Harper Does Right Wing Talk Shows

PM Stephen Harper visited NYC yesterday to assure U.S. business interests that all is well in Canada. Especially with our banks. Interestingly his handlers set him up to appear on cable news shows. They chose to have him appear on right wing pro capitalist shows, in the morning he appeared on Fox Money News and in the afternoon he appeared on Larry Kudlows show on CNBC. Neither of these is as widely watched as say CNN or MSNBC political programs. But they were safe waters with both Fox and Kudlow cushing over the PM's presence. On Fox he once again defended NAFTA and warned against protectionism/isolationism. And of course he didn't appear on PBS. Nope these were safe right wing news programs that tossed him puff balls for questions. Kudlow in particular did not know that in Canada GM's union is not UAW but CAW, opps someone didn't do their research. Aw well the PM finally had an appreciative media audience not like the Press Gallery he has to suffer with up here.

Blue Throne Speech

Why am I not surprised?

Throne speech warns of deficit, offers economic plan

No specifics in Tory economic plan

Because the neo-con agenda was about the failure of Keynesianism, except now all the capitalists and their political puppets are Keynesians when the market crashes. And when they applied their neo-con agenda it was during a temporary debt and deficit crisis of their own creation and it exasperated that into a full blown Reagan Recession. A little historical fact they fail to mention.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper moved closer to an about-face on economic policy today, outlining plans to stimulate growth that may run up a budget deficit after vowing to preserve surpluses.
A month after his Conservative Party government strengthened its hand in Parliament while falling short of a majority, Harper outlined his legislative agenda in a so-called Speech from the Throne, the ceremonial opening of a session. He pledged ``support'' for the country's car makers and plans to expedite infrastructure spending.
``In a historic downturn, it would be misguided to commit to a balanced budget in the short term at any cost,'' according to the text of the speech, which by tradition was read by Governor General Michaelle Jean in the country's Parliament, while Harper and other lawmakers listened. ``Ongoing'' deficits, though, would be ``unacceptable,'' Harper said.
Harper, who pledged ahead of his Oct. 14 re-election to maintain a balanced budget, told reporters last week his government may need to provide more stimulus to the world's eighth-largest economy to boost demand amid a global recession.


SEE:
Pinocchio Conservatives
Deja Vu
Business Unionism Offers No Solution To Capitalist Crisis

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Spring Election

This is why Stephen Harper likes closed meetings with his volk where the media isn't present. In case he blurts out his hidden agenda. In this case his plan for a surprise Spring Election.

In Castlegar, Harper put out the call for more Tory blue in B.C., even getting a bit ahead of himself in asking voters to support their local Tory candidate at the polls "next year."

He quickly corrected himself to say "next time."

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Behind Closed Doors

Harper quietly slipped into Alberta yesterday as part of his Western Canada tour. Even in all blue Alberta he remains aloof, paranoid and out of touch with the public.

Harper waves Tory flag in Fort McMurray, Alta., but only behind closed doors

The prime minister was to meet behind closed doors Monday in Fort McMurray, Alta., with the mayor, health region chairman and energy industry representatives. [ 5.11.07 CanadaEast]

And despite being in All Blue Alberta he got an earful. Which is probably why he listened under the cone of silence. And in the end he came, he maybe listened but did he hear? Well we won't know because he doesn't talk to the media.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper took his first tour of northern Alberta's multibillion-dollar oil sands bonanza yesterday, then heard first-hand about all the problems the massive projects are causing.

Harper and his entourage flew over the massive mining excavations by helicopter, then climbed aboard a three-storey-high, heavy hauler earth-moving machine. He then shook hands with Syncrude Canada employees.

Back in Fort McMurray, community leaders met with the Prime Minister in a closed-door invitation-only meeting to tell him about the flip side of developing Canada's energy riches.

"We need housing, we need better roads and we need better medical services," said business owner Francis Jean, who is also the mother of Brian Jean, the Conservative MP for Fort McMurray-Athabasca.

"People are paying exorbitant rents, making it difficult for families to move to here."

Other community leaders were equally blunt.

Melissa Blake, mayor of Wood Buffalo, the municipality that includes Fort McMurray, said it is great to have the Prime Minister visit an area that will provide much of Canada's economic oomph over the next decade.

Noting many of the region's problems fall within Alberta's jurisdiction, Blake said she hopes the federal government will contribute money to help the community build road, water, sewer, health and other infrastructure projects it needs to flourish.

The population of the Fort McMurray area has doubled to 90,000 people since 1999 and continues to grow quickly.

"It is the challenge of having a population that has doubled and is projected to triple within 15 years," Blake said.

"The infrastructure is simply not keeping pace under the regular funding mechanisms. We are looking at the possibility of sharing costs with other levels of government – be it federal or provincial."

Last week, media reported people in the area found notices on their doors warning of impending rent hikes exceeding $1,000 a month.

Harper would not speak to the media about the meeting, his tour of the oil sands or any other issue.

Boom has its stresses, McMurray tells PM

Harper tours oilsands, meets with community and business leaders, but makes no offers of help

Mike Sadava, The Edmonton Journal

Published: 1:35 am

FORT MCMURRAY - Stephen Harper may have been the first prime minister to visit Fort McMurray in more than a decade, but he made no promises to help this over-stressed city deal with its booming economy.

During his half-day tour of the area, Harper flew over the oilsands in a helicopter, toured part of the vast Syncrude site in a three-storey high "heavy hauler," and visited employees at the Syncrude control centre before meeting with oilsands executives and other business and community leaders.

Fort McMurray is one of the mostapidly growing cities in Canada, expected to hit a population of 100,000 within five years.

But the growth has come at a cost: extremely high house prices, rent increases of more than $1,000 in the case of one apartment complex, and a two-lane highway from the south that is clogged with slow-moving, oversized loads of prefabricated parts for the oilsands.

Harper did not talk to the media after the "round-table" meeting, but others

attending the meeting said it produced no specific help for the "energy superpower," as the prime minister has referred to the area.

Wood Buffalo Mayor Melissa Blake said consistent comments from those in the room clearly sent Harper the message that the boom has brought many challenges.

While many jurisdictions across Canada face labour and other growth pressures, "the order of magnitude is different here," Blake said the prime minister was told.

The meeting included a discussion of different levels of government working together, as well as the possibility of so-called P3 partnerships between business and government.

Blake was upbeat despite the lack of specific promises.

"The first step is awareness, and we certainly had that."

Athabasca MP Brian Jean said the provincial royalty review was brought up in the discussion. Harper pointed to last week's tax-cutting, mini-budget fiscal update and noted "that we brought corporations pretty well back to where they were before the royalty review."

"It was great news for corporations and great news for Canadians at every level of paying taxes," Jean said.

Monday marked the first time that Harper has visited Fort McMurray, at least as prime minister, and is the first time a prime minister visited the area since Jean Chretien's trip there in 1996.

Alain Moore, spokesman for Syncrude, said there was a lot of talk about the contributions of the oilsands to Canada's economy during his visit to the com-pany's site.

Many workers came out of their offices to greet Harper when he visited Syncrude's control centre.

"A number of Syncrude employees were thrilled and honoured to have a person of that national stature visiting them," Moore said.

After his visit to the northern Alberta city, Harper was flown to Castlegar, B.C.. where he was to attend an evening meeting with Tory party members.

H/T to Borges Blogue


SEE:

Presto Shills For Big Oil

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The Stephen Harper Party

This is the new logo for the former Conservative Party of Canada. Which has now become the Stephen Harper Conservative Party. The leader is the Party, the Party is the Leader. Hmm, where have I heard that before?



And continuing in the vein of the Great Leader cult of personality the Conservatives are no longer the "New Government of Canada". That has changed too.




H/T to Red Tory.



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Harpers Shoe Fetish

What is it with autocratic right wingers and their shoe fetishes?

Long kept under wraps, the plan – codenamed the Shoe Store Project – is in the works by the Privy Council Office and the PMO to establish a new government-controlled media briefing centre near Langevin Block.

Mila Mulroney came "close to breaking down," according to Newman, after reading Stevie Cameron's story on the PM's reported Gucci shoe collection.

In 1987, a Globe and Mail investigation revealed that the Mulroneys had borrowed $300,000 from the Tories to renovate 24 Sussex Drive. It was just one of many stories about Mila's love for shopping and her supposedly profligate spending. She earned the unfortunate nickname Imelda (after Imelda Marcos) for her reportedly large collection of shoes.

The world's best-known shoe collector, former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, has opened a museum in which most of the exhibits are her own footwear.

The Marikina City Footwear Museum in Manila contains hundreds of pairs of shoes, many of them found in the presidential palace when Imelda and her husband, President Ferdinand Marcos, fled the Philippines in 1986

The court was also told about how Helmsley would frequently put shoes she had bought herself on the business accounts, wear them, then take them back to the store and demand a refund.

There was that now- famous "birthday party for Barbara Amiel" at New York's La Grenouille, the collection of handbags by Hermes Birkin, or Renaud Pellegrino, including one that cost $42,870 (£21,079), and the 100 pairs of Manolo Blahnik shoes.

Ever since leaving the environment portfolio, Rona Ambrose has unleashed her sense of humour and some fierce shoes -- that night she wore Kenneth Cole leopard print footwear with a blood-red heel.

Oh by the way the PMO now says they have closed the shoe store.



SEE:

The Cone of Silence Over Kyoto

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Crushing Criticism Of Conservatives...

By Capitalists

The honeymoon is over for Stephen Harper's Cabinet, according to Canadian business leaders who believe the current government has done little to differentiate itself from its Liberal predecessor.

"The overall feeling is this is a Liberal government in Conservative clothing," COMPAS founder Conrad Winn said. "That came in pretty loud and clear."

Ouch!

The panelists regard taxation as the most important priority affecting their evaluation of the Conservative government. "Tax policy is a joke and undermines the confidence of business in relying on an understanding government, which it is not," one respondent said. "There seems to be too little thinking about repercussions about tax changes and more bowing down to policy wonks. They are not living in the real world."

Looking forward to the cheerleaders at the Blogging Tories response to the voice of capitalism criticizing their party of choice.


See:

Can't Get No Respect

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Beast

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Harper says cabinet shuffle could precede resumption  of Parliament




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Women And Children First

The reason for this

Journalists booted from Tory retreat

was this;

National caucus chairman Rahim Jaffer defended the action, saying that spouses and children accompanying many of the 125 MPs and 24 senators may be intimidated by the reporters and cameras.

Then don't get into politics.

Political wives and political children whining, gimme a break.

This gives new meaning to Trophy wives. And now we can add Trophy Children to the mix.



"Look Out Dad, there is a journalist."


See:

Can't Get No Respect

LOL

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Mulroney The Worst Canadian PM

Blogging Tories admit they rigged the Worst Canadian Poll at the Beaver Magazine; making sure that PET was named the Worst Canadian.

Of course they did since everyone knows the worst PM in Canadian history was Brian Mulroney.

Mulroney was selected as the worst prime minister for 21 per cent of respondents, followed by Chrétien with 17 per cent, Harper and Trudeau with 14 per cent each, Campbell and Martin with eight per cent each, Clark with four per cent, and John Turner with two per cent.

The Greatest Canadian of course was Tommy Douglas.

And my choice for Worst Canadian(s) did not win.

Nor did the Mad Trapper of Rat River.

I wouldn't give a plugged nickel for the Beaver on-line poll especially since the magazine was founded by the Hudson's Bay Company, now a wholly owned American subsidiary.

The magazine is the voice of 'Canadian establishment' historians. Duh' Oh.



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Can't Get No Respect

So much for success on the BBQ circuit.

Fewer Canadians are satisfied with their prime minister, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 29 per cent of respondents approve of Stephen Harper’s performance, and 28 per cent say their opinion of the head of government worsened over the past month.

Do you approve or disapprove of Stephen Harper’s performance as prime minister?

	Jul. 16	Jun. 16	May 23
Approve	29%	31%	33%
Disapprove	47%	47%	47%
Not sure	23%	23%	20%

Of course when you do this don't expect to get any respect.

Journalists booted from Tory retreat

Or better poll numbers.

Political stalemate continues, latest poll shows

Wright said the government should rethink its strategy of tightly controlling its message, agenda, and delivery, which is almost exclusively done by Prime Minister Harper, who has been widely criticized for running a one-man show.

“It will really take the prime minister to decide whether he is going to stick by this style of leadership or if he is going to try something different,” said Wright.

SEE:

Slap Upside The Head

Pinocchio Harper

Open, Transparent, Accountable, NOT

Harpers Fascism

Fete Accompli

Ding Dong Tories

Harpers Constituency

Harpers War

Leo Strauss and the Calgary School

Post Modern Conservatives

Why The Conservatives Are Not Libertarians

Heil Hillier, Maintiens le droit

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Best Kept Secret In The UK

As if we didn't know......Brown to launch succession bid But wait it gets better; UK's Brown vows to give power to the people Which should mean once elected he will not serve. Of course as Heir Apparent that ain't too likely. Unless he loses the General Election. Which given his personality could be very likely.

Britain's leader-in-waiting Gordon Brown pledged on Friday to put "citizens in control" and end personality-driven politics if he was elected to take over from his charismatic predecessor Tony Blair.

Launching his campaign to become leader of the ruling Labour party, Brown said his government would be a servant of the state, not handing down edicts from on high. It would listen to voters and not be afraid to admit mistakes and change course.

"I do not believe politics is about celebrity," finance minister Brown said. "I have never believed that presentation can be a substitute for policy.

That's because he has no personality and what he lacks in charisma he makes up for with policy.

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Bad Example

Opps, this was a bad example to use....

The running joke among many Afghanistan is not whether you'll be given a shakedown when passing through a checkpoint, but how much will be extorted from you. There have been reports, near the village of Senjaray, that the roadblocks are run by uniformed Afghan National Police officers - something that sullies the force's already blackened reputation. Irritated citizens also claim a powerful, former militia commander-turned local politician is behind the racket. "Like everything else, people will say the governor is corrupt; OK show me," said Lt.-Col. Simon Heatherington, whose assignment ended Monday. "It's like saying (in Canada) the prime minister is corrupt; OK show me.

Seems he forgot about the Gomery Commission....And its not like there isn't plenty of evidence of corruption....

Afghanistan Cover Up?

This Is What Democracy Looks Like

Hanging Out With Warlords

See

Afghanistan

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