Man. What a depressing end. Serve as Finance Minister to an asshole,
retire and then die a few weeks later. Poor Jim Flaherty. Garth nicely sums up the good and bad of Jim Flaherty.
Pierre Poilievre is doubling down on awful. He's accusing Marc Mayrand
of a power grab in his opposition of the "Fair Elections" Act. Is it
really a power grab if you want to keep doing the job that you are paid
to do? Can you believe these Conservative jagoffs have decided that the talking point needs to be that Elections Canada shouldn't be in the voter turnout game? As well, looks like the guy who is supposed to take over investigations from Elections Canada wasn't consulted either.
These people are children. One Conservative minister makes a "shooting a gun" gesture at an NDP MP, and then another runs over and trots out the
beautiful "Say it outside of Commons!" refrain. These people are
idiots.
This is awesome. "Sleepy Time" Rob Anders lost his nomination battle.
It's remarkable the job Stephen Harper has done of shirking any
responsibility for Patrick Brazeau. Not to kick a man when he's down, but it seems like it's all really unravelling.
Another tough on crime bill doesn't survive scrutiny by the courts.
In Australia, government employees aren't allowed to criticize the government online. "Shit, what a great idea!" somebody in Ottawa just
said.
More companies taking advantage of the temporary foreign workers program.
Why are MP's allowed to accept paid travel from companies/organizations/countries? If it is important enough to go, Canada should pick up the tab.
Trudeau took shit for not letting his bullying candidates run for
nomination. Steve has no problems with his bullies...shit...it might be
a prerequisite. Eve Adams is allowed to continue.
Greenpeace is asking for an investigation into the ties between the
Conservatives and "Ethical Oil" from an election finance perspective. Interesting response from the "grassroots" Ethical Oil.
An interesting idea. CBC asked people to tweet their stories about vouching/getting vouched for. Of course Conservative commenters point
out that these people are all probably lying about it.
Kitimat decided that it doesn't want a pipeline.
More bad news for Attawapiskat. And Theresa Spence. Her partner/the co-manager of the first nation, has been charged with fraud.
There's some fallout from decreasing subsidies and no more Hockey Night in Canada. 600+ at CBC are out of work.
Huh. This guy talks a bit about the potential speed restrictions coming to the de-restricted sections of the Autobahn. He equates it to the
gun control argument in the US.
A bunch of yahoos that work for the Minister of Public Works have been accused of interfering with access to information.
More Quebec corruption with ties to Stephen Harper appointees...or attempted appointments...or something.
Showing posts with label Elections Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elections Canada. Show all posts
Monday, April 14, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
Not so good at this social media thing - Week 145 - Feb 3-10
Sorry if I got a bit grumpy earlier in the week. Times are difficult, you know?
Oh boy, Steve. You really can't win these days, can you? I'd expect this kind of stuff out of your buddy Rob Ford. Anyhow, the drummer in Stephen Harper's band has been charged with sexual assault. That guy is going to fast learn the definition of fair weather friend.
Of course everybody is still talking about the farce of an "election reform" bill. I can't not put it in quotations. Also not a fan? The Chief Electoral Officer. He's wondering why he's no longer allowed to encourage people to vote and what his remaining job is. Why didn't he speak up when they didn't consult him about it? He also speculates that up to 100,000 voters could be impacted by the voter ID law, most of them aboriginal. And of course, this is another great opportunity to cap debate on a bill. Gotta ram that shit through, no? Maybe another candidate for a Senate hold-up? Nobody seems to think this bill is good. Except the Vernon Morning Star.
This one is new to me, but this site breaks down the arguments put forward in Parliament. Brad Butt, who is a real Conservative MP and not a made up person, suggests that during his last campaign they just went around and collected discarded voter cards and then went in and voted on behalf of those people using the vouch system. Oh. Sorry. "Some other campaigns" were doing that. My apologies.
Another Conservative MP has settled his dispute with Elections Canada. Funny how most of the disputes between MP's and Elections Canada involve Conservatives and now there's all these laws to take away authority from Elections Canada.
This is not new news, but seems to be new news now that the BC Civil Liberties is on board. Think of just how insane this is. The national spy apparatus, which is legally prohibited from spying on Canadians, not only spied on (relatively) law abiding Canadians, but did so at the behest of a corporation running a publicly reviled project. It's totally insane.
Sticking with pipelines, a report about an explosion in a TransCanada pipeline was administratively buried. Of course, that was never the intention. I mean, it only showed that their entire inspection program was inadequate.
The new plan for Canadian military procurement is to create some kind of Canadian military-industrial complex. We can't seem to buy even a trash can properly for the military, now we're going to require it to be designed and built in Canada?
Several dozen oil patch workers were laid off and replaced by Croations. Of course, nobody is responsible. The government has no control over Imperial Oil. Imperial Oil has no control over its contractors. I'm surprised any of these people were able to make it in to work today, seeing as they're not responsible for anything.
The Conservatives have decided that they don't need tougher conflict of interest rules for themselves. But public servants certainly do.
Another example of military boostin' Steve not really giving a shit about the actual soldiers. Veterans are being discharged for medical reasons and don't qualify for benefits. In other news, a story about how the government ignored PTSD in Canadian soldiers.
The Conservatives have decided to target the "political activities" of charities they deem to be terrorists. Of course It's much easier to be deemed a terrorist when you do something the government doesn't like. I would imagine church groups are still going to be allowed to do whatever they want politically. And if you can't get 'em that way, subject them to Revenue Canada audits.
Another Conservative attempt to solve a problem that doesn't really exist: reigning in public sector employee sick leave. And then of course all our problems with immigrants. What better way to weed out the riffraff than to make it more expensive for people to become citizens? I wonder how these new rules are going to affect ministerial personnel who pretend to be new Canadians for photo ops?
This is a sad and scary story. Tyrone Hayes is a scientist who did research into a chemical sold as a pesticide. He started this research at the behest of the company that sold it. When they didn't like his findings, they set about attempting to discredit his research and ruin his reputation. They followed him and purchased advertising based on search terms related to his name. This needs to be a new type of crime.
Justification for ending Canada Post home delivery doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
Of course, now that a few trains have blown up, the Conservatives never would have considered this plan from the rail industry to cut inspections on trains carrying dangerous goods.
CNRL continues to have a giant bitumen leak that they can't stop.
Job creator Jamie Dimon gets a fat raise after presiding over billions in fines to JP Morgan Chase for illegal activities. As Matt Taibbi points out, the rank and file received pay freezes after the fines were announced.
There were some jobs created in January....for now. See if there's a major correction to the stats a la November.
Oh boy, Steve. You really can't win these days, can you? I'd expect this kind of stuff out of your buddy Rob Ford. Anyhow, the drummer in Stephen Harper's band has been charged with sexual assault. That guy is going to fast learn the definition of fair weather friend.
Of course everybody is still talking about the farce of an "election reform" bill. I can't not put it in quotations. Also not a fan? The Chief Electoral Officer. He's wondering why he's no longer allowed to encourage people to vote and what his remaining job is. Why didn't he speak up when they didn't consult him about it? He also speculates that up to 100,000 voters could be impacted by the voter ID law, most of them aboriginal. And of course, this is another great opportunity to cap debate on a bill. Gotta ram that shit through, no? Maybe another candidate for a Senate hold-up? Nobody seems to think this bill is good. Except the Vernon Morning Star.
This one is new to me, but this site breaks down the arguments put forward in Parliament. Brad Butt, who is a real Conservative MP and not a made up person, suggests that during his last campaign they just went around and collected discarded voter cards and then went in and voted on behalf of those people using the vouch system. Oh. Sorry. "Some other campaigns" were doing that. My apologies.
Another Conservative MP has settled his dispute with Elections Canada. Funny how most of the disputes between MP's and Elections Canada involve Conservatives and now there's all these laws to take away authority from Elections Canada.
This is not new news, but seems to be new news now that the BC Civil Liberties is on board. Think of just how insane this is. The national spy apparatus, which is legally prohibited from spying on Canadians, not only spied on (relatively) law abiding Canadians, but did so at the behest of a corporation running a publicly reviled project. It's totally insane.
Sticking with pipelines, a report about an explosion in a TransCanada pipeline was administratively buried. Of course, that was never the intention. I mean, it only showed that their entire inspection program was inadequate.
The new plan for Canadian military procurement is to create some kind of Canadian military-industrial complex. We can't seem to buy even a trash can properly for the military, now we're going to require it to be designed and built in Canada?
Several dozen oil patch workers were laid off and replaced by Croations. Of course, nobody is responsible. The government has no control over Imperial Oil. Imperial Oil has no control over its contractors. I'm surprised any of these people were able to make it in to work today, seeing as they're not responsible for anything.
The Conservatives have decided that they don't need tougher conflict of interest rules for themselves. But public servants certainly do.
Another example of military boostin' Steve not really giving a shit about the actual soldiers. Veterans are being discharged for medical reasons and don't qualify for benefits. In other news, a story about how the government ignored PTSD in Canadian soldiers.
The Conservatives have decided to target the "political activities" of charities they deem to be terrorists. Of course It's much easier to be deemed a terrorist when you do something the government doesn't like. I would imagine church groups are still going to be allowed to do whatever they want politically. And if you can't get 'em that way, subject them to Revenue Canada audits.
Another Conservative attempt to solve a problem that doesn't really exist: reigning in public sector employee sick leave. And then of course all our problems with immigrants. What better way to weed out the riffraff than to make it more expensive for people to become citizens? I wonder how these new rules are going to affect ministerial personnel who pretend to be new Canadians for photo ops?
This is a sad and scary story. Tyrone Hayes is a scientist who did research into a chemical sold as a pesticide. He started this research at the behest of the company that sold it. When they didn't like his findings, they set about attempting to discredit his research and ruin his reputation. They followed him and purchased advertising based on search terms related to his name. This needs to be a new type of crime.
Justification for ending Canada Post home delivery doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
Of course, now that a few trains have blown up, the Conservatives never would have considered this plan from the rail industry to cut inspections on trains carrying dangerous goods.
CNRL continues to have a giant bitumen leak that they can't stop.
Job creator Jamie Dimon gets a fat raise after presiding over billions in fines to JP Morgan Chase for illegal activities. As Matt Taibbi points out, the rank and file received pay freezes after the fines were announced.
There were some jobs created in January....for now. See if there's a major correction to the stats a la November.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
"Election Reform" - Week 144.5 - Feb 3-4
You know what? Fuck these guys. This is some real 1984 bullshit. "Let's take something that we do all the time and people hate (cheat at elections), change the rules in our favour and trumpet it as a really great thing." Fuck these guys.
I actually wrote this morning that the bill seemed positive, but the details needed to be understood before judgement could be passed. Well, like 8 hours later I think we can determine that this bill sucks.
1) More money pumped into elections - The Conservatives would be able to spend all sorts of money on "fundraising" and it wouldn't count towards campaign expenses. Bullshit.
2) Even more money pumped into elections - Not a huge deal, but the personal contribution will be raised by $300. Corporate and Union contributions still need to be hidden as multiple donations from wealthy industrialists relatives.
3) Elections Canada can no longer advertise in order to "Get out the vote" - What the fuck? Can you be more transparent about your intentions to suppress the vote?
4) Voter ID requirements - This is a huge deal in the US as poor people of ethnic persuasion (i.e. Democrats) tend to have less in the way of ID. There is never, ever, ever voter fraud in Canada in the form of people voting when they shouldn't or pretending to be somebody else, so why bother?
5) Elections Canada powers are weakened - Investigations in to voter fraud are removed from Elections Canada and placed with a department that reports to the PMO. Hmmm...Nothing sketchy about that.
And...the imbeciles talked about how they consulted with Elections Canada before making all of these decisions...only to be directly contradicted by Elections Canada. Maybe they were talking about the Israeli Chief Electoral Officer?
This is a big bag of shit. And it's only Tuesday.
In other terrible news.
Hey assholes! Make up your minds! "We didn't spy on Canadians wifi. But if we did it wasn't an operation and we didn't use the information. And if we did use the information, it wasn't in the way you thought we did."
Garth Turner points out that TD Bank just released a report where, under the most positive conditions, Canadian real estate is only 10% over-valued. Worst case? Well, maybe 20%. Or 30% Or 60%. That's not a news story though. CBC uses the best case numbers and I'm sure Global is still pumping "great time to buy" stories.
A study has linked birth defects to natural gas extraction. I'm sure somebody in the Christy Clark government is upset that nobody mentioned all of the great jobs those babies will have when they grow up!
An awesome little article on how the Conservatives are crushing the spirit of twitter, one sanitized tweet at a time.
I love this. In essence, "When we provide a clear cut choice for people, with one of those choices not accurately capturing what our opponent actually said, they overwhelmingly choose our view on the matter." These guys are so out of touch on marijuana.
Corrections Canada just doesn't even bother responding to recommendations made by it's watchdog.
Haven't heard a whole lot about the F-35 lately. This is a pretty in depth article from Vanity Fair. What I take away from it is that you'd have to be a total imbecile to buy into the project at this point and time.
A Conservative Senator has quit the Senate. Fed up of the doings of other Senators? Or afraid of what's potentially coming?
Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau are going to be formally charged. Interesting to hear the Conservatives talk about Brazeau/Duffy/Wallin. They deny any responsibility and stick to their "former-Conservative Senator" rhetoric. Won't these people take accountability for appointing these assholes in the first place? Yep.
20 Years later, the notes from Chretien's first cabinet meeting outline cuts to cabinet excess, more than anything else.
Hard to read this story and not wonder how we've created such a diabolically awful set of circumstances whereby:
1) Canadians don't get jobs.
2) Foreigners get paid less (if they're lucky) for the same work.
3) Some foreigners get swindled out of their savings by companies preying on their dreams.
As if the Canadian government can't do anything about this. As if.
Mexico. No fan of Canada.
"Why can't they contribute their fair share?" According to Salon, the poorest 50% of America possesses 1.1% of the countries wealth (who's the 1% now). What's most shocking, is that the poorest Americans own less, percentage wise, than the poorest in just about any other location on the planet. The poorest in China have 9.6%!? How is that possible? But make the bums pay their "fair share". Because chipping away 20-30% of 1.1% of the wealth is going to have a huuuuuuuuge impact, no?
A commentary on Real Estate bubbles? The 1%? Who knows. But some of London's most expensive Real Estate sits rotting and empty.
A Slate article on the strange practice of Conservative politicians raffling off AR-15's in the USofA. Maybe a "Free Healthcare for life" raffle to counter this? The scariest thing is the in depth, crazed analysis of technical gun features and semantics that these stories always dredge up.
I actually wrote this morning that the bill seemed positive, but the details needed to be understood before judgement could be passed. Well, like 8 hours later I think we can determine that this bill sucks.
1) More money pumped into elections - The Conservatives would be able to spend all sorts of money on "fundraising" and it wouldn't count towards campaign expenses. Bullshit.
2) Even more money pumped into elections - Not a huge deal, but the personal contribution will be raised by $300. Corporate and Union contributions still need to be hidden as multiple donations from wealthy industrialists relatives.
3) Elections Canada can no longer advertise in order to "Get out the vote" - What the fuck? Can you be more transparent about your intentions to suppress the vote?
4) Voter ID requirements - This is a huge deal in the US as poor people of ethnic persuasion (i.e. Democrats) tend to have less in the way of ID. There is never, ever, ever voter fraud in Canada in the form of people voting when they shouldn't or pretending to be somebody else, so why bother?
5) Elections Canada powers are weakened - Investigations in to voter fraud are removed from Elections Canada and placed with a department that reports to the PMO. Hmmm...Nothing sketchy about that.
And...the imbeciles talked about how they consulted with Elections Canada before making all of these decisions...only to be directly contradicted by Elections Canada. Maybe they were talking about the Israeli Chief Electoral Officer?
This is a big bag of shit. And it's only Tuesday.
In other terrible news.
Hey assholes! Make up your minds! "We didn't spy on Canadians wifi. But if we did it wasn't an operation and we didn't use the information. And if we did use the information, it wasn't in the way you thought we did."
Garth Turner points out that TD Bank just released a report where, under the most positive conditions, Canadian real estate is only 10% over-valued. Worst case? Well, maybe 20%. Or 30% Or 60%. That's not a news story though. CBC uses the best case numbers and I'm sure Global is still pumping "great time to buy" stories.
A study has linked birth defects to natural gas extraction. I'm sure somebody in the Christy Clark government is upset that nobody mentioned all of the great jobs those babies will have when they grow up!
An awesome little article on how the Conservatives are crushing the spirit of twitter, one sanitized tweet at a time.
I love this. In essence, "When we provide a clear cut choice for people, with one of those choices not accurately capturing what our opponent actually said, they overwhelmingly choose our view on the matter." These guys are so out of touch on marijuana.
Corrections Canada just doesn't even bother responding to recommendations made by it's watchdog.
Haven't heard a whole lot about the F-35 lately. This is a pretty in depth article from Vanity Fair. What I take away from it is that you'd have to be a total imbecile to buy into the project at this point and time.
A Conservative Senator has quit the Senate. Fed up of the doings of other Senators? Or afraid of what's potentially coming?
Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau are going to be formally charged. Interesting to hear the Conservatives talk about Brazeau/Duffy/Wallin. They deny any responsibility and stick to their "former-Conservative Senator" rhetoric. Won't these people take accountability for appointing these assholes in the first place? Yep.
20 Years later, the notes from Chretien's first cabinet meeting outline cuts to cabinet excess, more than anything else.
Hard to read this story and not wonder how we've created such a diabolically awful set of circumstances whereby:
1) Canadians don't get jobs.
2) Foreigners get paid less (if they're lucky) for the same work.
3) Some foreigners get swindled out of their savings by companies preying on their dreams.
As if the Canadian government can't do anything about this. As if.
Mexico. No fan of Canada.
"Why can't they contribute their fair share?" According to Salon, the poorest 50% of America possesses 1.1% of the countries wealth (who's the 1% now). What's most shocking, is that the poorest Americans own less, percentage wise, than the poorest in just about any other location on the planet. The poorest in China have 9.6%!? How is that possible? But make the bums pay their "fair share". Because chipping away 20-30% of 1.1% of the wealth is going to have a huuuuuuuuge impact, no?
A commentary on Real Estate bubbles? The 1%? Who knows. But some of London's most expensive Real Estate sits rotting and empty.
A Slate article on the strange practice of Conservative politicians raffling off AR-15's in the USofA. Maybe a "Free Healthcare for life" raffle to counter this? The scariest thing is the in depth, crazed analysis of technical gun features and semantics that these stories always dredge up.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Things fall apart - Week 110 - June 3-10
So. How does one refuse to give a breathalyzer sample, and then get found not guilty of refusing to give a breathalyzer sample? Peter Goldring must have had some good lawyers. Stephen Harper is "happy to welcome him back."
A Conservative backbencher has quit the caucus and will sit as an independent. Why? Well, they gutted his civil servant salary transparency bill. I love that his idea of an "open and transparent" government rests on knowing salaries of senior civil servants. His team didn't follow with him.
Two other Conservative MP's are in trouble for improperly filing their election expenses. Elections Canada says they over spent (Obviously, they think it's Elections Canada's fault). And the speaker seems to be making it up as he goes along.
There is something delightfully odd about Conservatives picketing a Justin Trudeau announcement on Parliamentary expenses. Anyhow...Justin Trudeau promises that Liberal Parliamentarians will post their expenses online for everybody to see. And the "Young" Conservatives picketed the announcement and suggested he "loves the status quo".
This is what happens when you draw attention to yourself. Not only was Mike Duffy stealing taxpayer money...he was doing a terrible job at the same time. Missing half of his Senate Committee meetings.
The Conservatives insist that the Mike Duffy payment didn't come from a Nigel Wright controlled slush fund. Here's my wild-ass guess - Nigel Wright paid Mike Duffy with his own money...and then the slush fund paid him back. In fact, they are claiming that there is no secret account to pay for expenses. Well...there is an account...it's just not secret.
What the fuck? Pamela Wallin continues to pull fat bank while sitting on the Board of Directors for many, many companies? Oh well. Her corporate filings reveal that she is not a resident of Saskatchewan and shouldn't be a Senator. And she resigned from one of her Board of Directors gigs.
A Liberal MP is pushing a bill that would mandate party leaders endorse attack ads that they create. I think this is a tremendous idea.
Psh. Real Estate is fine. Buy, buy, buy. Don't listen to the OECD when they say Real Estate in Canada is over-valued by 30-60% based on income and rents. Those guys are biased! Unlike our banks and real estate boards. And Federal Government.
The Conservatives are going to make it more difficult to open up safe injection sites. Seeing as it's been near impossible to open one up in the last few years, I wouldn't expect a rush on getting these opened in the next few years. Hey! Shut up, hippie! Government regulation is only bad when it does things I don't like.
65+ countries signed a UN treaty in an attempt to limit the flow of cross-border arms sales. Canada did not.
Once again, the Conservatives are not cooperating with the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Thank-you Quebec Soccer Federation for making Canada seem like a bunch of bigoted imbeciles. Oh, turbans and other headgear are not allowed due to "safety"? Yes, fabric on heads has been known to cause serious injury. This is not going to help people like you, Quebec. Special rules for you, no consideration for the needs of others.
This Tyee article comes to a similar conclusion to the one I made a few weeks ago: Alberta doesn't charge much money in tax on Oil Sands producers.
A Conservative backbencher has quit the caucus and will sit as an independent. Why? Well, they gutted his civil servant salary transparency bill. I love that his idea of an "open and transparent" government rests on knowing salaries of senior civil servants. His team didn't follow with him.
Two other Conservative MP's are in trouble for improperly filing their election expenses. Elections Canada says they over spent (Obviously, they think it's Elections Canada's fault). And the speaker seems to be making it up as he goes along.
There is something delightfully odd about Conservatives picketing a Justin Trudeau announcement on Parliamentary expenses. Anyhow...Justin Trudeau promises that Liberal Parliamentarians will post their expenses online for everybody to see. And the "Young" Conservatives picketed the announcement and suggested he "loves the status quo".
This is what happens when you draw attention to yourself. Not only was Mike Duffy stealing taxpayer money...he was doing a terrible job at the same time. Missing half of his Senate Committee meetings.
The Conservatives insist that the Mike Duffy payment didn't come from a Nigel Wright controlled slush fund. Here's my wild-ass guess - Nigel Wright paid Mike Duffy with his own money...and then the slush fund paid him back. In fact, they are claiming that there is no secret account to pay for expenses. Well...there is an account...it's just not secret.
What the fuck? Pamela Wallin continues to pull fat bank while sitting on the Board of Directors for many, many companies? Oh well. Her corporate filings reveal that she is not a resident of Saskatchewan and shouldn't be a Senator. And she resigned from one of her Board of Directors gigs.
A Liberal MP is pushing a bill that would mandate party leaders endorse attack ads that they create. I think this is a tremendous idea.
Psh. Real Estate is fine. Buy, buy, buy. Don't listen to the OECD when they say Real Estate in Canada is over-valued by 30-60% based on income and rents. Those guys are biased! Unlike our banks and real estate boards. And Federal Government.
The Conservatives are going to make it more difficult to open up safe injection sites. Seeing as it's been near impossible to open one up in the last few years, I wouldn't expect a rush on getting these opened in the next few years. Hey! Shut up, hippie! Government regulation is only bad when it does things I don't like.
65+ countries signed a UN treaty in an attempt to limit the flow of cross-border arms sales. Canada did not.
Once again, the Conservatives are not cooperating with the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Thank-you Quebec Soccer Federation for making Canada seem like a bunch of bigoted imbeciles. Oh, turbans and other headgear are not allowed due to "safety"? Yes, fabric on heads has been known to cause serious injury. This is not going to help people like you, Quebec. Special rules for you, no consideration for the needs of others.
This Tyee article comes to a similar conclusion to the one I made a few weeks ago: Alberta doesn't charge much money in tax on Oil Sands producers.
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