The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Looking back on 2004 All media normally review what happened in the World as we approach a new year. If we look back on 2004, we find lots happened in the political world to fill up columns such as this one, even without writing much about the continuing war in Iraq, which the Americans more or less quelled after the U.S. election (at least so far). Early in the year the federal Tory leadership resulted in an overwhelming victory for Stephen Harper and the merging of the P.C./Alliance parties to form the National Conservative Party. As expected there were defections of "red Tories" to the Liberals, or at least separate from the N.C.P. and not a lot of time for the Conservatives to get ready for the expected federal election. They were helped out by Liberal financial scandals tied to the Chretien era, the most notable being the Adscam fiasco during which the Liberals siphoned off millions of dollars to Liberal-friendly ad companies promoting Canada in Quebec, most often doing little for the money. Paul Martin called an inquiry and managed to put a lot of the dirt off until the fall, well after the June election. This scandal continues to unfold and others, particularly in financing Native health care, with the federal tax money often disappearing or misused. Instead of waiting until the fall, Martin called a June election which quickly became a referendum on Liberal arrogance and incompetence, particularly in Quebec and the West. Trailing in the polls most of the way, the Liberals used U.S. style attack ads to scare the public about Stephen Harper's "hidden agenda". Harper offered lower taxes and an honest and more competent government which would protect Canadian "values", but wasn't helped by outbursts from some of his most radical right-wing MPs. There is considerable evidence that the attack ads frightened many Ontario voters and surprise, surprise, the polls were wrong and the Liberals escaped with a minority, to be propped up by "Wacky Jack" Layton (as he was referred to by the Liberals) who was disappointed in only winning 19 seats, with none in Saskatchewan. Lots of talk, but really little in the way of legislation or important announcements as the Commons resumed sitting and the year wound to a close. The Federal-Provincial health-care meeting deserves a mention especially since during the campaign Martin had promised to spend millions to save healthcare, cities, and anything else that came up. The meetings were raucous and confrontational, but the provinces got a lot of cash, with Manitoba's share about $100 million more plus $300 million more in transfer payments, which of course they will spend, or as some critics complain "fritter the extra cash away." There as well will be more cash, as economists' models predict that extra revenues will grow in our province by half a billion dollars per year. There is more coming as the government (with a $9 billion surplus of tax money), hopes to position itself for the next election, and intends to keep the promise to give municipal governments a share of gas taxes. This would mean over $50 million per year and proportionately less to other municipalities in the province. This should help the tax situation in towns and cities such as Brandon, Flin Flon and Dauphin, but probably only if the province can do something about the crushing school taxes on homes and farms. The November American election filled the airwaves and the coffers of TV and other media and advertising agencies for months before the actual election. Canadians watched in awe as the two parties and candidates spent millions attacking each other both personally and policy-wise to try to gain the edge with the American voters. Polls appeared daily, even some unhelpful ones (to Canada) that supposedly showed 80% of Canadians would vote for John Kerry. A 60% turnout handily re-elected George Bush and more Republicans to Congress. Pre-election exit polls were wrong as usual, but this will not deter polling companies from being wrong again next time. Speaking of exit polls, the company that did them spent $10 million gathering and analyzing the data, then sold the predictions to newspapers and other media for thousands of dollars, who slavishly reported the predictions before a vote was counted. Exit polls showed Kerry with a lead and a probable win, which did not happen. The polling company claimed a disproportionate number of Kerry supporters including young people and women were anxious to be polled, skewing the results. Given the closeness of the 2000 race, Bush actually won handily, far more than expected, although a lot of Democrats are playing the "sore loser game". The effect of Canadian polls, anti-Bush critics in our country? Zero! In 2004, the early November death of old Palestinian terrorist Yasser Arafat gained world-wide media attention, with amazingly a lot of pro-Arafat comments from World leaders who followed the old Latin saying: "Speak no ill of the dead". Newspaper writers such as the Free Press's Tom Oleson decried this hypocritical outpouring of grief for: "The inventor of modern terrorism and its most consistent practitioner - the airline hijackings, the wholesale murder of civilians for political advantage and the suicide bombers." Oleson points out that in the 2000 meeting with President Clinton and Israeli PM Barak, Arafat was offered a Palestinian State, but instead launched a reign of terror on Israeli civilians, with the response leading to thousands of Palestinian deaths. Arafat of course worsened the lives of his fellow Palestinians, most of whom are poor and exist on a couple of dollars a day. He was not poor himself, as he looted money from donors, perhaps as much as $7 billion into his and his wife's bank accounts. Contrast his death with that of comedian Rodney Dangerfield who brought humor and enjoyment to millions. Rodney will be missed more! Best wishes from the Rightcorner to all readers for a happy and prosperous 2005.
