Take a lesson from US politicians

How different are the ways of the Republican and Democrat parties and their political counter parts in Canada?
In the United States, both parties are following the lead of their new president Barack Obama to work together and tackle the enormous problems facing their nation. However, in Canada our four political parties still seem focused on trying to determine who will be leading the country after January 27.
Our provincial leaders seem more in tune to working with the current federal government than the three other opposition-sitting parties of the Canadian House of Parliament. Our federal politicians are out threatening each other.
Obama’s first piece of legislation to assist banks was produced with bipartisan support. It is clear that US politicians got the message that “old time politics” was not going to be tolerated by the electorate in the last election.
Our government is made up of 308 sitting members. They all share the responsibility to look after the needs of Canadians and to govern accordingly. The last thing we need is another political crisis.
As more Canadians are laid off in mining, forestry, manufacturing, banking and all industries, it is becoming clearer that Canadians are falling victims to the recession gripping the world. No nation today is immune from the financial downturn.
Homeowners in major cities throughout North America, Australia, and Europe are finding their homes valued at less than what they paid for them in the last five years.
Collectively, governments throughout the world are reducing interest rates, bailing out banks, and assisting car manufacturers.
Retail sales are plummeting and those reduced sales are causing unemployment problems in China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. And those lost sales have caused oil prices to drop, steel prices to decrease, and mineral prices to plummet putting Canadians out of work.
We have watched as our stock market has marched in step to the US stock market.
Yet for all the money that has been spent, the grip of the recession is not lessening. No nation in the world will be collecting more revenues than it will be spending in 2009. All are financing their stimulus programs to boost their economies on borrowed money.
The last thing that Canadians need is a defeat of the government and political jockeying to see who will form the next government, putting all of Canadians into a state of limbo and having any economic stimulus programs postponed.
Why is it that four people can’t work together in the interests of average Canadians?
Yet, in the background, we have both the New Democrats and the Liberals huffing and puffing to change the government. Hopefully the Conservatives have learned from the scare in December that they can’t lead without the support of the other parties.
All parties have been meeting and consulting with constituents, governments, businesses, educators, industries for the past 6 weeks seeking guidance on the forms of stimulus needed.
FDR first elected in November 1932, began spending the US out of depression. History now shows that in 1939, US unemployment was higher in that year than when FDR was elected in 1932. It wasn’t until the huge spending of the Second World War that the nation emerged from the depression.
History tells us that even all of the New Deal projects across the United States did not pull the US nor North America out of depression. It is becoming apparent that Barack Obama is preparing to spend trillions to stimulate the US economy and his Inaugural address Tuesday laid out his plans. Obama has learned from history.
And he has let everyone know that as President, he can’t do it alone. He has asked Americans to share in the burden to restore economic confidence in the United States.
In this period of world financial crisis, as Canadians, we need our politicians to work together, and to develop the best programs to help Canadians. As Canadians we can follow Obama’s ideals and share the burden with our governments to restore economic confidence in Canada.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher