A Culture of Cheating Gets You Places

I was raised with the notion that by being transparent and working hard, you will not only get yourself places, but earn your keep in those places. Looking at the recent findings in the media, I frown at the examples being shown to today's youth.

Peter Penashue has recently become a stellar example of the shady image of political life. His time in government may have allowed him the opportunity for good, but he has washed that all away by becoming a horrible example of what a politician should be. I can just imagine the Penashue story represented as a moral to a children's book.

**Remember kids, in this day and age, take what you can, when you can, but remember not to get caught. More importantly, if somehow you are caught, just hide in the shadows and step down, because leaving your post only to run again because you have been convicted of breaking the rules and cheating is perfectly fine. Oh and if your opponents find a lot of indicting dirt on you, just use that magical thing called ignorance and admit to everyone that your innocent, because we all know its super easy to take money that obviously shouldn't be taken and forget that its wrong.**

The very fact that Penashue set up his NEW campaign website four days before stepping down does not bother me that much, what does make me weep for our country however is the fact that the Conservative government has gone to great lengths to not only cover and defend this kind of ruthless cheating and foul play, but also have the guts to promote it.

Where is the scandal in Harper's government? Everyone was so quick to shame Paul Martin for his financial plays regarding Quebec, but we still have a government in power that not only defied parliament, but that more importantly contains several players that spit on the very institutions our political system rests upon for support.

What are we showing the future of our country, when we cannot even properly prosecute a man who is not only a blatant cheater, but a horrible one because he was caught and insists that everything is ok because of a resignation.

By the way...resignation in politics is often 99.95% related to form of scandal or deceit, just as Dalton Mcguinty. You do not step down from power granted to you unless you have disobeyed or defiled that given power. In the circumstances that resignation is needed, its mostly used to clear the slate and avoid formal prosecution.

While many might defend Penashue as honorable because he made the right choice to step down, I question what these people are smoking, because there is no honour in admitting only after being caught that you did something wrong. To step down and prepare to run again for the very same position you just stepped down from due to your deceit, should be an automatic red flag for everyone.

It just does not make any sense to me and I cannot wrap my head around the fact that Penashue actually has a chance of being successful and getting away with it! All because frankly, we have an apathetic population in Canada that is going to stand aside and let him have his way.

What direction are we allowing our country to steer into, when we let our government promote this kind of activity and utilize it for success?

Look at the example of that brave young student, Brigette DePape, who stood up and displayed a stop Harper sign in the Senate. People shunned her as disrespectful in defiling a sacred institute in our country, when now...we have elected officials continuing to do worse and validating these obviously wrong actions by defending them as right or rather downplaying their significance.

Who knew adopting a culture of cheating could really get you so far?

No matter how you view this situation, we have an elected official who accepted illegal donations from private organizations and essentially bought an election in his own riding. This sadly reminds me of an example from American politics, where you see massive party donations coming from the most undemocratic sources one can witness.

We are not American and our identity as a country has often relied on this important fact to continue, however someone seems to have forgotten to pass this memo along to our command and chief wannabe Stephen Harper. He seems to think that his party is more like the Republican party than a Conservative one.

If anything, Conservatives should be the most upset by this whole situation, these people who pride themselves on hard work and sacrifice now have one of their own skirting the system in order to gain for himself. He essentially took without earning and disregarded the rules, which reminds me of something...what did a lot of the anti-occupy voices say...these young kids expect a handout without earning it???? I wonder where they got that idea from...with such glorious public figures as prime examples in our current government, I am amazed everyone isn't cheating. Hell, they probably are...they are just smarter than a politician is and haven't been caught yet.

Another thing I have been hearing a lot lately is that people keep saying that all "welfare cases" should be given a drug test in order to be eligible for a cheque. While that may seem to make sense to a lot of people, I say lets not stop there...we should implement mandatory testing for anyone running for public office, because it seems we have been duped into electing some stupid ass people into the most important positions for our country. Penashue is only the most recent example of this idiocy and how stupid it really can become.

Peter Penashue...you not only disappoint me, you embarrass me as a fellow Canadian.

With great sadness, until next time.....

The Wynne Of Change

One thing has become apparent in the weeks after Kathleen Wynne was given the job of Premier of Ontario. The fact that political parties and overall partisanship will reach it highest point in the politics of Ontario than ever before.

I think we can all agree that the biggest issue regarding Canadian politics in general is that currently, most parties like to play it safe and are more moderate than they have us believe. The real damage this is causing happens not in front of our faces, but behind closed doors and away from prying eyes, which makes it all the more dangerous.

When a governing party decides to take a moderate stand in the public's eye, people should immediately begin asking questions regarding that party's true intentions. It is easy to label politics as a game of shadows played by corrupt players, but one must realize that the political process is an integral part of modern society. As a result, being an individual currently living within a country, you are apart of that society and thus affected by the decisions that arise from it's political process.

Kathleen Wynne made many promises during her campaign to maintain the status quo that originally was held by former Premier Dalton Mcguinty. While many of these decisions may have been the right ones, there were many examples during the Mcguinty reign that did in fact make many liberals nervous, which prompted a voting shift toward the NDP in many cases.

Now that the NDP has enough steam to potentially increase its standings within Ontario significantly, if not win the entire thing itself, partisanship is starting to rear its divisive face now more than ever. The best example being the auto insurance premium rates. The NDP want them lowered to help assist the average Ontarian financially, while the PC's cry foul.

Where Wynne is given the most opportunity to actually impact change in Ontario,will also be the most difficult time in her career.  

Does Kathleen Wynne make an agreement with the NDP and avoid an election, while keeping her party alive? Or does she continue on the path that was laid out before her upon being elected as Premier?

My greatest fear lies not in her initial decision, but on the impact of her parties political attitude in general. Should we become very unfortunate, we as Ontarian's may live to see Tim Hudak become Premier.

Do you think Kathleen Wynne can keep her government running and avoid an election? If we do fall into election mode, who do you think has a good chance of winning?

I predict that if an election is called in the coming month or two (The Budget is being released and tensions are high), Ontario may open their minds to a government headed by the NDP. No one can truly know if this outcome will be for the best, but one thing that can be guaranteed is that the little guy will be given an extra hand. One can only assume regarding everything else.

Until Next Time.