The timing of Mr. Garneau’s first visit to Wednesday Night could not possibly have been more appropriate, given that during the afternoon, the Honourable Lucienne Robillard, MP for Westmount Ville-Marie for some 12 years, made a surprise announcement in Parliament that she will resign effective January 25, 2008.
Also highly relevant, is the launch on December 14 of Radarsat-2, Canada’s highly advanced next-generation Earth Observation satellite (from Kazakhstan).
[Editor’s note: A very broad range of topics was discussed. In the interest of brevity and accuracy, we have chosen to concentrate on only a few.]
Marc Garneau, Liberal Candidate
Lawyers and Politicians are said to be the least trusted of professionals by the public, a truly sad state when we consider that the most important job in any country is the running of that country.
With the exception of a couple of Conservative representatives and one Parti Québécois convert, Westmount-Ville Marie has been a traditional Liberal riding, represented mostly by lawyers and for the last 12 years, a parachutee from inner space.
Liberal candidate, Engineer, Naval Officer and Astronaut, Marc Garneau, an international personage, personable, dedicated to accessibility to his constituents if elected, and frankly independent in his thinking, is actually domiciled here. Although Mr. Garneau suggested that engineers may lack political skills because of their tendency to think in a linear fashion, he demonstrated throughout the evening the intellectual rigor, independence of thinking and the people skills that are most sought - and rarely found - by the public.
Deteriorating physical infrastructure and moral issues that require solutions that do not depend so much on how they affect the lifespan of the government at the time would, perhaps, be better solved by an engineering approach. Although Parliament remains supreme, answering only to the electorate, the voting population is more likely to be influenced by the media than by their elected members, who mostly come from backgrounds distrusted by the electorate. To complicate matters further, it is the missteps, the miscalculations and mostly, changes in tax benefits that make the news. It is into this arena that Marc Garneau makes his entry, pledging his determination to value his integrity and independence above party politics or political expedience and to champion accountability in all aspects of government policy and programmes.
The AECL & shutdown of the Chalk River nuclear reactor
One issue that demonstrates one of the lacunae in Parliament has been that of nuclear isotopes, their necessity and the neglected requirements for safety upgrades at the reactor. It is impossible to know whether the dispute between Parliament and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission over the AECL Chalk River facility could have been avoided; in the final analysis, Commons has acted correctly, albeit after some highly partisan and unconstructive charges,but this event demonstrates both the need for full accountability, and the technical expertise at the decisional as well as at the executive level of government.
GST reduction
The one-percent reduction in G.S.T. was advertised as putting more money into the hands of Canadians, thus stimulating the economy. In reality, a well-targeted income tax cut would have done more for the economy, achieved the same political purpose, while the $5 - $6 billion of GST revenue would have been better spent in terms of renewing infrastructure, supporting R&D, health and education. Despite the trumpeted benefits, the savings on GST are minimal for the more affluent in our society and even less for those who have little spending power beyond untaxed food.
The more sceptical might believe that the saving permitting the reduction in G.S.T. might have been achieved by downsizing government, forcing a subsequent tax increase by a future government of different political stripe.
Canada’s role in aerospace
Considered principally a supplier of natural resources to the world, Canada’s place in the aerospace industry might come as a surprise to many. In what has become a two and a half billion dollar industry, Canada, in fact was the third country in space following the Soviet Union and the United States (Alouette 1 was launched in September 1962), the first to put a communication satellite in space - Early Bird (Intelsat 1) launched in 1965, and in 1972, the Anik A-1 communications satellite made Canada the first country with a national communications satellite in geostationary orbit. The $300 million budget of the Space Agency is minimalist, but by making the right decisions (i.e. not to attempt to invest in rocketry) the CSA has managed to maintain Canada in the forefront of technological achievements, thus contributing to the development of important technology and to a source of justifiable pride. [Editor’s note: the Canadian Space Agency Website has an informative history of Canada’s space exploits.]
The environment
From the time of the clear blue photos taken of our planet from Apollo 8, the deterioration of the earth’s climate is evident from space.
A prevalent view from early days is that the Kyoto targets were unachievable by Canada, however there was much that the governments of the day could have done to stem the increase in emissions, as well as embracing emissions trading. Instead, Canada is at 747 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent - six percent below 1990 levels is 560; we are now 187 megatonnes above that figure (2005 figures).
The development of new technologies required for the sustainable development of the planet should be considered an investment opportunity, as is the case in such countries as Sweden, Denmark and Germany. This is the position taken by Stéphane Dion in his Three Pillars vision for Canada
Unfortunately, the national government of whatever political hue has failed to take a leadership role since signing on to Kyoto, and although there is now an opportunity for Canada to put the good of the planet ahead of short-term national considerations, our performance at the Bali Conference, after the promise of the Montreal Climate Change meeting only two years ago, has set us up to be an international laughing stock - or worse. As suggested earlier in the evening, there is a time for politicians to say “we didn’t get it right” and to then try to fix the problem, rather than persisting in laying the blame on other parties. Sir Nicholas Stern has said it clearly: we cannot afford not to act.
The economy
With the cut of interest rates by ¼ on Tuesday, the Fed failed to deal effectively with the current crisis and the Stock market has reacted badly. At best the Feds have shown themselves to be poor communicators and inexperienced and this affects the reaction to the policies announced on Wednesday that are designed to fix the credit crisis in the banking system. It will be a difficult time for the markets in the coming months in the United States, with growing risk of recession .
Despite the good fundamentals in Canada, where the economy is reasonably healthy with declining interest rates and falling retail prices, there is no doubt that the Canadian markets will be affected by the spillover from the U.S. It seems that the upward trend of the Canadian dollar has been broken. Prices will continue to fall in Canada. The one concern is the continuing creation of liquidity that is being pumped into the economy without fear of consequences. At the end of the line, perhaps within a few years, there may very well be a price to pay.
Note
Wednesday-Night creates charts and follows stocks, including timely related financial news items, in which Wednesday Nighters are interested and in order to demonstrate a service that could eventually be developed and marketed. Wednesday Nighters are invited to participate and help to test the service. see Wednesday-Night.com Flip charts
QUOTES of the EVENING from recent Wednesday Nights
It’s not a Bush problem, it’s an American problem. He is playing double or nothing. He is trying to shift the responsibility from the Coalition to the Iraqis
New York City has more police officers than Iraq has troops
Several of you have remarked on Jacques' unusually prolonged absence from Wednesday Night and we thought you would want to know that, thanks to the efforts of his friend Colette Birks, we have learned that Jacques was suffering very severe headaches and was in a state of "confusion". We are not sure exactly when this occurred. He was hospitalized, but is now in recovery at an undisclosed location. Colette was assured by a member of his family that he is "bien entouré" and recovering slowly, but is not yet up to talking on the telephone. At this stage we have no way of communicating with him, but as soon as we have further news, we will let you know. We know that your thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery will be with him.
Diana & David
Monday 10 December 2007 Delay, Obstruction and Darfur
The world’s leaders say they care desperately about Darfur’s suffering, until they get distracted.
Monday 10 December 2007 Give a goat, a shovel, a toy … or an engineer we would like to call attention to one wonderful NGO that has a special relationship to Wednesday Night: Engineers Without Borders (ENB) and the message we recently received from the co-founders and co-CEOs, George Roter & Parker Mitchell (son of David), both of whom have participated in Wednesday Nights.
Stephen S. Poloz VP EDC Economics Weekly Commentary Labour Shortages are Global - December 12, 2007
We hear about labour shortages a lot – there are not enough doctors, carpenters, plumbers, or skilled workers in general (except, perhaps, economists). This is becoming a global problem.
Economists will tell you that labour shortages are not supposed to happen. When something is in short supply, excess demand pushes the price up. This reduces demand and increases supply. When it comes to skilled labour, the supply response is by necessity gradual, and may be very difficult, since it requires education and, perhaps re-education of transitioning workers. Past issues | his WN page
Commentary podcast.
Stephen S. Poloz VP EDC Economics Weekly Commentary Global Forex Flows Titanic - October 24, 2007
Many think of central banks as powerful institutions, able to use their capital to defend their currencies against the uncertain ebbs and flows of the marketplace. But a recent survey by the Bank for International Settlements gives a better idea of what central banks are up against.
The survey covers 54 central banks and monetary authorities and seeks to put parameters around the global foreign exchange market. The individual central banks published their survey results all on the same day. Past issues | his WN page
Andy Nulman 
BBC
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