It
has been some time since I've posted anything here. My excuse is an
old one: Christmas happened, and then New Years. Not that a whole lot
happened in my life over these holidays, but still…
Our
friends from Calgary came, as usual, on Christmas Eve, and stayed
until Boxing Day. Their two daughters came along. One, a University
graduate, the other in her last year of High School. Father is a lab
tech, and a published poet (4 books!), and mother is an
internationally recognized Social Worker. She is also a gourmet cook.
Yum! It always means good things when June comes. We had our usual
lovely visit, and were sorry to see them go on Dec. 26.
A
change in our routine this Christmas was the attendance of Beatrix'
father and sister from Edmonton. For reasons too complicated to
explain, this is the first time they have participated in Christmas
with us in over a decade. We plan to continue this practice early in
2015, having them, plus Judy's son Michael, in February. It was
really good to see them.
The
last part of 2014 brought some amazing changes to the political life
of our province. The governing Conservative party has a comfortable
majority, and has been in office for almost 50 years, making Alberta
virtually a one party state…in a democracy, right? The major
opposition party, the Wild Rose Party (named after our provincial
flower) had 16 members. Suddenly, out of the blue – or so it seemed
– nine members of the opposition crossed the floor and joined the
Conservative party…including the leader! Huge uproar among their
supporters. Historically, in a “Westminster parliamentary
democracy,” when a person changes parties, they should resign their
seat, and run in a bye-election under the new party banner. This
doesn't happen anymore, and most people are unaware of this rule, so
there are no complaints except from the party that has been
decimated. It will be interesting to see what will happen in the next
provincial election in 18 months. It may be that the 'crossover'
members will all be defeated…or not.
The
most galling part of the whole thing was the ingenuous…and
pious…statement made by the Premier. The lack of a complete
opposition will “not interfere with the democratic process.” Yuk!
A strong opposition has the last of calling the government to account
for its policies and spending habits. There are, at present, three
parties in “opposition.” Liberals, New Democrats and Wild rose.
None of them has more that 4 members. The chances of them all voting
the same way are slim. Wild rose is ultra conservative, Liberals are
moderately left of centre, more centre then left: and the New
Democrats are more to the left, although not strongly Socialist. I
find these developments discouraging and enraging. But I'm just an
old voter, so who cares?
This
weekend is a bit exciting for me on another count. Tomorrow, January
4, we are having a sort of “open house” in the hall of Beatrix'
church, to mark my 80th birthday, which occurred last
week. Pie and ice cream, coffee and tea. We have notified the town
through the paper, and I have alerted all the places I have worked
since we moved here. I don't expect a crowd; perhaps a couple of
dozen people. But it will give me closure on this “event” in my
life.
In
some ways, the start of 2015 has been rather horrific in our part of
the world. Over the past week there has been a mass murder in Edmonton
– 8 murdered, including two children, as well as the suicide of the
killer. In Calgary, to the south of us, there was a shootout at a
New Years' party. Fifty or sixty people were in attendance, six were
shot, one person died. No one saw anything…got that? Turns out most
of the people in attendance were from the Somali community. These
folks have a difficult time trusting the police, and are afraid of
internal gangs, so the police have no ides what happened, or who the
shooter(s) were. Happy New Year, Alberta.
More
soon, I hope. May the beginning of 2015 be auspicious for you and
yours.
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