This didn't get much play, but I think that this is a perfect little representation of this Government. The Conservatives are upset because Quebec is benefitting from a bill that BC, Alberta and Ontario are supposed to benefit from. Are they going to yell at Stephen Harper for bringing Quebec along on the trip to Dairy Queen as well? Don't worry though, Cons. There's a provision to take the ice cream away if their population doesn't keep up.
A memo has circulated within government suggesting that scrapping the gun registry could lead to an increase in illegal weapons crossing the border. Of course, the Conservatives disagree. Stupid "experts" getting in the way of positive change. Who cares about assault rifles coming over the border anyhow. I mean...if we try to put a lid on that I'm going to have to fill out a form and pay a one-time fee of $60. What? The fee is waived if I'm a hunter? And I don't have to pay it when I renew?
Noted progressive activists (South Africa) are taking Canada to task for not supporting extending the Kyoto protocol. Damn pinko bastards, making it hard for an honest country to make a living.
Hey. Why not? It worked in Guantanamo. Part of the Omnibus crime legislation would eliminate visitation rights to inmates in segregation. That, right there is going to cut back on serious amounts of crime. Just last week, I was getting ready to steal some mangoes. I stopped and I thought about it for a minute. But then I was all like "I'll still get visitors if I end up in segregation." So I pocketed those mangoes, shot the storekeeper and made a nice mango pudding for dessert.
An NDP MP says what we're all thinking. Why is the story about an NDP MLA swearing? Why isn't it about the Conservatives cutting off discussion on the budget? I actually just took the trouble to log in to Twitter and follow him. That brings my total for number of people that I follow to 7. And my lone tweet is for an ICBC drivesmart contest to win a Fiat 500. I'm so modern. Further analysis from the Globe and Mail seems to get it right.
The Conservatives are planning to use a Wheat Board contingency fund, essentially money that belongs to the members of the wheat board, to pay for the dismantling of the Wheat Board. Sorry. Pay for the "shift to a free market". That's sort of like the Indian charter company holding its passengers hostage in a foreign country for fuel money. Actually. No. It's worse than that.
Even some of Steve-O's little buddies are starting to think that this support for asbestos mining doesn't make much sense. Although, if abstaining from a vote counts as backbone these days, it's kind of sad.
Not about Canada...but a terrific Salon piece about Americaland and how the root of many of its problems can be traced back to a "blame the victim" mentality. It is truly stunning.
As well, the story links to a great page highlighting the actual numbers paid in taxes by the various classes in the US. I'm actually most shocked that a $100,000 per year income puts you in the top 20% of American earners. $140,000 in the top 10%. The top 20% earn 60% of all American income. This compares to 51% (by my calculations) for Canada.
Fighter Jets! Now even the US is not 100% sure of their decision to purchase F-35's. The key line in this article? "Ottawa estimates its jets will cost between $70-million and $80-million each, even while acknowledging the current unit cost is well over $100-million (U.S.)." Are they expecting a dramatic rise in the Canadian dollar? I know everybody will find this to be an incredible surprise...but the Conservatives dismiss this criticism and assure us that everything is fine.
Next up for free trade? Jordan and Panama!
This is a funny story. Some Conservatives were late to a committee, a vote was held, the Conservatives lost. Later on they re-voted and won. And one of the late Conservatives may or may not be dating Dimitri Soudas. I'm not sure why that matters. But this story is funny.
And...never as simple as it sounds, but spending is up 22% since the Conservatives came to power.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Breaking Promises - Week 28 - Nov 7-14
Surprise, surprise. Jim Flaherty hints that the Conservatives probably won't stick to their campaign promise of balancing the budget by ...oh god...who even knows where their promise is now. 2015? 2016? It doesn't really seem to matter what the target is. They won't reach it. Wait. It's official now. And I could have this wrong...but they actually seem to be using this as as a chance to brag about their "flexibility" in dealing with the economy. That's some mighty strong lemonade. And this article points out all the other campaign promise dominoes that will fall because of this (income splitting, TFSA allotment increase, fitness tax credit, kids tax credit, fighter jets).
The Tyee has an opinion piece that makes my views on the Conservative government sound rosy and cheerful. At this point, I think it's a bit of a stretch to claim initiatives to increase charitable giving are the first strikes in a plan to erode social programs. But who knows?
It's hard to know what to think about the Air Canada labour dispute. On one hand, you're playing with fire when you reject the deal recommended by your own union. On the other, it's hard to bargain when you know the government/arbitrators are just going to impose something on you.
The Government seems to hint that there might actually be something to this whole "Global Warming" thing, and offer up $150 Million to study its effects over the next 5 years. Not studying how to get rid of it, mind you. Just studying its effects.
I'm all for eliminating vandalism to war memorials. But creating specific laws related to "mischief" around war memorials? Vandalism is a crime. Punish it. Let's not create a nefarious shadow group of laws that will allow us to throw somebody in jail if they pee a little bit too closely to a war memorial. This cries out for abuse. Are we going to paint a line around every war memorial to outline the "no mischief" area?
There's a projected 2-year delya in the F-35 Fighter Jets. Of course, for the Conservatives, there's "no problem". Just added costs. And extended timelines.
More signs that Piracy is really hurting large entertainment companies. The CEO of Viacom (Comedy Central, MTV, Paramount, etc) received a 148.6% raise and will now earn $84.5 Million per year. Hard times, indeed.
There's a plea deal to the Conservative election funding fiasco. Sounds like they get off pretty lightly.
A Globe article documents Canada's shift on Israel policy and UN votes. It's a bit of an implicit criticism of the UN as well, in my mind. Politicized vote after politicized vote, followed by a veto by somebody.
The Tyee has an opinion piece that makes my views on the Conservative government sound rosy and cheerful. At this point, I think it's a bit of a stretch to claim initiatives to increase charitable giving are the first strikes in a plan to erode social programs. But who knows?
It's hard to know what to think about the Air Canada labour dispute. On one hand, you're playing with fire when you reject the deal recommended by your own union. On the other, it's hard to bargain when you know the government/arbitrators are just going to impose something on you.
The Government seems to hint that there might actually be something to this whole "Global Warming" thing, and offer up $150 Million to study its effects over the next 5 years. Not studying how to get rid of it, mind you. Just studying its effects.
I'm all for eliminating vandalism to war memorials. But creating specific laws related to "mischief" around war memorials? Vandalism is a crime. Punish it. Let's not create a nefarious shadow group of laws that will allow us to throw somebody in jail if they pee a little bit too closely to a war memorial. This cries out for abuse. Are we going to paint a line around every war memorial to outline the "no mischief" area?
There's a projected 2-year delya in the F-35 Fighter Jets. Of course, for the Conservatives, there's "no problem". Just added costs. And extended timelines.
More signs that Piracy is really hurting large entertainment companies. The CEO of Viacom (Comedy Central, MTV, Paramount, etc) received a 148.6% raise and will now earn $84.5 Million per year. Hard times, indeed.
There's a plea deal to the Conservative election funding fiasco. Sounds like they get off pretty lightly.
A Globe article documents Canada's shift on Israel policy and UN votes. It's a bit of an implicit criticism of the UN as well, in my mind. Politicized vote after politicized vote, followed by a veto by somebody.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Tom Haverford is the 1% - Week 27 - Oct 31 - Nov 7
Tom Haverford said the greatest thing the other day. I'm not exactly sure how it relates to the current financial climate, but it feels about right. "They say you gotta spend money to make money. I don't know what went wrong. We spent all our money."
First up, Steve-O's privacy justification for destroying everything and anything to do with the gun registry is shot down. It's amazing when people use things that they absolutely hate as an excuse for doing something, itsn't it? Just wait until he decides to ban freedom because of "the environment". And once again those crazy "experts" are contradicting the Conservatives.
The Iraqi Information Minister (John Baird) sez "There's no problem with the 54,000 jobs lost last month. Everything is fine."
Quebec tells the federal government to pound sand on costs associated with the new crime bill. Which is right up there with Poutine on the list of awesome things that Quebec has done.
So, Canada has decided that it will punish UNESCO for recognizing Palestine by not providing them with any additional funding. This is kind of why the UN is a bit of a joke. There's just too many political statements. Too many vetoes. Too much deciding to just go along with the stuff that you agree with.
Wow. It sounds like John Baird is actually taking responsibility for the G8 slush fund. I'm not exactly sure what that means though. Maybe he just wants to collect the air miles or something?
Tough on Crime splits the Provinces. BC, Alberta and New Brunswick on board. Ontario and Quebec opposed. Wonder how they'll vote in the next election?
The Conservatives have decided to ban loans to political parties. On the surface, this seems like a good thing. More news on how much the Conservatives are ahead with fundraising as well.
And getting down to the serious business of governing, a Conservative MP decides to single out a Justin Trudeau speaking engagement at a Catholic High School (the big leagues) with taunts and name-calling. I think "Bad Catholic" would be a great name for a hair metal band. Wow...there's actually a "big beat/techno/christian" duo based on Vancouver called "To Bad Catholics". My hair metal project will need a new name.
Lots more copyright stuff. The Conservatives have admitted that their legislation probably isn't in the best interest of the average Canadian, but re-assure sceptics that most of the rules are unenforcable, so they shouldn't worry too much about it. Oh, and all that doom-and-gloom about piracy destroying the entertainment industry? Ya, not so much.
The Conservatives are going their own way with a non-french speaking auditor general, even though bilingualism is a prerequisite of the job. He promises to learn french over the next year. Why don't they wait until he does until they give him a job? In other job appointment news, the next supreme court nominee promises to apply for law school once his post is confirmed.
It's a moratorium! The Conservatives announce a 2-year moratorium on family reunification immigration applications as they attempt to clear the backlog. At least they have a contingency plan (10 year visas for those affected). Other moratoriums announced today:
- A two year moratorium on cancer treatments - The contingency pack includes a container of sunblock and a large hat.
- A two year moratorium on drivers licenses - The contingency pack includes a bus pass and a new pair of shoes.
First up, Steve-O's privacy justification for destroying everything and anything to do with the gun registry is shot down. It's amazing when people use things that they absolutely hate as an excuse for doing something, itsn't it? Just wait until he decides to ban freedom because of "the environment". And once again those crazy "experts" are contradicting the Conservatives.
The Iraqi Information Minister (John Baird) sez "There's no problem with the 54,000 jobs lost last month. Everything is fine."
Quebec tells the federal government to pound sand on costs associated with the new crime bill. Which is right up there with Poutine on the list of awesome things that Quebec has done.
So, Canada has decided that it will punish UNESCO for recognizing Palestine by not providing them with any additional funding. This is kind of why the UN is a bit of a joke. There's just too many political statements. Too many vetoes. Too much deciding to just go along with the stuff that you agree with.
Wow. It sounds like John Baird is actually taking responsibility for the G8 slush fund. I'm not exactly sure what that means though. Maybe he just wants to collect the air miles or something?
Tough on Crime splits the Provinces. BC, Alberta and New Brunswick on board. Ontario and Quebec opposed. Wonder how they'll vote in the next election?
The Conservatives have decided to ban loans to political parties. On the surface, this seems like a good thing. More news on how much the Conservatives are ahead with fundraising as well.
And getting down to the serious business of governing, a Conservative MP decides to single out a Justin Trudeau speaking engagement at a Catholic High School (the big leagues) with taunts and name-calling. I think "Bad Catholic" would be a great name for a hair metal band. Wow...there's actually a "big beat/techno/christian" duo based on Vancouver called "To Bad Catholics". My hair metal project will need a new name.
Lots more copyright stuff. The Conservatives have admitted that their legislation probably isn't in the best interest of the average Canadian, but re-assure sceptics that most of the rules are unenforcable, so they shouldn't worry too much about it. Oh, and all that doom-and-gloom about piracy destroying the entertainment industry? Ya, not so much.
The Conservatives are going their own way with a non-french speaking auditor general, even though bilingualism is a prerequisite of the job. He promises to learn french over the next year. Why don't they wait until he does until they give him a job? In other job appointment news, the next supreme court nominee promises to apply for law school once his post is confirmed.
It's a moratorium! The Conservatives announce a 2-year moratorium on family reunification immigration applications as they attempt to clear the backlog. At least they have a contingency plan (10 year visas for those affected). Other moratoriums announced today:
- A two year moratorium on cancer treatments - The contingency pack includes a container of sunblock and a large hat.
- A two year moratorium on drivers licenses - The contingency pack includes a bus pass and a new pair of shoes.
Monday, October 31, 2011
On Vacation - Weeks 25,26 - Oct 17-31
Worst post ever. Sorry. I've been away. A few things I noticed:
The fighter jet deal seems to have a few problems.
It's been raised that several Tory MP's may have a conflict of interest with any Wheat Board votes. Of course, everybody else is wrong.
Man. This really sucks.
The fighter jet deal seems to have a few problems.
It's been raised that several Tory MP's may have a conflict of interest with any Wheat Board votes. Of course, everybody else is wrong.
Man. This really sucks.
Monday, October 17, 2011
The 1 % - Week 24 - Oct 12-17
Okay. Enough with the link roundups. This start this week with something fresh. There's been a lot of talk of income inequality in the US. The Top 1% has 40% of the wealth, etc. How does Canada fare.
There's no numbers here, but this graph shows we're not quite as bad as the US. That's not quite what I'm looking for (The Gini coefficient does seem to be the standard for how these things are judged), but I guess it makes sense that we're somewhere in the middle, well behind Denmark but ahead of the US. It does suggest that we're getting worse.
That Stat doesn't really cover things. There's no nice comparable to the top 1% headline grabber in the US. Digging deeper, here is the motherload. Let's got to page 73, table 8-1. Assume 25 million people in Canada and that each household is 5 people. That might not sound quite right, but the assumptions should balance out in the end. So, 5 million households and each quintile is approximately 1 million. Average household wage is $61,000. Multiply that out, and we have $305 Billion in wages earned by Canadians. Of that, the bottom 20% earns an average of $7,100 per year. Which isn't much. The top 20% earns an average of $156,300. Let's multiply that out:
Bottom 20% - $7.1 Billion total earnings - 2.3% of total income
Top 20% - 156.3 Billion total earnings - 51% of total income
So the top 20% of Canadians earns 51% of the money in Canada. Not sure about the top 1%. And not sure about total "wealth". This isn't quite as tidy as I'd hoped to make this, but the Globe and Mail doesn't seem to be able to put a nice little bow on this story either. Update - According to this link, the top 20% of Americans earn 60% of the income. Our bottom 20% is actually worse off than the US, who earn 3.5% of total income.
Guess who thinks the old Liberal Government did a great job of running Canada's finances? Tony Clement! It's funny what these guys will say when they don't think Canada is listnening. Maybe Paul Martin will run for Liberal leader again?
I'm not really a union backer. But I kind of agree that Canada Post workers got royally screwed and I think a lawsuit is a good idea.
John Baird...When you want to give the impression that you're in it for the little people, don't fly in to a country that you've just "liberated" with executives from oil & gas, pipeline and engineering firms. It suggests that your motives may have been suspect.
There's no numbers here, but this graph shows we're not quite as bad as the US. That's not quite what I'm looking for (The Gini coefficient does seem to be the standard for how these things are judged), but I guess it makes sense that we're somewhere in the middle, well behind Denmark but ahead of the US. It does suggest that we're getting worse.
That Stat doesn't really cover things. There's no nice comparable to the top 1% headline grabber in the US. Digging deeper, here is the motherload. Let's got to page 73, table 8-1. Assume 25 million people in Canada and that each household is 5 people. That might not sound quite right, but the assumptions should balance out in the end. So, 5 million households and each quintile is approximately 1 million. Average household wage is $61,000. Multiply that out, and we have $305 Billion in wages earned by Canadians. Of that, the bottom 20% earns an average of $7,100 per year. Which isn't much. The top 20% earns an average of $156,300. Let's multiply that out:
Bottom 20% - $7.1 Billion total earnings - 2.3% of total income
Top 20% - 156.3 Billion total earnings - 51% of total income
So the top 20% of Canadians earns 51% of the money in Canada. Not sure about the top 1%. And not sure about total "wealth". This isn't quite as tidy as I'd hoped to make this, but the Globe and Mail doesn't seem to be able to put a nice little bow on this story either. Update - According to this link, the top 20% of Americans earn 60% of the income. Our bottom 20% is actually worse off than the US, who earn 3.5% of total income.
Guess who thinks the old Liberal Government did a great job of running Canada's finances? Tony Clement! It's funny what these guys will say when they don't think Canada is listnening. Maybe Paul Martin will run for Liberal leader again?
I'm not really a union backer. But I kind of agree that Canada Post workers got royally screwed and I think a lawsuit is a good idea.
John Baird...When you want to give the impression that you're in it for the little people, don't fly in to a country that you've just "liberated" with executives from oil & gas, pipeline and engineering firms. It suggests that your motives may have been suspect.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, October 3, 2011
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.
- 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.
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