Getting Started on the Trip
Truly, the experience of travel is wonderful. The trip to the airport was a delight and the security was not bad. Cathay Pacific seemed pleasant when I checked in. I can not say enough good about the start of the trip. I wish it were all like this.
Today and For the Next Month
The next four weeks will be spent travelling. While it would be nice to be able to post daily my events, I am travelling without a computer. I will be keeping notes and will be posting upon my return.
Today I fly from Toronto to Hong Kong (arriving in Hong Kong early morning Wednesday (Tuesday evening here). Then I move on to Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and Bangkok in Thailand; Manila, Puerto Princesa, and Underground River in the Philippines; Beijing; and Melbourne before flying back from Hong Kong April 18.
I am looking forward to meeting people, seeing sights, and enjoying myself. You can be sure there will be reports when I return.
canadabear@torweb.com
My Lament As A Progressive Conservative:
In 1955, I had an opportunity to sit at a Member’s Desk in the House of Commons as part of a special tour conducted by the Speaker of the House of Commons for wives and children of members of the Canadian Bar Association. That tour mightily impressed this 12 year old.
One year later, the Pipeline Debate made a mockery of democracy in Canada and proved that that same Speaker of the House was unable to control the House. His rulings were both unfair in my teenaged eyes and smacked of cronyism as he threw people like Donald Fleming (later to become one of the better Finance Ministers Canada has ever had) out of the House.
My Father and Mother had been active supporters of the Liberal Party; my father having introduced Prime Minister King to audiences on more than one occasion (although I do not remember King). I, however, became convinced that Canada needed a change in government in order to rescue our democratic principles. Thus, as the Rt. Honourable John Diefenbaker swept the country in elections in 1957 and 1958, I was delighted.
Come 1961, I started University. I was ineligible to vote but I saw a sign about the PC party having a meeting of the student club. I went and for a while was the only one present. Windsor was Paul Martin Sr. territory (his daughter was in several of my classes) and that was evident in allegiances. I as a PC admired Paul Martin Sr. and was greatly disappointed when he missed the leadership in 1958. I later (at the time of his death) wrote in one of my weekly newspaper columns about what a wonderful man he had been.
I digress. In that first meeting of the University Student Federation, I was asked who the club ought to support for leader of the Ontario Party and I said John Robarts, with Bill Davis as backup. Both had great careers over the next 24 years as leader of the Ontario party and as Premier.
Over time, I became President of the Student Club at the University and ran as a candidate in the 1964 model Parliament election. In a time when the PC party was going down nationally in each poll taken (there was terrible dissention over the leadership of Diefenbaker) I actually increased the percentage of votes garnered by the PCs on campus.
I also became involved in the National Student Federation led by Joe Clark and as a representative of the Student Federation on the Senior Party national executive at Joe Clark’s invitation. For me, the party stood for many things but most of all it was not the party of cronyism and under the table monies to party hacks. I was on the left of the party socially but very much in the center of the party fiscally. I actually got to debate the Honourable Herb Gray in the 1962 election as an economics student who disagreed with the Liberal Party on their fiscal stance (now when they got into power in 1963 they actually did not do anything to pursue their crazy fiscal policy).
Another digression. If I were to analyze my own position accurately, I would have to say I am a libertarian on social policy. I am a Christian (I have two sons who have gone into religious occupations) but I feel that many of the right wing incorrectly act as judgemental bigots using the Bible inaccurately to beat certain groups of people down. Of course Christians are not the only ones to do that but to use a Political Party to do that strikes me as being similar to what the Pharisees did in the biblical stories.
Happily I followed the Party, as Stanfield and the Clark became leaders. Joe actually asked me to come to work with him in the 1979 campaign.
However, after 1980, I dropped my membership in the Party. I proceeded to vote for every Party except the Liberal Party. However, in 2003 Scott Brison was running for the leadership of the PC Party and he inspired me to rejoin the Party so I could run in my riding to represent Scott at the leadership Convention.
Ironically, the most slippery and seemingly dishonest (at least it seemed to me) candidates won the leadership. Then quickly, the Party joined with the Canadian Alliance Party and another leadership vote was held March 20 (today). Because I had joined the Party in 2003, I got to vote in the leadership election today.
I must say that I was shocked at the results. I admit that I would not have voted for Peter MacKay had he run but I also could not understand putting Stephen Harper in as leader. The Canadian Alliance was unable to make inroads in Ontario, Quebec or the Maritimes with him as leader and the only way I could see for the party to make such inroads would be to elect a completely new leader.
While I liked the fact that Tony Clement had experience and some good years as a Cabinet minister in Ontario, I felt the new blood, which would be needed to get the Party really into a national focus, lay with Belinda Stronich.
Stephen Harper has said some terribly hateful things over the last few years. He advocated Canada go into the Iraq war - a war which should not have been (and I say that I tend to agree with the Society of Friends on this issue). He has said nasty things about gay marriage and of course against the Constitution of Canada which recognizes that there ought not be discrimination. Thus, I feel as if the Party I have supported for almost 50 years has disenfranchised me. I do not honestly believe I will be able to vote for the Party in the next election with the new leader. How can I answer people who would surely ask why I would support a bigot? I would understand if there are many who will feel like me.
On the other hand, I do not find myself agreeing with the alternatives I have either.
The Liberal Party is again in need of some cleansing – cleansing that would bring back some democratic elements into the Party. Since Trudeau was the leader, the Liberal Party has been too ready to let the Party Whip keep them in line. Democracy requires dissent within caucus. Democracy requires that when the leader becomes too arrogant (as Chretien became) that caucus be able to remove the leader (look how that worked with Margaret Thatcher in Britain and our Parliamentary system is supposed to be modeled on that example.
The New Democrats, whom I admire because the majority of them are principled people. They stick to their ideals, but at the present time, I can not buy into their fiscal policy. Thus, they do not present an option.
The Green Party. The Libertarian Party. What choices do I have besides the ones I feel have abandoned me?
If you have comments or an answer to my question here, write me at canadabear@rogers.com
Being Stood UP
I wish instead of being stood up, I could write about something else being UP and for a whole night even. LOL.
Last evening, I had arranged for a guy to come over at 7. He did not show, despite my having prepared with candles and all. At about 8 I phoned and he said he had taken someone to the hospital (then why did he not phone and cancel?).
So I was later complaining to another guy about having been stood up earlier in the evening and he suggested we meet for coffee in the gay village. He said "give me 20 minutes to get there". Well I went, ordered my coffee and drank it over the next hour and he did not show.
I learned some time ago - the first I was home so was able to keep busy - I was not outside or at a subway station trying to keep warm. I had things I could be doing so it was not as bad as it could have been.
With the second one, I had my coffee and some eye candy (minimal) and right outside they were filming Queer As Folk so I had something to watch. Again, it coud have been worse. I have stood at a subway station for 45 minutes once waiting to meet a guy.
Is this common amongst gay men? I may be older but dating is new to me. I married the girl in my car pool without dating much. When I left the marriage within weeks I was in a relationship with a wonderful man. He unfortunately died rapidly of cancer and so here I am older and not very wise about dating. Can someone help me please. How might I avoid it happening again?
canadabear@rogers.com
