LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Fete Accompli

Once again the PM missed attending the party of the year;

Hundreds of thousands flock to TO Pride Parade

Instead he was feted in Quebec, as he feted Quebec Nationalism.

Huge parade, concerts and fun mark Quebec's Fete nationale holiday
Huge papier mâché statues of the great builders of Quebec were among the flags and marching bands in a boisterous parade yesterday that marked Quebec's Fête Nationale provincial holiday. An image of former premier René Lévesque was featured along with that of explorer Samuel de Champlain in the march.
The links between Levesque, a sovereigntist icon, and the celebration of the Fete nationale were obvious to Yvon Trudel, who marched in the parade with the nationalist Mouvement Quebec Francais.

"It represents the future - the future country that we want," he said when asked what the day meant to him.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Roberval, Que., where he praised the contribution of Quebecers to building Canada.
"The first people in this country to call themselves Canadians were the French-speaking settlers who built their first community on the banks of the St. Lawrence then followed our rivers to places like Lac St-Jean and then across our land envisioning a country from sea to sea," he said.

And my how times have changed .

It was a far cry from the days when riots plagued Fete nationale. in 1968, Pierre Trudeau won a majority government the day after he stared down rioters at a St-Jean Baptiste Day parade in Montreal.

For Harper Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Transgendered Canada is more of a threat than Quebec Separatism.

Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal have been named Canada's five top gay-friendly tourist destinations by an American magazine.

One challenges his machismo the other embraces it.

SEE:

Some Same Sex Marriage Ok Say Tories

Harper Gaffe #2: SSM

Intolerant Blogging Tories

Mortons Homophobia Rebuked

Harper

SSM

Same Sex Marriage

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Monday, June 25, 2007

War Is Peace

Quebec Premier Charest addressing the Van Doos on Friday who are about to go to Afghanistan.

"You are the acting arm of Quebec pacifism," Charest said.

I think he mistook pacifism for pacification .

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CBC Blog Watch

CBC has added a Technocrati blog watch to its stories. Oh and did I mention I got linked.

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No Two State Solution

There is no two state solution to Israel's occupation of Palestine.

It's been forty years, and yet Israel has become married to the settlements and to an ideology that sees a Jewish state with inherent rights over its non-Jewish citizens, but more critically it as an expansionist state that believes in the right to permanent domination of the lands it controls. The only way to break down a racist and exclusivist structure is to chip away at its base and force an alternative reality. This would require not only ending the occupation, but looking internally at the Israeli state, a Jewish state, a state which doesn't and can't function as democracy for all its people. Many Palestinians leaders and supporters within Israel have come to realize this and have been ostracized for bringing this notion to light, namely Azmi Bishara, while many more will be undermined and attacked in the future. Yet, divestment, boycott, and sanctions coupled with a movement forward for both Israelis and Palestinians to live as equals in a shared society is the only hope for true peace.

See:

Israel

Palestine

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Belus?

That's what the Globe and Mail is calling the idea of the merger between Telus and Bell (BCE).

In this latest poll you find that those of us who have experienced Telus are opposed to the merger for the reasons I have given here and here.

The Angus Reid poll found that 48 per cent of Canadians believe the government shouldn't permit a merger between Vancouver-based Telus and Montreal-based BCE. Another 27 per cent supported it, while 25 per cent weren't sure.

The highest levels of opposition to such a deal came from British Columbia and Alberta at 57 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively. "What surprised us the most is the high level of skepticism from Alberta and B.C., where virtually everyone deals with Telus on a daily basis," Mr. Canseco said.

If such a merger were to go through, 62 per cent of the poll's respondents didn't expect better customer service. Moreover, 68 per cent said it's somewhat or very likely wireless rates would increase, while 62 per cent said the same thing for Internet prices.

See:

Monopoly Capitalism in Cyberspace

Telus

BCE

CRTC

Bernier

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Sunday, June 24, 2007

A Tale Of Two Canada's

Hundreds of thousands flock to TO Pride Parade

Canadian Anglicans vote no on blessing same-sex unions

See

Whose Family Values?

Marx on Bigamy

Paul Goodman

Libertarianism

Five Things Feminism Has Done For Me

Gay Marriage

SSM

Same Sex Marriage

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Rain Rain Go Away

Enough already if I had wanted to live in B.C. I would have moved there. We have had this weather forecast for the past two weeks. From Spring to Summer. I thought solstice brought the return of the sun not rain and clouds. Enough. My garden needs sun not more water. Unfortunately next week looks like much the same.

Severe thunderstorm watch for:
City of Edmonton-St. Albert-Sherwood Park

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL ARE POSSIBLE THIS EVENING. THIS IS AN ALERT TO THE POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES TAKE IMMEDIATE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.
THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING OVER THE FOOTHILLS AND SWAN HILLS THIS AFTERNOON AND MOVED NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS THE PROVINCE. THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR SOME THUNDERSTORMS TO PRODUCE LARGE HAIL, HEAVY RAIN AND STRONG WIND GUSTS.

	Sunday Overnight	Monday Morning	Monday Afternoon	Monday Evening

Temperature	9°C	11°C	14°C	12°C
Condition	Chance of thunder- showers	Rain	Thunder- showers	Cloudy with showers
P.O.P.	80%	90%	60%	90%
Wind	NE 10km/h	N 15km/h	NW 15km/h	NW 20km/h
Humidity	93%	100%	96%	100%
Rain	close to 5mm	5-10mm	5-10mm	close to 10mm

From Sunday Overnight to Monday Evening we expect 25-30mm of rain.

Long Term Forecast

	Tuesday June 26	Wednesday June 27	Thursday June 28	Friday June 29	Saturday June 30	Sunday July 1

High	19°C	22°C	20°C	25°C	25°C	25°C
Low	10°C	10°C	14°C	15°C	16°C	15°C
Condition	Cloudy periods	Mainly sunny	Mainly cloudy	Cloudy periods	Thunder- showers	Scattered showers
P.O.P.	30%	0%	30%	10%	80%	40%
Wind	NW 20 km/h	SE 25 km/h	SE 25 km/h	NW 10 km/h	W 5 km/h	NE 10 km/h

See:

Wetmonton

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Steady Eddie in Decline

Repeat after me; I am not Harry Strom . Really. I am not Harry Strom.

Premier Stelmach's own approval ratings have slipped from our last sounding, with a bare majority (54%) of Albertans saying they approve of his performance as Premier, down 12 percentage-points from April. Of that, 15% "strongly approve" (down 6-points) while 39% "moderately approve" (down 6-points). Notably, Stelmach's approval rating is much lower in Calgary (42%) than in either Edmonton (58%) or the rest of Alberta (63%).

Beware of the wrath of the Party of Calgary.

Stelmach Tanks

After the blow out in Calgary Elbow the Stelmach government tries to make amends by appointing three more Calgarians, and one Edmonton MLA who is Ukrainian and a popular a former Liberal, to cabinet.

To add insult to injury they are not even real cabinet ministers, they are mere 'associates'. You know like WalMart Associates.

Unfortunately it is too little too late.

Honeymoon Officially Over For Stelmach Government

CALGARY/AB--(Marketwire - June 23, 2007) - A new Ipsos Reid poll finds a substantial decline in support for the Ed Stelmach-led Progressive Conservatives. The Progressive Conservatives currently have the backing of 47% of Alberta's decided voters, down 12 points from 59% just two months ago (April). This returns the Progressive Conservatives to the same level of voter support they achieved in the 2004 Alberta provincial election. In fact, all four major parties have returned to exactly where they stood in the last election. Among decided voters, 29% say they would vote Liberal, 10% would vote New Democrat and 9% would vote for the Alberta Alliance Party.
A look at voter support by region produces some telling results for the Progressive Conservatives. In Calgary, Stelmach's party has the support of 42% of decided voters. This is a decline of 8-points from the 50% support the Progressive Conservatives achieved in the last election. In contrast, the Progressive Conservatives are up 12 points in the Edmonton CMA (47% today vs. 35% in election) and up 2-points in the rest of Alberta (53% today vs. 51% in election).

SEE

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Ding Dong Tories

Even if it meant protecting Canadians who elected them from being subjected to a communications monopoly, the likelihood that the privatizing Conservatives, whose love of big business is expressed my its Industry Minister , would do anything like interfere in the market well ferget about it. Canada telecoms merger up to regulators: Harper

A consumer advocate warned Thursday that a proposed $50-billion merger between Bell Canada Inc. and Telus Corp. would be a loser for customers of the two telecom giants.
"The government and the regulators should simply turn down this merger," said Charles Tanguay, communications manager for Quebec's Union des Consommateurs. "This is critical because it would weaken competition in both the traditional wireline and wireless markets and expose consumers to continuing high prices and second-rate services."
Canadian consumers already pay almost twice the average per-minute charged in the U.S. and Europe and the market has too few players, Tanguay noted.
"A monopoly would be worse than today's duopoly, influence regulated markets unduly and freeze out new entrants."