(July 15) - Politics in this day and age is a very negative business. Campaigns are full of attack ads. Letters to the editor often criticize rather than endorse. Candidates seldom run on their own strengths, preferring to concentrate on their opponent’s weaknesses. It has become normal. Standard behaviour. Some things are so much a part of our shared experience that they get into the language.
Watergate was the name of an office building in Washington DC. It was where the break in occurred that eventually brought down an American president. From that day forward, political scandals have been tied to the word gate. The hullabaloo over leaked e-mails within a British university became Climate-gate. When one of Stephen Harper’s staff tried to undermine Barack Obama’s election campaign, we got NAFTA-gate.
The word “days” is taking on a similar sinister tone. In Guelph it is “Karen Days.” They are spoken of in conversations and letters to the editors of both Guelph papers. The reference is to the “Rae Days” imposed when Bob Rae was premier of Ontario. He is now a leading federal Liberal, but his baggage is still carried by the provincial NDP. That’s how strong the glue can be. These catch phrases create perceptions that are immune to logic or reason. It’s part of the crazy patchwork fabric of our political quilt.
What exactly are Karen days? By the time this year is over, Karen Farbridge will have been our mayor for 1461 days. One assessment of them would look at the hundreds spent developing the Community Energy Initiative. Among other things, this turned methane gas into electricity and brought the city a million dollars in carbon credits. Or the hundreds of other days spent developing processes requiring new developments to consider environmental, social and economic consequences. Or those spent convincing the provincial government to reduce our places to grow targets. Or the ones spent on the York and Hanlon Creek employment lands.
We are being told to ignore 1456 days and concentrate on five. These are the days on which city services will be shut down this summer. I should point out that I didn’t support Rae days, and I never thought the five municipal days were the way to go. Working people do not cause economic recessions, and shouldn’t have to pay the price to fix them. I would rather see politicians get over their paralyzing fear of taxation.
In 1993, unions representing provincial workers bitterly opposed Bob Rae’s social contract. In 2010, unions representing Guelph’s municipal workers have acceded to the five days off. They may not be any happier about it than I am, but they will still be there to negotiate another collective agreement. We’ll all survive these cuts whether we like them or not.
Last Friday I missed my garbage day. It didn’t matter. In August, Sunday bus riders will have to find another way to get around. It will be harder for some than for others, but everyone will manage. We’ll rely on friends. Sometimes friends with cars. Sometimes friends with different garbage days. We’ll witness the sorts of understandings that make the world go round. It’s what people do for each other in times of need. Or most of them. Some people on Grange Street must not have many friends. By Saturday evening it was still lined with bags and bins.
This council hasn’t
been perfect. No one would argue it is. It has made some mistakes. It has
made some compromises. There have been difficult decisions, just as there
have been easy ones. All in all, most Karen days are better than the five
that people moan about.
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My day job is at Cole Road Co-operative Community, an 82-townhouse development. New members are referred through the central waiting list of Wellington County Housing Services. Our co-op is a member of the Central Ontario Co-operative Housing Federation (COCHF) and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHFC).
I believe in them. They remain the best way for working people to secure fair wages and decent working conditions. For most of my working life I was active with the Canadian Auto Workers. For about 10 years I was out on a leave of absence working for the Workers Health & Safety Centre.
I am a member of the New Democratic Party of Canada. And Ontario. And Guelph. Political parties don't get actively involved in municipal politics around here, but I do. When election day rolls around in October 2010 I'll be supporting Karen Farbridge for another term as our mayor.
For more than 20 years I have spent winter Monday evenings playing in the Guelph Pub Dart League. For the past few years we have been sponsored by Real Deal, a bar near the corner of York and Victoria. Our team's statistics are on view here.
I enjoy cooking good meals and baking healthy bread. I don't think it's cheating to use a bread machine. I get a lot of my recipes from Epicurious, the Food Network and these great bread machine ones.
This web site mostly contains columns written for the Guelph Tribune. When they began in 1995, they were published every two weeks. There was a bit of a break from the summer of 2003 when I made an unsuccessful attempt to get elected to Guelph city council. They got going again in 2007. In June 2008 they became a weekly feature. In January 2010 the columns moved from the Tuesday edition to Thursdays.
The most recent column is always found here. Columns from 1995 to 2003 are here.
In the time I wasn't sounding off in the Tribune, I had some Community Editorial Board pieces in the Guelph Mercury. Read them here. A couple of other op-ed pieces are here.
The full archive of columns right up to today is just a click away.
Some of the things that interest me are found here.