This week has been a tremendous learning opportunity about our Canadian system of parliamentary democracy. I'll be talking to you when I get back, and thought I'd leave you with some brief facts that you may not know:
1. The Senate is not a second chamber to the House of Commons. It is it's own separate entity that is related to, but has a very specific and different purpose: second and thoughtful scrutiny on legislative bills coming from the lower house (HOC), and to provide a non-elected body of senators who represent their respective regions in Canada. There's been a lot of talk about Senate reform, in fact the first Senate reform was proposed just shortly after Confederation in 1867! After meeting with a panel of prominent senators this week, I believe that it's a necessary body to ensure our democracy is fully effective. The only reform I would consider (and some of the senators have) is to change the proportion of representation to better reflect the population distribution in Canada; in other words, to better represent the western provinces. One other reform has been put forth by the Conservatives, and that is to change the tenure of the Senators from 30 years old to 75 years old, to an 8 year term. We need Senators to provide long-term thoughtful input when government can change every four (or fewer, as we now know) years. Senators who have been serving through two governments can provide the context for legislation that may be amended in the years following one government to another. The Senate is much less partisan than the House of Commons.
2. The Queen is our symbolic Head of State, but the Governor General is our true head of state.
When the Queen is here in Canada, she is known as the Sovereign of Canada.
3. There is no mention of the office or position of prime minister in our constitution.
4. The role of our Governor General has remained fully untested, until Her Honour prorogued the sitting of parliament this fall. There have been only three "crises" including the King-Byng affair, in which the then G.G. refused Prime Minister King a dissolution of the house in order to go to election within a year of his election. Byng felt that would lead to instability in government.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Meeting the real faces behind the government and the other institutions of our parliamentary democracy has been a privilege and tremendous learning experience that I'll be sharing with our staff and students in order to promote civic engagement.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Dinner with the MP's and a photo op with Stockwell Day and Alex Atamanenko:
I've learned this week that the life of an MP is hectic, fast-paced, full of meetings, and that you're continually under scrutiny by either the public or your opposition in the legislature. Mr. Atamanenko, for example, went back to his office after dinner and worked til 9 pm in order to prepare for a meeting. It's not an easy life as many people think.
I've learned this week that the life of an MP is hectic, fast-paced, full of meetings, and that you're continually under scrutiny by either the public or your opposition in the legislature. Mr. Atamanenko, for example, went back to his office after dinner and worked til 9 pm in order to prepare for a meeting. It's not an easy life as many people think.
Finally, A Post!
Sorry for not posting for a few days; I've had a bit of trouble with the hotel wireless, but it seems to be working now. This has been a hectic week. Here's a brief top five list of things we've done so far:
1. Gone to the house of commons (HOC) and sat in the legislature chamber in the opposition party's side.
2. Watched Michael Ignatieff, leader of the Liberals, Stephen Harper, and Jack Layton square off during question period.
3. Presentation by the Speaker of the House, Honourable Peter Milliken, and personal meeting with Mr. Milliken.
4. Presentation by a panel of Senators in West Block of the parliament buildings.
5. Dinner at Chateau Laurier with the parliamentarians (mostly MP's) including a photo op with Stockwell Day and dinner with Alex Atamanenko
6. Sitting in Honourable Romeo D'allaire's seat in the Senate chambers. Even the MP's aren't allowed in the Senate chambers, unless a bill is being given royal assent; then they are only allowed to stand behind the bar in the doorway to the Senate!
1. Gone to the house of commons (HOC) and sat in the legislature chamber in the opposition party's side.
2. Watched Michael Ignatieff, leader of the Liberals, Stephen Harper, and Jack Layton square off during question period.
3. Presentation by the Speaker of the House, Honourable Peter Milliken, and personal meeting with Mr. Milliken.
4. Presentation by a panel of Senators in West Block of the parliament buildings.
5. Dinner at Chateau Laurier with the parliamentarians (mostly MP's) including a photo op with Stockwell Day and dinner with Alex Atamanenko
6. Sitting in Honourable Romeo D'allaire's seat in the Senate chambers. Even the MP's aren't allowed in the Senate chambers, unless a bill is being given royal assent; then they are only allowed to stand behind the bar in the doorway to the Senate!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
War & Peace
Ottawa strikes me as a pretty laid back capital. People are friendly; most are fluently bilingual and will switch to English seamlessly. There's really not a sense of urgency here, and that's "comforting" for someone from the Kootenays, I suppose. The annual winter festival, put on in early February to help distract everyone from the bleakness that February can be, brings out ice sculptors from all over the world, including Spain and Poland. I got a brief chance to take in Winterlude, which is happening all over Ottawa-Gatineau. People munch on beavertails as they take in the music pumped into the parks via loudspeakers, warm puffs of air escaping from their cold noses. It's chilly, yet warm at the same time. The National Capital Commission sponsors open air concerts and light shows each weekend for the next three weeks, much to the delight of visiting Americans as well as Ottawans alike.
Today was a study in paradox in more ways than one. Our Teachers Parliamentary Institute group, 77 of us from across Canada in all, were given a grand tour of the Parliament's central block. That's the building you see in all the 'touristy' photos, the one with the clock and Canada flag swaying from the top of the copper-blue roof. Did you know that the central block burnt down in 1916 under "mysterious" circumstances? The only portion that was saved was the library; the rest, particularly the interior, was rebuilt in a gothic style, reminiscent of the cathedrals of Europe. It was finally finished in 1922, just after World War One. Our nation was in mourning, and you can tell from the sombre architecture that there was a quiet mood and hope for better days to come. We ascended the stairs to the Peace Tower (the central tower of the parliament buildings), and surveyed the city from all vantage points. I bent back against the window, and was able to take a photo of the clock itself, looming just a meter or so above me. (I'll post the photos once I get new batteries; I've burnt up a set already). We also made our way to the library; an astonishing collection of all things parliamentary. We craned our necks to look past the volumes of books, all the way up into the blue-tinged cupola. The library itself is round, symbolic of continuance and the circle of knowledge. The levels of floors that curve around the perimeter are made of thick glass; since there was no electricity at the time, much had to be made of the last vestiges of daylight whenever possible. Leaving parliament, I had a renewed sense of pride in our system of parliamentary democracy. This is our capital, our building.
We then toured the Canadian War Museum; a very different feel from the parliamentary one. The galleries transported us across Canada's timeline of military history, dating back to pre-contact, and up until now. It was exhausting to take in all of the images, artefacts, and information. One gallery is devoted to tanks, artillery, and other machinery of the war eras. Other galleries provided a place for families and public to reflect. The museum is vast in scope, and would typically require two to three visits. It left me with the impression that warfare is part of our human nature, an unavoidable fact, something I struggle to believe, and don't want to believe. After working our way through for 2 hours, we ended up in the Regeneration Hall. It is an architectural masterpiece, fashioned after a World War One painting, inspired by the twisted metals and carnage of buildings in Europe. If you visit, you'll hear a low haunting whistling sound as you enter; it is a recording of the wind that sang its way through the iron framework during construction of the gallery. As you walk in, you'll get a brief glimpse of the Peace Tower through a slitted window directly across the hall; a momentary glance, that is all. After descending the stairs, you'll notice several white statuary, reminiscent of religious iconography, and each conceptualizng something different: hope, peace, bending the sword, justice...There are the plaster molds from the Vimy Ridge memorial that stand as permanent reminders of the connection between Europe and our nation. Paradoxically, the exit to the gallery leads back into the military machinery gallery, where I observed a teacher with an overtly enthusiastic group of young grade-school boys discussing the merits of a particular World War One tank they were inspecting...
Today was a study in paradox in more ways than one. Our Teachers Parliamentary Institute group, 77 of us from across Canada in all, were given a grand tour of the Parliament's central block. That's the building you see in all the 'touristy' photos, the one with the clock and Canada flag swaying from the top of the copper-blue roof. Did you know that the central block burnt down in 1916 under "mysterious" circumstances? The only portion that was saved was the library; the rest, particularly the interior, was rebuilt in a gothic style, reminiscent of the cathedrals of Europe. It was finally finished in 1922, just after World War One. Our nation was in mourning, and you can tell from the sombre architecture that there was a quiet mood and hope for better days to come. We ascended the stairs to the Peace Tower (the central tower of the parliament buildings), and surveyed the city from all vantage points. I bent back against the window, and was able to take a photo of the clock itself, looming just a meter or so above me. (I'll post the photos once I get new batteries; I've burnt up a set already). We also made our way to the library; an astonishing collection of all things parliamentary. We craned our necks to look past the volumes of books, all the way up into the blue-tinged cupola. The library itself is round, symbolic of continuance and the circle of knowledge. The levels of floors that curve around the perimeter are made of thick glass; since there was no electricity at the time, much had to be made of the last vestiges of daylight whenever possible. Leaving parliament, I had a renewed sense of pride in our system of parliamentary democracy. This is our capital, our building.
We then toured the Canadian War Museum; a very different feel from the parliamentary one. The galleries transported us across Canada's timeline of military history, dating back to pre-contact, and up until now. It was exhausting to take in all of the images, artefacts, and information. One gallery is devoted to tanks, artillery, and other machinery of the war eras. Other galleries provided a place for families and public to reflect. The museum is vast in scope, and would typically require two to three visits. It left me with the impression that warfare is part of our human nature, an unavoidable fact, something I struggle to believe, and don't want to believe. After working our way through for 2 hours, we ended up in the Regeneration Hall. It is an architectural masterpiece, fashioned after a World War One painting, inspired by the twisted metals and carnage of buildings in Europe. If you visit, you'll hear a low haunting whistling sound as you enter; it is a recording of the wind that sang its way through the iron framework during construction of the gallery. As you walk in, you'll get a brief glimpse of the Peace Tower through a slitted window directly across the hall; a momentary glance, that is all. After descending the stairs, you'll notice several white statuary, reminiscent of religious iconography, and each conceptualizng something different: hope, peace, bending the sword, justice...There are the plaster molds from the Vimy Ridge memorial that stand as permanent reminders of the connection between Europe and our nation. Paradoxically, the exit to the gallery leads back into the military machinery gallery, where I observed a teacher with an overtly enthusiastic group of young grade-school boys discussing the merits of a particular World War One tank they were inspecting...
Friday, February 6, 2009
First Day in Ottawa
The weather is chilly, -8 degrees, there's been a 56 day transit strike, and up on Parliament Hill the Tories are dealing with a nationwide recession.
Click the voicethread slideshow to see photos with commentary on my first day in Ottawa just before the Teachers Institute on Parliamentary Democracy, which was to have happened in November, but was postponed due to the election til now.
First, a bit of history: Ottawa is situated at the confluence of two rivers, the Ottawa and the Rideau. Its geographic location has shaped the city from its earliest days.
Founded as logging towns, Ottawa (originally known and Bytown), and its twin city, Hull (originally known as Wrightstown), were once among the roughest towns in the New World.
In the early 1800s, most of the population was concentrated in Wrightstown, on the other side of the Ottawa River. In 1826, Colonel John By arrived on the scene with orders to link up the Ottawa River with Lake Ontario. The result was the Rideau Canal, (now known as the "longest skating rink" in the world!), and a new village called Bytown, which, thanks to the canal, soon became a bustling boom town.
In 1855, Bytown was officially renamed Ottawa. Five years later Queen Victoria selected the city as the capital of the newly-founded Dominion of Canada.
Click the voicethread slideshow to see photos with commentary on my first day in Ottawa just before the Teachers Institute on Parliamentary Democracy, which was to have happened in November, but was postponed due to the election til now.
First, a bit of history: Ottawa is situated at the confluence of two rivers, the Ottawa and the Rideau. Its geographic location has shaped the city from its earliest days.
Founded as logging towns, Ottawa (originally known and Bytown), and its twin city, Hull (originally known as Wrightstown), were once among the roughest towns in the New World.
In the early 1800s, most of the population was concentrated in Wrightstown, on the other side of the Ottawa River. In 1826, Colonel John By arrived on the scene with orders to link up the Ottawa River with Lake Ontario. The result was the Rideau Canal, (now known as the "longest skating rink" in the world!), and a new village called Bytown, which, thanks to the canal, soon became a bustling boom town.
In 1855, Bytown was officially renamed Ottawa. Five years later Queen Victoria selected the city as the capital of the newly-founded Dominion of Canada.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Teachers Parliamentary Institute in Ottawa
Last spring I applied to a federal program called the Teachers Parliamentary Institute for Democracy in Ottawa. I had been to the provincial version in BC, once as a participant, and again as a facilitator the following year. This year, there were over 400 teacher applicants, and only 77 were accepted. I feel honoured to be one of them. Tomorrow the journey begins: a flight to the nation's capital where it will be a whirlwind schedule and amazing learning opportunity. Follow me on this trip through this blog. I'll be posting photos and videos to give you a chance to get inside our nations' capital. See you soon!
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