As you can tell from yesterdays posts I have returned! Aw shucks who could keep away from blogging especially after a week likethis one.
The Conservatives launched their elect Uncle Steve campaign, as in the old Soviet Uncle Joe campaign, showing their Man of Steel to be the kind cuddly family guy (like Peter from Family Guy). Leadership 08 is their their slogean.
Which then blew up in a flight of puffin feathers and communiations team suspensions that showed when Steve ain't the authoritariean strict father,Tory kids playing at politics in his war room get outta control.
So toss out 'the soft and colourful' sweaters and let the real Steve out. The angry man who called this election a year early cause he couldn't get his way in parliment.
The Tories have only just begun their neo-con social re-engineering of Canada with war mongering support of U.S. Imperialism, cuts to womens programs, cuts to arts and culture programs, attacks on Insite, privatization of Atomic Energy Canada, deregulation of Canadian Food Inspection, etc. They want the power to finish the job.
They have drooled and panted for an election since Dion became Liberal leader. And when he failed to bring them down they did the job themselves. Now that's leadership.
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Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
War Monger
Best left wing attack on Harper. Duceppe . On the election announcement night when he called:
Another Failed Surge
Stephen Harper's war is over. His surge has failed. He admits this
with his election declaration that Canada will leave Afghanistan in 2011. So for the next three years we can watch as more Canadians die in a futile counter-insurgency campaign.
Why not leave now. Why not move our forces to protect real development projects like schools, which non-military volunteers who are Canadian have been killed for creating, with no protection from their country.
The failure of the counter-insurgency is no better exposed then the death of the Vancouver volunteer who built a girls school and was murdered by the Taliban for his efforts.
See:
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with his election declaration that Canada will leave Afghanistan in 2011. So for the next three years we can watch as more Canadians die in a futile counter-insurgency campaign.
Why not leave now. Why not move our forces to protect real development projects like schools, which non-military volunteers who are Canadian have been killed for creating, with no protection from their country.
The failure of the counter-insurgency is no better exposed then the death of the Vancouver volunteer who built a girls school and was murdered by the Taliban for his efforts.
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?
AfghanistanFind blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
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Harper is a fruit
Out of the closet. The ultimate he man PM has admited he is a fruit, soft and colourful. Probably a peach of a guy. Yep like we didn't know that from last election when he dressed up as one of the Village People for the Calgary Stampede. Except his admission to being soft and colourful has not won him any friends in the gay community. Gay community united in stance against PM: poll
Green Shift Tax=GST
The green PM Brian Mulroney gave us the GST a tax on consumers, a regressive tax, one the Liberals promised to abolish but never got around to doing so. Stephne Dion and his Liberals now offer their of the GST with their Green Shift Tax. Again the average Canadian faces another Gouge and Screw Tax aimed at consumption rather than producers/production.
The Liberals new Green Shift is not green but it certainly is a shift, from taxing producers of greenhouse gases to those who consume the products.
In other words same old same old.
Brought to you by the folks who signed Kyoto but who had no plan to deal with it.
The Conservatives have no plan period, so this election anything they do is sheer opportunism; hence their diesel tax reduction. Which will not bring down the prices of your vegetables, furniture, or tropical fish, or anything else transported by truck.
The only party that is actually proposing a Green plan that meets the needs of capitalism is the NDP. New Zealand this week adopted a carbon cap and trade plan, Chicago has a cap and trade commodities market in place, Quebec supports cap and trade, and is creating its own market for it as well, hoping to use its hydro power as a carbon offset against the greenhouse gases produced by more inefficient coal powered utilities in Ontario and of course against the greenhouse gases produced in Alberta and the Wests rapidly expanding oil and gas fields.
Cap and Trade is the Kyoto solution for capitalism to address the climate crisis. Create a market place for trading emissions, make it a cost of doing business but market it based on an investment model.
Why the Liberals and Conservatives don't get this is simple because they fare old party's of the aristocracy and as much as they have adapted to bourgeoisie parlimentarism they fail to understand how capitalism functions. It sees a problem and it sees an investment opportunity. The Liberals and Conservatives being the old party's of the state only understand taxation not investment. They are lousy capitalists. Ironically for the libertarian ideologues of the free market it is the statist socialists who understand real world capitalism best.
The Whigs and Tories of old understood only taxation, they inherited their titles and their title to capital. With the rise of the workers movement there came the call to universal sufferage in Europe and these two old parties of the ruling classes of their day adapted. However what they did not adapt to was capitalism.
The new workers parties of Social Democracy on the other hand educated by Marx's Kapital knew of the the new world being born by their labour.
After 100 years of battle inthe parilments of capitalist democracy, honed through booms and busts and failed revolutions, they came to an post-modernist understanding in the ninties, in order to pose an alternative to the neo-con agenda of revival of 19th Century lazzie faire Austrian School economics
they needed a different social agenda. So they added eco to eco-nomics.
The Kyoto accord is not some socialist agenda to overthrow capitalism, despite its characterization as such by such neo-con mouthpieces as Stephen Harper, rather it is very much a 'market' solution to overproduction of emissions. And capitalists like it, they understand it, they endorse it which is why in states in the U.S. across Europe and around the world cap and trade is their prefered choice over carbon taxes.
But because business and its mouthpiece political party, the Conservatives, of all lands oppose carbon taxes does not mean that we as workers should support them. They are after all the most regressive form of tax that on consumption rather than production.
Nor should we be fooled that creating new stock markets based on cap and trade will actually have any real impact on the environment.
Rather we need to pose the one alternative to the crisis of capitalism and it's impact on our world, workers control of production. Nothing less will halt capitalisms ultimate entropy which is the climate crisis.
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climate-change, Conservatives, Liberals, government, environment, Nicholas Stern, electricity, capitalism, sustainability
The Liberals new Green Shift is not green but it certainly is a shift, from taxing producers of greenhouse gases to those who consume the products.
In other words same old same old.
Brought to you by the folks who signed Kyoto but who had no plan to deal with it.
The Conservatives have no plan period, so this election anything they do is sheer opportunism; hence their diesel tax reduction. Which will not bring down the prices of your vegetables, furniture, or tropical fish, or anything else transported by truck.
The only party that is actually proposing a Green plan that meets the needs of capitalism is the NDP. New Zealand this week adopted a carbon cap and trade plan, Chicago has a cap and trade commodities market in place, Quebec supports cap and trade, and is creating its own market for it as well, hoping to use its hydro power as a carbon offset against the greenhouse gases produced by more inefficient coal powered utilities in Ontario and of course against the greenhouse gases produced in Alberta and the Wests rapidly expanding oil and gas fields.
Cap and Trade is the Kyoto solution for capitalism to address the climate crisis. Create a market place for trading emissions, make it a cost of doing business but market it based on an investment model.
Why the Liberals and Conservatives don't get this is simple because they fare old party's of the aristocracy and as much as they have adapted to bourgeoisie parlimentarism they fail to understand how capitalism functions. It sees a problem and it sees an investment opportunity. The Liberals and Conservatives being the old party's of the state only understand taxation not investment. They are lousy capitalists. Ironically for the libertarian ideologues of the free market it is the statist socialists who understand real world capitalism best.
The Whigs and Tories of old understood only taxation, they inherited their titles and their title to capital. With the rise of the workers movement there came the call to universal sufferage in Europe and these two old parties of the ruling classes of their day adapted. However what they did not adapt to was capitalism.
The new workers parties of Social Democracy on the other hand educated by Marx's Kapital knew of the the new world being born by their labour.
After 100 years of battle inthe parilments of capitalist democracy, honed through booms and busts and failed revolutions, they came to an post-modernist understanding in the ninties, in order to pose an alternative to the neo-con agenda of revival of 19th Century lazzie faire Austrian School economics
they needed a different social agenda. So they added eco to eco-nomics.
The Kyoto accord is not some socialist agenda to overthrow capitalism, despite its characterization as such by such neo-con mouthpieces as Stephen Harper, rather it is very much a 'market' solution to overproduction of emissions. And capitalists like it, they understand it, they endorse it which is why in states in the U.S. across Europe and around the world cap and trade is their prefered choice over carbon taxes.
But because business and its mouthpiece political party, the Conservatives, of all lands oppose carbon taxes does not mean that we as workers should support them. They are after all the most regressive form of tax that on consumption rather than production.
Nor should we be fooled that creating new stock markets based on cap and trade will actually have any real impact on the environment.
Rather we need to pose the one alternative to the crisis of capitalism and it's impact on our world, workers control of production. Nothing less will halt capitalisms ultimate entropy which is the climate crisis.
Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
libertarian, libertarian-socialism, biocomplexity, science, socialism, Kropotkin, Mutual-aid, Marx, Grundrisse, biology, technology, work, labour, labor, surplus-value, capitalism, anarchy, anarchism, self-management, libertarian-communism, Marxism, industrial-ecology, environment, market, free-market, capitalism, agora, libertarian, left-libertarian, social-ecology, anarchism, green, green-capitalism, Veblen, technocracy, Kyoto, Canada Harper, Industrial-ecology, carbon-credits, EU, pollution
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Work, Life and Blogging
Thanks to those of you who wrote me or commented here about my absence from blogging, its nice to be loved.
I have been away from blogging for two months now due to work and life changes. During June when I last posted, I was busy with work commitments especially around training and teaching.
I was elected President of the Edmonton Branch of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, and thus this has taken up much of my time as we celebrate our 90th Anniversary and look forward to making ourselves a prescence in the progressive community once again. Our hall is being used again by the progressive community after several years of inactivity.
I was also elected to Chair the Gaia Gathering, the Canadian National Pagan Conference, which will be holding its fifth annual conference in 2009 in Vancouver with the theme Left Coat Paganism's.
Finally I was involved in organizing this years PanFest which took up much of my time as Programming and Events coordinator.
Because of these commitments I have not had the urge to blog as much about local, national or world events. It doesn't mean I haven't had anything to say, rather I did not feel the urge or urgency to blog.
However I will be blogging on an occasional basis and will probably return to more regular writing by the end of summer.
Oh yes and I should mention that with the nice weather we have had I have been enjoying my backyard and garden. Beer in hand, reading interesting books and listening to music.
Work and life trump blogging.
1
I have been away from blogging for two months now due to work and life changes. During June when I last posted, I was busy with work commitments especially around training and teaching.
I was elected President of the Edmonton Branch of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, and thus this has taken up much of my time as we celebrate our 90th Anniversary and look forward to making ourselves a prescence in the progressive community once again. Our hall is being used again by the progressive community after several years of inactivity.
I was also elected to Chair the Gaia Gathering, the Canadian National Pagan Conference, which will be holding its fifth annual conference in 2009 in Vancouver with the theme Left Coat Paganism's.
Finally I was involved in organizing this years PanFest which took up much of my time as Programming and Events coordinator.
Because of these commitments I have not had the urge to blog as much about local, national or world events. It doesn't mean I haven't had anything to say, rather I did not feel the urge or urgency to blog.
However I will be blogging on an occasional basis and will probably return to more regular writing by the end of summer.
Oh yes and I should mention that with the nice weather we have had I have been enjoying my backyard and garden. Beer in hand, reading interesting books and listening to music.
Work and life trump blogging.
"Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life. They should also govern it."
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1
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Perks
One of the perks of being a one party state is that you can give yourself pay raises without fear of opposition in the legislature.
EDMONTON — One of the wealthiest provinces in Canada has dramatically boosted the pay packets of its premier and cabinet ministers.
The Alberta government has approved a pay hike, which will see each of the province's 23 cabinet ministers get a pay hike worth about $42,000, bringing their annual compensation to around $184,000 per year.
Premier Ed Stelmach will become among the nation's best paid premiers after approval of a 34 per cent pay hike.
That brings his total compensation package to over $213,000 per year.
Stelmach is defending the hefty hikes, saying they're needed to help recruit more people into politics.
Scott Hennig, a spokesman for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is critical of the move, saying it's not fair that the premier and cabinet were able to get such big pay raises without first putting the matter before the legislature. (CTV)
Oh that's rich Scott the legislature is dominated by the PC's. And they very rarely meet. In fact this pay increase goes to the politicians that work the least in Canada since Alberta has the shortest legislative sittings of any government in Canada. And in fact like most things done by the Alberta Government, (tm)(c) of the PC Association of Alberta, this increase was passed by Cabinet fiat.The issue never will come up in the legislature. That would mean it would be subject to public debate.
When Alberta’s freshly re-elected premier Ed Stelmach decided to hand his caucus a massive pay increase this week, he avoided such complications: there was no panel, no polling. Just a quiet notice buried in the daily compendium of passed Orders in Council, of something called the “MLA Remuneration Order.” In actuality, it was an eye-popping 30% pay raise for cabinet ministers, who now will make $184,000 a year, instead of $142,000 — more than federal MPs and most provincial premiers. Premier Stelmach gets an even bigger boost to the paycheque: He’ll now make $213,450 a year, up from $159,450. Mr. Stelmach now makes more than his Ontario counterpart, Dalton McGuinty, who manages a province nearly four times as large, making Alberta’s CEO the highest paid premier in the land (Quebec’s premier makes $194,900 and everywhere else the rate is $165,000 or lower). Not bad for a government that famously chooses to sit in the legislature for less than five months out of the year. MLAs will also get bonuses for attending committee and cabinet meetings, which had previously been considered part of their full-time job.
Ok folks the Premier has set the rate for collective bargaining increases in Alberta for this year. After all he claims his 34% increase is needed for purposes of attraction and retention, a current problem faced by all employers in the province.
Then Stelmach tried to explain the inexplicable.
"If we are going to attract younger people for government we've got to pay them appropriately," the premier said. "I remain committed," he said without much conviction.
And the Alberta Weekly Average Wage increase was 4.53% as announced by the Government in April. Ed gets a whopping 30% increase over that. Far greater than the incease most Albertans got this year. And a salary increase that is larger than the annual Canadian salary.
Albertans have every right to be furious at Premier Ed Stelmach and his 23 cabinet ministers for topping up their salaries by 30 to 34 per cent.
That's an extra $41,950 to $54,000 a year for work that's always been included in their base salary -- attending meetings for cabinet, Treasury Board and policy committees.
Not a bad promotion, considering the average weekly earnings in Canada last year were just $751, or $39,052 per year.
And certainly larger than any minimum wage increase in Alberta.
In June 2007, government announced minimum wage increases would be adjusted based on the average weekly wage and come into effect April 1. If Alberta's average weekly wage increases from one year to the next, the minimum wage will increase by the same percentage.
And its not like they don't get raises, the Government members get an annual increase based on this same index, so its not like they weren't going to get a raise anyways.
Edmonton Journal
Published: Monday, April 03 2006Members of the Alberta legislature received pay raises of 5.23 per cent effective Saturday, an increase more than twice the rate of inflation.
That brings their yearly salary to $71,244, up from $67,698 last year.
Salary levels for Alberta MLAs are set every April 1 based on the annual increase in average weekly earnings in the province as calculated by Statistics Canada.
Meanwhile former Tory Energy Minister Greg Melchin gets to become a paid lobbyist to the government that used to employ him. This is the same guy who screwed Albertans out of our fair share of royalties from his pals in Big Oil. This is the ultimate kick back for his doing his masters bidding.
Word of the cabinet pay hike broke the same day we learned former energy minister Greg Melchin was hired on to the board of a Calgary oil company -- just three months after leaving politics.
Turns out Melchin is exempt from the government's six-month cooling-off period because he hadn't been energy minister since 2006. (He's also not bound by the new 12-month cooling-off period because he left politics before April 1.) He was most recently minister of seniors. So, there's no problem with him taking the oil company job, says the province's ethic's commissioner.
The Democratic Deficit continues in Alberta, it is the Alberta Advantage for the Tired Old Tories.
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Saturday, May 31, 2008
Navel Gazing Tourism
I flip channels on my satellite TV and find lots of ads promoting folks to visit Ontario, not just on Ontario channels. I see ads promoting tourist to visit Newfoundland and Labrador, again broadcast across Canada. But Alberta, well once again the mentality of the One Party State is reflected in Travel Alberta campaigns.
That is they market not to Canada or the U.S. but within Alberta. Their latest campaign is to tell Albertans to stay home. And to our neighbours east and west of us, to come visit Alberta and when they do stay longer. Of course all these folks are not really visiting Alberta they are coming here for jobs.
Especially now that Alberta and B.C. have created a free trade market in labour; TILMA. And most of our so called tourism is oil business related, not the usual mom pop and the kids coming for a visit rather it is conventions and business related travel
Tourism in Canada is in a crisis and in Alberta it has been for years, due to the short sighted ideology of promoting Alberta to Albertans rather than to Americans or other Canadians.
And where do Albertan's go on vacation? Why B.C. of course because prices are cheaper.
SEE:
Avalanche
tags
Canada, Alberta, tourism, Jasper, Banff, national parks, tourism, Jasper, Albera
That is they market not to Canada or the U.S. but within Alberta. Their latest campaign is to tell Albertans to stay home. And to our neighbours east and west of us, to come visit Alberta and when they do stay longer. Of course all these folks are not really visiting Alberta they are coming here for jobs.
Especially now that Alberta and B.C. have created a free trade market in labour; TILMA. And most of our so called tourism is oil business related, not the usual mom pop and the kids coming for a visit rather it is conventions and business related travel
Tourism in Canada is in a crisis and in Alberta it has been for years, due to the short sighted ideology of promoting Alberta to Albertans rather than to Americans or other Canadians.
Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that American visitation was down 14.8 per cent in March 2008 compared with the same month a year ago.Worse yet Alberta has the highest costs for Skiing of anywhere in North America, go figure. Now that's sure not to help encourage folks to visit here.In fact, they hit a record low for the fifth consecutive month.
In March, foreign visitors made 2.3 million trips to the country, which is the lowest since record keeping started in 1972.
Overall visits were down 12.4 per cent in March 2008 compared with March 2007, Statistics Canada reported.
Alberta is one of the most expensive places in the world to ski, says a comparison of ski passes from around the world.
Alberta's Ski Big 3 Pass that covers the Sunshine, Lake Louise and Mount Norquay resorts around Banff costs about $485 US for six days of skiing, ranking it second behind Vail, Colorado's peak season six-day pass at $552 US, said the World Lift Ticket Price Report.
And where do Albertan's go on vacation? Why B.C. of course because prices are cheaper.
And no amount of Vacation in Alberta propaganda will change that fact. So when will Tourism Alberta start advertising to non-Albertans? Well considering they haven't done much in the past two decades since the Calgary Olympics, don't hold your breathe. Until they do we will only get visits from the Accidental Tourist.B.C. remains one of Alberta's top choices for recreation property, says Rudy Nielsen, president of Landcor Data Corp.
Landcor collects statistics on real estate sales in B.C. and found Albertans accounted for 67 per cent of out-of-province "secondary property buyers" in B.C. in 2007, generating nearly $2.2 billion in sales.
"Albertans love B.C. because we have so many recreational uses, with good golf courses, good fishing -- you can still go to the Queen Charlottes and catch a 30-pound salmon, and we have the ski hills," says Nielsen.
"And of course, there's the beauty."
Even during economic downturns, interest from Alberta remains strong in B.C.
"We've had no indication of any slowdown of Albertans buying in B.C.," says Nielsen, who is also president of NIHO Land & Cattle Co.
SEE:
Avalanche
Jasper National Park Centennial
tags
Canada, Alberta, tourism, Jasper, Banff, national parks, tourism, Jasper, Albera
Friday, May 30, 2008
Support War Resisters
Canada has a tradition of welcoming American Draft Dodgers and War Resisters now that is being challenged by the Harper Government and its courts.
But there is good news, the NDP have brought a motion in the house to allow Iraqi War Resisters to stay in Canada.
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Canada to deport first US deserter of Iraq war
War Resisters: Canada Turns Back on Trudeau Legacy
But there is good news, the NDP have brought a motion in the house to allow Iraqi War Resisters to stay in Canada.
BREAKING NEWS - YOUR HELP STILL NEEDED
To members of Save U.S. Soldier Corey Glass - Keep Him in Canada!
Breaking News: Parliament Debates Motion to Allow Iraq War Resisters
to Stay
On May 29th, following a motion put forward by NDP MP Olivia Chow,
Parliament began debating a motion in support of Iraq war resisters.
The debate lasted for 3 hours with all three opposition parties
speaking strongly in favour of the motion.
The Tories tried to derail the motion by procedural means but their
attempt was defeated by a vote of 121-97.
WE STILL NEED YOU!!!
With the debate now completed, a vote on the motion will take place
on Monday, June 2nd.
Call and email Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley
today!
phone 613.996.4974
fax 613.996.9749
email finley.d@parl.gc.ca and finled1@parl.gc.ca
Tell her you want her to
• rescind the deportation order against US war resister Corey Glass
• support US war resisters, not Bush's war in Iraq
• support the motion to allow Iraq war resisters to remain in Canada
Call and email Prime Minister Stephen Harper!
phone 613.992.4211
fax 613.941.6900
email pm@pm.gc.ca
Tell him you want the Government of Canada to
• rescind the deportation order against US war resister Corey Glass
• support US war resisters, not Bush's war in Iraq
• support the motion to allow Iraq war resisters to remain in Canada
Call Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion at 613.996.6740 or 613.996.5789
Tell him you want the Liberal Party...
• to support the Parliamentary motion to allow Iraq War resisters to
remain in Canada,
• to oppose the deportation of people of conscience who have resisted
an illegal war, and
• to support the will of the Canadian people, not Stephen Harper’s
decision to deport war resisters, and not the U.S.’s war agenda.
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Sexism Duffy Style
On Mike Duffy Live yesterday the issue of Maxime Bernier's jilted girlfriend was the big story. No news there, however he had a woman reporter on from Le Devoir; Helene Buzzetti, who exposed the fact that Julie Coulliard former boyfriend, who was part of her biker past, was trying to get contracts with a provincial government justice department. Now thats news.
So what does Duff ask her about, well to comment on Couillard's interview with the French language journal; Seven Days; 7 Jours,which focuses on her personal pain at being jilted by Maxime. 7 Jours is a fluff journal published by Quebecor, the owners of the Sun chain of papers.
Does he ask the Le Devoir reporter about the real news breaking in Quebec about how Couillard lied about her being a Real Estate agent, or about her biker boyfriend attempts to gain government contracts, or about what Maxime knew about her past?
Nope he asks her to respond to the pain Couillard suffered over being jilted he read sections of the Seven Day's interview, all mush and gush, with nary a political implication, all about her bosom being exposed, and her belief she was seen as a tart in the English press, because her photo was national news.
Not satisfied he goes on at the end of the program to interview two more female reporters about Le Affair Couillard, and again nothing of political import, rather he again asks them to talk about the Seven Days interview and her bosom.
Is it me or do I detect an attempt here to avoid the real issue, that Julie Couillard who has biker connections held onto secret government documents for a month, in favour of salacious fawning over her bosom.
For Duff it was as if nothing political happened rather this was a news feature worthy of Women's Wear Daily. And he demeaned his female colleagues by his focus on the Seven Days article, avoiding the more important political implications of this sordid affair. Had they been male reporters he would not have asked them to comment on Couillard's personal feelings, but rather he would have asked them about the political impact of the Bernier affair in Quebec. It was as if we had gone back to the days when women reporters were relegated to the social and fashion pages of the newspapers where they worked.
And on a different note, the Duff used to be accused by the Blogging Tories and their ilk of being a shill for the Liberals. The more I watch the Duff the more I believe he is simply acting as a Government Mouth Piece. His focus on the personal trauma of Couillard reinforces the governments claim that this is all about a personal affair which is none of the publics business.
His fawning interview with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty further proves it; Duffy=Shill for the Government.
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According to the opposition Parti Québécois, a firm whose principals once included a former boyfriend of Couillard's won a $158,000 government contract last year to escort detainees from Quebec's jails to outside medical and dental appointments.
The problem is that Robert Pépin, Couillard's former flame and the key figure behind Agence d'investigation et de sécurité D.R.P., was a convicted felon who owed six-figure debts to a loan shark with direct ties to the Hells Angels and to a member of another well-known Montreal criminal gang.
So what does Duff ask her about, well to comment on Couillard's interview with the French language journal; Seven Days; 7 Jours,which focuses on her personal pain at being jilted by Maxime. 7 Jours is a fluff journal published by Quebecor, the owners of the Sun chain of papers.
Does he ask the Le Devoir reporter about the real news breaking in Quebec about how Couillard lied about her being a Real Estate agent, or about her biker boyfriend attempts to gain government contracts, or about what Maxime knew about her past?
'Maxime knew' of biker ties, Couillard says
Nope he asks her to respond to the pain Couillard suffered over being jilted he read sections of the Seven Day's interview, all mush and gush, with nary a political implication, all about her bosom being exposed, and her belief she was seen as a tart in the English press, because her photo was national news.
Not satisfied he goes on at the end of the program to interview two more female reporters about Le Affair Couillard, and again nothing of political import, rather he again asks them to talk about the Seven Days interview and her bosom.
Maxime Bernier and Julie Couillard arrive at Rideau Hall last August for his swearing in as Minister of Foreign Affairs. (PAUL CHIASSON/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Is it me or do I detect an attempt here to avoid the real issue, that Julie Couillard who has biker connections held onto secret government documents for a month, in favour of salacious fawning over her bosom.
For Duff it was as if nothing political happened rather this was a news feature worthy of Women's Wear Daily. And he demeaned his female colleagues by his focus on the Seven Days article, avoiding the more important political implications of this sordid affair. Had they been male reporters he would not have asked them to comment on Couillard's personal feelings, but rather he would have asked them about the political impact of the Bernier affair in Quebec. It was as if we had gone back to the days when women reporters were relegated to the social and fashion pages of the newspapers where they worked.
And on a different note, the Duff used to be accused by the Blogging Tories and their ilk of being a shill for the Liberals. The more I watch the Duff the more I believe he is simply acting as a Government Mouth Piece. His focus on the personal trauma of Couillard reinforces the governments claim that this is all about a personal affair which is none of the publics business.
His fawning interview with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty further proves it; Duffy=Shill for the Government.
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