[Translate]

---

Today is federal election day in Canada.

With all the wild mood swings in the economy in the last few weeks, the geopolitical instability of the world today, and serious environmental issues to deal with (water/energy/climate), it seems we live in interesting times indeed.

Our election campaign has been largely focused on two things; environment and the economy. The environment is a big challenge, from dwindling potable water supplies to sustainable energy and yes, even climate change. But concern for the polar bears seems to dried up when mutual funds drop 20% in a day.

During WW2 Canada decided to work together and make sacrifices to defeat a global villan. We pooled our resources and decided the public good was more important than the private gain. Today we are living in an opposite state. For example, the private gain of copyright holders far exceeds the value of the common good of free culture. Our drive towards permission culture shows me that we are not in any way whatsoever ready to deal with many of the huge challenges in front of us.

I’m still making my decision on who to vote for. I bet many Canadians don’t really know until they make that X at the polling station. I think the Minority Conservatives are mostly pragmatic and cautious in their policy, working strategically to make as many people happy with them as possible. But I don’t have any idea what a Majority Conservative parliament would be like.

Taxes are of course a hot topic in every election, and I’m sure most Canadians don’t think of taxes the way I do. I tend to agree with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes when he said:

I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.

But of course the devil is in the details. What kind of taxes, where, and how much? These are not easy to answer. From my economics training I would agree with the Liberals that we should tax what we don’t want, and reduce taxes on what we want and need. But I don’t know if a carbon tax is the right way to do that.

When the economy starts to contract, I start thinking harder of ways I can increase my residual income. I am always looking for new sources of reoccurring income to diversify my earning potential and flatten-out those financial ups and downs of life. Why is it that we only talk about reducing taxes instead of increasing income?

[Translate]

---

Ottawa city council is today unveiling the first phase of it’s public transit construction project. The preferred plan consists of a light rail link between Blair and Bayshore stations, a tunnel under the downtown core, and a direct rail link to the airport. That one makes the most sense.

We have an amazing electric light rail line that goes from just West of the city core to NEARLY the airport, but not to the airport. A reliable, quiet, and quick train from the core to the airport just makes sense, and I’m sure it will pay off in reduced traffic noise, emissions, parking requirements (concrete is dirty!). It also gives visitors a great first impression of Ottawa.

The tunnel sounds like a great idea as well. If you’ve ever had to take a bus through the core at 5pm in heavy snow you know what I mean. It’s a parking lot. I’ve taken over an hour to go from Bronson to Elgin on the worst days. 1.3km in 1 hour+. Ugh. That section is pretty much the only section of the whole East-West transit that is shared with other traffic. Also Ottawa is built on pretty much solid rock. So while the cost will be higher, there might be a chance to bore through, instead of messy cut-and-cover construction.

I live pretty close to Blair, so having a train from there is welcome news. I don’t know how much faster it will be but I hope it’s more consistent, with time-until-next-train displays everywhere. I just want the debating to stop and the building to start!

[Translate]

---

Monsanto has been suing Canadian Farmers for years now. You see the wind, insects and birds all naturally spread plant genetics. Some of Mosanto’s patented genetics (what kind of dystopian world do we live in where genes can be patented?) have naturally spread to non-Monsanto farms and so the corporation is looking to collect on those “losses”. This is a good example of where tighter copyright laws might very well take us.

Just like Mosanto pays legions of lawyers and lobbyists to try and shape public opinion that they have a right to profit from natural process, the entertainment industry is doing everything it can to ensure that it has the control to profit from the natural sharing of culture.

You can do something. Write to Jim Prentice, Steven Harper and your local MP. Tell them that culture is public domain and you don’t want to hand over more control of it to corporations.

Of course my biggest question of copyright debate is this:

Why is the debate almost completely about controlling data that must be shared to work (like music), and almost not at all about data that MUST be controlled at all cost (like my social insurance number).

If you’re looking for a review of how we got where we are, click on to watch Larry Lessig’s BRILLIANT corruption lecture: