Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Guest Post - Introducing Don Hansen

I've posted a few times about the NDP's nomination race in Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre, where Don Hansen is squaring off against Brian Sklar for the opportunity to challenge the Cons' Tom Lukiwski for the seat. Today, I have the privilege of presenting a guest post from Don Hansen about his reasons for running - which could have saved Lukiwski plenty of trouble if he'd been patient in trying to learn about Hansen.
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I have always been wary of those who seek political power with too much zeal, as I tend to think there is often a less benevolent motive behind those who desire it too greatly. I never trusted the backroom gangs in politics, whose job is to protect the interests of those they serve, rather than doing the just and proper thing.

Last October, I received a phone call from an old friend that I met as a teenager asking me to consider seeking the nomination for Regina Lumsden Lake Centre. (Many years ago when I was much younger, I imagined how it would feel to be a Member of Parliament; then I would lie down until the feeling passed.) I told my friend that I would think about it and get back to him. I spoke to those whose opinions and blessings I value. Every closed door I imagined that could prevent me from seeking the nomination opened. There were no reasons other than my own fears and apathy that could prevent me from making the effort.

Now it is not so much a matter of wanting to do this, but rather something that I feel I must do.

Saskatchewan has not had a Member of Parliament who demands from the government full employment and the eradication of poverty for many years. I am also not happy with the way in which the Christian Right has been monopolizing Christian activism. There is a need for a left wing Christian philosophy based on social justice to prove there are other faith experiences than what the ultra-conservative televangelists present. I can fill those needs.

I remember at my very first NDP convention, meeting Les Benjamin. A man who was already a 6-year veteran of the ins and outs of politics and a titan within the New Democratic Party approached me, and introduced himself and welcomed me to my very first party convention. He reached out his hand to mine and then gave me a smile that immediately made me feel that this was a party where I was welcome; a party where all were equal – this man who was already becoming a legend within the House of Commons and this young boy from a small farm off the Manor road.

So, who exactly am I? I was born in Oxbow and raised on the family farm north of Glen Ewen.

- I am a graduate of the University of Regina and the Waterloo Lutheran Seminary.

- I have been an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada for twenty-five years. I have served parishes in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and North Dakota. I am currently serving the parish of St. John and Norrona in Strasbourg and Bulyea.

- I was a military chaplain for just over three years and I am a United Nations peacekeeping veteran.

- I was a board member of Circle of Life Native Ministry serving the residents of North Central Regina.

- I have been an activist in the Philippines for the past six years, confronting the issues of the child-sex tourist trade and human trafficking.

- I have been a life long member of the New Democratic Party and have served many provincial and federal constituencies throughout Canada.

- I am an associate member of the National Farmers Union and a life long member of the cooperative and credit union movements.

I am a person of faith but I am also pro-choice. I am pro-choice because I know that my faith does not give me simple and easy answers to complex and difficult questions. My faith does not promise to spare me from making tough decisions. It just promises me that I will not have to face those choices alone. I know that the whole question of foetal personhood is a deceitful, and often malicious, attempt to distract us from the real issue - which is that the woman has rights. And while various religious traditions may teach various things about when, if, and how we should sacrifice ourselves for others, no one - not partner, nor politician - no one gets to decide what is, or is not, an appropriate sacrifice for someone else to make.

I am outraged at the repressive and mean-spirited policies of Stephen Harper and his Conservatives. I have no doubt that his agenda is to move Canada towards a far more conservative society both economically and socially than what Canadians want.

Tom Lukiwski's record as our Member of Parliament is deeply troubling to me. Even those who supported him view him as an ineffectual Member of Parliament. And while I might be prepared to forgive offensive comments from many years past (after all, who of us has not said stupid and offensive things at some point?), I find it much harder to forgive the fact that he has made no effort to keep the commitments that he made when he apologized for his comments about the LGBT community. He has consistently refused to meet with representatives of the LGBT community, and has refused to reach out to those people who he had so thoughtlessly hurt and dehumanized.

What's more, Tom Lukiwski sees his job as defending the Conservative government's interests in Regina Lumsden Lake Centre rather than the other way around. He and Stephen Harper broke their solemn promise to remove non-renewable resource revenue from the equalization formula. They want to weaken the Canadian Wheat Board and go to war against organized labour. They want to force their anti-choice position upon the poorest women of the world. Due to their mismanagement of the economy, our pensions are in jeopardy. They want to start privatizing our health care system. And we need to start un-electing the Members of Parliament who back that agenda in order to stop them.

There are a number of policy areas that are of particular interest to me.

- I will defend the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively. I will press government to honour the standards and conventions established by the United Nations' International Labour Organization.

- I will work to entrench the Canadian Wheat Board as the single desk marketer for Canadian wheat and barley, and commit Canadian policy to the principle of orderly marketing systems for commodity sectors. I will work with farm organizations to help implement income stabilization programmes, tailored for each commodity sector and focused on the family farms that most need the support. I will encourage the development of more producer-run cooperatives to act as a counterweight to the power of multinational agribusiness giants, and to encourage more value-added processing and jobs in Canada.

- The protection of our air, land, fish and wildlife must be a priority. We must address the issue of climate change not with idle words or by taxing you and your family, but with tough laws that force polluters to clean up the mess they have made and to stop tax giveaways that reward corporate polluters.

- Canada must provide robust support to the United Nations and its work in conflict resolution, peacekeeping, and global co-operation, and re-establish Canada as a leader in global peace and development.

- As a Member of Parliament, I will always put the interests of the poor, the oppressed and the disadvantaged foremost in all that I do, keeping the interests of working people and small farmers a top priority. I am not afraid of those goliaths of wealth and privilege.

If you want to learn more about me and about where I stand on the issues, please check out my website and my Facebook page. Both pages also provide contact information so that you can reach me directly to discuss your priorities and concerns.

If you think that I might be the person you want to be the NDP candidate for Regina Lumsden Lake Centre then please support me at one of our two nominating conventions. The first one is in Lumsden on Wednesday June 23 at the Dew Drop Senior’ Centre and the second one is in Regina the very next day, Thursday June 24 at the Italian Club - 2148 Connaught Street. Registration for both conventions begins at 5:30 PM.
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Thanks to Don for taking the time to introduce himself to readers. And I'll encourage anybody interested in giving a voice to those who are currently marginalized in Ottawa to help Don's campaign through the links above.

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