Brain Scan For The Election

Scientists Claims They Can Read The Secret Intentions In The Brain

Let's scan Harper, Dion, Duceppe, and Layton to find out when the election will be.




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American Union Bosses

Here is an perfect example of why we need autonomous democratic Canadian unions.

Conductors at Canadian National Railway Co., the country's largest railroad, won't strike immediately after a midnight deadline even if labor talks today don't produce an agreement, a union official said. The United Transportation Union chapter, which represents Canadian National's 2,800 conductors and yard workers, needs to apply for strike authority from its Cleveland-based headquarters, Frank Wilner, a union spokesman, said in an interview today.

It's not the workers who decide to strike but the 'union bosses' ,as the Sun newspapers call 'em , in the U.S. This is the real meaning of International Unions operating in Canada, they are American business unions run by union bosses rather than by the members.

CN workers are represented by three different unions, which just goes to show that they need One Big Union of all the workers, run by the workers.

And here is another reason for Federal Anti-Scab legislation.

The company has said it will continue its freight operations across Canada during a strike, with management personnel performing the UTU-represented conductor and yard-service jobs.

This is just another CN disaster in the making, refusing to negotiate while raking in record profits and subjecting its workers to speed ups and accidents.

See

Independent Unions

This is Class War

Unions




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Harper Flashback

Another broken promise.

"When I'm prime minister I will not whip our cabinet,"Harper said

Well I guess that's technically true he whips the whole caucus, and has even used the triple whip ,which even the Liberals didn't use, leading to a cabinet minister stepping down.



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A Year Later Get Over It

Following up on my post about folks who need to get over it, the Liberals need to get over blaming the NDP for forcing the election last year. Martha Hall Findley brought up this tired old canard on Mike Duffy Live yesterday. Sigh. Enough already.

First the Liberals planned to commit political suicide in the spring of 2006 anyways. The winter election simply hastened their imminent demise. Really does any Liberal really believe that Canadians were not going to turf them out?

Second, Paul Martin ran a pathetic tired old campaign. He failed to fight the good fight, he knew it, the Liberals knew it, Canadians knew it and so he fell on his sword for the good of the Party. It was a campaign fraught with mistakes. But even if it had been picture perfect the Liberals were doomed anyways. Canadians were out to punish them for their moral turpitude.


Finally they had the opportunity to win the NDP's support. They could have simply agreed to look at the NDP proposals to strengthen the Canada Health Act to preclude privatization, an opportunity they were offered and rejected. Rejected arrogantly at the time. The same week they suffered the leak to Bay Street on Income Trusts. Which was the straw that broke the camels back.

In their arrogance the Liberals committed political suicide pushing aside the only party left propping them up with an attitude of a schoolyard nyah, nyah dare ya.

The Liberals lost the election just as they lost the NDP's support because they were arrogant. Pure and simple. So lets quit blaming the NDP when the blame falls squarely on Paul Martin, his handlers and his cabinet.



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13 Years Later ,Get Over It

The New Conservative Government of Canada likes to get up on its hind legs in parliament when questioned and bark out; You had 13 years and what did you do?

While not one to defend the Liberals let's remember who was Her Majesty's Official Opposition.Why the Reform/Alliance/Conservatives who are now Her Majesty's Minority Government.

It always takes two to tango in government.

When Martin cut transfer payments to the provinces, which the Harpocrites remind us created the mess we are in when it comes to Medicare, wait times, post-secondary education etc.

What did they want the Reform/Alliance/Conservatives want the government to do? Cut faster and deeper.

And when they talk about the Liberals doing nothing on the environment, what was it they said when they were in Opposition, why that they opposed signing Kyoto and said they would do everything in their power to scuttle it. Which they are now doing.

And what did they say about social program spending cuts made by the Liberals?
Why they didn't go far enough of course which is why they have cut those programs now that they are in power.

And lets not forget either that the reason they paid off Maher Arar was to avoid him including the Conservative Party in his suit, since they repeatedly called him a terrorist when they were Her Majesty's Official Opposition.

So can we drop the 13 years crap already, the Conservative were across the aisle and they wanted to do far worse things, like lead Canada into war. Oops they did that too.


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Green Baird

The only thing Green about the new Conservative Environment Minister John Baird is his tie. No carbon tax, international carbon trading, Baird says

See:

Baird

Environment

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Goose Gander Newfoundland

What's good for the goose is not good for the the gander in Newfoundland.

Noseworthy's annual audit showed that a legislative committee approved an increase in constituency allowances in May 2004, mere days after the house pushed through an austerity bill that froze civil service wages for years.




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Made In Alberta Green Plan

CTV's David Akin notes that what was to be an open meeting between Conservative Government of Canada Ministers in Alberta to talk about the environment with their counterpart in Alberta suddenly was canceled by the powers that be. Another leak from the good ship of state in Alberta.

And more secrecy from the PMO and the Alberta Government. Why?

Because they were discussing the Harpocrites real green plan, which isn't, intensity targets. Intensity targets are mirage, a game of three card Monte err Monty, where the environmental cost of production is estimated based on per item produced rather than total industrial output of Greenhouse gases.

It's what Alberta has been doing but which has not decreased GHG's in the province. Which is why the media was shut out of the meeting, because they would ask uncomfortable questions.

Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner met behind closed doors with two senior federal ministers to plead for intensity-based targets in the oilsands, regulated exclusively by his provincial government.

"From that perspective, I think we're in line with the federal government," said Renner, following a series of hour-long meetings with Environment Minister John Baird and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn.

"Obviously, this is a priority for (Baird) as much as it is for me. He's newly appointed by his prime minister. I'm newly appointed by my premier, and it sounds like our marching orders were very, very similar."

And the result of this cozy confidential tete a tete between the two Parties of Alberta? Well duh oh;Alberta has environment model: Stelmach

Baird says meeting Kyoto would lead to 'collapse'

Auto industry, Alberta warn Kyoto dangerous for business

Alberta must join Harper's Ottawa on climate action

At this point, Renner and Premier Ed Stelmach say they'll replace voluntary emission cuts with mandatory targets, and that's an important start. Without mandatory targets, it is difficult for oil companies to justify to shareholders any major spending on carbon-reduction measures. Their job isn't to be environmental nice guys, but they're happy to meet industry-wide regulations.

Those mandatory targets will be based on emission "intensity" -- the amount of greenhouse gases produced with each barrel of oil. But while oilsands production increases, emissions will likely continue to rise under the intensity model, only at a slower rate than they would otherwise have done.

See:

Stelmach

Baird

Environment



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Fudging The Books

It's what you get when you privatize. If Air Canada had remained a nationalized airline howls would be heard in the halls of parliament over this accounting jiggery pokery.

For the full year, Air Canada recorded operating income of $259 million, down from $318 million in 2005 amid a 16 per cent rise in fuel costs.

Full-year operating income was $522 million, excluding one-time charges, compared with $455 million in 2005.

Huh?



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Alberta's Leaky Ship Of State

The new CEO of Alberta Ed Stelmach has certainly made his mark on the one party state in this province. While we have suffered from a democratic deficit for thirty five years and regime of paranoid confidentiality, in less than a month since his appointment as Premier his regime has been plagued by leaks.

The good ship of state is a leaky boat.

There was the leak about his son being offered a promotion, which was squashed once it became known.

There was the leak about the $5000 dollar a plate dinners with Ed and his cabinet. Calgary fundraiser offers $5000 access to Premier 11 Jan 2007

Which was canceled once it was public.
Stelmach cancels $5000-a-ticket fundraiser 12 Jan 2007

Then this week there was the leak that the Alberta government was looking at offering online gambling.
Alberta considers betting on online gambling 7 Feb 2007

Which was squashed the next day once it became public.
Alberta Not Considering Online Gambling 8 Feb 2007

And Stelmach was caught in little white lie when he claimed Alberta had reduced green houses gas emissions. Ed was contradicted by his own Energy Department which said the province had only reduced intensity emissions, while greenhouse gas emissions had in fact increased.

This is definitely no longer Ralph Klein's Alberta.

The only slips of the lip allowed under Ralph were Ralph's.

See

Stelmach



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