Sunday Funnies

Second Ballot

It's going to be a second ballot run for the man who will replace Ralph. It's between Dinning and Morton.Alberta Tory leadership bid a two-horse race

CALGARY/AM770CHQR - Alberta Tory Leadership Results (10:30 p.m.)

Jim Dinning 26,115
Ted Morton 21,507
Ed Stelmach 12,019

130/179 polls reporting

Second Ballot Required in PC Race

The other five contenders have dropped off the ballot, including Lyle Oberg, whose campaigned was dogged with missteps. The jockeying has already begun among the first ballot losers and former cabinet minister Dave Hancock -- who finished fifth -- has thrown his support behind Stelmach.

Now the cheerleaders at the Edmonton Sun can quit promoting Norris, he wasn't even in the running. He never was except in the minds of the Edmonton Sun editorialists.

And if Smilin' Ed Stelmach is really a 'centerist' he had best throw his support behind Dinning or the next Premier of Alberta will be a Seperatist.

Earlier in the week, Mark Norris told The Journal's editorial board that he Stelmach and Hancock had an agreement to support each other on a second ballot. Hancock, it seems, has fulfilled that promise. But Norris was less certain.Though Hancock’s endorsement looks good for Stelmach, his support may not mean much, as his voters won’t necessarily come with him. In the last Tory leadership race in 1992, all the losing candidates jumped to Nancy Betkowski’s campaign, but she was still routed by Ralph Klein the following week.

Hmmm maybe that's why Harper recognized the Quebecois as a nation, laying the groundwork for his pal Morton.

Vote: the only commodity that is peddleable without a license.
- More Maxims of Mark Twain

See:

Conservative Leadership Race

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Flaherty Disappoints

Currency traders. Yoiks. Flaherty long on rhetoric; short on substance
All in all we were disappointed that there was not more immediate direct tax saving benefits to investors and corporations however, as they say, the devil is in the details and we will have to wait until February for those.

See Flaherty


Tags Government,Canada, economics, budget, Flaherty, Government, parliament, Finance Minister, net debt, pension, debt

Pinochet Admits He Did It.

This still does not let the United States and the CIA off the hook. And Pinochet made no apology. Nor did he take personal responsibility for ordering the assassination of Salvador Allende.

In fact he was unrepentant saying he did it for the good of the country.

Gen. Augusto Pinochet took full responsibility for the first time Saturday for the actions of his 1973-90 dictatorship, which carried out thousands of political killings and is blamed for widespread torture and illegal imprisonment.

According to an official report, 3,197 people were killed for political reasons under Pinochet, including more than 1,000 who were made to disappear. Thousands more were illegally imprisoned, tortured or forced into exile.

Pinochet is currently under indictment in two human rights abuse cases and for tax evasion, and has scores of others criminal suits pending, filed by victims of abuses or their relatives. Until now, the courts have dropped the charges against him citing his poor health.

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Drunk Holds Court

King Ralph is officially 'off the wagon'.

See:

Ralph Klein

King Ralph

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What About Mexican Human Rights Mr. Harper

Stephen Harper made a big issue last week about Human Rights in China. Well next week on December 1 he will be in Mexico to give recognition to the phony government of Felipe Calderón.

That election is still contested by the 'other' democratically elected president of Mexico; Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and in communities across Mexico, including the city of Oaxaca. Oaxaca has seen mass demonstrations against the corrupt governor, where an American journalist Brad Will was killed by Federal forces, and where people have been disappeared.

Will Harper speak out about the human rights abuses of the Fox/Calderón cabal? Why do I think not.

BTL:Mexican Government Fears Spread of Oaxaca Civil Society

As the movement of teachers, students, workers and indigenous groups marked six months of continuous protest in the Mexican city of Oaxaca, violence again erupted in the streets on Nov. 20, the day Mexicans celebrated the 96th anniversary of their nation's 1910 revolution. Running battles between the Federal Preventative Police -- firing tear gas and activists armed with sticks, slingshots and fireworks -- resulted in dozens of injuries and arrests.

Protests began in May, when teachers went out on strike demanding a pay increase and books for students. Oaxaca's Gov. Ulises Ruiz ordered police to attack the teachers and their supporters. That confrontation galvanized the teachers, sparked a civil society uprising and the formation of The People's Popular Assembly of Oaxaca or APPO, which demanded the removal of Gov. Ruiz, who many accuse of winning office by stealing the 2004 state election.

At the end of October, Mexican President Vicente Fox sent 4,000 federal troops to Oaxaca to remove protesters from the colonial city's central plaza, after more than a dozen people -- including Brad Will, an independent U.S. journalist -- had been killed by gunmen, whom protesters identify as undercover government agents.

UN expresses concern over Mexico police abuse

EU observer recommends second round for Mexico's presidential race

Mexico quietly exposes federal role in 'Dirty War'

Authorities in Oaxaca, Mexico deny reporting that US journalist shot at point blank range



See:

Dual Power In Mexico

Mexico



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P3= Public Pension Partnerships

In Canada the biggest players in the P3 racket are public pension funds. Public sector workers pensions in fact. Both the Ontario Teachers Pension fund and OMERS are funds that are wanting to invest in privatization of public infrastructure. So perhaps we should call these P3's Public Pension Partnerships.

Is there a problem with this? Well yes there is because these funds are not controled by the workers who pay into them but by professional investment managers. In Canada private sector union pension funds also look to invest in infrastructure. This would not be problematic if the workers whose pensions make up these funds actually had control of the funds, hired the managers and set the mandate for investments. But they don't. Unions need to put pension fund reform on their agenda's

With direct control of these pension funds and their investments public sector workers could use it as leverage for for social equity, environmental stewardship, job security, living wages, etc. etc.

The myth of private sector partnerships with the state is just that a myth. What this is really is public sector funding of the state. And the irony is that the whole P3 racket was supposed to be about the private sector taking a risk with it's investments. It was part of the neo-con myth that the private sector is more efficient than the public. It was an attempt by them to reduce the public sector, to contract out public sector jobs. Now that same public sector with its pension funds and public sector workers that are being used to fund government infrastructure.

So is every Canadian. When CPP was privatized, to allow an arms length investment arm to be created we now have our federal pension plan engaging in P3's as well as other questionable investments such as in the Arms Industry and Wal-Mart.

Like union pension funds, Canadians need reform of the CPP to have citizen representatives including labour, women, environmental and consumer groups, on the board with ethical guidelines for investing.

The Harper Conservative Government push for P3's is not about free market economics (ain't no such a creature in capitalism) it is just good old fashioned conservative state capitalism.


P3 or not P3? Big pension funds hope for new infrastructure opportunities

TORONTO (CP) - Canada's major pension funds, after investing billions of dollars abroad in assets ranging from British waterworks to New Zealand timberland, are hopeful that a logjam holding back their flow of money into infrastructure within Canada is giving way.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is acquiring its first piece of Canadian infrastructure - the dominant freight container terminal operation on Canada's Pacific Coast - as part of a US$2.4-billion deal announced Thursday.

The announcement coincided with indications the federal government will smooth the road for pension fund investment in public infrastructure such as highways, transport hubs and utilities.

The Advantage Canada plan outlined by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on Thursday included a pledge to give maximum impact to government spending through public-private partnerships.

These so-called P3s "will also provide opportunities for Canadian pension funds and other investors to participate in infrastructure projects here in Canada rather than being forced to look abroad, as is often the case now," according to the finance ministry.

Flaherty plans to set up a federal P3 office, and intends to force provinces and municipalities to "consider P3 options" for all large projects that get federal funding.

"It's about time," Michael Nobrega, CEO of the Borealis Infrastructure unit of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, said Friday.

"We hope he follows through. Pension funds are looking to put money out, so until the follow-through occurs it's not real, but's certainly very, very encouraging."

At the Teachers fund, officials are "quite heartened . . . because Canada has not had a lot of infrastructure opportunity," said Deborah Allan, director of communications for the pension plan, which has $96-billion of assets under management.

Teachers announced Thursday it is paying US$2.4 billion to Orient Overseas of Hong Kong for Deltaport at Roberts Bank south of Vancouver and Vanterm in the Burrard Inlet inner harbour - which operate under long-term leases with the federal Vancouver Port Authority - as well as the New York Container Terminal on Staten Island and the Global Terminal and Container Systems complex in Bayonne, N.J.

The Canadian and U.S. port terminals are of roughly equal value, said Jim Leech, who heads the Teachers fund's private capital portfolio.

In the wider Canadian infrastructure world, "the main complaint that pension funds have had is whether or not the levels of government have the political will to have public assets owned by private enterprise," Leech said.

"You've got some people ideologically opposed, believing that all public infrastructure - highways, airports, et cetera - should be owned 100 per cent by the government, and taxes should just go up to fix them," he said.

"We've been sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the debate to be had and somebody to make a decision."

In the meantime, Teachers' foreign infrastructure investments include Scotia Gas Networks in Scotland and England, 10 power plants internationally, and the Northumberland Water Group in the U.K., along with large timber tracts in New Zealand and the United States.

Other Canadian pension funds have also gone abroad. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board last month put $1.05 billion into a consortium bid for British water utility AWG PLC, the CPP's largest infrastructure investment to date.

The volume of pension fund money going into infrastructure is increasing globally, observed Andrew Harrison, a pension specialist at law firm Borden Ladner Gervais.

"The principal reason is that these, by their nature, are long-term assets - and that's the key in a pension fund, where you've got people who are accruing benefits today who won't see their last payment out of the fund for 50 or 60 years," he said.

Infrastructure "also tends to provide some inflation protection, in that the payments off the infrastructure tend to rise over time."

The only potential pitfall he sees is that infrastructure assets "tend to be illiquid; if something does happen it's very hard to unload one of these investments."

Rock Lefebvre, vice-president of research at CGA-Canada, observed that defined-benefit pension funds can't depend on safe fixed-income instruments such as bonds to cover their future liabilities.

"They have to risk, so this is a fairly nice risk for all the parties involved."

Domestic infrastructure would have the extra advantage of eliminating currency risk, but fund managers have been complaining for years that Canada's governments have been slow to allow private money into public projects.

"Governments are starting to realize that they can't fund all the infrastructure investment that has to happen," said Harrison, who heads the government relations committee of the Association of Canadian Pension Management.

"You've got these enormous capital pools in Canada to pay benefits to Canadians. There does seem to be a symmetry to using that money to invest in the infrastructure those same Canadians use."

See

P3

CPP

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Womens Oppression Continues In Afghanistan

Will wonders never cease Blogging Tory Celestial Junk discovers that women's oppression continues in Afghanistan despite Tory propaganda. Where was he when the Afghani MP Malalai Joya' was saying the same thing at the NDP Convention? Like the other pro-war Blogging Tories and Pro War Liberals probably attacking the NDP. Well as they say better late than never.

Activist with Afghani organization for women’s rights RAWA tells Ynet women’s situation in Afghanistan even worse than before American invasion: Rape, kidnapping, murder go unpunished.

“I know what they tell you in the West about the situation here,” Sahar Saab sighs despairingly. Saab, an activist with the women’s movement RAWA which operates almost underground in Afghanistan, adds, “They tell you women’s circumstances have improved greatly, but in reality there is no improvement. In the capital, Kabul, and in a few more cities, women even work in government offices, but their numbers are very few, and many dangers still ambush women in the cities. And in the suburbs? For their own safety, women continue to wear burqas. Almost daily, we hear of kidnappings, rape, murder, suicide and disappearance in areas still ruled by the Taliban or the Northern Alliance, and we know there are many more incidents not reported.”

See:

Schools In Afghanistan

Sir Robert Bond Idiot

Afghan Woman Speaks Out

The War For Women's Rights

Democracy In Afghanistan

Where Are The Women?

Afghanistan

Women





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At Least It's Not Dubai Ports

Ontario Pension Plan to Buy NY Ports Waiting to hear Lou Dobbs start screaming over this one. Will he or won't he? Place your wagers. After all a bunch of Ontario Teachers are far less a threat then Muslims. Unless they are Muslim teachers.

• View Larger Image

BUSY YEAR FOR PORT DEALS:FEBRUARY United Arab Emirates-based Dubai Ports World bought Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. for US$6.8-billion. It was forced to sell its six major U.S. ports.JULYGoldman Sachs bought Associated British Ports Holdings PLC, the U.K.'s largest port operator, for (ps)2.8-billion.SEPTEMBER A Macquarie Bank fund said it would buy a 40% stake in Hanjin Shipping's six overseas terminals whose assets are estimated to be worth US$870-million.OCTOBER Macquarie Infrastructure Partners announced plans to buy Canada's Halterm Income Fund for about $173-million. Halterm's main asset is a container terminal and cargo handling facility in the port of Halifax.

Photograph by : Mark Wilson, Getty Images)

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Tories Hot Air Plan The Facts

Report confirms Tory's green goals unreachable

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's goal of slashing Canada's greenhouse gases in half by 2050 will be out of reach by the time industries are forced to deliver concrete reductions through regulation, suggests a new federal government report submitted to the United Nations. ''This is the first time (the Conservative government) has shown the numbers that confirm that we'll see no reductions and pretty significant increases until 2020,'' said Clare Demerse, a climate-change policy analyst at the Pembina Institute. ''This is supposed to be (a) demonstrable progress (report), but this is a demonstration of lack of progress.''

Well no surprise there. But here is a surprising admission from the folks who keep saying nothing got done for thirteen years.

Although it acknowledged previous programs and initiatives slowed down the growth in greenhouse gas emissions driven by a stronger economy, energy exports and the increasing population, the report offered few details about new measures to be launched in the future.

Right the Alberta boom and the contribution of smokestack industries increased our Greenhouse gases but some of the Liberal programs actually were effective. Until they were cut by the Tories. And more cuts are on the way. Even though these programs ARE effective by the Tories own admission. And that was also concided in the Federal Environmental report from the Auditor Generals office.

It's the Tories not so Hidden Agenda; to slash and burn all Liberal programs they disagree with ideologically, regardless of whether they are 'effective'.

Ottawa planning more cuts to climate-change programs

The Conservative government is planning a second wave of cuts to climate-change programs and is asking public servants to help manage the “fallout” by explaining why their positions should disappear.

Government officials who manage the programs in various government departments were told this week that climate-change programs extended by one year in April will not be renewed.

The officials are being asked to compile information as to who would most likely be affected and what their public reaction would be.

The project is being described internally as “government-wide” and The Globe and Mail was able to confirm that at least two departments, Natural Resources Canada and Agriculture Canada, were submitting reports this week.

See:

Ambrose

Envrionment

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