Random Access

Hugh Urquhart and his wife Diane are Clarkson residents who are members of The United Seniors Citizens of Ontario (USCO), which represents some 1,000 seniors clubs and 300,000 older residents across the province.
Something is really irking the Urquharts and the USCO, something that is also bothering a lot of Canadians of all ages: the lack of respect that political parties and individual politicians seem to have for the process they are part of.
Hugh Urquhart phoned this morning and sent along a letter that USCO sent off last week to the leaders of the province’s three largest political parties.
USCO President Marie Smith writes that her members are growing increasingly restive about some of the things that are happening in Canadian politics. “Democracy requires vigilance over how the electoral process works,” she says. “Belinda Stronach, David Emerson, Garth Turner, Wajid Khan and Tim Peterson are all recent examples of politicians who crossed the floor from one party to another, without participating in the nomination process of their local constituencies. Tony Clement was parachuted into the Parry Sound-Muskoka electoral district for the past federal election.
“In Mississauga South, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party appears to be circumventing a fair and effective nominating process at this time,” continues the letter. “We want to end the practice of assured acclamation for electoral candidates within all political parties, both provincial and federal. Leaders of every party must respect the rights of the party participants in local electoral districts and ridings to conduct a fair and effective nominating process. Removal of the nominating process... has become too frequent in our democracy. This demoralizes the work of political volunteers and reduces voter turnout, which is already on the decline. We seem to do a great job of celebrating Vimy Ridge, but we are not carrying out the desires of the veterans of Vimy Ridge who fought for democracy and a properly-functioning electoral process.”
Hugh Urquhart stresses that the complaint of the organization isn’t with any singular party, but with all of them. “We’re non-partisan. I know Tim Peterson and it’s nothing personal. It’s just the process, which is so wrong. I don’t think it’s that people are apathetic about politics, I think they feel they’re being trounced on.”
While the USOC was at it, they could have mentioned a couple of other local examples, such as the pending appointment of a provincial Liberal candidate in Mississauga-Brampton South and the refusal of federal Tory officials to call a nomination in the federal riding of Mississauga South. Five local candidates have been waiting patiently there for a date to be called while rumours swirl about a potential parachuted “superstar.”
In an e-mail this week, Phil Green — the former PC candidate who was told thanks but no thanks when he sought to challenge Paul Szabo for the third time in the riding — said, “I hope the current nomination contestants, some of whom have been campaigning for more than six months, will receive a clear and immediate answer regarding their eligibility. There is still no date for a nomination meeting. As the next campaign is months (years?) away, I would hate to see all of their efforts be for nothing should the party rule at some future point that they too cannot run.”
The natives in all parties are growing restless. Manipulators of the parties’ machinery ... beware.
• • •
Ill health has forced Oscar Peterson to forego his much-anticipated local concert at the TD-Canada Trust Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival.
Because we are so familiar with the good doctor in Mississauga, and in Canada, we tend to minimize his enormous impact on the world’s musical landscape.
When Diana Krall and her husband, Elvis Costello, celebrated Oscar at his 80th birthday party in Toronto nearly two years ago, the singer was incredibly nervous in the presence of her “hero.”
In her high school yearbook, Krall was asked who she most wanted to be like when she grew up. Oscar Peterson was her answer. When she was 15-years-old she went to see Oscar and Ella Fitzgerald at the Orpheum in Vancouver. She rushed out to buy Night Train and “it changed my life,” she said.
In a new TV commercial for a car company,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=456ksLJu4Bo, Krall talks about how important that moment was to her as she listens to Happly-Go-Lucky-Local/Night Train on the car stereo.
Peterson has provided many moment of musical epiphany for artists and fans alike.
May the great doctor get well soon.