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by Hammer_Time » Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:50 am
by Fuzz » Sat Feb 05, 2011 10:03 am
by Hammer_Time » Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:51 pm
by clone » Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:41 pm
by Fuzz » Sat Feb 05, 2011 2:49 pm
by clone » Sat Feb 05, 2011 3:56 pm
by Hammer_Time » Sat Feb 05, 2011 4:40 pm
by Stupify » Sat Feb 05, 2011 5:41 pm
by Fuzz » Sat Feb 05, 2011 11:03 pm
by Hammer_Time » Sat Feb 05, 2011 11:42 pm
Harper's government of waning hope
The Vancouver Observer
Daniel D. Veniez
On Sunday, to mark the fifth anniversary of his reign, Stephen Harper said that his Conservative government has governed on "hope".
Surely, Mr. Harper must be kidding? Or does he just think that we're stupid?
The disconnect between his entirely delusional rhetoric and the reality of what Canadians have actually been subjected to is, well, laughable.
This is the same Stephen Harper who, by specific design, scares the elderly, vulnerable, and new Canadians into believing that crime is out of control on our streets, when in fact, crime rates have been dropping for 15 years. And then, after having instilled fear, promises to rescue us and fix a problem that doesn't exist by spending tens of billions of our tax dollars to build thousands of more jail cells we don't need. And then when his political opponents call him on this lunacy, he calls them "soft on crime".
This is the same Stephen Harper who justifies awarding a sole source contract worth $20 billion for new jet fighters because Canadians should be scared that the Russians are coming with their 50 year old bombers!
This is the same Stephen Harper that spent over a $1billion putting a security fence around downtown Toronto, and then locking up peaceful protesters in their own backyards without due process.
This is the very same Stephen Harper who fired the head of the police complaints commission, the nuclear regulatory watchdog, the veterans ombudsman - all for the offense of speaking truth to power.
Here's a man that leads a Conservative government that has instilled fear in the public service of Canada, once a proud and confident group of people. He bullies anyone that gets in his way, and punishes public servants who simply do their jobs. The head of Statistics Canada and Richard Colvin are two others that come to mind. Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, was told that he "doesn't know what he's talking about" by Jim Flaherty, Harper's finance minister.
This is the very same Stephen Harper who takes government planes to Tim Horton photo-ops, says it's no problem that Canada doesn't get a seat at the UN Security Council, and spends six months of the people's time on a needless and deliberately polarizing debate on the long gun registry. Harper leads a government that raises shrill and urgent alarms when a boat-full of refugees arrive in Victoria, then quietly grants admission to every one of them into the country.
The rationale for Harper's cancellation of the indispensable mandatory long form census was the bogus claim that Canadians were under threat of arrest and jail time. In it's history as a globally respected census no Canadian has ever spent a minute in jail for not filling out a survey. Yet, the Harper Conservatives spent months saying in the House of Commons that citizens could go to jail if they didn't complete it.
"Hope", Mr. Harper? Really?
The Harper Reform Party, Canadian Alliance Party, United Alternative, and now Conservative Party intimidates and threatens. That is there modus operandi. It is a widely acknowledged fact that they have imported Republican and Tea Party attack strategies and honed negative and divisive wedge politics into a high art form.
And Mr. Harper has set the broader tone for a government that has no forward-looking program for the country, and has profoundly undermined our national institutions. That starts with shutting down parliament twice, and disregarding his own fixed election date law.
This is the same Harper that now warns of the dangers of that dreaded "separatist coalition". Yet, a few short years ago he personally wrote to the Governor General with a request to form a coalition with the very same Bloc Quebecois and the NDP that he tells us we should be very afraid of.
This great democrat, Stephen Harper, also sends us regular dire warnings that our economy would be dangerously imperiled and descend into the chaos od instability if - God forbid! - the Canadian people went to the polls to exercise our right to chose a new parliament.
Funny, how democracy has waited in the United Kingdom, Austrailia, or the United States in the last year.
Harper's implicit message is that it is he - and only he - that has the wisdom to guide this country's affairs.
Baloney.
Who the heck is he trying to fool? This from a guy who presided over the largest increase in government spending and deficits in Canadian history.
A government of "hope"? Canada has never had a more secretive, all-controlling, and cynical government than the Harper Conservatives. And they think nothing of assassinating the character of Canadian patriots.
Mr. Harper's roots emanate from the protest movement once known as the Reform Party. His psyche is wired for grievance, not for hope.
A talking-point called "hope" from a scripted speech isn't about to change that fact of life. Nor does it erase his five year reign of fear and intimidation.
Harper's brand of hope breeds hopelessness. We need a leader who will genuinely help---and not just leave us hoping.
by Fuzz » Sun Feb 06, 2011 10:03 am
by Hammer_Time » Thu Mar 10, 2011 1:08 am
Democracy double: Harper government takes twin blows for defying Parliament
The Canadian PressBy Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press – Wed, 9 Mar, 2011 9:10 PM EST
OTTAWA - The Harper government suffered a double blow today in its battle with the oppostion.
The Speaker of the House of Commons ruled against the Tories on two major issues.
Peter Milliken found that International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda breached parliamentary privilege by misleading MPs about the alteration of a document.
He also found that the government breached parliamentary privilege by refusing to provide all documents requested by the oppostion on the cost of its crime bills and tax cuts.
The government has refused to disclose the full price tags, arguing they constitute cabinet confidences.
It's now up to a Commons committee to decide what action to take against the Conservatives.
Opposition parties had argued that Oda lied when she told MPs she didn't know who had altered a document than ended funding for a church-based foreign aid group.
Oda later admitted she directed an aide to add the word "not" to an internal memo signed by senior officials, who had actually recommended that funding for KAIROS be continued.
by DIREWOLF75 » Thu Mar 10, 2011 6:38 am
by Fuzz » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:21 am
by Sauron_Daz » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:53 am
by Fuzz » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:04 am
by Sauron_Daz » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:15 am
by Fuzz » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:25 am
by Hammer_Time » Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:15 pm
Tory party, 2 senators face election charges
Elections Act charges include claims party submitted 'false or misleading' expense statements
Elections Canada has laid charges against the Conservative Party and four of its members, including two senators, over alleged violations of election spending rules.
As reported Thursday by CBC News, the charges were laid under the Canada Elections Act on Wednesday and relate to the so-called "in-and-out" campaign financing case from the 2006 federal election. The charges are regulatory, not criminal.
The charges, published on Elections Canada's website Friday, include allegations that Conservative election expense documents submitted to Elections Canada were "false or misleading."
Charged are:
Senator Doug Finley, the party's campaign director in 2006 and 2008, and the husband of Human Resources Development Minister Diane Finley.
Senator Irving Gerstein, a prominent businessman and fundraiser for the party.
Michael Donison, a former national party director.
Susan Kehoe, who has served as an interim party executive director.
Gerstein was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in December 2008. Harper appointed Finley to the Upper Chamber in August 2009.
Harper said Friday the charges were part of a dispute the party has been having with Elections Canada for five years.
"Our position's been very clear. We respected the rules that were in place at the time," Harper told reporters in Val-d'Or, Que.
"We've been repeatedly in court about this. The courts to this point have ruled in our favour," Harper said, referring to a court decision last year that Elections Canada is appealing.
"When Elections Canada changed its interpretation of the rules after that election, we changed our practices to conform with their new rulings. But obviously we can't change things retroactively. So all of these individuals acted according to the rules that were in place at the time."
Elections Act
Read the charges (pdf)
'Very serious'
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said Friday the charges against four of the most senior members of Harper's campaign team are "very serious violations of Canada's election laws."
"It's pretty obvious that in Mr. Harper's Conservative Party, nothing happens without the approval of the prime minister. So this goes right up to the prime minister," Ignatieff told reporters in Oakville.
"And when you add to the fact that this is a government that has a minister who mis-led the House and is still in her job, when you add to the fact that this is a prime minister who's shut down Parliament twice, you begin to get a disturbing pattern of disrespect for our democracy."
Ignatieff was referring to International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda's recent explanation of an altered document that denied funding to foreign aid agency Kairos, and to the prime minister's decision to prorogue Parliament twice in recent years.
"This is a prime minister who thinks he makes the rules and now he's been found accused of breaking the rules. And I think the question of fundamental respect for our democracy is going to be a basic issue in an election, whenever it comes," said Ignatieff.
In-and-out
Elections Canada has alleged that the Conservative Party broke the spending rules during the 2006 election campaign by improperly reporting $1.3 million in national advertising as an expense that was shared by 67 Conservative candidates.
Elections Canada said the party violated the rules by moving funds in and out of local ridings to pay for national ads, allowing the party to breach the cap and for the candidates to claim rebates on expenses that weren't actually incurred.
The Conservatives took the issue to the Federal Court and won. Elections Canada appealed that decision. That appeal is still pending, but in the meantime, Elections Canada has laid these charges.
'False or misleading'
Two of the charges allege the party and its fundraising arm under Gerstein "did provide the Chief Electoral Officer with a return on the general election expenses of the Conservative Party of Canada ... that they knew or ought reasonably to have known contained a materially false or misleading statement, namely that all election expenses in respect of the 39th federal general election had been properly recorded."
The maximum penalty under the Act for each of those charges is a $25,000 fine.
The other charges, against the Conservative Fund and the four individuals and against the Conservative Party, relate to exceeding the election spending limits. The maximum penalty for each of those charges is a $2,000 and a year in prison.
The Conservative Party is "not surprised, but disappointed" by the charges, Conservative sources told CBC News Thursday. They say Elections Canada has been pushing for charges for more than two years, and they question the value of laying of them while an appeal is pending.
Its as disgraceful as the Koch brothers in the states spending over $330 million dollars for SIG to influence elections, and unlike Canada, they have NO caps on political donations, whoever has the most money will win the elections there for the most part...
The proceedings from the charges are due to be heard in Ontario provincial court in Ottawa on March 18.
Yeah right, that's why you prorogued ( shut down ) parliament ( TWICE!! ) for months... during the Vancouver Olympics most noticeably, now coincidental you lazy SOB!!! Where where you then!!! You were not "Here for Canada" when you shut down parliament for no good reasons...twice now... making history... 
A Conservative government will not be raising taxes. We will not impose a carbon tax. We will not cancel planned tax reductions for business. We will keep our spending within our means. It is that simple.
The alternative is not a plan. It is just the consequence of complete panic, and this government will not panic at a time of uncertainty.
DATE:10/03/11
SOURCE:Flight International
Canada F-35 cost estimate soars 66%: report
By Stephen Trimble
Canada's planned fleet of 65 F-35As will be at least 66% more expensive to buy and operate over a 30-year lifespan than government officials predicted, according to an independent cost analysis.
The report issued by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) on 10 March predicts the Lockheed Martin F-35A will cost Canadian taxpayers US$29.3 billion over 30 years, compared to the $17.3 billion estimate published in October by the Department of National Defence (DND).
Canada's opposition Liberal Party has seized on the F-35 as a key political issue ever since Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister Stephen Harper committed to buy 65 F-35As on 14 July.
Liberal's leaders have complained the DND cost estimates are too low and taxpayers could save money with a competitive bidding process, with the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen among the interested bidders.
Although substantially higher than the DND estimate, the PBO considers the $29.3 billion overall price tag for the F-35 as probably too conservative.
The report is based on several key assumptions, including Lockheed will build 2,478 F-35As, 330 F-35As will be delivered before Canada receives its first aircraft in 2016 and the F-35A's basic empty weight remains 13,318kg (29,361lb).
With all 65 aircraft delivered from 2016 to 2022, the PBO report estimates that the average cost for Canada's F-35As will be $148.5 million in Fiscal 2009 dollars.
The report also forecasts that the DND will spend $8.4 million every year to operate and sustain each F-35A, as well as about $30.4 million per aircraft for an overhaul and upgrade event scheduled 10 years after delivery.
Those numbers add up to a total ownership cost of $450 million per aircraft, or $29.3 billion overall, according to the PBO report.
Those figures are sharply higher than even the most pessimistic forecasts by the US Department of Defense, which plans to buy 2,443 F-35s. Although originally billed as a $30-$45 million fighter, the DOD now estimates the average cost is $91 million.
The PBO report notes that Lockheed officials believe the cost of the F-35 will decline from the $91 million estimate, not increase.
"Unless there is compelling evidence to the contrary, it is difficult to see prices reducing to their original estimated level," the PBO report says.
Liberal's leaders have complained the DND cost estimates are too low and taxpayers could save money with a competitive bidding process, with the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen among the interested bidders.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday in Conservative election machinations
So let's check in on what the Harper Conservatives were up to on Monday given that the PM supposedly does not want an "opportunistic election" (as of Friday anyway).
The Prime Minister was out striking a rather contradictory pose in light of the above position:
The federal government will listen to opposition requests for next month's budget but won't "engage in horse trading or negotiations," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday.
"We listen to the views of other parties in Parliament whether we agree with them or not," Harper told reporters in Vancouver.
"In the end, after listening to the pitches of the other parties, we will make the decisions we think are in the best interest of Canadians."
He'll listen but then he'll do what he wants, thank you very much. What the point of listening is, then, remains to be seen. They may act upon suggestions from other parties, namely the NDP, the only party they're meeting with, but it sounds like a take it or leave it scenario shaping up. Way to make things work, oh opportunistic-election-naysayer!
An urgent Conservative fundraising appeal to members was reported as well:
In a fundraising letter stamped “URGENT,” the Harper Conservatives are appealing for money to help finance an election they say is imminent.
The letter from top Tory fundraiser Sen. Irving Gerstein, obtained by iPolitics.ca, says the party needs another $243,900 for an election “we will likely face in the next few weeks.”
The sum, Gerstein says, will “pay for two weeks of campaign preparedness action before an election is called.”
They'll be the boys who cried wolf if we don't have one then, that stuff gets old real fast. Or do Conservatives just fall for the "urgent" appeal every time and enjoy the theatre of it all?
The Conservatives do not lead only in feel-good perceptions. Respondents thought the Conservatives, more than Liberals or New Democrats, are “extreme” and “out of touch with ordinary people.” It hardly needs saying that Harper continues to divide the country. But enough of the division benefits the Conservatives to leave Harper in the catbird seat.
Abacus found Canadians have less trouble agreeing about the Liberals. When comparing the three parties, respondents were least likely to agree that Michael Ignatieff’s party “keeps its promises,” “understands the problems facing Canada,” “looks after the interests of people like me,” “defends the interests of people in my province,” “has a good team of leaders,” “stands for clear principles,” “has sensible policies,” or is “professional in its approach.”
But look on the bright side. The Liberals did not finish behind the Conservatives and New Democrats on every measure. Among the three parties, respondents were likeliest to agree it’s the Liberals who are “divided” and “will promise anything to win votes.”
These are the results Ignatieff obtains after a full year with a senior political staff Ottawa reporters like. It follows his long summer bus tour and the uniformly positive reviews that came with it. It comes after Harper prorogued Parliament, gutted the long-form census, turned summit-time Toronto into one big riot and flip-flopped on ending the Afghanistan deployment.
After all that, Canadians give Harper’s party the edge on reliability, pertinence and competence. After the Conservatives, on these same questions, they almost always prefer Jack Layton’s NDP to Ignatieff’s Liberals. Giorno’s farewell note does not mention the census or the G-20 or Afghanistan. Just as well: these issues don’t move votes.
by Hammer_Time » Wed Mar 23, 2011 8:02 am
Rejected
Opposition unites against Tory budget; election likelyBy: Mia Rabson
Posted: 03/23/2011 1:00 AM |
OTTAWA -- So much for a budget olive branch.
The Harper government, which tried to barter for NDP budget support, could fall as early as Thursday, with all three opposition leaders thumbing their noses at the Conservatives' latest fiscal blueprint.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said the budget took no steps to dial back billions of dollars in spending on prisons, fighter jets or corporate tax cuts, leaving a "black hole" in the budget for Canadian families.
"Like I promised, I said I would read the budget and I have done so," Ignatieff said. "And we find that the priorities of this government are not the priorities of ordinary Canadians."
Ignatieff's rejection was expected. So was that of Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe.
But NDP Leader Jack Layton had left the door open for his party to support the budget if the government met four key demands.
The budget touched on three of them -- increasing the guaranteed income supplement (GIS), extending a popular home energy retrofit incentive and offering more money to help Canadians access doctors and nurses.
But the olive branch wasn't long enough for Layton, and instead of NDP support, there came the opening salvo in what will be the fourth federal election in seven years.
"Mr. Harper had an opportunity to address the needs of hard-working, middle-class Canadians and families and he missed that opportunity," Layton said. "He just doesn't get it."
Layton wanted a $700-million increase in the GIS to bring all Canadian seniors at least to the poverty line. The government responded with a $312-million increase, which will add a maximum of $70 to the monthly income of seniors who receive less than $370 a month.
He said the budget's promise to forgive up to $40,000 in student loans for doctors and up to $20,000 for nurses who practise in rural or remote regions does not meet his demand to train and hire 1,200 new doctors and 6,000 new nurses nationwide.
"I want to build a Canada where no senior lives in poverty, a Canada where no family has to go without a doctor, a Canada where every Canadian can retire with dignity. Clearly, Mr. Harper doesn't."
Conservatives expressed surprise at the outright rejection of their budget, but say they are absolutely prepared to fight an election on it.
"This is a budget I think Canadians will be satisfied with," said Manitoba MP Shelly Glover, parliamentary secretary for finance.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he listened to the NDP and feels his budget walked the difficult line of appeasing opposition demands without breaking the bank or putting the plan to eliminate the deficit on ice.
"Its cornerstone is strong fiscal management," Flaherty said of his budget.
The Conservatives seemed to be trying to get a repeat of the NDP budget support of 2005. That spring, Layton propped up the minority Liberal government after then-prime minister Paul Martin agreed to add $4.6 billion in new social spending to the budget. The Liberals were down in the polls in the wake of the sponsorship scandal and wanted to avoid an election.
Flaherty had far less money to play with, and his party -- unlike Martin's Liberals -- is still ahead in the polls. His offerings to the NDP totalled a little more than $700 million a year.
The first budget vote is expected Thursday but the government could delay it. If that happens, it's widely expected the government will fall Friday when the Liberals bring in a motion of non-confidence in the government, alleging Harper is unaccountable, untrustworthy and undemocratic.
Either would likely result in a May 2 election.
Most MPs left Parliament Hill on Tuesday expediting plans to find campaign offices and comfortable walking shoes, knowing they will likely be hitting the election trail by week's end.
"We're ready," Winnipeg South Centre Liberal MP Anita Neville said.
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