replenishment ships sitting idle waiting for replacements, 40 year old helicopters, and destroyers needing either replacement or refit, these all add to the cost of running the military.

There are areas that could be cut that would save millions, if not billions, of dollars. We need to remove the Air Force, Search and Rescue and the Naval Reserve, from the military structure.
There are currently 118 CF18 Hornets in the CF. During the last 15 years we have seen 24 of them deployed during the first Gulf War and 18 sent to participate in the NATO air campaign in the former Yugoslavia. Yet we keep these expensive to run and maintain pieces of equipment. The argument is that they are used to establish sovereignty of our airspace but the reality is that the only threat to our sovereignty at this moment is the United States and 118 planes will not make a difference. We have depended on the US for defence for decades, why not make it official?

Of the 6 Challenger jets, the 4 VIP jets should be transferred to the Transportation Ministry since that is what they do. Let another branch of the government bear the cost of these expensive taxis.

Aircraft that are primarily used by the army should be transferred over to it. The CC130 Hercules transport and the CH146 Griffon helicopter are used principally in support of army operations and should be under army control. The Seakings, and their eventual replacement, should likewise be placed under naval command.

Search and Rescue responsibilities and equipment should be transferred to the Coast Guard, as should the Naval Reserve. Interdepartmental co-operation would make this a beneficial arrangement with the Coast Guard gaining the enhanced capabilities of relatively new Coastal Defence Vessels and the Naval Reserve being given more sea time. Future collaborations on equipment would also ensure new equipment meets Coast Guard needs while ensuring a training platform for the navy.

Maritime patrol aircraft, like the 18 CP140 Aurora’s, would also come under Coast Guard control while the four CC138 Twin Otters would be transferred to the army to continue to support northern operations. The elimination of the CF18’s would negate the need for two of our five CC150 Polaris/Airbus’ to be converted to air-to-air refuellers and all could be transferred to the Ministry of Transport to be used as needed to ferry government or military personnel.

The CF needs innovative solutions to the current crisis our armed forces are facing. We need people who think "outside the box" because inside the box is the past and it is the future we need to be concentrating on.