We’ve got Mr Harper who scares the hell out of anyone who believes that a social safety net is a good thing, Mr. Ignatief who just isn’t at all charismatic and looks like he will be really happy when this is all over and the Liberals get rid of him, Jack Layton who doesn’t have a hope of having his party form the government and Liz May who if I remember correctly made a real impression in the all candidates debate but who has all but disappeared from the radar.

Almost makes you want stay home on May 2nd and let the cards fall where they may.Don’t!

If the Conservatives win a majority, which could happen, we will have a two tier health care system, a devastated federal civil service, the less fortunate will be sleeping on the streets as they do in the States and our banks will be deregulated leaving us wide open to the same fate the States are in. We will have a Prime Minister who understands economics and believes that balancing the budget by giving big business tax breaks and cutting social programs is in our best interests. The jails he will build will fill up with our sons and daughters who can’t make ends meet. We will have a government that doesn’t care about them. Good paying government jobs will be replaced by poor paying retail jobs.

It’s going to be a dirty, name calling campaign so I just thought I would get a leg up and air my dirt early on. And I’m not going to let the Liberals off the hook either. How could they have picked a leader that no one likes. I have yet to speak to anyone who says they like Ignatieff. The Liberals have let us down and Canada could suffer incredibly as a result.

So, OK, I’ve done my dirty… now where do I go from here. I did the CBC Compass questionnaire looking for answers. My answers aligned me closest with the Green Party. I was surprised but not disappointed. However, truth be told, I’m not a great recycler.

So I decided to write down what I value and see if that helped.

1. I like free enterprise. I think there should be lots of room for innovation and accumulation of wealth however it comes after our social safety net is secured and not at the expense of it. There need to be regulations that ensure corporations don’t do things that might negatively impact the working man and woman and there needs to be services that ensure those less fortunate are cared for. I can’t believe we live in a country without publicly funded dental care. My sister just paid $20,000 for essential dental work. She works as a clerk at a hardware store. She can’t afford that. Our taxes should pay for that not her. She brushed, had regular checkups but was just genetically impacted with bad gums.

2. I value green. (maybe I should vote for Liz May. Would the green party candidate please stand up!) I would like to see Canada become a leader in green. I think it would be so inspiring to have a raw resource producing country like Canada become recognized for its ability to extract those resources by green means. I think Thunder Bay has a unique opportunity to be the first city to go off the grid.

3. I think taxes are good. I don’t want to shovel the sidewalk in front of my house or depend on a rich fellow to build a rink for my kids to play hockey on. I want to be able to go to a hospital for help without having to do a means test before they will admit me. I don’t want to live in fear that something could happen to me that would cause me to have to lose everything I had worked for before I could get help.

4. I believe in meaningful work and activity. A country with a large middle class is a goal worth striving for. I want my kids to have the same quality of life I have had and I believe this is possible if we learn more about how the Scandinavians govern and spend less time emulating our neighbours to the south.

5. I want to elect politicians that argue hard for their beliefs and represent the people rather than just paying lip service to us. I see nothing wrong with a coalition government. Many countries operate very effectively that way. It forces balance in decision making.

If you are at all concerned about the future of Canada make sure you get out and vote. You too could make a list of what you would like to see for Canada and then see which party aligns most closely with your vision of what makes Canada great.

I think this could be one of the most important elections in Canada’s history.  

In El Salvador I lived on an island that didn’t have any electricity. Most of the people on the island were squatters. They didn’t own the land but lived in a little community of shacks with corrugated tin roofs and whatever they could find for walls. Six or seven kids would share a room. They would eke out a living by selling things they could make at home like tamales (wrapped with banana leaves that they got free from the friend I was living with) or fruit drinks they would sell for next to nothing. The men would go fishing when the season was right or pick up a labourers job when they could. They too were happy.

So I have concluded that happiness is universal. What wealthy countries don’t understand very well is that we don’t have any more insights into what makes people happy than anyone else in this world yet we often think that if those people were more like us they would be happier and better off than they are now.

I like the story of the weaver in Guatemala who knew better. An NGO (nongovernmental organization) worker from Canada upon seeing a woman with several kids in tow, making hammocks realized he could help her make more if she had a loom. She produced two hammocks a week before the loom arrived and would be able increase her productivity to 10 hammocks with a new loom. The worker happened to be back in this ladies area a year later and asked her how the new loom was working out. The woman was so grateful. She said it was the best thing ever. The worker asked how many hammocks she was making in a week now. The woman said, “Oh, still two but I am so happy because I can now spend more time with my family and friends.”

There are things we can do that impair a society’s happiness. When societies innovations focus more on making things we can consume and less on things that make us more humane, I think we impair our happiness. When the next quarter on the stock market is seen as the best way to ensure a happy country we may be making a mistake. When lobby groups impede universal dental care then they are definitely impeding happiness. Few would argue that having bad teeth can play havoc with one’s happiness. When we believe that it is better to pay less taxes than it is to educate our kids, build our health care system, find ways to improve our environment or look after our infrastructure than we are impairing our happiness.

As much as I am able to enjoy my retirement, travel, read, take part in plays, buy toys, I am quite sure I am no happier than the woman who only makes two hammocks a week so she can have more time for her kids, her parents and her friends.

Russo does an amazing job of examining the lives and feelings of his characters. The contrast between the mundane of the corner store (Ikey Lubin’s) and the richness of the lives of the individuals while keeping them oh so real kept me hooked.

It is so well done I found myself looking at my life, making comparisons and asking myself questions that weren’t always very comfortable.

The story centres around Ikey Lubin’s store and is about the life of regular lower middle class USA folks. Never far from returning to “the other side of the tracks” the story is about love and what it means to committ even when one is not sure why they should. It’s about choices we make and how difficult they can be.

“Touching, sharp witted….A deft exploration of the events that can shape a life….Russo transforms the town of Thomaston into a character with its own facets and personality…A brilliant work and yes, a great American novel.”    …..Forbes

Here’s my take on it.

• The mayor and Linda Rydholm had made up their minds long ago and they were not open to having the “experts” influence that.
• Each of the councilors had received more, if not many more, emails from the anti fluoride lobby than from the pro fluoride lobby.
• There are other ways to get fluoride. Toothpaste, rinses, fluoride varnish. Frank Pullia didn’t seem to understand that these methods weren’t as effective as putting fluoride in the water system and were far more expensive. He seemed to be saying that the right and responsibility of the individual should take precedent over the common good.
• Most people’s gut reaction is to say “no” to adding anything to the drinking water system. Education plays such an important part in this. I spoke with a couple of the workers at the auditorium and one commented he didn’t want it before but that after hearing the deputations he was going to make sure his kids get fluoride.
•  Councilors have been beaten up over the water front and just aren’t prepared to take on another debate as controversial as putting fluoride in the water.
• The Bare Point water treatment plant is state of the art and every effort is being made to reduce the number of chemicals added to the water to purify it. City administration, specifically the city chemist, is an outspoken anti fluoride proponent. He spoke at an anti fluoride meeting saying that he would do what he could to keep fluoride out of the city’s drinking water and this is borne out by the questionable testing he did on fluoride and lead.  He’s been pretty unprofessional. Research done properly has shown that fluoride in the quantities recommended for municipal water has no impact on city water pipes.
•  The Federal Government has made their recommendation as to safe levels of fluoride in drinking water.  The Province is planning to do a consultation on this … so it is a convenient out to say let’s wait and let the Province take a stand.
• Many Thunder Bay residents have dental plans. Of the 14,000 kids examined by the health unit in the schools each year, roughly 2000 needed to have their parents called to say their child had visible cavities. While fluoride benefits everyone, the less fortunate benefit the most and they are a much smaller segment of the voting public.

    All or at least some of the above concerns led to councilors making the decision they did. It was interesting watching Councilor Ruberto struggle with his decision. He wanted to do what was best for the city. At points he was sold on fluoride, at times he just didn’t know and at times he was opposed. I appreciated his honesty and desire to know more.
    In my opinion councilors didn’t show the leadership I had hoped they would.  All the systematic research supports fluoridating municipal water. Researchers have had 60 years to test and establish optimal levels for fluoride in drinking water, given the increased availability of fluoride through other sources.  In my opinion based on the deputations, given the health benefits and the huge financial savings to us as citizens, council should not have considered a plebiscite but simply showed leadership and added fluoride to Thunder Bay’s water system.
    The Thunder Bay District Health Unit is the health arm of municipal government  and is expected to do sound research and make sound recommendations to city council on health issues. In fact, Councilor Virdiramo chairs the Board of Health for the Health Unit.  I sure hope city council doesn’t tuck tail and run on the tough issues when the Health Unit makes recommendations around H1N1 flu issues.
    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control identifies community water fluoridation as one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.  www.cdc.gov/fluoridation
    Dr. Kirshen, President of the Ontario Dental Association wrote the following letter to the editor to give his views on the opportunity our city council missed to save tax payer dollars and improve our community’s health.

July 23, 2009
Ignorance is Never Bliss
An open letter to the people of Thunder Bay
    In ignoring proven scientific facts, your Thunder Bay City Council has failed you.
    The concept of municipal government is to establish a council of responsible and enlightened individuals that will provide its public with progress, protection and direction.
Sadly, Monday night’s council meeting in Thunder Bay was the poorest example of these attributes that I, and many other delegates who attended, have ever seen.
    With the presence of various respected experts and professionals, from Health Canada to university professors, endorsing the benefits of fluoridated water — somehow, a small majority of your council, led by your elected mayor, was able to vote on the side of misinformation.
    Monday night’s council – despite all of the evidence provided by trusted national and international health bodies such as Health Canada, the U.S. Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and the U.N. World Health Organization – chose to ignore the facts and remain committed to a flawed and misguided view of fluoride.
    Seventy percent of the population in Ontario currently receives fluoridated water.
In none of these populations have there been proven health issues, water quality issues or public safety issues with respect to the addition of acceptable levels of fluoride in the public drinking water.
    In fact, the only proven change has been an improvement in community health. Sudbury has been fluoridated for more than 20 years, and has seen a three percent drop in decay rates over a five-year time frame while Thunder Bay has seen a 21 percent increase in dental decay rates within the same time frame.
These are the facts.
    Many of those listening to uneducated hyperbole on Monday night worried about affecting the water quality of Lake Superior. Despite what your mayor professes, fluoride is a naturally occurring basic element in all of the freshwater lakes in Ontario. The addition of fluoride at the quantity specified by Health Canada would be so small as to not have an impact on our Great Lakes — a fact that has been confirmed by one of your own, Professor Stephen Kinrade, Past Chair, Chemistry Department at Lakehead University. 
    On Monday night, your council had the opportunity to make a difference in your children’s lives — to provide them with the same benefits in oral health that 70 percent of other children in Ontario receive. A few council members stood up for fluoride, understanding the benefits it would bring their constituents. But, for the love of money and the bliss of misinformation, a small majority of your council decided to shirk its responsibility in ensuring progress, protection and direction for the people of Thunder Bay. They have left parents and seniors to pay out of pocket in dealing with a regional tooth decay rate that is almost double the provincial average. For every dollar your municipality would spend on fluoridation, you would save $38-$50 on future dental care. This is money that will now be coming out of your own pocket.
    But there is still a chance for you to improve the health of your children and their children. The Thunder Bay District Health Unit will continue to look at water fluoridation options to ensure that you and your children can receive the benefits that so many others in Ontario already receive. Your council failed to stand up for you. It’s time you take matters into your own hands and stand up for yourselves.
    Call your local councillor and voice your concern over this misguided decision.

Dr. Ira R. Kirshen
President
Ontario Dental Association

Children aren’t the only ones with dental decay — research has also shown that water fluoridation can reduce tooth decay in adults’ teeth by 27%.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named fluoridation of drinking water one of ten great public health achievements of the 20th century. At the World Dental Congress in 2008, 130 countries signed their support of water fluoridation.

Of the thousands of credible scientific studies on fluoridation, none has shown health problems associated with the consumption of optimally fluoridated water. Those are the key words “optimally fluoridated” — many of the concerns we hear about fluoride are referring to naturally occurring fluoride which is uncontrolled at very high levels. The Health Unit is looking to add a small amount of carefully controlled fluoride to our water to create a health benefit.

Water fluoridation is the least expensive way to reduce tooth decay and improve oral health for everyone. For every $1 spent on water fluoridation, approximately $38 is saved on dental treatment costs. The Canadian Dental Association and the Canadian Medical Association encourage using fluoride in municipal water supply systems as a way of safely reducing cavities and preventing dental disease. Did you know that dental disease is the main reasons for preschool children to have general anesthetic? Is this what we want for our children?

Wright is as entertaining as he is factual. An easy read that I found I couldn’t wait to get back to. “What is America?” is a small book of great historical significance.