Welcome to my posting, and welcome to a new year. Like many of you I have mixed feelings about 2009. For me it had its highs and lows personally, but I can’t help thinking about the many innocent Canadians hurt by the irresponsible speculative bubble that finally burst.
The New Year didn’t start off especially well. Mr. Harper ended 2009 on a low when (on Dec 30) he prorogued Parliament for the second year in a row, and at 60 days long this prorogation is three times longer than the average. While prorogation is an allowed parliamentary tactic, I share with many Canadians deep disappointment with the flimsy and cynical reasons offered to justify shutting down Parliament. There is one positive outcome, however. Mr. Harper may have looked at recent election turnouts (a low 60%) and figured most Canadians wouldn’t notice or care about prorogation. He was wrong. With the level of protests growing, he inadvertently helped Canadians rally around an issue and show they really do think Parliament matters.
Around the world many millions celebrate the New Year by singing “Auld Lang Syne” - a song made famous by London, Ontario’s own Guy Lombardo. The words to the song are from a poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns. On January 25th, the day when Canada’s Parliament was originally scheduled to resume, many Scots and their descendents around the world will be celebrating Robbie Burns Day. I am reminded of a famous line from his poem “To a Louse”:

“Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursel's as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us, And foolish notion”

One can roughly translate this into modern English as:

The best gift is to see ourselves as others see us!
It would free us from many a blunder and foolish notion . . .

I’m thinking Mr. Harper doesn’t have this gift- this ability to perceive how others view him and his actions and he has blundered badly, allowing Canadians to once again see his darker side. As I said above, I’m an optimist, so for this I’m grateful that he made his mistake and many other Canadians are ready to call him on it.

Peter Ferguson
Federal candidate for London West