Foreign Influence - Week 56 - May 21-28

Here is a great Globe and Mail article, linking the Koch brothers to Oil Sands investments and pointing out that there is foreign money pouring in on both sides of this story.  I would imagine it is probably quite a bit uglier than this story suggests.  I wonder if the National Post will follow up with a similar story?

Weren't the Conservatives supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility?  And they've been in control for quite a while, right?  So why all the defecits?  And Tony Clement!  What a guy.

Man.  Did you hear about this Conservative MP?  The poor bastard actually expressed his opinion.  He suggested that the Omnibus budget bill wasn't a great idea and that he and other Conservatives might be convinced to try to change things.  And in Stephen Harper's Canada, this is never a good idea.  Unsurprisingly, he was quickly beaten down.  I realize that this is how "Democracy" works - you're expected to vote in line with your party.  But it's sad.  And now people are jumping all over him for caving.

Speaking of Stephen Harper, here's a man that never met a strike he didn't like!  ...Like to legislate in to illegatlity.  CP Rail will most likely face back-to-work legislation.

This should have been up last week, I think.  Anyhow, Stephen Harper has decided to save $800,000 per year by closing the Coast Guard base nearest to the largest port in Canada (that's Vancouver).  This doesn't make sense.

And speaking of things that I should have talked about last week, Quebec is getting out of hand.  This doesn't have much to do with the Federal Conservatives though, so I've stayed away from it.  I can't really believe that we have "you can't protest" legislation in Canada.  And don't read the comments in any National Post article on the subject.  Egads.  Anyhow, this is starting to get some international attention.  And here.

Speaking of international attention, Slate has a story about our descent in to a police state via Vic Toews and his awesome Internet legislation.  It turns out Canadian telcos are all over this as well.  I guess it gives them more power if they are able to snoop for the government.

Stephen Harper thinks that the robo-call legal challenges should be thrown out of court because he doesn't like the people that are behind the lawsuit.

Boingboing points out that Stephen Harper is slowly dis-assembling the National Archives.  Who needs history if you don't have science?

Who says Canada isn't a world leader?  American Republicans take a page out of the Stephen Harper playbook and try to kill the long form census.

This Slate article tells the story of the war of 1812 from an American perspective.  But it really drives things home as to how odd it is that Stephen Harper feels this is worth celebrating.

John Baird feels like Canada hasn't done a good job of defending "religious freedom".  We went off the rails after World War II.  Is he talking about Muslims?  Because I don't recall seeing many Christian bashings in the news lately.

This article suggests that "Canadian are split" over Mulcairs comments of the last few weeks.  Which is pretty amazing, when you think about how many sources came out last week calling him a crazed lunatic.

Stephen Harper has announced his EI Reforms.  It's pretty easy to get people on board with not giving jobless people money.  The National Post actually wrote a story making fun of people because the legislation wasn't as bad as first expected.

What the fuck!  Let people ask some fucking questions!  The Conservatives sent a bunch of dudes to a committee meeting and they prevented everybody else from asking questions.  About the budget.  And the environment.

And the war on science continues.  The Conservatives have shut down a fresh water research station.

And, perhaps some good news.  Stephen Harper says he is considering an independent organization for military purchases.