my Canadian Odyssey (and support of the Prime Minister) ...

Day 689, 03:14 • Published in Canada USA • by scrabman
Skip to the end for the link to the now public debate on impeachment of the Prime Minister.

Hello Canada. My friend Chris Stanwick offered a few weeks ago to help me to update my eRepublik wikipedia page. He has been doing a great job on it so far and has garnered much information, more than I would have expected, by combing through my 100+ newspaper articles and drudging through the archives of eRep. Now he has been asking me a slew of questions about how I got to Canada and what I've been doing there.

Well, first I have to talk about how my interest in eRep has changed over the 13 months that I've been here. I've written before about how I'm a society builder ... not in the sense of that little award you get for inviting 10 people to the game but in the sense that I like to see people come together and work as a group. I've always been that way.

So I got a chance to do this starting in Congress, then as a Party leader, then as a Forum Admin and one who helped rebuild the eUSA Forums, and then as President of the eUSA. Now that is where most people seem to end in this game. When you get the ultimate power and the prefect vision as a head of state it's hard to step back down from that. Then there is also this problem of how much stress that such a job causes and how glad that you are when you finish the job and so you're not likely to get into another. Well, I did.

I've enjoyed managing the eUSA Forums. I wrote about some of the roles that we fill there a while ago in this newspaper but those roles have changed subtly over time. Now we have a great team of Mods, Global Mods, and others who help the place to run and that takes a lot of pressure off. But what really drug me back into the game when I felt like slipping away while sitting on the beach was the call from my friend Citizen B to help Canada out when they were facing a Hungarian PTO invasion.

So I went to Canada and ran in Alaska (which was under Canadian control during the height of The Great War) with the Democratic Action League. I won that election and now had to learn a new way of looking at eRep. I joined the eCanada Forums where I had to learn how to interact with my new countrymen. At first I was cautious and felt like I was just holding onto the office in trust for someone else later (and interestingly I inherited Alaska from Chris Stanwick). Then Canada fell while I was at the National Scrabble Championship and I figured that my role was done. I moved back to New Jersey ... repatriated ... and to my surprise Canada re-emerged within a week. Curiously I was still able to vote in the Canadian Parliament and I had other Legislative powers.

When the re-election came up I moved back to Canada where I worked with my friend Goran Thrax to use my two proposals for Canada's benefit with new taxes. Then I granted citizenship to myself and ran for election in British Columbia under the Canadian National Coalition which was headed by my friend Thrax. During this term I familiarized myself more with the Canadian Parliament ...and I'm learning that some call the government offices by game terms while others use national terms (like Prime Minister, Parliament, etc.). I tried to stay quiet ... which is difficult for me to do ... and learn while giving advice on game mechanic issues that I had direct experience with in the Closed Congress Board (the place where the Canadian Parliament has its hidden debates).

By the time that my third Canadian election came up I had a new friend who was courting me to join his party. That is Tyler F Durden who had been talking to me as he worked toward winning the party presidency of the Canadian Progressive Front. Goran Thrax did not win re-election to the CNC and I didn't much care for the new leadership so I joined Tyler in his experiment to try something new with the CPF with some well known and respected Canadian citizens. I have enjoyed my time there and during this term in Parliament I have worked to be more active and to participate in more debates and more areas of the Forums.

It is in this way that I have gotten to know or reacquaint myself with some great Canadians such as: Nosyt, Bruck, Jacobi, Banach, Moffington, Domino Gray, Taiwanpanda, William Douglas, Scorpious, Nickthe, Bassett, Derek Harland, and many others. Through debating and discussing matters with these great leaders of Canada I've started to find my voice and have been able to truly engage in playing an active role in the Canadian Government.

Just lately we've had debates on several matters such as whether the President should have Admin status on the Forums (a matter that is of particular interest to me having gone through it); whether Parliament should try to control price fixing and collusion; whether the eUK is a worthwhile ally and if we should form a NAP with them or embargo them; whether the Parliament should place additional Constitutional restrictions on the Prime Minister's ability to wage war; we've bought a few hospitals; we've changed some taxes; and we've elected several Speakers of Congress.

All of these have really reinvigorated my interest in politics and government in a way that I just didn't think was possible when I stepped down from eUSA President. I have to say that I owe this to the caliber of folks in the Canadian Parliament and Ministry for their professionalism, their courtesy, and their dedication. I honestly think that all of these fine folks work hard and in the best interests of their nation and I hope to continue to see them do so. It has really restored my interest in being involved in eRepublic in a way that I didn't think was possible (something that I'm sure some people aren't too happy about).

Now I've found a new role. With the election of Prime Minister William Duncan and the stepping down of my friend Jacobi I find myself appointed to a Cabinet Minister position as I am the new Minister of Justice (a title that sounds much cooler than the acronym MOJ). I've been tasked with finding a way to reform the legal system, to the extent possible from an Executive Branch position, and that is a role that I am happy to embrace. I established the court system in the eUSA and the eUSA has kept its court system much more lighthearted than eCanada has which is a concern to some and an interesting pursuit to others. I look forward to working on this task with my friend Goran Thrax who has been promoted from MOJ to the Director of the Department of Justice.

In fact, Thraxy wants me to raise my public profile which is funny considering all that I've been through in this game. But he's right. Many Canadians don't know me but I think that will change as I will start to have more things to write about. One thing of interest is that many people are upset with my new boss, the Prime Minister, for his firing of jbdivinus (runner up to the last Prime Minister election) from the cabinet position of Minister of State. It has proven quite controversial as some feel that Prime Minister Duncan should not have fired jbdivinus for what they feel is an unjust reason. Interestingly, I had a similar public firing of one of my Cabinet members when I was eUSA President (though I didn't do it publicly ... Bill Brasky chose to make it so). I find the situations somewhat similar though others disagree.

That leads me to my decision today to return to the Democratic Action League (DAL) which was my original Canadian political party and to rejoin the likes of Scorpius, Citizen B, Derek Harland, and a bunch of other great guys. It's not that I don't still admire and respect many members of the CPF but I just don't think that we're on the same wavelength as many of them are very upset, almost irrationally so, with the firing of jbdivinus by the Prime Minister. Of course, I think that it's the Prime Minister's prerogative to to hire and fire whoever he wants as the only elected member of the Executive Branch. As a former Executive myself, I know that he has to rely on those serving under him to get things done and to help him to achieve his goals. Those who serve under you as an Executive will make or break your reputation. So just like I would fire Bill Brasky all over again I can't find too much fault with Prime Minister Duncan's actions. And for that, I return to the DAL and stand ready to defend his action for the betterment of Canada. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail.

Thank you Canada for listening to another ramble from this old late beta player (not one of the titan prime beta players). So many times I feel like an old codger in this game either due to my longevity or my real life age. But I am still feeling useful and will stick around so long as you'll have me. Thank you all for making this a fun and enjoyable game again.

Edit: Two developments have come up. 1) The Prime Minister has reinstated jbdivinus to the position of MoS. 2) The Motion for Impeachment brought by gofarman has been made public and is available for all to see in the eCanada Forums in the Open Congress Board located here.

http://ecanada.ws/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=2768&start=0

scrab