Big Day South of the 49th

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I expect that many of our readers will be glued to the US election results on Tuesday night. Why would our readers care about an election 200 miles south of here? The answer is simple. Our readers are passionate about local issues, you can see it in the comments. Those who are passionate about local politics are usually up to speed with matters at Queens Park and at Parliament Hill and this election south of the border will have an impact on Canada.

Uncle Sam wants you to vote! Vote early, vote often.

25% of all our manufactured goods ‘cost’ is US produced. For example, on average 25% of the cost of the Honda produced in Alliston was produced in the USA. The US is our largest trade partner and the strength of their economy has a direct impact on Canada. The recent recession has been felt locally with fewer US tourists in the area over the past few years to the point where I expect locally we have a tourism trade deficit with the US. If it weren’t for the property taxes the celebrities pay on their cottages our snowbird activity would create a huge deficit.

The political pundits are saying it is too close to call and it will come down to who gets out the vote. Where have we heard that one before!

I’m conservative my nature and through my mother’s side of the family we go back to one of the fathers of confederation, but if I had a vote, I would not vote for Mr. Romney. I like to think that I’m conservative with a limited amount of social conscience. Don’t get me going on social assistance for the employable. They need a hand up, not a handout. I want everyone to strive to sign the front of the cheque, not just the back.

My guess is that on Wednesday morning America will continue to be split down the middle and someone had better be ready to deal with the extremist nut-jobs out there in the Romney camp.

Back to my mention of being a descendent of Sir Leonard Tilley. Here’s a little article I found about Sir Leonard (and I don’t mean Clarke). Our Anglican readers will love this. Enjoy!

Now I know where my hairline comes from!

Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, a Father of Canadian Confederation and twice the Lt. Governor of New Brunswick, rose each morning to start his day with prayer and Scripture reading. As the 33 founding Fathers gathered in 1864 at Charlottetown, PEI, there were many suggestions on what to call this new nation. That morning, as Tilley read from Psalm 72:8, he became so convinced that Canada should be a nation under God, that when he came down to the Conference session, he presented the inspired name "Dominion of Canada". Our National Motto on our Coat of Arms "A Mari Usque Ad Mare" (from sea to sea) was drawn once again straight from Psalm 72:8. "He shall have dominion from sea to sea."

Tilley came to a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ in 1839 through his Anglican rector, the Reverend William Harrison. His life was so dramatically transformed that he even became an Anglican Sunday School teacher and a Church Warden (Elder). Tilley’s son Harrison became a well-known Anglican priest.

One day, an 11-year old girl ran to Tilley for help, after her drunken father brutally stabbed her mother to death. Because of this tragedy, Tilley went from being a quiet pharmacist to becoming the Premier of New Brunswick in his campaign for alcohol reform. When Tilley brought in actual alcohol legislation, he was burned in effigy, his house was attacked, and his family’s lives were threatened.

Tilley the ‘dry’ Anglican was good friends with Sir Charles Tupper the ‘drinking’ Baptist Premier of Nova Scotia. Both shared a passion for railways which they believed were the key to the Maritimes’ future. Sir Charles Tupper eventually became the Federal Minister of Railways, bringing the CPR railway line to Vancouver, and BC into Confederation. Before the arrival of the railway, traveling to Vancouver would take all summer by riverboat and stagecoach.

The 1864 Charlottetown meeting was originally intended to bring a Maritime Union of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, to defend against the threat of American invasion. But Tupper and Tilley dreamed bigger, inviting Ontario and Quebec to join them in a new Confederation. Tupper believed in the greatness of Canada, saying: "The human mind naturally adapts itself to the position it occupies. The most gigantic intellect may be dwarfed by being cabin'd, cribbed and confined. It requires a great country and great circumstances to develop great men."