Back in 2019 I was one of 17 candidates running for council to replace Nussbaum.
The Overbrook Community Association (oca) all candidate's forum helped demonstrate the difficulty of running a meaningful campaign.
There were such unimportant questions as cake or pie? Or cats or dogs? Each candidate would reply. Soon the evening was over.
Seriously?
But consider this, Ottawa Council has 25 members including the mayor.
Even if you gave each 5 minutes for closing arguments in a debate, that's a grueling 2 hours of commentary.
Meanwhile the city has a $5.5 billion budget and things need to happen.
Does else anybody see the problem here?
The vote is the important thing. The comments can be registered online and summarized by AI.
Politicians nded to do their politicking outside the vote at meetings.
Comments
No Gen Z'er wants to hear from a boomer, I get it. But I wanted in impart a small bit of wisdom regarding our next decade. Its going to be a bit rough before we reach Elon Musk's predicted age of abundance.
But AI, super computers, space travel, a revolution in robots and bio genetic engineering are going to give us the future that was only a dream when I showed up on the planet 70 years ago.
The world seemed so intimidating back then. How would I earn a living? How could I afford to own a house, how could I pay the bills? Sound familiar?
The key ingredient to our moving forward is this. You need to have faith. Faith, not in some God, though good luck and charity of friends helps. Faith in yourself is the critical thing. You need to believe you have the skills, drive and energy to succeed at the game of life.. To this end you need to be physically and mentally fit to tackle the changes and challenges that are coming. You need to educate yourself, not through school necessarily but through the myriad sources of knowledge that exist all around us. Go ahead get formal education if you can afford it but certification is the thing. If you have the knowledge and skill, who cares where it came from?
The belief in one's own skills and abilities far outweighs any certification. And they are portable. Nobody has to live in Canada, although that is a pretty good start.
We start off with the good fortune, pure luck really, to have been born in North America in the later part of the 20th century as boomers. I still think Canada is the place to be for the 21st.
However the world is worth exploring if you know where to go. Learn as many languages and customs has your heart desires. You don't have to leave the comfort of your own community now. Travelogs and videos are plentiful and accessible. Cultural knowledge abounds. Travel only if you feel you can contribute to communities or help locals in some way. Its the prime directive. Start at home.