For All Those Who Want Harper Out

Here's a fun mix tape that I made on MixWit. It's full of great Canadian music for you to listen to while reading all my live-blogs of the election tomorrow night.

Here's a track listing of the tape with a description of why the songs are important this election.

1. The Reasons by The Weakerthans. There are lots of reasons this election. Reasons why you picked the person you're voting for. The reason why you even chose to vote!
2. Autumn's Here by Hawksley Workman. Autumn is here this election and I feel this song is all about how it's OK to cry, no matter what reason. Just like this election I might just cry if the Conservatives win a majority... And of course there's that reference somewhere in the middle about Stephen Harper's sweater.
3. 7/4 (Shoreline) by Broken Social Scene. Broken Social Scene is a collective of many talented musicians. In this election it is more important than ever before to work and think together in many ridings if you want to kick the Conservatives out.
4. Real Estate by Cadence Weapon. The title says it all really. Real estate and affordable housing is a very important topic in this election. And also as many of my readers are from Edmonton they will be interested to know that Cadence Weapon is actually from Edmonton.

5. Bad Time to be Poor by Rheostatics. Once again, the name says it all. Staying on the topic of affordable housing and the poor, as these are very important issues in this election, this song is once again very important.
6. Comin' Home by City and Colour. This isn't exactly about the election but it talks about places all across the country. I think that elections are a special event that includes the whole country so this kind of fits...
7. The Butcher by Final Fantasy. Owen Pallett is very different, he started doing this kind of stuff when he was quite young. Personally, I think that he is a very good role model, but sadly he's probably the kind of person Stephen Harper doesn't seem to value.
8. Iron Grey by Geoff Berner. This song once again doesn't have that much to do with the election but Geoff Berner does. I've met him and seen him perform many times. I always think it's amazing how brave he is to speak out about the government and issues that matter to him.
9. Archaeologists by Wintersleep. One of my latest things that I've posted was about how none of the Conservatives answered questions for Make Poverty History. Well I think that the chorus really speaks for those Conservatives as they sing: "don't speak to me now!"
10. Strange Days by Matthew Good. Matthew Good is very outspoken about his thoughts about politics through his blog. I think that also the title of this song reflects what's coming for us in the future, some truly Strange Days.
11. Where and When by Hayden. I hope everyone knows where and when to vote tomorrow!
12. If Rap Gets Jealous by K'Naan. K'naan is from Somalia and this song talks all about the struggles and what he had to go through when he lived there. He now lives in Canada and tells everyone about how we need to help the people over there. (Sorry about all the swears)
13. Blood's Too Rich by Luke Doucet. I don't really know about this song, about what it's got to do with the election. It's a great song though by a great artists who's lived all over Canada!
14. You Have a Choice by Various great Canadian artists. No explanation needed. My favourite line though is: "Not just dressing it up in a sweater."

So now just kick back, enjoy the election (or well, maybe not enjoy depending on the results...) and listen to some great Canadian music.

Conservatives Don't Like to Answer Questions... About Poverty

I am on the Make Poverty History mailing list and I was recently sent an email that shared a link to a resource for voters. What you do is you put in your postal code and then read what answers your candidates from the NDP, Conservative, Liberal and Green had to four questions about poverty.

The questions were:
1. Do you support the Make Poverty History campaign and, if elected, do you commit to work towards realizing its goals?
2. Do you support increasing our foreign aid to reach the United Nations target of 0.7% of Gross National Income within 10 years?
3. Do you support adopting a national plan to end poverty in Canada that commits the government to achieving a specific, measurable target over the next 5 years and to investments in an improved Child Tax Benefit, affordable housing, early learning and child care and good jobs at living wages?
4. Do you support implementation of the Kelowna Accord or comparable plan to narrow the living standards gap between Aboriginal people and the rest of Canada?
So I picked some random postal codes from my address book (including my own) and searched them up. I found some insteresting things in the answers. First interesting thing: the Liberals were the only party who sometimes said "NO" to a questions, always was question 2. Second interesting thing: the Conservative NEVER answered any of their questions.

For example, for riding Edmonton-Strathcona (my riding):
NDP candidate (Linda Duncan): Question 1: "YES" Question 2: "YES" Question 3: "YES" Question 4: "YES"
Liberal candidate (Claudette Roy): Question 1: "YES" Question 2: "YES" Question 3: "YES" Question 4: "YES"
Green candidate (Jane Thrall): Question 1: "YES" Question 2: "YES" Question 3: "YES" Question 4: "YES"
Conservative candidate (Rahim Jaffer): Question 1: Did not respond Question 2: Did not respond Question 3: Did not respond Question 4: Did not respond.

So...

Let's take a look at another riding. Let's say... Winnipeg South Centre:
NDP candidate (Rachel Heinrichs): Question 1: "YES" Question 2: "YES" Question 3: "YES" Question 4: "YES"
Liberal candidate (Anita Neville): Question 1: "YES" Question 2: "NO" Question 3: "YES" Question 4: "YES"
Green candidate (Vere Scott): Question 1: "YES" Question 2: "YES" Question 3: "YES" Question 4: "YES"
Conservative candidate (Trevor Kennerd): Question 1: Did not respond Question 2: Did not respond Question 3: Did not respond Question 4: Did not respond.

Once again, no response from the Conservatives.

One other riding: Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam:
NDP candidate (ZoÎ Royer): Question 1: "YES" Question 2: "YES" Question 3: "YES" Question 4: "YES"
Liberal candidate (Ron McKinnon): Question 1: "YES" Question 2: "YES" Question 3: "YES" Question 4: "YES"
Green candidate (Rod Brindamour): Question 1: "YES" Question 2: "YES" Question 3: "YES" Question 4: "YES"
Conservative candidate (James Moore): Question 1: Did not respond Question 2: Did not respond Question 3: Did not respond Question 4: Did not respond.

Anyway, you get my point.

I didn't search up all the ridings, but I did search up probably around 10, and in all of them, the Conservative did not respond and in about 4 of them, the Liberals said "NO" to question 2. But then the good old Greens and NDPs all said "YES" to all of them.
That's just what I found, but if you want to check for yourself go to: http://mph.advocacyonline.net/take-action.php

You Have a Choice

Sorry for a break from writing for a while. I have been very busy with school, piano and swim meets. I am hoping though that I will be able to write a lot more as we get closer to the election, hopefully getting to one post every 2 days.
It is in fact one week from the election and to kick this last week off I want to show those undecided voters some links that might help you decide. Well, that is it'll help you decide if you really, really, really, really don't want the Conservatives to win another election.

Here's a great new song put out by 9 Canadian artists who really, really, really, really don't want the Conservatives to win another election. Those 9 artists would be K-OS, Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies, Ben Kowalewicz of Billy Talent, Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace, Sarah Harmer, Hawksley Workman, Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene, Darren Dumas of The Salads and the Arts Offstage Choir. The song is called " You Have a Choice", to listen to it you can find and download it here: http://avaaz.ca/you_have_a_choice/. It really is a great song.

Now, here's something to help you choose which party to vote for to kick Harper out. Simply put in your postal code and it will tell you which party has the best chance of winning besides the Conservatives. You can follow this link: http://anyonebutharper.ca/widget/ or you can just use the widget on the right hand side of the page.

And remember, if you're living in the Edmonton-Strathcona riding, VOTE LINDA DUNCAN!

What is Ordinary?

Stephen Harper: "When ordinary Canadians come home and see a rich gala all subsidized by the taxpayers complaining that their subsidies aren't high enough, when they know that their subsidies have gone up, I'm not sure that's something that resonates in ordinary people."
Um... excuse me? First of all, what's that even supposed to mean? Second of all, rich gala's aren't that only thing that represents the arts! Most "ordinary" artists are also "ordinary" Canadians and most of them wont be going to any rich gala any time soon. So, Mr. Harper, I think that you're generalizing a bit when you say stuff like that.
I recently participated in an event with Edmonton artist Todd Janes at Mile Zero Dance Studio. Todd and all the people who participated and came and saw his performance were probably pretty ordinary too. The arts aren't something for the rich and privileged anymore.
Staying on the topic of "ordinary" Canadians. What about those Canadian autoworkers in Kingston who seem pretty ordinary who wanted to get into that Stephen Harper rally, but couldn't because they weren't invited. Meanwhile, they were being kept out by the RCMP! I'm sure that Stephen Harper wont be getting those Canadian's vote anytime soon. And is that really something that Stephen Harper can be proud of?

Layton Comes to Edmonton

On Saturday, NDP Leader Jack Layton made a stop in Edmonton on his election campaign tour. While Layton was in Edmonton, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was in Iqaluit and I do not believe that he is even coming to Edmonton this election. (Please correct me if I`m wrong on this fact.) This makes me kind of mad because I think that he is just expecting Alberta to be all Conservative again, which I do not think is true. There are two NDPs and one Liberal in Edmonton who I think could possibly break through the Tory blue. Those are:
Linda Duncan (NDP) for Edmonton - Strathcona http://www.electlindaduncan.ca/
Ray Martin (NDP) for Edmonton - East http://raymartin.ndp.ca/en
Jim Wachowich (Liberal) for Edmonton - Centre http://jimwachowich.ca/
Everyone waited at the Winspear Centre for Jack Layton to come walking down the isle formed of tape as they listened to a band play to open the speech up. When Layton finally did come, he was accompanied by two bodyguards and a ring of television camera as he tried to shake everyones hand.
He then got up on his podium and began to speek. At the beginning he talked about the environment and the northern Alberta oil sands. Then he jumped into an unexpected topic. He spoke long about taking a stand against gang violence and banning weapons. For me I found this a bit unusual as he took up almost the whole last half of his speech with this topic. This dissapointed me because, while he was talking about this, he didn`t say one word about the arts, which I think is another important topic to talk about! But I guess he was just trying to appeal to maybe the more Conservative people who were listening to his speech on the radio or watching it on TV.
If you would like to see pictures of the event, please look at the side column.

OK OK, I Know, Finally

As the title says: OK OK, I Know, Finally.
Here is the long awaited first one of the last 2 interviews that I had at the Edmonton Folk Festival.
My first interview, and my most exciting interview, yet I wouldn't say my best, is my interview with Michael Franti. I said it was my most exciting interview because I had only 10 minutes notice that I would have an interview with Michael Franti to actually come up with some decent questions. Another thing that made this interview really exciting, was that it was an exclusive interview. Yes, EXCLUSIVE!!!!! Only me and Jian Gomeshi from Q on CBC were able to interview Michael Franti. I say that this isn't my best interview because my interviewee for some reason didn't seem that interested in the interview and wasn't as engaged. But I can't complain, I did get an exclusive interview after all!
So, here it is, the full interview with Michael Franti, no edits:
http://isaac.wurmann.googlepages.com/MichaelFrantiInterviewFINAL.mp3

votesolution.ca

If you look at the polls, the Conservatives don't really have then many supporters. It's just that they have just that little bit more than the next most possible candidate in each riding (whether it's the Greens, the NDPs, the Liberals or the Bloc Quebecois). So really in all, the Conservatives could have 30% of the vote in a riding, the Liberals could have 25% in that same riding, the NDPs could have 20%, the Greens could have 15% and the rest could be Other. So, really the Conservatives would only have 30% of the support in that riding, and still win.
Still thinking about that, if everyone in that riding who wasn't a Conservative really had a desire to have another MP elected for their riding, and then everyone in that riding voted for the next possible candidate for that riding, then everyone would, together, overthrow that Conservative.
Someone has even made a whole blog about that, possibly trying to convince people to break that Tory blue that is cursing Alberta, or maybe even trying to elect a whole new government.
Whatever their purose, the blog is votesolution.ca and you should check it out.

An Election's Coming! An Election's Coming!

Yes, the third election in only 4 years has been called and will be held mid-October.
This blog has been asked to participate in many political coverages of the election including on CityTV and on the Current on CBC.
I think that this is a great idea but I realized that I haven't excactly been writing on this blog a lot lately, let alone about politics. So now I will get started.
First of all, what will this election bring to Canadian politics? Will we elect another Conservative Minority Government, or even a Conservative Majority. Or will the Liberals pull off a Minority? Probably not, but hey, everybody's got to fantasize once and a while.
But one thing that I hope will change after this election is how Canada is seen throughout the rest of the world. I heard that in Europe, Canada's election isn't very widely known, in Europe all the talk is about the US election. This is understandable because the President that the US chooses will probably have more of an impact on the Europeans. And of course, this is probably because Canada is known to be a peaceful (or rather boring) country. All that was changed though, when Stephen Harper came to power. First dismissing the Kyoto Protocol which was recently signed by Paul Martin before Stephen Harper was called to power. And then Canada was also known to be a sort of ambassador to the arts, which now with Stephen Harper, we are losing that ammbasadorness.
All this will hopefully change after this next election. But now, we'll just have to wait and see.
The information for this post was gathered from the article: North America's Other Election.

Rock and Roll Without Sound

Latitude 53 has a really cool exhibit on right now and me and my friend Becca decided to make a podcast about it for our blog Circle of Music. To read more about and to listen to the podcast please follow this link: Rock and Roll Without Sound.

Let it Be... Pictures!!!

It's almost over so I though... time for more pictures! There's only two, but I think they're pretty good.

I very cool picture of the whole amphitheatre at Hawrelak Park at night.

3 of the "Beatles" in their new costumes.

It's been a very fun night for everyone here listening I think and it was very interesting to hear a variety of music by probably one of the worlds best and most famous bands, the Beatles.
Now it's getting too dark to see my keyboard, so I guess that's a sign that I'm done blogging for the night. I hope you enjoyed my live blog posts from Symphony Under the Sky at Hawrelak Park with Classical Mystery Tour - A Tribute to the Beatles.