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Derek Harland: Portrait of a Great Canadian
Please note that this, unlike my other articles lately, is not an article in any way related to EDEN. If you subscribed to my paper because of the EDEN news, you can continue to expect that on a regular basis, however as this is my citizen paper i will be publishing some non EDEN stuff with this as well. Nevertheless please subscribe if you have not for more news from EDEN and please vote up this article anyway!
This also does not represent the view of my political party, the Democratic Action League. While in the following article i will be endorsing a presidential candidate, the DAL has not yet voted on their endorsement yet. I have been taking a lesser role in the party lately, to encourage new leaders to emerge, and do not want to appear to be speaking of them.
Recently i've been talking with the U.S Secretary of State, Cerb, and have noticed an interesting series of articles he publishes, entitled "People Im Proud to Know" (which i've been told is a registered trademark). Now i've had a long eLife, and i have had the pleasure of knowing many people, and i'd say Im proud of quite a few of them. But Canada seems to be in full election season lately, between preparations for congressional elections and early campaigning for presidentials, and therefor i instantly thought about my longtime friend Derek Harland.
I've had the pleasure of knowing Derek since he wrote this article, in which he described his reasons for leaving the Progressive Party of Canada (which you may not know, as it was long inactive by the time we lost all our original parties to France during the war). Derek joined the Democratic Action League, which was then a young party with a small group of talented radicals with big ideas. Derek provided a calm and reasonable voice amongst some incredibly loud personalities, and helped create the welcoming atmosphere that young DALers see today. The DAL's cause from the beginning was the inclusion of new players in eCanadian politics, as at that time the government was run by a group of old guard Beta giants with little care for everyone else, and so Derek was exactly what the party was looking for, a young guy with a bucket full of talent and big ambitions, and he fit in perfectly.
Since those early days Derek has grown from that young guy to an impressive and respected politician. He has made his mark on congress, serving 6 terms and consistently being a calm mediator for the arguments that plagued and in some respects continue to plague our congressmen. He build a reputation as an all around nice guy; a guy who would never be brought down to the petty arguments that even i fell pray to. I, and many of Derek's other colleagues continue to hold a great deal of respect for him because of that. Even during the cut throat partisan warfare between the DAL/CSD and the Canadian Empire Party, and later the conflicts with the Canadian National Coalition and Canadian Progressive Front, Derek kept himself clean, refusing to resort to dirty tactics to get his way. He has maintained the highest moral code where many of us have fallen pray to greed, making him one of the few politicians in Canada who can truly call themselves honest.
While Derek made a big mark on Congress, perhaps the area where his skills improved Canada the most was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When Derek took over the ministry, Canada faced many problems. Faltering relations with our allies and a lack of an effective ambassador system made communications with other countries challenging. However Derek tackled this problem with the vigor that was expected of him by then, for we already knew what he was capable of. He pioneered the new ambassador program, creating higher organization on the forum, expanding ambassadors to many new countries, and creating a system for ambassadors to report their progress. He also set up an IRC channel for ambassadors to communicate on that is still used today.
Derek always dreamed of running for president, and while planning his campaign, became friends with William Duncan and decided to help him with his campaign. They decided to team up, with Duncan as President ingame and Derek as Vice President. Derek felt that he still had things to learn, especially with regards to the military aspect of erepublik, and he felt that working as Vice President would give him the opportunity to improve his skills even farther. Derek was completely opposed to the idea of Canada getting a President who was anything but fully prepared, and therefor put his own dreams on hold for the good of the country. As President Duncan has drawn criticism lately for his sometimes cold or off-putting demeanor when dealing with dissent, Vice President Harland has stayed above the fray, again acting as a mediator between the two sides of the conflict.
And now we are here. Presidential elections are not too far away, and Derek, full ready and prepared, is running to lead this country. He has utilized his experience from his terms as Congressmen, MoFA, and Vice President to develop a comprehensive knowledge of erepublik and the issues facing eCanada and the entire eWorld. He has maintained his now famous friendly demeanor, even as his opponents may take a negative tone and continue to keep the highest standard for polite, friendly, and constructive behavior. He is the rare politician with everything to offer and nothing to hide and therefor I consider him a great Canadian.
This also does not represent the view of my political party, the Democratic Action League. While in the following article i will be endorsing a presidential candidate, the DAL has not yet voted on their endorsement yet. I have been taking a lesser role in the party lately, to encourage new leaders to emerge, and do not want to appear to be speaking of them.
Recently i've been talking with the U.S Secretary of State, Cerb, and have noticed an interesting series of articles he publishes, entitled "People Im Proud to Know" (which i've been told is a registered trademark). Now i've had a long eLife, and i have had the pleasure of knowing many people, and i'd say Im proud of quite a few of them. But Canada seems to be in full election season lately, between preparations for congressional elections and early campaigning for presidentials, and therefor i instantly thought about my longtime friend Derek Harland.
I've had the pleasure of knowing Derek since he wrote this article, in which he described his reasons for leaving the Progressive Party of Canada (which you may not know, as it was long inactive by the time we lost all our original parties to France during the war). Derek joined the Democratic Action League, which was then a young party with a small group of talented radicals with big ideas. Derek provided a calm and reasonable voice amongst some incredibly loud personalities, and helped create the welcoming atmosphere that young DALers see today. The DAL's cause from the beginning was the inclusion of new players in eCanadian politics, as at that time the government was run by a group of old guard Beta giants with little care for everyone else, and so Derek was exactly what the party was looking for, a young guy with a bucket full of talent and big ambitions, and he fit in perfectly.
Since those early days Derek has grown from that young guy to an impressive and respected politician. He has made his mark on congress, serving 6 terms and consistently being a calm mediator for the arguments that plagued and in some respects continue to plague our congressmen. He build a reputation as an all around nice guy; a guy who would never be brought down to the petty arguments that even i fell pray to. I, and many of Derek's other colleagues continue to hold a great deal of respect for him because of that. Even during the cut throat partisan warfare between the DAL/CSD and the Canadian Empire Party, and later the conflicts with the Canadian National Coalition and Canadian Progressive Front, Derek kept himself clean, refusing to resort to dirty tactics to get his way. He has maintained the highest moral code where many of us have fallen pray to greed, making him one of the few politicians in Canada who can truly call themselves honest.
While Derek made a big mark on Congress, perhaps the area where his skills improved Canada the most was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When Derek took over the ministry, Canada faced many problems. Faltering relations with our allies and a lack of an effective ambassador system made communications with other countries challenging. However Derek tackled this problem with the vigor that was expected of him by then, for we already knew what he was capable of. He pioneered the new ambassador program, creating higher organization on the forum, expanding ambassadors to many new countries, and creating a system for ambassadors to report their progress. He also set up an IRC channel for ambassadors to communicate on that is still used today.
Derek always dreamed of running for president, and while planning his campaign, became friends with William Duncan and decided to help him with his campaign. They decided to team up, with Duncan as President ingame and Derek as Vice President. Derek felt that he still had things to learn, especially with regards to the military aspect of erepublik, and he felt that working as Vice President would give him the opportunity to improve his skills even farther. Derek was completely opposed to the idea of Canada getting a President who was anything but fully prepared, and therefor put his own dreams on hold for the good of the country. As President Duncan has drawn criticism lately for his sometimes cold or off-putting demeanor when dealing with dissent, Vice President Harland has stayed above the fray, again acting as a mediator between the two sides of the conflict.
And now we are here. Presidential elections are not too far away, and Derek, full ready and prepared, is running to lead this country. He has utilized his experience from his terms as Congressmen, MoFA, and Vice President to develop a comprehensive knowledge of erepublik and the issues facing eCanada and the entire eWorld. He has maintained his now famous friendly demeanor, even as his opponents may take a negative tone and continue to keep the highest standard for polite, friendly, and constructive behavior. He is the rare politician with everything to offer and nothing to hide and therefor I consider him a great Canadian.
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Go Derek! Voted from your bro down south.
I myself consider DH a great Paraguayan, but he's an okay Canada as well I guess
DH is going to take this! He is awesome!
<a href="http://wiki.erepublik.com/index.php/Derek_Harland" target="_blank">http://wiki.erepublik.com/index.php/Dere[..]land</a>
Check the wiki, I wrote it xD
~hyuu~
Derek=
A stronger Canada
A stronger Brolliance
A happy Gaius
Who doesn't like those three things?
Derek is the right man at the right time for Canada!!!
Woot! Derek Forever! Hah, I'm such a noob.
your never too young to get involved
lulzwut, who PMed Gaius, Jewitt and Josh Frost to post here
I got Gaius and Jewitt to on irc but Frost came on his own because our American brothers are just goddamn awesome and Derek has a lot of international support in the Allies.
Wow, you heard it here. Brolliance supports Derek Harland.
don't they want to hear about the other candidates first?
@Gaius Julius
"Derek=
A stronger Canada
A stronger Brolliance
A happy Gaius
Who doesn't like those three things?"
PEACEniks? Go DH, you're ready for it!
I totally agree with this article.
Couldn't have written anything better!
Norway whould vote for Derek!
Hmm...not better than me right? jk
Great article Scorp as always
@ Scorpius,
How about we stick to getting our endorsements from people who can actually vote in the election? I'm not going to ask non-Canadians to come to Canada to campaign for me because I don't expect non-Canadians to know all the issues.
I want you to stop for a second and think about how little sense that makes. Why the hell would i focus on non Canadian support? All i asked them was to vote the article.
"lulzwut, who PMed Gaius, Jewitt and Josh Frost to post here "
"I got Gaius and Jewitt to on irc"
Someone asked who got them to post, you said you did.
I personally practice reading comprehension. It's a good skill to have.
A very good article! I just wish there was one for every candidate.
I am particularly supportive of the positive treatment of new e-Canadians. While I will not question Derek Harland of any rude conduct, I do question the prominent party members who have been making statements as of late that have been negative to new e-Canadians.
Can a good man bring good things to a country if supported by ignorant and arrogant men?
"Can a good man bring good things to a country if supported by ignorant and arrogant men?"
Derek Harland is supported by the majority great Canadians as well. I have known Derek for a long time and consider Derek to be one of my best friends in the game. Honestly, I can't find any innaccuracies in this article. The only thing I can is that perhaps it is understated.
Derek Harland will probably make the best president Canada has ever had. He is one of the most active Canadians. His drive and determinism knows no bounds. His fairness and friendliness is tops among all Canadians, if not the very top. I ugre all Canadians that want to see Canada do better than we are already to vote for Derek Harland come December 5th.
Great article, Scorpius. Voted up!
Citizen B
Eh
Derek is a nice guy but the more I see you campaign for him like this, the more annoying it gets.
I think Derek represents himself very well without the ridiculously exaggerated comments (that we know are either true or false) and requested foreign endorsements.
Like I said, we don't vote based on "nice guy" values alone, because I'm sure Jacobi, Adasko and I as well as Trent are "nice guys"
It comes down to experience, motivation, and downright sheer ambitious and productivity.
I wish Derek luck, especially during the debates, where "nice guy" speeches from his colleagues will be worth nothing.
Cheers.
Banach, ftw
wow....I just typed that.
woah.
I'm a super nice guy....with experience and ambition
I look forward to the debates...which for some reason were not held last time...
Is anyone going to tell us where the foreign aid money went?
only atoms: I believe it is best summed up here: <a href="http://ecanada.ws/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64543#p64543" target="_blank">http://ecanada.ws/forums/viewtopic.php?p[..]64543</a>
Thanks Cham. I've been following that thread. Lacking some detail though. Now that Peace is no longer a threat to any of the recipients it should be no problem to release an accurate accounting of every dollar.
Q1 ticket only for 0.21 GOLD.if every body want to buy send me a message.
Great read. (Yes, Emilio is back.)
wow, someone here can't answer simple questions AND he's naive. What a combination that is
Thanks Scrop for introducing us to one of the candiatates as a person.