Letter to Matthew - Today Is Your 3rd Birthday

Every year day before Matthew's birthday I start to write a letter, and finish on his birthday. A letter outlining how Matthew enjoyed his life in the past 12 months. I started this tradition on my photo blog My Only Photo. This year is for Matthew's third birthday. I know that sometimes it is hard to keep up with reading, especially if you have lot of blogging friends, so do not feel obligated to read, however, you can enjoy his pictorial gallery. Read More ...

Letter to Matthew - Today Is Your 2nd Birthday

Matthew

My Matthew turned 2 years old on May 7th. I cannot believe how fast time blinked front of us. I have decided to use my photo blog to write birthday letter to Matthew and post some memorable pictures. Here is the link: Letter to Matthew - Today Is Your 2nd Birthday. I have to warn you that the post is long. However, we are all pressed on time, then you can view images only. Have fun!

Mr. President Barack Obama Thank You For Visiting Canada

Mr. President Barack Obama, you probably will never read this thank you letter, but I am sure you can see in people how thankful we Canadians are for your visit to Canada.

The fact that you chose to visit Canada first it means a lot, but the fact that you purchased maple leaf cookies cookies from the local baker it means even more. I actually got goose bumps hearing that on the news. Your risk, I am sure your secret service will get you in trouble later, made our Canadian baker very happy.

Mr. Obama, I watched your presidential race, but watching you being President of United States is even more impressive. Your leadership is beyond my expectations - you are definitely a people person. Your strong focus on the economic crisis and how you handling it so far is on the scale 1 to 10 - I am giving you 8. Sorry I cannot give you 10 just yet, just little too early, but I am sure you have great potential outperform.

It was also nice to watch you and our Prime Minister Mr. Harper getting along so well. You may not have the same views 100%, but I see that both of you have great respect for each other and willing to work together to get us out from the economic crisis.

Mr. Obama, thank you again. And before I conclude this thank you letter, I want to tell you that leadership as yours is needed especially during crisis. If you are good to the people, people will respond positively and will be motivated to work together on the same goal. Like they say, one person can do so much, but together we can do even more.

Enjoy your cookies and good night.


Regards,
Anna

Letter to Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper

Dear Mr. Harper:

At first I would like to thank you and all the Parliament Ministers for finally running this country in order. In the past I wasn't interested in politics, but since the sponsorship scandal and knowing that my tax money was misused by the Liberal Party of Canada, I have decided to do my due diligence and vote for the party that can be honest, organized, stable and give to the people. And these are four magic words that I can describe the Conservative Party of Canada - honest, stable, organized and supporting people of Canada. Not to mention that you speak to us in simple language so we can understand better.

Unfortunately, when I finally started to vote, I did not support your party, as I do strongly believe in the environment and the Green Party was my choice. However, the vote given to them was a free vote, no due diligence was done. I realized it was a mistake, because as much as the Green Party can do for Canada's environment / worldwide, the Conservative party can do the same. Thus since the last two elections, my votes were yours.

Mr. Harper, I have watched closely your strategic approach with your Parliament Ministers to run our country. I must say you have done an amazing job in such a short period of time. People of Canada must realize that it isn't easy to do this job, and now in the time of the economic crisis, they must realize that you do not have a magic wand to continue to give us 'goodies' as you have done in the past, or so called wanted stimulus package.

Further in my letter to you I would like to mention a few items that were very beneficial to me and my family as from your last budgets. I think you gave us more than enough, therefore, I don't expect to get anything major in your next budget presentation.

• The Goods and Service Tax [GST] cut from 7% to 5%. In our house every penny counts.
  
• The Universal Child Care Benefit [UCCB] of $1200 was an excellent idea. I don't know what other Canadians do, but I took that money, some cash gifts for the baby and invested in my child's future education the Registered Education Savings Plan [RESP]. Because I maximized the investment, I received from the government a maximum match of $500. I think this is a good deal, even banks cannot give me 20% interest rate.
  
• The tax free account is even better than the Registered Retirement Savings Plan [RRSP]. I think every Canadian should save their money, or as ING advertises - Save Your Money. It is always good back up money for crisis in case we loose our jobs.

What happened recently with a goodwill government housekeeping strategy of yours, sparked a lot of fire in the opposition parties. However, I think we as Canadians should be aware of how our tax money is being spent. You were willing to take a cut in the federal funding of the political parties. I think that was a brilliant idea. I know it did not go through and did not go well with the opposition parties, but as a result of that it showed us the following:

• How unstable the opposition parties are.
  
• What is their main goal? A goal to take you down Mr. Harper. I can see that there is a bit of personal matter. They seem to be angry with you. And I really think that no matter how good the budget will be in January 2009, it still will be not good enough for them.
  
• It is all about who is in power. The opposition parties showed their true face. Its all about political power and not about the Canadian people or economic crisis.
  
• The coalition party formation, the most pathetic action ever taken, it shows how very reactive the opposition parties are. You always urged us not to panic, and they did not listen. Truly, they behave like the stock market.

Mr. Harper, we Canadians need a stable and organized government. Canada is a superior country compared to many countries in the world. We are spoiled, we have so much and when the times boom we want more and more. Yes, in fact we became a bit greedy. We need to reflect back and evaluate what we have, and be happy, and everything else extra is a bonus. It is not completely government's fault that jobs are lost. It is the economy crisis, and the governments role in this is to help the businesses. I think at some point we would know that too many cars will be built, and demand will fall. Definitely the automotive industry is in crisis, but what can you do in such a short period of time, let them build more cars?

That is all I have to say to you today Mr. Harper. Please continue to do what you and your Parliament Ministers have done for our country. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to comment on my blog. On the side note, you will be seeing more political letter series on my blog, therefore feel free to drop anytime. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Anna :)