Tag: Canadian Politics 2007

Good For Bill Casey

Always good to see someone not turn out to be a party hack. Especially interesting to see someone representing my old hometown of Truro NS take a stand like this:

Mr. Casey said he and Gerald Keddy, another Nova Scotia Conservative MP, have met repeatedly with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in an effort to resolve the impasse. They also appealed directly to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons in Ottawa Monday. “We have tried to build bridges between the government and provincial governments. We’ve got legal opinions. We have done everything we can do and last week it was obvious to me that we weren’t going to get the Accord restored. I told the Prime Minister I was going to vote against unless it was restored and I did,” said Mr. Casey. “I just think the government of Canada should honour a signed contact and if they don’t, we haven’t got much to work with.”

Hard to argue with that argument. Interesting to see the reference to the legal opinions – who is the “we” he is referring to? The government? A dissenting group?

Did I Ever Mention How I Dislike Pat Binns?

For those of you who rightfully have no idea who Pat Binns is, you can relax now as he is once again someone with a bunch of bad ideas who is now without the power to implement any of those bad ideas. Ruk – who we popped in on at Dublin NH on the way here – made sure it was done right.  And I am happy to say that the new premier, Mr. Robert Ghiz, has also done right and taken on his responsibilites to the Canadians who live in PEI a little more seriously than Mr. Binns could ever imagine doing:

In the CBC Radio interview Monday night, the province’s next premier was also asked whether he would stand by his pledge to end the perennial practice of replacing Tory-leaning contract workers on the provincial payroll, in order to replace them with Liberals. “The days of firing people are over,” he said firmly. “The [Canadian] Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been clear on this.”

Whatever my part was in laying the ground for that statement [Warning: the first link is a .pdf!!] – me now over four years removed from living in those parts – I am pretty pleased to have been able to play that part. I am also pleased for the folk who had the courage to say they got shafted and stood up for their rights in the case. It will be interesting to see how a government that respects the Constitution will change the lives of the Canadians who live in PEI.

I am also pleased for Cynthia Dunsford, blogger and our sometime comment maker hereabouts who won her riding as well as for Craig and all the others who consistently worked or bitched about the last lot when working against them or speaking out could compromise your career in a place where a political leader can and did use influence in a way that might shock because it damn well should have shocked. And good for us all, I suppose, not having a bunch of yahoos who might justify things with arguments like “you wouldn’t understand” or “it’s an Island-made solution” as tax dollars were poured into another dead-end, untendered, unaccountable scheme. Sadly, now and until the end of their mandate in a few days, the exiting Tories will now have their self-appointed task of destroying the record through a couple of weeks of shreading and burning so that years from now someone will right a book proclaiming what a great bunch they were and there will be nothing left to refute the claim.

Oh well, in any event, I’ll be whistling a happier tune as we drive up northwest through New Hampshire, Vermont and New York’s north country on our way home.

D’oh!….Howdja Like My Tie?


Howdja Like The Tie…I’ll Be Here All This Week…Thank you…You’ve Been Great…
…Have You Ever Heard The One About The Commons Committee…

No wonder it’s all gone goofy on Parliament Hill. It’s the Prime Minister’s brilliant plan:

The handbook, obtained by National Post columnist Don Martin, reportedly advises chairs on how to promote the government’s agenda, select witnesses friendly to the Conservative party and coach them to give favourable testimony. It also reportedly instructs them on how to filibuster and otherwise disrupt committee proceedings and, if all else fails, how to shut committees down entirely.

Please note: leaked by the National Post, the closest thing to a conservative paper outside of Alberta. Please also note folks like poster boy Andrew Coyne and independent non-posterly yet more right than me guy Jay Currie and a whack of others natural ethical conservatives of many stripes are not surprised but are appalled. The guys are nuts…yet they are also reinventing the concept of two-bit.

To review: this party came out of the Reform movement to improve democracy in Canada.

Standard Form A-137: Bulletted Chat (Friday)

In this edition, I review what I did this week and find it lacking. After being confused and disappointed by Twitter, I was simultaneously invited to Facebook by men in Alberta and Norway and I took the bait. Now I have 18 friends. I wonder whether I really had friends at all before that point. Then I wonder what I am supposed to do with the thing now that I have 18 friends.

  • Update: What I believe.
  • Update: continue to pray as we plan for MaineCanoe 2007 next week. Note for future google searches, you can find Kingston Canoe events and opportunities here.
  • Back in the days before I had a blog, I used to buy the Economist quite regularly. I mainly liked the graphs and the funny captions under the photos of world leaders. Their essay on the fate of Paul Wolfowitz avoids much of the gobbledegook related to the cause:

    On May 14th, a report written by seven of the bank’s directors concluded that in the summer of 2005 he had broken the institution’s rules, breached his contract and fallen short of the high ethical standards of his office. All of this in an effort to appease Shaha Riza, his romantic partner, who was outraged that she would have to leave her job in the bank when he took his. He went to huge lengths to smooth his girlfriend’s exit, bowing to her demand for a substantial rise in pay, sharp annual increases and a big promotion (or two) on her return. He should never have put himself in the middle of the dispute, the report argued. He was only following the directors’ sketchy advice as he had understood it, Mr Wolfowitz insisted in reply.

    You got to hand it to the man. He has had two tasks in my experience of him, totally blew both and displayed an utterly pathetic understanding of both geo-politics and personal ethics, leaving nothing but disorder in his wake. Not bad.

  • Is it possible that the Canadian Parliament is in disarray because not one party and not one leader has one decent idea to latch on to?
  • A great day for the Sox and a great second game of the double header for former Jays starter and Sox benchman Eric Hinske. I’ve never seen a man happier to hit a home run, the two run tater that gave the win, and I have never seen a man hold on to a baseball for an out while slamming his face into the warning track and eating half a pound of dirt. Good to see.
  • What else does this list of nations have in common other than filtering internet use? Bad at ice hockey – some good at field hockey, though. More English colonies than French, oddly enough.

More later at the breaks no doubt. If it is warm somewhere, please waft the air our way. I am sick of the cold and dreary.

What Is Going On This Morning?

That is sort of what this is all about. Wake up. Read the news. Figure out what is whacky and see if I can write something. It’s not so dumb.

It’s a bit interesting that the Prime Minister has used Parliamentary privilege to suspend a court case. I would presume, as an election is not strictly speaking a Parliamentary matter, that the matter is only on hold. Embarrassing if it picks up come the next election. But that is not that interesting unless you have a good set of books on Parliamentary privilege or have access to the factum with the written legal case to nose around in. The Sox and the Mets lost – not interesting even if the Tiger’s pitcher was throwing over 100 miles an hour late in the game. It’s been raining the perfect rain which is interesting now that the basil and tomatoes are up, too. Show soaking rain followed hours later by a nigh of pouring. Everything’ll pop once the sun comes out. Falwell dead. Not interesting though the gayness of Tinky Winky was interesting – best line from a comedian: “show me the gentials!” Canoes are cheaper in the States than in Canada – that is wrong yet interesting and I have to obey the mighty dollar. Please all pray for a high Canadian dollar in the next two weeks. Darwin’s letters now online. What took them so long? Not interesting. Exercise desk? Not. Dark matter found. Feh.

Better go to work.

Canadianism

Jay poached the photo so I don’t have to. Aside from his sad lapse into phoney baloney snide conclusion, it really points out a very interesting fact – Canadians like the Stanley Cup more than canoes, more than a Tim Hortons outlet located in a Canadian Tire – more than even the NHL who only hold it in trust, more than hockey or the flag.

Update: Not only does he acknowledge the Cup as a national icon, he also confirms that honesty is a great trait of a great man. Good for General Hillier.

The Bloq Of New Liberaltarian Progressive Democratic Conservatives

How to get one party rule? Don’t fight the power! Share a big hug over a nothing issue. Make it all bland and, like, righteous so that everyone wants the same thing because its all about what is right and it is never right to say bad things…especially when it’s based on made-up stuff.

In Russia, Mr. Doan again denied making a cultural slur Tuesday, saying he takes pride in being a role model and would never have made the comments attributed to him. He previously launched a lawsuit against Denis Coderre, a Liberal MP who criticized him. Coderre has counter-sued.

Sue them all, Doan. Sue them for being stuffed, bloated pompoustatrons.

You Are Now Entering Fairyland

Nothing is more important to any politician – left, right or centre – intent on a little social engineering than creating new myths that bear little resemblance to actual history but which prop up the political needs of the day but this is either funny or unsettling:

“Real nationalists don’t want destroy, they want to build,” said Mr. Harper, who even at one point quoted Quebec’s nationalist conservative premier of the 1940s and 1950s, Maurice Duplessis. “The real nationalists aren’t afraid of reality, they want to improve it, and that’s what our government is doing”… Mr. Harper finally found a sympathetic ear Saturday night. “There is nothing more precious than the family farm, which represents so well all the values on which our country has been built,” he said to rapturous applause.

Is it just me or wasn’t Duplessis sort of, you know, a quasi-fascist thug whose name has been mud since he got the boot. And wasn’t this nation built on military garrisons, state chartered resource-stripping monopolies and colonial policies that lasted well past the days of being a colony? I suppose you have to tell the people what they want to here but there has to be a limit, one would think, well before the point of the giggles.

Next thing you are going to hear is about how the Erie Canal and wagon trains opened up the route to Alberta.

Friday The Last Of April Chat-a-roo

Wasn’t it just last Friday? Time is flying. I am making arrangements for an undergrad reunion so I suppose I am a bit sensitive to these things. Yes, 25 years ago I was a seedy weedy sullen yute at the University of Kings College and soon people will be returning there from across the globe. From Engerlant to the Yukon so far. Of course I dread it. But if you qualify as a mid-late 80s grad, you should go. Two words: video dance.

  • Update: The Flea is good enough to point out one of the sillies things I have read in a long time. Never mind Alberto Gonzales, WMD, Libby, drugged up Limbaugh just saying no, Enron economics, Saskatchewan in the 1990s, moral majority, Oliver North, trickle down economics and a bazillion other things we could all trot out if we have 27 seconds to spare – conservatives apparently don’t lie. What was it Alberto said? Oh, yes – they just don’t remember. Flea’s line is far more honest and admirable:

    …what I like best about being a reactionary is that I do not have to make sense.

  • While I promised not to slag Web 2.0 for a while, I think it is entirely in my rights to point out that Blogger and Podcaster magazine is a wee bit Web -1.0 for me. Don’t get me wrong. I bought Yahoo magazine back in around 1996 and still wish I had those sitting around. But why do I need a magazine about this which is essentially a magazine?
  • I announced the formation of CAMWA – join in.
  • The New Liberaltarian Progressive Democratic Conservatives are having a bit of a hard time. First, I have a hard time with the fire and brimstone the-sky-is-falling the-sky-is-falling flip out of last week turning into the 8 billion dollar green millstone placed around the neck of the consumer…but not so much the polluters. Then, there is the steering of public funds into the boosting of Tory backbenchers prospects through focused funding of local instances of national celebrations. [Ed.: Yes! I can write that sentence without using the word “sponsorship” so it must be different.] Not to mention the application of creationist analysis to a war zone: torture is a theory and as there is no proof it cannot be. I hope the Prime Ministers groomer is especially on her game. Wouldn’t want him to notice the slide and take it personally.
  • But green is not all bad. David recently posted about generating kites in the sky. It was announced this week that the largest solar power facility in North American is going to be built in Sarnia. Soon there will be again talk of the sling tide project.
  • It’s also been a bad week for movie actors. Just as the Prime Minister’s handlers wish he had found other things to do – besides, you know, saying what is on his mind – so, too, wished Hugh Grant that he had not thought that kicking the arse of someone in public was a good idea. At least he only used his foot. Richard Gere tried to enter into some sort of merger with Shilpa Shetty, a noteworthy Indian actress, and now like Grant he faces charges.

What is it about men passing their best before date? You consider an agreement with a toothless non-profit the same as an agreement with a nation state. You consider low level assault either by boot to the arse or smothering hug to be your right. You consider traveling 1600 km to sit in a dorm room only to realize you are equidistant to the old wrinkly stage again the right thing to do.

Pity men as they move into their golden years. We can’t help it.

Reopen The Constitution, I Say!

I don’t know what all the fuss is. A suggestion that Quebec join in the constitution – after 25 years wandering in the wilderness with nothing but a far superior Charter of Rights to keep them warm – sparks this sort of reaction:

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has rejected suggestions by Quebec Opposition Leader Mario Dumont to reopen the Constitution, blaming Prime Minister Stephen Harper for encouraging the notion with unclear promises for more provincial autonomy. “The thing [Mr. Harper] needs to do to prevent a problem is to speak out and say very clearly which powers, which responsibilities, he wants to transfer from the federal government to the provincial government,” said Mr. Dion in an interview Sunday. “If he continues to be vague and confused, I think it’s not good at all for the country. He owes that to Canadians.”

I want a constitutional debate. And I want in, too – personal autonomy needs to be beefed up. The misguided will also want a kick at the can about property rights. And a place for First Nations and municipalities as semi-free states. And weakening or strengthening the courts so our rights will not be at the whim of politicians. Whatever.

Why not have a big national chat about it? The only down side is really the intense tedium. What people forget is not that the nation almost fell apart – it’s that the country almost ground to a halt in the 70s and early 80s with unending live TV coverage of hearings taking up all the channels. People from NS will also remember the embarrassment of seeing all the others laughing in the background whenever Premier John Buchanan decided to speak up. Now that we have more than three stations to watch I suppose that is not a problem. But really – don’t expect a lot of “amending formula” jokes. This stuff is mostly boring.