Another year

As I approach the end of another year my mind goes through the events of said year. The good Lord has truly blessed me once again. My family and I enjoyed good health, we had a great summer vacationing, we had lots of work and other activities to keep us busy, of this I'm truly thankful. Yet my mind still drifts back to some of the events of this year that have me concerned. I worry about what kind of world, country, and province my kids will grow up in. I sit back while watching the political landscape and I truly worry that my kids will grow up in a different country that I did. I worry that they won't have the same freedoms that we have. I see the leaders of our province, country, and even the courts attack the fundamental freedoms, and attacking the processes of good governance  that this countries values and freedoms are based on all in the name of "progressivism", a term I have grown to hate. There is nothing progressive about taking away freedoms, there is nothing progressive about forcing one particular worldview on and entire society.
 Has honesty and integrity fully disappeared from our leaders? What ever happened to going into public service to serve? The way I see it the best way to serve your neighbours and community as a member of government is to be honest, respect peoples rights, fight for them! Unfortunately it seems like too many see it as an opportunity to push forward their own private agenda, they seem to see as it as an opportunity to line up at the perverbial trough. It also seems like those who are in government, including the judiciary, have forgotten what is right, it's like their moral compasses are broken and they can't even understand what fundamental rights and wrongs are anymore. This is why I worry about what kind of world my kids will grow up in. We have become a society based on the love of self, we have forgotten that responsiblity starts with ourselves but extends to helping others. I only hope that others will step up, others will speak up, others will stand up and speak the truth, show respect by doing what's right, by doing what's honourable by serving to make our communities better. I for one will and I hope that in the coming year we see a shift back to whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is admirable, for the sake of our children and the good of our society. 

Just a real bad idea

 With prostitution in the news again once again people are talking about whether or not it should be legalized.  Let me take a second to state my opinion on this..... NO!   No it should not be legalized. Hearing the common statement well it's not going away so why not make it safe for the women.  First off murder and theft aren't going away either should we legalize that?  And how are you going to make it safe?  Consider Holland, they legalized prostitution in an attempt to make it safe, yet now due to the demand,  women are commonly trafficked in to the country against their will to "work" in these brothels, only to be kicked to the streets when failing the mandatory disease check.  Forced to work illegally for their pimps to bring in more money for them, money the  girls will never see.  And now Holland is realizing that maybe their system of trying to control this has become a giant failure.  Sweden has the right idea, punish those demanding it,  not those forced into it and who are the real victims.  If you are one that thinks legalizing it's a good idea please spend some time reading these before you advocate for turning more innocent women into victims.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/opinion/kristof-the-face-of-modern-slavery.html?_r=4&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB&

http://action.web.ca/home/catw/attach/handbook.pdf

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1836676,00.html

If you want I can find more or you could spend some time and realize just how bad of an idea legalizing it would be

Liberty lost?

I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject of liberty and freedom from some well known sources as the Magna Carta, USA constitution and bill of rights, the British North America Act, the 1960 Canadian bill of rights, and the Canadian Charter of Rights. These documents are the building blocks on which our societies were built and in my opinion the reason why they have thrived and been the leaders of the world.
 Why have I titled this post "Liberty lost?", well as I look around I see our societies in Britain, USA and Canada, and I see that more and more our societies continue to expect government to provide answers to all our problems, I see societies turn more and more control of  our everyday lives over to the ruling bodies, and I see societies ideologies that we must all be forced into agreeing with every aspect of life and not allowed to disagree or debate things without fear of ridicule or even worse prosecution.
  Governments are there to protect us not control us. Governments job is to ensure a level playing field for all, not to dictate how we are to do things. Our Governments job is to ensure that we have the freedom, liberty, and infrastructure to succeed and thrive as a society
  Then I have to ask have we lost liberty?  Have we forgotten what freedom means?  Have we forgotten that with freedom and liberty comes responsibility?  Or have we as a society become apathetic to taking and embracing said responsibilities?

How long is too long?

   Most have heard the saying  "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". There is a lot of  truth in that statement, and the idea behind it might just be the best reason the USA has term limits for its presidents, but here in Canada we don't have this for our Prime Ministers. Which leads me to the question, should we? How long is too long?
    I would like to state that although I understand the reasoning behind term limits I'm not sure I  think we need them here Canada. Within each party there is a process in the form of leadership reviews that meant to be a check in the system, a procedure to see if the parties have confidence in their leaders, whether or not this is what they are meant for or if they are effective in this regards is up for debate but they are there. I won't disagree that term limits for our leaders either Prime Ministers or the Premiers would be and effective way to curb the power corruption to a point. The truth is power can corrupt one very quickly and perhaps even with them in place it might not stop it from happening.
   So that brings me to my second question, perhaps the more important of the two, how long is too long?  This is another one that is tough yet surprisingly simple to answer.  Tough because everyone is different. Individuals can go an entire career in government and not have been there too long, and on the other hand some can be there a short time and have it be too long.  The question becomes simple, because with setting a queue, a point in which to spot and let us know they have been there too long it is surprisingly simple to tell when. We call our leaders, our MPs, Senators and MLAs public servants, their jobs are to serve their country or province and the people within them. So what is that benchmark, the queue or point that leads us to know when they have been there too long?  That's simple, it's when they forget that they serve the public, and when they start thinking that the public serves them.  When they sit back and think that they need to take the public by the hand and that they know what's best for them. When they start spending the tax money as if its their own private stash, when they forget that we as tax payers allow them to have these funds to distribute on programs and infrastructure that mutually benefits society. Too long is evident when they tax the people like they are entitled to that money and that it's theirs to blow at their whims.  The government is accountable to us, we are their bosses, the term Public Servants has meaning, has it been forgotten?
   I think history has shown that being in power too long can and will in a lot of cases make those public servants forget their roots, forget why and for whom they are there. We don't even have to look that far back in history here. The federal Liberal party under Chrétien and his successors fell into  the temptation of power and we saw scandal after scandal.  Here in Alberta even Ralph Klein in his latter years started to forget and threw money around like he condemned when he first took the reigns  of the party. More recently we heard the comments of MP Brent Rathgeber that " he barely recognizes his old party the CPC. Does sitting in public office for a lengthy time contribute to forgetting the roots, the base of the party?  Soon the CPC is having a membership meeting, will the base hold their leaders to account and bring them back down to ground and re-root them back in the grassroots values that the party is founded on?  Will this meeting be as effective as having a term limit by reminding the leadership and other party members why they are there?  Time will tell if the leadership has been there too long already and if they will listen to their base.  Lets be honest here as well, this is not a problem limited to one side of the political spectrum, both the right and the left are just as capable of falling prey to the lusts of power and entitlement, take a look at the recent Senate scandals.  Both Conservative and Liberal Senators have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.  Lets also look closer to to home ( well my home ) lets look at Alberta. Over 40 years ago the PC party took power in Alberta. In the past year under the leadership of Alison Redford, an ex UN human rights lawyer (kind of a public servant) who became a MLA (public servant) and then a minister of the PC caucus (public servant with more responsibility)  and finally the leader of the party (public servant).  She has clearly shown a serious disconnect with the Joe and Jane Alberta. Her parties recent cuts in the budget focus on cutting Healthcare providers, education providers, Disability service providers, broad cuts to public, private, and separate school boards, broad cuts to post secondary education and the list goes on. But yet she funnels money and perks to special interest groups and continues to build bureaucracy by increasing the office staff and growing the back room government staff at a crazy rate. I have to ask, has she crossed that line?  Has she been there too long and forgotten why and for whom she's there?
  So lets ask the questions, should we have term limits on public servants?  If yes, who should they apply to?  Just our leaders like Prime Ministers and Premiers, or possibly to all MPs, Senators, and MLAs?  Please, post a comment I would love to hear others perspectives on this!

What's happened

I ask this question in regards to the latest happenings with St Albert MP Brent Rathgeber. What's happened to the CPC? What's happened to our PM Stephen Harper?  Brent tried to get a private members bill put through that would require those working at the CBC, a public company, payed for with tax dollars, to disclose how much it's publicly funded employees are making as which is done with other public jobs. It made sense to many people except those MPs that gutted the bill, those MPs  who have built relationships with the lobbyists in favour of keeping that info quiet.  Those MPs who campaigned on the CPC platform of  "honest responsible transparent government".
  What's happened to our PM who campaigned on a platform of public transparency, what's happened  to the PM who continually told Canadians that the Liberal party couldn't be trusted with government for the same things that they themselves are now guilty of?
What's happened to the Conservative Party?  Too often as of late we have seen a fundamental move away from it's conservative rooted base and its conservative rooted platform and continues to look more and more like the party lead by Jean Chrétien, or even worse.  At least Jean Chrétien produced balanced budgets, yes he too had his scandals but anyone watching lately can clearly see that Stephen Harper  is not guilt free in this area.
I think the CPC needs to sit down, wake up, and get its Conservative house in order and listen to Canadians who elected a CONSERVATIVE majority, not another Liberal party.

Are ALL Alberta kids a priority?

  Education is one of those things that is important to all Albertans. No matter who you are, it is one thing that every parent is concerned about. We are also extremely blessed that here in Alberta we have one of the best, world class education systems that anyone could dream of having. It's my opinion that one of the reasons that we have this world class system is the fact that we, in Alberta, enjoy a wide range of choices in what kind of education our kids can receive. We have Public schools, of which inside that system there are many choices in itself, with regular public school to the different faith based programs and speciality programs inside the public system. There is also a Catholic school system as well with its different programs that it offers as well. Home schooling is also an option that Alberta has for those who want to educate their kids themselves in the comfort of their homes, that also comes with a wide range of support for those home based programs. And yet another option out there in Alberta is the wide wide range of independent schools that can be found all over the province. It is this option of school that I would like to write about in this blog post.
Why do I want to write about this one option? Well it's because recently with all the talk in the province about budget short falls and where to cut funds the province has made it clear that the education of our kids is a priority for this government. The question is, if our kids are a priority, is cutting their funding for their education consistent with making them a priority? I would have to say no, it's not consistent with saying they are, but yet that is the case. Our government has made some cuts in the recent budget that targeted the independent school system only, in what I see as an unfair targeted cut. In order to address this we must first understand how the funding for these systems works, and let me say it can be quite complicated and there are many myths associated with the funding of independent schools.
  Let me start by saying that when it comes to educating our kids it is the parents’ fundamental right and duty to choose what kind of education and where their children receive that education. This is not something that is the responsibility of anyone other than the parent or guardian of the child. This is not just an opinion of a few but it is recognised as a fundamental Human Right.  Parents are the ones responsible for raising their offspring and educating them is one of the many responsibilities that come with that duty. So should a parent so choose that their choice for their child's education is in an independent school, that is their right to do so, as would be the case if they wanted to have them educated in either the Public or the Catholic systems.
The thing with making that choice is it also comes with an additional cost that is incurred by the parent for making that choice, seeing as these independent schools do not receive full funding for the kids those schools. And this is where we start with Myth #1. When people, hear that independent schools receive funding some tend to believe it’s full funding and people then question why independent schools receive full funding. Well....They don't. They currently receive 70% of the educational cost for those kids enrolled in them. They also until recently received a 70% grant called the plant operation and maintenance grant. They also do receive some smaller grants for various reasons and this is where I won't pretend to know what they are all for,  what I do know is that the bulk of the money received from the government is in the 70%, but the bulk of the funding for these schools is payed for by the users of them.
 Let me be clear about the 70%,  it isn't 70% of the total funding that public and Catholic schools receive. It's 70% of what the province considers the educational cost, this does not include capital costs, like I said the building is paid for by the users of these schools not the tax payers.  I would also like you to keep in mind that these tax paying Albertans are also paying for all the public and Catholic schools that are build as well through their taxes.  There is  also  the fact that the school boards of these schools quite often are all done with volunteer labour in which the board members put in huge amounts of time, for free, to help the administration of these schools.
  You might ask why do they receive funding at all? Myth #2... Aren't those people who send their kids to private or independent schools rich? Why can't they pay for it themselves? That's a simple answer, they like everyone else pay taxes and equally deserve that their children also receive an education of their choosing as per their fundamental human right as parents. I would venture to say that the vast majority of parents that send their kids to these schools aren't super rich but in most cases they are just your average Albertans that for whatever reason have chosen these schools for their kids. Now I will acknowledge that there are a few schools in Alberta that are "elite" schools, and that the parents are very rich, but they are the exception rather than the rule when it comes to independent schools, yet so many people seem to think that this is the case for most private or independent schools.
So even with just average Albertans, implementing the basic, fundamental human right to pick the place of education for their kids many still ask why the need for independent schools? Well that touches on Myth #3, that independent schools are only for religious people. Now although many of Alberta's independent schools are of a religious base of every diverse faith out there, not all are faith based. As diverse as the options out there are for the kind of schools there is, so are the reasons why parents choose why they want their kids to attend these schools. These choices for most parents who do, are usually private and they need not explain what reasons they have. Personally I have heard a wide range of reasons from wanting specific religious instruction, not agreeing with some specific instruction being taught in a particular school, location, and maybe also to move their child out of a situation of being bullied. They could also choose a school for students with learning challenges, or ones that offer alternative educational styles. Whatever the reason, they are the parent and they have the right to do what they feel is right for their kids. Being tax paying citizens as well they should also have availability to have their children's education funded as the others fine citizens of this great province do in the Catholic and public systems.
There is one more myth that I would like to touch on and that is the thought that defunding independent schools would save the public money. This is one myth that some politicians like to push in their attempts to limit a parents choice and the diversity that we as Canadians and Albertans hold as a fundamental value. They try to sell their idea by pushing the myth that it will save the public money but most experts will be quick to point out the truthful fact that defunding independent schools would in reality cost the province a fortune and I will explain why. Lets say that happened, by defunding or shutting down these schools all these students would be forced into the Catholic and Public systems in which these students would no longer just cost the province 70% of education cost and 0% of the capital cost but now would cost the tax payers of the province 100% of the educational cost PLUS 100% of the capital cost! New schools would have to be bought or built just to house the tens of thousands of students now filling these independent schools. Does that sound like saving the tax payers money? Right now the parents who send their kids to these schools are paying the bill for their school plus paying taxes which fund the public and catholic systems, so in reality they are paying twice for education.
That leads me back to the recent cuts by our government. As most people I've talked to in these schools have conveyed to me, in times of austerity all should have to carry the burden of cuts equally. The latest cuts that the Alberta government have put upon the independent schools was anywhere in between 8-10 %, a cut upon a system that already saves the tax payer money, a cut that doesn't share the burden because it does not hit the other school systems but only 

singles out independent schools. Recently I've talked to two different independent school principals one closer to city limits and one more rural. These two schools are facing huge budget shortfalls that the parents will have to make up or it will affect the programs the school runs. Please remember that these parents, who are already sacrificing their money to send these kids to these schools, and are already saving tax payers money by footing the capital costs for the schools are now being forced to dig deeper. Is this fair? Plus it raises the question, Is our current government serious about putting all the kids of this province as a priority? Does this current government really embrace the true meaning of embracing diversity? I think it does but with these cuts it's not showing it very well.

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Dear Premier Redford

In response to MLA Kent Hehr writing a letter to Premier Redford in the Calgary Herald His letter here, I've written a retort letter myself

Dear Alison Redford

I write this letter to you as a fellow Albertan.  Although I thought we were on the same side I question that lately.  That being said I have great respect for the office and duties you have.  Times are tough right now and although not all of its your fault, some of it clearly is.

Take our financial woes.  We as Albertans have a revenue stream generating  around 40 billion dollars per year,  yet since you have stepped into office the spending has continually been increased on unnecessary  programs and frills.  Our Taxes are low because we have a great revenue stream with our resources  of which you in the last budget grossly overestimated at the behest of all opposition parties.  The Flat tax is something that Albertans support along with our low corporate taxes and no sales tax. Maybe we were wrong in continuing to lower resource revenue down from the 30% it was and maybe that could come up to equal the other provinces around us but at what cost? We could also tax everyone the heavier and the government could have all the money it needs to build and spend on anything we want , once again at what cost?

Admittedly,  Alberta is now in a bind. We could start taxing Albertans like we lived in B.C. and pull in another  11 billion dollars and by doing so move farther to the left and lose the Alberta advantage. Or what could be done is a good hard look at the books  and start cutting unused, unnecessary and elective programs. In conjunction with raising the resource revenue to stay in line with the other provinces while maintaining low and even tax rates we can hold the Alberta advantage to build schools, hospitals, pave roads and reduce hospital wait times ( although changing some administrative issues could clear some of that up as well)  and then we can also save some money for the future of our children without burdening them with debt.

During the election you ran "as not your father's PC party" separating yourself from the legacy that Ralph Klein left us. Although I realize that you are not Ralph, I hope that you could show Albertans that you respect the wonderful legacy that he left us by building this awesome province into the booming economic powerhouse it is and by doing so not disrespect the sacrifices that all went through in order to get here.

This, now is your opportunity to show real-life leadership and cut programs that aren't needed that we enjoyed in good times but can do without as the fiscal belt tightens. We as Albertans do not want more taxes and as one would cut in areas in their own homes when things get tight, so we also can do so provincially but it takes a leader to see and recognize that.  

Ms. Redford you once stated you were going to review all revenue streams to see if they were sustainable. Please do that, please listen to Albertans  who might have great ideas where to save money.  Please listen to opposition parties ideas even if they annoy you.  Alberta is not over due for a tax increase, we are overdue for responsible spending something that hasn't been done since the latter part of the Klein years. And if you chose to do whats right and cut unnecessary programs and people scream bloody murder , you can kindly remind them that somethings in life are privileges and not everything can be funded although we would love to if possible. 

I do know you have a difficult task ahead. That being said please do the right thing and do what is best for This wonderful province and maintain that Alberta advantage that we love!  Be a leader don't govern like Lougheed or Klein,  govern like Allison Redford and create your legacy by doing what the people of this province want and need.

Kindest regards

Russell Bosch

Russell Bosch is just a regular Albertan