Crushing Criticism Of Conservatives...

By Capitalists

The honeymoon is over for Stephen Harper's Cabinet, according to Canadian business leaders who believe the current government has done little to differentiate itself from its Liberal predecessor.

"The overall feeling is this is a Liberal government in Conservative clothing," COMPAS founder Conrad Winn said. "That came in pretty loud and clear."

Ouch!

The panelists regard taxation as the most important priority affecting their evaluation of the Conservative government. "Tax policy is a joke and undermines the confidence of business in relying on an understanding government, which it is not," one respondent said. "There seems to be too little thinking about repercussions about tax changes and more bowing down to policy wonks. They are not living in the real world."

Looking forward to the cheerleaders at the Blogging Tories response to the voice of capitalism criticizing their party of choice.


See:

Can't Get No Respect

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Women And Children First

The reason for this

Journalists booted from Tory retreat

was this;

National caucus chairman Rahim Jaffer defended the action, saying that spouses and children accompanying many of the 125 MPs and 24 senators may be intimidated by the reporters and cameras.

Then don't get into politics.

Political wives and political children whining, gimme a break.

This gives new meaning to Trophy wives. And now we can add Trophy Children to the mix.



"Look Out Dad, there is a journalist."


See:

Can't Get No Respect

LOL

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Can't Get No Respect

So much for success on the BBQ circuit.

Fewer Canadians are satisfied with their prime minister, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 29 per cent of respondents approve of Stephen Harper’s performance, and 28 per cent say their opinion of the head of government worsened over the past month.

Do you approve or disapprove of Stephen Harper’s performance as prime minister?

	Jul. 16	Jun. 16	May 23
Approve	29%	31%	33%
Disapprove	47%	47%	47%
Not sure	23%	23%	20%

Of course when you do this don't expect to get any respect.

Journalists booted from Tory retreat

Or better poll numbers.

Political stalemate continues, latest poll shows

Wright said the government should rethink its strategy of tightly controlling its message, agenda, and delivery, which is almost exclusively done by Prime Minister Harper, who has been widely criticized for running a one-man show.

“It will really take the prime minister to decide whether he is going to stick by this style of leadership or if he is going to try something different,” said Wright.

SEE:

Slap Upside The Head

Pinocchio Harper

Open, Transparent, Accountable, NOT

Harpers Fascism

Fete Accompli

Ding Dong Tories

Harpers Constituency

Harpers War

Leo Strauss and the Calgary School

Post Modern Conservatives

Why The Conservatives Are Not Libertarians

Heil Hillier, Maintiens le droit

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Tax Cuts For The Rich Burden You and Me

Two recent stories point out the failure of the 'peoples government of Canada' to meet the peoples need. Instead they have passed on the tax burdens once again to Johnny and Janey Canuck. And these assessments don't come from the Left but from the Right.

Basically reminding us that Jim Flaherty's much vaunted Tax Fairness is not.

Misdirected Tax Reforms Driving High Canadian Tax Rates: C.D. Howe Institute

Targeted tax relief doesn’t cut it, think tank says

Workers bear the brunt of taxation with high personal income, payroll and sales taxes, the report stated, with the Canadian effective tax rate on labour at 45.9%, down slightly from 46% in 2006.

"As economic studies have shown, the effect of such high effective tax rates on employment income is to reduce the incentive to work, especially for secondary workers in the family," said the report.

Corporate cuts at consumers' expense

- Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is urging provinces to go for a tax change that would shift billions of dollars a year in corporate taxes to the shoulders of individuals.

In this year's federal budget, Flaherty renewed Ottawa's push to get all provinces to harmonize their sales taxes with the goods-and-services tax (GST).

However, full harmonization by the five provinces that still operate retail-sales taxes --Ontario, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island -- would shift $7.5 billion in what is now a tax on businesses to consumers, a new report estimates.

In Ontario alone, the shift would amount to $5 billion annually, said Jonathan Kesselman, a public policy professor at Simon Fraser University. "It's large," he said in an interview, adding that it's been a bit of a political sleeper.

"Harmonization's Achilles heel continues to be the visibility of the large tax-burden shift from business to consumer," Kesselman writes in the latest edition of Canadian Tax Highlights, a Canadian Tax Foundation publication.

See:

Tax Fairness For The Rich

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How Times Change

Huge papier mache statues of the great builders of Quebec were among the flags and marching bands in a boisterous parade Sunday that marked Quebec's Fete nationale provincial holiday. Former premier Rene Levesque was featured along with explorer Samuel de Champlain in the march,

Samuel de Champlain father of New France, founder of Quebec City, would be considered a pederast by today's Harpocrite government.

And while Conservatives and conservatives hearken back to the good old days of traditional values, this is not a 'traditional value' they support since they have lobbied for twenty years to change of age of consent from 14 to 16.

Champlain achieved at the beginning of the winter an important gesture: on December 27, 1610, aged at least 30 years, he signed a marriage contract with a 12-year-old girl, Helene Boullé. Because of her youth, it is specified that the marriage was to be carried out only after two years had elapsed. The engagement took place two days later and, on December 30, the bridal blessing was given in the church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, in Paris. Promised a dowry (6 000ª), Champlain received 4.500ª the day before, which is an invaluable supplement for his company.

Of course this wasn't a sexual/love marriage but one for financial purposes. Merely a marriage of convenience. Altogether now let's repeat; Marriage is a sacred institution.

Luckily for Champlain his marriage would not be annulled under Bill C-22.

Bill C-22 was passed by the Justice Committee on Thursday, April 19th, 2007 with one amendment. The government’s original Bill, which raises the age of sexual consent from 14 to16, would have allowed an exemption to the new law if the couple involved in the existing relationship were married, or in a common-law relationship or were in a relationship which had produced or where they were expecting a child. The Bill, as amended by the Committee, proposes to allow relationships between 15 year olds and adults who are more than five years older, to continue to be legal, as long as the people involved are married.

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Vroom Vroom

Seems that my and other bloggers comments on the Conservatives 'C' Car in the Canadian NASCAR races has raised hackles on the right; here and here.

They of course both fit the NASCAR profile of 'voters' the Conservatives claim to 'want' to represent.

63% of fans at the track and viewers at home are between the ages of 30-49.
69% of motorsports fans make between $30,000 - $75,000 a year.
74% are homeowners.
75% are males.

Running a car in NASCAR Canada is what we call advertising to the converted.

The 12-race series will likely attract about 70,000 people across Canada -- the only B.C. stop is Vernon -- with some additional viewers on TV.

"This is a unique opportunity for the Conservative party to reach out to Canadians," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a release.

NASCAR has a big middle-class fan base that the Tories want to get their message out to.

Immigration Minister Diane Finley says sponsoring a car is a way for the Conservatives to tap into that following.

A Conservative source said the goal is to reach middle-class voters who don't like current Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and have bad memories of Brian Mulroney's leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party from 1984 to 1993.

"We're targeting what we have termed the Canadian Tire voter. It's basically a middle-income house owner in suburban areas, regional centres and rural communities with a do-it-yourself mentality. These people in the past have often seen the Conservative Party as out-of-touch and elitist," the source said.

Despite its popularity in America, in Canada motor sports are still elitist, as are Harpers Conservatives.

This spring's budget served up a sprinkling of tax and spending initiatives for everyone from seniors to farmers, and Conservative strategists have identified a number of segments to target, such as the "Tim Hortons" crowd and the "Canadian Tire" crowd.

Greg Weston of the Sun makes a good point about why we should be concerned about this and other Conservative party political advertising. We pay for it as taxpayers, but the party is not accountable to the public for its spending, which even the boys on the right should be outraged about.

But so far, they have all missed the real question that should be of interest to the vast majority of Canadian taxpayers: Whose money is it, anyway?

If the NASCAR deal were being paid entirely by donors to the Conservative party, it would not be an issue to anyone but those who have coughed up the contributions.

But it's not a private party issue.

Thanks to the genius of Jean Chretien's banning of corporate and union donations, Canadian taxpayers now fund the federal parties to the tune of roughly $28 million this year.

More than $10 million of that will go directly into the coffers of the Conservative party to spend on pretty much anything it wants.

Add to that the tax deductions for individual contributions to the Conservative party, and probably close to two-thirds of the money in the Tories' overflowing till is coming from taxpayers' pockets.

And while NASCAR fans express their outrage over comments made about the Conservatives opportunism lets not forget that other little fact, this is a kick back to their pal Pierre Bourque who writes his headlines for them.

It turns out the party logo - a big blue "C" - appears on the hood of the car driven by Pierre Bourque, whose popular Internet news aggregator sells torqued headlines to political operatives.

Bourque's website confirmed the connection Monday, linking to a story by Inside Track Motorsport News that noted his Dodge Charger is the sponsored Tory vehicle.

Research on the business model for Bourque Newswatch suggests the federal Conservative party has just guaranteed itself favourable coverage for the foreseeable future by sponsoring Bourque's hobby.

Past and current Bourque clients have confirmed to The Canadian Press that advertisers on the site can expect flattering headlines or links, or headlines and links denigrating their opponents.

The Conservative party refuses to confirm or deny that it employs Bourque's headline service directly. But months of negative headlines and links to scathing blogs about Liberal Leader Stephane Dion on Bourque Newswatch indicate someone with an axe to grind is paying the news aggregator, which openly advertises its headline service for sale.

When the Conservatives announced the NASCAR sponsorship Sunday, they also neglected to mention the sponsored vehicle is driven by Bourque.

Instead, the party's news release referred to Whitlock Motor Sports.

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"C '" Car Go

Wow how far from the maddening crowd can you get.

The Conservatives are sponsoring a big "C" car in the Canadian NASCAR races. Of course in this case NASCAR is not nearly as popular as in the U.S. and is in reality an elitist pro sport in Canada, like Horse Racing. It has little of the popular support of other Canadian favorite sportslike Hockey, Football, Soccer, Baseball, Basketball or even La cross.

Motor sports fans are extremely brand loyal. Statistics show that motor sports fans are in fact the most brand loyal consumers of any sports fans in the world.
• Corporate Canada estimates 5.3 million (15.2%) Canadians attend Stock Car
Racing events annually in Canada.
63% of fans at the track and viewers at home are between the ages of 30-49.
69% of motorsports fans make between $30,000 - $75,000 a year.
74% are homeowners.
75% are males.

And of course the idea of appealing to white middle class males who follow NASCAR was a policy of the Bush Republicans in the 2004 election. So why should we be surprised that the Harpocrites in Ottawa have now adapted it for themselves. After all they are claiming to want to appeal to ordinary Canadians; like NASCAR fans; middle class, white, males.

The Conservative Party has shifted its advertising strategy into a new gear and slapped the party logo on a NASCAR stock car.

The big blue Conservative "C" made its debut Sunday on the hood and front side panels of car 29 of the Canadian Tire NASCAR series, the Canadian offshoot of the popular U.S. stock-racing circuit.

The Canadian Tire circuit only started last fall after NASCAR bought the CASCAR series here in Canada.

And so long time race driver, bon vivant, raconteur and self published publicist Pierre Bourque, sounds like Bjork, is the beneficiary once again of Conservative largess.

Following the lead of Tim Hortons, Home Hardware and Milwaukee Electric Tool, the white No. 29 car in the Canadian Tire auto-racing series now sports a big blue "C" on its hood and side panels.

Clever move. A 'C' car. Get it, 'C' car go.

NASCAR is new in Canada having bought out the CASCAR circuit last fall. CASCAR was in trouble lacking popular appeal after a decade and needed the support of NASCAR.

The 2006 schedule was very late coming out and key tracks such as Delaware and Race City are missing. The hoped for success and excitement with NASCAR® involvement has not materialized, with many feeling that perhaps their presence is hurting rather than helping. Major sponsorship is desperately needed before this series completely fractures and disappears.

Once again showing the Tories support American and Foreign takeovers of Canadian industries, though they will tell you that's not their message. Their message is they are winners of course.

Which may be hard to sell since Bourque and his 'C' car came in 13th place in Saturday's race at Mosport.

And remember the environment, and the Tories call for cleaning up air pollution. Well thats kinda hard to do when race cars still use lead gasoline which is banned in Canada, except for the race car industry, aviation fuel, etc.. Wonder if the Conservatives will continue the exemption since they have a car in the race.

Canada’s Gasoline Regulations have prohibited the production, import and sale of leadedgasoline since 1990. Gasoline for use in competition vehicles has been provided an exemption under the regulations. The current exemption expires on January 1, 2008.

Gasoline is the most common fuel used in racing. Both leaded and unleaded gasoline formulations are used in Canadian racing. For engines with high compression ratios, a very high octane gasoline is required to prevent engine knock (and resulting engine damage) and to maximize power output. Lead additives are used to achieve this high octane.

Leaded gasoline that is imported for use in Canada has reported lead contents ranging from 0.1 to 4.23 g/L. The Gasoline Regulations have reporting requirements for anyone producing or importing leaded gasoline. The reports indicate that there is no Canadian production of leaded gasoline for use in competition vehicles. In 2005, 1,160 cubic meters of leaded gasoline was reported
as imported for use in competition vehicles. This represents 1.1% of the leaded gasoline pool in Canada (the remaining is used for aviation purposes) or 0.003% of all gasoline produced or imported into Canada.

The estimated breakdown of leaded gasoline sales for racing in Canada is as follows:
stock cars – 15 to 40%;
dragsters – 40 to 50%;

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Ron Paul and Barry Goldwater

Doug Mataconis of the Liberty Papers reports that Ron Paul is the only elected politician that has won his seat three times against the incumbent, without party support. Which is no small feat. Mataconis points out why;

Paul was helped by the fact that he was running in areas of Texas where the prevailing political beliefs are conservative, but a conservatism that is of the Barry Goldwater/Ronald Reagan leave-me-alone type than the interventionist/Christianist conservatism that prevails elsewhere in the country

This makes sense and why Ron Paul has broad based support amongst libertarians. However as I pointed out in Mr. Conservative; Barry Goldwater had no kith nor kin with Reagan, who was responsible for allowing the interventionist/Christian types into the ruling echelons of the party. Goldwater blamed Regan for abandoning the libertarian/conservative traditions of the party.

Of course the current crop of neo-cons masquerading as Republicans, Lincoln would be ashamed, would rather hearken to the days of Reagan, and his electoral victory, then the days of principle and defeat; the Goldwater era.

Which is why a politician of principles like Ron Paul stands a snowballs chance in hell in the Republican party of today.

h/t to Go Ron Paul!


SEE:

My Favorite Conservative

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Election Day In Alberta

There are two by-elections in Alberta today. One in Calgary in Ralph Kleins old riding, one he often only won by the skin of his teeth, and the other in Drumheller. Both will be a bell weather for the Ed Stelmach regime as well as an indication of how well the 'other' parties will do including how they will do against not only the provincial P.C.'s but against the Harpocrite domination of this province federally. Any vote against the One Party State will also be a vote against the disinterested Federal Conservatives who take us for granted.

Alberta by-elections seen as referendum on new Tory leader

Disgruntled voters in Alberta

Solid conservative support wavering in Drumheller

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More Made In Canada Nonsense

The latest twist on the Conservatives Made in Alberta Green Plan is the position Harper and Baird will present at the G8 meeting this week;

The official who briefed reporters on Friday also said Canada will be looking for a solution that works internationally while respecting Canada's unique needs. "We're special, we're unique in the G8. We're not like Europe, we're not like the United States in all respects," said the official.

Of course we are special and unique, just like Russia, Nigeria, Mexico, Venezuela, Norway, etc., etc., and all the other oil/gas producing countries.

Irony further abounds as this is Environment Week in Canada. And Harper and Baird will not be around to celebrate it. Instead they will be shilling for the U.S. at the G8. While telling Canadians that we must pay for their Made In Canada Green Plan.

And while John Baird has said it is all about China, Sheila Copps in her column in the SUN points out that has always been the case, even when the Liberals were in power.

Merkel's environmental credentials are long-standing. As environment minister, she sowed the seeds for the Kyoto Protocol by negotiating a world consensus on greenhouse gas reductions known as the Berlin Mandate.

The United States was offside, and Canada was trapped between our significant oil revenues and a European pro-reduction consensus. Canada joined a no-reduction negotiating group including the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Meanwhile, Merkel's conference was about to crater. If she could not get any movement, China was threatening to walk, dooming talks.

I got a phone call from Merkel at midnight. She was desperate to turn the tide and asked if we could meet on an urgent basis for breakfast. At the 7 a.m. meeting Merkel asked whether Canada could support some reductions to keep China at the table.

I told her that Canada would be prepared to support 2% reductions. I had already explained the fluidity of the situation to economic cabinet chairman Andre Ouellet. He refused to undermine my mandate and realized the Berlin meeting would be in shambles if China bolted. He agreed that Canada should help keep the climate change agenda on track.

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Layton and May Winners

The latest Decima Polling finds that Jack Layton and Elizabeth May are leaders Canadians approve of.

While Stephen Harper shares the dubious distinction of being as unpopular as Stephane Dion.

The conventional wisdom about the standing of
the national party leaders is somewhat at odds
with the reality. Stephen Harper’s negatives are
higher than those of other national leaders, but
his positives are about 10 points better than his
party’s vote. He’s made inroads in Quebec, and
his net popularity (positives minus negatives) is
actually better among French Canadians than
among English Canadians.

Stephane Dion’s image has been damaged in recent
months, but his numbers are very close to those
of Harper’s. His popularity is better than the prime
minister’s in Ontario, but worse in Quebec.

The NDP has its challenges, but the party has a
popular leader. Jack Layton has better ratings than
any of his national competitors, and is second only
to Gilles Duceppe in Quebec.

Elizabeth May has managed to create an impression
among the majority of the Canadian electorate,
and most of those impressions are good.

She has a truly remarkable rating among voters
under 25. May shares a distinction with Layton:
more voters say their opinion is improving rather
fading of both leaders.

And while May and the Green Party have made inroads with Canadian voters, it is at the expense of the Conservatives and Liberals, not the NDP, whose base support remains strong.

That’s because the bulk of shifting in the years gone by has been from Liberal to Conservative or vice versa. That’s less the dominant pattern now. For one thing, the Green Party is playing a spoiler role.

In Ontario, almost one in three of the voters who have left the Liberals say they are voting Green, as do one in four who have left the Conservatives.

In Quebec, voters who have left the BQ are almost twice as likely to say they will vote Green as vote Liberal.

The Liberals remain the second party of choice for the quarter of Dippers who shift in the winds. Tories marginally lead Liberals but second choice favours Grits


SEE:

Dion, May, and Jack Layton

Real Leadership

Liberals The New PC's

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Proroguing Parliament

Greg Weston of the Sun is speculating about the Harpocrites proroguing parliament sometime in June.

The speculation around the capital is Harper and crew will pull the plug on the current session of Parliament before the middle of June, and return in October.

Sometime in that period the PM will announce that Parliament has been prorogued, an arcane way of saying Act I of "Harper and the Conservatives go to Ottawa" is formally over.

The Globe and Mail joined in the speculation "The rumours suggest the government will prorogue this session of Parliament in early June. The next session would not begin until after the Ontario election on Oct. 10."

But on Politics with Don Newman on CBC yesterday Jim Travers of the Toronto Star speculated that Harper may Prorogue Parliament as early as next week. In fact without calling parliament back the PM could do it.

And given the stalling tactics used last week over committees, the disaster which is the Afghan detainee issue, now swept away temporarily with the Harper trip to Kandahar, the failure of their Green Plan, proroguing parliament immediately after the break would be a way to start again.

Since they didn't call an election the Conservatives have nothing new to offer Canadians. They are now stale, and they can only stall.

To Prorogue or Not to Prorogue that is the question facing the dysfunctional Conservative government.

And Travers told Newman that it might happen Monday night when the PM has called a special meeting with the press corps on the hill.

Of course that is also the first night of the Stanley Cup between the Ottawa Senators and the Anaheim Ducks, and being a big hockey fan maybe the PM is inviting them to 24 Sussex drive to share beer and chips and watch the game.

But somehow I doubt it.



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Farmworkers, Nannies and Strippers

While the Conservatives new No Foreign Strippers law appeals to the parties prurient sex negative social conservative base it really could apply to other workers as well.

Immigration Minister Diane Finley introduced Bill C-57 on Wednesday, which says foreigners applying to work in Canada should be rejected if they risk being humiliated, degraded or sexually exploited.

Like temporary foreign workers who have been killed or injured on the job in Alberta working for CNRL, or the Polish tradesmen who were ripped off by the oil patch in collusion with an Alberta College, or nannies, or farm workers. All these are cases of humiliation, degradation and in some cases sexual exploitation.

Humiliation and degradation is something our Prime Minister knows about first hand; Harper's Chef, Nanny, and Car Washer Fired

Wendy blogs that of course this law does nothing to stop the trafficking and exploitation of women....

By prohibiting the lawful entry of foreign women employed as exotic dancers, the Conservative government thinks it can avoid the embarrassment of propping up the exotic dancer market and pretend they’re doing something to help these women, but in reality, all this legislation will do is consign trafficked women to the most unregulated market of all – the underground market. By shifting from regulation to restriction the Conservative government is no longer going to be viewing trafficked women as victims but rather they will be viewed as illegal immigrants and as prostitutes, meaning that the trafficked woman will be criminalized, go to jail and most likely deported. This means that if a women is a victim abuse she will be less likely to reporter her abuser due to fear of being criminalized. And although employers and agents who employ foreign strippers will also be breaking the law, it is the women who will be at a greater risk since it is easier to deport illegal migrants than to successfully prosecute club owners or agents under criminal or immigration legislation.

But it sure makes a nice bit of political theatre when you can claim the Liberals were promoting foreign strippers and you only want Canadian girls to be exploited in this unregulated non-unionized industry. The reality is this law is far broader in scope than just affecting strippers. And it is a reactionary law.

Citizenship and Immigration

Mrs. Joy Smith (Kildonan—St. Paul, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration inform the House of the government's intention to help prevent vulnerable people coming to Canada from being exploited or abused?

Hon. Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to announce that later today I will table legislation to help prevent vulnerable foreign workers such as strippers from being exploited or abused.

The amendments will authorize the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to instruct immigration officers to deny work permits to foreign strippers.

The previous Liberal government gave blanket exemptions to foreign strippers to work in Canada despite warnings that they were vulnerable to forced prostitution and other exploitation.

Thanks to today's amendments, the good old days of Liberal strippergate will be a thing of the past.

BILL C-57

An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

SUMMARY

This enactment amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow officers to refuse to authorize foreign nationals to work in Canada in cases where to give authorization would be contrary to public policy considerations that are specified in instructions given by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE PROTECTION ACT

1. Paragraph 3(1)(h) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is replaced by the following:


Explanatory Notes

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
Clause 1: Relevant portion of subsection 3(1):
3. (1) The objectives of this Act with respect to immigration are
...
(h) to protect the health and safety of Canadians and to maintain the security of Canadian society;


2. Section 30 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):


Clause 2: New.

Authorization


(1.1) An officer shall, on application, authorize a foreign national to work or study in Canada if they meet the conditions set out in the regulations.


Instructions


(1.2) Despite subsection (1.1), the officer shall refuse to authorize the foreign national to work in Canada if, in the officer’s opinion, public policy considerations that are specified in the instructions given by the Minister justify such a refusal.


Instructions


Concurrence of second officer


(1.3) In applying subsection (1.2), any refusal to give authorization to work in Canada requires the concurrence of a second officer.


Confirmation


Purpose


(1.4) The instructions shall prescribe public policy considerations that aim to protect foreign nationals who are at risk of being subjected to humiliating or degrading treatment, including sexual exploitation.




SEE:

Conservative Strip O Gram

Libertarian Challenge of Canada's Prostitution laws

Padrone Me Is This Alberta

Comatose Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Return Of the Work Camps

New Meaning for Nanny State

Migration

Alberta's Free Market In Labour

The Labour Shortage Myth

AFL Agrees With Me

The Real Crime In Canada

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Conservative Strip O Gram

The Conservatives have announced a bill to protect women from enslavement and trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation. The bill will not allow foreign strippers, particularly from Russia, into Canada.

Whew, the women folk feel safer already.

Wait a minute.....

Canadian prostitutes bought, sold and forcibly moved, study shows.
She stands on a street corner in skimpy clothing, shaking from a chill, or more likely from her drug addiction. She was brought here from another part of the province, or possibly from another province.

Her situation, and that of others like her, has drawn no attention. Despite growing awareness of international trafficking of women and children, the trafficking of Canadian-born prostitutes remains invisible.

However, a new study released yesterday says Canadians should not be so smug. Canada is not exempt from the buying and selling of people, the investigators found.

Sex workers say they are moved quietly, put in cars and taken on "road trips." Pimps and traffickers buy bus and plane tickets for them and escort them to their new locations. At times, they are drugged, bound and abducted by rival pimp families or crime organizations, and wake up in new locations across the country.

Canada needs to provide better protection and support for sex workers and deal with "the root causes of trafficking," the investigators say.

See:

The Traffic In Women

Libertarian Challenge of Canada's Prostitution laws

Sex Workers

Legalize & Unionize the Sex Trade

Feminizing the Proletariat

Sex Workers Want A Union

Marx on Bigamy

Whose Family Values?

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