Flaherty blows chunks at Ontario... again

The Federal Minister of Pissing-Ontarians-Off, is at it again. He took a bit of a hiatus in his McGuinty bashing but is back to re-establish his place as the Con dope of Harperville.

A TD economist has postulated that Ontario will be a have-not province under Canada's Equalization Payments system by 2010. The current program of making poor people as unhappy as rich folks, was rejigged in 2006 by the then Con Minister of Finance by the name of... err...Flaherty. Now Flabberty figures that someone broke his system because Ontario's current industrial infrastructure problems and Alberta and Newfoundland's oil money has shown some flaws in his logic.

The real flaws are in his brain.

The real story behind this Equalization brew-ha-ha is that the artificially heightened price of oil has boosted the tax resources of the provinces that mine for fermented dinosaurs and reduced the taxing power of those provinces with a industrial base.

So what does Flabberty say about this? "Action needs to be taken by the Province of Ontario to join us, to partner with us to encourage economic growth in that province." Is the way he talks about Ontario and its Premier the way to encourage partnership? The action that Flabberty wants Ontario to take is to reduce corporate taxes. That is an utterly stupid thing to say on two fronts. First, reducing corporate taxes only helps corporations who make a profit, like the banks and oil companies, who fund the Con party. It is interesting to note that if the Ontario government were to reduce corporate taxes they would move towards have not status even faster.

So what is a government to do? If Ontario is classified as have-not then they will get funding from the Equalization pool, a pool that they contribute $20 billion per year to. Essentially they would be funding themselves. Not good.

The alternative is the wipe out Equalization completely, let Ontario keep its $20 billion and use it to cut tax rates. But, I hear the cry now, that would not be fair to Quebec and PEI, two of the most parasitic parts of Canada. Guess what? Who cares. It is time for Ontario to quit being the whipping boy for Flabberty and his fellow Cons.

The only winner in this battle between Ontario and the Feds is the people of Ontario. Owing to his big foul mouth, there is no way that Flabberty will ever become the leader of the provincial Cons or Premier of Ontario.

By the way, a word to the wise about economists. It is said that if you ask 20 economists a question you will be 21 answers.

Norm Sterling shines bright

There must have been at least one course in law school that Norm Sterling, the mighty 30 year Ontario MPP for Carleton-Mississippi Mills, took that no one else was offered. He seems to be an expert in detection of underground metal fatigue.

The story is that a culvert under the 417 highway just east of Ottawa collapsed this week. It caused a bit of a delay for traffic but no harm was done. According to the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) the 30 year old culvert was scheduled for replacement and that there was no way to predict when it could fail.

But that was not good enough for Normie. "I suspect that it could have been predictable", claims he.

If he is right then the MTO spokesperson, Brandy Duhaime, is lying to us. She commented that, ".. there are some things that are just unpredicted events."

So let me weight this for you. An MPP, who trained as a lawyer, versus the spokesperson for MTO. I think I will go with MTO.

It is interesting, to say the least, that the 30 year old pipe is being retired as beyond its usefulness; but Sterling, who has sucked off the public teat as an MPP for the same 30 years, carries on being useless.

My building's better than yours!

The Ottawa Citizen ran an editorial today that claims that because the Portrait Gallery proposal from Claridge Homes does not meet up with their standards of architecture. It is an afterthought, they claim. "...the gallery entrance could easily pass for the entrance into a food court...", they mock.

This from the company whose Ottawa offices resemble a fortress with gun slits. It's about as inviting as gum sores.

I have news for you, good old CanWest employees at the Citizen, the gallery was not an afterthought, it was an also thought. For a commercial builder, such as Claridge, the Gallery is a non-revenue space much like a foyer or an elevator; or some Citizen paper boxes. Claridge designed the space to fit their image of the building not some architects fancy idea of a work of art. The works of art are supposed to be on the inside.

Architects, most but not all, are egotists who love to spend other peoples money. How can you explain taking a fifties era building like the old city hall in Ottawa and turning it into Superman's long lost planet. Who's idea is it to suspend a glass tower at the Museum of Nature in Ottawa. The 19th century castle is going to look a bit like it's wearing a condom.

Remember when they first built the National Art Gallery. It looked great with all those glass panels along the roof - but it leaked like a sieve. I can't remember what the Citizen said about the building, but I bet they liked it.

Public spaces are built by taxpayers. They can afford to be extravagant. Private space are built by developers. They have to be a bit more practical than extravagant. If you want more than a food court entrance, then blame the government that foisted this "competition" on the country.

I have some news for the Cons

One of the rules of good communications is to be clear with your message. Another is stay on message.

A third is that sometimes taking a hit is less painful than fighting the hit.

OK, I made up the third one. But it fits the current situation of the Cons to a "T".

This In and Out Scandal that has enveloped the fed Cons is more than likely a conflict in regulation interpretation between EC and Cons, but the way that the Cons reacted to it has created the elephant in the room.

Election Canada charges that their audit of 2006 election expenses shows that the Cons federal campaign transferred money to local candidate who had room in their allowed advertising budgets. These local candidates were either shoe-ins or also-rans. The local campaigns then sent back the money to the federal office, usually within a few days and within a few bucks of what was sent to them. The federal campaign then used the money to purchase ads purportedly on behalf of the local candidates. Never mind that the "local" ads purchased by the federals Cons were often not even running in the catch area of the local candidate. If you accept that these were really federal ads, as does Elections Canada, then the federal campaign exceeded its allowable ad budget by $1 million AND 67 local candidates were not entitled to the $700,000 reimbursement from Election Canada for bogus local advertisement.

The federal Cons, on the other hand maintain that they did nothing wrong. They interpret the Election Act differently with respect to advertising. That is the nub of their argument. But rather than saying that they would work something out with Elections Canada; the Cons went into immediate damage control mode, hauled out their communication bigwigs and wrote a new playbook on how to spin the situation.

I got a copy of the playbook, in a brown envelope marked "Contents may damage your brain", left on my door step the other day. The following is the content, verbatim:

Page one of the playbook states: Accept no blame.
Page two states: Demand that all other parties be subject to scrutiny
Page three states: Blame it on Elections Canada
Page four: Blame it on that weinie Dion
Page five: Blame it on Global Warming scientists
Page six: Sue Elections Canada
Page seven: Accept no blame (we cannot mention this enough)
Page eight: Hide the PM in Louisiana and send the rest of the cabinet (especially that Baird guy) to a retreat in an unannounced location.
Page nine: Make sure that the face you put in front of this scandal is disposable, because it is going to destroy his/her credibility.
Page ten: We recommend MP Pierre Poilievre to be the face of the party in this matter.

Poor old Perfect PP. He gave his career for his PM.

Oh, oh. We are in trouble now!

The Minster of Finance, the Honourable James Flaherty, told a group of American citizens (lawyers and potential investors) at the tony New York Yacht Club that, "Canada is not an island." Pretty good so far. He got his geography right. He then went on to say that Canada is fiscally well positioned to "weather the storm" of an American recession. That is a good positive statement meant to impart confidence. Hear, hear, Jimmy.

Then the wheels fell off.

Jimmy pledged that he will deliver a balanced budget. Oops. Many Canadians, especially Ontarians, will remember that Jimmy used the same words during a provincial election when he was Minister of Finance for Ontario. Unfortunately Jimmy's idea of a balance budget differed from eveyone else. He left Ontario with a "balanced" $5 billion deficit.

The current Liberal government in Ontario has eliminated that deficit, delivered REAL balanced budgets and started the uploading of services from the cities that Jimmy downloaded while balancing his budgets.

So does Jimmy applaud the government of Ontario? Nope. Not his style. He has carried out a relentless attack on Ontario over corporate taxes. Alberta, which is rolling in cash has reduced its corporate tax rate. So has Manitoba and New Brunswick and many other provinces. Ontario is the lone hold-out. Fair enough, but let's look at the facts behind the rhetoric.

Question? What do all provinces (except Alberta), who have lowered their corporate tax rates have in common?

Answer? Equalization payments which distributes funds gleaned from the only two "Have " provinces, Alberta and Ontario, to the "Have-nots", which is the rest of the provinces.

Is it safe to assume that, if Equalization did not exist, "Have not" provinces would not be able to reduce tax rates and that Ontario could have? I think so.

So Jimmy is saying to US lawyers and investors, over shrimp and Johnny Walker Blue at the NYYC, that Canada is a great place to invest. I wonder if he is also reiterating his off-mentioned slam that Ontario is the last place in Canada he would invest?

The Hon. James Flaherty, Minister of self-promotion and slight-of-hand.

"Perfect PP" is back and in fine form

Pierre "Perfect PP" Poilievre, the mighty mouse MP for Nepean Carleton has resurfaced in the news after a long absence. Rumour has it that he went back to his native Alberta to recharge his batteries and to ask his Mama for permission to continue his mission to spew invectives in the East.

Permission was granted so PP flew back to his temporary office on Parliament Hill and got back to work. Earlier this week the RCMP raided the Cons Ottawa HQ, looking for evidence with respect to the 2006 election In and Out financing tactics of the Cons. The press was in attendance, as was a liberal worker with a camera.

Perfect PP went ballistic. "Somebody should ask who in Elections Canada invited the Liberal party to make a home video out of the visit to our headquarters," he said.

I know you are just a young pup with only 5 years toward your gold plated pension so I will let you in on a little secret about political Ottawa. THERE ARE NO SECRETS IN OTTAWA. There are only some people who try to keep secrets. If you want to know how people knew in advance about the raid, just watch the dreaded CBC once in a while, not just those days you star on Don Newman's Politics show. Tear your focus away from the spiritual channel just long enough to know what is really happening around you.

While we are on the case of petty politicians, let's hear what the Minister of Impending Deficits, Jim Flaherty, has to say on this scandalous behaviour. "I do find it odd, when I look at a photograph this morning and I see someone knocking on the door with cameras, with news cameras present." I listened to what Jimmy said and I waited with bated breath for him to blame this on the corporate tax policies of the Ontario government. No mention. I guess that scandal is over... for now.

When you promote yourselves as a squeaky clean government, any bit of dirt will show. PM Harper, Minister Flaherty and Perfect PP... you are all past your best-before date.

MDA morass takes another victim

As the MacDonald Detwiller saga wends its way to the obvious conclusion that the US arms dealer ATK will eventually suck it up, another respected Canadian has been sucked into the vortex and spit out with.. eerr... spit on his shirt.

John Reid is the long time president of the Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA). He has been president since the invention of the cathode ray tube and he has just run afoul of of his fellow Canadians. John feels that the government of Canada should refrain from interfering in the transaction between ATK and MDA because the shoe might be on the other foot one day.

Have a nice retirement John. You will be missed.

Can you imagine the stink that would rise in Washington if a Canadian company decided to buy Boeing or Lockheed or Raytheon? Think that the Americans would say, "we had better refrain lest the shoe be on the other foot one day?" Not a chance.

MDA is gone. So is RADARSAT2, Canadarm, Dexter, David Florida Labs, Canadian aerospace jobs and billions of taxpayers dollars. It may take a bit of time to finalize the deal but they are gone. Harper will not protect Canada. Get used to it.

Taxpayers are being hosed to death by co-investment programs such as the Technology Partnership Program (TPP). The federal program loans billions of dollars to companies, including the Canadian branches of multinationals, but only sees 5-8% of the loans repaid. I wonder of MDA owes money under the TPP and if ATK will repay it? I wonder also if MDA, as a subsidiary of ATK, will grunt at the federal TPP trough in the future?

We need iron-clad agreements with companies who get TPP. If they get sold, they should repay the loans immediately. If the company goes bankrupt, TPP should be at the top of the creditors list (even higher than the greedy bloody banks). If the company cannot agree with these terms, then no TPP. If your renege on paying back the loan within the stringent timeframe established, you get sued and are disqualified from further TPP funding in the future.

TPP was a good program in theory. Unfortunately the execution of it stinks.

It's a victory for Canadians!!!

I would not want to be the Federal Minister of Industry, Hon. Jim Prentice's cat tonight. Fluffy is probably hiding under a bed out of the range of Jimmy's size fours.

You see Jimmy is the latest in a string of casualties that are falling out of the ineptitude of the Harper government.

The groundswell of opposition to the sale of MacDonald Detwiller (MDA) to a US defence contractor, ATK, has resulted in the halt of the sale by Jimmy as not being in Canada's (read the Harper government's) best interest.

Three cheers for the triumphant Jimmy. He saved Canada. He saved our technology. He saved our massive investment in technology owned by MDA. He saved the jobs of the people at the Florida Labs in Ottawa (where the real brains behind the MDA assets work for the federal government).

What? What was that comment from the legal beagles at ATK? You have thirty days to comment on Jimmy's decision and, if you don't like it, you can take Canada to a free trade hearing?

We are screwed. Just see:
canbloopers.blogspot.com/2007/11/is-health-canada-trying-to-kill-us.html
to know how well we fair in being "protected" by NAFTA.

Say bye, bye to MDA.

Baird is at it again

John "the screamer" Baird, Minister of turning things from brown to green, is at it again. This CON bell-weather of an impending election just turned a mighty corner in his re-election platform.

Baird was instrumental in having the light rail plan in Ottawa cancelled in 2006. The plan was ill conceived, he declared. The city council lied to me, he belched. He demanded that the city go back to the drawing board and design something pretty, something that he would like. The plan that was cancelled had a price tag of $990 million. The cancellation has resulted in $280 million in law suits against the city by contractors. That's $280 million and there is still not a shovel in the ground.

So council went back to the drawing board and came up with a dog's breakfast mixture of trains, buses and a downtown tunnel. Baird says, I like it, especially the tunnel! The price tag? It is now up to $4 billion and won't be completed until most of the people who conceived this monstrosity are dead and buried. Baird wants, now, to give more to the bloated project than he offered for the earlier project. Why? Is it environmentally more sound than the earlier project? It could be but the environmental assessment, especially on the tunnel part have not even begun. In fact, the whole idea of the function of the tunnel is up in the air. Will it carry trains only or a mixture of trains and buses? Or is Baird's orgasm over the new project just the sign of an impending election?

But that is not all that Baird wants to do for Ottawa now that an election looms. He wants to make Hwy 174 (old Hwy 17 to Orleans) into a freeway for saftey reasons. A freeway is defined (Wikipedia) as a type of road designed for high-speed operation through the elimination of at-grade intersections. Since the only at-grade intersection of any note on 174 is at Trim Road, does Baird just want to build an overpass and exit at Trim Road or does he have grander ideas to spent the province's and city's money (he only gives matching grants, you see).

He thinks that Ottawa needs a drug treatment centre but will not pay for any part of it cause it is not a federal responsibility. A bridge over 174 is his responsibility but the health of drug users is not. Interesting.

There is no money for the Museum of Science and Technology that is moulding away in an east end former bread plant, but Baird wants to build a bridge over 174. No matter, the Cons will probably put it out to a competition to move the museum out of the capital anyways.

There is no money for a new interprovincial bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau, which will improve the safety and environment of the downtown core of Ottawa but Baird wants to build a bridge over the 174.

Johnny is concerned that there will not be enough volunteers at the proposed Ottawa Concert Hall, so he pulled his $8 million contribution to make sure it dies.

I smell an election.

Ontario Cons in Contradiction

Lisa MacLeod, Con MPP for Nepean-Carleton, and John Tory, lame-duck leader (pending the resurrection of some guy named Flaherty who will soon become the one true leader) of the Ontario Con party, had better put their heads together to create the semblance of a coherent message.

On page B1 of Ottawa's premiere news rag, April 1, 2008, MacLeod wants the Liberal government to be investigated to determine if they interfered with the 2006 Ottawa civic election by stating, in the answer to a media question, that any change to the approved transit plan in Ottawa would need to be evaluated by the Provincial government, which was putting $200 million into the plan. The answer was correct according to the terms of the provincial/municipal agreement, but MacLeod calls it political interference.

Her comments were in no way timed to match the April 1 appearance of John "the Screamer" Baird in front of a parliamentary committee; he being accused of hijacking the municipal election by leaking confidential contract documents of the transit deal and then pulling the federal funding from the project He is also answering questions about an alleged meeting with the new mayor of Ottawa who has been charged with trying to buy off another mayoralty candidate with money and a promise of a federal job, such job being one of the many doled out by Baird.

Do, dah. Do, dah.

Ms MacLeod, methinks that you doth complain too much.

But what of John (Help me, I need the job.) Tory. On page B3 of the same news rag, Tory complains that the Ontario Liberals did not put strings on a recent $14.6 million grant to Ottawa, earmarked for infrastructure repair. The city decided to use $10 million of it to overcome its budget deficit. Tory thinks that the city needs to be micromanaged a whole lot more by Queen's Park.

So MacLeod complains that the Ont Libs are interfering in civic affairs while Tory complains that they are not interfering enough.

That's a pretty balanced view, I suppose.