I don't feel like this is a good week for Stephen Harper.
First up, his Justin Trudeau attack ad seems a bit uninspired. Is he losing his cynical edge in his old age? It actually resulted in a boost in donations to the charity featured in the ad.
Then, he has MP's openly complaining (again) about a lack of a voice in Parliament. I actually feel for the Prime Minister here. He knows
things are going to go very badly if he lets some of these guys speak
their minds. The Globe and Mail has the count at 9. Is this the start of a new
Reform party?
Oh boy. So, one of studies commonly used to justify austerity spending
has been shown to hold some serious errors. Once corrected, the major
finding is no longer valid. Way to go, guys.
Stephen Harper has made the former head of his security detail the ambassador to Jordan. This is roughly the equivalent of a CEO making
the security guard the branch manager of a far off store. Perhaps he
saw something in him that he liked. But you'd think things like
experience, education, etc. might factor in to who becomes an
ambassador.
So what happened in Boston is terrible. But it got me thinking...I plugged "bomb" in to google news (3:50 PM, Wednesday April 17th). These are just the stories that popped up about bomb attacks around the world in the last few hours.
Terror Strikes Bangalore, 16 Injured in Bomb Blast
Bomb Attacks Kill 4, Injure 18 Across Iraq
Bomb Kills 7 Civilians in Western Afghanistan
Justin Trudeau condemned the actions of the Boston bomber but then made
some comments about understanding the "root causes" that would drive
somebody to this kind of action. Apparently, this is not condemny enough for Stephen Harper. I guess in a good/bad, black/white world,
there is no attempts to understand. Seeing all the difficulties that
Ignatieff had when he parsed issues, I'm not sure this was worth the
risk for Trudeau. Even though Obama just said something similar.
Vic Toews has decided that the Boston attacks really show that we need stronger anti-terror laws. Okay. So a bomb goes off, in another country, and the perpetrators are quickly apprehended. And this shows that Canada needs more anti-terror laws? How is that? (The NP agrees that this is stupid)
Steady hand on the tiller! Oh wait. We're actually seeing the slowest economic growth in the G20 outside of Europe?
Letting the Conservatives handle election reform is like handing over financial reform to Wall Street. Start by not consulting with the Chief
Electoral Officer, end with delays!
And about those delays. The Conservatives were about to table an election reform bill. But
the Conservative caucus freaked out. So the bill was pulled before it
was tabled. And the opposition cried foul because the Conservatives
aren't supposed to see these things ahead of time. But the Conservative
Speaker of the House (totally unbiased) says there is no evidence that
they saw it.
Canada has actually made some progress in reducing GHG emissions.
Except for the Alberta Oilpatch. And Peter Kent is claiming it's all
his doing (just like the decades long drop in crime). Contained in the report - Industrial facilities in Alberta
are responsible for half of all industrial emissions.
Out with the Environment Canada logos, in with the Economic Action Plan advertisements!
Mike Duffy promised to pay back his housing allowance. That was in February. He still hasn't done so. And he might not pay it back at all. But then he did. Maybe. I mean he said he was going to months ago. I think we're going to have to see some paperwork this time. Even though he's a "man of his word".
I haven't talked about this guy much. This gem of a Conservative MP (from Edmonton, up for drinking and driving charges after refusing a breathalyzer and locking himself in his car). I
am with him on not believing everything that the police say, but his explanation for why he refused a breathalyzer doesn't really add up. Oh
well. I'm sure he'll get re-elected in Edmonton.
The Conservatives have released a number of letters from NDP and Liberal MP's asking the government to consider foreign worker applications.
The article dwells largely on one from Trudeau. This seems bad on the
surface. But is helping a CHINESE restaurant bring in chef's from CHINA
for assistance on developing a regional Chinese menu the same thing as
trying to staff a Canadian mine entirely with Chinese workers after
eliminating all Canadian applicants with trumped up language
requirements?
Justin Trudeau has raised the point that the Conservatives and the NDP do not respect and have not celebrated anniversaries of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I must admit that I've been somewhat ignorant of
criticism of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and I'm having a hard
time even figuring out what the arguments against it are. It seems like
some left wingers don't feel like it went far enough. Right wingers feel that it is a power grab? They don't want everybody to share in
these rights? I don't get it.
The Government of Canada opened a food truck in Mexico City, in an effort to create some sort of Canadian Food Brand identity among Mexicans. Why not start in Canada? Or New York? Basically anywhere
but Mexico City.
An interesting analysis via Gizmodo. Contained within the data:
- The 225 richest people in the world have a wealth equivalent to the poorest 2.5 Billion people in the world
- The median US income is about $50,000 per year
- Which puts that earner in the top 1% of the World
So. Stop bitching about your life because there are probably several billion people that have it worse than you.
Is fracking causing earthquakes in Oklahoma?
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