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Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

A lock for the NDP; a little controversy; and wondering about life…..

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

You know, I don’t think I’d be telling tales out of school to admit that for most of my adult life I’ve voted Liberal. Sure, I worked for Conservative MPP Eric Winkler as an outside scrutineer my first election and felt some obligation to vote for him in return for the sixteen bucks I got – but, fundamentally, I have been a Liberal. And this has been because I’d found them to be the party of common sense – they are middle of the road and somehow – Pierre Trudeau aside – low key – which is what I prefer in my governments. Sure, they’ve pulled a few real boners over the years, but, generally, they’ve done a good job maneouvering us into a great position as we enter the 21st Century. More locally, I have been a fan of Dalton McGuinty and both my local MPPs, Pat Hoy and Maria VanBommell. They are all good people working hard for the people they serve. Well, most of that has changed over the last six months – really since the McGuinty government started to bull the HST through. I am…..extremely tired of taxes…and I think I speak for most Ontarions and Canadians when I say that we think all levels of government have pretty well enough of our money. Governmental priorities are a mess so vast quantities of our money is wasted. So, one night last week, as I watched Premier McGuinty explain how the HST is going to cost Ontario families “hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars but is going to be good for business” it really made my blood boil. I really don’t care how good this is for business – I’m a businessman – I don’t want any part of it. I think it’s crap, plain and simple. But it’s coming, hell or high water, and there seems to be nothing we can do to stop it. And this leaves the provincial NDP with a lock on my vote for the next election. Surely can’t vote Liberal after this. Can’t vote PC with Tory leader Tim Hudak pining for a return to the Mike Harris days of confrontation and misery. Should perhaps start my own political party. Anyway, that’s sort of how I feel about the whole HST thing…..’nough said.

Here’s something controversial for you……hope John Van Heck is reading along. Heard a Toronto Catholic School Board Trustee say on the news this week that he suspected some people were converting to Roman Catholisism just to get jobs teaching in the Catholic education system. Really. And under what rock has he been hiding? Most of the population have long suspected this. Which leads me to wonder why the Catholic education system in Ontario is the only organization left in the Western World that can discriminate on the basis of religious beliefs. Wow! Is that wrong in this day and age. I have long felt – since Bill Davis extended full public funding to so-called Separate Schools – that this simply shouldn’t be allowed. Of course, I’m the type of Neanderthal who believes the two school systems should be merged into one. Each spring now we watch as our two school boards spend public money – our money – competing for children – the more children they get, the more money they get. It’s like a huge competition and it’s ridiculous in the extreme and a huge waste of money that doesn’t need to be wasted. I guess I’m not convinced that Catholic education is much different that public education when I look around me at our society. Pretty much the same stuff and not sure why we’re paying double….Strange but true….

Couple of good rants there…..Am facing some fairly major surgery later this week and although I’m hoping for a smooth go, you never know on this old planet. And, so, I have been even more reflective lately than usual….wondering about the human condition and why we are here…..I watched the guy who invented the Big Bang theory on TV last week and he said we now have all the answers to how the Universe began. I thought, no, we haven’t….we don’t know anything yet. We’re still like a bunch of cavemen. That’s the only reason I’d like to live to be a thousand – I’d like to watch to see how it all turns out. Life is fascinating stuff for sure….hope to see you next week…

Well, out of time for another week…..cktimes keeps rolling along, week after week, year after year….and the numbers are good…take care….and remember, “Hew to the line; let the chips fall where they may.”



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.