Why?

How well do you sleep at night Tom?

My Member of Parliament Tom Lukiwski, has once again let his constituents down. Yesterday all except for seven members of the Harper Conservative Government,  Tom included, voted to defeat private member's bill C-398.

The only Saskatchewan MP who votes "yes" was Maurice Vellacott.

The bill, brought to the House by New Democrat Helene Laverdiere who said in part as she introduced her bill,  "Mr. Speaker, today, I am proud to introduce my bill entitled An Act to amend the Patent Act.

This bill will modify the provisions of the current access to medicines regime, which allows Canada to export generic versions of drugs for HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other illnesses to developing countries, and it will make the regime easier to use.

This will enable Canadian manufacturers to send potentially life-saving medicines to those who desperately need them.

This bill is an improved version of Bill C-393, which the House passed by a comfortable margin last March but which, unfortunately, died on the order paper in the Senate.

When drafting this bill, I worked closely with the Grandmothers Advocacy Network and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network"

The bill was championed by the Grandmothers Advocacy Network and thousands of Canadians signed petitions in support of this bill.

When the original bill passed the big drug manufacturers opposed it. This time around withdrew any opposition to the bill being passed.

In advance of the vote former Member of Parliament Gerald Caplin said “If you had the opportunity to save hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of AIDS sufferers in Africa and other poor countries, what would you do? A complete no-brainer, right? Why in the world is it even a question?” 

Why indeed. 

Why did the Conservatives change their minds and defeat this bill?

Why did the Harper Government mount a campaign of misinformation in a push to assure the bill was defeated?

Why won't any predominant cabinet ministers comment on the decision to defeat the bill?

Disappointment in the Harper Government was expressed widely by those working on the front lines internationally was widespread.

UNICEF for example released a statement saying in part "We are highly disappointed with the result of tonight's vote. This Bill would have helped get life-saving medicine to the world's most vulnerable children without any additional costs to the government or Canadians. This is a missed opportunity and it is children who will suffer most," says UNICEF Canada's President and CEO David Morley.

Currently only 42 per cent of the estimated 1.5 million infants born worldwide to mothers with HIV receive the antiretroviral (ARV) treatments needed to prevent transmission of the disease.

If passed, Bill C-398 would have strengthened Canada's position as a true global leader on newborn, child and maternal health. The Bill proposed critical amendments to CAMR removing the unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles that have made the process impossible to use.

How many children will die before a bill like this is finally passed?

Stephen Harper should be ashamed

Gerry Ritz Has to go

Ok, enough is enough. No ands, ifs or buts, Gerry Ritz has to go.

I know, I know, Ritz is only putting into place the Harper agenda like a faithful old lapdog but, bottom line, the minister is responsible.

What makes things worse, I think, is his denial in the beginning of this latest scandal. His story just didn't hold up. Some say he just lied about it, figuring he’d get away with it. I don’t know for sure, but I do know what side of the coin I fall on. I just don’t trust Gerry.

I think what I find most annoying is that for Ritz and the rest of the Harper Conservatives, this is all about protecting business. Their corporate friends. These Conservatives forget, their primary responsibility is to protect its us.

Ritz is ignoring the fact that:

• Because we tolerate over crowded feedlots, cattle turns up on the killing floor, caked with mud and cow shit 
• A vaccine is available which would put a stop to this e-coli problem but it costs about $3.00 an animal and the government sees this as too much of a burden to producers to insist they use it. 

• Huge meat packers mostly hire immigrant workers on work permits who don’t dare complain when production lines are cranked up to unsafe speeds, making it impossible for the workers to do their jobs safely. 

• Despite what the so-called Agriculture Minister says, there are fewer inspectors on the plant floor, leaving much of the responsibility to the producer. 

Ritz just doesn't seem to get it. He has dodged question period in the House of Commons and left a press conference, held on the completion of his tour of the XL plant, after four questions because he didn't like where the questions were leading.

Calling this a scandal is not too big a word. Canadian’s health is at risk and from my perspective, having the Ag Minister resign isn’t enough. This whole damn incompetent government should step down.

Perhaps Andre Picard said it best in today’s Globe and Mail when he wrote in part:

Peter Sandman, a business professor at Rutgers University and the guru of crisis communications, says there are six strategies required during a situation like tainted beef: 1) don’t over-reassure; 2) acknowledge uncertainty; 3) treat the public’s fears as legitimate; 4) express your own feelings; 5) offer people things to do to protect themselves; 6) don’t worry about panic because panic is rare.

The company, the regulator and the minister failed on every single one of these points.

Worse yet, they have no excuse because we’ve seen this movie before.

In 2008, when Maple Leaf Foods Inc. produced listeria tainted luncheon meats that killed 22 people and sickened 35 others, the company responded in textbook fashion. CEO Michael McCain was front and centre: He was available to the media, he was transparent and he was contrite.

Maple Leaf recalled all its meat and shut down the plant – which is what XL should have done. The company then apologized, in print and via its CEO, it fixed the problems, and it compensated the victims.

Mr. Ritz was minister during the listeria crisis. His government commissioned a report from Sheila Weatherill, which cost taxpayers $5.3-million.

Obviously, he has not read or understood that report, which, in addition to its technical recommendations for improving food safety, had two overriding messages: 1) That communication by the CFIA and the government more generally were appallingly bad and 2) there was a “void in leadership” that contributed to the deaths.

Today, as the E. coli tainted meat outbreak demonstrates, communication is as bad, if not worse, and the void in leadership is even more gaping.

Isn't it Time we Said No?

OK, full disclosure here. I was involved in collective bargaining, on the labour side of the table, for about 30 years. Most of the time, as chair of the union committee.

My first experience at the bargaining table was as a committee member at a Montreal television station. That process ended with a three-day wildcat strike and a brief occupation of the station’s lobby. We won a good settlement and were glad to put it behind us and get back to work.

After that, not long before I retired, I had one other set of negotiations go sideways on me, we were locked out of a mine in Northern Saskatchewan the membership turned down a negotiated settlement. The employer shut the place down and flew us south that Friday afternoon. I managed to get the deal sweetened enough, in talks across the picket line between the CEO and me, to get a settlement that stuck. Otherwise, I always managed to find a reasonable agreement.

I only tell you this because, I think you will agree, I think it shows that I do know a thing or two about collective bargaining.

That is perhaps why I am so concerned as once again the Harper Conservatives get ready to legislate striking employees back to work. This time it is CP Rail. Once again it is Labour Minister Lisa Raitt to the rescue of the Conservative’s Corporate friends.

There is no question that Raitt learned a few things since screwing the employees at Canada Post and Air Canada. She must have been sent for training because she has learned to frame things a little better than she did but the cold hard truth is that employers have learned that there is no need to bend to pressure from their unions. Employers can gut hard won provisions in collective agreements, cut and slash pensions, undermine working conditions and with impunity. Lisa and people like her will always be there to make sure they come out on top.

Once in last minute mediation employers have no incentive to do very much. They know the drill. No union negotiator with half a brain would think for one minute that any imposed settlement will come down on their side. The odds are stacked against them. It doesn’t matter if the terms of settlement are legislated or if the final deal is sent off to an arbitrator, the union can’t win.

Historically, the right to bargain was won after hard struggle. It was a trade off. A compromise that pretty much put an end to the era wildcat strikes to settle differences.

There has been relative labour peace in Canada for decades now. The process, for the most part worked. There was a balance of power at the table;

• Employers knew the unions had the right to withdraw their services. 
• Union members knew a strike meant real financial sacrifice. 

 It was in both side’s interest to get a deal.

In Harperland, large employers don’t have to worry that anything will get in the way of their slash and burn agendas.

News reports say that “Teamsters Canada Rail Conference President Rex Beatty is 100% behind the 4,800 CP workers who have been off the job since 0001 a.m. Wednesday. He says, “The battle these workers are waging is of utmost importance,” We'll see.

Civil disobedience in defiance of a bad law is well justified. We will see if Mr Beatty or perhaps better yet, Teamster International President James P. Hoffa are prepared to stand up and defy the legislation when it is passed. It is high time a few predominant national union leaders led from the front.

I’m not holding my breath.

Things Are Looking up for Dope Smokers in Atlantic Canada

Bret, the Drug Sniffing Dog Gets Pink Slip

It is tough sledding for you graduates looking for meaningful work and its going to be a tough summer for University students looking for jobs.

Not so long ago when people were grabbing at early retirement packages and the governments were talking about jobs for new and creative young workers prospects looked good for high school grads entering university. Everything was coming up roses.

Today the Blue Meanies have shifted their stance. Today it is screw young workers, make people work longer, no access to Old Age Security until 67 and take a hands off approach while corporations default on workers' pensions.

To add to the misery, Harper is getting hands on in adding to the misery, cutting about 20,000 jobs within the next three years.

It is hard to get a handle on it because instead of just being up front about it all, they pretend they are doing  a great job for Canadians with warm and fuzzy messaging, while all the while they are, day by day announcing job and program cuts.

• More that 1500 scientists, vets, engineers and medical doctor's jobs are on the chopping block
• The food Canadian Inspection Agency is laying off 344 people including many of the inspectors they just hired as damage control after the listeria crisis.
• Natural Resources Canada is giving 156 people the boot 
• One hundred people are losing their jobs at Environment Canada 
• Something like 700 economists and social scientists are heading out the door 
• And perhaps the most surprising of all, all of the drug dogs in with Canada Border Services in Atlantic Canada are getting their pink slips. 

Wait! Stop! Tell me it ain't so. The law and order government that wants to bring in mandatory jail sentences for the heinous crime of growing five or more marijuana plants. The government that along with the crazy Americans just told the rest of the hemisphere to pound sand when they suggested that drug laws were not working and should be relaxed, wants to make it easier to bring drugs into Canada.

Works for me.

A Week in the Life Under Harper

If nothing else give us pause, the cuts to services being dribbled out to the public day by day, the result of the cuts in the Harper budget, should.

I'm not going to go into detail ad nauseum but, if Stevie hadn't reduced the GST and cut corporate taxes, there wouldn't be a deficit.

The first one that sticks its head up is the cut to a program which provided internet services through libraries and community centres. A service used by seniors and under privileged people who either don't have or can't afford a computer. The program costs peanuts in the larger scheme of things.

Two programs under the stewardship of the Ritz Cracker, Gerry Ritz the ostrich farmer cum agriculture minister from Saskatchewan.  The Regina leader post, always willing to give up space in their letter to the editor section to the government ran letters today from Ritz and from the head of the Food Inspection Agency.

We all should remember the Food Inspection Agency. The last time we heard from them was when 33 Canadians died as a result of the infamous Maple Leaf listeria crisis. At the time it was suggested that inspectors were not able to spend time of the meat packing floor under Harper and his gang of thugs. Their role had become mostly administrative.

We all remember Gerry Ritz "Death by a thousand cuts, or should I say cold cuts" remark during that period.

Well now, as they serve inspectors with layoff notices, they are saying "Don't worry. We "will not make any changes which will not in any way put the health and safety of Canadians at Risk."

I am not sure I feel reassured.

Meanwhile Gerry can't understand why people might be upset at the Prairie Shelterbelt Program is being done away with. First he says there is no longer a need for the program then claims there is great potential for the private sector to take it over.

That Gerry sure can be confusing some times.

Those who follow the CBC have been reading the mixed messages coming from the Harper Government for some time now.

Shortly after the last election Federal  Heritage Minister James Moore gave the CBC and its supporters a reason to relax. He assured us that the Cons weren't going to use their majority  to slash the national public broadcaster. In fact, pledged Moore, the government would "maintain or increase support for the CBC."

That assurance was tempered however by comments by a couple of his colleagues.

•  Dean Del Mastro, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage suggested "The government should get out of the broadcasting business."  
• Jason Kenney, Minister of Immigration said, "The CBC lies all the time."

The fact is the CBC has been cut by a succession of Governments going back to Brian Mulroney.  It is an old strategy, and it works. If you cut an institution again and again over a long period of time, as it struggles to keep its head above water it flounders bit by bit, until it eventually becomes irrelevant.

Developers do this all the time. They buy up houses in a community one by one. Let them run down. Rent them out to bad tenants then, when by design the neighbourhood becomes an eyesore, they petition city hall for the right  to tear the buildings down and build apartments buildings.

That is what Harper is trying to do to the CBC.

It goes on and on. No time to remind you of the Robo call scandal except to say that Elections Canada investigators on the trail of the "Pierre Poutine" suspect in the robocalls case have apparently been asking questions about the actions of staff at Conservative party headquarters in Ottawa. Some suspicious conduct there which will have to be followed up.

Then there are the jet fighters, Peter Mckay is still defending his actions.

We all remember Rob Anders, the Calgary MP who was moved from a Veterans Affairs Committee after he fell asleep during a hearing, then ranted that a couple of presenters who were atually Con Party members were NDP hacks.

He has a new spot new position on a little-known House of Commons committee to loosen Canada's firearms rules. His ultimate goal is to repeal strict gun control provisions "shoved down our throats" by the Liberal government in the mid-nineties.

Anders said he will use his position on the regulations committee to put the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program — which administers Canada's gun control regime — under the microscope. Those rules mean that gun owners have to lock and safely store their guns when not in use. They also put restrictions on the owners of restricted and prohibited firearms.

Anders is joined on the committee with Yorkton's right wing crazy MP Garry Breitkreuz, who for years led the Conservative charge to scrap the long-gun registry.

Surely that is enough. It all gives me a headache.

Harper Makes Me Wonder

I am finding it difficult to continue blogging regularly, not because there isn't much to blog about but perhaps because there is too much. It defeats the purpose if it just makes me more angry.

This week was too much though.

So, Obama, the leaders of the other countries in the Americas, except Cuba, meet to discuss pressing issues. No big surprises here. A vast majority of the leaders with two notable exceptions came to the table declaring that the "War on Drugs" in an abject failure and arguing that the cost is too high. In Mexico alone, 60,000 people have been murdered as a direct result of the cartel's efforts to keep up the supply an insatiable North American Market.

The leaders living south of the American border want to see some form of legalization as the only way to stop drug violence. The leaders north of the boarder want to dig in and protect the status quo. Canada wants to toughen up their war on drugs with mandatory sentences for growing five or more scrawny marijuana plants.

Not very progressing Stevie.

Then came a motion that, Cuba be invited to any future meetings. Nicaragua and Honduras have been boycotting these meetings to  protest Cuba's exclusion and all the other leaders, except for Obama and Harper, want Cuba at the table.

I understand Obama's hesitation in an election year but what is going on with Harper. His move to back Obama on this issue makes Canada look very much like some irrelevant toady nation, snivelling up to the bully.

Harper, perhaps thinking that no one would notice at home, is saying that "Cuba is a communist country with a record of human rights abuses. The world know where Canada stands on these issues."

Canada has had a pretty good relationship with Cuba. Pierre Trudeau visited in 1976. When I visited Cuba shortly after, there were still posters up welcoming he and Maggie. Forward thinking Americans, wanting to help Cubans often did so by moving goods through Canada to the Caribbean nation.

Canadians love Cuba as a vacation destination. It ain't Club Med - thank God - but it is warm, the people are friendly, the accommodations good and the costs are reasonable.

So why this change, so may years after.

Harper would like us to think his decision is a principled one. Based of good foreign policy and humanitarian policy. That all seems to fly in the face of Harper's about face on China, in Canada's long trading and business relationship with Libya - until the revolution and if we wanted we could make a list of African despots Canada sits down withregularly. So what gives?

The truth is, if the USA hadn't been so single minded all these years, Cuba would be a much more democratic nation today. The single largest deterrent to building democracy is not the Castros. It is American foreign policy.

Personally, I think the USA is embarrassed that,  despite decades of trade embargoes, Cuba has one of the best health care systems in the hemisphere, more poor kids get a good education and there isn't a large unemployment level.

Did everyone Just wake up Yesterday

Harper touts his economic record - Canadians are fooled again - by 2012 it has grown to $58 Billion

Stephen Harper wants you to believe that he has an amazing economic record. The Globe & Mail believes him and from what I can gather, so do a majority of Canadians.

The graphic says it all.

Harper is on to something here. Lie and cheat all you want. No one really cares. In fact, no one is paying attention at all.

Politicians with Conscience?

I have been thinking a lot these days, about politicians, the people who we elect to lead and shape this country of ours. About who they seem to be, what must motivate them and how they respond to issues.

Seeing them at work, generally isn’t a very pretty sight. Think of Peter McKay. It is embarrassing.

Then, yesterday, listening to the radio, I heard a story about Italy’s Minister of Welfare. When during a press conference, Elsa Fornero began to announce a rise in the age the people will be eligible to draw on their pensions and that many pensions will no longer be adjusted for inflation.

Ms Fornero said “We had to … and it cost us a lot psychologically … ask for a …” before she could not continue, breaking down in tears. Prime Minister Mario Monti had to step in to finish her sentence, with the word “sacrifice.”

I thought, how refreshing, a politician who actually gives a damn about the people she was elected to serve.

In contrast, with winter coming on in the Northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat, families are living in tents, un-insulated shacks and abandoned construction trailers, children are sleeping on mouldy carpets and there is a decided lack of running water and sanitary facilities. When the Stephen Harper Government was finally embarrassed by the media into reacting to the shocking conditions the PM’s first reaction was to absolve his government of any responsibility and blame the situation on financial mismanagement by the community.

How refreshing it would be to have our elected leaders taking part in the dialogue, speaking from the heart and working with us to find solutions. I am sick of scripted responses, talking points instead of speaking from the heart. I want politicians who do more than cover their asses when things get messy.

Sometimes I despair.

Can it Get More Mean Spirited Than That?

First the Harper Government signaled that they would bring in back to work legislation, so they could get the mail moving, after Canada Post locked out the postal workers. That, in and of itself was pretty outrageous, considering that the Government could simply tell the crown corporation to lift the lock out if they were concerned about mail service. Hell, I was getting regular mail delivery before the lock out. 

But no, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt, who claims to have a familial connection to labour - they must be estranged - did a quick jig around that issue and said the parties should get back to the table and that they were just trying to help.

So,  the legislation hit the table this week. In it, she wants to force the parties into a final offer selection process which is at least more fair than having an arbitrator decide the outstanding issues.

What did shock most fair minded Canadians however was the way the government bill dealt with the wage issue. The proposed back-to-work legislation sets out a wage settlement that is actually lower than Canada Post’s last offer.

Raitt's legislation calls for a wage settlement of 1.75 per cent in the first year, 1.5 per cent in the second year, and 2 per cent each in the final two years.

At the bargaining table, Canada Post has offered 1.9 per cent in each of the first three years, followed by 2 per cent in the final year.

The Canada Post employees on average will lose over $800.00 just because they exercised their legal right to, try to bring pressure on their employer, through a series of rotating strikes. 

The message is very clear. Don't mess with the the Harper Government or, you will pay. 

Can it get more mean spirited that that? I am afraid it can.

The Harper Economic Record

Jim Flaherty would have Canadian’s believe that the retread budget and the fiscal policy he intends to inflict on us Canadians will save us from another recession and bring prosperity back to the country. The only way to do that he says is through cutting fat in Ottawa. When he talks about bloated Ottawa administrations somehow I don’t think he is talking about the PMO. Don’t expect cuts there.

Flaherty expects Canadians to believe that the Blue Meanies alone can save us all from financial oblivion. I think he expects us to believe that if it wasn’t for him, Harper and the rest of the Blue Man group we would have gone the way of Ireland long ago.

Now he boasts that the Conservative policies will bring us out of deficit spending by 2015. A year earlier that expected. No one actually believes he will but, it gets good media coverage and Canadians are a forgiving lot. After all this government has the new and daunting task of keeping the spendthrift socialists away from the door of the Bank of Canada vault.

What Flaherty forgets is that without the unnecessary reduction he made to the GST, we wouldn’t need to make the cuts he is now suggesting are crucial.

The other thing that Harper and Flaherty don’t ever want Canadians to look closely at is what the Conservative financial record really is.

Brian Mulroney in 1993 had run up a $38 billion deficit. Canadians were shocked. 

Under Liberal leadership, Jean Chretien and Paul Martin had beaten the deficient and by 2006 when he lost the election the Government was running a $16 Billion surplus.

Under the Harper/Flaherty regime the deficit is up over $55 Billion.

And these guys ran on their economic record. We must be really stupid.

The Blue Meanies are not Really a Majority

I think what will get under my skin over the next four years is that Stephen Harper will strut around saying that his government was supported by a majority of Canadians. It wasn't.

Figure it out.

• There are over 34 million Canadians
• 24 million of them are eligible to vote
• Roughly 6 million Canadians voted for Harper's party. 
• About 9 million of us voted for candidates who were not Conservatives. 

So, like it or not Stephen, only about 25% of eligible voters actually supported you. Some majority!

There are a couple of things you can do.

1. Sign Fair Vote Canada's Declaration of Voter's Rights.
2. Remind the Prime Minister of the facts and ask him to change the electoral system 

It will make you feel that you are doing something about our dismal political situation and hopefully you will begin to feel better about things.

Don't Blame me I Voted NDP

Well, much to our surprise, the sun still came up Wednesday morning but no question, the political landscape has shifted substantially. This will be an interesting four years.

On Tuesday night, Canadians probably made the dumbest political we have ever seen in Canada. Four years of that bully boy strutting around pretending he represents the interests of a majority of Canadians may be more than I can stomach.

Looking for silver linings, perhaps the best news is that my friend Mike Sullivan, an NDP candidate got elected in the York-South-Weston riding in Toronto. He is one of the good guys. No question. Way to go Mike.

I am going to take a break from political blogging for a while and try to catch up with several things on my plate that have been slipping past me. I am working on a photo project which I am scrambling to complete by later this week and I have to concentrate on  Folk Festival sponsorship a bit more than I have been.

Brad Wades in

Brad Wall puts on an Angry Face

To no one's surprise, Brad Wall, the consummate right-wing pitchman has jumped into the election fray after promising everyone to steer clear of the Federal race. Brad, who is about as intellectuality deep and complex as your average AM radio, morning show host, told everyone that he was deeply troubled by Ignatieff's musing about what options were open if Harper didn't change his ways bullying ways. Wall suggested that the Liberal leader was planning to "...overturn of democratic results of the federal election." It is obvious from Wall's comments that he doesn't even begin to understand the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy he works under as Premier.

Not surprisingly, Wall along with his best friend and deep blue Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, sees nothing whatsoever wrong with Harper assuming power when 63% or 64% of Canadians voted for a party, other that the one Harper leads. It is the king of pretzel logic we should be used to from this lot by now.

Wall can't seem to grasp that his "close relationship" with Stephen Harper only works one way. The more Brad bows and scrapes and demeans himself - the more Harper ignores him.

Some advice Brad. Stay out of the big boy's sandbox.

How is your Election Going?

NDP Candidate Brian Sklar

I have to say, in a lot of ways, it has been a pretty weird election so far. I am not one of those who thinks that the election is unnecessary. I think this election call was crucial. We really had to find a way to wrench our country from the grasp of the right wingers. But so far, it isn't working out the way it should.

This antiquated first past the post system we have sets us up for some weird situations. There are a great many ridings in Canada where the incumbent was elected with the majority of voters casting their ballots for someone else. In my riding for example the incumbent MP is Tom Lukiwski. Tom is invisible in the city of the Regina, is known as an obstructionist in Ottawa and has a pretty good shot at winning because of the Tory blue rural voters. He is in a bit of trouble as a result of his refusal to speak out about the failed BHP potash bid and his lack of support for the attempt to secure Federal funding for a much needed new stadium. In case you missed it Tom,  the Roughriders are a big deal here.

He and the other 13 Conservative MPs here in Saskatchewan have earned a reputation of saying nothing unless the issue has been vetted, then scripted by the PMO.

My reading of the situation is that, considering the riding history, if any party can do it, the NDP would have to best shot to knock him off.

Given that, the NDP, in its wisdom, is running a Provincial NDP party worker and country singer in an attempt to unseat Tom. All credit to Brian Sklar for his commitment and I hear he has a pretty good band but, couldn't the New Democrats find someone with just a bit more depth?  All that being said, I expect Sklar's and the Tex Pistols, have in pretty good following out where those crucial country polls are located.

Then there are the Liberals. Monica Lysack is the spoiler. She has good credentials but  hasn't a hope of winning. The role she'll will play will be in splitting the anti Harper vote and Tom will come up the middle.

When it is all said and done the NDP and the Liberals will point fingers and blame each other for the result.

I have lived in the riding for going on 14 years. No Federal candidate or candidates representative has ever come to my door and if there are all candidate's sessions, they are a secret.

I hope you election is going better than mine.

Where is all this Going?

I was reading the polls again. Big mistake. Polls will drive us crazy and I am not sure if anything really meaningful can be learned from them.

The overnight Nanos poll would tell us that the Conservatives are up in the polls but their methodology is a bit wonky. The question asked is not who would you vote for but, "For those parties you would consider voting for federally, could you please rank your top two current local preferences?" I don't know what that really tells us except that outside of Quebec no one is voting Bloc.  On second thought I guess it doesn't even tell us that. In any case that poll, shows the Tories gaining ground.

However, if the question asked is Which of the federal leaders would you best describe as:    

1. The most trustworthy  
2. The most competent  
3. Has the best vision for Canada's future

Things come out quite differently. Harper has dropped considerably over the last few days.

The other thing I found interesting is that when it comes to issues, is that none of the leaders are talking much about is Health Care. That issue is at the head of the pack with The Economy running second.  

While  27% of Canadians apparently say the economy is the most important issue 30% of us say they see the economy growing stronger in the next year. So, Canadians care about it but are confidant it is ok. 

Harper seems to wants us to focus on his economic record and to worry about what might happen if he isn't re-elected. I can't figure out why. His record  isn't particularly good.

Harper plays an old game. In political science there is probably a name for it. It works like this. Even if it isn't true,  keep saying it is. Say it often and with confidence. Do that often enough, people begin to believe it. 

Even the media seem to buy in which, to me at least, is curious considering Harper's economic record lags far behind that of Paul Martin and Brian Mulroney.

The media refer to his economic credentials but in truth, Stephen Harper doesn't have the qualifications to teach economics in a community college. The Canadian economy weathered the economic down turn better than most in the G20 more as a result of banking regulations put in place by Liberal governments that my Conservative economic policy.

So we struggle along through an election campaign that already seems too long arguing about the economy, the tough on crime agenda, attack ads, fighter jets, the ignored veterans and corporate tax cuts. 

Did we need this election? Yes we did. Will it accomplish much? I wonder.

If anything this election will highlight to Canadians just how broken our democracy is. What we really need to to replace all the leaders except perhaps Gilles Duceppe. We then need to have a serious talk about a vision for Canada. We need to have a frank discussion about how to fix our broken electoral system. It is time to drag those old tired politicos into the 21st century. 

Generally it is not a Good Idea to Misquote Fraser

On the day of the leaders' debate (Well most of the leaders anyway) I find the Shelia Fraser story about G8 spending the most interesting.

No, not the story about her being unable to release her investigation of G8 - G20 spending.

The Conservative members of a parliamentary committee looking into the costs around the G8 and G20 summits dropped a quote from Fraser into their report. The report Fraser as saying: "We found that the processes and controls around that were very good, and that moneys were spent as they were intended to be spent."

Apparently Fraser's quote which went back to 2004, actually referred to the previous Liberal government spending.

As you might imagine, Shelia Fraser was rather annoyed about the misrepresentation.

The Conservatives, caught yet again, have apologized.

It is all about trust, isn't it?

Is anyone still thinking majority?

OK Folks - Where are we?

I don't think I can say I have been watching this election campaign more closely than I have others but, no question, this one has has intrigued, mystified and annoyed.

I just have to assume that most people just don't pay attention.

Then there is the debate. Over a million Green supporters are denied the opportunity to see their leader in action by that infamous consortium of TV executives. The same members of television's brain trust, decided the best time to schedule the debate. If you live west of Manitoba there is not a chance that you can get home from work before the debate starts. Oh yeah, it also doesn't interfere with prime time which would erode high commercial revenue. Ask your self. What is more important.

I am no economist but...ask your self.
Does this make sense to you?

So, where are we going with all this? There are the polls but I am not sure the pollsters give us answers, or if they simply push voter's opinions in one direction or another. No matter which, I do find the trends troubling. I am not sure how Canadians can be so disconnected from reality?

So in my continuing efforts to get people to think about things before they vote, I suggest you take a look at what Some Guy has to say.

Henry Mintzberg on Sunday Morning

Listening to CBC Radio's Sunday Morning this morning I was taken in by Michael Enright's interview with Henry Mintzberg, who is Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University.

I have reproduced a part of his website below and encourage you to visit it.

If you missed the program on Sunday you can go to the Sunday Morning webpage and download it as a podcasts.

Henry Mintzberg

• This election is theatre: ignore the campaigns and the promises (which are just attempts to bribe us with our own money.) What matters is what the people who are elected can and will do. And that is best judged by what they have done.

• What the Conservatives have done suggests that, with a majority, our most cherished institutions―Medicare [PDF], the CBC [PDF], others―will be threatened. As a prominent minister was overheard just after the 2006 election: “If we get a majority, they won’t recognize this country.”

• Do not necessarily vote Liberal. Or NDP. Or Bloc. Or Green. Or Independent. If the majority of voters split their votes again, the Conservatives will go forward again. So please drop your party preference: this election is about the future of Canada. If you cherish what this country is, vote for whichever candidate in your riding has the greatest chance of beating the Conservative―in other words, the one who is ahead of these others.1 Consult the latest poll in your riding, or else see the results last time [PDF]. (See also www.Catch22campaign.ca. for information on this.)

• If enough people do this, we will likely end up with a coalition government, which could well be the best solution. (Recall that cooperation of the NDP with the Liberals gave us Medicare fifty years ago.) This election has to be about the country, not about its personalities. In fact, such a coalition may well prefer as prime minister someone who is not now the leader of any of the parties.

Lower Corporate Taxes not in my Economic Plan

Scrooge McDuck celebrates
Harper's corporate tax plan

I suspect that there are quite a few of us out here that have never thought, "What is good for business is good for Canadians." There are just too many examples out there that fly in the face of that axiom. The trickle down theory, just doesn't work.

The Harper Conservatives have made continuing tax cuts to big business the center-point of their campaign. They are trying to get Canadians to believe that, for example, despite obscene increases in oil company's profits, that sector needs yet again more cuts to the taxes they pay. Harper's Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty says that "...business leaders...have widely endorsed tax cuts as a job creation tool."  Come Jim, how dumb are you? What else would business say

In 2000 the corporate tax rate was 42%. Under the "Harper Government" they are down to 28% on their way to a goal of 25%. I would suspect that most Canadians are asking why, in this economic downturn more and more of the tax burden falls onto the backs of Canadian families. Harper says because his plan creates jobs.

I was happy to see that the Globe & Mail put the Harper gang's mantra, to the test.

What was revealed is that instead of investing all that new found cash into expansion and machinery which would create new jobs, business investment has decreased, in line with those cuts. Rather that acting as the custodians of  the economy, business has squirreled away billions and billions of dollars conjuring up images of business leader acting less like Daddy Warbucks, and more like Scrooge McDuck.

I am not against helping out business get ahead. There are plenty of good corporate citizens out there but, "no strings attached" tax cuts, is simply put, a dumb move.

Why Would Anyone Vote For Tom?

My MP's campaign people called me up a couple of nights ago asking if they could depend on my vote. They obviously don't read their mail.

Tom  Lukiwski thinks the only reason we are in an election "...is because of the united coalition opposition..." He must not of been listening to what the Speaker had to saw about the "Harper Government's" conduct and I guess he slept through the vote which ultimately found that gang had acted in Contempt of Parliament. In one sense I guess you are right Tom. If you guys had a majority you wouldn't have to worry about democracy getting in the way at all.

This stuff might sell in Findlater, Grand Coulee, Regina Beach, Chamberlain, Eyebrow or Holdfast but it doesn't have legs here in the city.

Tom, according to Wikipedia, has built somewhat of a reputation on Parliament Hill for his ability to stall Parliamentary Committee business by filibustering. As an example he spoke for almost 120 minutes to prevent the Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development from studying a bill to implement the Kyoto Accord on October 26, 2006. Wait, if you are not proud enough yet hold on to your hat.

In Opposition MP, Lukiwski argued that non-renewable natural resource revenues, such as revenues from oil and gas, should be excluded from the calculations of the equalization formula. Lukiwski estimated that Saskatchewan would be between $800 million to $1.5 billion wealthier each year if non-renewable resources were removed from the equalization formula.

When the Harper Government reneged on their equalization election promise, Tom flip-flopped.

We can't forget Tom's homophobic remarks found on an old video tape in a vacated Saskatchewan Party office.

Tom hurried to apologize but never acted to make amends with the gay and lesbian community he had so insulted. I was never sure if Tom seemed contrite as a result of the fact that he had acted like a redneck or, that he was caught acting like a redneck. It is good to remember too, that Tom replaced another Conservative/Reform/Alliance MP who was drummed out as a result of his own homophobic remarks.


More recently Tom laid pretty low during all the debate about BHP Billiton refusing to comment until Harper said it was OK to do so.

He kept his head down over the stadium bid too.

A strong voice in Ottawa. I think not. Tom, along with the other 13 Conservative MPs are little more that mouthpieces for Stephen Harper. Tom won't speak until Stephen gives him the nod.

They will be happy to see the gun registry back on the table. That plays well with the rural voters that keep these guys in power.

Can you trust him? I think not. This bunch have done very little for Saskatchewan and should be thrown out on their ear.