Alan Pickersgill - The View From Here

(September 30) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They sound like a pair of villains on an episode of Dukes of Hazzard. Roscoe P. Coltrane would have had them behind bars in about 45 minutes.

Maybe he should have. Fannie and Freddie have become symbolic of the sub-prime mortgage crisis that cost thousands of Americans their homes. It is fitting that George Bush’s term of office is ending in a disaster of his own making.

He drained the treasury, pumping all its money into Iraqi oil wells - a foolhardy adventure from the start. When it all began six and a half years ago, many people predicted this Gulf war would ruin the American economy. No one thought it would also bring down the world financial order.

It would be fun to tell George that he made his own bed and now must lie in it. The trouble is that our own Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has been anxious to try out the same mattress that Bush found so comfortable.

Both countries are going into elections at about the same time. Both have conservative ideologues in power. Both are spending a lot of money on controversial wars. The Americans are hitting the economic wall now. We can’t be far behind.

Time might be on our side. There is a chance we will get some regime change up here before crisis turns into disaster. Election results might be close in the land below the border, but odds are they will turn to Barack Obama as their President. If we can believe the opinion polls, Canadians will do just the opposite. Stephen Harper appears to be holding his lead and heading for another minority government. The Liberal campaign is hitting the panic buttons.

A leader of a Canadian federal political party must be able to communicate clearly and effectively in both official languages. Stephen Harper can do it. Jack Layton can do it. Stéphane Dion can not. He makes Jean Chrétien appear fluently bilingual.

If Harper is looking good to a lot of Canadians, it is only because Dion is looking so bad. We still haven’t managed to free ourselves of the tired old notion that the country can only be run by Conservatives or Liberals.

Maybe it used to be true, but not any more.

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It’s a good thing I enjoy my job. I might be working at it a few years longer than I had planned. It all depends on how well my RRSPs survive Fannie Mae’s shenanigans.

The curious thing is that a lot of the American melt down resulted from financial institutions lending money they didn’t have so that people could buy homes they can’t afford.

There is a much more effective way to support the right of families to live in decent, affordable homes. It’s called co-operative housing. There are six in Guelph.

Co-ops are mixed income communities owned and operated by the members who live in them. The first two housing co-ops in Guelph were started under a federal housing program that was ended by Brian Mulroney. The next four were started under a provincial program that was ended by Mike Harris. None have been started since.

Instead of putting money into an expanded housing program that would include both co-operatives and non-profits, our banks and credit companies have been selling the dream of private ownership. Forty-year mortgages with no down payment turned the dream into a nightmare for a lot of families. By the time the debt is paid down, the home owners will have given the bank about three times what they thought they were buying the house for, if they manage to keep it. These loans are a risky business. By the middle of October, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) will stop insuring them.

There are a lot worse ways to spend your days than managing a co-operative housing community. The rewards are plenty, and the aggravations melt away quickly enough.

The only thing wrong with Guelph housing co-ops is that there are not enough of them. If you run into the election candidates in the next two weeks, ask them why this is and what they plan to do about it.

(September 23) - I am not sure what is larger, a myriad or a plethora. Whichever it is, that's how many things are happening around town that merit our attention.

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Next Monday, city council will make the big decision about the sale of Guelph Hydro to Horizon Utilities. It is being touted as a merger, but it isn't. It's a buyout, pure and simple.

It has been difficult for citizens to get enough facts about the proposal to know whether or not it's a good deal. Property deals are always concluded behind closed doors, and usually there's nothing wrong with that. We have a good council, and they could normally be trusted to do the right thing.

In this case though, we need a little bit of transparency. Last Friday the city posted some information on its website. A press release said it has received agreement from the consulting firm "to allow it to release a summary of its analysis of a business case concerning the proposed merger."

Unfortunately, the documentation contains next to no information that would help us understand anything.

The only thing we learn from it is that Guelph will come out the other end with about 24 per cent ownership of the merged company. Hamilton will have about 60, and St. Catharines will have 16.

The documents also say "the business case is fair and reasonable from a financial point of view." None of the background information that led to this conclusion is released.

An assertion of a conclusion is not an analysis of a business case.

We should be getting more than we've been given. The Guelph chapter of the Council of Canadians did an extensive analysis that concluded the deal is a bad one.

There is no compelling reason for the city to sell the utility.

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Last week, our council relented on a prior decision and voted to allow an expansion at the Wal-Mart mall. This was not a surprise to anyone. Apparently there was nothing in the city's official plan to prevent it.

Most councillors obviously thought it more prudent to step back from this battle and move forward to other issues. They don't want to take a chance on another Ontario Municipal Board appeal.

It has been said in our other paper that this decision was based on sound planning principles. Nonsense. It wasn't. It was based on a realization that the flawed official plan adopted by the previous council couldn't stop the expansion.

As things stand, commercial development is not driven by the needs and wants of the people in Guelph. It is driven by the corporate interests of the developers.

We are about half way through this council’s four year term. Two years ago, our citizens stood up and tossed out a council that had a blind and misguided allegiance to the developers. It is about time council takes a good hard look at the official plan and the commercial policy review. Our planning processes need to be brought back under our control.

To their credit, Ward 1 councillors Bell and Farrelly appear to understand. They voted against the Wal-Mart proposal because it will further delay development in the east end.

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Speaking of bad planning, there were the kids who blocked the Hanlon on the morning of Sept. 2. A week later they posted an anonymous message on an anarchist website claiming they did it in solidarity with Native land claims.

They actually don't have a clue about anarchism or civil disobedience. Their version of "anarchism" has all the maturity of a self-indulgent libertarian.

Anarchism isn't just rejection of authority. Life isn't that simple.

Ayn Rand was a capitalist anarchist, believing in the triumph of the individual. Emma Goldman was a communist anarchist, believing that collectives flourish best when they are not restrained by central governments. Each had the courage of her convictions. Those who toss burning tires onto the Hanlon and run away do not.

Effective civil disobedience can't be anonymous.

When Mahatma Gandhi challenged British imperialism, he did it openly. He invited arrest so he could challenge unjust laws in court. Martin Luther King was the same way. So was Henry Morgentaler.

They knew you don't change anything by slinking around and breaking laws under cover of darkness and then evading responsibility in the light of day.

(September 16) - The library has had a very happy 125th birthday. Celebrations began with an open house in the main branch last February and wrapped up on Saturday with a family barbecue at the West End Branch. It was a good year to serve on its Board.

The party might be over, but the challenges haven’t gone away. We still need to settle on locations for a new east side branch and the new downtown main branch. Decisions on both will be made soon. If you can pull yourselves away from the daily thrills of the election campaign, there is still time to make your views known.

People living to the east of Victoria should be making the most noise. They bought new homes in new subdivisions on the promise that they wouldn’t wait too long for somewhere to shop. Many have been there for more than five years and the Big Bear store at the corner of Starwood and Grange is still the only game in town. For serious groceries they have to drive to either Food Basics or Zehrs on Eramosa. There are other good specialty shops such as Angelino’s or Boxed Meat, but nothing closer to where they live.

The east end library branch could well be the catalyst for further development. The sooner it can be located and built, the better it will be for the thousands of people living there. When the supermarket chains see them feeding their minds, they will quickly move in to help them feed their stomachs.

The downtown branch could still be the source of controversy. The location for it is fixed. It will go in the Baker St. parking lot and will be a major piece of the downtown redevelopment puzzle. What we don’t know yet is exactly where it will be placed. A consultant is recommending three different scenarios, with one as the obvious favourite. It would see the demolition of all the buildings between the old post office building laneway and Ragin’ Caygeon’s cowboy saloon. Part of this would make room for a new street running from Wyndham to Baker St. The rest would make room for the new library building.

A healthy downtown should have a good mix of retail, residential and institutional uses. If the consultant’s plan is adopted, we will lose some retail and residential from the main downtown street and be left with an institutional mall. On the one side of Wyndham, we’ll have the Community Health Centre, the library and Wellington County housing services in a line broken only by the saloon. On the other side the predominant uses are the government offices in the old Wellington Hotel and the County’s Ontario Works offices.

That we would have trouble keeping stores downtown was predicted in the debates about big box shopping nodes. We shouldn’t make it worse by kicking over the buildings we still have. We’d be demolishing apartments to make way for city centre condos. Remember the heritage fuss that arose over the old shoe repair shop on Alice St. The owner was prevented from tearing it down to build a garage. Take that fuss, multiply it by a downtown block and imagine the result.

People in Guelph are understandably nervous about losing old buildings. There’s not many left. They should be taken down only as a matter of last resort. That is not the case here. There are alternative choices that make a lot more sense. According to its web site, Ragin’ Caygeon’s is only open four hours a week. It sits on a site that used to house the Odeon Cinema. Several uses before that it was the Royal Opera House.

Instead of demolishing buildings, why not acquire this property and renovate it for a library that extends to the rear into the parking lot? It could be a variation of the concept that would have been used if the city had bought the post office. The cultural heritage of this spot will be preserved and continued. Downtown retail and residential uses will be preserved and continued. The new library will attract new retail tenants. It is a win-win solution.

You don’t revitalize the downtown by removing an important part of it.

(September 09) - A couple of strategic problems were solved last week. To do it, a couple of people had to shoot a lot of other people in the foot. The Prime Minister did it to Guelph voters. Elizabeth May did it to her Guelph candidate.

Instead of voting yesterday, we have to wait another month and a half. When we do, it will be in a completely changed environment.

Stephen Harper looked at recent polling data that likely reflected numbers released by the CBC last Thursday. He saw himself rising while the his Guelph campaign was tanking. A predicted disastrous showing by Gloria Kovach would have slowed any momentum he may have had. So he pulled the political switch we thought he eliminated with his fixed election date legislation.

On the day before our by-election, he cancelled it. He shot us in the foot in a blatant attempt to save his own skin. He should be ashamed of himself. We shouldn’t be embarrassed to tell him that when the time comes.

There is one guaranteed outcome from Harper’s self-serving manipulation. The Liberals will reach into their tool box and pull out their strategic voting hammer. They want to hit you on the head with it so frequently that you won’t be able to see and think straight on election day.

Don’t let it happen. Guelph is not going to contribute our seat to a Harper government. Kovach is still carrying too much baggage from the Barr fiasco. Combine that with other things such as her foolish answer when The Mercury asked about compensation for Stephen Truscott, and you’ll see she just doesn’t have the goods. The proof, they say, is in the pudding.

Elizabeth May bought herself a ticket to the televised leaders’ debates last week, and the price was Mike Nagy. The ticket came in the form of Blair Wilson, a former Liberal MP from a wealthy British Columbia riding that stretches from North Vancouver up to the Whistler Mall. It is where the gods of conspicuous consumption live. Traditionally Reform Conservative country, the Green Party manages to get between six and nine per cent.

Wilson is now Canada’s first Green MP, May will go on TV, and Nagy’s legs are cut out from under him. It’s all part of their smooth evolution from environmental movement to political party.

The favourite argument for giving Nagy a by-election vote was that we would make history without fear of changing the complexion of the federal government. It was in his brochures. It was in his answers to Tribune questions. It was in letters to the editor from his supporters. Now it is gone.

We will make as much, or maybe more, history and have the same impact on government by being the first North American riding to elect a Marijuana Party candidate.

If making history is our prime consideration, we could elect Guelph’s first NDP MP. That would have some impact by altering the balance of power on Parliament Hill.

We are not making history, though. We are making government. That involves taking a cold hard look at policy. A leading issue in the by-election was the environment. The CBC poll put all four parties relatively even on this question.

Some thought it strange that the Conservatives could get 20 per cent approval for their environmental policy when they clearly don’t have one.

It makes sense, though. The number reflects the Canadians who don’t care if the ice cap melts as long as they don’t have to pay more taxes.

They are out there, but we shouldn’t let them run the country.

(September 02) - Go to the farmer’s market. You can get most of the food you need, and it won’t kill you.

The country has been shocked lately by an outbreak of a mysterious bacteria called listeriosis. It’s killing people across Canada, making a lot more very sick and thousands more very worried.

I don’t blame Stephen Harper for this health catastrophe. I don’t even blame Mike Harris even though he’s the proud author of nearly everything that ails this city. It wasn’t just them. They had help. The social forces that propelled them into positions of power also brought these new health risks. These forces brought us deregulation and centralization. The food inspection system suffered when government funding and taxes declined.

Competition within the meat processing industry is a thing of the past. A huge amount of the sliced meats sold across the country originates in one Toronto factory. Whether on sale at Zehrs on Imperial Road or Safeway in Saskatoon, whether it’s a sub sandwich in Guelph or a pre-packaged sandwich in Moncton, odds are the meat was shipped from the Maple Leaf plant in Toronto. When you read the list of recalled brands, you see some Schneider’s and some Burns. Both were once competitors of Maple Leaf.

The free enterprise economic model pretends to thrive on competition, but it really drives to end it.

Economies of scale have led to centralized production facilities, giant retail outlets and food treated with enough chemicals to allow it to travel across the country and around the world. Go into any supermarket today and look at how many apples on display come from South Africa or China. This while orchards across southern Ontario are weighed down with fresh fruit.

If you want to eat healthily, eat locally. You can do that if you shop at the market every Saturday morning. The eggs are fresh, the meat is clean, the fruit and vegetables are tasty, and the prices are good.

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It doesn’t matter what you want to know, there is always someone in Guelph with the answer. A couple of weeks ago, I wondered about the 1957 general election. The rest of the country voted on June 10. Wellington South, our riding name at the time, voted on July 15.

A loyal reader, Walt Atkinson, called to say the Liberal candidate, Henry Hosking, died on June 3 while the campaign was still underway.

He’s buried in Rockwood cemetery.

Candidates don’t die on the job very often. When one does, the election has to be set aside to allow the affected Party time to regroup and nominate someone else.

This very rare event sparks some interesting what ifs. Hosking was running for re-election as an incumbent. He was first elected in 1949, succeeding another Liberal, Robert Gladstone, who had been the MP from 1935 until 1949. Alf Hales had run for the Conservatives in 1953, but lost to Hosking. They were up against each other for the second time in 1957 when tragedy struck the Hosking family.

Probability suggests that Hosking would have beaten Hales again. Twenty-two years of Liberal incumbency would have been tough to overturn. But the delay allowed voters here a chance to watch the rest of the country elect a Conservative minority government on June 10. Wellington South went Conservative on July 15, and Hales held it through thick and thin until his retirement 17 years later.

Now we can only speculate on the different story that might have been written into Guelph’s history book if Hosking had lived another few weeks or months.