And The Winner Is......

Jack. Yep it was Jack who scored the most hits on Martin and Harper and Duceppe, in tonights debate. He appealed to the Quebec audience as an alternative to (best line of the night) "Duceppes Canada without Quebec, Harpers Americanized Canada and Martins Canada for Liberals."

And while the media and the other leaders complained in the scrum that the format of the debate was dull, Jack loved 'talking to Canadians', and enjoyed the debate format. Cause you could actually hear the policy differences.

This format could be tweeked as Duceppe said to allow more direct encounters, and probably should be for round two. But it was a refreshing change from last years English language debates that went over the top due to bad moderators and format.

Distraction of the night will he or won't he use the not withstanding clause. Harper backing off using it, which means that he would hold a useless free vote in the house. Martin demanding he anwser will you won't you use the accord. Jack got the hit in during the scrum, its a moot point, parliment has passed SSM and you don't take human rights back.

Goof. Martin claiming that a cut to income tax is better than a cut to the GST. Huh? The GST is a regressive consumption tax. And this guy was finance minister.

Best punchline goes to Duceppe 'We must punish the Liberals'. He said punish over and over again with relish. In Quebec it's code for Vote BQ. In the ROC its a call to vote NDP or Conservative so its not much of message. Of course the pundits and commentators give the win to Duceppe, but thats a given if all you look at is his ability to debate in French. What he had to say, was not as effective as Jack.
Jack looked at the camera and said that there was an alterantive to Duceppe and the Liberals and it wasn't Stephen Harper. Points for that.

Straight Answer Please. Harper the policy wonk has a hard time anwsering simple straight forward questions. Tonight was another gaffe on the same level as his failure to say he loves Canada. Asked if he would swear on a bible to keep his election promises, he said he didn't undertand the question and talked around it.
Jack on the other hand said 'absolutely', no hesitation there.

Check out the CBC Blow by Blow Report on the Debate.

Klein Endorses Jack Layton

Yep its true, I must have missed this in the article. But here it is the NDP released it on their web page today.Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has been reported as saying that Jack Layton has a “genuine stance on protecting universal public health care” – and the other leaders don’t.

“Klein suggested there is little to differentiate between Martin and Harper on what Canadians claim is their leading policy concern in this federal election.

"‘I think that both Mr. Martin and Mr. Harper understand that the system is not sustainable. They don't want to address it and they don't want to talk about it, but they're going to have to at some point in this campaign.’

Ouch! Coming from The King of Privatization thats a shot......of the truth. King Ralph knows who will stop him if elected and it ain't Martin or Harper.

The New ED P

I know it actually spells NEP, clever eh. So the NDP has seen one Ed off only to welcome another Ed back. Ed Schreyer will run for the NDP in Manitoba But can he rap dat hip hop thang like Ed Broadbent did last election?

Well he certainly carries weight, as the first ex GG to run for MP in the Commonwealth. He stepped into the ring today with several boxing references, showing his political pugilistic ecumen. And he is the first candidate of any party in English Canada to attack the Liberals over AdScam. Which I thought this election was all about, you know the moral trupitude of the Liberals meant they had lost the trust of parliment.

"I believe for starters that we cannot really get at the main issues in a way that is meaningful until we manage to straighten out and clean up parliament and parliamentary control of cabinet, and through cabinet, control of a Prime Minister's Office, a PMO, that is getting out of control and almost presidential. That's step one," Schreyer said.

With all the announcements on GST cuts, Tax Cuts, Day Care, Health care Military Spending, etc. etc. Gomery and Ad Scam seem to have been pushed to the side until Ed came out today swinging. He picked up right where Broadbent left off, on the ethices and morality of government. And he attacked the PMO, Cabinet and the whole parlimentary edifice. Something the Conservatives failed to do. But of course as an ex-GG he is in the know. This looks like it could get real exciting real fast.

Test Results

Androgynous You scored 80 masculinity and 60 femininity!

You scored high on both masculinity and femininity. You have a strong personality exhibiting characteristics of both traditional sex roles.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 79% on masculinity You scored higher than 44% on femininity

Link: The Bem Sex Role Inventory Test written by weirdscience on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Alberta Ignored

CP has picked up the story that ran on CBC on the weekend about how Alberta is being dis'ed by the party Leaders. Well with the exception of Duceppe of course. Bill Doskotch comments on this on his blog on the CTV site. And I have added my two bits to the discussion there as well. Complete with my election predictions for good old Redmonton. And if you have been paying attention here, and who hasn't, you know what they are, and if you don't read my comment.

US Marshals Coming to a Town Near You

Well if you live in the U.S. Witnesses in Miami airport shooting differ on whether Alpizar made bomb threat Yep trigger happy U.S. marshals who shoot first and ask questions later will now be patroling on the ground. Undercover air marshals to expand to trains, buses In Britain when the police shot and killed an unarmed Brazilian, they were roundly chastised, and a public investigation was conducted.UK police admit error in shoot-to-kill policy In the U.S. the new terror state, they promote you to patroling even more areas. So now if you get on the Greyhound and look funny, blam you're dead.

Blog Notes

Ah the vagaries of the blogosphere. I seem to be passing between phases in the TTLB Ecosystem I go from Slithering Reptile (very Slitherin, I like that) to Flappy Bird, and back again. Over the weekend I was a bird for a couple of days and then back sunning on my rock as a snake. Yesterday I was flapping around for a couple of hours and suddenly the feathers were gone and I was back looking for a rock to sun on....


I discovered these through Knappster, a tip o' the blog to ya.

Wikiblog


I would encourage fellow bloggers to join this international site. Based in the UK. Easiest wiki I have used. So I joined, and I added some catagories. Alberta, Redmonton, Union.

They said it shouldn't be done, and they were probably right, but here it is anyway: The Wikablog, so called because it's a big wiki of blogs. We, the Wikablog's shadowy masters, hope that it will fast become the ultimate wiki of blogs -- and why shouldn't it? All it needs is you. Yes, you.

Union Bloggers



And speaking of Unions,found this website for trade unionists that blog.
you don't have to talk specifically about unions or labour issues, nor do you have to be a union member, just support unions. Clever idea. From Australia.

Union Label weblogs
Union Label is a group whose purpose is to promote trade unionism by displaying a union label on its members' weblogs. If every blogger who was a member of a trade union made that fact clear to their readers, it would generate excellent publicity for the labour movement. By displaying a union label on your weblog, you can help support unionism while tapping in to a network of unionist bloggers and their readers. Note: These weblogs are not necessarily related to the labour movement or politics. Any weblog run by a member of a trade union is entitled to participate.


And a tip o the Blog to BBS for letting us know about this new Election Wiki for Blogs covering the Canadian Election 2006






Ok Its not a blog its a website but after being offline for the past year I am pleased to say that its back up and active. Lots of good stuff here, and glad its back up because it was a real loss when it went away.

Klein Sez Vote Liberal

Klein: Harper will have problems in Central Canada It's not the first time Klein has offered his frank opinion of Harper's chances. And what he has to say contrasts sharply with the positions of other Tory premiers. A political analyst in Calgary is bewildered about why Klein continues to wade into the fray. "I'm not sure what his motives are here, if there are any motives,'' says Keith Brownsey, a professor at Mount Royal College. "It's just Ralph Klein shooting from the lip."This is very hurtful (to) the federal Conservatives.''

His motives are as clear as the nose on his face, and this prof sure is either naive or disingenuous (either way I hope he doesn't have tenure he is obviously out of his league) to suggest that he is just shooting form the lip. Clearly he is not. It is part of the politics of Alberta a long standing strategy of using the mythical historical fued between Ottawa and Alberta to gurantee the ruling party in the provincial legislature to remain in power . Its what has given the PC rule in the province its longevity.

When the peasants are revolting, the party in power looks eastward and sez its them bastards in Ottawa, look look over there. This is no different. Klein ever the consumate politician knows that with the Liberals in power in Ottawa Alberta will have someone to kick around. He fears, dreads actually a Conservative government in Ottawa. As did his predecesors.

When Mulroney ruled, he too wa an eastern bastard as was his party regradless of its Alberta base. The right wing in Alberta that revolted against the Mulroney Bouchard Progressive Conservatives, created the Reform Party which revitalized a populist movement that began to question the long standing PC power in Edmonton. It was not just a movement against Ottawa, but against politics as usual. And when you unleash populist political movements they do not stay within the nice closed parameters of politics as usual.

So of course Klein wants you to vote Liberal, it gurantees his party, even with out him, a better chance of staying in power come the next provincial election. And despite their overwhelming majority, which slipped last election, the PC's are terrified of any form of slippage in the vote. Bashing Ottawa is Alberta's favorite poltical sport, and it gets votes. Have an Alberta based Conservative party in Ottawa and the Liberals provincially will gain ground. Cause we are a province of contrarians.

New Devil Party

Oh this is rich, this is way too good, this is well a good case of watch what ya say cause it can come back to haunt you. Booo! "The NDP could be described as basically a party of liberal Democrats, but it's actually worse than that, I have to say. And forgive me jesting again, but the NDP is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men," said Harper in his speech.

Time For A Canadian Steel Workers Union

During the NAFTA and FTA debates here in Alberta waaaay back in the late 1980's I took a contrarian position to the rest of the left. Call it pragmatic criticism. I said that the labour movement should get over its knee jerk response to these accords because the Americans were inherently protectionist, and that those in Canada who opposed the accords were no more pro union or pro worker than their American counterparts. In the later case I was refering to Mel Hurtig, Mr. Canadian Nationalism and his Council of Canadians. I worked for Hurtig publishers in the seventies, and tried to organize a union at his site. Well needless to say Hurtig publishing was as anti-union as any other company, despite publishing progressive liberal left books. He also printed his books offshore, using his connection with a Japanese publishing company for whom he had distribution rights for North America.

In the case of the Americans, I stated that the Democrats and Republicans were birds of a feather when it came to fair trade, they talked free trade when it was to their advantage and practiced protectionism against opening their markets to the world.

Well the chickens came home to roost. I opposed FTA and NAFTA because they were not Fair Trade deals, and the Mulroney Tories gave up too much to the U.S.
So now we have various NAFTA rulings, on wheat this week, on soft wood lumber, as well as on free movement of cattle. etc. etc. in favour of Canada and America ignores them.

We have the most productive manufacturing sector in North America, our manufacturing base has expanded under NAFTA despite off shoring. For a couple of reasons, one being health care and social benefits that reduce costs and better educated technologically adaptable workers. The other is the secondary manufacturing like Magna that supplies the auto industry, and Toyota and Honda etc. moving here to expand into the North American market via the Auto Pact.

While we still are waiting for the Americans to pay us back for their illegal tarrifs and duties on soft wood a new fight is brewing south of the border. During his first term George W. put an illegal tarrif on steel coming into the U.S. while directed at China, Japan and Europe it impacted directly on our steel industry. Ironically a steel industry that shares the same union, the United Steelworkers of America (USWA).

During the anti-globalization rallies begining in Seattle in 99 the USWA campaigned against China and its steel production demanding protection for American jobs. It was a very jingoist campaign, which brought on side the likes of America First Pat Buchanan. What the USWA was doing was the work for its corporate bosses, bosses who over the last six years have changed ownership and have been integrated into the global market. As many steel companies now are under foriegn ownership.

Only Canada has an independent home grown steel industry. Split between unionized Stelco and non union Dofasco. And so we are a foreign industry, accused of dumping into the U.S. When the elephant sneezes we get a cold.

Bush Jr.'s tarrifs hurt Canada as much as it hurt China. Probably more so, and it can be credited as a factor in Stelco's decline into bankruptcy. It pitted union brother against union brother, and USWA true to form, even with a Canadian VP on its international board, emphasised the America in USW.

Well the WTO discussions are on. And USWA is at it again; doing their corporate masters biding lobbying for protectionism for American steel with little regard for its Canadian members. In their narrow jingoist America First nationalism, they seem to have forgotten they are an 'International' union, meaning that they operate in Canada representing Canadian workers.

The Canadian auto worker used to suffer these same kind of indignities when they were members of the UAW. And while American trade unionists were smashing Japanese cars in protest, Canadian workers split from the UAW and formed the CAW. As jobs get trashed in Ford and GM in the US, and pensions and benefits are slashed under the sell out leadership of the UAW, in Canada CAW has saved jobs, gotten pension payouts, and most job losses will be ameliorated through attrition. And CAW has gotten Ford and GM lucrative government handouts. Now that did not stop these two American companies from cutting their noses to spite their faces, by closing productive plants in Canada. American corporations and their unions are a joint venture in jingoistic America First nationalism, see my Whats Good For GM is Not Good for Canadian Workers.

While USWA in Canada has adapted over the years to plant shut downs, by developing training programs and expanding who it represents it still faces the hard fact that it is an American union in Canada. And America comes first to the USWA. While in the US the declining membership in USWA and other large industrial unions has forced them to consider mergers and acquisitons just like corporate America, to keep themselves afloat. In Canada diversification of representation and organizing the unorganized, as well as raiding other unions, has kept CAW alive and kicking. While USWA struggles in declining membership in Canada so much so that it merged with the Woodworkers union in B.C. But mergers and aquisitions in the labour movement are a limited opportunity and do not represent real growth.

For steel workers in Canada it is time for autonomy and independence and creating a real democratic union run by the members themselves not by hacks in Washington. Despite having an token International VP, USWA is still an American union, it only keeps Canadians on its board to say it is an International.

The time is now. USWA is launching another protectionist campaign that could hurt Canadian steel. And Stelco is coming out of bankruptcy, which would allow a new independent union to actively demand represntation on the board to guarntee job protection. And the workers could have a Canadian Union President instead of a token International VP. It worked for autoworkers. It can work for Steelworkers. And the irony is this, USWA came to power and dominance in Canada during the Cold War, when it was used to smash the Independent Canadian Mine and Mill Workers Union, which was declared a Red Union by the AFL/CIO.