MY Father Wrote His Own Eulogy...

It has been nearly three years since my father past away at the local nursing home in Brighton and I still very much miss him.

He had a bad heart for a number of years and knew that his death was only a matter of time. One day he asked me to give his Eulogy when the time came. I told him that I was not looking forward to it, but if that is what he wanted, I would do my best. He promised to send me some notes I could use.

And, in a way he did.

The "notes" he promised, turned out to be Actual Drafts - in all, at least 10. I read them - at least the earlier ones - thinking that I could do better.

A week before my father died, I visited him at which time he told me that the end was near. We said our goodbyes - I told him that he was the best father ever and that I loved him. (Easy to write, but hard to say). He responded by saying that he had done his best. There were tears on my part.

Anyway, as I was about to leave, he handed me his final Draft - I pocketed it and returned home.

I didn't read it, but rather over the following week went to work on my own version.

When I received word of his death, I completed the final touches.

On the day of his funeral, I took my completed effort - along with his final version which I had still not read. I thought to myself that I would read it on route to Brighton simply to add any key points that I might have missed in my own.

His Final Draft Was Great - in the end Dad had written something beyond my poor ability.

I put my version away.

In the Receiving Line at our Olde Family Church, many of the mourners stopped to say how much they had enjoyed my Dad's Eulogy. How so, I had yet to give it?

Apparently, over the preceding weeks when anyone had gone to visit Dad - he had them read his Auto-Eulogy.

I chuckled.

Later, as I stood before the gathering, I acknowledged that Dad had indeed written his own Eulogy, that I was about to read and that, thanks to Dad, many there were privy to its contents.

"For those few who were not" - I commenced.

I won't go into the content, other than to deal with his Opening and Closing - since I believe those two sentences speak to the Man, My Father Was.

He Opened By Thanking Everyone For Coming To His Service.

And He Closed, By Telling Them That They Live In The Best Country In All The World - Canada.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher

Hudak's Election Platform...

Mainly Winners.

First the Winners -

• End the Green Energy Scam


• Cut Provincial Income Tax by 5%


• Allow for Spousal Income Splitting


• Corporate Tax Cut 1.5%


• Remove HST from Heating Oil and Electricity


• End Time of Use Electricity Pricing


• Reduce Public Sector Wages


• More Funding for Education


• Provide Teachers with more Class Room Flexibility e.g. allow to Fail


• Scrap $30 million in annual Foreign Student Funding and direct that $ to Ontario Students

Now the Losers -

• Increase Health Funding (if $ was the key factor in Health Care - Ontario would have one of the best systems in the world. The fact is - we don't. We need to move to a partnership between private and public health care delivery and save $ in the process.)


• Close the remaining Coal Fire Generating Plants (these plants should remain open until Ontario has a secure and financially viable alternative system(s). Plus new technology has rendered Coal Plants much cleaner - they no longer are to be feared).

The In-betweens -

• Welfare Recipients need to establish 1 year residency before collecting welfare (what are they expected to do in the interim - rob banks?)


• Lifetime Ban on worst repeaters of welfare fraud (seems harsh)


• The Mandatory Chain Gang (should be made voluntary - you would still have lots of inmates coming forward and time on the line should be compensated with time off from their initial sentence).

Missing -

• Amend the HST so that it applies only to those items taxed by the PST and/or GST prior to their merger (e.g. in some cases items are now subject to the combined tax that previously were subject to only 1).


• Eliminate Ontario's Human Rights Commission


• Reduce Provincial Taxes on Gasoline


• Reign in the Ministry of the Environment

By in Large, I support Their Plan - but you can expect Liberals to come out and be highly critical of the Tory Plan by way of mean spirited Negative Ads.

When watching / listening to those ads simply keep in mind the following:

1. For the First Time, Ontario has descended into Have Not Status

2. Hydro Rates have doubled and tripled and are projected to double and triple again under Liberal Rule

3. Green Energy has been a fiasco

4. Health Care continues to deteriorate

5. E-health - a billion here and billion there

6. Students Rule the Classroom

7. Unions Rule the Public Service - wage increases far and exceed those in the private sector

8. The List Goes On and On...

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'