Canada is F****d

When a government is elected to office they are there to govern.    They are servants of the people.  Not the other way around.

Every since Harper became PM, he has tried his level best to trade his title from PM to Dictator.  He does not care about Canada or Canadians.  He cares ONLY for himself.

I am livid over this so-called government.  So livid that I better not complete all my thoughts at this time.  The words Nazi, Hitler, PolPot and other names are rolling around in my head and I need to get outside in the cold to settle down.

Is Maria burned out?

Maria McRae, a strong proponent of Light Rail and chairperson of the Transportation committee, derailed the entire LRT program last night.  She was concerned that the federal and provincial government money would not be forthcoming so she voted against a recommendation of the current plan and then sneaked out the back door to her hearse car.

What's next, Maria?  You still have a chance to kill the emergency plan for the swans.

Let me set the stage for this issue.  Prior to the last municipal election, John "Screamer" Baird killed the N/S LRT plan to help elect a right-wing city council.  "Go back and figure it out then come back to me with something that I like," spouted Johnny.  Nobody blamed the Cons for the delay in the project or for the $57 million law suit the city faces by cancelling the contract with Siemens. 

The provincial government, when the plan was killed by Johnny, told the city that they will not get any funding, although the money has been set aside by the government, until they decide what their new plan will be.  For that, McGuinty was crapped all over, especially by our favourite local MPP, Lisa Head-in-the-Clouds.

Now the city has a new plan to put forward to the feds and provincial governments to have them decide on funding and what does the Transportation committee do?  They voted to send it to council without a recommendation. And Maria casts the deciding no vote.

Give it up, Ottawa City Council.  At this point in time I am ready to ask the Government of Ontario to dissolve council and install a trustee to run this city.

Sometimes I wish that Clive Doucet would take a walk in a snowstorm.

Clive Doucet, city councillor for the rich and the poor in centretown, champion of ultra-left and self-promoter extraordinaire, has been in municipal government since Col By founded this place and if were up to him nothing would have progressed since that time.  We would still have mud roads, horse and buggy and a Kresge store on every corner.  He takes a hold of every issue put before city council, washes through the morass of his own hundred years of experience and then announces that he has a better idea.

He is against roads in the suburbs.  He is against developing Landsdowne Park using plans put forward by local developers.   I am sure that he is also against people who have the audacity to not listen to him.  And that latter group, especially on council, is growing.

Come on Clive, get off your soap box and let's get this city moving.  Sometimes other people, including those stupid city staff, get things right.  Rather than just opposing everything... give an inch once in a while.

And finally, Clive, please announce that you will not run in the next election... for the sake of the citizens of all of Ottawa.

Tell me it isn't so?

Nanos Research polled 1100 Canadians between November 11 and November 15, 2008. (Random Telephone Survey of 1,000 Canadians, 18 years of age and older). A survey of 1,000 Canadians is accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.

Ballot Question: For those parties you would consider voting for federally, could you please rank your top two current local preferences? (Committed Voters Only - First Choice)

The numbers in parenthesis denote the change from the Federal Election.

Committed Voters - Canada (N=865, MoE ± 3.4%, 19 times out of 20)
Conservative Party 32% (-6)
Liberal Party 30% (+4)
NDP 20% (+2)
Green Party 10% (+3)
BQ 9% (-1)
(*Note: Undecided 14%)

Committed Voters - Western Canada (N=299, MoE ± 5.7%, 19 times out of 20)
Conservative Party 38% (-14)
Liberal Party 27% (+11)
NDP 23% (+1)
Green Party 13% (+5)
(*Note: Undecided 14%)

Even in the west the Cons are losing support, probably because they are seen to be incompetent and hesitant.

If you bail out the Big Three with no gain for Canada, kiss it goodbye, Stephen.

We are still getting hosed on Gas Prices

On July 10, 2008 the price of oil peaked at $146/barrel. On that date the average price of gasoline in Ontario was $1.36/litre.

According to gasbuddy.com on November 18, the oil price was $55/bbl, a drop of 63%. On this same date, the average Ontario gas price was $.72/litre, a drop of 41%.

Where's the rest of the money going?

And they can find no evidence of price gouging? It is right in front of your face! In case you think I am making these number up, check out the chart from www.ontariogasprices.com.

Living in Interesting Times

Are the insane running the asylum?  Certainly the managers are not.

Consider the blustery demand from OC Transpo's union boss that City Council shut up about labour issues and focus on governing the city.  Well, guess what?  Labour issues are city business and the fact that councillors are discussing it is only right.  Geez Louise, how flipping arrogant can you get.  Wages make up 50% of this city's budget.  Council should tell the union that talks are finished, tell the arbitrator that the cupboards are bare and then announce a wage freeze for one or two years.  If the arbitrator wants to ignore the city's financial problem, then lay-off every Transpo worker by announcing the sale of Transpo to the private sector.  You want to fight the people who actually own city hall, Mr. Union Boss?  We will give you a fight you could never dream of in your worst nightmare.

Don't forget this is the same union that blamed a mother because a bus drove off with her two year old after shutting the door in her face while she struggled to get on the bus with a stroller an another child.

Now I am on a roll.

It is time that city staff were told by council that arts and cultural funding is such a small part of the budget (It represents $7 million in a $2 billion budget.) that it is time that they quit trying to destroy the arts in Ottawa by their constant sniping at it.  Does cutting the $935 allotment to the Torbolton Historical Society sound like it is going to solve the problems of this city?  How about the the $24,000 cut to the Dragon Boat Festival?  The Dragon Boat Festival brings in thousands of competitors and tourists to Ottawa.  They spend money at stores, hotels and restaurants.  Those stores, hotels and restaurants pay taxes to the city.  For every $1 that the city gives the arts, heritage and festivals, they get back $1.50 in direct revenue - they recover their investment, with interest - and another $20 is earned in this community.  Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

When all is said and done, it is beyond the time when the ENTIRE city council must be replaced by new people with new ideas.  New councillors will not be carrying the baggage of past decisions.  It is time to start over.  And it is time that we tell the city unions to smarten up or we will privatize everything in the city including janitors and police service.

Council MUST run this city.  Staff MUST to be told that they work for US not for THEMSELVES!

Perfect timing for Harper and Flaherty

It seems that earlier this year, while the Con government was telling us that the economy was rosy and there was no chance for a deficit... ever, they were selling $14 billion in T-bills to offset the loss in revenue from their GST cuts.  Well, it also seems that if the government does not pay off those bills before the end of 2008, they will be classified as debt and add to the deficit that they are planning to run up.

This is the result of a blatant lie and deliberate deceit by a government that touts responsibility and transparency.

What a joke.  And the joke is on all Canadians... not just the ones who voted to put them back in.

So the responsible and transparent Con government is about to use the excuse of the world-wide financial crisis to cover up their incompetence by adding that $14 billion to their planned deficit.

Buried in reports from the Finance Department are these statements:

"With a budgetary surplus of $2.9 billion and a requirement of $23.2 billion from non-budgetary transactions, there was a financial requirement of $20.3 billion in the April to July 2008 period, compared to a financial source of $6.8 billion in the same period last year. This difference reflects the financial requirement associated with loans to major Crown corporations which were announced in Budget 2007, as well as higher refunds related to the 2007 tax year."

and

"The Government financed this financial requirement of $20.3 billion by increasing market debt by $14.2 billion and reducing cash balances by $6.1 billion. The increase in market debt was achieved largely through the issuance of treasury bills."

See: http://www.fin.gc.ca/FISCMON/2008-07e.html

We are truly saps and they are truly criminals.

What's up with a deficit, Steve. There is a way to avoid it.

So the PM and his mighty midget, the FinMin, are musing that "Canada's Formerly-greatest GovernmentTM (CFG) may have to drop us into deficit to "help out the world".  Flaherty suggests that we might be able to sell off the CN Tower in Toronto to help ourselves out.  Sell at at time when prices are low?  Sounds a bit like a Lehman executive doesn't it?

I have a suggestion for you Steve.  How about admitting that you made an error when you lowered the GST by 2%.  It had almost no impact of Canadians but it cost you $12 billion in revenues.  Reverse your blunder and raise the GST up by at least one or even the two percentage points and keep up solvent.

It not like you have never broken a promise before.  Remember the taxing of Income Trusts?

The problem with deficits is that they are charged interest and that interest multiplies with time.  So keep from going into more debt by simply saying that you made an error.  You might even find that Canadians will commiserate with you.

Being a fly on the PMs wall

Hi, my name is BottleFly.  I live in the office of the Prime Minister of Canada.  Today I witnessed an historic occasion.  The PM met with his advisers to strategize how to get away with a series of lies.  Here is how it went.

The PM came in about 6:30 AM and immediately activated his intergalactic communication system to make his daily report to the central command on his home planet of Bagdolia.  His report was short and included something about a G20 conference where he berated humans for being not as smart as he.  Then he reported that planning for the take-over of earth by Bagdolians was commencing.  The world's militaries were engaged in wars, the financial people where hiding under Campbell Soup cans and the average citizen was preoccupied with trying to figure out if the mattress of their bed was a better place to put money rather than RRSPs.

At 7AM he was joined by a tiny little man named Flabby or Flairty or something like that.  The PM told the little guy that the government was going to go into a negative cash position (not a deficit, you understand) and that he had arranged to blame it on the international community.  When asked what he had to agree to to get other countries to take the blame, he stated that he had promised them that Canada would accept any and all of their criminals and terrorists as refugees.  The little man was pleased.

He then met with the a young looking guy whose head was the same size as his ass - and that was plenty big.  He apparently was in charge of letting people into the country.  The PM repeated his message to the bloated guy who jumped up and down squealing with glee.  "More refugees means more votes," squeaked the rotund one.  "I will arrange to pass legislation to make citizen available to refugees in 15 minutes from the time they arrive, so that can vote for us," he continued.   The PM concluded the meeting with a curt reminder that the legislation need to submitted as a confidence motion.   "Of course, Mr Presi... err, I mean Mr. Prime Minster."  The rolly-poly guy then floated out of the office singing "We're in the money!"

At 10 AM the PM had a roomful of his cabinet worker bees included a number of women, one of which, she appeared to be Indian or Eskimo or something, was sent to get double-doubles for everyone.  "Don't forget the honey glazed," called out a nearly bald guy wearing a wet suit.  Everyone laughed.

The PM turned serious and stated, that the reasons for sending the woman minister out for coffee was that he wanted to announce that he was selling Canada's north on E-bay.  So far Russia, the US and Denmark Edit HTMLwere bidding the price up.  It currently sat at $17.46 (US) and he felt confident that the price would go above $20 before the end of the week.  The ministers were squirming in their seat at the news.  "Such fun," they chortled.  "These humans are so stupid," they gloated.  "All hail Bagdolia."

"Now it is important that you carry out your roles as bungling politicians," stated the PM.  "The more incompetent you appear, the less the people will focus on what you are doing.  Get out their and screw up and don't worry about the press.  I have something in store for them.  I will tell you about that later."

The office emptied out quickly, including the PM who said something about having to attend an MP sacrifice at Conservative HQs.  Some guy named PP?

At 10:30 the woman returned with the coffee and donuts only to find the office empty.  She spotted an envelope on the conference table upon which her name was written.  She put the coffee and donuts down, spilling an old fashion from the bag onto the floor.   She opened the envelope and read the following, "Give my best Comrade Putin, ha ha."  Confused she slowly exited the office leaving behind the commistables.

I waited a few minutes in case anyone should come in and when the coast was clear, I swooped down on the old fashion donut and eat my fill.

I can hardly wait until the next cabinet meeting.  The talk is almost as yummy as the donuts.

Thank God for Westerners to set we stupid Ottawans straight

In today's Ottawa Citizen, letter writer, Charles Dunlap, currently of Carp, but a proudly "transplanted westerner", says this: "Ottawans, you are a pompous cluster of self-indulgent stuffed shirts".

What, you may ask did we Ottawans do to Mr. Dunlap to deserve this attack?  Did we kill his dog?  Did we put sardines on his manifold?  Did we bar him from entering the Arts Centre or take away his right to use city roads?

Nope,  Our crime is that we believe in Ottawa as the capital of the nation of Canada and like other national capitals around the world, we believe that national institutions should be located in the national capital.  What a crime we Ottawans have inflicted on Mr. Dunlap.

But you know, just thinking about it a bit, Mr. Dunlap may have a point.  It may be only correct that national institutions be spread across the country, but not just to Calgary or Edmonton, as Mr. Dunlap suggests.

I propose that: the National Portrait Gallery be located in Walsh, Alberta; the National Aviation Museum go to Stewart, BC; the Supreme Court move to Churchill, Manitoba; and the National Art Gallery be relocated to Bateman, Saskatchewan.  The latter is actually a ghost town, but the Art Gallery may be able to revive it.  But let's not forget that the Museum of Science and Technology is looking for a new home.  Let's send it to the Gaspe Pennisula to satisfy non-westerners.

You see, Mr. Dunlap, we Ottawans can be accomodating when we are shown the error of our ways.

Power to the taxpayers. Remember us?

The PM, Premiers and Territorial leaders got together in Ottawa to discuss the looming economic crisis as it applies to Canada.  Everybody had their hand out and the only person to be potentially screwed by this will be the taxpayers.

These guys just don't get it.

If you want to support the North American automotive industry then give Canadians a tax break when they buy or lease a North American car or truck.  Don't just give it to the industry.  Give the money to the people who do the buying and they can give it to the industry in a fair trade for something they need!

Rather than the typical way that governments fund infrastructure projects, wherein the feds give one third, the provinces one third and one third to the municipality, the feds should pay the full costs.  That way the taxes paid by homeowners do not rise.   The homeowners can then spend their money on other stuff, like a new North American car.  Similarly the provinces can do a better job with hospital wait times with the money they save.


Let's think about NAFTA and jobs.  NAFTA makes it easy to move an entire industry to low wage Mexico.  If you have an industry that spews toxins, move it to Mexico where environmental standards are lower.

Let's think about controlling imports from places like China until they begin to raise their standards of living, employments and environmental protection.  It may put Wal-Mart out of business but that is their problem - not ours.

How inclusive are we in Canada?

If I was a cab driver and told a prospective rider that I would not drive them in my cab because the lady was wearing a fur coat, what would happen to me?  If I even had the attitude that I it was my right to discriminate, how long would I be driving that cab - and more important, should I find a new line of work?  How about refusing a ride to an Aboriginal, a Jew, an African or an Muslim.

In Vancouver, a cab driver refused a ride to a blind man with a guide dog by saying, first, that his was a pet-free cab, and later, that his religion did not allow him to be in a cab with an unclean dog.

The cab company paid off the blind man with $2,500 for his inconvenience and released a policy on cabs and guide dogs.  It includes:

"North Shore Taxi was ordered to immediately establish a policy forbidding any driver to refuse a fare from a blind person accompanied by a certified guide dog. The only exceptions are for drivers allergic to dogs and those who satisfy the company that they have an honest religious belief that precludes them from transporting certified guide dogs.  However, such drivers must call dispatch for the next available cab, give their name to the blind person and remain with them until the next cab arrives. Anyone who breaches the policy will be suspended for two shifts for a first offence and be subject to termination for a second offence."

The interesting thing is that no where in the policy is there a statement to the effect of, if you can't do your job of taxiing people from point A to B because of some religious belief, then maybe you should seek a new line of work.

But let's give Mr. Gilmour the final word.  He stated that he and his guide dog rarely encounter problems with other types of public transportation. He's hoping the requirement that cabbies have to wait until another taxi is dispatched will make life easier for people with disabilities.

"My dog is well behaved and clean so what is the barrier here?" he said. "I just hope this arbitrary action will no longer prevail."

Blue or Brown? One hell of a question!

Today's sermon is not meant to be preachy.  I, at my peril, will touch on the abortion issue in Canada.  I do not want to take a side on the issue but rather to talk about the process and the possible relevance of the Rule of Unintended Consequences to the issue.

Allow me to start with a story.  Two men had erectile dysfunction.  One overcame the problem with Viagra and the other thought that he was being punished by God so he chose not to take the little blue pill.  The first man was happy and the second suffered through his pain.  This is a story of choice.  The first man had a choice and chose the pill.  The second had a choice and chose no pill.  With me so far?

An overzealous politician did not like the idea of the little blue pill so he passed a law banning it.  Now let's look at the forgoing scenario with this new law.

Two men had erectile dysfunction.  One was frustrated when he found out that he could not get a medication to cure the problem,  He was not happy. The other didn't want the pill so he was no worse off.  The result?  Both men suffered through their pain and neither was happy.

When you have no law, no one can be accused of being wrong.  Having no law that blue is brown means that you have a choice as to whether, in your mind, blue is blue or blue is brown.  But when you have a law that states that blue is brown - you have no choice other than to break the law if you wish to say that blue is blue.

So what does this mean with respect to abortion?  With no law in place, women have a choice to have an abortion or not.  With a law against abortion, no one has a choice.

Sermon finished.

In a sea of change, some things stay the same

I watched and listened to the US election last night.  I couldn't be more enthusiastic for the decisions taken by a majority of Americans.  They listened to their hearts rather than to the pundits and press and they voted for change.

But in the midst of all this change the rabid right wing in the media just continues along spewing their invective as if nothing is happening around them.  On CFRA last night, Rob Snow and John Counsell, those bastions of enlightenment that they think they are, pontificated that the talk show hosts like Limbaugh were going to have a field day with the Obama win.  The truth is that Limbaugh doesn't care if Republicans win or lose, he is a simple showman not a studied analyst.  The same goes for Snow and, to a lesser extent, Counsell.

The rabid right doesn't care about facts - if they need facts - and none exist - they just invent them.

Take for example a headline on Fox News today.  "Obama Victory Resounding, But a Landslide?"  Obama's electoral college totals were 349 versus 144 for McCain.  This result, they assert, does not qualify as a landslide compared to some past election.  One election they cite as comparison was the landslide win of Roosevelt over Parker in 1904.  The electoral count then?  336 - 140.  That was a landslide but the 2008 results were not?  Give it up, Fox News.

I was at the hockey game last night when results were pouring.  Twice during the evening a message went up to let the crowd know what was happening in the election.  The cheers for the lead of Obama drowned out the cheers when they flashed that Toronto was losing to Carolina.  The people of Ottawa spoke.  One exception was that guy standing behind when I went for water.  I overheard his buddy ask him who he liked in the US election.  His answer, I fear, almost made me swallow my dentures.  "The choice is clear," he stated.  "You can vote for a true war hero or for a guy who hates Canada."  Seems this guy listens too much to CFRA and Fox News.

Change is good.  Embrace change.  Change brings new idea.  New ideas bring change.  (That's enough of the Chi.)

That's a good message to remember during the next municipal election, when change is needed.

When the time is right?

The nice part about making predictions without specifying a time frame is that you will always be right - it is just a matter of time?  Even if it never happens - it's just a matter of time.

So it is with the eventual merger of the NDP and Liberals.  Political pundits and columnists have been predicting for 10 years that the Liberals and the NDP will eventually merge.  Now they include the Green Party into that merger.  Will it ever happen?  I am not sure.  But I do know that talks must be held - if not nationally, then at the local level.

Local level talks are the best place for discussions because that is where the rubber hits the road and egos are tempered more than at the national levels.

The federal riding of Nepean Carleton is a good place to start.  In the 2008 elections the best candidate, by far, was Lori Gadzala of the Green Party.  She came third.  Phil Brown of the NDP was fourth but still put on a great show.  Ed Mahfouz was the Liberal candidate,- and his campaign was almost painful. The winner on the night was Perfect PP, a sad excuse for an MP.  Even with a meltdown in the Liberal vote, though, PP's vote share only rose 1% versus 2006.  Voters stayed away from PP in droves and I wager that with a better Liberal candidate, the fight would have been closer.  I wonder what would have been the result if Lori Gadzala had run as a Liberal?  Or maybe as a Green-Liberal-Democratic candidate?  Would she have won?  Would she be in the House right now talking about the environment?

The platform of the Green Party was a very good one.  However, the Greens have been painted, mostly by the Cons and the NDP as a one-issue party - the environment.  It is unfair but true.  On the other hand the NDP is also painted as a one-issue party - their issue is social programs.

The Liberals are painted as soft on crime - tell that to the critics of Trudeau's implementation of the War Measures Act - "Just watch me!"  They opposed the War in Iraq.  They returned the country's budget from deficit to surplus.  They proposed ways to turn around the sickening environment.  They found ways to help the poor, the Aboriginals, the immigrants, the unionists, the hourly workers, the sick, the arts and other ignored segments of our population.

The Liberal party is a natural home for Greens and NDPers.  You can change the name of the party but the core values remain.  And those values are shared by the centre and the left.

While you are mulling over the idea of a merger, think about this also - you could send PP back to school in Alberta, to boot.

The Dicotomy of Canadian Politics

One often-mentioned virtue of democracy is that the people have the final say on politicians at voting time.  Political pundits will tell you that if you are dissatisfied with your MP, MPP or city Councilor, vote against them.  Sounds fine and sounds right, right?

But in federal politics, voting to punish the Cons for breaking a promise to Newfoundland and Labrador, only serves to bring out the vindictive nature of President Harper.

Newfoundlanders, who voted in large numbers to send a message to Harper, are now concerned that NL's issues are going to be ignored by the government because there are no NL Cons in the caucus.  So much for democracy?

If Harper ignores NL, he does it at his peril.  He and his cabal of lobbyists figure that using strong arm tactics on NL for insulting He-That-Rules-from-on-High, will result in other Canadians being fearful of future insults to his Highness.

Fear tactics.  Strong arm punishment for not towing the line.  Sound a bit like Germany and AH?

Winning hearts

There is an old axiom of war that states, "If you win their hearts, you can win their minds."

Canada went in to Afghanistan in 2002. But it took until 2008 and the departing speech of the Canadian commander-in-country Major General Marc Lessard before someone suggested that maybe the eons old tribal factions in Afghanistan might have something to do with the on-going struggle and maybe, just maybe, it was time to engage the tribes as part of the strategy.

There is another old axiom of war. "Power the the people, baby."