OK. No more beating around the bush…

Over the past year there has been more and more of an “outcry” against the Governor General of Canada. There are constant questions being raised about her purpose, her position, and her relevance.

I keep hearing all this whining about her spending habits, her parties, her views on minorities, and her tendency to butt into popular Canadian debates.

So I ask you, Dear Reader.

What would You have us do with the Governor General?

What is proper behaviour for our “Proxy”-Head of State.

Are the people who seem to oppose her every move silently wishing she, and the Queen she represents, wasn’t a part of Canadian Governance?

I would like to know, sincerely, why people seem to have a bone to pick with the Governor General at every turn. Is it because she’s a woman of a visible minority and thus speaks too loudly for those she most closely represents?

Should we start down the road the Australians took and look at a Presidency? What advantage would that give us… and what exactly would that gain us.

I’d just really like to know… because if people can’t find some good reasons to get rid of the Governor General, and can *replace* her with something different, than frankly, who are they to constantly be on her case.

Patiently waiting for an answer…

Alright, so the lockup is done and the details are flowing.

The CBC has an excellent feature site on the 2005 Federal Budget:

1. Surplus: $5.9 billion
2. Military: $12.3 billion boost over 5 years. Largest in 20 years. 5000 more regulars, 3000 more reserves, 3.2 billion to cover supplies, repair infrastructure, training… I’m under the impression the rest (about 6 billion over 5 years) goes to Capital spending.
3. Daycare: $700 million trust fund for this year. $5 billion over five years.
4. Taxes: Minimum earnings raised to $10,000 by 2009. RRSP and Foreign content improvements. Lower Corporate Taxes by 2% by 2010 and eliminate Corporate Surtax by 2008.
5. The Liberals present the 2005 budget as a balanced one, but built into it is something they call an underlying surplus – made up of a $3-billion contingency fund and $1 billion for “economic prudence.” If this $4 billion remains unspent, it automatically goes toward paying down the national debt, which stands at just over $501 billion.

Environment: $1 billion “Clean Fund” for project battling climate change/Kyoto.

I’ll fill in more as I hear more details.

From the Canadian Press/Canada.com

1. $400 decrease in taxes for middle class families over five years
2. $5 billion to cut greenhouse gases and protect environment
3. $5 billion in gas tax revenues to cities/municipalities
4. $3.4 billion more foreign aid
5. Total government spending for fiscal 2004-05 is projected to be $192.8 billion, up 8.8 per cent from $177.1 billion the year before. The federal surplus is estimated at $8.9 billion, some of which will go to help pay down the national debt to $499 billion.

Canada.com is reporting that most of the spending is weighted on the back end, fourth and fifth years of the budget.

This is unusual for recent Canadian budgets, and something I’m not terribly thrilled with. I like my government to be held accountable *within its’ current term*. This strategy is a little too reminiscent of the recent US budget that relies so much on the last year of hte presidency, except this is even more the case in Canada because of the volatility of the current Minority government. History has shown that minority governments last only up to about 2 years.

One economist seems OK with it though:

The business community likes the certainty that comes with five-year plans, said Craig Wright, chief economist with Royal Bank in Toronto.
“In terms of delivering on their commitments, he (Goodale) did that and then some,” said Wright, who found quite a few surprises in the number of tax and spending pledges.

UPDATE

You can take a look at the Budget yourself on the Budget 2005 Website

Alaa is shockedafter very attentive observation of every gesture and carefully weighing every word, I reached the conclusion that they are most likely genuine.

My wife tells me via the 30 year old rotary phone (no REALLY!) in Grandpa Johnsons’ 82 year old house that Miss Jade has sprung a Pair of Teeth!!

The *pearly* whites are mere white ridges now.. but by the end of the week they might just be picture worthy!

I hope the poor little girl doesn’t chew her fingers off… no, sorry, I was talking about Theresa there, not Jade. ;=)

I can hardly wait to see them again. The house is positively cavernous without them. Only the crazed meowles of the house-bound cat break the silence. Heidi actually lied on my lap last night on the couch, she *must* be lonely. Poor thing all couped up in the house all day. Chris need to devise a way for a cat door to the outside world. Hmmmm….

Heidi and I will just have to wait patiently for the Life of the party to come back home.

Alright, this is just damned cool stuff.

Potentially change-the-world type stuff… if it works you say? Well, it appears it already is!

What the heck am I talking about?

A Thermo-Depolymerization and Chemical Reformer

In English:

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