Thoughts on the Canadian Federal Election

Yesterday Canadians voted in a federal election. Of the house of Commons' 308 seats, the breakdown was as follows; Conservatives 143, Liberals 76, NDP 37, Bloc Quebecois 50 and New Democrats 37. Early in the election it looked like the Conservatives had a chance at a majority government. However, as the compaign progressed, Conservative support fell apart in Quebec and although the Conservatives picked up quite a few seats in Ontario and added 16 altogether nationwide, the majority proved unattainable. This is disappointing to Conservative supporters, but I think there is a lot to take hope in for those who support the small "c" conservative movement in Canada.

First, consider Quebec. The Conservatives held on to their 10 seats neither gaining or losing seats. The significance here, in my mind, is that votes in Quebec were not decided on Canadian Unity issues. Remember, the Conservative Party's predecessors the Reform and Alliance Parties were anathema to French Quebec. In this election no one was saying, a vote for the Conservatives is a vote to break up the country. Since the last election, the Conservatives have recognized Quebec as a nation within a united Canada and have limited the role of the federal government, and largely resolved the issue of transfer payments to the provinces. The Conservatives problems in Queber related to youth criminal justice and Harper being characterized as cutting funding to arts. I think between now and the next election, the Conservatives will be able to learn from this. I think they primarily need better advice about Quebec and more on the ground campaign support. What I think they also need is a strong French Canadian Conservative spokesperson campaigning alongside Harper. Anyway, my point is that no one can say that support for Conservatives is unattainable in Quebec.

The reason this is so important, is because Ontario is protective of Quebec and tends to vote for parties that have strong credentials as a national party capable of adequately governing in Quebec's interests. Any rhetoric that Liberals have used in the past arguing that the Conservatives would break the country apart is now completely discredited. Now Ontarians are free to vote according to their own preferences. Now Ontarians who are small c conservative are free to vote Conservative.

This election will have difficult repercussions for the Liberal Party. That party is deeply in debt and has a leader who will likely be the last one to see that he needs to step aside for new leadership. The party is very divided in terms of policy and though Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff both have strengths that might win them the leadership, it seems the opposition to each of these men within the party is as strong as each of their support. In time, the Liberal party may remake itself and be strengthened, but for now, it is facing at least a couple of years of intense struggle and many years of debt.

Meanwhile, the Conservative party is well-funded and the conservative movement in Canada is growing. There are now conservative think tanks, the senate will gradually become more Conservative and gradually there will be more balance in the civil service. Also, if Canadians live with the benefits of Conservative government and conservative principles, gradually more Canadians will see the benefits of this way of thinking. The Conservatives are plank by plank building a strong conservative movement. In turn the Conservative Party is moving toward the Centre in the Canadian political spectrum where its support can be more broad than within the Reform Party. I hope that in this process of maturation, there will be more leaders emerge who can be trusted to speak to the media without expressing views that represent more than just the right wing branch of the party. I thoroughly support Stephen Harper's leadership, but I think it is now time to build the team up to a greater degree.

So there are my thoughts on the election results. I hope there will be a greater spirit of cooperation in this parliament. Canadians would like to keep their government for about 3 years this time. And, Canadians need to get used to minority governments. I believe they are the way this country will be for a long time.

Good Autumn Times

It's autumn time at the Doigs! This weekend was Thanksgiving and our 12th anniversary. For our anniversary, Rob and I went to the Cardston temple on Friday night. Mark's caregiver is here from 4-8 and we were able to get dinner and do a temple session and be back in that time. Alyssa who is now 11 babysat the other kids and they did just fine. On our first anniversary when we already had a 2 month old baby, I wondered what we had done to put such an abrupt end to the honeymoon. Now 11 years later, it feels like it was a great idea. I'm so grateful to Alyssa for being capable of and willing to babysit so that we have the chance to strengthen our marriage and our gospel commitment. Yesterday Alyssa announced that she would like to babysit once a month so that we can attend the temple. Good times are coming!

We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with Rob's family on Sunday and I spent the days on Saturday and Monday in the traditional Thankgiving pursuit of harvesting. In our cold room are now 6 gunny sacks full of, altogether, 250 lbs of potatoes. Admittedly I planted too many, but who would have thought individual potatoes would grow to the size of footballs? We also harvested the carrots and cleaned out the flower beds and other now dead vegetables. We're ready for winter. Don't get me wrong though, I certainly hope it does not come soon!

Prete family portraits, part 2

Prete family portraits, part. 1

Doig Children Photo Shoot

Initial Ideas for the Prete Reunion

Schedule
These are my first thoughts on a schedule for our family reunion. Note nothing has been booked yet, this is just the idea stage. Please email or phone back with your suggestions, concerns, insights etc. (403)758-6525 rdoig@telus.net

Note: dad would like us to have family prayer everyday. Our family usually has family prayer and scriptures in the evening about 8:30 before the kids go to bed. Is that realistic for you, or should we just have family prayer with breakfast?

Thursday, July 17th:
Mom, Dad and Sarah already here
John arrive Calgary 11:23 am
Emma arrive Calgary 5:20
Mike & Annette and family arrive Calgary 7:10
Liz & Christian and family arrive in evening
Joe & Haylee and family arrive in evening?

Evening arrivals, visiting

Friday, July 18th: Daytime could be smaller group activities combined with some people staying at the house, esp. during nap times.
Golf at Magrath golf course
Afternoon swimming at Magrath pool
Fishing at the fishpond
Evening family pictures of individual families and whole group (Estimated cost $50.00/family group)

Saturday, July 19th:
10:30 temple session, Sarah’s endowment Try to arrange babysitting in Cardston. If babysitting can’t be arranged, perhaps only some of the adults would attend the temple. Kids can play at parks in Cardston during the morning?
1:00 picnic in Cardston or Waterton
Afternoon at Waterton (Cost $15.00/vehicle)
Evening, baths, Sunday preparations

Sunday, July 20th:

LDS Church 11-2, United and Lutheran churches also in town
Sunday dinner
Family Council.

Monday, July 21st:
Early am: Christian flies out
Afternoon slip n’ slide at Magrath Stake Campground (rental cost $50)

Evening, Cousin un-Birthday party for FHE

Tuesday, July 22nd:
John and Emma family fly out 12:25 (leave early a.m.)
Mike and Annette family fly out 11:35 p.m. (leave after supper? or spend day in Calgary?)

Meal ideas

Please add your ideas. Bear in mind that if the weather is hot, we will want to minimize cooking on the stove, as we do not have air conditioning. In hot weather, cooking can be done on the BBQ, crock pot (set outside), electric fry pan, etc. Some things could also be made before hand, such as beef for beef on a bun, taco meat, etc. Lasagne/Funeral potatoes could be baked from frozen if the weather is mild.

Breakfasts:
Muffins, yogurt, cold cereal and fruit
Pancakes, eggs and sausage
Pancakes, crepes, whipped cream and berries (raspberries should be in season)



Lunch meal ideas:
Sub sandwiches, chips and watermelon (Waterton) with juice or lemonade
Grilled cheese, apples and
Leftovers from dinner meals
Macaroni and cheese/ sandwiches and green salad


Supper meal ideas:
Lasagne/Caesar salad and garlic bread (only if cool weather)
Hamburgers and hotdogs with chips and watermelon
BBQ beef on a bun with green salad and funeral potatoes
Steak/chicken on BBQ baked potatoes cooked on BBQ Fresh garden veggies. (Sunday)
Taco salad/tacos

Accommodations

If everyone is able to come, there will be 31 people staying at our house. Although the house might be considered big for our family, it will be very full with 31 people. Therefore, bedroom priority is given to those with babies. Pitching a tent in our backyard is an option for anyone and may be necessary for some. We have 2 ½ bathrooms, so we will have to be very courteous in sharing those facilities.

Mark’s room: Rob and Becky and family, double bed foam

Preston’s room: John & Emma family. Double bed foam, play pen

Austin’s room: (Queen sized bed), floor space for kids, Liz and Christian

Laundry room: Mom and Dad, double bed mattress on floor, share with laundry

Rob and Becky’s room: (Queen sized bed, floor space for kids): Joe and Haylee

Alyssa’s room: bunk beds, floor space—Sarah, big girls

Paul and Sheron’s trailer: Mike & Annette and kids

We have one 6 man tent and maybe others (i.e. Sarah, Joe & Haylee and/or Liz and Christian) could bring tents. Some of the big kids might want to sleep in tents which would free up room inside for little kids to spread out rather than all sleeping in one room with parents.

We have one play pen (pack ‘n play). If you need one, but can’t bring it from home, please let me know and I’ll see if I can borrow enough.

Helping Out

If my calculations are right, we will be eating at least 12 meals together. I will buy all the necessary food ahead of time and do any advance preparations needed. I will also be available to help navigate the kitchen as needed. I thought if each family took about 2 turns to cook and clean up meals, the burden of cooking and cleaning would be evenly shared and everyone would be free to have fun most of the time. If you have a special meal you want to make when it is your turn, please advise.

For example:

Friday breakfast: Rob and Becky

Friday lunch: Joe and Haylee

Friday Supper: Liz and Christian and Sarah

Saturday breakfast: Mike and Annette

Saturday lunch at Waterton (prepare, pack and clean up) Roy and Carma

Saturday Supper: Joe and Haylee

Sunday Brunch: John and Emma

Sunday after church snacks: Sarah

Sunday Dinner and dessert: Rob and Becky

Monday Breakfast: Liz and Sarah

Monday Lunch: John and Emma

Monday Supper: Mike and Annette

Tuesday Breakfast: Roy and Carma

It would be nice if everyone could pitch in each night to clean up toys and on Saturday evening to clean up in preparation for Sunday.

Seating options for meals:
Kitchen table 7
Dining room table 8
Breakfast bar: 3? Or use breakfast bar as buffet
Little tykes picnic table: 4 small kids
Camp picnic table: 4 large kids
Round table on balcony 8

This winter I built an ice rink in our backyard. It makes me really happy to see the kids playing outside with a bunch of friends on winter days after school. One of the kids' friends told me she hoped the groundhog would see his shadow so that winter would last longer. How often do you hear that wish expressed? I think I'll have to buy hot chocolate and animal crackers in bulk though, because the kids do need to warm up once in a while.
We had some extreme cold for about 3 days the first part of last week. With the windchill it was as cold as -43 here on Monday and only marginally better on Tuesday. Amazingly, Thursday was above freezing. School was cancelled on Monday so the kids and I hibernated for the day, but had a fun time doing "home school." The kids did math, reading. piano, gym, art, home ec., and even a very interesting science experiment. We put out three containers with one cup of water in each container. In one we also added 1/4 salt and in another 1/4 cup sugar. We observed the containers every 15 minutes. After 2 hours, the water was frozen, the sugar-water was slurpie consistency and the salt-water was still entirely liquid, but very cold.
Tonight I was very brave and gave all three of my boys haircuts even though I was home alone (with Rob and Alyssa at a basketball game). Though the ordeal involved many tears (none from me, I'm pleased to say), the haircuts turned out well. The best part is I cut the hair short so we don't have to go through this again for a while!