Spilling Oil - Week 187 - Nov 24-Dec 1

There has been another pipeline spill in Alberta.  60,000 liters.  There is not much news on this at all.

Leona Aglukkaq is threatening to sue the Deputy Mayor of Rankin Inlet.  He says she demanded an apology when he suggested citizens of Rankin Inlet are scavenging for food at the City dump.  She says it never happened.

How many times have we heard about the insane laws in the US where Monsanto is allowed to sue the shit out of farmers for re-using seeds?  Canada is trying to pass similar laws.  How the fuck are these jackasses popular on the Prairies?

Are actual corporate tax rate compared to our official corporate tax rate is insane.  We actually collect 3.9% on profits compared to the official rate of 26%.

The Conservatives continue to try and bait Liberals into saying controversial things on tape through dishonestly and surreptitious recordings.  Their latest attempt met with some backlash, as another person claims to be the one who spoke, not the Liberal MP they were trying to trap.  The Conservatives response?  "We have an audio expert who can prove otherwise."  CSI Harper Conservatives.

Health Canada has come down hard on the advertising of medical marijuana companies.  This is a bit rich, considering how pharmaceutical companies are allowed to advertise.

The Cons are in tight with SNC Lavelin.  One minister (Christian Paradis) received what looks like a $25,000 slush fund.  And they allowed a former SNC Lavelin exec. to remain on the public payroll after he was caught in an illegal donations scam.

In other oil news, Opec makes Canada weep.  This is why you don't bet the farm on one volatile industry.  One industry that doesn't really pay their own way.  Three key points from this report:
1) It is almost impossible to find out how much The Government Take (i.e. what the citizens receive) is for Oil and Gas revenues in Canada, what with subsidies and loopholes.
2) A study by PWC notes that the Alberta take is very low compared to the rest of the world.


Ding ding ding ding ding.  Pre election infrastructure jackpot!

Julian Fantino has gotten the fuck out of Canada, just in time for the Auditor General's scathing report to hit.

One of the MP's involved in the sexual assault allegations has spoken out anonymously about what happened.  Hearing this...I'm not sure what else Trudeau should have done.  Which, unfortunately, seems to be what this is about now.

A Walrus article on the militarization of Canadian police.  Timely, seeing as they just killed a guy armed with a 2x4.

Another fantastic safe seat Conservative...Peter Goldring, he who was accused of drunk driving after refusing to give a breathalyzer sample, has suggested that MP's wear cameras to...fuck...I don't even know... to prevent rape accusations, I guess. The PMO had to step in and help him run away from his statements.

Canada Revenue has leaked a bunch of tax records related to donations made by famous Canadians.

Backbenching - Week 178 - Sept 22-29

I begin this week with a pretty awesome article from Raif Mair.  Wow...I made about six typing errors coming to grips with that first sentence...Anyhow, Rafe talks about Dianne Watts running for the Conservatives.  Which isn't all that interesting.  Until he starts talking about how useless the life of a backbench MP are.  Makes you understand all the hooting and hollering in the House, doesn't it?  Wouldn't we be better off if we all just decided this was a farce?  If all MP's are there for is to vote how they're told...shit...must be a better way to do things?

I must admit that I have some strange tendencies.  All it takes to bring me on side is a bit of grovelling.  I love an underdog.  I think that's why I hated Lance Armstrong so much.  Now that he's sad and apologetic he's coming around for me.  And now Paul Calandra,  I can't help but feel a bit sorry for him.  I mean, his responses in Parliament were absolutely idiotic.  But there's no way he came up with that all on his own.  Now...hung out to dry.  This is the Conservative Modus Operandi.  My question is this: How come they put so many questionable people into positions of authority to begin with?  Bev Oda.  Paul Calandra.  Dean Del Mastro.  Mike Duffy.  Pamela Wallin.  That other guy.  On and on it goes.  And...we still don't really have answers as to what is happening in Iraq.

Statoil is backing out of an OilSands project.  This is interesting for two reasons.  First, does this signify a larger problem within the OilSands?  Second, how come every other fucking country on this earth is allowed to have a state oil company invested in our OilSands, except for us?

Is there anything worse than somebody who wants to "advise" on an issue and not get involved in any other way?  I laughed a bit when our contribution to the ISIS fight was 60 or so military advisors.  Now we might send some planes...really fucking old planes.

The Canadian 1% is still a bit sad.  $191,000 in yearly salary gains you entry.  I mean...must be nice.  But you're basically an American shoeshine boy with that money.

Andrew Scheer does not respond kindly towards questioning of his impartiality.

I actually kind of like Jason Kenney's recent responses on Temporary Foreign Workers.  We'll see if there's any substance to it.  If we're going to sell out the country in the name of jobs, let's at least make sure people can get jobs and salaries go up a bit.  Nobody should have sympathy for Alberta companies complaining that they can't hire cheap foreign labour.

It's tough to figure what Steve is thining about the UN these days.  I mean, don't show up for the climate conference, but show up for dinner?  And then re-announce an announcement that we already announced a few years ago?  That basically does nothing but bring us in line with US Regulations?  At least we brought some cash...Canada forks out a bit of UN money for Ebola...and some more UN money for a maternal health initiative.

This needs to be read because it's just too weird.  A murdered man in France had stolen the identity of Glenn Miller...and was living the life of a washed up Canadian "rockstar".

I'll start by pointing out the obvious.  Nobody thinks this is a good thing or should have happened.  The question is what we should do about it?  The response to the murder of a Surrey teen by a recently released High Risk Offender has been about what you would expect.  I'd like to see a happy medium between keep-everybody-in-jail-forever and do-absolutely-nothing-once-high-risk-offenders-are-released-except-deliver-a-warning.

The Cons look to shaft everybody by re-introducing their union finance law, ignoring the recommendations of the Senate, and limiting debate on the whole sordid affair.  Nothing to see here, folks.

So, ya, there is an argument for stripping terrorists of their passports.  But that comes at a cost.  And I don't trust these assholes enough to give them the right to start stripping citizenship, especially with the loose definition of "terrorist" these days.

Some more info on North Korean refugees.  The reason we don't accept them?  Well, Chris Alexander sucks.  And the loophole seems to be that since South Korea will accept North Koreans, they're no longer considered to be refugees in Canada's eyes.  Which is some fucking loophole.

Regicide - Week 160 - May 19-26

Huh.  Regicide obviously wasn't the term I was looking for...we'll leave it though.  Make you think it's some sort of cryptic commentary on something.  I was certain Regicide was correct...

It seems like the Conservatives can't even play by the rules with their own elections.  The Eve Adams nomination battle gets nastier, and the nomination election is called off.  It's okay though.  Demetri Soudas did it all for love, so it's fine.

We often play second fiddle to the US military, but we've now proven we can be contenders with the best of them...Sexual assault within the Canadian military is out of control, just like in the US.

Some current Conservative MP's have been busy developing an app for the next election.  To help the Conservatives get re-elected.  Not helping society or anything.

With world leaders like this, I think everything is going to turn out great...The US House Science Committee has banned the US Military from studying climate change.

The Harper Government has definitively proven through a self funded study that the Canada/Columbia free trade deal has had no negative impacts on human rights abuses.

The Straight explains why the Conservatives new citizenship rules might not be all that great.  Beware dual citizens who commit crimes.  Or are accused of committing crimes by shady people.

Lots of Canadians have just given up on looking for work.  Which is odd as the number of Temporary Foreign Workers has tripled in certain areas.  These people need to run as Conservative candidates or something...This former (failed) candidate received several government contracts, both before and after she ran.

I feel like I'm missing something here.  The wife of the soldier that Omar Khadr killed is suing him for $50 Million.  I mean...say what you will about the craziness of soldiers families suing people over deaths and what that might mean for society.  But do Guantanamo inmates make a lot more money than I think they do?

To expand on last weeks link about oil spill clean-up costs...A 1 Billion limit to liability...an expected 10 Billion cost for clean-up.  Insane.  Also sited in this story, recent trade deals promised the EU and India that they could import as many temporary foreign workers as they wanted if they establish business in Canada.  This is a problem.  With that, we have an interesting behind-the-scenes on a farce of an Oil Sands Spill clean-up project.

Garth shows a diagram from the Georgia Straight that shows non-resident ownership in Vancouver is quite low.  But doesn't link to the article.  Which is pretty lame.

Interesting research on global morality...things such as drinking, premarital sex, contraceptive use and abortion.  Diving in to abortion...only 26% of Canadians think abortion is immoral (and is roughly the same amount of people that think gambling is immoral).  And I'm betting the Venn diagram of Conservative Voters/Immoral Abortion Judgers is two nearly concentric circles.  So maybe Trudeau will be alright?  Because the Catholics hate him.

This is a bit rich.  Maxime Bernier speculates that the Liberals coming to power could cause Quebec to separate.  Because the Conservatives have done so much to make Quebec feel welcome.

Sandbaggin' - Week 153 - Mar 31-April 7

Leona Aglukkaq points out that the Conservatives are doing really well with cutting CO2 when you compare the real world numbers to imaginary ones that they made up.

Beautiful.  I love this article.  Why would we sell our oil resources so cheaply?  Other countries have proven that oil companies will pay to get at this non renewable resource.

Don't you love it when bad things happen to bad people?  I had no idea that Dimitri Soudas' fiance was Eve Adams.  They seem like the kind of couple that brings out the worst in each other through reinforcement of shared bad qualities.  This article reminded me that this definitely isn't the first weird Conservative relationship fiasco.  Eve Adams seems like a bad person.  So does Dimitri.

Sheila Fraser comes out against the "Fair Elections" Act.  Calls it...well...calls it lots of bad things.  Conservatives are up in arms because She has taken $2500 in payment from Elections Canada.  So of course she is biased in wanting them to continue as an organization.  Of how about this..."Of course we can't trust her...another arm of government gave her some money!"

I remember reading somewhere about...I think it was Team America...where they added a few scenes that were just so over the top so they could focus the censors on a couple of things that they were willing to cut and just slide through the rest of the things they wanted.  I feel like vouching is just that for the Conservatives.  "Let's add some really stupid ideas, fight hard for them for a month or so, then cave in on one of them so we can force the rest of our stupid ideas through."

Some more Michael Sona/Robocalls info is coming out.  Seems like it most likely wasn't just Michael Sona.

I was a toddler when the USSR got its ass handed to it by Afghanistan.  How many thousands of movies have been made about not fucking with Afghanistan?  Yet Peter MacKay says things like "I don't think the ferocity of the mission perhaps dawned on even military leaders, let alone political leaders of two different governments,"  What an idiot.  Delusional idiot.

The fake Rob Ford election signs have inspired me.  Come the next election, I'd like to create some election signs for Pre-PM Stephen Harper running against current Stephen Harper.  These comments about election reform are perfect.

Justin Trudeau swore at a boxing match.

The Conservatives are freaking out about some things Justin Trudeau said about Israel and Iran.  Unfortunately, he didn't say them.

This guy thinks that Stephen Harper is trying to criminalize criticism of Israel.

A nice little summary piece of how terrible Stephen Harper is.

Nobody seems to be able to make sense of Poor Irwin Cotler getting poisoned in Russia.

No surprise.  Canada's richest now have a lot more money.

A pretty great comment on GM recalls and how this calls bullshit on the need for high paid CEO's.  When the CEO of GM has no idea what is going on and shirks all responsibility, why do we pay her millions?

This article, sort of, lays out how Private Equity works and why it is bad.  Simple, yet difficult to follow.

An article pointing out the science deniers on the US House Science Committee.  Yikes.

Not Like the Norwegians - Week 150 - March 10-17

My favorite section of my favorite article of the week.  At one iconic meeting in 1974 the Norwegian government announced to a delegation of oil companies that they were raising the level of taxation on petroleum profits to 90 per cent from 50. After the shouting had died down, the minister expressed disappointment that some of them did not walk away from their offshore leases. "We should have taken more," he admonished his bureaucrats in full view of the enraged oil executives.

If you can't ignore science or advice from experts, the next best thing is a selective reading of it, with a total bastardization of the facts used to justify your opinion.  Pierre Polievre has been accused of just that with his use of a report on election fraud.

We're pulling out of Afghanistan.

I'm not really feeling very good about what is going on with Quebec right now.  If this leads to the break-up of Canada, the Conservatives will deserve their fair share of the blame.

The Tyee points out that the "good guys" in the Ukraine are pretty terrible themselves.

Former Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page speaks about forecasting recessions, fighter jets, cuts to libraries and science, old age security and on and on.  Very interesting.  He does not paint the Conservatives as any sort of open and transparent.

Of course Stephen Harper thinks it's unacceptable for the Truckers to be striking.  How dare they hold up Canadian trade!  They need to just be happy that they even have jobs before these inconsequential humans are replaced by truck driving robots.  I find the dichotomy interesting...the work they are doing is so important that they must get back to work before they screw up the country...but how dare they expect more money and don't they know they're lucky they even have a job and how dare they actually think they matter?  Joseph Heller would be proud.

CIBC sticks it to Mark Carney for stickin' it to Canada.  Stickin' in with a high dollar and high housing prices.

Canada's navy ships, and shipbuilding program, appear to be in a bit of trouble.

Michael Geist likes the South Korean free trade agreement!  No crazy anti-piracy provisions.  This is a low hurdle to clear.

The Winnipeg Free Press points out that Vic Toews made terrible decisions before he became a judge.

I think I like Kevin Spacey more now.  Netflix must be pissed though...like 10,000 assholes in Toronto won't be watching House of Cards now.

Don't Listen to Anyone - Week 147 - Feb 17-24

A steady theme with this Conservative government is that they refuse to listen to anybody.  Scientists, academics, judges, bureaucrats...these are all people who just don't know what they're talking about.  An internal document prepared by Employment and Social Development Canada has pointed out that the wages and earnings of the middle class in Canada haven't gone anywhere in decades.  Of course, the Conservatives can't abide by this.  The report reflects “the period of time under the previous Liberal government” says a spokesperson for Jason Kenney.  Nothing to worry about.

Then you have reports that Gail Shea re-opened the commercial herring roe fishery despite recommendations from DFO scientists.  What do those guys know?


In a similar vein, a judge in British Columbia has refused to adhere to the Conservatives minimum sentencing rules.  But what on earth would a judge know about what's best for sentencing a criminal?

A doctor says that a young lady is really responding to her medical marijuana treatment and her mother suggests that she won't be able to continue her treatment once she is unable to grow her own when new policies kick in.  Don't they know how dangerous it is to even think about marijuana?

Good thing we won't have to worry about scientists any more.  This post suggests that we will lose 5,064 Federal Government "science" jobs in the next few years.  Don't worry though.  I'm sure the private sector will step in and start completing all this research on behalf of Canadians.  After all, if it's important, there must be a profit somewhere.  And the greatness will trickle down.

Experts have been telling Stephen Harper for years that oil shipments by rail are going to rise dramatically.  I'm not saying it's his fault that trains are blowing up across the country...but you'd think that you might have pumped some money into rail safety, no?

A study has confirmed that Oil Sands tailings are leaching into groundwater and rivers.  Don't these scientists know that there are jobs at stake?

In similar news, an energy company in northern Alberta chased a family from their ranch with toxic gas clouds.  They'll only help them financially if they sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Rex Murphy is in a bit of trouble for accepting money from Oil Sands companies while belittling Neil Young for having an opinion, and otherwise serving as an Oil Sands mouthpiece.

Land set aside as grazing areas for Arctic Reindeer has been offered up for Oil and Gas exploration.  Reindeer don't need jobs.  And they certainly don't need subsidies like all these big oil companies do.

Federal Ministers keep visiting Kitimat, but don't meet with councillors or local government.  What's going on?

I love it.  The punishment for exceeding donation laws by over 4 times?  The campaign has to refund him his own money!  So, let's see:
1) Need a quick cash infusion for the election.
2) Throw down some fat stacks from your personal account.
3) Wait 3 years for Elections Canada to figure it out.
4) Get a full refund on the money you kicked in.
Where's the downside?

The Conservatives are angry that a Liberal former general received the (managed by a third party) moving (and legal) expenses to which he was entitled.  Note that the Auditor General reported that this was a crazy program back in 2006.  The Cons didn't seem all that concerned until this week.

It's been pointed out that the "average family" used in the Conservatives sales job for income splitting are far from average.  Huge wage gains in the last few years and a household income $50,000 more than the median in Canada?  Sounds pretty average to me.  Oh.  Wait.  Maybe they're talking about "real" Canadians.  You know?  Albertans.

Another Conservative job well done.  Prisons.  Where prisoners die due to poor health care and lack of review and follow-up.  Maybe that's part of the tough-on-crime agenda?

The Oil Sands workers laid off in favour of Temporary Foreign Workers have not been hired back yet.  They hired some different ones instead.  Maybe?

It's interesting that the ruling that a Canadian ISP has to give up user data in a copyright lawsuit is being reported as a big win for entertainment companies.  While the ISP does have to give up user data, the judge is making it fairly difficult for US style copyright trolling to take place.

"Justin Trudeau kicks off Liberal convention with partisan speech" says the headline.  Really?  I would have thought a political party convention was a perfect place to cozy up to the Conservatives.

Interesting.  The government has opened up "public consultation" on prostitution laws.

Tim Hudak essentially wants to privatize all government services?  Well that sounds like a dandy idea.  What could possibly go wrong with that?

Did the ruling party in the Ukraine pay Conservative bloggers in the US to spread their message?  Maybe.

I haven't read The Signal and the Noise (or whatever Nate Silver's book is called).  But apparently he takes global warming to task.  As did the Freakanomics guys.  This is why they got it wrong...basically...your models that apply to other things don't necessarily work with climate change.

New York State is mulling a ban on microbeads in soaps and shampoos.  Which is great.  But how are we not mulling other options?  Such as suing the shit out of companies that created an environmental disaster via a ridiculous product?

Patrick Brazeau lands job at strip club.  Sounds about right.

PIPELINE!!!!! - Week 118 - July 29 - August 6

Did everybody disappear to some magical, secret, pipeline conference last week?  Goodness.

Obama calls bullshit on Keystone XL projected jobs numbers.

Stephen Harper counters with his own full court press on Keystone.

More pipelines, as the East-West pipeline becomes somewhat more official.  At least we would be refining this stuff in Canada...

In a related note...

Strange this story isn't really showing up in Canadian newspapers all that much.  CBC covered it a bit.  But Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. seems unable to control a tar sands oil leak.

Huh.  A pretty interesting Tyee article on our inherent hang-ups and prejudices that help fuel the climate change debate.

The train company that blew up Lac Megantic still hasn't paid any money to victims.  Further stressing why we need so many pipelines, right Steve?

Somebody stole some pride parade flags in Fort McMurray and lit them on fire.

Something just seems really seedy and sordid about this.  You've already been elected Premiere and you make some very specific promises to your own riding if they elect you?  It doesn't sound like a whole lot of money, but it just kind of feels wrong.  Not to mention the recently elected MLA resigning just so you can run in an expensive by election because you weren't able to get yourself elected in your home City.  Thanks Kelowna.

Do you think they hold meetings to figure this shit out beforehand?  "Okay, you make a proclamation about marijuana legalization so that we can hit up our donors, and in return we'll make something up about abortion so you have something for your guys."

As Canadian jobless numbers have gone up, so have the number of "Temporary Foreign Workers".  I'm guessing corporate profits have gone up as well.

A long Macleans article on Stephen Harpers official bastardization of Canadian History.  I should add "depressing" into the description as well.

Patrick Brazeau...bad things...worse than we had before suspected...don't need to know anything else about this.  Wish this guy would just go away.

Another video of the Toronto police shooting has emerged.  The kid was most definitely on that tram alone.

Late addition - Okay.  What a bunch of fucking assholes!  Holy shit, this is some crazy spin.  Crazy!  Let's pick this apart a bit.
"Hottest Month of the Year so Far" - I'm guessing July is generally the "hottest of the year so far" every single year - More homes sell in the summer.  31 days compared to June's 30.  August hasn't happened yet...Fuck off.
"Busiest since July 2009" - Sooooo...what does that actually mean?  That was a whole 4 years ago!

Benchmark price is actually down.  And this is a completely made up number by the Real Estate industry in the first place!  Fuck these guys can spin.  Fuck I hate the real estate industry.

Selling Out the Country - Week 84 - Dec 3-10

So.  A Chinese state-owned oil company is allowed to buy a chunk of our Oil Sands.  A Malaysian state-owned oil company is allowed to buy a chunk of our Oil Sands.  Why don't we just run the whole place with a Canadian state-owned oil company instead?  No.  That's crazy talk.  Commie.

I don't think there is any comment required beyond the headline here: "Minister for Canada’s foreign aid agency says he was unaware of its key principles"

This is kind of a sad commentary of where we are and actually a personal justification for why I am doing this in the first place.  The Conservatives are trying to jam through another Omnibus budget bill.  And the Conservatives are limiting debate.  And I've just ignored it for the last few days.  I've come to accept that this is just the way that things happen.  And that's pretty fucking scary.

Interestingly, the morning after the Omnibus Budget vote I'm looking at the National Post and there is absolutely nothing on their front page and nothing on their "Canada" page either.  I guess it isn't newsworthy to them.  In fact, when I search "omnibus" on their site, absolutely nothing comes up.

Oh man.  Ohmanohman.  I'm going to quote an entire passage from this article on the latest Omnibus Bill.
As the final group of amendments proposed by the opposition went to a vote late Tuesday night, the NDP began to chant "2015," a reference to the next federal election, which is when they say the Harper government will be held accountable for the bill. (CBC's Kady O'Malley reported that the Conservatives chanted back, "Carbon tax. Carbon tax.)

A pretty fantastic opinion piece outlining just how fucked up Stephen Harper's policies are with respect to Israel and Foreign Policy.

Speaking of which.  We've voted for Israel again on an even more one-sided UN vote.  This time, only 6 countries voted with Israel (USA, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau)  against a UN resolution calling for Israel to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.  As well, there were only 6 abstentions this time.  Slate explains why we might be on the wrong side here.

Not only are we blindly supporting Israel.  Now we're no longer going to provide any aid to Palestine.  As punishment for the rest of the World voting in their favour in a UN vote.

Boingboing provides a nice summary to the changes in the Navigable Waters Act.  Good info in the comments as well.

Looks like Stephen Harper's war on crime is working really well!  Homicide rates rise 7%.  The first time it has risen in a long, long time.

The Conservatives have learned from the various copyright lobbies.  Just keep trying until something sticks!  Didn't work?  Change it a bit and try again.  A Conservative MP proposes "condemning" sex selective abortion.


A great article from Slate debunking some recent claims on how there is no Global Warming.  I love, love, love this claim that all of these scientists that claim "Global Warming" just do it to keep the gravy train rolling.  Yes, thousands of scientists around the World have advanced a singular conspiracy just so they can keep their probably-mediocre-level-of-income gravy train rolling.  All those oil and gas companies that are making billions of dollars have absolutely no economic interest in this fight.  It's those greedy scientists!  Nor surprisingly, the article that is being debunked originates from the National Post.

I had to look long and hard to find any other reference to this story that I saw while perusing a Metro paper while waiting for my Breakfast Club.  There isn't any.  Anyhow, this is very interesting.  First, Stephen Harper did the right thing?  He rejected some insane proposals created by Vic Toews "firearms advisory committee".  These claims included easing restrictions on handguns and assault rifles and increasing gun control licenses from 5 year to 10 year terms.  So, good job.  But, my next...why do we have a "firearm advisory committee"?  Why is the committee composed almost entirely of firearms advocates and why is the head of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police not allowed on it?

The Harper Government has delayed enacting a law requiring every gun sold in the country to have a unique serial number.  Really?  They don't need one now?  But, as the article kind of mentions, it doesn't really matter any longer because we have no idea who has the guns anyhow.

Don't worry!  Everything is fine!  Sales numbers have dropped by 30% but look at the prices!  They're still okay!

Another story on potential Copyright Lawsuits.  I like that this one points out that the government promised that this wouldn't happen while they were putting together this legislation.

This is why we shouldn't give the Copyright Companies more control over our computers:  They don't even know what is on their own.  This story from Boingboing outlines attempts by various networks and studios to shut down "infringing content", some of which was their own websites.

I really like this story via boingboing about how some companies are saving money and improving product by relocating manufacturing to the United States.  Two points:
1) One, as an engineer that buys lots of expensive equipment, I'm very often surprised by how quite often the best equipment is also the cheapest equipment.  Not always, but it often seems like for two relatively similar parts, the company that does a better job of designing it and building it often can make it cheaper.  Great design transcends.
2) How long until somebody thinks "wait a minute...with all these production efficiencies that we've designed in, imagine how much cheaper we could make it in China!"
3) I'm also reminded of an argument I had a few years ago with my brother.  "My economics prof says that the Porsche Boxster is the cheapest car to manufacturer in the world!  And they sell it for $60,000!"  I pointed out to him that maybe it was possible that they manufactured it with the cheapest amount of labour as compared to any other car due to it's modular design and modern factory but that it was impossible for a leather upholstered, high performance engined, mag wheeled, high dollar suspensioned sports car to cost less to make than a Geo Metro.  But no, he wouldn't agree with me.

Dismissal of Criticism - Week 23 - Oct 3-11

Just for fun, I plugged "Harper Dismisses Criticism" (no quotations) into the old google machine.  I got 1,960,000 results.  That seems like a lot.

Update - Sorry...this is late, but it's my new favourite story of the week.  Stephen Harper requested 14 tickets for the Jets home opener.  They gave him 2.

I feel like any law is going to have weird, unintended consequences, no matter how noble it's intentions.  So, I'm not a fan of latching on to the obscure losers in the Copyright sweepstakes.  But...still...any law that gives blind people the shaft is probably not a great one.

Are there any consequences for this government?  Was it Patton Oswald who said of George Bush "I'd be happy if he accepted the blame for a chewing gum wrapper on the White House lawn at this point."?  Anyhow, Bob Dechert appears to walk away unscathed from his extra-marital dalliance with a foreign "journalist".

Stephen Harper annonces the demise of the per vote subsidy.  Ya...this is sure to cut back on the number of elections.  We'll see if they turn off the per-person limit as well.  Let's crunch some numbers...this is a bit of a wanky analysis, but we'll use their research.  From last year:

Conservatives - 17.4 Million Earned - 27.9 Million Subsidy - 45.3 Million Total
Liberals - 7 Million Earned - 14.3 Million Subsidy - 21.3 Million Total
NDP - 4.4 Million Earned - 9.5 Million Subsidy - 13.9 Million Total

If you look at the totals, Cons/Libs is about 2.12:1.  Cons/NDP is 3.25/1.  If you look at only the earned amount, Cons/Libs is about 2.48/1 and Cons/NDP is 3.95/1.  So, the Conservatives have increased their advantage, but it's perhaps not as extreme as some may think.  As well, the Conservatives had the most to gain with their increased vote numbers, and then probably the NDP.  Either way, the Liberals were going to take a funding hit.  It's actually probably not super bad news for them, as their competition is no longer getting a much larger cheque than they would have (their 14.3 Million subsidy would have been chopped while the Cons and NDP went up).  Unfortunately, I don't expect them to stop there.  After all, what's more democratic than letting anybody or any entity contribute as much money as they'd like?

I don't know what to think of this next one.  A private member's bill suggests that unions should be subject to financial disclosure laws.  Nobody seems to have a direct idea as to why this is bad, but it merely suggests the possibility of something bad that could potentially happen.  So I'm going to give him a pass on this one.

Why don't we hear more about the Elections Canada case against the Conservatives?  This less-than-mainstream publication points out that the trial is most likely to be delayed again.

The parties actually teamed up to make some headway on something!  The Liberals suggested a national suicide prevention strategy and the Conservatives agreed.

Remember the 50-million-dollar Muskoka slush fund?  Well, turns out Tony Clement was, for some reason, using his personal e-mail account to converse with the Mayor of Huntsville on exactly how he should be spending the money.  We only know this because somebody was able to track down the messages through the Mayor's e-mails.  And the Auditor General agrees that things don't really add up here.

Apparently the crazy new flag law wouldn't apply within Parliament Hill Offices.  As there's a law that supercedes that law that prevents flags from flying within the offices.  So, basically, the Parliamentary Precinct Standards would break the new flag though.  This is an outrage!  Why are the Parliamentary Precinct Standards so anti-Canadian?

Some crazy idiots want to know the details of the new Canada/US North American Security agreement.  Ya...like it matters what the US plans on doing on Canadian soil to increas their security.  Terrorism!  Illegal immigrants!  Isn't that enough information?  Now, what exactly is "perimeter security"?  I don't think they're talking about all of the people that sneak through the arctic.  They're probably not too concerned about boats flooding the various coastlines.  So I think they're probably talking about massive airport crackdowns.  And the "carrot" is that cross-boarder traffic and waits will be reduced?  Ya.  Probably.  And it's only a billion dollars.  Peanuts, really.

Maybe Stephen Harper is on to something with his War of 1812 education project?  It still seems a bit off to me, somehow.  But Canadians knowing a bit more about their history isn't really a bad thing.  I just don't really trust his reasons for doing this.

The Government expands its unwillingness to negotiate on RCMP deals out to Newfoundland and PEI.  I don't think that expanding the number of Provinces pissed off about a situation is a great bargaining tactic.

Bonus culture hits the public sector.  Tony Clement offers up fat bonuses (well...promises not to take away fat bonuses) to public service heads that help him make his cuts.  In similar budget cutting news, the government is expecting $200 in savings for every $1 spent on consultants.  Which nails it for me that these guys don't know what they're doing.  Have you ever worked with consultants?  I have no question that they'll come up with $200 in expected savings.  Unfortunately I expect that $200 will turn into a cup of coffee and a donut once reality hits.

Stephen Harper continues his rhetoric against the evelist of evils...The Canadian Wheat Board.  Indeed, the train "barreling down a prairie track" is going to stop for no-one, so you're better to "get on it than lie on the tracks."  Wait...is this about wheat or about trains?

Finally, this outlines some of the money spent in the last year to influence American decision makers on the Keystone pipeline.  This Government doesn't mind spending money or helping people out.  It just needs to be about oil.

Flexing the Muscles - Week 22 - Sept 26 - Oct 3

What an awesome way to set the tone for your new government.  Limit debate on your cornerstone piece of legislation to two days.  Way to suggest that you're eager to work with the other parties in Parliament.  Other ways Stephen Harper could suggest that he's eager to create a great working Government:
- Limit opposition party members to two appetizers at the next inter-Parliament mixer
- Limit visiters interaction with his kitten to two quick pats on the head
- Allow two questions from the media at each campaign stop during the next election campaign

Tough on Crime?  Tougher on the budget.  Just one of the Omnibus crime bills is going to end up costing a few billion dollars over the next five years.  The original estimate was a whole lot less.  And a BC Supreme Court Judge has suggested that the new legislation will become a "strain on the bench."

Things get worse for Peter MacKay.  He was the guest of a man recently named head of a crown corporation.  Which is pretty cozy.  And even worser...3 million worth of flights in the last 4 years?  Yikes.  Our buddy Steve comes to his defense...but his numbers don't really add up.

The Conservatives have lost their battle to close the Insite Safe Injection Site.  Which is pretty awesome.

Here's an interesting editorial pointing out some of the fallacies of "ethical oil".  I knew that tar sands require a crazy amount of energy to extract the oil (approximately 1/5 of the energy extracted is required for production), but this is the first I've heard that it requires crazy amounts of oil to extract the oil.

Another Conservative law to fix something that isn't a problem.  Some car-dealership-owning-Conservative-MP is proposing a private members bill that would prevent people from preventing other people from displaying the Canadian flag.  By giving them jail time.  Says the article "It is not clear how he came up with the bill and what his motivation for it is."  I guess he has personal experience with the scourge of flag-flying-prevention sweeping the nation.  Shouldn't there be some mechanism within the Conservative party to prevent rookie MP's from embarrassing themselves like this?

Speaking of backbench MP's speaking out when they shouldn't...one of them is rankled about some funding going to an organization that provides abortions.  And another one.

Well.  Here it is.  Copyright legislation has been tabled.  Exactly as it was before.  This will make it illegal for you to jailbreak your iPhone.  This is legislation that was dictated to the Canadian government by an American industry lobby.  This legislation is a result of the Canadian Government asking the US Government to produce more public pressure so that they could justify it to Canadians.  I don't think it's a great idea.

Here's a lesson in media bias.  From the Globe - "RCMP won't pull out of BC if Province signs on to new deal"  From the Vancouver Sun - "Feds threaten to withdraw BC RCMP services if as contract talks break down"   Sounds like good faith bargaining to me.

And NDP MP points out that we're about to sell nuclear assets for $15 Million...after pumping $183 Million into them.  Six months ago.

Stephen Harper has decided that a war that our country didn't even fight is worth a lot of celebration.  I don't really get it.  Yes, it shaped our nation.  So did glaciers and smallpox.

Lastly, Steve probably shouldn't go meddling in Provincial politics as a new poll suggests that his talk of a "Tory Trifecta" scared the hell out of people.

Laying Waste - Week 21 - Sept 19-26

It's the first week back in Parliament and Stephen Harper isn't even there.  He is busy in New York trying to prove that he is relevant on the international stage with his comments on Palestine.  He even earned a thank-you from Israel.

He also took some time to talk about the Keystone pipeline, and explained that it should be a "no brainer" for the US to approve it.  He's right.  Why wouldn't the US want a pipeline that magically gets filled with our raw, un-processed oil products?  Why would we agree to do this for them?  This is crazy, for so many reasons.  "Ethical Oil" and all that.  On a similar note, the Saudis are getting a little bit tired about the whole thing and the Canadian Government proves that they're nothing more than an industry mouthpiece.

First on the agenda, the Omnibus Crime Bill.  Stats Canada just revealed that our crime rates are the lowest that they've been since the 1970's.  Sounds like a good time to announce sweeping "fixes".  There's a good editorial here.

As well, the Tories have announced a $20-Million dollar contract (or $90,000 a day,as the Globe puts it) to "save money".  They didn't really follow standard government tendering protocols either.  Sometimes you have to spend money to save money...so I won't be too critical.

The former Chief Statistician comes out swinging over the decision to scrap the mandatory long form census.  Pssh.  Experts.  What do they know?  I mean...this guy probably only spent years in school and his entire career working on statistics and demographics, determining the best way to formulate a coherent picture of the make-up of our country so that we can best design government policy.  Why would his opinion matter?  More here and here.

Government waste doesn't count when it's your government doing the waste.  Apparently Peter Mackay used a search-and-rescue helicopter to fly home from a vacation at a remote fishing lodge.  But it's okay, because he was participating in a "search-and-rescue" demonstration.  A demonstration put together at the last minute.  At his request.  But he cut his vacation short because of it.  Oh...And a Challenger jet flight home on the same day.  I think Peter McKay is one of the better Conservatives out there...although it's kind of his fault we had the merger, isn't it?...it sounds like he had some support from military brass based on this link.  But it's still kind of stupid.

The Conservatives start to get serious on their talk about reducing/eliminating funding for the CBC.  I love that they go on Sun News to talk about it.

And speaking of dismantling...I don't really understand what the wheat board does.  I can wrap my head around the basics of why it might be desirable.  I can't for the life of me decide why somebody would put energy into getting rid of it.