[OoC: Sorry people, forgot to put the actions in, just delete the last one.]<br><br><br><br>'Stepping up to the Plate'<br>Dec.13/2013<br>Prime Minister James McColl<br>Canada<br><br>---------------<br><br>The
atmosphere in Ottawa these days was one of both triumph and despair.
On one hand, you have thousands of grit supporters who can't wait to
see, in their eyes, the most reviled former Prime Minister Harper get
out of office. On the other hand, you have the conservative
supporters, who are already wailing about how horrible the Liberals
will be.<br>
<br>However, James McColl was oblivious to the atmosphere as he walked
down Sussex Drive from his official residence at number 24. Never mind
the RCMP and CSIS agents, he wanted to go for a walk, on his own, one
last time. Before he got stuck with the security teams...<br>
<br>At the moment, McColl wasn't thinking about that, he actually
thinking about how his new job would be affecting his family, namely
his wife Jennifer and their two children, Anna and Eric. Like
everywhere around the world, so many people put their jobs ahead of
family and friends here, and he wanted to be able to say that he had
managed to balance the two.<br>
<br>Yesterday he had been sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada by
Governor General Michelle Louise Jenkins. Although McColl was not really sure how
he felt about the monarchy, he had enjoyed the ceremonies nonetheless,
and his acceptance speech was buoyed by an overwhelmingly positive
crowd. Maybe further enlightenment would come to him on the issue as time progressed.<br>
<br>James McColl had many plans that he wanted implemented. The
problem was, he probably couldn't have them all, and definetly not
right away. He was one of those political types who wanted to rule for
the benefit of the country, not for personal enrichment; he actually
despised those who were corrupt in the bureaucracy. He may or may not
introduce legislation for government accountability, but that would a
long term thing. He did resent the fact that the Tories had campaigned
on that platform in 2006, and then had promptly forgotten everything
they'd promised and then done what they wanted instead. <br>
<br>He wanted to see young people going to university, and then coming
out without $40,000 debts, he wanted to see more hospitals built to
accommodate the extra patient loads of an aging population. Granted,
the Medicare system needed a major overhaul, having been more or the
less the same since the 1960's. He wanted to see old age pensions and
security for those without disposable income rise, so that poorer
people could have a comfortable retirement. They needed to find a way
to stimulate the birth-rate, and opening up immigration to the levels
of the early 2000's [an annual immigration rate of nearly
300,000/year!] was not an option. The list went on and on. <br>
<br>There was also the issue of appeasing increasingly active
nationalists, who wanted to see the US go down the drain. McColl knew
that would never happen, but he did see the merit in a more assertive,
and less passive foreign policy with the Americans. He didn't want
relations with the US to be cold, but nor did he want them to be warm
and cuddly, like under Harper. He also saw the merit in protecting some key Canadian industries
from total American domination, even if that meant risking the yanks'
displeasure. But there were ways around that.<br>
<br>Probably the most pressing problem the grits had at this point in
time was finding funding for everything they wanted to do. With the
economy still struggling to get out of the hole from the recession a
few years back, the balanced budget was very balanced indeed, with
barely a billion dollars in surplus for the April.1-March.31 2013/2014
fiscal year.<br>
<br>But never mind that, "But never you mind now," as his great
grandmother would have said in her heavy Polish accent. James McColl
was descended on his mother's side from the Polish farmers that
mass-immigrated to Canada in the 20th century, and on his father's side
of the Scottish McColl clan, some of whom emigrated to Canada in the
19th century after Confederation. Interestingly, many people in his
family were no longer regularly practising religion, though on days
such as Christmas and Easter they did make an effort to appear. Most
people didn't have a problem with this, and he
respected them for that, but there some Catholic revisionists in Quebec
who had a heckled more than a few of his campaign stops. His strong
Presbyterian work ethic had done a lot for him, but as it stands, James
McColl was among the agnostic members of his family. Along with
that, he was also young, being 48 years old, and thus one of the
youngest Prime Ministers to date...<br>
<br>McColl was, overall, hopefull about his prospects. Canadians
viewed him as a refreshing change, being young, from the status quo; he
wanted to do some good for the country, which so badly needed it after
the right-wing neglect the conservatives had overseen, calling it in
their usual speech 'non-interventionist'. He was also glad, that
Quebec and Western separatism at this time were fading a little.
Quebec and Alberta had made many a federal politician lose coherence
and break down, and he was thankful that he might get away with
relatively little squabbling with the provinces.<br>
<br>Over the next few days he would be meeting with his Ministers
[which the PM appoints], and he hoped to have some good, solid talks
with them. He was, of course, more than a little nervous with his
first meeting with a foreign leader, but he decided not to think about
that for the time being. Prime Minister-ship would be a hard, lonely
job, but if he wanted to do it properly, now was the time to step up to
the plate and take his place.<br><br>----------------<br><br>March.8th, 2014<br>
Prime Minister James McColl<br>Canada<br><br>The
last few months had been uneventful, as the new government settled it,
and Parliament resumed its Winter Session in late January. Relations
were amicable with Canada's allies, and Canada was more or less
forgotten by the rest of the world for moment as attention was still
fixed on what the Chinese would do with North Korea. The government's
attention was more or less taken up by the upcoming Spring Budget for
2014. This morning, the PM had a meeting with his Minister of Finance,
to discuss the various details of the budget.<br>
<br>Eric van der Werden, Minister of Finance, and one of McColl's
closest political allies, knocked softly, and entered, shutting the
door behind him. "James, its always good to see you." <br><br>"Likewise,
Eric." The PM got right down to business: "So Eric, you must know that
a balanced budget is extremely important, we HAVE to run a surplus,
otherwise the critics will be screaming at us for the rest of the term
for departing the balanced budget policy of the last 18 years." He
paused, then, "Although, I have been tempted to run a deficit just to
piss them off." McColl grinned. "I never got a chance to say this,
but I'm really glad you accepted my offer for Minister."<br>
<br>"Thanks bud, I'm glad too." Eric opened his dossier which was
chalk full of papers, notes, assessments and other assorted documents.
He looked around, the beautiful old wooden paneling, the antique lamps
and curiously modern computer clashed. "Well, let's get down to
business shall we? I do confess that looking at the policies you
promised the electorate, I was rather discouraged at how we were going
to pay for it all. I'm glad you were looking more at the long term for
many of them, because there is no way we can afford large spending this
year unless we raise taxes or cut social spending, neither of which we
are prepared to do. However, we can afford to start stimulating the
economy but cutting corporate taxes as well as earmarking funding for
research and development in some fields. What were your ideas?<br>
<br>The PM looked thoughtful, "Well, I think that if we cut corporate
taxes, we need to make up the funding shortfall in other areas. I have
precisely the idea, to trade off those corp taxes by instituting a
national carbon tax to help start modernizing our industries. They
HAVE been falling behind in the last few years of our greenhouse gas
emissions targets, so this will help towards that. Remember what BC
did back in 2008? They introduced a carbon tax, but kept it revenue
neutral by offsetting it with other tax cuts, thats what I'd like to do
here."<br>
<br>"Hmmm, I'm not sure that would stimulate the economy so much, but
we could try it." van der Werden paused, then, "Maybe we should revise
the financial rules to allow for more freedom in the stock market, that
might generate more revenue, in a big way, and also appease many
business people."<br>
<br>"Yea that sounds good, we need to explore as many options as we
can, so keep working on ways to increase our revenue this year while
not pissing off too many people. At any rate, I want to go over all
the options, bend some rules, and squeeze some more money out of the
budget. Make things work." McColl smiled disarmingly, then continued
on, "However, if possible, I'd like to increase funding for
post-secondary institutions. Over the next five years I'd like to make
it progressively cheaper for people to attend university and college.
The standard tuition rate for many universities is $7000 per year, not
to mention residence and extras. Maybe we could bring that number down
to $2000 by 2019? There is another issue I'd like to talk about, how
are we going to get the military going again?"<br>
<br>"Weeelll... I'm not sure we would be able to do that this year,
with our kind of funding. Why don't we see if General Girard and
Minister Ansdale are available for a spontaneous meeting?" Lieutenant
General Girard was the Chief of General Staff, while Ansdale was the
Minister for Defense.<br>
<br>"Sure, hey Sarah, can you put in a call and see if Girard and
Ansdale are available for a meeting with me in 5 minutes?" Sarah was
the PM's personal secretary.<br><br>..... 10 minutes later both Girard
and Ansdale were in the office, having been in the centre block for a
meeting. McColl was in his element, "First of all I want the three of
you to work on Defense initiatives. Currently, we are in need of
money, and then equipment, and then soldiers, am I not correct?" <br>
<br>Girard spoke up, "You are indeed sir, the army is desperately short
of new recruits, and needs new vehicles, helicopters, and ground
transport. The air force needs new recruits, new planes, and more
variation in what aircraft types we have, while the navy needs new
ships and new personnel. All the services need money."<br>
<br>The whole cabinet had done briefings, and the PM was well aware of
what the military needed. "Very well general, as I said before, I want
the three of you to work together, as money and the military go hand in
hand. I want you to draft a wish list of everything that is needed,
and then we can proceed from there, ok?"<br>
<br>Contrary to what military types thought of a centre-left PM, McColl
was not adverse to the needs of the military, and supported them, as
his brother and cousin were both officers. The two ministers and
general all concurred. The conversation went on for another couple of
minutes, with Ansdale voicing some concerns about the capabilities of
the military to defend the country.<br>
<br>"Very well, you may go. I'm glad the three of us had a chance to chat in private."<br><br>Three
echoes of "Thank you, sir." and the two ministers and general filed
out. McColl wondered if the general would take his order to heart, and
actually write everything he thought they needed down. "Ah well..." he
sighed. More meetings... today was going to be a long day, he still
had to meet with Foreign Affairs, Industry, and Transportations among
others. Maybe he would schedule a general meeting for all the
Ministers so they could get on the same page.<br>
<br>"Hey Sarah, Could you by chance..."<br><br>--------------<br><br>Actions:<br><br>1: Introduce new characters.<br>2: Go over some parts of the platform and current political problems.<br>3: Make sure people know the new government is aware of the importance of a strong military.<br>