Websites - I am Voting for the Bloc

A NEW LEARNING
Compare them yourself. Here is the new Government of USA website entitled ‘Welcome to the White House”, and here is the existing Canadian Parliament Website. Which impresses you? makes you want to read further and to explore? Now here is the official Government of Canada site, a very comprehensive information vehicle. So kudos for content on this one.

I would describe the Canadian Parliament site as unimpressive. But it is more than that. It gives the appearance of an early entrance into the internet website era, even a reluctant admission that this is the most comprehensive form of communication today. In contrast the USA government site was newly installed on January 20 2009, Inauguration Day and carries the same look and colours of Barak Obama’s presidential campaign site. It is designed to engage people in government and to increase the information flow in both directions. Our Canadian site currently is configured with small font, jammed with information on presenting pages and not at all stimulating to explore unless in serious need of information. (Did you notice how my visual images contrast the scale of my impressions of each?)

So I decided to write to the Canadian Parliament website at their invitation to say the following:
“This is not a criticism but a suggestion. Having just viewed comparatively the new web site of the USA government and our own Canadian government site, perhaps a refreshment of our Canadian site design with use-friendliness, colour, and larger font would increase user volume and ease of use. Since timing of USA's new site was January 20th 2009 might it not be timely to affect this redesign for January 26 2009 start of the next session? Thanks for reading.
http://ronunruhgallery.webs.com/ Ron”

Yes you can see that I even threw my art website at them in a brazen self promotion.



I would love to see a Canadian government website of which I can be as proud as I am of my country.

1. Conservative Party website is attractive, easily navigable, informative but not current and still contains the old fighting anti NDP and Liberal rhetoric.
2. The Liberal Party site is cast in red & white, plainly and simply, easily navigated but disappointingly uninformative about major issues and policies and agenda.
3. The NDP site is shockingly and tastelessly orange as in construction coveralls, but it's well designed and provides good visuals.
4. The Bloc Quebecois Party website has the mandatory English option, good visuals and colours and is very informative.
5. The Rhinocerus Party is designed in simple red and white with the goofy rhino logo, looks like a cartoon and does not work well.
5. The Green Party site is... green, well laid out, is easily understood, has very good issues and solutions lists. I am impressed.

Of the Canadian collection in terms of design and useful information I would shortlist the Conservative, Green and Bloc sites and my vote goes to the Bloc.

Changeless Change Agent

A NEW LEARNING
Christine and I visited Ephesus last year. One of this ancient city’s early philosopher’s was Heraclitus who lived from 535 BC – 475 BC. He is known for his doctrine of change as central to the universe and for establishing the term Logos (λόγος) to mean both the source of and fundamental order of the Cosmos. He said, “Πάντα ῥεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει,” which translated means “everything flows, nothing stands still.” He also said, “Nothing endures but change,” a variant of which is the easily recognized, “The only constant is change.”

On the one hand I suffer change. Recently I noted the physical changes that accompany aging. The mirror is no longer my friend. The curmudgeon who peers at me is not someone with whom I want to have coffee. Yet Christine lives with him. It’s a good thing that memory fades with age – hers that is. She cannot recall how svelte and beautiful was the young man with whom she fell in love over forty years ago.

On the other hand I am a fan of change. I love rapid advances in electronic toys and tools. All of us are enthusiasts of continuous improvement. Consumers demand faster service, superior products, lower prices. It is critical for businesses to be asking what they should be doing and what should be done differently.

Every ascendant political leader pledges change. It’s implicit in the election process.
Have you looked at Barak Obama’s website? You should. It is a marketing masterpiece based upon the theme of change, specifically ‘Change is Coming.’ Canadian conservatives are hoping that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent foray into the land where angels fear to tread will have informed him of his need to change his approach to working with the opposition in this minority parliament.

I concede that inherent within life itself is change. Yet Heraclitus slipped when he said, “This universe, … has not been made by any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be an ever-living fire, kindling itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures.” Mistakenly he was satisfied that logos was simply ‘reason’ within the universe. My commitment is rather to this understanding of the cosmos. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Further, “In the beginning was the (Logos) Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.” And you shall call his name Emmanuel, meaning ‘God with us’. The designer and effecter of change is none other than the changeless one about whom Hebrews’ author wrote, “he is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

This is the website for the President Elect
This is the site of his presidential election campaign
This is the Obama store for products bearing his name

Harper’s Conservative website
Harper's Store

Ottawa Government Crisis - Possible Conservative Defeat and an Unelected Coalition Government

A NEW LEARNING
They have done it. Liberals, NDP and the Bloc have agreed to bring down the newly elected Conservative government and have signed an accord that will establish a Liberal/NDP coalition government with Marcel Dion as the 23rd prime minister of Canada. Canada did not want him on October 14th nor has his own party wanted to retain him as its leader. In fact he promised to step down on May 2nd 2009. The cabinet will have 24 members, six of whom must be NDP MP’s and the Finance Minister will be Liberal. The Bloc’s responsibility is to vote with the coalition on matters of confidence for the next eighteen months. At what price have the NDP and Liberals linked arms when their triumph requires alliance with separatists whose raison d’être is dividing the country. This coalition will have to give Duceppe anything he wants because once in power, the coalition is dependent upon the Bloc to stay in power. Liberals and NDP have a combined total of 114 seats opposed by 143 Conservatives. The Bloc holds the power.

This is a dishonorable partnership fueled by opportunity and the scent of power and its determination appears unalterable. It has been forged with allegations that Harper cannot be trusted when in truth it was Dion who on election night said to this country, “The Canadian people have spoken today and chosen another Conservative government.” He further said, “We Liberals will do our part responsibly to make sure that this Parliament works.” Whose dishonesty screams at Canadians now?

I concede that Stephen Harper and his Conservatives blundered by presenting an economic update that postponed economic stimulus but injected a provocative plan to remove party subsidies and MP salary raises and thereby stick it to the opposition. Oh there was some merit in their proposals but they showed bad judgment. It was not the hill to die upon. However, would Canadians ever desire as the penalty, their removal from power and insertion of an unelected government led by a person who was soundly rejected by electors.

What could possibly be less effective or more chaotic for us than a government led by Dion and this slapdash cabinet until he will be replaced in spring 2009 following a Liberal leadership election so that Bob Rae or Michael Ignatieff become Dion’s successor. And this accord has been signed to be effective until June 30, 2011 and during all that time our country’s convulsive government will be contingent upon the caprice of separatists who do not prioritize Canada’s interests and wellbeing.

On this particular day, a confidence vote is scheduled for Monday December 8th. The options open to Harper include the possible consent by Governor General Michelle Jean to grant Prorogue – suspension of Parliament until Conservatives return with a new budget in early January 2009, or dissolution of Parliament so that another general election can be held, or as Coalition members are hoping, invitation to Liberals to form a government with coalition partners.

This is one of the most disgraceful political emergencies in our Canadian history.