(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

Iggy, surprise, someone actualy listened, and rose up, to the occasion, from six feet under. Is this a sign ?

As reported in the newspapers (the G&M and the Toronto Star).

The children of a Toronto man known for his sense of humour and love of politics has penned a death notice of a different sort.

“In lieu of flowers, please vote Liberal” read the notice for John Bolan that appeared in the Star and the Globe and Mail.

Bolan, 78, worked as a civil servant for the province for more than two decades and was never involved in politics. But he was passionate about the Liberal party, his family says.

So when he died unexpectedly last Thursday after undergoing surgery for a herniated bowel, his four children decided to give him a send-off in keeping with his personality.

“His love of Canada and love of the Liberals were such a huge part of his belief system that they (his children) wanted to somehow incorporate that in his obituary,” said his wife Bernice, 71.

She added: “A number of people told us that — just this once — they’ll be voting Liberal.’’

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

(A Song For Canada’s 2011 Federal Election)

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

Strategic Voting for the Anyone But Harper (ABH) force.

More than 60 percent of Canadians do not support Harper and his government’s contempt for democracy. Yet, he could win a majority with as little as 35 percent of the popular vote. Especially now, when Jack Layton’s NDP is soaring in popularity in Quebec and BC, the Liberal and NDP can very well split the anti-Harper votes, and Harper can squeak through and win his majority.

Scary thought.

Drastic time for drastic measure.

A group of “democratic” activists is advising voters in contested ridings not to vote along party lines but rather to back whichever candidate has the best chance of defeating the local Conservative.

Project Democracy (http://www.projectdemocracy.ca/), as the group calls itself, isn’t so much an advocacy group for democratic principles as it is a collaborative online effort to promote strategic voting to block a Conservative majority by whatever means necessary.

The group’s method: to persuade voters in the country’s “contested ridings” to strategically abandon weaker candidates at the local level and throw their support behind whichever non-Conservative candidate the group deems most able to win — even if that means voting for the Bloc Québécois in some cases.

Go to the Project Democracy website and punch in your Postal Code, immediately it will spit out their analysis and recommendations of your riding.

May the force be with you.

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBPOK9PIw-0

Events of the last three weeks are really eye-openers. Right from the start, Harper came out charging, yelling “the Coalition”, as if it is a four letter word. Ignatieff responded by announcing there will be “No Coalition” in his government. Duceppe and Layton waved their 2004 joint letter (with Harper’s signature) to the then GG, Adrienne Clarkson. Such talks gradually died down. Until Harper once again warned us of the badness of a minority government, that may again lead to, yes you guessed it, a coalition; as if this is the end of the world, the inevitable collapse of our Canadian parliament, and the split of our beloved country.

Also it is really confusing too, when we are watching the news on coalition. On the one hand we were warned about the evil Coalition, but at the same time, Canada is part of a coalition force under UN, fighting in the war of Libya, against their dictator Gaddafi.

So is it wrong to have a coalition? It seemed the core of the problem, is one of cause and purpose, the reason why we need a coalition in the first place, and have nothing to do with the members involved. If the cause is noble and just, then go for it. (In the Second World War, the coalition included different ideologies, e.g. the US and Russia, and no evil members were ever mentioned at all)

Forming some kind of alliance and compromise between different political parties, with common consensus, in order to govern and run the country, for the common good of its people, is actually the foundation of our democracy (UK and Australia are doing just that now). If someone is trying to twist this concept around to make believe that it is evil, for his own gain that is total BS and dishonesty.

Harper also raised this problem with minority. Again, the word seems like something to be scared of. As a matter of fact, Canada is a multicultural society, and composed of many different minorities, and hence the so called ethnic votes all politicians were clamoring for. So minority is not a bad thing, but a reality of life here.

The Canadian Parliament is made up of members of parliament (MP) and they are our representatives. They work on our behalf. Almost all of them belong to a party and the party with the most number of MPs can form the government. And obviously, the party with more than half the total number of MPs as party members will be able to pass any policy and take any action their party wants. That’s the majority Harper is yearning for.

With such a majority, like the Chinese one party rule, we are at the mercy of the ruling party, no matter what our own views are on any particular policy. But we want to have our say and our MPs should represent us in parliament, this will be possible only if we have a minority government, no party can dominate any parliamentary processes, and the ruling party can only rule by common consensus and voting. That is the very essence of democracy.

What Harper wants is a one party rule. To other countries like China, he was complaining and spoke against their undemocratic government, speaking out about human right. But when a similar situation is happening at home, he turned around and asked exactly the opposite — a one party rule, i.e. his majority. When asked if he will be working with the other parties if he got another minority government. He was arrogant enough to dismiss that as a non-question.

Of course, a leopard doesn’t change its spots. He is asking for a majority, but what for? So that he can have a one party, iron fisted rule and can ram down our throat, his hidden agenda easily, and without proroguing parliament?

Watch out Canada, pretty soon we will have our own Ai Wei Wei. (Remember Guergis)

Wake up Canada.

Rise up Canada.

Vote on May 2.

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

Can’t resist, folks. Another creative, funny and cheeky video to share.

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

You always want to make a movie. Here is your chance. During this election, people made their own video and put them on YouTube. There are some really funny and cheeky ones, like the Hamilton women’s “It’s Over Steve”, or the “Vote Mob” videos of the many universities across Canada, and oh, how about this clever one,

As reported by the CBC Your Community, the above video is made by Angela Krajaefski, and below is her interview with CBC.

CBC Community: Could you tell us what inspired you to make your video?

Angela Krajaefski: I just kind of felt bad for Michael Ignatieff, I felt like he was getting, you know, kind of smeared a little bit. I felt like they were making him out to be kind an American, and I felt like he was actually very Canadian and very diverse, and I thought that’s what Canada’s all about is that diversity. I just thought he was getting a bad rap, so I wanted to put something out there that was a little bit pro-Iggy.

Could you walk us through how you created it, and how long it took you to make the video?

Angela Krajaefski: It took me two weeks, it was about 10 hours a day. My husband [Chris] actually did a lot of work on it, too. I did all the video and I then obviously sang on it. I did the backup vocals, and then he did the rap and then did all of the mixing and put all the sounds on it, and he actually made the song.

How do you feel about this election compared to previous ones? Are you more or less engaged?

Angela Krajaefski: I would say more engaged. I think after the last couple I was just kind of disillusioned and upset… it’s the whole split vote thing, right? If you lean more toward Liberal, unfortunately you’ve got the NDP and the Green Party you can choose from too, whereas you only have the Conservative Party on the other side. I really felt like if we banded together behind the Liberals we could change things up a bit.

Any other thoughts you’d like to share before we sign off?

Angela Krajaefski: I want Canadians to Vote! That’s it. I just want us all to vote – I just want us to all get out there and do it!

Now CBC is offering you the opportunity of a lifetime, to post your own video onto their site and show it to the world.

How to submit your song or video:

• Upload your videos here

• Email your submission to yournews@cbc.ca with title ‘Election song’ OR send them a link to where you’ve uploaded it on YouTube

• Tweet CBC at @cbccommunity and let them know about your YouTube link

Make a video. This is your chance to be heard. And have your 3 minutes of fame.

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

Bob Baker is in town. He is asking the Toronto zoo to shut down its Elephant Exhibit and ship the elephants down south. He has already been turned down with similar request by the Edmonton zoo.

Have no fear, Bob; we do have other elephants.

How about this big White Elephant of the Conservatives? It is a buddy of the US Republican elephant. Recently, it is getting too expensive and extravagant to keep. Over a single weekend, it spent 1.1 billion of our taxpayers’ money, to hold the G8/G20, with most dough went to the pork barrel of a single minister, camouflaged as funding from border and other infrastructure projects. They are also committed to spend multi-billion dollars on some fighter jets for years to come. We better let you ship this white elephant south before causing more permanent damage.

During the last few weeks, this political animal is turning into a Pink Elephant, with hallucination and paranoia; like a drunken sailor, or is it just showing signs of aging? It keeps repeating words like coalition, majority ….., as if these are something real. Now it is using the “s” word, crying wolf and spreading fear.

The pink elephant is losing touch of reality. During the Election Debates, it felt the debates were just bickering of the oppositions. To stop such bickering, we need a majority, we need to forgo of our democratic way, it said, and should be ruled with strong will and iron fists of an unapologetic leader.

The pink elephant is growing more paranoid. It will not and cannot trust us ordinary Canadian. It creeps around the Internet Facebook and Twitter, like the Internet police, looking for anybody with hints of opposing tie and view, and be excluded and escorted out of their gatherings, to pre-emptively suppressing any potential opposing view and trouble. It turns their public campaign meetings into exclusive club functions, by invitation only.

Bob, we have enough. These elephants are for you.

Good luck.