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Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Maybe I’m an anarchist; Mr. McGuinty’s legacy; and heading north…….

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Well, we certainly got to showcase Canada and its wonderful peacefulness over the weekend in Toronto. I mean, how embarrassing was that debacle? We looked like a Third World tin pot dictatorship, what with cars burning in the streets and stuff like that. And the police…….was watching some news footage on Sunday and down the street comes this great phalanx of police, helmets and visors, huge plexiglass shields, mountains of body armour…..Felt like I was watching a futuristic movie like Farenheit 451 or Brave New World. Man, that’s really some police presence….and it’s clearly out of some tin pot dictatorship as well. This whole exercise was a huge sham of epic proportions. The first thing to be noted is how sad and tragic it is that our world leaders have to meet in an armed camp for fear someone will blow them up….that is extremely sad. The second thing to note is that every time they hold one of these meetings, it’s chaos….so, that begs the question….What the heck was the federal government thinking? And although it is a huge shame we even need this type of security, holding the conference in downtown Toronto when you know there’s going to be a problem, was totally and completely stupid. Perhaps if the world leaders cause such a disruption when they get together, they should learn to teleconference. I don’t blame the protestors – even the “anarchists”, as the police were calling some of them. Most of the people protesting seem to be pushing back against a process known as globalization. They think it’s destroying the planet…..decimating whole populations. I happen to agree with them. This whole globalization, unsustainable growth thing, free trade, whatever you want to call it, has got us on the eve of destruction. Any sensible person who can’t see that is not really seeing things clearly. We live in a world where there is no real security for anyone…..our economic, social and political systems are adversarial and force us to fight each other to the death over limited resources. It’s crap, people! And that’s really how I perceive the protestors in Toronto – even the so-called anarchists. I see a whole bunch of really frustrated people who can’t get the world’s political elite to even pause and listen to them. And when you get enough frustrated protestors, you get violence. And when the police respond with violence, it just begets some more violence. And so it goes…..Anyway, just a few thoughts on a very important issue.

And later this week the HST will rear its head in Ontario. Now, I’m not an economist and I don’t really care at this point whether the HST is good, bad or indifferent. What I do know is that the people of Ontario are highly ticked off about the whole thing. I have yet to talk to one ordinary Ontarion, or see one on countless news shows, who has anything good to say about it or the government bringing it in. And we all know what the polls say. I find it curious that Mr. McGuinty and his government can be quite this foolish. Let’s talk precedent……Brian Mulroney brought in the GST and free trade…..his party was almost completely wiped from the Canadian political scene after he blatantly disregarded public opinion and governed like he was king. Check out David Peterson’s record….He tried to grab a second majority with a quick election, despite the fact nobody wanted it, and the result was Bob Rae. So, Mr. McGuinty, I hope you really feel like the HST is the best thing that could happen to Ontario – and really good for business – but I hope you and the members of your Party have other employment lined up after 2011….The public will not forget the HST….and a lot of you will be seeking other jobs. So there!

I will be leaving for Thunder Bay tomorrow and so will be out of the loop for about a week – until next week’s paper. I will be making the trip to deliver a most precious package. My daughter, her husband and the grandchildren are heading to the north so the parents can attend Lakehead University. And although I’m deeply saddened to see them move so far away, I am extremely proud of them for choosing to improve themselves and get out to see a little bit of the world. I do apologize, though, to anyone who I will be neglecting while I’m away. Please send me your stories and photographs and I’ll get them up on-line in next Tuesday’s cktimes. And thanks for all the wonderful support…

So, out of time for another week and hoping you’re all well out there in cyberspace. 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.