I emailed the prime minister for the first time this week. As someone who isn't about to just sit by and let the leader of her country take that country and twist and warp it into something unrecognizable, sending that email gave me a real high. I refuse to accept what Harper wants us Canucks to accept.
Monday: We met with Linda that afternoon. I spent most of said afternoon and into the evening doing homework: editing videos for my independent project and working on the second gallery review. I also emailed the two artists whose show I was reviewing.
Tuesday: I spent Photoshop class doing research on CS6. I've been completely mind-blown by what I've found out about that program: it's a complete revamp and overhaul. In their review, Gizmodo called it a "must-have update."
The end is definitely in sight for Still to Motion. I spent the class polishing up the documentary that I'm making. Things like adding titles, transitions and the credit reel.
I sent that email to Harper in the evening.
Wednesday: Karen took us on a field-trip to the UNB Art Centre, where we met with the centre’s director, Marie Maltais. We also went to the Beaverbrook and went behind the scenes with Greg Charlton. You may remember that Greg took us there last year in Design: Shaping Space. I love anything that shows you what goes on that audiences/gallery-goers/etc., aren't usually aware of: that is where the real story is. I still remember when Mom and I met up with Lynn after my first BSO concert, in May 2006. We'd decided to go out to dinner, and Lynn needed to get her violin and coat, both of which were backstage. She had Mom and me wait in the wings, and I'll never forget those minutes. I watched as the musicians packed up and chatted. Seeing that sort of thing makes you realize that artists are people, too, and they talk about mundane, ordinary stuff just like the rest of us. That's also why I love seeing photos of orchestras rehearsing, with the musicians wearing regular clothes: there's a lot of prep and practising that goes into each concert.
In Research, Drew helped me sort out how to tell which cameras were at which levels. Although I could tell the different levels pretty well by reading reviews, some of them were a bit cryptic. The trick is simple: low price = entry level, medium price = mid-range, high price = pro level. My current camera (a.k.a. my baby), an Olympus Evolt E-510, is entry-level, by the way. I started to outgrow it when I started in the diploma program, though I don't plan to replace it until after I get my BFA. If NBCCD was enough to cause me to outgrow my camera in a year, imagine what a year at NSCAD will do.
Thursday: According to Peter and my classmates, I finally hit on an ideal way to do the videos for my project: use a still image, letting the text do the work. Now I had to go back and redo all the videos that I'd already made so that they matched the one that I made this past week.
As usual, I devoted the afternoon and evening to homework. I also started work on a surprise that I'm making for the Photo Studio faculty.
Friday: The college was closed (and pretty much empty) due to Good Friday, but I still went over to get stuff done. And I got a lot done.
Saturday: I finally started choosing photos for the grad show and my final portfolio for Peter's class.
I also downloaded the beta version of Photoshop CS6 (code name: Superstition) from Adobe Labs, which I'll have for a week. Because I have a limited time in which to use it, I've completely ditched CS4 Extended (the version that I currently own). The verdict: a. I agree with Gizmodo, and b. it's gorgeous! Even Camera RAW has been given the royal treatment, which is wonderful. If I can cough up the dough to get the upgrade when it comes out (the upgrade to the Extended version of CS5 is $350 at Adobe.com, so the CS6 upgrade will probably cost about as much), I will. I have to get this.
Sunday: I did almost everything that was on the list, but didn't get done during the rest of the weekend, including knocking a couple of cameras from the list of Nikon and Canon models that I'm considering. I also skyped with Mom and Tom, and we figured out some of my living possibilities when I get to NSCAD. I also raved about CS6 (sorry, Mom).
And that evening, due to a storm here in F'ton, the power went out at my place. According to Aaron (former hall proctor and one of my friends), most of downtown was out.
And now, here's that letter that I sent to Harper. This is the first time that I've emailed the leader of a country--any country--directly from my own email address and not from a site like Care2 or Change.org, so I have to admit that it was rather exciting. I made sure to choose my words carefully: although I'd love to cuss him out or spew some other anger-fuelled rant at him, my parents have drilled into me the fact that that won't get me anywhere--especially with someone as power-hungry as Stephen Harper. I wanted to make him stop and think, and actually consider the effects of his decisions.
Prime Minister:
I've been following the federal budget news very closely since Thursday, and as a young woman, an artist and someone who believes strongly in the importance of democracy, I have several issues. Here are three of them.
What about future generations? You're a father--don't you care about leaving a future to Ben and Rachel? Pushing the retirement age to sixty-seven will put more seniors in poverty, and will deprive us youngsters of jobs. Jobs that we need, too, as many of us have student loans (I've been lucky so far, as I haven't had to take out a loan to pay for college) and other debts and expenses.
And what about the arts and media, specifically CBC? Cheesy as it may sound, culture and art are the heartbeat of every country. Without it, who the heck are we? Where's our national identity? What makes us unique? And FYI, not all of us want to get our news from Sun Media.
And what about Elections Canada? Canada is a democracy: the people choose the leaders. In fact, it's a right guaranteed under section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. By cutting some of the funding to Elections Canada, what sort of message are you sending Canadians? That you don't want us to vote? That, because the turnouts of the last two federal elections were so low (the lowest and second-lowest, respectively, in Canadian history), you're confident that we won't make the trip to the polling station in October 2015?
Yes, we do need to make cuts somewhere, but these three are things that shouldn't be reduced, as they are incredibly important to Canadians.
Sincerely,
Annapurna Moffatt
Showing posts with label federal budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label federal budget. Show all posts
Monday, April 9, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
it's about time I heard the Met play an encore
As of this past Monday, there is exactly ONE MONTH between the Class of '12 and life post-NBCCD. As someone who is fiercely loyal to the college and doubly so to the photo studio, I'm going to miss this place.
Monday: All we had to do was meet with Linda. However, I totally forgot and showed up at the college just before one--and my meeting wasn't until 2:40. I spent the next almost-two hours getting other homework done. Linda critiqued what I'd done so far for Imagery, and suggested what sort of direction I could take the project.
Tuesday: I started work on my Photoshop independent-study project. Photoshop CS6 is going to be yet another huge step forward/learning curve.
Still to Motion was devoted to getting all of us more or less on the same track. I finally added the audio tracks to my video, which is about the history of the family home and the surrounding area. I just have to add a title and the credits.
Wednesday: This week we finally talked about how to price our work. Although I fantasized about a clear answer from Karen, I realize that that's unrealistic, as you have to take the cost of your materials, frames, etc., into consideration. One her most straightforward tips was to look at what other people in the surrounding area are charging, and use that as a guide. Karen also included a couple of websites, and I jotted down the URLs in my notebook.
We presented our most recent research projects. For me, that meant talking about the results that I got with the Speedotrons and gushing about the Einsteins. We also talked about what we wanted to do next. When I chose my current project, I debated between researching affordable and expandable backup systems and professional/near-pro DSLRs. I decided that I could probably figure out backup stuff on my own pretty well--it's choosing a new camera that I need help with. The more advanced I've become, the more important choosing the right camera to fit my needs has become to me. I'm not going to go to a camera store, look at the cameras, point and say, "I want that one." I need to research the different brands (since I started thinking about getting a new camera, I've only been considering Nikon and Canon--kind of like only considering Stradivarius and Guarnieri, if those guys had made different levels of instruments for everyone from beginner to the best in the world), find out which cameras are at the level that I'm considering and look into what features each camera has. Like my current violin, my next camera will be the first DSLR that I will choose on my own. When I chose my violin in the summer of '01, my parents named a price range and I tried three different fiddles--and as many bows--in that range. However, this time I have a lot of bells and whistles to consider, and I need to know what each camera has. Therefore, this topic wins. Originally, the project was to be two weeks long (which would mean that it would be due on the eleventh), but Drew gave us the option of taking another week, meaning that it'd be due on the eighteenth. I decided to do an extra week, as I feel I could use it.
Thursday: We talked about where we are in our projects, and I presented the two videos that I've made so far. I found a sequencing glitch in one of the videos, which is stop-motion (a couple of the photos were out of place--I thought that I'd fixed all the problems in that department). Peter and my classmates critiqued the videos, corrected a couple of facts, and suggested better ways in which to do said videos. Peter also talked about a ballet performance that will be happening at the Playhouse on the thirteenth. The company, Ballet Jörgen (YOR-gen--with a hard G), is doing a masterclass before the performance, and has invited people to take photos. I believe they'll also be talking about dance photography, which would be great for me.
As Peter was coming down with a cold, he cancelled everything in the afternoon and went home. He planned to be in the next day, though. As usual, I devoted the afternoon to homework.
That day, the 2012-2013 federal budget came out--and it's a real slap in the face for us young folks. Katimivik (which gets young people out in Canadian communities, helping out--and they do it purely as volunteer work) is kaput, and the retirement age will be raised to sixty-seven (from sixty-five) in the next ten years, forcing older people to stay in the workforce longer and denying jobs to people my age because those jobs are taken by those older folks--and those are just two things. The CBC will also have it's budget slashed by $115 million over the next three years, which will reduce the quality of the programming (which is very high). I can understand why someone like Harper would want to cut funding to an institution like the CBC: freedom of the press--which is guaranteed under section 2. (b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms--is a scary thing to a leader who wants to exert full control over the country, get things done their way and not have anyone criticize them, but it still infuriates me. I love the CBC (and PBS over in the States)--in fact, I was listening to CBC Music's Orchestral channel on iTunes this afternoon--and I don't want the quality of their programming to be affected in any way. I cannot stress how important institutions like CBC and PBS are to a country. Yay for culture and freedom of the press! By the way, note that on the budget web page the tag line is "jobs growth and long-term prosperity." That statement couldn't be more untrue if the Tories tried.
As usual, Helen and I skyped that evening, and we talked about some of my projects. We won't skype again until the nineteenth, as Helen will be away and/or busy for the next couple of weeks. She thought about waiting until after I'm done school, but during finals I crave things in my life that allow me to relax, so we agreed on that date.
Friday: I spent a couple of hours at the UNB Art Centre, taking photos of, and notes on the current show. I'm reviewing it for the second show review that I have to write for Gallery as a Market Place. The day before, I called the Centre and asked for permission to take photos there to use as visual notes while writing the review. They were totally fine with it as long as the photos were just for my use--otherwise they'd have to get approval from the artists--Monica Lacey and Brody LeBlanc (who are Class of '11 NBCCD grads).
That afternoon, I fired a bunch of questions at Peter: approaching NSCAD with my research on the credits that I'd found (NSCAD originally awarded me fifty-four credits, and I wanted to get as close to the seventy-five-credit mark as possible), when he's going to talk about the grad show and how many pieces to put in the hard-copy portfolio that I have to do for his class.
Saturday: As usual, I devoted the day to homework. I got a really good start on the gallery review. By "really good", I mean that I banged out two hundred and eighty-six words. Five hundred and fourteen more to go! I did homework for Imagery, and I started putting together a list of cameras to consider.
This week the Met performed L'Elisir d'Amore--and I heard the orchestra and one of the singers, Juan Diago Flórez, play an encore for the first time. After they played Una furtiva lagrima, the audience went nuts, applauding for a long time, quieting down--and then starting up again, shouting, "BRAVO!" and, although I didn't catch it, "ENCORE!" So the Met played the aria again. And because I hadn't heard the calls for an encore, I couldn't believe my ears: they were playing it again? Really? But after that performance, I distinctly heard the shouts for an encore. This time, the Met ignored those requests and went on with the rest of the opera.
Sadly, this version isn't with the Met:
Sunday: Today, I didn't get over to the college until around four--I'm usually there around two. I started looking at reviews of cameras, and I knocked a few off the list because this time around, I'm not getting an entry-level cam. After two years at NBCCD, I'm itching to play with the big boys.
Monday: All we had to do was meet with Linda. However, I totally forgot and showed up at the college just before one--and my meeting wasn't until 2:40. I spent the next almost-two hours getting other homework done. Linda critiqued what I'd done so far for Imagery, and suggested what sort of direction I could take the project.
Tuesday: I started work on my Photoshop independent-study project. Photoshop CS6 is going to be yet another huge step forward/learning curve.
Still to Motion was devoted to getting all of us more or less on the same track. I finally added the audio tracks to my video, which is about the history of the family home and the surrounding area. I just have to add a title and the credits.
Wednesday: This week we finally talked about how to price our work. Although I fantasized about a clear answer from Karen, I realize that that's unrealistic, as you have to take the cost of your materials, frames, etc., into consideration. One her most straightforward tips was to look at what other people in the surrounding area are charging, and use that as a guide. Karen also included a couple of websites, and I jotted down the URLs in my notebook.
We presented our most recent research projects. For me, that meant talking about the results that I got with the Speedotrons and gushing about the Einsteins. We also talked about what we wanted to do next. When I chose my current project, I debated between researching affordable and expandable backup systems and professional/near-pro DSLRs. I decided that I could probably figure out backup stuff on my own pretty well--it's choosing a new camera that I need help with. The more advanced I've become, the more important choosing the right camera to fit my needs has become to me. I'm not going to go to a camera store, look at the cameras, point and say, "I want that one." I need to research the different brands (since I started thinking about getting a new camera, I've only been considering Nikon and Canon--kind of like only considering Stradivarius and Guarnieri, if those guys had made different levels of instruments for everyone from beginner to the best in the world), find out which cameras are at the level that I'm considering and look into what features each camera has. Like my current violin, my next camera will be the first DSLR that I will choose on my own. When I chose my violin in the summer of '01, my parents named a price range and I tried three different fiddles--and as many bows--in that range. However, this time I have a lot of bells and whistles to consider, and I need to know what each camera has. Therefore, this topic wins. Originally, the project was to be two weeks long (which would mean that it would be due on the eleventh), but Drew gave us the option of taking another week, meaning that it'd be due on the eighteenth. I decided to do an extra week, as I feel I could use it.
Thursday: We talked about where we are in our projects, and I presented the two videos that I've made so far. I found a sequencing glitch in one of the videos, which is stop-motion (a couple of the photos were out of place--I thought that I'd fixed all the problems in that department). Peter and my classmates critiqued the videos, corrected a couple of facts, and suggested better ways in which to do said videos. Peter also talked about a ballet performance that will be happening at the Playhouse on the thirteenth. The company, Ballet Jörgen (YOR-gen--with a hard G), is doing a masterclass before the performance, and has invited people to take photos. I believe they'll also be talking about dance photography, which would be great for me.
As Peter was coming down with a cold, he cancelled everything in the afternoon and went home. He planned to be in the next day, though. As usual, I devoted the afternoon to homework.
That day, the 2012-2013 federal budget came out--and it's a real slap in the face for us young folks. Katimivik (which gets young people out in Canadian communities, helping out--and they do it purely as volunteer work) is kaput, and the retirement age will be raised to sixty-seven (from sixty-five) in the next ten years, forcing older people to stay in the workforce longer and denying jobs to people my age because those jobs are taken by those older folks--and those are just two things. The CBC will also have it's budget slashed by $115 million over the next three years, which will reduce the quality of the programming (which is very high). I can understand why someone like Harper would want to cut funding to an institution like the CBC: freedom of the press--which is guaranteed under section 2. (b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms--is a scary thing to a leader who wants to exert full control over the country, get things done their way and not have anyone criticize them, but it still infuriates me. I love the CBC (and PBS over in the States)--in fact, I was listening to CBC Music's Orchestral channel on iTunes this afternoon--and I don't want the quality of their programming to be affected in any way. I cannot stress how important institutions like CBC and PBS are to a country. Yay for culture and freedom of the press! By the way, note that on the budget web page the tag line is "jobs growth and long-term prosperity." That statement couldn't be more untrue if the Tories tried.
As usual, Helen and I skyped that evening, and we talked about some of my projects. We won't skype again until the nineteenth, as Helen will be away and/or busy for the next couple of weeks. She thought about waiting until after I'm done school, but during finals I crave things in my life that allow me to relax, so we agreed on that date.
Friday: I spent a couple of hours at the UNB Art Centre, taking photos of, and notes on the current show. I'm reviewing it for the second show review that I have to write for Gallery as a Market Place. The day before, I called the Centre and asked for permission to take photos there to use as visual notes while writing the review. They were totally fine with it as long as the photos were just for my use--otherwise they'd have to get approval from the artists--Monica Lacey and Brody LeBlanc (who are Class of '11 NBCCD grads).
That afternoon, I fired a bunch of questions at Peter: approaching NSCAD with my research on the credits that I'd found (NSCAD originally awarded me fifty-four credits, and I wanted to get as close to the seventy-five-credit mark as possible), when he's going to talk about the grad show and how many pieces to put in the hard-copy portfolio that I have to do for his class.
Saturday: As usual, I devoted the day to homework. I got a really good start on the gallery review. By "really good", I mean that I banged out two hundred and eighty-six words. Five hundred and fourteen more to go! I did homework for Imagery, and I started putting together a list of cameras to consider.
This week the Met performed L'Elisir d'Amore--and I heard the orchestra and one of the singers, Juan Diago Flórez, play an encore for the first time. After they played Una furtiva lagrima, the audience went nuts, applauding for a long time, quieting down--and then starting up again, shouting, "BRAVO!" and, although I didn't catch it, "ENCORE!" So the Met played the aria again. And because I hadn't heard the calls for an encore, I couldn't believe my ears: they were playing it again? Really? But after that performance, I distinctly heard the shouts for an encore. This time, the Met ignored those requests and went on with the rest of the opera.
Sadly, this version isn't with the Met:
Sunday: Today, I didn't get over to the college until around four--I'm usually there around two. I started looking at reviews of cameras, and I knocked a few off the list because this time around, I'm not getting an entry-level cam. After two years at NBCCD, I'm itching to play with the big boys.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
proud of my country--but not of my government
I am officially done with mainstream Canadian news, at least when it comes to big papers. I've been reading the National Post for about a month, but this past weekend their conservative tone and the endless comments in which readers dissed and bashed the more liberal people in government (Jack Layton, other NDP/Liberal MP's, etc.) ended up getting to me, and I've deleted it from my bookmarks list. I then spent most of Saturday looking for a Canadian news source that's not so conservative, and so far I'm liking rabble.ca and AlterNet (which is American).
Since I knew that the Globe and Mail had endorsed Prime Minister Harper, I did a Google search--and was shocked to find out that virtually every major paper in Canada, from the Montreal Gazette to the Winnipeg Free Press had endorsed the Conservatives. Including the National Post. And Maclean's magazine (kind of like a Canadian version of TIME). The only papers that didn't endorse the Tories were Now and the Toronto Star (NDP), Le Devoir (Bloc Québécois), the Georgia Straight and La Presse (they endorsed multiple parties), while Le Soleil endorsed no one (I couldn't find any info on either the CBC or CTV). So now, even the majority of mainstream Canadian news sources cannot be trusted to present the news straight up, or to present it in a non-biased way--they all think Harper is just fabulous, and is doing a wonderful job for Canada **gag**. I knew that the days of truly unbiased news had passed, but until I found out that the G&M had endorsed Harper (I found that out during the campaign), I had no idea that newspapers endorsed political candidates.
However, there is a benefit to reading non-mainstream newspapers and sites: sometimes they cover stories that the mainstream is too busy to cover, or deems to be less important/sensational. Plus, now that Harper has his majority government, those of us who didn't vote for the guy (meaning, most of us) have to keep a closer eye on him and his mischief. And let him and the rest of the government know that we will hold the prime minister to account for his actions.
Although I knew that he'd done a lot of nasty/irresponsible things, after reading the stuff on shitharperdid.com, I was rather mad at myself for not keeping a closer eye on Canadian politics in the last five years. During this election, I vowed to keep more up-to-date on the politics of my own country. So far, so good.
The 2011 budget (version 2.0) came out yesterday. One of the things that Harper campaigned on was balancing the budget a year early (2014 instead of 2015), and the Conservative government being the Conservative government, they've decided that the best way in which to get back on track is to (get ready for this) cut spending in places where they shouldn't cut spending. Arts: GONE. Global warming: IGNORED. Filthy rich: GIVEN A TAX BREAK. 80,000 people: UNEMPLOYED. Per-vote subsidy (for each vote that a party gets in a federal election, they earn $2): GONE. And on, and on, and on.
There are many things that bug me, of course, two of them being the fact that funding for the arts (namely, the National Gallery of Canada--as I recall, about half of the people who work there will be unemployed shortly) is being slashed; and the end of the per-vote subsidy. Harper has said that "Conservative values are Canadian values," and that Canada is a "conservative nation." With the elimination of the P.V.S., the other parties (the NDP, Liberal Party and Green Party being the three best-known and popular) will have to rely on donations to survive. Since the Conservative Party is the biggest and richest of all the Canadian parties, they won't have to worry about going under--which makes the slashing of the P.V.S. incredibly selfish and obscene, and threatens to turn Canada into a one-party state. Which is wrong: we are a free country, where the voters can choose who they want to vote for. That freedom of choice is one of the things that sets us apart from, say, Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
And while he's cutting spending in places where he shouldn't, he's increasing spending in others (where he shouldn't): despite the fact that the crime rate has fallen, he's decided to get tough, and build huge "US-style" prisons (which is a model that the US no longer uses). The punishments for those who dare to break the law are going to be harsher (if that word exists), too. And then there are those F-35 fighter jets (engines sold separately) that he wants to buy. Both the prisons and the jets are unnecessary.
But what really drives me nuts is Harper's secrecy. As that line from The Wizard of Oz goes, "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." Or, "pay no attention to the political schemes behind the curtain." But I will pay attention to the schemes that the government is trying to hide from us ordinary Canadians. Harper's got his majority--now he can finally cackle, rub his hand together, and implement his plan to make Canada into a country that the rest of us won't recognize when he's done. **shiver** And, gee, in his victory speech on Election Night the guy said that he would "govern for all Canadians" (emphasis my own)--not just those who voted for him. Well, he certainly won't govern for me.
Two articles on the budget, v. 2.0 that are worth reading:
Budget 2011: Don't look behind the curtain
You can't cut your way to growth
PS: Don't even get me started on the fact that our voting system is unfair--a minority of Canadians voted in the majority of the MP's. First-past-the-post system, you've got to go!
Since I knew that the Globe and Mail had endorsed Prime Minister Harper, I did a Google search--and was shocked to find out that virtually every major paper in Canada, from the Montreal Gazette to the Winnipeg Free Press had endorsed the Conservatives. Including the National Post. And Maclean's magazine (kind of like a Canadian version of TIME). The only papers that didn't endorse the Tories were Now and the Toronto Star (NDP), Le Devoir (Bloc Québécois), the Georgia Straight and La Presse (they endorsed multiple parties), while Le Soleil endorsed no one (I couldn't find any info on either the CBC or CTV). So now, even the majority of mainstream Canadian news sources cannot be trusted to present the news straight up, or to present it in a non-biased way--they all think Harper is just fabulous, and is doing a wonderful job for Canada **gag**. I knew that the days of truly unbiased news had passed, but until I found out that the G&M had endorsed Harper (I found that out during the campaign), I had no idea that newspapers endorsed political candidates.
However, there is a benefit to reading non-mainstream newspapers and sites: sometimes they cover stories that the mainstream is too busy to cover, or deems to be less important/sensational. Plus, now that Harper has his majority government, those of us who didn't vote for the guy (meaning, most of us) have to keep a closer eye on him and his mischief. And let him and the rest of the government know that we will hold the prime minister to account for his actions.
Although I knew that he'd done a lot of nasty/irresponsible things, after reading the stuff on shitharperdid.com, I was rather mad at myself for not keeping a closer eye on Canadian politics in the last five years. During this election, I vowed to keep more up-to-date on the politics of my own country. So far, so good.
The 2011 budget (version 2.0) came out yesterday. One of the things that Harper campaigned on was balancing the budget a year early (2014 instead of 2015), and the Conservative government being the Conservative government, they've decided that the best way in which to get back on track is to (get ready for this) cut spending in places where they shouldn't cut spending. Arts: GONE. Global warming: IGNORED. Filthy rich: GIVEN A TAX BREAK. 80,000 people: UNEMPLOYED. Per-vote subsidy (for each vote that a party gets in a federal election, they earn $2): GONE. And on, and on, and on.
There are many things that bug me, of course, two of them being the fact that funding for the arts (namely, the National Gallery of Canada--as I recall, about half of the people who work there will be unemployed shortly) is being slashed; and the end of the per-vote subsidy. Harper has said that "Conservative values are Canadian values," and that Canada is a "conservative nation." With the elimination of the P.V.S., the other parties (the NDP, Liberal Party and Green Party being the three best-known and popular) will have to rely on donations to survive. Since the Conservative Party is the biggest and richest of all the Canadian parties, they won't have to worry about going under--which makes the slashing of the P.V.S. incredibly selfish and obscene, and threatens to turn Canada into a one-party state. Which is wrong: we are a free country, where the voters can choose who they want to vote for. That freedom of choice is one of the things that sets us apart from, say, Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
And while he's cutting spending in places where he shouldn't, he's increasing spending in others (where he shouldn't): despite the fact that the crime rate has fallen, he's decided to get tough, and build huge "US-style" prisons (which is a model that the US no longer uses). The punishments for those who dare to break the law are going to be harsher (if that word exists), too. And then there are those F-35 fighter jets (engines sold separately) that he wants to buy. Both the prisons and the jets are unnecessary.
But what really drives me nuts is Harper's secrecy. As that line from The Wizard of Oz goes, "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." Or, "pay no attention to the political schemes behind the curtain." But I will pay attention to the schemes that the government is trying to hide from us ordinary Canadians. Harper's got his majority--now he can finally cackle, rub his hand together, and implement his plan to make Canada into a country that the rest of us won't recognize when he's done. **shiver** And, gee, in his victory speech on Election Night the guy said that he would "govern for all Canadians" (emphasis my own)--not just those who voted for him. Well, he certainly won't govern for me.
Two articles on the budget, v. 2.0 that are worth reading:
Budget 2011: Don't look behind the curtain
You can't cut your way to growth
PS: Don't even get me started on the fact that our voting system is unfair--a minority of Canadians voted in the majority of the MP's. First-past-the-post system, you've got to go!
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