Campaign Kick-off

Hi Elector:
For awhile a few weeks ago it looked as though we might soon have a federal election though the picture almost as suddenly changed and in recent weeks the possibility appeared to almost disappear. However, as many of us know from experience it is best to expect the possibility and be prepared. As the nominated Liberal Candidate for the riding I believe it is best to get underway with getting to know the electorate in the Riding, their issues and give them the opportunity to get to know me so they may be assured that I will follow-through and represent them as they expect. Since my webpage and brochure provides my bio I will not bore you other than to remind you that I’m the guy that ran last year when things were less than favorable for Liberals, though the number of votes I obtained could be interpreted to suggest that I was a very credible alternative despite the obstacles, consequently why I decided to present myself again .

As I said in my nomination speech I believe I have been very blessed in how life has been to me thus I owe it to give back to my community. I continue to feel blessed and I believe the more blessed we have been the more responsibility we have to contribute to the good of our community - neighbors. I believe that the many years in the health field and my involvement in community and in politics have prepared me ideally for such an undertaking. However, as I said in one of my blogs last year I did not want to sound critical and wanted to give the Conservative Government a chance to show what they could do so held off on expressing my opinion.

However, now the Conservatives have been almost a year and a half in power and though initially making a few boo boos, like a new broom they appeared to be doing acceptably, or at least the public at large and the media appeared to think they were doing okay. Or was it that they did a good sell job of themselves as achieving what they said they would do. However, as time passed, cracks began to show, the novelty appeared to wear off and they especially recently appear to respond poorly to pressure and have run out of ideas. Recent months appeared to take its toll, especially on a few issues of more importance in the electorate’s mind; i.e. the environment and Afghanistan and of course, the inflexibility of their ideological driven agenda became more apparent. Of course, being a Candidate I get the most up-to-date info right away from the party which a few suggested could be seen as Liberal propaganda; however, I chose not to share so as not to bother people. However, in recent weeks and best of all I note that most of the major newspaper reports which people trust as relatively unbiased indicate increasing dissatisfaction with the Conservatives. Though only a few weeks ago they speculated on the potential for an election they are now reporting the Conservatives as losing popularity and the polls verify same. Reports describe the Government as taking a pounding from the Liberal opposition with respect to their handling of a myriad of issues including the Environment, Student Employment programs, handling of prisoners in Afghanistan, their lack of commitment to maintaining Canada’s financial commitments in the third world, their push to dismantle the Wheat Board, the G8 Convention in Germany etc. Then there are broken promises i.e. Income Trust Issue and most recently, their so called settlement of the Softwood Lumber issue with the US appears to be in question as well as kinks showing with respect to accountability; the most glaring being that almost 70% of military spending has been out-sourced without any competition over their time in office. Also, papers that not many weeks ago were critical of Liberals and Mr. Dion have asked readers not to write-off Mr. Dion. I leave it to you to be the judge as to the Conservative’s performance. I can assure you that Mr. Dion has been working every possible moment on our behalf, visiting many regions of the country and leading his colleagues in the Commons. I marvel at how he can keep such a pace and keep on top of everything. He is a great listener and on meeting him he immediately makes one feel comfortable and valued.

In the meantime, I have been preparing and listening to people too and feel just about ready to formally kick-off my campaign. My initial brochure is now available and my team is also preparing though we didn’t engage an office yet since a writ announcement appears a long way off. We have chosen July 1 for the official kick-off with a BBQ at my home. If you are interested in getting more actively involved we will be happy to accommodate you.

If you have thoughts on issues or concerns about the current Government of our country please contact me. I’m ready to listen. If you have no thoughts or questions I would like to note that I have found since starting to talk with people in the riding that the main concerns are:
the interest investment trust issue
the war in Afghanistan, and
several promises the Government made and have not kept.

Of course, we Liberals agree with the importance of those important issues that have affected a lot of people, in some cases jeopardizing livelihoods! And, of course, we have proposed and are in the process of developing policy to address and to rectify the damage the Conservative Government did on issues.

You may be already familiar with the three main policy pillars outlined by Mr. Dion during his leadership bid – Economic Prosperity, Social Justice and Environmental Sustainability. I would like to elaborate on them as follows:

We Liberals believe Environment must have high priority since as I have often said, if we do not take care of it we might as well forget about a future. Of course, we consider natural resources in equal context with environment since both are interdependent on each other and we need to be wise stewards of our environment and resources so they will be there to sustain us and the future generations that follow us. In brief, we want our world to be sustainable to assure our survival.

We also believe that Health is very important and we need to consider shelter, childcare and education – we need child development programs and education that is affordable to give our young people the basics they need to get involved in productive living.

We also believe we need to ensure we have policies that encourage and sustain business and agriculture at all stages; and,

Lastly, I would like to remind you that we need to review and reconsider our foreign policy, especially in relation to Afghanistan so we do not have young Canadians coming back in body bags. One was one too many. We need to consider disengaging at the earliest opportunity; and,

We need to work on restoring Canada’s independence and credibility internationally; so “if there is any way you can be of help to me to achieve these goals I will be happy to accept your support to get there. Please do not hesitate to phone at 381-7635 or email me at www.michaelcormican.com. I need your help and as you will likely agree; together we are stronger, whether as two or more individuals or community working together and we will win. I will elaborate on other issues as time rolls on. I ask that you pass this on to your friends and associates since as I see it everyone is an ambassador and everyone likewise a potential Liberal. And, please contact me if you need help signing up. I thank you for your attention and consideration. Appreciatively,

Michael Cormican, nominated Liberal Candidate, Lethbridge