And the race is on! The Conservatives jump out to a good start, but it's only the beginning. Early polls can't predict how many of the typically "apathetic" voters will see enough cause to vote within 5 weeks. Mobilisation efforts have proven early polls wrong in the past, and may do so (hopefully) again.

Another blessing in disguise that may come out of these early polls is the incentive it may lend to the left wing to consolidate its votes. Websites like http://www.voteforclimate.ca/ are spreading the word on how to vote strategically in order to oust the Conservatives. That would mean some stubborn NDP folk like me would have to compromise our integrity and vote for the lesser of two evils (I'm in the contested riding of Vancouver-Quadra, won in the last by-election by the Liberals by only 150 votes, but both the NDP and Greens had a good showing). For me it's a tough choice, but at the end of the day, the Liberals at least have a Green Plan (carbon tax) , while the Conservatives have only a War Plan. The choice is easy, the voting part will be difficult.

Back in Vancouver

It would appear as though I'm unable to upload my photos to this site. Hmm, my technical retardation continues into my early thirties. Lucky me. Well, if I ever figure it out, I'll post a link or slideshow of my recent shots from Sout East Asia.

What I hope will be my final year of school begins in about a week. I can hardly contain my excitement. Blaa. ... But one more year shouldn't be too bad, if I can of manage to graduate and skillfully avert going absolutely broke at the same time.

In the news this week Stephen Harper decided it'd be best to take the liberals to the polls before the American election (which will be November 4th if memory serves). It's my guess that he is trying to avoid the risk of having an election in the aftermath of a Republican spanking south of the border. Obama fever could spread like the Spanish flu and infect the tractable minds of us simple Canadians.

Although there's probably some merit to this line of thinking, I find it a little odd seeing as Obama wouldn't be much more than a regular liberal if he ran on the same issues in Canada. Nevertheless, the liberals and conservative administrations in Canada tend to follow the American Democrat and Republican goverments (or vice versa - depends on how you want to look at it). This of course doesn't include Trudeau, who was a cultural force of his own right in Canada (and was in power during the Nixon-Ford-Carter-Regan administrations in the US).

My worry is that we'll have to put up with another few years of a conservative government. The electoral system in Canada is structured to allow the larger, more powerful parties to maintain control, which plays to the hand of the corporations who are essentially the backseat drivers of the system. If you were to add the percentage of voters who supported the "left" parties in Canada (Liberal, NDP, Green, Quebecois), they would represent about 65% of the popular vote. The Conservatives represent about 30% to 35%. That's about half.

This is not a conservative country, but the electoral system allows it to be run as such.

I'm still learning about this site, but I'll hopefully learn how to post articles and so forth soon. Post comments if you wish...

More background: Solid Waste

There was monsoon rain in the morning today so the kids had the day off school. I guess they probably get up in the morning amid such monsoon rains with the same sort of animated excitement that I used to experience when I saw a good snow storm blowing outside as a kid. The difference may be that they mostly end up at internet cafes (that don't actually sell coffee), and I ended up getting my faced washed with snow by my older brother and (bad) company.

My friend Sean and I have been assigned to the "Solid Waste Management" research area while here. It's been interesting the past week trying to make heads or tails of how things work, but I think we're starting to get a hold on things (mostly). Do you remember that public awareness ad in the 80s that showed an irresponsible father throwing garbage away and explaining to his kid that it was okay because the garbage simply "went away"? That is (or was?) the problematic Canadian experience with garbage: we never had to deal with the consequences of garbage because we couldn't immediately see them. Our country is so big, we seldom see the extent of the damage we're doing to the environment.

Here it is quite different. There are about 4000 islands that comprise the Philippines, and the majority are filling up with garbage. They produce (per capita) much less garbage than we do, but they don't have the space to hide it. So garbage literally ends up on the streets, in the rivers, illegally dumped at the periphery of poor communities, etc. They have proper dumpsites, but they are fastly filling up, or are simply not used by some. In any case, there is no "away".

The community we're in, Plaridel, is one of the above-average municipalities in terms of their active stance towards waste management issues. They've started neighbourhood composting/recycling facilities, increased their budget for WM, and have made clear and deliberate strides in the general direction of achieving sustainability. But they have a long way to go. That, I guess, is where Sean and I come in. ... more next time.

a week in the Philippines

I've been in this small community about an hour north of Manila for about week. It's hot, as you might expect, and quite poor. Our group consists of 12 members divided into 5 different concentrations related to planning issues specifically chosen by the local community. We have to conduct first and second hand research over the course of a month, then present our findings in a report of about 40 pages to the local council. That's the background info. I'll give more specific details about the community in future posts.