To Be or Not to Be (a Politician)

I never wanted to be a politician. I have never had the desire to be that much in the public eye, to be accountable for and to have to defend the decisions made by other people or to be publically derided by those who disagree with those decisions.  A politician is someone who has to pretend as if (1) they have all of the answers and (2) that they like listening to others prattle on with long winded self-interested stories. I know that no one, least of all me has all of the answers and I really dislike pretending that I like someone when I think they are a bit of a fool or worse.

None-the-less I can admire some politicians for their stick-to-it-ness.  Take for example Trudeau, Notley and Horgan - a strange collection/combination of politicians if there ever was one - who are meeting on Sunday to discuss what to do about the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. A federal Prime Minister who skates somewhere on the poorly defined ideological border of liberalism, progressive conservatism with the odd bit of new age socialism scattered about, is meeting with two NDP premiers who are on the diametrically opposite sides of the issue of whether or not the pipeline should be expanded. All three of the leaders are well and truly entrenched into their position, buttressed by their own statements made in the press and supported by the most vocal and demanding of their supporters. At this point in the discussion it is not clear to me as to whether or not any of the three leaders actually believes in the rhetoric that has been spouted about.  All three of the leaders have other issues to deal with. This issue, as important as it is to those folks living in Southern BC and along the coast, and as vital as it is to those Albertans who have spent their entire working lives on the roller coaster of bust and boom oil prices, may not the most important issue that any of the three governments need to deal with.

No matter what the three leaders talk about tomorrow, no matter what they finally agree or disagree about, at least one of them will be in a position of losing face, of appearing to "give into the opposition". At least one of them will need to leave the meeting saying "the  fight is not yet over".

Of course some might argue that Canada was built and has been strengthened by its capacity to find the middle road, to develop strategies based on consensus and compromise, of finding ways where the majority benefit and the minority do not lose. Those people would argue that leaders are not lessened when they look past the loudest of advocates to what people really need and want and address those issues, that one's status is increased, not decrease, when one works collaboratively with someone else.

However, it would appear to me the three leaders meeting tomorrow, although they might be really nice people in private and that they may in fact have a lot in common with each other, are not allowed to be themselves. That no matter how much they might want to find a solution that makes sense to most of the people, their political futures might lie in them being obstinate and inflexible.  

And that is why I could never be a politician.

Clever Folks at Kinder-Morgan

There is a part of me - perhaps an embarrassingly large part of me, that admires the political skill of Kinder-Morgan. Not that I agree with them but one has to admit they have placed themselves in a position where everyone else may lose and they are almost guaranteed to come out a winner.

Kinder-Morgan, in an ultimatum published yesterday,  have given the Federal government two month to resolve the provincial conflicts and all other jurisdictional issues over the proposed pipeline. If such a resolution is not possible, Kinder-Morgan state that they are prepared to withdraw from the project.

The Federal government, no matter what it does, will come out of the whole process looking at best as being incompetent and at worst as the wrong party to be running the country. If they force the pipeline through they run the risk of losing most of their seats in southern British Columbia; if they stop championing the expanded pipeline they lose any chance of any having Liberal seats in Alberta for the foreseeable future. Not only that, but if Alberta feels unsupported the province may withdraw from their carbon tax agreement with the Federal government, a cornerstone of the Liberal's environmental platform.

If the minority B.C. government do not fight the pipeline expansion with every tooth and nail that they have at their disposal they will lose the support of the B.C. Green party and thereby risk being voted out from government within a year of two of being elected. They therefore, must be prepared to deal with rising gas prices and the resultant ire from citizens who are less enthusiastic about resisting the pipeline. Of course if the pipeline does get built, people will say they did not fight hard enough and they will lose the next election. If the pipeline does not get built there will be enough people arguing that the NDP lost too many jobs because of the cancellation.

The Alberta government has clearly staked its position in the debate. They need the pipeline and will do anything they can to insure that the project is completed, including investing public funds in the pipeline. For the NDP party in Alberta, having the pipeline built is their only hope of being re-elected. The new conservative party in Alberta is champing at the bit, ready to be oil's best friend, to promise that they will "beat" the Federal government and scrape any of the environmental protections that the present government has created (e.g. carbon tax). Everyone in Alberta knows that it was not that long ago that another Alberta premier cut off the flow of oil to the eastern parts of Canada and forced the Canadian Government to back down.

Kinder-Morgan wins no matter what happens. If the Federal Liberals prevail to somehow manage both provinces and the Supreme Court (who surely at some point will be asked to rule on the constitutionality of some point or another) to allow the pipeline to be built - Kinder-Morgan will make billions of dollars over the life of the pipeline. If the pipeline is not expanded, Kinder-Morgan will be allowed to sue the Canadian Government for billions of dollars under a NAFTA agreement, not only for money already spent, but for money that they could have earned.

As I said, one can admire the political skills of the folks at Kinder-Morgan. They are guaranteed a financial win no matter what the outcome is, everyone else loses. The next time someone says that large business are at a disadvantage in our current political environment - perhaps they should think again.

  

Who Pays for Free Choice?

I sometimes (actually most of the time) wonder if the government is far too involved in our lives. I need to believe that most adults are, most of the time, reasonable competent individuals who have the capacity to make decisions for themselves.  Then I read about some idiot who drinks far too much, gets into his car and causes some horrific accident that kills an entire family, or about the people who want to do an incredibly poorly conceived stunt copying someone else's poorly conceived seen on a YouTube video and kill themselves (e.g. car surfing), or for that matter deciding not to wear a seat belt. I then realize that there are some people who need to be protected from themselves, that there are some people who do not have the capacity to make reasonably safe decisions for. It is a sad statement but sometimes people need to be protected from their own stupid thoughts.

I personally do not care if people wear helmets when riding a motorcycle. In fact because I rode on a motorcycle in Quebec in the mid 1960s when helmets were not compulsory  I understand the desire to feel the wind. It is absolutely none of my business if someone wants to risk their lives. As long as the bike rider is capable of understanding that if their unprotected head hits the ground - they in all likelihood will either die or have significant brain injuries - let them do what they want to do. It is none of my business. Except....

It becomes my business when that helmetless rider is injured in an accident and my publically healthcare system becomes responsible for taking care of that person not just during the initial acute care period but perhaps for extended periods of time as the person lays there in a near coma like state. It becomes a legitimate concern of the State to try to insure that things that are preventable do not occur. It is appropriate for the State to insure that people, at least some of the time, are protected from their own selves.

Recently the Alberta government, following the lead of Manitoba and BC, have decided that Sikhs no longer have to wear a helmet while riding a motorbike.  The government did so because they were convinced that to force people from that particular community to wear a helmet would be a violation of their religious freedoms. I understand the problem, I am sure that alternatives to wearing a standard helmet were looked for and none found.  I am equally as sure that the prospect of charging Sikh bike riders for not wearing an helmet and then having those charges go through the court system - perhaps all the way to the Supreme Court was just too much. So the government gave in and took the easy way out. The change in the law affects very few people, the only ones who will complain are those who are conceived to be on the right side of the political spectrum and/or slightly racist and a small minority of voters (Sikhs) who may like the government a bit more than they did before. Of course for the hopefully small number of parents, spouses and children who may lose someone close to them because of an accident - they will not be happy.

None of my business - I really don't care . But I do think that included in that change of law sould have been the additional provision that any injuries resulting from not wearing an helmet would not be covered by the provincial health care system. I am all for people having free choice - I just do not want to have to pay for their stupid decisions.