A Better Canada

I may no longer reside in Canada, but I am still a Canadian. Although the past nine years have made me less than proud to be a Canadian, my pride as a Canadian was restored this past Federal (National) Election. 


The Harper Government's leadership of Canada has led to the deterioration of Canada's international reputation as well the erosion of democracy, science, environmental protections, care for veterans and much more within Canada. (See a "brief" list of some of the damage wrought by Stephen Harper as Prime Minister of Canada on The Tyee: Harper, Serial Abuser of Power: The Evidence Compiled.) 

Thankfully those disheartening years seem to be past. On October 19th, 2015, the Liberal Party of Canada, under leader Justin Trudeau, won 39.5% of the popular vote which translated into 184/338 seats in parliament to form a majority government. (Detailed election results available on CBC News: Canada Votes.)

Justin Trudea hasn't even been sworn in as Prime Minister yet (so he won't officially become the Prime Minister until November 4th, 2015) but Canada is already better under his leadership.

He has invited all of the provincial premiers to join the delegation--demonstrating a willingness to collaborate with the provinces and to further cooperation between the Federal and Provincial governments. This, of course is in stark contrast with Harper, who couldn't be bothered to attend Council of Canadian Premiers meetings and had a decidedly adversarial relationship with Ontario's Premier, Kathleen Wynne. (The Globe & Mail: Premiers agree to attend Paris climate summit with Trudeau)

He is further working to make the Canadian Government collaborative instead of adversarial by also inviting opposition party members to attend the UN climate summit in Paris--unlike Harper, who shut opposition party members out of important international talks. Sixty percent of voters in the past election did not  vote for the Liberal Party. By including other party leaders in the delegation he is giving all voters a voice and more truly representing Canada. (CTV News: Trudeau invites May, other leaders to join UN climate summit delegation)

And of course the fact that he is bringing such a large delegation to the Paris climate summit demonstrates a willingness to address the climate change issue in the first place--again, completely unlike Harper.

On a completely different note, he has also committed to electoral reform, doing away with the first-past-the-post system that gave his party a majority government in the first place. (Had the election been held using proportional representation, the Liberals would only have achieved a minority government.) By also examining online voting and mandatory voting, Trudeau has also demonstrated a desire to increase voter participation rather than trying to suppress it as Harper did through the (un-)"Fair Elections Act." (The Toronto Star: Electoral reform looms for Canada, Justin Trudeau promises)

Oh, and let's not forget that he specifically created an opportunity for members of the press to ask questions at the National Press Theatre shortly after winning the election--something Harper reportedly hadn't done in about seven years. (The Huffington Post Canada: Trudeau Takes Questions At National Press Gallery Theatre In Departure From Harper)

I'm sure that I will disagree with Trudeau's policy choices, etc. sometime (the TPP and pipelines being foreseeable issues), but in less than a week as Prime Minister-Elect, Justin Trudeau has already started restoring my respect for Canadian democracy and the government and given me hope for the future of the country.

So thank you, Justin Trudeau. And thank you, fellow Canadians for voting (even if you did vote for the Conservative Party). 

NOT Cool Japan

This is an article that caught my eye when I happened to look over my husband's shoulder as he was reading the local newspaper, TooNippo (東奥日報) on May 5th, 2015.

It's about American Republican Party Presidential candidates, Dr. Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina.

What caught my eye, though, was not the content of the article, but the title, which basically starts with (reading from right to left): "WOMAN Ms. Fiorino, BLACK PERSON Mr. Carson"

Seriously?!

I am by no means a zealot for political correctness, but I feel like the presentation of the article essentially reduced Ms. Fiorino and Mr. Carson to just the most basic of their physical characteristics.

NOT cool, Japan, not cool.

News & Media Round-Up, July 16 - August 1, 2013

CANADA 

The Beaverton (satirical news site)
- Parrot removed from Montreal Biodome after learning too much English

The HillTimes
- Ironically, economy may turn out to be one of the Harper government's biggest failures

Huffington Post (Canada)
- How Harper Uses Psychology to Peddle Myths
- Ontario's McLobster Dreams Have Come True

Toronto Star
- Suspension of EI whistleblower sets dangerous precedent, critics say

Winnipeg Free Press
- Slurpees & Winnipeg: A love story 
- Winnipeg sucks! Slurpee king again


JAPAN

ak47: tumblr
Poor Pikachu! (my caption)

enRoute (Air Canada)
- Inside the Nebuta House Wa Rasse Museum

Japan Pulse
- The last of the McDonald's Jewelry
- Limited-edition burgers, ep. deux
(- A Tale of Two Limited-Edition Burgers: Lotteria's Twin and McD's Gold Ring - July 9)


Japan Times
 - Mount Fuji fee charged, but signs in Japanese
- Plant by numbers

Kotaku.com
- Unique Japanese Mail Boxes Are Wonderful in Rain or Shine
- How a Japanese Radish Became an Internet Hero
- Ferrari Lovers, This Anime Stunt Might Horrify You

WORLD

The Beaverton (satirical news site)
- Kate Middleton gives birth to beautiful, healthy news story 

Kotaku.com
- How Chinese Ingenuity Destroyed Salad Bars at Pizza Hut

 Geekologie.com
- Man Caught Driving With Pliers For A Steering Wheel
  The White House
- President Obama: Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me

ART/STUFF/DIY

Geekologie.com
- Just What I Always Wanted!: Raw Meat Gift Wrap Paper

imgur
-15 Over-Used Movie Poster Clichés

Kotaku.com
- How To Turn Your Cat into Totoro
- Act fast and you can snag this hilarious Mario warp-pipe cat complex from CatistrophicCreations on Etsy

TAXI
- Crisp Illustrations Of Creatures From Japanese Folklore

VIDEOS

BuzzFeed
- Japanese Animator Films Mesmerizing Lightscapes in Downtown Tokyo

Jezebel.com
- Rad Kids React to Racists Freaking Out About the Cheerios Commerical
- The Daily Show's Zimmerman Coverage Is as Rage-Filled as It Should Be

Entertainment Weekly
- PopWatch: Here's what happens when 280 movies are edited together to sing Vanilla Ice's 'Ice Ice Baby'

YouTube 
- Shut Up & Sit Down, Season 2, Episode 12 - Introduction to Board Games

- YANIS MARSHALL "SPICE GIRLS" Directed By FERNANDO DE AZEVEDO Feat ARNAUD BOURSAIN & MEHDI MAMINE

News & Media Round-Up, June 29-July 7, 2013

HuffingtonPost.ca
- 50 Of The Most 'Canadian' Foods: It's Not Just Bacon And Maple Syrup

Jezebel.com
- Worst Bride Ever Throws Facebook Fit Over $100 Cash Wedding Gift

Kotaku.com
- Hooray, There's More Little Witch Academia Coming (video)
- That's A Lot Of Studio Ghibli Characters. Can You Name Them All?
- How One Man Wants To Bring An Iconic Anime Glider To Life
- 3D-Printed Final Fantasy VII Characters Look Pretty Amazing
- These Dudes Know How To Break It Down To Final Fantasy Music (video)

TheStar.com
- One dead, many missing as train explodes in Lac-Mégantic (video)
- Doug Holyday's hypocrisy in Etobicoke byelection: Cohn
- Algae bloom carpets China's coast (video)

News & Media Round-Up - June 20-28, 2013

Here is some stuff I've read/watched online recently:

Geekologie.com
- Move Over, Wonderbread: Superman Logo Sandwich Bread
- Animated GIF of All 151 Original Pokemon As Cats

HuffingtonPost.ca 
- 25 Of the Most "Canadian" Words
- 10 Reasons Why Calgarians Love Nenshi (or, How to Be a Leader)
- Mitch Joel: Don't Turn Off Technology -- Turn Off Your Bad Habits
- Elizabeth May: 10 Reasons Why Harper Isn't Really Canadian
- Jeff Rose-Martland: Why the Governor General Should Remove Harper (actual petition to the GG to remove Harper at http://www.change.org/petitions/the-right-honourable-david-johnston-governor-general-of-canada-stop-harper-now#)

Kotaku.com
- This Is "Tank Sushi"
- Japan's Amazing Rice Paddy Art Continues to Dazzle (note: most of the pictures of rice fields using classical Western (Napoleon) or Japanese (samurai, etc.) imagery are from Inakadate, Aomori Prefecture!)
- Toronto Mayor's Crack Scandal Lands Him His Own Video Game

Uniqlo
- (Baskin Robbins) "31" Print Underwear for Women (Japanese)

YouTube.com
- Convos with my 2-year old (About this series: "Actual conversations with my 2 year old daughter, as re-enacted by me and another full-grown man." Particularly love episodes 2 & 3!)
- Extra Credits, Season 6, Episode 16 - Not a Babysitter (About this series: "Join us every week as we take a deeper look at games; how they are made, what they mean and how we can make them better.")
- Shut Up & Sit Down, Season 2, Episode 07 - 1812, The Invasion of Canada (About this series: "Paul and Quinns are two slightly unusual Englishmen who get very passionate about board games and card games. Their mission is simple: To show us just how exciting these cardboard creations can be.")

Vote smarter

Let's start thinking about the bigger, long term picture and vote smarter. Quick-fix cost-cutting mostly just leads to higher costs later. If we cut back on our efforts for clean energy now, we will be paying for it later with our health and future (the Earth can only take so much damage).

 
Dear friends: It ain’t always easy being green, but it’s damn important.

Ontario’s election is beginning, and the future of our clean energy economy is at stake. Thanks to Ontario’s world-class Green Energy Act, thousands of people across our province have new, well-paying jobs creating clean energy for our economy, our communities and our future.

Yet, just as this landmark legislation is building economic momentum for Ontario, some candidates are threatening to rip up the Green Energy Act if they get elected. Gutting the Green Energy Act would kill thousands of clean energy jobs and halt billions of dollars of investments. Worse yet, it would make Ontario more dependent on dirty, expensive and unjust energy sources that pollute our air and heat up our climate. It’s actually a life and death issue: air pollution from dirty power in Ontario contributes to thousands of premature deaths, alarming asthma rates, and lung disease, especially among children.

In this election, we can do something about it. The bottom-line is simple: the candidates want our votes, and that gives us a lot of power if we act together.

I just signed the Power Your pledge by telling my provincial candidates that I will vote for clean energy, new jobs, and healthy communities. I’m joining with people from all accross Ontario to ask my candidates to show us their best plan to build on the success of the Green Energy Act. You can find the pledge, sign it and send it to your candidates here:

http://www.leadnow.ca/power-your-vote-ontario

In only two years, the Green Energy Act has spurred the private sector to invest more than $20 billion in green power projects in Ontario. This investment has created tens of thousands of new well-paying jobs for people like engineers, electricians, carpenters and forward-thinking entrepreneurs. People who used to build cars are now building turbines. This is today, and this is our future.

I want Ontario to continue to be an international leader in the race to build a clean energy economy that protects our environment; I don’t want to stop clean energy investment, kill jobs, or fall behind the rest of the world because of shortsighted political gamesmanship.

The fate of Ontario’s clean energy future depends on the choice we make today. If we work together, we can build on the success of the Green Energy Act and make Ontario a world-leader in the trillion dollar clean energy revolution that is sweeping the globe and giving us hope for a safe climate for all generations.

By working together we can build on the success of the Green Energy Act and make Ontario a world-leader in the trillion dollar clean energy revolution that is sweeping the globe, and inspiring hope that we can ensure a safe climate for all generations.

Will you join me in telling our candidates that we support the clean energy economy, and we will back up our words with our votes? Here’s the link again:

http://www.leadnow.ca/power-your-vote-ontario

Thank you.

Sources:

Ontario urged not to scrap renewable energy policy (Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/ontario-urged-not-to-scrap-renewable-energy-policy/article2096481/
Populism beats good policy: the Ontario Progressive Conservative platform (David Suzuki Foundation)
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/panther-lounge/2011/05/populism-beats-good-policy-the-ontario-progressive-conservative-platform/

Hudak urged to support green energy law - Program spurs job creation, say local businesses (Ottawa Citizen)
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Hudak+urged+support+green+energy/4787642/story.html

Clean Energy Toolkit (Climate Action Network)
http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/clean-energy-ontario/index.php?WEBYEP_DI=1

Disgraceful political opportunism

Perhaps this is just my political naivety showing, but I really can't imagine how ousting (Japanese Prime Minister Naoto) Kan with a non-confidence vote and initiating an election would be of any benefit to the disaster recovery and nuclear crisis handling efforts.

If, as many pundits seem to believe, the vote of non-confidence isn't actually meant to succeed but is merely an act to weaken/divide the party, then I think it's truly a disgraceful display of political opportunism.

At a time such as this--with the nuclear crisis still ongoing and a long road ahead for recovery from the earthquake/tsunami--all Japanese politicians should be focused on creating and passing policies that will aid the recovery efforts rather than wasting time, resources and taxpayers' money on political bickering and power mongering.

I am particularly disgusted with Ozawa and his supporters in the DPJ. It's understandable that other parties would want to take advantage of a chance to take down the DPJ, but I think it's self-defeating to weaken/destroy your own party just so that you can take power. Even if you succeed in taking over, you end up with a weakened party and a bad public image. (I see some parallels here with the current state of the Liberals thanks in part to the Chretien/Martin debacle.)

Some online articles:
Bloomberg: "Kan No-Confidence Vote May See DPJ Split"
Japan Times: "Kan foes in DPJ set to join ouster ploy" "Kan's foes readying no-confidence vote"

[Update 1: Japan Times Online "No-confidence vote set for Kan cabinet"
Update 2: Japan Times Online "Kan survives no-confidence motion yet offers to quit after 'certain degree' of postquake recovery"]

What the HECK, Canada?!?!

I thought things seemed pretty promising for the May 2, 2011 Canadian National election with the whole Vote Mob movement encouraging youth to vote.

Then election day came. And there was only about 61.4% voter turnout (a mere 14.7 out of 24 million eligible voters bothered to show up).

I have never been so disappointed in my fellow Canadians in my life. Seriously, what the HECK Canada?!?!

Are people seriously that out of tune with the news? Do people really care so little about things like the environment, foreign aid, poverty reduction and democracy (re:Parliament and voting)?

We just gave a freakin' majority government to a party that was held in contempt of Parliament (which is what got the whole election thing started in the first place). 

Honestly, I have so many beefs with how Harper has run Canada thus far I don't even want to try writing the specifics because once I get started I won't be able to stop--and this is from him being in charge of a minority government! I can't even begin to imagine how much Canadians (who aren't running big businesses or producing oil, that is) and the Canadian international reputation are going to suffer now that he's got a majority government.

And what the heck is wrong with our voting system? Just take a look at this graph of votes vs seats in Parliament (from the Vancouver Observer).

As my friend James broke it down, here's the number of voters it took to elect one MP (Member of Parliament):

1 Conservative MP - 34,925 voters
1 NDP MP - 44,201 voters
1 Liberal MP - 81,858 voters
1 BQ MP - 222,447 voters
1 Green MP - 576,221 voters

I've honestly never thought too deeply about the Canadian voting system, but after this election, I'm really thinking that we need to work out a more proportional system. (Although fat chance of any election reform happening with the Conservatives getting 137%of seats relative to their percent of votes.)  


ARGH!!! Talk about spoiling what would otherwise have been an awesome Golden Week holiday (more about that later). I just feel so disappointed, no, disgusted with my fellow Canadians. It's like how I felt when Bush (George W.) got re-elected for a second term--except I don't have the comfort of being able to say, well, that's America. Ugh. This is probably the first time I've felt ashamed to be Canadian.


The only good thing about this election was that the NDP got official opposition status. I don't have anything against the Liberals (heck, I voted Liberal), but they probably did need the kick in the butt to get them out of their complacency. And the NDP is actually the party whose policies best fit my values/ideology, it's just that I was never convinced that they'd be able to run a fiscally responsible government (which is why I've always voted Liberal instead).


Apparently the next Federal (and Ontario Provincial--don't even get me started on that) elections are slated for October 2015. Maybe I'm better off staying in Japan until then. (Although I'd have to get a government-related job or go back to be eligible to vote since that would make it more than 5 years living outside of Canada.)

[Edit: I just bought Open and Shut: Why America Has Barack Obama and Canada Has Stephen Harper by John Ibbitson- it's been on my reading list for a couple of weeks but I feel that it may be particularly timely now.]

Proud to be Canadian

I've been trying to keep up-to-day with news on the upcoming May 2nd Canadian national election. Here are some articles/videos I've seen that make me proud to be a Canadian and give me hope for our country's political future:


RMR: Rick's Rant - Vote
Rick Mercer asks youths (aged 18-24) to vote in Rick's Rant during the March 29th season finale of the Rick Mercer Report:

So there we have it, we are heading into an election or, as Stephen Harper calls it, a dangerous and unnecessary exercise. Because as we all know, Canada is one of the world's greatest democracies and the greatest threat to that democracy is that we get to vote. But vote we will.

See the full text on RickMercer.com or watch the video on YouTube.


Vote Mobs
University students respond to Rick's Rant by creating "Vote Mob" videos declaring their intentions to vote and challenging party leaders/candidates to impress them. Read more about the Vote Mob movement at the Leadnow.ca and Toronto Star websites.

Go Ethnics Go?!?!
In response to the battle for the so-called "ethnic" vote--and, in particular, an email request for "up to 20 people in national folklore costumes which represent their ethnic backgrounds" for a photo-op with Stephen Harper--The Colour of Poverty, an Ontario-based anti-poverty group created a music video to the tune of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" to "reject the tactics of certain politicians in their targeting." As one line from the song states: "Don’t wanna be an ethnic, be Canadian." Read the Toronto Star article or watch the video on YouTube (English subtitled).

S#*T Harper Did
A website with pithy comments about some of the...less impressive...things Harper has done in politics and as Prime Minister. Obviously it's completely biased against Harper (and by extension the Conservative Party), but I recommend reading the links to fuller online articles accompanying each statement as some of the stuff that has gone on under the leadership of Harper is really deplorable, for example: closing the Canadian embassies in Malawi and 6 other countries and cutting aid to Africa by 50% before freezing foreign aid increases in  2010. Personally I've thought that Harper has very little to no respect for democracy since he prorogued parliament--and not just once, but twice--so I LOVE this site! (Read more about the prorogation(s) on The Economist, Toronto Star, and Globe and Mail websites.)

Omar Alghabra: The Right Way to Run for Parliament
Found this blog post about a YouTube cartoon self-introduction made by the Liberal Candidate for my home riding, Omar Alghabra. I love that it's a statement of who he is and what he stands for rather than an attack ad (which I despise). I was disappointed that he didn't win during the 2008 election, but am hopeful that he will win this time around. (I only recently learned that the reason was most likely because the NDP also had a strong candidate so the leftist votes got split between the Liberals and NDP allowing the Conservatives to win. ARGH!) Incidentally, my special ballot should be delivered tomorrow (Monday, April 18)! I am definitely planning to vote for Alghabra again this year.

So, on a related note...

How Canadians Overseas Can Vote:
It's getting down to the wire, but if you need to register for the International Registrar of Electors to vote by mail by special ballot, you can get the application form from the Elections Canada website here: http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=reg/svr&document=index&lang=e

Completed applications for special ballots must be received at Elections Canada by 6pm on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 to be eligible for the May 2, 2011 election. And (obviously) completed special ballots must be received at Elections Canada by May 2, 2011.

If you want to save yourself some postage/international faxing costs, I'd recommend scanning and emailing the application and copies of the supporting documents to a family member/friend in Canada to fax (so it won't matter that it's a scan and not an original signature) to Elections Canada.

It really doesn't take all that much effort, so I really hope any fellow overseas Canadians reading this will take the very little time needed to register for the vote. With everything that's been going on in the Middle East and North Africa, I feel it's more important than ever to exercise our democratic rights by voting. As Rick Mercer so aptly put it in his Vote rant, it's something "people all around the world are dying to do."

Voting overseas

Luckily I took some time earlier last week to catch up on friends' blogs, since I learned from one of them that the election was actually set. Since moving to Japan I've been pretty out of the loop in terms of news (Japanese, Canadian--everything, really). To my defense, I did know that there was probably going to be a federal election called soon, I just didn't know when specifically. But yeah, reading about electionproject.ca prompted me to get on the ball and to find out what I needed to do be able to vote from Japan.

Thankfully the process for obtaining a special ballot to vote while overseas doesn't seem to be too difficult. The Elections Canada website has a convenient "Get the special ballot voting kit" page which took me through a quick survey to determine my eligibility for the special ballot and then led me to a page to download the registration form. Now that I've gotten and printed out the scans of my driver's license from home, all I have to do is mail the form and documents (making sure it arrives in Ottawa by 6pm local time on October 7th).

Other than going through the information available on the aforementioned electionproject.ca site, however, I didn't really give much thought to how I would vote until I read another friend's post on "Who to vote for?" After reading about how she emailed the candidates in her riding to ask about their specific plans for poverty reduction and environmental sustainability, I decided I would at least check out the websites of the candidates in my riding (Mississauga-Erindale).

Maybe I'm just lazy, but simply doing that was enough for me to decide: I'm going to vote for Omar Alghabra (Liberal) again. I was impressed by the fact that it only took me a single click to find exactly the information I was looking for on his website: information about election issues and his plans for addressing them (in the "Your TOP Priorities" section). Admittedly it's a little lacking in details/specifics, but at least it shows that he is aware of more issues than health care (a perennial Canadian concern) and the environment. I was particularly reassured to see that he had immigration (and specifically the accreditation of foreign trained professionals) and affordable housing in his list of priorities. I wish I had seen something there about education, but I think I recall some things I read in his newsletters before...

At any rate, I think that if I spent just a little more time going through the website--reading past newsletters and press releases--I could probably find more detailed information about his policies.

When I looked at my Conservative candidate's webpage, however, the first thing I saw was stuff about Stephen Harper vs the Liberals which immediately gave me a bad impression. I mean, sure party stuff is important to consider in a federal election, but I'm voting for the candidate in my riding, not for a party. I don't need mudslinging propaganda-ish rhetoric: I want to know what the candidates think about specific issues and their plans/intentions to address them.

Along those lines, I couldn't find anything beyond the bio for the Green Party member, and nothing at all online for the NDP candidate. I suppose the Marxist-Leninist candidate could have a great website, but I decided it would probably be OK for me to just avoid researching that one altogether.

I guess I could be a bit more active and, like my friend, email the candidates to ask them their thoughts specifically, but I rather think that the type of information candidates make available, as well as how easily they make it available to the public says something about the character of the candidate and the type of relationship s/he intends to have with her/his constituents.

Just from spending 5 minutes on Alghabra's website, I felt like he actually cares about what his constituents think and that he tries to anticipate as well as address our concerns/needs. On the other hand, I felt mildly insulted (not to mention frustrated) that all I could find on the Conservative candidate's site was links to other Conservative websites and pro-Conservative, anti-Liberal propaganda.

I mean, if you want me to vote for you, could you at least tell me what YOU have been working on and what YOUR thoughts are on key issues? I'd like to think that I'm not completely biased against the Conversatives, but I admit that I don't think their policies are in line with what I want to see happening in Canada. So, it's not a good strategy to try to convince me to vote for you when the only real reason to do so that I can see from the website is that you're a Conservative candidate. I need to know why I should vote for you in spite of the fact that you're Conservative!

So yeah, maybe I'm not examining the different candidates' policies as closely as I should, but I nonetheless feel satisfied with my decision to vote for Alghabra (again).