Ottawa Wrap Up
I'm still in ottawa as they canceled our flight due to icing from fog. We've had one almost nice day since we arrived on friday; the weather misery of this autumn seems to go right across canada.
1.5 hours on the phone and i was able to get our flight rescheduled for same time tomorrow, which gives us an unexpected day for wandering around.
There is a strike on at all the museums so we missed a chance at the museum of civilisation, museum of war, and national gallery, which is a bloody shame, although i don't fault the workers. Oh, well, there are larger issues involved and we'll be back for the next national conference.
This has been an incredible, inspiring four days for me, and it has changed how i view politics and the democratic process. While it is easy to become cynical, a big part of the responsibility for that belongs with the media which only represents the very worst of what happens and shows politics as a nasty and corrupt sport where the rich and powerful play with underlings the way Greek gods play with mortals.
Of course this does indeed happen, but my org has met with several politicians and CIDA, and I've seen people who were very selfless and dedicated to improving the lives of others. my group of four citizens had meetings with senator Mobina Jaffer, who has pledged the rest of her career to fighting poverty among women and children. she gave as everything we asked for and more, including offering to send in private member's bills and setting up a poverty caucus in the senate.
We also met with Liberal John McKay who also pledged whatever he could do to help us (he has worked with us for years). He not only works on poverty issues; check out bill C300, that he has sent to the house and which the mining industry is fighting tooth and nail.
the morning started with a meeting at CIDA and the government's policy adviser Keith Fountain. Although the guy was as much a politician as one could get and was hard core conservative, we pretty much got everything we asked for, including a commitment to reinstate funding for CIII (which was in danger of not being renewed, although it is a cheap and effective way to prevent childhood deaths in the developing world).
We spent some time in the public gallery in question period, and my org actually got a standing ovation from the house!
At the end of the day we had a free-beer-fueled party (also in the house!) John Mckay and Jack Layton even popped in for a beer and hello. (Jack couldn't get past his political facade, but John was very amiable and friendly (he kept complaining that we were coming between him and the beer). it was a fantastic wrap-up to the weekend.
What all this means is that i've learned that citizens can make a big difference in Ottawa; if you don't like what is going on, do something about it.
my org RESULTS, has helped save the lives of millions of children around the world, and we are just everyday Canadian citizens. what is a million kids? i had a hard time imagining that so i did some math. if you imagine a sheet of paper as being one life, a million pieces of paper stack on each other would be about three stories higher than the Peace Tower. Every dollar donated to RESULTS is leveraged into a thousand dollars that goes to the cheapest and most efficient ways to save lives in the developing world. No other international aid org can claim such power.
Since we had the day, the lovely man who billeted us lent us his miata for the day, and we checked out the Gatineau Hills and are now in a funky bistro in Hull, Quebec.
Just as I discuss in my Loser's Guide, the more i spend helping others and socialising with those who also give deeply in their lives, the happier and more exciting my own life becomes. We don't even own a car and yet we find ourselves touring the nation's capital and sightseeing the Quebec countryside in a sports car.
Over and over I find that the more love I put into the world the more comes my way.
Corridors of power; a CIDA boardroom and Keith Fountain on the left; he even looks conservative!
Senator Jaffer (in the red)
John McKay
In front of the house of commons.
Party Time! How many folks can say they tied one on in the House of Commons?
Imagine sheets of paper stacked to three stories higher than this tower...that number is the lives we helped save over the years
1.5 hours on the phone and i was able to get our flight rescheduled for same time tomorrow, which gives us an unexpected day for wandering around.
There is a strike on at all the museums so we missed a chance at the museum of civilisation, museum of war, and national gallery, which is a bloody shame, although i don't fault the workers. Oh, well, there are larger issues involved and we'll be back for the next national conference.
This has been an incredible, inspiring four days for me, and it has changed how i view politics and the democratic process. While it is easy to become cynical, a big part of the responsibility for that belongs with the media which only represents the very worst of what happens and shows politics as a nasty and corrupt sport where the rich and powerful play with underlings the way Greek gods play with mortals.
Of course this does indeed happen, but my org has met with several politicians and CIDA, and I've seen people who were very selfless and dedicated to improving the lives of others. my group of four citizens had meetings with senator Mobina Jaffer, who has pledged the rest of her career to fighting poverty among women and children. she gave as everything we asked for and more, including offering to send in private member's bills and setting up a poverty caucus in the senate.
We also met with Liberal John McKay who also pledged whatever he could do to help us (he has worked with us for years). He not only works on poverty issues; check out bill C300, that he has sent to the house and which the mining industry is fighting tooth and nail.
the morning started with a meeting at CIDA and the government's policy adviser Keith Fountain. Although the guy was as much a politician as one could get and was hard core conservative, we pretty much got everything we asked for, including a commitment to reinstate funding for CIII (which was in danger of not being renewed, although it is a cheap and effective way to prevent childhood deaths in the developing world).
We spent some time in the public gallery in question period, and my org actually got a standing ovation from the house!
At the end of the day we had a free-beer-fueled party (also in the house!) John Mckay and Jack Layton even popped in for a beer and hello. (Jack couldn't get past his political facade, but John was very amiable and friendly (he kept complaining that we were coming between him and the beer). it was a fantastic wrap-up to the weekend.
What all this means is that i've learned that citizens can make a big difference in Ottawa; if you don't like what is going on, do something about it.
my org RESULTS, has helped save the lives of millions of children around the world, and we are just everyday Canadian citizens. what is a million kids? i had a hard time imagining that so i did some math. if you imagine a sheet of paper as being one life, a million pieces of paper stack on each other would be about three stories higher than the Peace Tower. Every dollar donated to RESULTS is leveraged into a thousand dollars that goes to the cheapest and most efficient ways to save lives in the developing world. No other international aid org can claim such power.
Since we had the day, the lovely man who billeted us lent us his miata for the day, and we checked out the Gatineau Hills and are now in a funky bistro in Hull, Quebec.
Just as I discuss in my Loser's Guide, the more i spend helping others and socialising with those who also give deeply in their lives, the happier and more exciting my own life becomes. We don't even own a car and yet we find ourselves touring the nation's capital and sightseeing the Quebec countryside in a sports car.
Over and over I find that the more love I put into the world the more comes my way.
Corridors of power; a CIDA boardroom and Keith Fountain on the left; he even looks conservative!
Senator Jaffer (in the red)
John McKay
In front of the house of commons.
Party Time! How many folks can say they tied one on in the House of Commons?
Imagine sheets of paper stacked to three stories higher than this tower...that number is the lives we helped save over the years
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