A week ago, Google had the Prime Minister post a video of the budget on YouTube and solicited visitors feedback on a set of followup questions.

In all fairness, I think Google did a fairly good job of choosing questions and while not “hard hitting” was reflective of the web presence of some of the issues.

The Prime Minister showed up, answered the questions with various levels of confidence and gave responses that while coherent, were often unsatisfactory. While I may not agree with his approach to governance, I do think at the very least this was a healthy precedent for Canada in opening up communication.

The interview was 40 about minutes long, and was mostly in english with a few questions asked and answered in french. My question came in at about 36 minutes of the interviews after various questions on daycare, education, the environment and Afghanistan and separation.

Published: Oct 15, 2009

Editor: I want to thank Mayor Rick Green and council for fighting for a Fraser Valley passenger rail service, where other politicians have been failing us.

In the last year, MPs such as Mark Warawa had the opportunity to step up and implement a green stimulus plan that included light rail.

Yet the Conservative government wasted $10 billion bailing out the car manufacturers and a whopping $80 million dollars of taxpayers dollars advertising their “action plan.”

It’s not too late. A national light rail plan, such as that proposed by the Green Party, would create thousands of jobs across the country, provide better options for commuters, spur on smarter land developments around stations, and help the environment.

Published: 0ct 1, 2009

http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/letters/63163427.html

Editor: Enough of the donut diplomacy.

Last week, over 120 heads of government, including Barack Obama, met at the United Nations to negotiate a plan to tackle climate instability and improve the global economy. Unfortunately for Canada, Stephen Harper felt his time was better spent at a photo opportunity in a Tim Hortons instead of taking an hour-long flight to New York.

First Published - Sept 08, 09

http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/langleytimes/opinion/letters/5772...

Editor: The HST is as much (federal Finance Minister) Jim Flaherty and the federal Conservatives’ fault as it is the BC Liberals.

Instead of allowing B.C. to keep its current exemptions, the Conservative government forced the province to apply the HST to 95 per cent of the items that currently have GST applied.

Under the terms of the agreement, a future B.C. government cannot issue any point of sale exemptions without repaying the $1.6 billion transfer.

Published: http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/langleytimes/opinion/letters/4855...

Mark Warawa and the Conservatives are again engaging in retail politics, rather than using our taxes wisely.

Despite the fact that over half of Canadians feel that pot should be privatized, the Conservatives insist that taxpayers should fork out hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for more prisons, judges, and police to prosecute pot smokers and small growers. Yet nearly every expert recognizes that organized gangs will continue to make billions in tax-free profits.