The Ottawa Citizen this morning discusses a recent poll in which parents expressed overwhelmingly that the office of Prime Minister is not one that they would like to see any of their children occupy.

“Honey, you can grow up to be what ever you like, one day you could even be President”

This seems to be a cliché quote from a Hollywood reflection of the American dream which states that any individual in the United States can achieve any heights given hard work and determination. Whatever your inclination to believe this ideal, the aspiration is there: the office of President is something so remarkable that almost any American parent would wish it for their son or daughter.

In Canada, the same cannot be said for the office of the Prime Minister. A full 61% of Canadians would not wish this upon their son or daughter. The current political climate is certainly indicative of this hesitation. Conservative MP Monte Solberg comments “If the perception is that you have to sell your soul, and lie, cheat and steal to become prime minister, then I can see why parents are a little reluctant to see their children enter politics”.

In a past discussion with a Conservative MP, leadership and Prime Ministerial aspirations came up. The MP commented that there was a study that revealed that 1 in 5 federal MPs wish to become Prime Minister. I remarked that about 99% of that 20% will be sorely disappointed. Would their parents feel the same?

Over the past few years, I’ve become more and more involved with federal politics in this country by contributing with my blog, working towards the formation and maintenance of Blogging Tories and by volunteering locally and nationally for the Conservative Party. In my weekly phone calls home I tell my parents about my latest exploits.

(warning shameless self-promotion ahead)
“Mom, I’m going to Montreal for the CPC Convention”

“Dad, James Moore reads my blog”

“Mom, the Globe and Mail called about Jean Brault”

“Mom, CTV called about Gurmant Grewal”

“Dad, CBC Radio called”

“Mom, Warren Kinsella just called me dumb”

“Mom, Warren Kinsella just called me smart”

“Dad, Blogging Tories is now the 100th most popular blog in the world (by one measure)”

“Mom, I interviewed Monte Solberg”

The answer is always the same,

“Don’t quit your day job (finish that graduate degree)”

Politics of late has been quite dirty and I don’t blame parents for wanting to keep their children away from it. But we really ought to work towards making politics an honourable profession (no, really). Parents should be encouraging their children into public service, yet are reluctant as they perceive these servants to be serving themselves. When we move past character assassinations, bribery, fear-mongering, threats, and corruption perhaps we can then hope to recruit good people to do good work for the public good.

As you might have already noticed, I’ve recently looked into tags. Tags, in blogging terms, are user-defined annotations of blog posts. If I write a long-winded post about Jean Lapierre for example, I might use the following tags to annotate my post: lapierre, bloc, liberal, transport. These annotations make it easier for users to find relevant information and allow web services to deliver better results. As I’ve mentioned on Blogging Tories, Flickr and Technorati are two services which use author-defined tags to annotate information. Odeo is a newly launched service that allows for the annotation of podcasts using tags.

Another type of tag is used on the Internet and that is the end-user-defined tag. del.icio.us is such a service and allows any website end-user (not just the author as with technorati and flickr tags) to annotate a website with relevant tags. You, the end-user can annotate this very post yourself if you like by clicking on the + del.icio.us link below. Most users of del.icio.us use the bookmarklet which allows one’s browser to tag the website that the user is viewing at that time.

I have tagged this post with relevant technorati tags (tags, socialbookmarking, del.icio.us) to increase this post’s exposure and to help consumers of blogs find relevant information.

Technorati and del.icio.us are two websites that I highly recommend. I use del.icio.us to store my bookmarks online (sorted by my own annotations) so that I can find favourite websites quickly and from any computer connected to the Internet. “Social bookmarking” is a key feature of del.icio.us as your tagged bookmarks are accessible to others through their common tags and through a tag-based search on the del.icio.us website (so, it would be recommended to use an anonymous username, and not to bookmark your bank account webpage for example).

Tagging, in my opinion, is a blogging feature that has grown past its infancy and has been accepted into the mainstream. Become a tagger today!

I’ve added a new feature to the Blogging Tories website: Tory Tags.

What is this all about? Tagging initiatives such as Flickr and Technorati are currently at the leading edge of blogging technology. Blogging Tories has integrated a tag-like system that displays a jumble of keywords below. This display of keywords is a visual representation of keyword prevalence on Blogging Tories member blogs. Bigger links represent more posts that contain that particular key word or phrase. This is a good view of what the Blogging Tories have discussed and what they are discussing right now.

(Technically, the page doesn’t display “tags” per se, but rather keywords. I’ve used the term “tags” because the output of the data is “tag-like”)

On Tory Tags, “Canada”, “liberals”, “blogging” and “London” are current hot topics, while Stephen Harper, Paul Martin, Gurmant Grewal, Monte Solberg, and Chuck Cadman are the most highly discussed Canadian politicians. On a side note though, I’m sad to see that “Mercer” is getting as much attention as “Gomery” from the Blogging Tories.

If any Conservative/Liberal/NDP politician, member of the media, or voter wants to get a snapshot of the current burning topics in the Canadian conservative blogosphere (one reflection of the grassroots), they can consult Tory Tags on Blogging Tories.

Kate McMillan of SDA fame has the Grewal cheques and a letter from MP Grewal’s EDA president to CBC’s Terry Milewski debunking any Conservative impropriety surrounding the cheques.

“We would like to conclude with two important thoughts though. The first is that the common denominator in all of the above is not so much the matter of missing receipts, but rather the fact that loyalty to Ujjal Dosanjh figured large, and often, in our inquiries. This is perhaps not surprising at all, given it is the Liberal Party’s sworn intention to do everything it can to deflect attention away from Mr. Ujjal Dosanjh by attempting to shoot the messenger (that would be our Member of parliament) at every opportunity. Even the most flimsy of claims against Mr. Grewal are trotted out in the achievement of the goal of shielding Mr. Dosanjh from additional, or centre-stage scrutiny. We have heard for some time now that there would be a challenge to Mr. Grewal in the form of cheques. Given what we have seen with the above six items, we feel that the strategy of the Liberals will continue, as will our ability to defend our MP.” — Jim Holt, President Newton North Delta EDA, Conservative Party of Canada

Go read the whole thing!

Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party have jumped right into the podcasting game and have released a speech by Harper as he kicks off the summer BBQ tour. It’s about 18 minutes in length and, of course, you don’t need an iPod to join in. Thanks to Paul over at Blue Blogging Soapbox for the notice.

Blogging Tories, of course, is right on it and is working in concert with Conservative.ca to bring you CPC podcasts.

To tune into Stephen Harper’s speech and the rest of the Blogging Tories podcast, point your favourite podcast aggregator here:

http://www.bloggingtories.ca/podcast.xml

Also, check out the Blogging Tories channel on Odeo! Odeo is great way to listen to Blogging Tories podcasts!

Jeff Watson, Conservative MP for Essex, writes today about his seatmate in the 38th session of Parliament, Chuck Cadman.

It’s both touching and historically relevant at the same time; Watson’s account gives us a unique perspective on the man who tied one of the most historically significant votes of this session, the background behind the vote and the consquences that followed that decision.

“In a Parliament, at a time when betrayal was the story of the day, Chuck Cadman never betrayed his constituents. He never betrayed his values. He held his son in memory as a determined MP. Now he is reunited once again with his son.” — Jeff Watson, CPC MP Essex

I’m glad to have found this post. Thanks to Jeff Watson for blogging it. I’ve added him to Blogging Tories.

Bill Cunningham is a senior political aide to Industry Minister David Emerson and Liberal leader in the Senate Jack Austin. He is also the current Liberal candidate for the riding of Burnaby. Last weekend, Cunningham attended a rally attended by former members of the International Sikh Youth Federation (current membership is illegal).

According to the Government of Canada:

The International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) was founded in 1984 in the United Kingdom as an international branch of the All India Sikh Students’ Federation (AISSF) with centers in several countries, including Canada. The ISYF is a Sikh organization whose aim is to promote Sikh philosophy and the establishment of an independent Sikh nation called Khalistan. In the pursuit of their goal, the ISYF does not hesitate to resort to violence. Since 1984, its members have been engaged in terrorist attacks, assassinations and bombings mostly against Indian political figures, but also against moderate members of the Sikh community opposed to their extremist ways. The ISYF collaborates and/or associates with a number of Sikh terrorist organizations, notably Babbar Khalsa (BK), the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF).

Of course, Cunningham’s presece at the rally raises a few questions. Why was he there?

Cunningham responds:

“I was there to receive their – I didn’t know whether it was a petition, proclamation, manifesto or whatever it was … It was a letter to the minister of foreign affairs from – they call themselves the United Sikh Organizations of BC. And the gist of the letter is making claims about all sorts of human rights violations in Punjab. And, in their letter, they outline a few examples. … [they] ask the government of Canada to live up to its international moral obligations to take a stand on this issue” — Senior Liberal Bill Cunningham

According to the Vancouver Sun (subscription only), Cunningham addressed the rally, standing in front of a large sign that said “Save Punjab.

According to Cunningham, the request for government officials by the rally organizers was bounced around to a few offices (the PMO, Emerson’s office, each member of the BC caucus). Nobody else was around so Emerson decided to go to represent the government.

[the organizers were] looking to present a petition or some kind of declaration to a federal rep. And they had basically hit up most of the local MPs – all of which, not by design, weren’t around. So I was there…” — Senior Liberal Bill Cunningham

According to Cunningham, his presence at the rally was approved by the Minister of Industry’s regional office (which Cunningham directs).

When Cunningham addressed the crowd he said, “I received your letter. It will be forwarded to Pierre Pettigrew. You’re asking for Canada to respect its obligations and stand up for human rights. And we’ll make sure this gets sent to the right people.”

So Bill Cunningham, senior Liberal staffer, advisor to the Liberal cabinet, and party director attended a rally attended by former members of a terrorist group and granted the group what amounted to an audience with the government of Canada (and via him, Ministers Emerson and Pettigrew).

“It’s one thing I do is to make sure groups that have concerns feel that someone is at least willing to hear them. That doesn’t mean I support them or agree with them.” — Senior Liberal Bill Cunningham

At best this represents horribly poor judgment of a senior Liberal official. At worst this represents wanton and widespread ignorance to terrorism by the upper echelon of the Liberal Party.

sources: Public Eye Online and the Vancouver Sun (subscription)

People send me the oddest things…

Say what you like about the Governor General, but nobody can deny that Her Excellency knows how to dance!

Adrienne Clarkson cuts a rug (audio and video)

Yep, it’s going to be one of those days…

Immigration and economic prosperity:
Newcomers, including new Canadians came to this country, in many cases, in search of a better life and prosperity for their families. The Conservative Party shares this desire and the will to achieve it, for all Canadians. So, I say this to our new citizens and those that will become citizens: you’ve come from distant countries in search of prosperity and hope, often at great personal expense — we owe it to you to provide an economic environment in which you can make the best lives for yourselves and your families.

On Adscam, and owning the debate:
It is time to stop talking about how the Liberals have failed us and time to start talking about how Conservatives will put Canada back on the right track, both ethically and from the international perspective. The Liberals have taken up too much of our time already, haven’t they? The Conservative Party recognizes that Canadians deeply desire an honest alternative to the current government. We cannot take the self-induced implosion of the Liberal Party for granted. The Conservative Party must instead work to earn the trust of Canadians.

On the environment/Kyoto:
Canada is a beautiful country and its vast forests, lakes, mountains and wildlife has always instilled a sense of pride in me and, I’m quite certain, in all Canadians. We’re proud of our country and all of its beauty. As Canadians, we recognize that Canada is our responsibility and ours alone. We care deeply about this land and we’re the best ones to protect it and we will do so responsibly.

In today’s deceitful and dangerous world, it is often those that are most innocent and vulnerable that are left to interpret horrible daily events without adequate guidance or support. Thankfully, as it has always contributed to a child’s early development, the television program Sesame Street has responded to recent Canadian political events and has enlisted Grover to help you explain shameful Liberal politics to your children.

art: Stevetastic