What Our Media Doesn't Understand About Feminism Makes Rona Ambrose Look Enlightened

During last weekend's Conservative Party convention, interim leader Rona Ambrose suggested that Justin Trudeau was not our first "female" Prime Minister, but that that distinction went to Kim Campbell.

It was met with a round of applause, resonating with the conservative crowd, but not so much with the Canadian public, who saw it as just another opposition cheap shot, born of envy.

She would later deny she said it, or claim that her comment was misinterpreted, but we've seen the video.  There's no backing out now.

However, her closing remark is even more telling.  "So who's the feminist now!?"  Certainly not Rona Ambrose, because you don't have to be a female to be a feminist, any more than you have to be a feminist to be female.  Today, it's about a state of mind.

In fact, for the new generation of millennials, it's more about sexism in general, not just women's rights, which they already enjoy.  Income inequality is still an issue, but they will find the solution, and they will do it because it just makes sense.

Looking at the U.S. Primaries, when the country seems poised to elect their first woman president, it should not be such a shock to anyone that the majority of young women plan to vote for Bernie Sanders, rather than Hillary Clinton. They don't care about gender, but that Sanders has a better understanding of the problems that impact their lives, while Clinton represents "the establishment.”

In Ambrose's speech, she lauded previous women Conservative trail blazers (none of whom belonged to her party which was formed in 2003).  However, to millennials, these names or their accomplishments would mean little.  They don't have to look to female leaders of the past.  They see female leaders everyday, and that's a good thing.  It means that women of my generation have done our jobs.

What they heard from Ambrose would sound like words from the parents in the Peanuts cartoon: "mwa-mwa-mwa"

This is what the opposition and indeed the Canadian media, don't understand about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  He is the epitome of the modern feminist.  You don't have to be macho to be masculine, but you can be.  You don't have to be a female to be a feminist, but you can be.  It's all about equality and doing what's best for you.

In the United States millennials now outnumber baby boomers, and in Canada, they now represent the majority in the workplace.

The media and politicians, must adapt to this new reality or step aside.  Of course Trudeau won the "elbowgate" debate.  He was having "a dad moment".  Young parents could relate.  But modern feminists could not relate to the aftermath.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau came along at the right time, as we baby boomers were coming of age.  We were also anti-establishment and viewed his antics through a different lens than the media and his political opponents.  The same is happening today with his son.

At the Conservative convention they have now embraced the baby boomer generation, even quoting PET's famous remarks about staying out of the bedrooms, but it's half a century too late.  We've moved on.  

Our children and grandchildren did not grow up with the aproned women chained to the kitchen.  They grew up with us.  

Now it's time for the media and members of the opposition parties to just grow up.

I love this story of Michael Ignatieff. "Teach Ins". What a Novel Idea

There was an interesting story in the Winnipeg Free Press this week: Liberal leader Ignatieff came under gaze of RCMP spies as a student in Toronto.

(Photo: Ignatieff on left, Bob Rae in centre, Jeff Rose on right)

What sparked the RCMP's attention was Ignatieff's anti-war protests and his interest in "thinkers". He organized "teach ins".

RCMP spies kept a watchful eye over Michael Ignatieff as he organized a major academic conference during his student days, newly declassified records show. A memo drafted by the Mounties' counter-subversion branch cites the Liberal leader's involvement in planning a "teach-in" on religion and international affairs, one of three such events he worked on as an undergraduate.

The RCMP Security Service monitored the activities of students, professors and councils on university campuses across the country during the Cold War in a bid to detect Communist influence. Ignatieff said although he doesn't want to second-guess what the Mounties were doing, the teach-ins were open and frank public dialogues. "They may have had some idea that we were all subversive radicals, but we were anything but," he said Sunday in an interview.

"We had these teach-ins in which we got really important world figures to come and debate the issues. It was incredibly exciting to be part of it. And what was great about them is that faculty and students worked hand in hand as equals."

This speaks to our generation. We baby boomers who were part of the Peace Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. Even if we didn't physically attend the rallies they shaped our views. An age when a free flow of ideas was welcomed.

Contrast that to the 'Harper' government erasing all mention of Canada being a safe haven for Vietnam draft dodgers.

Or Anthony Panayi, now calling himself Tony Clement, inviting South African ambassador Glenn Babb to speak at the University of Toronto, in favour of the continued South African Apartheid. The university flatly refused, so instead he created his own society, and invited the controversial ambassador, as a way "to ensure that advocates of Apartheid were heard in this country." (1)

Believe it or not there was a time in Canada, when we could protest against war, or even for apartheid, and not get beaten up for our efforts.

What passes for a "thinkers" conference these days, is the media providing the oxygen to breath life into a story suggesting that Justin Trudeau supports "honour killings" and "genitalia mutilation", because he took offense to the word "barbaric" in a government citizenship guide.

If it can't be stuffed into a gun barrel or blown out some one's butt, it no longer merits consideration. Welcome to the 'New Canada'. Welcome to 'Harperland'. No "thinking" allowed.

Sources:

1. The Age of Dissent: Socialists, peaceniks, feminists, rabble-rousers: They came in search of an education. They left having taught the old school a thing or two, By Margaret Webb, University of Toronto Magazine, Spring 2002

Will Intergenerational Warfare be Next on Harper's List?

There was a piece in the Globe and Mail recently, written by two young members of the Religious Right: Not their parents’ conservatism

It may have been in response to several earlier articles, including one by Don Newman, reminding Canadians that our current conservative government is not affiliated with the party of Sir John A, but is in fact the Reform-Alliance, a neoconservative party.

The piece by the two young fundamentalists starts out:

"If the past month has proven anything to a baby boom about to turn 65, it’s this: Millennials are sending a firm message that it’s time for you to move on and, just maybe, take your institutions with you."

There is a new sheriff in town, and apparently Baby Boomers are to get out of Dodge. We no longer matter.

This is not really a new concept in the neoconservative movement. After Conrad Black took over Saturday Night, and turned it into a vehicle for the far right, the magazine ran a story (1995): "Grandma! Grandpa! Get Back to Work!"

It was horrible. They attacked seniors like they were the same "welfare bums" they had been squealing about in previous articles.

"Retirement isn't a birthright, those who enjoy it haven't earned it."

The author suggested that retirees were enjoying themselves at the expense of their kids and grandchildren. These "leeches were relaxing on the golf course in Florida, sucking off resources from the people who needed them — the productive workers of today and tomorrow." The implication, of course, was that the elderly weren't productive.

It went on to suggest a higher retirement age, means tests for eligibility to pension plans and part-time work for the elderly.

"....an intergenerational fight for public funding has begun in Canada".

The response was immediate with many seniors angrily reminding Black's hack that they had earned their pensions by wartime service and contributions to society, as well as with payroll deductions.

But this has been the theme of neocons, as we see with the Tea Party in the U.S. Pit the sick against the elderly, the working poor against families on welfare. So why not encourage students to go after grandma and grandpa, blaming them for the high tuitions and lack of decent jobs?

The Harper government refuses to raise taxes to pay for their financial mess, despite the fact that many of us Boomers are encouraging it. And yet they are going through with more tax cuts, for the "corporate welfare bums", who are "sucking off resources from the people who need them".

But if they can handle the PR as cleverly as they handle all other propaganda, we will turn on each other and not them.

And if we do turn on them, they've got riot police and they know how to use them. And when it comes to beating on Canadians, age is not a factor. They just "whack 'em and stack 'em". It's up to us to claim the victims.

This may not be their parents' conservatism, but it isn't their parents' Canada either.

Canadian Sovereignty Still Under Attack by Harper Government

A long, long time ago
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while

But February made me shiver
With every paper I delivered
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died

No I'm not having another melancholy nervous breakdown. I just love this song. It's hard to believe that it is from almost 40 years ago, and yet it's still popular today. Baby Boomers really do rock.

I actually wanted to post on another area of grave concern that is further threatening Canadian sovereignty. Not the Buy America/Sell Canada deal that Harper struck during his 2 1/2 month vacation, but the extension of the Security and Prosperity Partnership in terms of national security.

A scheme was 'quietly' developed between our military and the U.S.: Canada, U.S. agree to use each other’s troops in civil emergencies.

Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other’s borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal

Neither the Canadian Government nor the Canadian Forces announced the new agreement, which was signed Feb. 14 in Texas. The U.S. military’s Northern Command, however, publicized the agreement with a statement outlining how its top officer, Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.

Again we have to go to American or foreign websites to find out what's happening in our own country. The joys of having a government that doesn't believe in talking to it's citizens. U.S. Northern Command, Canada Command establish new bilateral Civil Assistance Plan

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, and Canadian Air Force Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, commander of Canada Command, have signed a Civil Assistance Plan that allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.

The signing of this plan is an important symbol of the already strong working relationship between Canada Command and U.S. Northern Command,” Dumais said. “Our commands were created by our respective governments to respond to the defense and security challenges of the twenty-first century, and we both realize that these and other challenges are best met through cooperation between friends.”

Now they never really elaborate on what would constitute a 'civil' emergency. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I might delve further into one of the fathers of the neoconservative movement, Leo Strauss. He recognizes that once the agenda is put in place, people are going to be pretty upset, so maybe they're planning for repercussions. You have to remember that most of the people in our current government are nuts, so who knows what their rationale is.

For the U.S. they are hardly going to turn down such a gift, that is being handed over to them for nothing. 'Free. ... Canada ... take it, it's yours. ... no really, I insist'. (Harper's side of the debate)

It's rather interesting that the Canadian media turned this into a left/right issue.

The new agreement has been greeted with suspicion by the left wing in Canada and the right wing in the U.S. The left-leaning Council of Canadians, which is campaigning against what it calls the increasing integration of the U.S. and Canadian militaries, is raising concerns about the deal.“It’s kind of a trend when it comes to issues of Canada-U.S. relations and contentious issues like military integration. We see that this government is reluctant to disclose information to Canadians that is readily available on American and Mexican websites,” said Stuart Trew, a researcher with the Council of Canadians.

I think all Canadians should be concerned with this.

Peter Van Loan and Stockwell Day have been working on a one military/one police plan for some time, under the guise of needed security. One of the pitfalls of this, is that Canada can no longer refuse to join the Americans in war. Jean Chretien was able to keep us out of Iraq, but those days are now gone.

However, when it was discovered that U.S police were training here in an exchange program, and jointly patrolling the waters; we were told that it was only for the Olympics. However, we learn recently that the Reformers want to extend that, like we didn't already know that was their plan.

Canada and U.S. authorities are talking about extending cross-border security measures that were implemented for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and were to end with the closing of the Winter Games.

The RCMP and the U.S. Coast Guard have jointly patrolled the waters off Vancouver since the beginning of the month, boarding nearly 200 vessels and interviewing about 500 people in their efforts to maintain security, RCMP Sergeant Duncan Pound of the border integrity program said in an interview.

I'm not comfortable with this at all. American laws are not the same as Canadian. Not yet anyway, though soon. We need to hold onto what little we have left to call our own. American Republicanism may be a perfect fit for Stephen Harper, but not for us.

Did someone say 'American'? Smile, we will get our country back, I promise. But in the meantime, enjoy:

Baby Boomers Rock, But They Also Vote

I have suggested many times that the government is not paying attention to the Baby Boomer generation, when planning our future.

We are the ones who will now be tapping into services we once propped up.

However, there is another aspect of the Boomer generation that politicians are also overlooking. Our votes.

Michael Ignatieff and Justin Trudeau are visiting universities, and in the case of Justin, even high schools; to encourage youth to get involved in the political process. This is great, since it's their future, but they should also be looking at us.

David Cravit author of a book; The New Old, had a great op-ed piece in the Globe and Mail yesterday, where he discusses just that.

In both Canada and the United States, the Zoomers (the 45-plus) account for about 60 per cent of all ballots cast in national elections. This percentage dwarfs all other age groups. Yet, the politicians – and most of the media – focus on other age groups who don't bring a fraction of the same political clout.

Pollsters are also not paying attention to this. Nik Nanos this week, when discussing CAPP; suggested that it was inconsequential, because it was just a bunch of kids who will soon get bored.

The survey by Ottawa-based Nanos Research offers insight into what weight politicians should give to Facebook sites like Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (CAPP) which in a matter of days in early January attracted a quarterof a million members. Not much, in pollster Nik Nanos's assessment. Canadians in the 18-to-29 cohort - who use Facebook the most ...

What Nanos fails to understand is that while 'Canadians in the 18-to-29 cohort' use Facebook the most, those who use this social media to become engaged in politics, is a different demographic.

Murray Dobbin explains:

"...despite the perception that CAPP members are university and college students or recent graduates with active social lives, half of the respondents are 45 years of age or older. Thirty-four per cent of the respondents are 31-44 years of age and 16 per cent are aged 18-30. ...the respondents are politically engaged people: 88 per cent described themselves as either somewhat or very engaged in federal politics. In addition to this, 96 per cent of the participants indicated that they voted in the last federal election."

So now as one of those in the hmmm ... '45 years of age or older' group, I'm going to throw in my two cents worth, because to me, while well intentioned; David Cravit doesn't quite get it either.

He proposes that politicians should look at policies that would benefit us old fogies. But we've been there, done that.

See the 'new old', or the new senior citizen, is vastly different from those in my grandparents' day. We like rock music, technology, going to the gym and staying active.

We are the Woodstock generation, the Civil Rights Movement generation, and the generation that first realized that anything is possible. We burned our bras, burned our bridges and often burned the candle at both ends; but we survived it all and are taking some of that with us into our golden years.

That's what politicians need to pay attention to. Look at the successful politicians from our generation, and what they had in common? I can sum it up in two words 'progressive thinking'.

We had a fierce pride in our country then, but not because of our military past, or our attachment to the Queen of England, or our love of maple syrup. We were proud of our progressive thinking.

We were proud that we harboured draft dodgers, stayed out of the Vietnam war (more or less) and as 'Peaceniks, created the 'Peacekeepers'.

We were proud that Pierre Trudeau was considered cool by the rest of the world. I remember as a teenager visiting my aunt in Michigan, and she invited some women, and a few teens from her small community in for kind of a meet and greet. The only thing these women and girls wanted to talk about was Trudeau. He was like a rock star and mainly because us boomers made him one.

We also created a generation of progressive thinkers, as we passed that spirit onto our children. I remember my kids as teens playing my old albums, more than I did. The Doors, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, all found a new listening audience. I can't even imagine playing my parents music when I was young. Somehow Guy Lombardo just didn't cut it.

Today's emerging seniors don't think of ourselves as old. We think of ourselves as having lived.

If politicians want to tap into our votes, they will take climate change seriously. They will take gender equality seriously. They will take a legitimate child care plan seriously. They will raise taxes and end the enormous and ridiculous corporate tax cuts, so that our grandchildren are not paying for them.

They will take health care seriously, and peace seriously and education seriously.

Because as grandparents, we want our grandchildren to grow up in the same kind of Canada that we grew up in. And to do that will require politicians who are willing to think ahead, and not try to move us back.

That's why we have never really embraced the Harper government, with their 1950's attitudes; because we are the ones who took this country out the 1950's and most of us have no desire to revisit those 'good old days' (except in fits of nostalgia where we might start twisting until we throw out a hip).

And politicians and pollsters can take that to the bank.

Parliamentary Budget Officer to Prepare Report on the Impact of an Aging Population

Back in January when the budget first came out, I remember being on a discussion board, where I raised concerns about more tax cuts. I questioned whether or not this government had taken into account the fact that we were an aging population and that the Baby Boomers would soon be tapping into the services they once propped up. Why were we further reducing our revenue?

I was shouted down and my concerns dismissed. However, I was pleased to learn today that our parliamentary budget officer will be preparing a report on that very subject, because it needs to be addressed and taken seriously.

We can't simply start cutting services for those who have earned the right to those services, but we need to be realistic. Our economy is stagnating.

Canadian economic growth potential half of historic average: TD Bank

OTTAWA - The Canadian economy is headed for a decade of stagnant growth that will test the budgets of governments and ordinary Canadians, says a new TD Bank report.

The bank (TSX:TD) says a combination of post-recession adjustments, the aging population and low productivity will limit Canada's potential growth to about two per cent over the next 10 years. That is two-thirds the level of growth experienced the previous two decades, the report says ....