Subject: Grave Concerns Regarding Omnibus Bill C-38

Sent to all Ontario-area Conservative MPs via http://www.leadnow.ca/13heroes

Honourable Members,

I lend my voice to the thousands of Canadians who call for the omnibus Budget Bill C-38 to be separated into manageable, reviewable, and debatable bills.

It is the responsibility and purpose of Parliament—comprising the governing party and opposition parties—to propose and challenge bills, to thoroughly review and debate their clauses, connections and implications. This is how we arrive at balanced and thoughtful laws that have been democratically enacted to meet the needs of the nation.

In Bill C-38, too many disparate items have been included which deserve scrutiny by committees who are equipped to deal with their specialist natures and those challenges they present not related to finance or the economy but which nonetheless represent essential public interests.

The construction of this bill is over-reaching, by-passes essential, qualified oversight and debate, and fundamentally undercuts the processes of our parliament and the democratic principles it is founded upon.

Like many thousands of other concerned citizens and echoing critiques from across the political spectrum and all corners of Canadian society, I wrote early to recommend the Government of Canada separate the thematic items of this omnibus bill for independent scrutiny, debates, and votes. Though unable or unwilling to answer the concerns of Canadians, and though the majority-position Government stands to lose little, the PMO has determined to ram this legislation through Parliament with almost no debate.

I have long held respect for the values of public accountability, integrity, courage and individual responsibility that Conservatives champion with their perspective. In Bill C-38, I see these utterly contradicted. As independently-accountable members of the Government, I encourage you to represent our voices—those of your constituents and the Canadian public—and work with your party to split the bill and start the process of debate.

With respect,
Tal Henderson
Toronto-Center

cc via email to:
Honourable Bob Rae, MP Toronto-Center
Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Honourable Thomas Mulclair, Leader of the Opposition
Honourable Elizabeth May, Green Party Leader

Omnibus Budget Bill C-38 (Letter)

Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Honourable Bob Rae, MP Toronto-Center

Sirs,

I feel it is important to voice that I strongly disagree with the omnibus budget bill C-38. Too many disparate items have been included here which deserve scrutiny by committees who are equipped to deal with their specialist natures and those challenges they present not related to finance or the economy but which nonetheless represent essential public interests. The construction of this bill is over-reaching, by-passes essential, qualified oversight and debate, and fundamentally undercuts the processes of our parliament and the democratic principles it is founded upon.

I encourage the Government of Canada to separate the items of this omnibus bill for independent scrutiny, debates, and votes, and to use the strengths of our system to arrive at the best legislation for the balanced needs of the nation.

Sincerely yours,
Tal Henderson
Toronto

The High Costs of Parking

Great article over at Slate about parking lots, which quotes a study by the University of California Transportation Centre (UCTC). From the article:

The cost of these spaces, measured... “in the form of adverse health impacts, building damage, and reduced agricultural production, to name a few,” ranges somewhere between $4 billion and $20 billion per year.

The private automobile - an idea whose time has GONE.

Community Savings Microfinance Model

A new article in The Economist: Small wonder - A new model of microfinance for the very poor is spreading.


From the article:

People like these schemes because they are easy to understand, says John Schiller, a microfinance expert with Plan International. And returns on savings are extremely high—generally 20-30% a year. Borrowers typically pay interest rates of 5-10% a month on loans that usually have to be repaid within three months. The rates may seem usurious but they are set by people who are in effect lending to themselves and saving the interest that they charge. 

A village savings scheme typically involves a small group (perhaps 15-30 people) who pool their savings. Each buys a share in a fund from which they can all borrow. All must also contribute a small sum to a social fund, which acts as micro-insurance. If a member suffers a sudden misfortune, she will receive a payout. 

Members select leaders and draft a constitution. The rules spell out how often the group will meet, what interest rates it will charge and what loans may be used for. At the end of a cycle (usually about one year), all the money accumulated through savings and interest is shared out according to members’ contributions, and a new cycle starts. Once members have mastered the system, the groups they have formed can take on additional tasks such as providing training in agriculture, health, leadership and business.

Why Occupy Canada Matters

Occupy Toronto - St. James Park

What happens if the occupiers go home?

Then we accept this whole global problem was just an anomalous “bank thing” that mostly happened elsewhere. A generational crisis that we’ve past, thank goodness, and one to which Canada was just an innocent bystander. We can even be smug, if we want.

And we’ll find ourselves going through another election cycle four years from now, and we’ll do something silly like double-down on our new fighter jets and our fancy prisons. Or not. Maybe we get that fancy oil pipeline and a nice austerity programme to start a generation’s work of clearing the hundreds of billions of new debt we’ve added. The Boomer retirement will really get some momentum going and we’ll hope we can pay for that tsunami of healthcare costs on, what, Financial Services growth? Tourism? iPhone app development?

What’s the plan? How do we turn the engine of the St. Lawrence Basin back on? What does it make? How does it build real value in the world? How do we use that to educate and house and invest? How do we do it in a way that is sustainable and healthy and improves our quality of life? How do we as a nation do more than finally, barely, and belatedly achieve our commitments to carbon dioxide levels and a 0.7% of GDP to developing nations?

Will we wait and hope that a suddenly government-ready and messianic NDP will save us? A newly rejuvenated (and equally messianic) Liberal Party? Explosive growth and sudden ministerial preparedness in the Greens? How strong would any one of these parties have to be to win, hold, and get things done? None of us really believes that will happen.

The real question is how can our Canadian parliaments work without a popular movement that restores legitimacy to government.

And here we suddenly have this popular movement that is reinforcing itself globally, and is making direct connection between democracy, economy, plurality, sustainability, inclusivity and human rights. They are staying there and sharing what they learn with each other and they are changing things.

The more popular support they generate, the more they accomplish.

Everyone should go to the parks and see the occupations and the General Assemblies: the ones I've seen beggar the imagination to understand how they could ever bring about the kind of change we need.

But we know the current systems of government won’t start working again on their own. They will never bring the change we need. And we’re all mystified as to how they're going to become relevant and responsive and effective. It won’t happen inside of any one party. It won’t happen if we accept that a globalized world ends at national borders. It requires a movement that grabs the governing system itself and smartens it up. Holds it accountable. Insists it smarten itself up. Makes it work for all of us and inspires us to be active, informed participants in it.

It’s not up to the people sleeping in the parks to force the changes we all want to happen. The occupations are a manifest symbol, one unlike any I’ve seen in my life. Occupy Canada is taking space and holding it, experimenting in it. Most importantly, they are buying time for the rest of us to come out and do something. And if it’s too hard to come out and stay out - and it is, winters are cold here - then we need to build something to bring it everywhere.

Omnibus Crime Bill C-10 (Letter)

Emailed today:

Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper, 

I am deeply troubled by the omnibus bill C-10 "Safe Streets and Communities Act" being considered by Parliament. While there are parts of this bill that should become law, others are highly problematic, and run counter to the best practices asserted by the social sciences and the experience of Correctional Services in other jurisdictions. 

Given the negative outcomes that could be a direct result of some of the parts of this omnibus bill - including increased rates of crime, rapidly increasing costs of correctional services, and a grave toll in unnecessary human suffering - I urge you to ask Parliament to do the following:

1. Debate and vote upon each of the nine Bills separately,
2. Bring experts to provide a close review of the social science, and 
3. Hear from those in the legal and correctional services in the U.S. jurisdictions of Texas and Arkansas who experienced--and now advocate against--the approach laid out by Bill C-10.

Thank you for your service to Canadians,

Tal Henderson

Toronto

cc: MP Bob Rae (Toronto Centre)

Selling the Naming Rights for TTC Stations

The Globe and Mail has an article on selling the TTC station naming rights to corporations with a possible upside of raising $324 million.  

Dundas station – a busy downtown stop in need of a major facelift – will be the test case for plans by the Toronto Transit Commission to sell naming rights, and the head of nearby Ryerson University says he is keen to talk.

TTC chair Karen Stintz said the transit authority wants to use renovations at Dundas as a pilot project that can be copied at other stations in the cash-strapped system.

This is an effort to pay for station renovations and it makes sense to involve any major organizations in the region of a station in the planning and partnership for station rebuilds. Working with Ryerson to ensure the station has entrances at the north end to connect with the new student centre makes sense and if they can be motivated to contribute financially to this, do it. Advertising in that space could absolutely be committed to the patron organization for a period of time - that makes sense.

But leave the names out of it. Some things are best left in the domain of the Public.