Lukiwski Plays Pinocchio

My MP, Tom Lukiwski, who supposedly represents the residents of Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre doesn't like the new proposed changes to the Saskatchewan Electoral Boundaries. I understand why. The existing boundaries carve up Regina and Saskatoon into a bit of a pie adding to them, huge rural components. The rural voters have guaranteed that guys like Tom get elected.

Lukiwski and his Saskatchewan colleagues have been trying to say that unlike Canada's other 25  significant cities, Saskatchewan cities should not have urban ridings. They have mounted a bit of a campaign.

A few evenings ago we got an automated robocall call from a group that claimed to be Chase Research. It was a "push poll" of the worst kind.  My son took the call and then we called the number identified in the call to complain, we were so annoyed. Then when we discovered we could not find any Canadian firm called Chase Research on the Internet we started to get suspicious.

Our reaction was to say, "This has to be a Conservative poll."

Oh, no no says our friend Tom. Quoted in the Star Phoenix he said,    "Certainly, polling is not something I'm doing and ... I'm pretty sure I'd know if any one of my colleagues was doing something like that, and I haven't heard a thing."  Lukiwski just happens to be on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee that will consider the boundaries commission's final report.

So, late yesterday the truth, or something that resembles it, came out. This was a Conservative initiated push poll delivered to us by the firm RackNine Inc. That, for those of you with short memories, is the same firm that, on the behest of Stephen Harper's Conservatives, sent people they suspected would vote for the opposition, to the wrong polling stations during the last election. How could we forget Pierre Poutine?

I don't know about you but I don't think liars and cheats deserve to be Members of Parliament.

 

Lukiwski Responds

Anyone who follows my blog will know that I don't hesitate to take issue with  my Member of Parliament Tom Lukiwski when he or his colleagues in the Harper Government take positions I believe are untenable. .

After I received what I felt was an inadequate and inaccurate response to a letter he wrote to me about my concerns to cuts to the CBC I responded to him electronically and then I posted the text of that e-mail here.

I wasn't surprised, but I confess to being a bit disappointed at his intemperate response to me. I always felt it was my Member of Parliament's duty to represent the wishes of his constituents to his caucus. Apparently Tom Lukiwski only represents Conservative Party members and others who blindly support any positions their government puts forward.

Below is my latest letter from my MP. Interestingly although it doesn't clear up the inaccuracies in his first letter it does show how he really feels about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. If nothing else the honesty is refreshing.

I know it a bit tough to read but clicking on the letter will enlarge it.

Another Lukewski Form Letter

I along with several thousand other Canadians recently wrote my MP about our concerns about funding, or the lack thereof, to the CBC. Anyone who is a regular listener knows that CBC Radio is a little more that a shadow of it's former self. My action was part of a campaign initiated by the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. 

A day or so ago I got a reply Not unexpectedly, it was another shit sandwich from Tom Lukiwski, my member of parliament. You remember Tom. He is one of the 13, do nothing, Saskatchewan Conservative MPs. That sandwich is something that those of us who write to our Conservative MPs and cabinet members get quite often. They start with "thanks for writing" and end with "...please do not hesitate to contact me...". The middle of the letter, where the substance should be is mostly bullshit.

In this case I got exactly the same reply as thousands of other concerned citizens who wrote did. This same form letter, obviously generated by the PMO was sent by scores of Conservative MPs to citizens coast to coast.

One of the things we asked in our letters was about the fact that while in a Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage hearing, Dean Del Mastro, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, openly muses about cutting all funding to the CBC.when he said when questioning Gary Maavara, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Corus Entertainment, "...do you think it's time that the Canadian government looks at it and says maybe it's time we get out of the broadcasting business..."

Lukiwski ignored that question in his reply. The Harper crowd don't answer "real agenda" questions.

Then he talked about the fact that Jean Chretien cut funding to the CBC when he was in power. I already know about Chretien's record re the CBC. I hate to think how much energy I expended fighting those cuts. What a former Liberal government did is not the issue at hand.

Then he claimed "The NDP's record is no better, having voted against funding for the CBC every year we have been in office" Lukiwski is now pretty much way into left field. The NDP has never voted against funding  to the CBC. They have voted against the Harper Government's budget which is quite a different thing and to be honest I'd be pretty pissed if the didn't.

Lukiwski goes on to suggest that the government's support for the CBC has increased again and again since they have been in power. This is just hocus pocus. In fact, the Conservative figures don't factor in inflation but, constant dollars. The true figure is in the negative.  

I Wrote to my MP Today

Tom Lukiwski

Member of Parliament

House of Commons

Ottawa, ON

K1A 0A6

February 7th 2011

Dear Sir;

I got another of your householder flyers today and I must tell you that I continue to find them offensive. They add nothing to the dialogue; they are misleading, dismissive of alternate views and in most cases the production values and content are amateurish. There is nothing helpful about them whatsoever.  They are ineffective and bothersome.

To be completely honest, I have seen so much of it over the years that I have lost all objectivity. Having your picture constantly slipping through my mail slot, at this point simply makes me angry.

Frankly, I think that to send these tons, yes tons, of material through the postal system each week is in a misuse of taxpayer’s dollars. I ask you to stop sending me this postal spam immediately. If not to placate me, at the very least to save some trees. 

In fact sir, when I really think about it, I wish that you would simply make the decision to retire from politics and let the voters replace you with someone who will speak up for our community. If that is too much for you to swallow, go back to the backroom politics from which you came.  Trade you MP’s chair for that of a back room boy and work with the Harper team, planning its treachery from behind the scenes.

You and the other Saskatchewan Members of Parliament have become irrelevant. You refuse to speak up for constituents except perhaps at the personal level. You and your colleagues are supposed to represent us but, you never speak out about issues which are important to Saskatchewan’s people and our collective voice is not being heard.

To be properly represented in Ottawa we need more than mouthpieces for the Prime Minister.

I have copied all your colleagues Saskatchewan Conservative MPs, not out of any malice nor to cause you embarrassment but, because the message would be the same for all of them. It is just that you are my MP.

Please give real consideration to my request. Many, many constituents will thank you for it

Yours Truly

Gord Hunter

c.c.  Prime Minister Harper

       All Saskatchewan Conservative MPs

Oh Joy, mail from my MP and my MLA today

Today’s mail brought me material from both my MLA and my federal MP.

To be honest I don’t get all that much mail from my MLA Sandra Morin so I was interested in what she had to say.  This is an election year in Saskatchewan and the prospect of facing the voters when your party leader  hasn’t yet taken the hint that he has to move on, must be a little daunting for her. I like Sandra and wish her luck.

Sandra is the Environment critic and  tells us that “In this spring Session beginning in March, I plan to introduce a private members bill to protect Saskatchewan Residents against oil sands toxins coming from Alberta.”

Well, I am sorry Sandra but, how the hell do you actually do that? Build a wall? Install big fans to work against the prevailing westerly’s?  That is one piece of legislation I’ll be keeping my eye out for.

On the other hand,  I get lots of mail from my MP, Tom Lukiwski. Tom is a classic Conservative postal spammer.

This week, as his party is about to risk being defeated in an effort to introduce tax cuts for corporate Canada, Tom-Boy is trying to convince me that “Our Conservative government has cut taxes more than 100 times since 2006 to help the typical Canadian family save $3000.00 every year.”

I have news for you Tom. Someone must have got my three grand because my taxes sure didn’t go down.  I don’t buy it.

Tom, who is pretty much useless and a mouthpiece for Stephen Harper must be a little worried this time around. He all but disappeared during the BHP potash debate and he has been pretty sparse with his support for the proposed new stadium here in Regina.

It was noticed.

I for one don’t want to see money spent on a new stadium but it is a big deal out here in “Rider Nation”. Tom’s lack of support has hit a chord with some of the red neck crowd. A friend sent me some posts from a talk radio site. Reading these I’d say Tom must be getting a bit edgy.

Baker58

I am very disappointed to say that I am going to change who I vote for in the next election. At least by voting for an opposition party they will make noise. Tom Lukiwski is in my riding and I have written a few emails to him and all I have received back is a prepared statement from some intern and a christmas card. Through this debate and through Potash Corp our representation has been a complete joke. I would rather have a guy who maybe I don't see eye to eye with all the time who will make some noise rather than some puppet who has to ask Harper which hand to wipe his *** with.

nearsight

Way to stand up for your constituents there Tom. It isn't his job to make sure the "government is fair to everyone". It's his job to make sure they are fair to Saskatchewan.
I love the fact that really, in two years, the first thing any of our MPs have said about this project has been very negative.

Lore

What were you expecting him to say? We all know that Conservative MPs aren't allowed to say anything unless Harper has his hand up their butt so they move their lips properly when Harper's voice comes out.

fergyrocks

13 MPs and what does it get you? Nothing. Screwed on equalization, and the stadium deal. I think these will be big issues in SK during the next election.

rider89ers

have to boot out Andrew Scheer, i heard he was one hell of a waiter before he got his great silent backbencher gig

Should be an interesting election  assuming the Liberals and the NDP don't chicken out again

.

Do You Think Defeating the Bill Will Shut Them Up

Well the bill to scrap the gun registry is almost dead. Finally.

It has been a long infuriating summer's debate. E-mails, call-in shows, newspaper ads, commentary, chest thumping election style speeches - we had it all.  Perhaps the NRA wasn't involved but their spirit was ever present. Again and again the gun owners claimed, "The next thing is the police will take my guns away." Farmers talked about "The right to brae arms." What bull.

Those Conservative MP's claim the Liberals and the NDP are out to get hunters and farmers. What a crock.

Very few Canadians have any problem with hunters bagging the add deer or farmers shooting gophers but I must tell you that some of the pro-gun bumper stickers out here in Western Canada make me nervous. Who are my neighbours anyway?

We have to ask ourselves, who benefited from all this rhetoric.  No one really except perhaps the spin doctors, the big advertising firms, the pollsters and newspaper industry.  The ad on the right is a prime example. It ran, full page in Ottawa's Hill Times. Two days before the vote that, it has already been determined, will fail.

The ad says that ordinary citizens were not consulted and implies that if they were listened to, the gun registry would be on its was out.

I agree that many, many Canadian citizens were not listened to. I agree, but not in the same way the ad implies. My MP, Ton "A Team' Lukewski didn't listen to my support for the gun registry nor did any of the other Conservative MP's I wrote to.

What the ad really does is threaten. "WE WILL REMEMBER" it says. And, it implies, "If you don't vote to support the bill, we'll take you out next election.

Conservative style wedge politics at it's best.

Lets not go half way here. Let's just get it over with and call an election.

Some Other Time Brad

With time spent traveling to Central Canada and then contracting a bad cold I have been neglecting this blog but I am back, if only at half steam.
Here have been so many issues missed over the last few weeks. Harper and his crew never stop offering opportunities to rant.
While in Quebec I was quite interested in the debate over Federal funding for a new arena in Quebec City as a part of a bid to get Les Nordiques back. Even Harper waded in for a while seeming to support the idea of injecting Federal cash into the project contradicting several of his Quebec ministers. In Quebec it was seen clearly as a vote buying scheme in an effort to garner support much needed by the Reform/Conservative/Alliance bunch. They have taken a big hit in Quebec over the gun registry issue. They are practical people in Quebec. The sentiment seemed to be. “OK, give us the money but we aren’t going to vote for you anyway.”
Now I see that Hamilton wants a bit of Federal cash to refurbish Ivor Wynne Stadium in advance of the Pan American Games. Why not jump on the vote buying bandwagon too, after all?
All this action puts the likelihood of the much hyped Regina stadium project going ahead into doubt. Both Regina mayor Pat Fiacco and Premier Brad Wall see the stadium as a legacy project. Their legacy project.
They are starting to panic.
Wall had a meeting with that motley crew of Saskatchewan Conservative MPs this week and came away with very little. I am not sure how they sounded while they were in the meeting but after the discussions ended a few of the MPs had comments none of which should encourage Saskatchewan Stadium fans. My own MP Tom “A Team” Lukiwski’s comments were incomprehensible. According to media reports he suggested that the Regina bid would have a better chance of success securing funds under a kind of public-private-partnership which of course is what Saskatchewan has already applied to the Feds under. Then he said “We have been facilitating that process for Saskatchewan rather that advocating one way or another. P3 is not a perfect fit, but it has a lot of commonalities in it.”
Now in fairness, no one ever said that Lukiwski was very bright but, his comments make no sense. I sometimes wonder if these Conservatives have been sent on some kind of Ottawa double speak course or, perhaps they are all so afraid of contradicting Little Stevie that they just mumble gibberish when asked a question. The theory being that if they say anything to offend Harper, they will find themselves sitting in the backbenches beside some Independent.
I think Brad is out of luck. Harper was recently quoted as saying, in Saskatoon of all places.
“In terms of financing major sports facilities, there are demands here, there are demands in Quebec City, I am aware of demands elsewhere. In terms of financing these things going forward, we’re going to have to respect the precedents we have had in the past and be sure any treatment we’re prepared to make to one city we’re prepared to make to all,” said Harper.
That sounds to me like “Perhaps some other time Brad.”
Harper needs votes in Quebec and in Hamilton and it appears that he isn’t going to cough up in those cities. Why should he bother when Saskatchewan voters will support him no matter how many promises he breaks in this Province?
And Brad Wall? Brad still clings to the hope that his “special relationship” with Harper will benefit the province at some point. It is kind of cute that Brad can hang onto that small town naivety in politics but I am afraid he heading for a rude awakening.

Telling it Like it is

Tory Senator Nancy Ruth is getting a lot of flack these days and I am not sure it is warrented. She was just telling it like it is, a rare trait amoungst politicians.

A few days ago Ruth, a former United Church minister and lifelong activist, was speaking to a group on Parliament Hill that had gathered to discuss the declining importance women's right has within the Harper government's foreign policy. She was putting forth the argument that with this government at least, the more you push the more backlash there will be so, she was suggesting that the women’s groups just layoff the issue of including funding for abortion in Canada's G8 plan. She told them it would be best if they just "Shut the fuck up."


Her advice seemed to me to be strategic not philosophical. In other words, she was suggesting if you fight these guys and they will pay you back. Of course she is right. There is a mean spirit running through that gang in Ottawa who call themselves our government these days. The Harper gang are not the "Turn the other cheek" kind of religious zealots they come for the "Eye for an eye" camp.

So no surprise today when the news came out that the Conservatives thugs have cut funding to 14 women's groups in the last two weeks. As an example, MATCH Canada, a group which works to help women around the world have a say about their lives and their country, was told Friday that its federal funding, $400,000 a year will not be renewed.

What more can we say. This government has to go.