What Can I Say?

Last issue I predicted in this column that Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal companeros will once again lord over in this province. I wrote that the Liberals would win although with a slim majority. I was right and wrong.
I was right by predicting that the Liberals would win but wrong because the McGuinty government won with only 53 seats, one seat shy from the required majority of 54. The reason why I am pointing this out is not to show that I was correct in a way but to say again that this win, or any win for that matter would not affect my little life.
Since it is the same government, I say that in all probability everything will be status quo. If it was another party, on the other hand, what they were mouthing and promising in the campaign hustings couldn’t have happened anyway. When has government really delivered what it promises in the campaign, anyway?
And just like any election in Canada, the one that has just ended, was anaemic, devoid of defining issues, not to say unnecessary. It is about time that elections have set dates so people would know when to expect it and in that way could spur more interest from the general population.
Having a set election date, I believe, would be good to the government’s time table. It would be good for the economy also since businesses would know specific time frame that they are governed by certain set of policies. There would be more stability if a government has set number of years to govern.
Speaking of elections, what is this we heard that during the last Federal campaign when Jason Kenney was campaigning door-to-door for Joe Oliver, accompanied by two Filipina supporters, Kenney was told to his face by a Pinoy in the area: give me $500 and I will vote for your candidate.
According to my sources, this happened while Jason Kenney, Joe Oliver and the two Filipinas were going door-to-door along Neptune Street in the Wilson and Bathurst area. I asked what the Minister ‘s reaction was. I was told that he asked whether such is the practice in the Philippines. His Filipina companions responded in the affirmative.
Now, what can I say?
By the way Joe Oliver won as MP for Eglinton-Lawrence and is now Minister of Natural Resources. The two Filipinas, I heard, became so disappointed because they were not offered jobs as they have hoped for.
Again – what can I say?
There is a pending proposal in Manila that the Department of Foreign Affairs, with senate strong backing, that very soon about 12 diplomatic posts would be closed. If this would happen, the government will stand to save P150 million annually. DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario, however, is not saying which postings they are. I have no idea why it has to be a secret.
Definitely, it will not be Toronto. There is so much to lose if that happens. The volume of transactions between Canada and the Philippines is such that the posting here is one of the busiest offices among the diplomatic offices in the world.
DFA should close down and without delay the one in Havana. I dropped by at that diplomatic posting in 2008 and don’t ask me what a Philippine Embassy is doing there. Havana’s commissaries (what else would you call stores run by a communist regimes?) were practically empty, an indication that trade is almost absent in that otherwise paradise land.
There are no OFWs in Havana. What for? Citizens of Cuba itself are in dire need of jobs. There are no Filipino tourists in Canada; I mean those coming direct from the Philippines. How much does it cost to run a palatial embassy in Havana with an ambassador and a full staff? One good thing that has been done there was to plant Jose Rizal’s statue beside Jose Marti, Cuba’s national hero, who like Jose Rizal was also a doctor, a poet, historian, an author, a patriot.
The lives of the two Joses, amazingly, are almost parallel under the Spanish regimes. One of the differences maybe was the way they die. While Rizal was executed by firing squad, Marti was killed in battle.
Other than Rizal’s monument in Havana there is nothing there that warrants a Philippine diplomatic post.
This column extends its deepest condolences to Melinda Rustia and her family for the demise of her grandson. Kol was born with chromosome abnormality 14 years ago and was given 4 months to live. For him, the Kol Hope Foundation is named after. Kol Hope since its inception has raised over half a million dollars donated to Sick Kids Hospital and the Easter Seals in search for cure for kids like Kol.
On November 11, a Presidential Gala is to be held at the Four Season’s Hotel to raise funds for the Foundation. This time it will be without Kol.