Wealth without Money

I am one of the wealthiest people who has ever lived on planet Earth. By virtue of my citizenship in the Wealthy Society I have benefits, advantages, opportunities, resources, and riches beyond anything any king, queen, emperor or dictator ever had in any previous age.

To elevate and accentuate my wealthy status I have those notable marks of the wealthy – a higher education, influence, protection under the Law, a network of influential contacts and friends, mobility and opportunity. I have greater degrees of literacy as well as access to publicly funded health care which those folks in previous ages did not have.

They could not fly or drive or make a phone call or have an MRI, let alone blog about their political views in a Free and Open Society. I have all of this and so much more. So do many others. We live in a wealthy society and we are wealthy by virtue of this shared set of resources we call Canada.

Wealth without money is part of our daily culture in Canada. Even our poorest citizens have more than the famous rulers and despots and sages of all the ages past – cars, electricity, big wheel trucks and trailer parks, clean fresh water – indoors , plumbing and heating and air conditioning, light, credit, Internet, cell phones, mass communication, Rights and Freedoms, science and medicine and so on. These all make this society and our people wealthy beyond the dreams of those people of ages past.

Even people at the beginning of the 20th Century could not have conceived of anything so remarkable as what we have become and the world we have built. We are amazing and this gives us advantages as well as responsibilities for our more vulnerable friends, neighbours, families – for the whole world.

Together we can build this remarkable dream. Unified we can change the world into the Canadian Dream of peaceful stability with tolerance and shared wealth - Commonwealth. Divided we will fall for anything because “Nature hates a vacuum!” We can do this - just as Jack Layton urged us to do in his last letter to Canadians.

Why not reach for Excellence and Truth in all things? These two things were the core ideas in the emergence of the Golden Age of Ancient Greece in the age of Pericles.

These two simple and powerful ideas have driven Western Civilization for more than two thousand years. Let them drive us forward into and through the 21st Century.

This is the Golden Age of Canadian Culture.
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Democratic Values: The Torch

Democratic Values, practices and processes have been a guiding light in my life, instilled into me by my father. Liberty, equality, and fraternity, and self-government are central and enduring components of democracy.

I can only offer the voters in Guelph inclusive, free and respectful choice. A useful Vision and an appropriate strategic plan can only be formulated through consultation, discussion, and respectful debate. This is how I have facilitated government of the people, by the people, and for the people in many environments of all sizes through the course of my lifetime.

Some politicians seek to tamper with and adjust our institutions, processes, and democratic values. Often this is because they do not grasp the sublime operation of our lumbering institutions, nor the finely balanced processes we have employed in building a great nation. Some do not embrace the Values of democracy and self-government.

I embrace it all with the heartfelt gratitude to our Canadian forbearers. They’ve handed us a Torch. We should hold it high…higher. And pass it safely to those who follow. With this Torch we can illuminate the world.