Friends,
I regret to inform you that I have withdrawn from the contest to become the federal Liberal candidate for Parry Sound-Muskoka.
Recent political events in our riding (a seemingly dormant riding association), Ottawa (our party’s failures on the maternal health amendment, ethical mining, and Old Age Security for immigrants), Toronto (the election of Rob Ford) and in the US (the Tea Party movement), have led me to the realization that the political arena – and party politics in particular – is rapidly becoming more reactionary, divisive and unreasonable.
A couple years ago when Michael Ignatieff became leader of the LPC and Obama was elected President, I was optimistic that we were entering a new era of politics where civilized, reasoned debate and thoughtful consideration and analysis would become more prevalent. My hopes have quietly diminished over the past few months, and I am now at a point where I cannot go forward in good conscience.
My heartfelt thanks to those who had indicated a willingness to support me, and especially to those who stepped forward to take an active role in my run for the nomination.
Sincerely,
Doug Banwell
By Margaret Munro, Postmedia News, in the Montreal Gazette, September 12, 2010
The Harper government has tightened the muzzle on federal scientists, going so far as to control when and what they can say about floods at the end of the last ice age. Continue reading →
By Andre Picard, The Globe and Mail, August 26
Does Canada still have a federal health minister?
And, more important, does it have a government with the slightest interest in maintaining the national health-insurance program called medicare?
For all practical purposes, the answer to both of those questions is a resounding “No.” Continue reading →
From The Montreal Gazette, August 25, 2010
Medical isotopes are a $4-billion-a-year market worldwide. Until the spring of 2009 Canada produced enough of these radioactive materials to meet 30 per cent of global demand; some 27 million people a year were diagnosed or treated with the help of technetium-99 and other products from the reactor at Chalk River, Ont.
But then, 15 months ago, the Chalk River reactor had to be shut down for repairs. News last week that it’s back in operation was welcome, except that the facility is an antique and is slated to stop production forever in 2016. Unfortunately, the whole nuclear industry in Canada seems to be going the same way, or at best stagnating under Ottawa’s disdain. Continue reading →
As published in the Letters section of the Huntsville Forester on March 12, 2008.
Re: Clement’s mass mailing obscures reality, letter to the editor, Huntsville Forester, March 5.
I commend the writer for drawing attention to these mailings, which I find fairly offensive. Their over-simplified and precariously spun questions are insulting to our intelligence. By posing questions the way they do, they discourage critical thinking about these important issues. Continue reading →
By MARK KENNEDY, Postmedia News August 19, 2010. From montrealgazette.com
They are the people who seem to have found themselves on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s political black list: a nuclear regulator, a watchdog of the RCMP, an ombudsman for victims of crime, a champion for military veterans. And now -say Harper’s critics -a Mountie who had the temerity to defend the long-gun registry. Continue reading →
