CFN –  Today a Canadian Jury and Judge have taken a stand that many will applaud.

Zainab, (19), Sahar, (17), and Geeti, (13) Shafia , as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, their father’s childless first wife in a polygamous marriage were found dead in a vehicle in Kingston Ontario.

It was a strange case resulting in the Shafia family being arrested and now convicted for First Degree murder.

The murders of this Montreal family stem from an “Honour System” practiced by this family from Afghanistan.    This sense of honour seems quite odd to many here in Canada; and of course placing the dead bodies in a car and putting it in a canal didn’t seem “honorouble” either?

Mohammad Shafia, his wife and son have been found guilty of four counts of murder which carry a minimum of 25 years in jail.

In the purest sense this was simply a sad murder case that resulted in a family’s destruction.  It also sends a loud message to Canadians that our laws should be observed, and if they wish to practice such barbarity that perhaps immigration to Canada isn’t the solution to their life goals?

It also is grist for discussion around this Country, and the world about the roles of women and rights of women.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpwqtRefqls

We live in a gracious country that tries to accommodate newcomers,  and we as a country should always be welcoming and allow people to retain and add their culture to ours; but certain practices have to be left at the border, and for the vast majority of people that come to our country those are not issues; but for the Shafia family sadly; that lesson has been delivered home by our Canadian justice system, and hopefully a message to those that would hurt their families within our borders.

The values that cost four innocent women their lives have no place in our society.

(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)

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CFN – We owe Tea Party Tim Thomas a debt of gratitude.   It’s a slow week in the NHL.  No major news out there as the All Star break approaches.  Nobody really cares about the All Star game so Mr. Thomas deciding to be a totally classless human being is making the news far and wide in sports columns.

 I have a friend that works for the US government and we once chatted how he had been on “Bush Duty”  ie; he was assigned to protect the President of the United States of America; a role that would require him to step in Harms Way if the President attacked.

I asked him how he personally resolved it as he certainly wasn’t a Bush supporter and he said:

It’s the office of the President you Dumb Ass!

Yes, Mr. Thomas is a free man; chiefly because his country has a President and is a Democracy.    Mr. Thomas was not PERSONALLY invited to the White House.

His TEAM of which he’s simply one player as great as he is a goalie was invited to be honoured.     Instead of being a TEAM PLAYER he stole the spotlight from his team mates and made it a platform to espouse his personal political position.

This is wrong on so many levels.   The Bruins, in  the thick of a race to win Lord Stanley’s Cup again so they are trying to not have this impact their team.

What do you think of Mr. Thomas’ play Hockey fans?  You can post your comments below.

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CFN – After going to Cornwall City Council for awhile you learn a few things.   One, there’s more manure spread than a farm in Spring; and two if someone is on a committee it’s because they have a vested interest or they are doing what they are told.

Council also has this wonderful trait of saying one thing in debate and then voting a completely different way.    People, and some times councilors end up voting on what was said; sometimes not even reading the documents they are voting on.

Mayor Bob “Destructor of Small Business in Cornwall”  Kilger and council are seeking to penetrate Lamoureux Park’s pristine parking lot by thrusting a Condo smack in the middle or to the side depending on which way you tilt your head when looking at the funny slides.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQpMwz79F2s

After spending almost all of the city’s disposable income from the Prosperity fund on the Lecky-Grant dome; an arena built near a dump, and on the water path from the old Mustard gas plant that burbles and gurgles in the spring, the Mayor and his team are frustrated and want to build something; anything; mostly to distract residents from Million Dollar Man Paul Fitzpatrick’s shenanigans.

Bob & Fitzy nodding off....

Cornwall’s waterfront and downtown have some very critical issues.    Stores are struggling or dying.   Space needs to be filled, but mostly there is no design or real plan taking place.

A large parcel of land where the old curling rink and theatre were is ripe for development with the rumor around town being that the No Frills store in Cornwall Square is next destined to leave the Ghost Mall for their own location.

The Mall is actually a major issue in this scenario.  It’s back end faces the water?  I wonder which rocket scientist thought that to be a good idea back in the day?

So the plan, and I use that term loosely is to plop a condo, any sort of condo, in the parking lot between the curling rink and Civic Complex.    The benefits?  I’m not quite sure and if you watch the next video you’ll see that some of council isn’t either.

 The Debate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyir9SYhHDU

I guess this means some more super secret OMB violating meetings in the future.

The good news is that some of the councilors spoke up before capitulation and the opening of Pandora’s box.  Led by Councilor Andre Rivette, Councilors Dupelle and O’Shaughnessy spoke of having proper consultations with the public.

The problem with passing this though is that there’s nothing mandatory about how this is done.  It simply is hoped to be forgotten until a local developer is given the green light to turn a chunk of parking lot into a lump of condos.

Personally; I have nothing wrong with turning Lamoureux Park into a half billion dollars worth of development. If  you look at Brockville and Kingston you can see the impact of waterfront development.  It’s a no brainer.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a waterfront Restaurant or bar in Cornwall.   We had one.  It never was successful and is now office space for the city.   No, I think the core of downtown needs to be properly revisited, and not by Denis Carr and his conflict of interest strange Heart of the City initiatives ( wow did you see how fast Keitha Fisher got HOC dollars for her fast tracked restaurant?).

I think the only true consultation, and I hope some of the 2 or 3 really ethical councilors pick up on this, would be for a motion to not allow any development during this mandate and truly consult with the voters of Cornwall until the next election.

I’d suggest adding a referendum question on the election ballot giving city council the nod to then have proper consultation over development.    This issue is so critical to Cornwall that the city can’t capitulate to a small group like they did with the Benson Centre spending vast sums on something that really wasn’t put in the right space because of private lobbying.

Likewise having  three developers and Todd Bennett and Keitha Fisher on a committee making decisions and recommendations about our city’s future also scares the crap out of me.

We need to focus on what’s best for the downtown core and Cornwall.  We need a plan that will make all work; not just a part of the way; that downtown merchants complain about getting no benefit from Lift Off.

We need to decide as a community whether the impact of two events a year is worth the other side of the coin, which is the impact of full development of our waterfront resources.

Building a condo in a parking lot because you own it and don’t have to wait to acquire land is not a good enough reason for this scribbler.    Is it for you?  You can post your comments below, and please vote in our polls.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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CFN  -   When I started CFN nearly three years ago my Mission statement was very clear.  After being rejected by the big three media in this market I wanted to create a platform where everyone could have a voice and be heard.

That experiment and goal has had  some great results.

As I do battle of late with the Cliques in Cornwall, and in our third year start to expose more hypocrisy and corruption I get asked why?

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Well in our first year it was a humbling experience.  A lot was to be learned; relationships made; finding who as much about who does what, why, and when?   It was about connecting and trying to  move forward; but CFN took a lot of attacks.

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In year two the bullying really started; mostly from a clique related to our MP and from a certain radio station.  Again, the focus was on keeping it humble and moving forward; taking the hits and the high road even though our writers were being intimidated; even being told that they could not interview people as long as they worked for “That blog.”

Anonymous letters to our sponsors.   Verbal communications to our sponsors that if they supported CFN their businesses would suffer.   Nothing new or unique, but still shocking.

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In our third year we became number one online in this market; especially on smart phones and iPads, one of our fastest growing sectors.     We were the number one traffic provider to the City of Cornwall after Facebook and the search engines, and that according to City Hall.

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The Cronyism; becoming more and more visible especially after the hirings of Candy Pollard who killed our two ad plans with her department, and then the hiring of Kevin Lajoie who while with Our Home Town and teaching at St. Lawrence College allegedly intimidated our journalism intern to leave us after one week while being his instructor.

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Then Cornwall decided to enact this ridiculous Online advertising policy.  After one try they dropped the issue of Anonymous Comments, but from day one it was apparent what they were doing; and as of this writing we have no contracts any longer with the city.  In spite of sending 18% more traffic to the Choose Cornwall website we now have zero dollars in contracts with the city.  In spite of charging 1/26 for placement of the City Bulletin our contracts have not been renewed.   And refusing to remove their paragraph where they mislead the public stating that we are unmoderated and “often” filled with profanity and vicious personal attacks.

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This is nothing more than editorial financial extortion; and they wonder why Cornwall finishes 98 out of 100 in the CFIB Communities in Boom report?

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I get asked why stay?  Why invest your energy and time?  Why go through this; the lies, aspersions, two attempts to have me wrongly arrested by police, and threats?     Is it all worth it?

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The answer to that last question of course at the end of the day is that it isn’t.   And then in many ways it is.  It all depends on what your goals are in life or in a project?

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What I do know is that what turns me on most about CFN is when we can help.  When one of our stories reaches out and gives people a voice or we can help shine a light on things that rarely have lights shined on them, and that I could’t do without the support the near 100,000 of you that visit CFN each month and our valued sponsors.   I probably will never get rich with CFN.  Heck most months we can barely cover all of the bills; but not all rewards involve money.

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I get close to 300 emails a day now. Many are solicitations and offers; but every once in a while I get one that really touches me as the one below from Kevin Glover did.

That one email helps make up for all of the petty grief I go through from the Cliques here in Cornwall.  It really does.

CFN turns three on February 9th.    Contrary to more lies and rumors we’re not leaving.  We’re number one, and this year we’re going to really up the ante and really turn it on.    I hope to share that with many of you whether you’re one of our new columnists, someone that contributes a comment in a story (writers love seeing comments) or a new sponsor as we truly grow outside of Cornwall.

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I’m a simple person with very simple goals and aspirations in life.   I’ll be honest with you, amazing viewers of CFN.    Our goal to reach 5,000 pieces in three years is just about done.   That was a biggie.

Frankly it will be you that decides if  CFN continues to thrive or succumbs to the bullies and cliques.    One of our consultants keeps pushing to change our name because we’re not really just a small town local paper and we have the name Seaway Today ready to go.

Personally I like the fact that I was able to create and build CFN from Cornwall Ontario.   I’m proud that something so positive could be created from a place with so much negativity connected to it.     It’s really odd though that we get so much more applause and respect from outside Cornwall than from many circles within.    And it’s really really important to focus on how these few cliques exert more power and pressure than they should.

Most people in this town are terrific and there are some great business people as well.

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Here is Kevin’s letter that resulted in this story.

My name is Kevin Glover and I am a reader of your on line news paper, although I do not read your news page as much as I should (I am still partial to CBC and globe and mail) I find your articles about the Cornwall political landscape insightful, articulated and with a depth of gravity not found in our own established publication. Your current coverage about the Glen Stor Dun Lodge debacle, and your constructive diatribes concerning city council interesting, I particularly like the articles written by Mr Komorowski, whose environmental topics are first rate

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However after seeing your video segment with Kelsie Granger, I was slightly upset by the inferring remark of the deranged attacker on poor Mrs Granger I heard someone made the off hand remark that her attack would prepare her well as a social worker. While I do agree that social service work can be volatile and hazardous, I’m slightly dismayed at the perception that people who have social service workers are violent. I personally do not have a case worker or need for social service, but do know some people who have services need it for personal support.

Because of this,  I have written a personal article which deals with the subject of mental illness. Now with the clap down of Health care cost by the Cons and Flaherty leading to tightening control on Premiers decisions, (an unprecedented act which only highlights their continual abuse of the judicial system) I feel that I must make the effort to make a personal case for why health care must be protected, because as far as I can see, no one in this country seems to give a damn.

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Attached to this email is a letter that I have written detailing my own account of mental health issues, several recent events have determined that I need to write this. If you find this too long or inappropriate for your website then I understand, I only wish you take the opportunity to consider that not everyone who is “mentally ill” is a danger to society, and that your readers are informed that people “ill” are not a disembodied “other”.

 

And that ladies and gentlemen is real.  Kevin’s story is from the heart.  It’s a plea and at the same time something for us all to think about.  That’s the magic of CFN.  Our readers and contributors.

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CFN – Local Musician Graham Greer was announced today as the Communications Coordinator of Aultsville Theatre in Cornwall Ontario.

cro·ny·ism

   [kroh-nee-iz-uhm]

noun

The former Barstool Prophets lead was quoted on facebook today:

It’s official! I AM the new Communications Coordinator for Cornwall’s Aultsville Theatre. I’m VERY excited to be taking on this new challenge! The line for requests for free event tickets (which I will subsequently ignore) forms on the left. Wait times may vary.

Here is the release from newly appointed President, Cornwall City Councilor Syd Gardiner:

Aultsville Theatre Board of Management is pleased to welcome Mr. Graham Greer as Communications Coordinator for Aultsville Theatre.

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As Communication Coordinator, Graham will focus on marketing Aultsville Theatre and its
clients to the public, while contributing to the development of partnerships and external
resources to support the ongoing operations at the Theatre.

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“As a board we are excited about the direction Graham’s enthusiasm will take us in.” Said,
newly elected President Syd Gardiner. “The funding through the Ontario Trillium Foundation
for this project will continue to expand Aultsville Theatre’s market and increase its visibility.”

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As a professional musician/songwriter for the past 20+ years Graham is familiar with the arts
industry and has attended Music Seminars/Conferences, such as, NXNE(North by Northeast) and
Canadian Music Week.

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Over the past several years, as a member of this area’s artistic community, Graham has strived to
increase the viability and visibility of the Art Sector, both inside and outside of the Cornwall
area. He has championed and promoted the economic benefits of a community’s strong artistic
foundation.

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Aultsville Theatre is located at 2 St. Lawrence Drive (formerly 2 Belmont St.) Cornwall ON., on
the campus of St. Lawrence College. Since 1976, Aultsville Theatre has hosted community and
world class performances in its spacious, 658-seat theatre.

Mr. Greer is a fine performer as this scribbler has mentioned many times before here on CFN, but again, we have a member of a close circle of people being given yet another tax payer supported position.   For Mr. Greer and his friends it’s a day of celebration.  For those that would’ve wanted to apply for this position I’m sure they may be scratching their heads.

There was no call for applicants.  Aultsville Theatre is supported by the City of Cornwall to the tune of about $100,000 per year, and received a Trillium grant this year as well.

If tax, and public dollars are used shouldn’t any position of this sort be by fair recruitment process?   Is this just another incident of the same committee people giving perks to the same people that support them?

If this city is to ever truly grow it’s not that people like Mr. Greer who would be a fine candidate shouldn’t have the option to apply for this sort of position, but to the 45,000+ other residents of Cornwall who didn’t have a chance for this opportunity to have chances to contribute and shine.

Cronyism isn’t unique to Cornwall.  But if this city truly wants to grow and evolve perhaps it’s time to change?   One just has to look at most of the names on his facebook page announcement to see how tight some of the circles are in this town.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTQ4vLpCVmY

My question is would his announcement even had been made if not for missives sent to us, and our our query to Mr. Greer and the Aultsville board who neglected to mention that this was a paid gig in their release; and not a volunteer position.

Congrats Graham.  Make Cornwall proud!

Jamie Gilcig – Editor – The Cornwall Free News

UPDATE

Aultsville Theatre sent in the following regarding funding for this position.  Again, curious that it wasn’t posted locally.  No ads in the Free Holder, Seaway News, Corus Radio, CFN, or even the Seeker Chicks!

Hi Jamie

This position is funded in part by an application made to the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) last July.  The application to OTF has several components to it one of those being the hiring of a communications person. The grant we have received is for a two year period in the amount of$72,200.   http://grant.otf.ca/grantlistings.aspx?year=2011&catchment=Champlain&lang=en&id=2

The job posting was done in late November through to early December through various media including, the Government of Canada Job Bank, Workopolis,and the Aultsville Theatre web site.  We received over 100 applicants for the posting.

(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)

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CFN –   As someone who has been up to his eyeballs in pot activism for 9 years, I would classify this Liberal vote to legalize pot as a bamboozle. The delegates did the right thing, and should be commended for their hard work, but the party will likely not follow up on this.

Not one single Liberal Candidate has the intelligence or the guts to campaign on this issue because not one single Liberal Candidate has the intelligence or the guts to explain to a voter what, exactly, “marijuana legalization” would even look like! (Ask one and see)

The media will not let them campaign on this issue, as the media has a well-established and long-standing anti-pot and pro-police bias. The coverage last week of the “pot not as bad as tobacco” study is a perfect example of that. And who do the media usually ask for “expert” opinion? Cops.

The media continue to let people lie about the supposed dangers of pot (already debunked by science and history), and give the Right a free ride when they talk wild hyperbole about the liberal party.

I am 42 years old an I don’t think I will ever see legalized pot in Canada – and I blame the media because they let people lie. If legal pot ever comes, it won’t come through Parliament, it will come the same way same sex marriage, abortion, and medical marijuana became legal: through the courts.

But then, there have already been seven court rulings that have effectively shot down the prohibition on pot, but the cops, the media, and other judges, simply ignore those rulings, and busts increase by 10,000 every year.

So, really, although this is a big push forward in many ways, I don’t see it as quite the victory many in the “pot movement” do.

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CFN – So I’m not seeing it yet.   This weekend’s Federal Liberal caucus probably drew more people than the Conservatives and NDP combined.

That isn’t necessarily what future government’s are made of; especially if you’re hoping to make up the next one by the time Mr. Harper is done with his first term of majority rule here in Canada.

Bright signs?   Chatting with a politico we shared that the Grits always have had the hottest women.  Not just talking MP’s or candidates.    I know, that’s so chauvinistic, but when you go to a lot of political events boring old fat guys in suits just make the time pass so much longer….

Seriously though, there was a major influx at youth at this Caucus and that excited me.    The trick I think is to keep the best of the older Liberals; to embrace the core traditions of what make the Liberal Party of Canada the true governing party, and to include newness and evolution.

The biggest move I saw from this weekend was the very shrewd move by the Liberal Party to legalize and control Marijuana.    That not only is good for Canadian industry (marijuana is fast growing one of our biggest industries) but will help the economy and sends a direct message that we are sovereign and not just jack stepping with the US.    I like that.   It steals the thunder from the NDP as well.

It’s smart.  It’s what the Liberal party really used to be good at; being smart.

I caught up with our local Liberal Candidate from the last election.  Cornwall Ontario’s future mayor if she can somehow not get tainted by the current scandals erupting from city hall, and current city councilor; Ms Bernadette Clement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVYOYgDYAHI

I liked some of Ms Clement’s answers about Liberal Unity.   I’m not sure they’re quite around the bend and united yet either.   I do know they have their work cut out for them.

But every journey starts with first steps and judging from this weekend at the gorgeous Ottawa Convention Centre Canada’s party is heading in the right direction.

You can post your comments below:

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CFN – So how big a role do you think Stephen Harper is going to have on who the next Federal Liberal leader will be?

This weekend’s Liberal convention was kinda interesting.  Not a lot of surprises.  I think my biggest one was seeing Keith Beardsley firing arrows on behalf of his team for IPolitics.    Dr. Evil, one of Canada’s master point floaters and political communicators seemed to be looking for a target.

And kudos for the Liberals for not giving too clear of one at this point.    Dalton McGuinty made a fine speech; one that leaves the door open to him potentially being “the Guy”.

Bob Rae is acting like “the Guy” and could be “the Guy”, but probably won’t be “the Guy”.

I have a hunch “the Guy” or “the Girl” wasn’t focused on this weekend?    Or they were?   The Harperites favorite prey are Liberals.  The destruction of the party is one of their top priorities; the cherry on the cake, and something that keeps the party faithful fearful loyal to Herr Harper.

I think though that if you take bits of each of the potential leaders speech the message is very very strong and good news for those who already have had enough of Harper rule.

As for Stephen Harper and his strategists they too will be conjuring up who they’d prefer to be their opponent in this next election; one  that could keep them in power for at least two more terms and crush the life out of the Liberals completely or see them out of office.

That’s what’s at stake.    I think this Medicare summit will tell you if Mr. Harper wants Mr. McGuinty as his opponent or fears him.  If Harper wants to take on the Ontario Premier you’ll see Dalton star in these tricky negotiations for the future of Healthcare in Canada.    If Mr. Harper is afraid of Dalton it’s going to be messy and ugly.   It’s something I know that we’ll be following as should all Canadians because healthcare and Medicare in particular should be one of the big issues in our lives and something that goes into deciding who we vote for.

What do you think Canada? You can post your comment below.    And now let’s have a fun poll!

Who do you think will be the next Federal Liberal Leader?

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CFN –    Dear Federal Liberal Party of Canada.    First off, as a former long time Liberal I want to give your current party leader Bob Rae credit for keeping the Liberal brand in the media; more so than the NDP in spite of being brutalized in the last election.

Surely this election was not an indictment of traditional Liberal values, but more how a mighty party in fought itself to where it finds itself today.

I don’t think I’m unique in being a former Liberal.  I’ve always been an issue based voter and I’m not a Cinderella voter.  I know that no one party has all the answers, but I do know that many that voted for Stephen Harper are a bit apprehensive.

I know that the NDP are chasing their tails dragging out a leadership race that shouldn’t be a race and not performing as a strong opposition to Mr. Harper who is running amok whether it’s trying to sell National Park’s to aliens of Canada, causing National dissent in Quebec, or adding to our overhead by adding 30 unnecessary seats to Parliament.

I mean Stevie, the way you run your caucus how many more yes boys and girls do you really need?

Canada is on a scary precipice right now.   If Mr. Harper wins another majority Canada will be forever changed.   I really believe that.  I believe that changes have already happened that probably will never be fixed; but if Mr. Harper wins again that’s it.  Done deal. Say goodbye to our sovereignty; say good bye to Medicare as we ever knew it; and say good bye to our identity; that’s if the Harper Government 100% support of US war policies don’t contribute to WW 3 and the destruction of our planet.

This election ruined any chance of a merger between the NDP and the Liberal party’s which made a lot of sense up until that dark day in May.   Dalton McGuinty missing a majority by one seat pretty much ruined his Federal Leadership window.

So as the sabres rattle and the spin rolls Canadians and Liberals especially need to remember why Canada trusted Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien, and to some degree Paul Martin.

The Liberal Party of Canada doesn’t need new policies and values.  It needs to live up to its own traditional ones instead of Canadians turning in desperation to other parties.

It needs to find a way to unite itself; for the young and old to work together and find a leader that can whoop Mr. Harper and send him to America where maybe he can get a job as an analyst on Fox News…

There isn’t much time.  Three years go by really really quickly.   Because Canadians really aren’t dumb.  And if they see that Liberals can’t get their own house in order why on earth would they trust Liberals to handle theirs?

Jamie Gilcig – Editor – The Cornwall Free News

PS – Wouldn’t you pay money to watch Sheila Copps, Thomas Mulcair, and Elizabeth May tag team Stephen Harper in a Federal Election debate?

(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)

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CFN –   We made it!  If you’re reading this we’ve all jumped over the line and are blinking and breathing in 2012.    Now I know some of you are fretting and getting all Mayan, but I have a hunch 2012 is going to be a heck of a good year for many.   Ok, it might not be for you or I, but someone’s going to benefit because someone always does!   Physics has many laws and balance is one of them.  If I lose a $5 bill odds are someone finds it.

There are so many stories I could be writing today or issues to be sharing on; but I’m going to start 2012 with a does of humility.    For one I’m glad all of us are here.    I hope that you all have a healthy 2012; because of the state of healthcare here in Canada it’s our best defense.

I’m afraid to even visit a hospital right now; never mind need treatment.

Monday is my first day at an area gym as part of my project 368-268.   I also plan on eating even better than I do now.  Of course that’s becoming a perplexing dilemma what with GMO’s  and Frankenfood.    Why is it here in Canada it’s becoming impossible to find Garlic that’s not from China?  Heck if you check your grocery stores the shelves are even filled with Apples from China.

In a perfect world I’d like to believe that a lot of people would wake up from this odd societal changing dream and force things to change.    Here in the West the illusion at least of Democracy still exists, but from the ground up you see that there’s no accountability and that’s where we all fail.

From our own City council that shamelessly as a group flaunted the Municipal board by having secret council meetings to our Federal government sliding away our Canadian Soverignty to the US while for some strange reason adding 30 ridings; just what we all need in Canada, about $10 to $15 more million dollars burnt on politicians that also are not held accountable.  (See Bev Oda)

That to me is our biggest issue world wide and that’s Accountability.   I’m about to do a series on Bullying and as I sifted through interviews and material it all came down to accountability.    I mean how can we ask kids to be a certain way when their parents and grand-parents aren’t?

In the US right now they’re debating taxing the rich; a little late, but why shouldn’t people pay their fare share across the board?    The US, Canada, and so many countries are rich in resources and industry.  Those resources don’t “belong” to a company.  They belong to the citizens of the country in which we vote for governments to ….govern.      Could you imagine what would happen to a company whose management didn’t serve the owners?  Would they last long?  Would they get “platinum parachutes” ?

I was talking with a nineteen year old girl this week.  A single mommy.   I asked her if she’d ever voted as three elections just rolled by that she was eligible to vote in and she laughed as though it was the oddest idea in the world; akin to sitting on a sharp spike!

I’ve been to events this past year where I’ve wondered why some of the people were even there?   420 in Ottawa and many of the Occupy movements were very disheartening.  Were any of the voices even under 40?

Whether we’ve socially engineered this somehow or if it’s simply the result of no hope or understanding of the value of a vote I’m not sure.  Maybe we all really are lazy and don’t care.   Maybe we all are just lobsters in the big water pot of life?

What’s really interesting if you’re still reading is that this isn’t about politics.   Not really.  Yes the solutions ultimately are political, but my one wish for all of us is that we all be accountable for what we believe in for our world; from our communities to our countries and ultimately the world.

If we all can find one issue that’s important to us; for me for example it’s saving Canadian Medicare before Mr. Harper NAFTA’s it to death;  and find people to work with of like mind to work with you never know what you can achieve.

Nothing is going to change over night.  It takes years, if not decades to really change momentum, but we can start to hold people accountable publicly.  I know I’m going to start this year right here in my home town of Cornwall.   When I see what’s happened with Whistle Blower Diane Shaye for example (and I’ve seen more than many of you, but am limited by law as to what I can print) it makes me want to help change things so that nobody has to go through that again in this city.    Or what’s going on with the Lift Off Balloon Festival or our Chamber of Commerce.    There are people that need to be accountable.  The lies have to stop.

I hope more of you reach out and do the same.

(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)

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