Ban Campaign Promises and other Electoral Rants

Campaign promises. What are they good for. Absolutely nothing.

I wish we could get rid of campaign promises. If you are in government then a campaign promise is just something you think you should have done that you did not do. Maybe it is best not to remind the voters of that, especially if you have made the same promise election after election without delivering. Governing parties should run on their records.

If you are in opposition then campaign promises are wishful thinking. Once elected into government you might discover just how difficult implementing them might be, or worse yet that they really are a bad idea. Nothing politically good can come from breaking promises even when it is the right thing to do.

But the main thing about campaign promises is that they have become part of what has become elections as marketing and voting as shopping where the best candidate doesn’t win but the best marketing campaign does.

Sometimes I think would be better of without election campaigns. Just have all the candidates write essays (no ghost writing allowed) about the type of Canada they want and what they believe to be the best way to achieve that.

After all is not the idea of representative government to elect representatives we trust to take the time to study the issues and develop the best solutions to make the country a better place.

How well are we served by a process where all Members of Parliament do is vote the party line and implement predetermined polices rather than working together to develop the best policies for the country.

I actually remember a time when local all candidates debates mattered. How well served are we by election campaigns where the only people that count are the party leaders, and constitutional niceties aside, voters act is if they are voting for a President, not Members of Parliament.

Solving Urbandale's Beaver Pond Forest Subdivision Marketing Dilemma

The normal method of promoting house sales by telling buyers their houses will be close to the wilderness of the South March Highlands probably isn't going to work for Urbandale, because reminding potential buyers that they just clear cut the Beaver Pond Forest is probably not their best marketing strategy.

So I am going to try to put myself into Urbandale's mindspace. One thing they have got to be thinking right now is why does Bill Teron dare criticize them and why is he still a hero and they the villains. After all, it was Bill Teron who, as a developer, assembled the land for development and sold it to Campeau, who sold it to Genstar who sold it to them. And they have a good point.

BUT, they also have to realize that when they acquired the land they also inherited the responsibility for all the actions that got the land to the point it is in the development process, and that includes the bullying and blackmailing that led to the meaningless 40% agreement, which leaves very little land protected - narrow strips of "protected land" are not ecologically sustainable and a developed golf course is not environmentally protected land.

I think they are quickly going to learn that normal does not apply in this case. Normally potential house buyers see rows of pretty streets and and brand new houses and have little thought to what was there before. Urbandale knows that in this case all potential buyers are going to be completely aware of what was there before - the Beaver Pond Forest - part of the most significant environmental lands in Ottawa, the near wilderness South March Highlands. They are going to know it has been clear cut to build the houses they are looking at and that every new house purchased paves the way for more destruction of the South March Highlands.

It may be easy to dismiss the first factor - it's done now, we can't bring the trees back. But the second one is going to gnaw on potential buyers because they will feel the responsibility and guilt of helping to destroy the rest of the forest that KNL/Urbandale plans to develop. And while there may be some potential buyers that don't care, even some who take glee in being anti-environment, anti-earth - is that really who Urbandale wants to market their houses to. No doubt concerns over the destruction of the Beaver Pond Forest is going to affect sales of all Urbandale homes in the Ottawa area.

There is a way out - a way to turn Urbandale into the hero rather than the villain and one that would gain them my praise. Why would I praise the people who just clear cut the Beaver Pond Forest. Because I believe it is never too late to do the right thing, and because I believe in redemption.

The solution of course is obvious. Remove that last factor, the threat to the rest of Urbandale's South March Highlands lands that purchasing a house in the former Beaver Pond Forest represents.

Urbandale can protect the lands by donating them to the City and they can even gain a financial advantage by doing it in as way that maximizes their tax benefit.

Of course I would still expect them to respect the First Nations archeological and cultural heritage within the Beaver Pond Forest site and find appropriate Storm Water Management plans that do not pollute the rest of the South March Highlands.

Urbandale could use some good press right now and it certainly would boost their marketing ability all over Ottawa. And sometimes (even better late than never) being a hero just feels good.

Lyon Sachs and Mary Jarvis are you ready to feel praise rather than condemnation. Are you ready to become heroes.

Remember Earth Day

It may not have the high profile corporate sponsors and marketing hype that Earth Hour does but Earth Day, celebrated every April 22, is the largest, most celebrated environmental event worldwide. More than 6 million Canadians join 1 billion people in over 170 countries in staging events and projects to address local environmental issues. Nearly every school child in Canada takes part in an Earth Day activity.

Unfortunately this important event has been lost in the media hoopla surrounding Earth Hour, which I commented on in a blog post a year ago.

Facebook: From Networking to Marketing

Facebook began at Harvard University and was soon opened up to all universities, university students and alumni. It was a wonderful networking tool for the academic community.

But it was not to remain so. As it’s income generating potential became known it’s creators positioned it as a marketing tool by opening it up to the whole world, making it just another MySpace, though perhaps more sophisticated and certainly with more business savvy.

The transformation from a networking site to a marketing site came with the policy of allowing others to run applications on top of Facebook, virtually selling you, your personal information, and your list of friends to outside marketers. Thousands of these applications have been implemented on Facebook.

Jennifer LaBorde, of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Advance Titan writes that ”Facebook applications disguise immoral advertising business”.

Between the Lines at ZDNet states that this can be “downright dangerous”.

The newest Facebook application that has raised the most concern is called Beacon and it will tell your friends what you buy online (and it automatically opts you into the application). Simon Barrett of Blogger News Network writes that privacy experts are concerned that Facebook may have crossed the line from being social to being invasive.

But perhaps more troubling are concerns raised by TechCrunch that Facebook is censoring search results for political reasons.

I remember when the Internet was non-commercial and primarily an academic network with public access via Freenets, such as the Cleveland Freenet, the world’s first Freenet, and the National Capital FreeNet of which I was ”one of the first information providers”, as organizations and individuals who provided information via the Freenets and Internet were then called. The Internet was very much a networking tool at that stage - for academics, public interest organizations and individuals.

I remember the concerns being raised when it was first proposed that commercial use of the Internet be allowed, because” in the beginning” business was not allowed on the Internet. As one who shared those concerns I was relieved to find that, for the most part, business use of the net has been positive, providing useful resources to the public and customers.

However concerns have been raised lately about the corporate interests that control the hardware networks that the Internet runs on favouring certain commercial users over the broader public interest. This is a concept known as net neutrality.

I use the Internet for social networking, primarily through mountain biking and photography sites that operate on a membership fee or donation funding basis.

This blog is on a commercial site, but there is no intrusion on the blog itself except for the compulsory task bar at the top. Though advertising options are made available that would provide revenue to me and the service owner (Google) I have not been required to have any advertising on my blog.

It would be nice to see a real social networking site for the academic community - universities, professors, students and alumni. It could be developed by the open software community, hosted co-operatively on the university networks and maintained by volunteers.

With Facebook the original purpose has become secondary to generating revenues for it’s owners. Facebook has become the worst of capitalism on the net and I call on all progressive Internet users to BOYCOTT FACEBOOK.

Religion and Real Estate - King-Priests

I was channel surfing the other day when I came upon a televangelist on the CTS Network. This is not my usual thing to watch but it caught my attention because, although it was obviously a preacher talking, it sounded more like a real estate seminar. Apparently god created the world so that we could own it and where the Bible talks about eliminating poverty it means everyone should buy their own home and real estate.

At the end of the show I realized it was entitled “Washed By the Word' with Dr. Pat Francis. They provided the website address, which I just had to check out.

I found out this organization operates “Education & Kingdom Businesses”, including an elementary and secondary school in Ontario. They also sell “educational material” including an interesting video entitled “Anointed In the Marketplace”.

Anointed In the Marketplace will help to position you for your king-priest calling. As a king you are anointed with power, influence, wealth and wisdom to lead others. As a priest you are anointed to minister to others, pray, intercede and to advance His Kingdom. You are anointed. You are what you believe. His anointed will manifest in you place of work whether it is in the marketplace or at home. You are anointed for influence.

Once you understand your calling you will no longer work for a living but will fulfill your calling to represent God wherever He positions you with more power and influence. Send for Anointed In the Marketplace today and start your full-time ministry as a king-priest servant of God.

I am believing with you.

Maybe this is mainstream out there in the religious community but it struck me as something strange to come across on basic cable that almost everyone receives. That makes it a great marketing tool, and preaching appears to have become the marketing tool of the religion business in the modern age.