Why Vote Liberal When You Can Vote NDP

Points of Information has an interesting post about the attack on the NDP by what he calls the far left; Buzz Hargrove and Jim Laxer. And their defense of supporting the Liberals as a progressive alternative to the Conservatives, thus abandoning the NDP.

For a Blogging Tory he does a downright good job of defending the NDP as NOT being the Liberals. For being the real voice of progressives and the left. He actually says there is no difference between the Liberals and Conservatives, Harper having softened his stances by going towards the centre.

As for his characterization of Buzz and Laxer as the far left, they are far from it.

The actual left is the NDP Socialist Caucus. And candidates like Bev Mezlo who ran for leadership of the party as a member of the NDP SC.

Unlike the pink social democrats like Judy Rebick and Jim Stanford who created the NPI and then Rabble.ca, only to abandon the NPI intiative once Layton was elected Leader. The left in the NDP comes from a mixed political heritage of the socialist movement in Canada, predominated by Troskyists.

And unlike these liberal pink social democrats the socialist left in Canada does not call for strategic voting, it calls for workers to vote NDP.

What should socialists do in the coming Canadian elections?

No support for Martin – vote NDP – and build the movements

In the January 23d Election: Elect an NDP Government Fight for a Workers’ Agenda

Canadian elections herald a dramatic intensification of class conflict

Laxer is an academic not an activist, an ex Waffle member, we could call him the Old New Left, like Rebick and Stanford. Academic leftists if you like, rocking chair activists at best.

Some veteran members of the NDP, such as Waffle movement founder James Laxer, recently expressed concern with what appears to be a party strategy of focusing primarily on the Liberals -- saying Mr. Layton will bear responsibility for electing a Conservative government.

No Jim its not the NDP that is going to elect Conservatives or defeat the Liberals it is Canadians. Here are more of Laxers moaning and groaning.

Is Harper not for turning?

Mulroney's children are poised for power

Canada Conservatives face tricky task in minority

Buzz is well Buzz, an opportunist. Now that Sam Gidin is gone from CAW, he was the socialist behind Buzz, Buzz pronouncements about being Left Wing are more akin to the Wizard of Oz.

Buzz is only concerned with the bread and butter issues of his declining auto industry membership. And the Liberals both federally and provincially have bailed out his auto industry. That's what he is worried about.

Ford may trim jobs in Canada as revamp plan to slash 25,000

Stanford his right hand man is working for the Liberal Candidate who is a Toyota Executive member.

CAW vote support raises stir

Jan. 20, 2006. 06:45 AM

TONY VAN ALPHEN

BUSINESS REPORTER

Politics makes strange bedfellows. And no one knows that better than Buzz Hargrove these days.For example, Hargrove, the president of the Canadian Auto Workers union and a long-time card-carrying NDP member, is endorsing Windsor area Liberal candidate Susan Whelan. She's trying to unseat a Conservative who just happens to be a CAW member in the riding of Essex. And what's more, CAW locals are supporting the NDP candidate in the same riding.If you think that's confusing, Hargrove gave Prime Minister Paul Martin a bulky black CAW jacket recently and the two of them hugged in front of almost a thousand union members. Hargrove has also endorsed a few other Liberal candidates around the country including auto parts heiress Belinda Stronach, whose former company has fought union organizers. These moves are part of the CAW's national strategy to stop the Tories at almost any cost from gaining power in Monday's election.

Laxer, Stanford and Buzz will be judged by their actions in this election which have been more of a discredit to themselves than the NDP. They will be subjected to the political post mortems after Monday night. And the autopsies will be nasty.B.C. labour grapples with Harper's surge

"We're going to be on the job next Tuesday, no matter what the election result, unlike the Liberal Party, that's going to be out of business until it cleans itself up,"Using even stronger language later, Mr. Layton said: "Who is really going to stand up for working Canadians? The smoking hulk of a defeated Liberal Party? Or a strong, united, renewed and effective NDP?"

More of my Buzz Stories

Also See: It's All About Paul

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The Wit and Wisdom of Warren Buffet

I love this guy. He is a straight shooting capitalist who tells it like it is.

Buffett warns of trouble

The U.S. trade deficit is a bigger threat to the domestic economy than either the federal budget deficit or consumer debt and could lead to “political turmoil,”-billionaire investor Warren Buffett warned.

“Right now, the rest of the world owns $3-trillion more of us than we own of them,” Mr. Buffett told business students and faculty Tuesday at the University of Nevada, Reno. “In my view, it will create political turmoil at some point .... Pretty soon, I think there will be a big adjustment,” he said without elaborating.

The U.S. trade deficit for the first 11 months of 2005 totaled $661.8-billion (U.S.), surpassing the previous annual record of $617.6-billion set in 2004. Economists say when December figures are included, the final deficit for 2005 will top $710-billion. Mr. Buffett said he expects it to top $700-billion this year.

“That's $2-billion a day,” he said. “We are like a super rich family that owns a farm the size of Texas. You sell off a little bit of the farm and you don't see it.”

Fifteen years ago, the U.S. had no trade deficit with China, he said.

“Now it's $200-billion. If we don't change the course, the rest of the world could own $15-trillion of us. That's pretty substantial. That's equal to the value of all American stock,” Mr. Buffett said.

“That's the big danger. Our national debt does not bother me. Our public debt is not at a crazy level,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Buffett said U.S. companies generally are enjoying some of their best times ever.

“Profits are at close to record levels. So business in America is doing very well — better than its lower-paid workers, by some margin,” he said.

“This is a pro-business United States,” he said. “If you get a group of businessmen together, they'll complain about regulation and liability suits, all kinds of things. Some of those things they are right about and some of it they are just complaining to complain.”

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Canada's State Capitalist Success

The tax breaks and tax credits given out to Bombadier and others in the Aerospace industry are one of the principle elements of the the Post WWII Keynesian economics that the Neo-liberals have not wanted to privatize. It is too expensive, private capital would not take this kind of risk, without state funding.

So much for the theory that the private sector can do it all, or that the private sector is more efficient than government, or that old canard, Business creates jobs governments don't. Under state capitalism government funds the jobs business creates the product and sells it, business takes the profits, government guarntees loss protection and gets taxes. It's like win-win.

Big Business and Big Government fit togther like a horse and carriage. Any attempt to divorce them in a mixed economy like Canada's is bound to be a disaster. In the US it is known as the Military Industrial Complex.

Canada 'success' in aerospace

By BERTRAND MAROTTE

MONTREAL – No nation can be a serious player in the global aerospace business without government support and Canada is one of the best and most successful in the game of state funding, according to a new report by an independent British consultant.

"No one country can afford to abandon state support; it's not possible to compete unilaterally without it. For the future, investment mechanisms may evolve, but this looks like an industry unlikely to kick the habit of dependence," says the 78-page study by Counterpoint Market Intelligence Ltd.

Indeed, co-authors George Burton and Richard Apps say there is a direct correlation between the pecking order of national aerospace industries and the level of government support they receive.

"Canada must be regarded as one of the success stories for the state funding of aerospace," particularly in terms of tax credits for research and development -- "one of the most generous R&D funding regimes in the world, with a 20-per-cent tax credit for every [dollar] spent," the report says.

Canada -- which claims bragging rights to the world's fourth-largest aerospace industry -- "punches above its weight," Mr. Burton said in a telephone interview yesterday.

"It's a sort of model as to how it can be done."

Funding of the aerospace sector in Canada -- particularly to Montreal-based regional jet maker Bombardier Inc. -- has been under fire for years from different quarters, including critics in the federal Conservative Party, which is now leading the governing Liberals in opinion polls in the current election campaign.

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Conservatives Favour The Rich

Who knew. Gee I thought this was the party of the Working Class as the Harper said the other day. I am shocked. I am speechless. NOT.Well what did you expect. It's a one size fits all economic policy. And one size fits always benefits the rich. No wonder the Harper is hiding from the media over the weekend. As we look behind the Wizard of Oz platform we see what the real Tory agenda is, but no-one is around to take the heat. Its a duck and cover weekend.

Tory tax plan ultimately favours well-off: experts

Updated Sat. Jan. 21 2006 2:13 PM ET

Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Stephen Harper's Conservatives are promising tax breaks if they're elected Monday, but just how much you'll get depends on how much you've already got.

Well-heeled Canadians, rather than low-income families, will enjoy the majority of the benefits from new tax measures promised by the front-running Conservatives, some analysts say.

Middle-income earners can also count on a few extra bucks, especially if they've got young children running around the house under the care of a stay-at-home mom.

But not a lot of cash will trickle down to poorer families.

That's because the Tory tax-cut plans aren't income sensitive, instead offering the same breaks to rich and poor alike -- which means in many cases higher-income earners will fare the best.

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Money Money Money

On average Canadian unionized workers saw their paycheques increase just above the rate of inflation by 2.3% On the other hand Bankers, who do not produce any real value merely exchange values, saw their wage increase 10%-14%. And this is one of the smallest banks in Canada. And contrary to the Conservatives, err Canadian Taxpayers Federation, their pensions are larger than the one Landslide Annie is going to earn.

National Bank of Canada increased the pay of chief executive officer Réal Raymond last year after profit climbed 18 per cent. Mr. Raymond was paid $7.4-million in salary, bonus, stock options and pension contributions, a 10-per-cent increase from $6.7-million a year earlier, the Montreal-based lender said yesterday in a regulatory filing. National Bank's profit climbed to a record $855-million, or $4.90 a share in the year that ended Oct. 31. Louis Vachon, who runs the National Bank Financial investment bank, earned $6.2-million, up from $4.1-million a year ago. Pierre Fitzgibbon, who became chief financial officer in July, earned $1.96-million in cash, bonuses, stock options and retirement benefits, while his predecessor Michel Labonté earned $753,500. NA (TSX) fell 19 cents to $60.90. Bloomberg

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Reflagging the Liberal Party

PM's Canadian Steamship Lines which is now run by his sons is planning to re-flag one of its Canadian ships and replace its Canadian sailors with Russians the day after the election.

Like father like son. Under PM the Canadian government increased it's reliance on P3's and contracting out.The Neo Liberal Canadian State

I wonder if PM plans to do the same with the "smoking hulk "of the good ship Liberal Party.

Crew of PM’s sons’ ship fear for jobs
Rumours say vessel will be reflagged, deckhands replaced after election

A crewman walks past the tattered Canadian flag aboard the Canadian Steamship Lines bulk carrier Atlantic Superior, which is docked at Pier 34 in Halifax. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

By STEPHEN MAHER Staff Reporter

The crew of a vessel owned by Prime Minister Paul Martin’s family is afraid the company is only waiting for the election to end before reflagging the ship and replacing the sailors with a foreign crew.

The Atlantic Superior, a 220-metre bulk carrier that usually works in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, is in Halifax for repairs to its engine.

The rumour on the docks is that Canada Steamship Lines Inc., the company Mr. Martin built and eventually handed to his sons, plans to register it abroad and hire a cheaper foreign crew, but is waiting until Tuesday, because the news might hurt Mr. Martin’s electoral chances if it came out in the middle of the campaign.

"That’s why he might have kept the Canadians on board until just after the election, because he knows that it would kill them if he would do so right now," said a union source, who asked not to be named.

The rusty ship, flying a tattered Canadian flag, is tied up at Pier 34 in Halifax, with a skeleton crew aboard.

"The Canadian crew have been pretty open about it around the port, that the ship will be reflagged and crewed with Russians after the election," said one waterfront source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Jaffers Voting Record

So how did Rahim Jaffer vote in the last sitting of Parliment? Check this out.

Proving that when Conservatives say they allow Free Votes that means Conservative MP's feel free to vote along party lines.

Otherwise if they vote against the Party line they may feel they have to cross the floor, like Belinda Stronach.



SEE Edmonton Strathcona


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American Sabre Rattling Blogger

If it is on a blog you can bet that someone in the Bush Administration and the Pentagon has already thought of this. Dumb idea. Dumb. But hey it was ex-pat Canadian David Frum who coined the phrase Axis of Evil which was Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

The Case for Invading Iran

by Guest Author at January 19, 2006 01:24 PM

by Thomas Holsinger

And the logic of this is that if Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons hit them before they do cause we all know America is a pussy cat when it comes to countries with Nukes. And a paper tiger, I love that old ML term, when it comes to Iran in particular. There will be no American invasion of Iran they will opt for a selective air assault by Israel, for plausible deniability.

Which begs the question, Iran is surrounded by Nuclear Powers, Pakistan, India, China, Russia, Israel, Turkey (US base). Why is the West so fixated on this issue. Why the dismissal of Irans intentions to develop a domestic nuclear energy program? The reason given is that Iran lies. This is an ideological given by all who talk about the Iranian nuclear power issue. They see Iran wanting to be a Nuclear Power and discussions of Iran wanting to use Nuclear Power for domestic civilian purposes are dismissed out of hand. Except by Russia. Who is of course biased since it is trading with them.

But if Russia endorses the Iranian program, then as the endorser and supplier they need to be held responsible for insuring that the program remians civilian. Putin and China will not allow the UN to sanction Iran. So the diplomatic way of dealing with this is to have UN inspectors work with Russia insuring Iran does what it says it is going to do.

Is Iran paranoid. Well of course they are. And just because they are it doesn't mean the US the UN and the EU is not out to get them. They are also aware that the American Imperialist Tiger is next door, with hundreds of thousands of troops, and an unstable war mongering leadership. A leadership that calls them an axis of evil. That has them on a hit list with North Korea. After the Afghanistan invasion, and now the Iraq invasion, Iran has American and Nato troops sitting on its doorstep. Along with Pakistan, as America's new client state.

Nuclear Iran: A matter of time

In geopolitical terms of course Iran is worried that it is next for invasion. And with articles like the one above, they are not being paranoid. That being said the Americans would face world outrage over any attempted invasion of Iran. Despite the censoring of Iran for its outrageous, but predictble, Anti-Semitic remarks, and for its Nuclear posturing, the EU and UN do NOT want war with Iran.

Most Americans tired of the war in Iraq will not sanction War with Iran. Unlike Iraq any such invasion or armed intervention in Iran would be met with mass resistance. Given that the sabre rattling has to stop. It only feeds into Iran's political paranoia, one that creates the conditions for Iran to see no alternative but to build a nuclear weapons system. Because America only respects countries with Nukes.

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Political Nutbar

It is now down to two candidates for Political Nutbar of 2005. Rob Anders and John Duffy. Guess who I voted for.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

The latestest graphic of poll results as of yesterday. E-3 The picture tells the story, the Liberal decline, Conservatives level off and the NDP on the rise. Courtesy Politics Canada

POLI-GRAPH - ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2006

GRAPH - polls results surveyed on the same date are averaged. Updated Jan 21, 8:40 AM EST

NATIONAL POLLS

Date Lib CPC NDP Bloc Green Ekos 20/01/2006 27 37 20 12 5 Strategic 19/01/2006 28 38 17 11 7 Ipsos-Reid 19/01/2006 26 38 19 5 SES CPAC 19/01/2006 29 36 19 11 6

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