CBC's Anti-Alberta Bias

Once again Don Newman interviews Ezra Levant on his Politics Show when it comes to Alberta Politics. And once again Ezra asserts that Albertans are 'genetically' disposed against Liberals, which is the flip side of his assertion, and those of other right wing historical revisionists in this One Party State, that Albertans are genetically disposed to vote Tory.

Levant also deliberately refuses to make any reference to the NDP in this province which happens to have four sitting MLA's , and has been a force in provincial and federal politics since the founding of the CCF in Calgary.

I am getting a little tired of the Don and Ezra show, which is an attempt to belittle Albertans as right wing red neck's when this province has a history being red, and it ain't just our necks.

I am asking fellow progressive bloggers from Alberta to email the CBC and protest about Don Newman only using Ezra has his 'voice of Alberta'. There are a wealth of other commentators available who are not so partisan and biased. And if we have to have comments from the right, then how about some fair and balanced perspective with someone from the left.

Contact Politics

By Mail:
Politics
P.O. Box 3220,
Station "C",
Ottawa, Ontario
K1Y 1E4

By Phone:
Comments: 613-288-6985
Fax: 613-288-6975

Or don_newman@cbc.ca

The CBC’s Office of the Ombudsman deals with complaints about information programming.

If your complaint involves Sports, Arts, Entertainment or Children’s programming, or if you have comments to make or questions to ask about CBC programming in general, please visit the CBC Contact page at www.cbc.ca/contact.

Complaints should be in writing. Please indicate the name of the program and whether it was on CBC Radio, CBC Television, CBC Newsworld or the CBC web site. Please
be specific. If you feel a program or report was unfair or biased, for example, please indicate how it was unfair or biased. When we receive your complaint we will ask the relevant programmers to respond. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Office of the Ombudsman again to request an independent review.

Please include:
Name, address and telephone number.

Here is how you can reach us:

E-mail:
ombudsman@cbc.ca

Mail:
Vince Carlin
Ombudsman
CBC
P.O. Box 500, Station A
Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6
Fax: 416/205-2825
Tel.: 416/205-2978

For complaints about Radio-Canada programs, please click on www.radio-canada/ombudsman.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
CBC, Don Newman, media bias, Ezra Levant, CBC politics, politics, Alberta, Canada, NDP

Parliamentary Collapse

As predicted last spring Harper is proroguing parliament. Harper delays Parliament's return until Oct. 16

Folks are speculating that Harper recalled Parliament late because he is planning to force a confidence vote. Canada PM set for confidence vote

I think it was because they were waiting for the Parliament buildings to get repaired, or collapse. Parliament Buildings 'in danger of collapse'

Since they won't be repaired by then their imminent collapse is expected, much like the Harper government.

And in the process of all this politicking, maybe we'll learn what this word "prorogue" means, anyway.

In fact, however, the word is derived from the Old French "proroguer," the Middle English "prorogen" (and Latin before that). To prorogue can mean "to defer" as well as "to adjourn." In Canada, a prorogation has come to indicate the period between two sessions of a legislative body. In effect, the parliament is in recess until the Governor General opens a new session on behalf of the reigning monarch and reads the Speech from the Throne.

The word has been prominent in history, although not always in stories whose endings our prime minister would particularly like.

in the early years of his reign, King Charles I of England issued prorogation orders in his battle with a Parliament reluctant to grant his demands for new revenue. At one point, he advised them to "Remember that parliaments are altogether in my power for their calling, sitting, and dissolution; therefore as I find the fruits of them good or evil, they are to continue or not to be."

Sounds like King Stephen.

Of course if he does prorogue parliament he can blame the opposition for not passing his law and order bills which he has delayed implementing.

Proroguing would kill most bills currently before Parliament - including key government legislation on the environment and crime-unless opposition parties agreed to bring them back at the stage they were at.

And it will kill the green albatross around his neck, the controversial Environmental legislation that was redrafted by the opposition.

Perhaps the most important bill at stake is C-30, government environmental legislation that was substantially reworked by the opposition parties.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, politics, Conservatives, Harper, Liberals, Dion, NDP,BQ, Layton, prorogue,

Stelmach's Rats Desert

Alberta is the only rat free province in Canada. And we intend to keep it that way, thanks to the unelected and unpopular Eddie Stelmach.

The rats are deserting the sinking ship of state.

Clint Dunford Decides to Pack it In

Red Deer's Victor Doerksen Packs it In!

The only rat-free zones in the world are the Arctic, the Antarctic, some especially isolated islands, the province of Alberta in Canada, and certain conservation areas in New Zealand.

Alberta is unusual in that rat infestation was prevented by deliberate government action.

Although it is a major agricultural area and has a fairly high human population density, it is far from any seaport and only a portion of its eastern boundary with Saskatchewan provides a favorable entry route for rats. They cannot survive in the boreal forest to the north, the Rocky Mountains to the west, nor the semi-arid High Plains of Montana to the south.

The first rat did not reach Alberta until 1950, and in 1951 the province launched an extremely aggressive rat-control program that included shooting and poisoning rats, and bulldozing, burning down, and blowing up rat-infested buildings. In the first year of the program 64 tonnes of arsenic trioxide was spread in 8,000 buildings (8 kg/building) on 2,700 farms along the Saskatchewan border. Fortunately, in 1953 the much less toxic and more effective poison Warfarin was introduced, and since then the control program has consumed between 5 and 13 tonnes of Warfarin annually.

By 1960 the number of rat infestations in Alberta had dropped below 200 per year and has remained low ever since Any wild rat population is eliminated by the government Rat Patrol immediately after it is detected. The effort is aided by hundreds of pest control officers and thousands of local citizens, who will not tolerate the introduction of rats.

The laws regarding rats are draconian and firmly enforced. Only zoos, universities, and research institutes are allowed to own caged rats, and possession of an unlicensed rat (including pet rats) is punishable by a $5,000 fine or 60 days in jail. The adjacent and similarly landlocked province of Saskatchewan initiated a rat control program in 1963, and has managed to reduce the number of rats in the province substantially.

We are also facing the extinction of Ord's Kangaroo Rat, but it is not a rat, nor a kangaroo, nor is it a Tory.

But like other Albertans it too is suffering at the hands of the Tories and their Big Oil Pals.

Kangaroo rats feared hopping toward oblivion

The kangaroo rats of southern Saskatchewan and Alberta are disappearing along with the sand dunes they call home, researcher Darren Bender says.

The Ord's kangaroo rat, as the furry rodent is more formally known, most resembles a gerbil, but with larger hind legs and a longer tail. It hops around like a tiny kangaroo.

With fewer than 1,000 kangaroo rats left, it is a prime candidate for the country's endangered species list, said Bender, a biologist with the University of Calgary.

The sand dunes the animal needs to live are threatened by human development, such as resource exploration, as well as natural erosion, he told CBC News Wednesday.

Ord's Kangaroo Rat

Recovery Team Update (94.0K, PDF format)
Alberta Ord's Kangaroo Rat Recovery Plan 2005 (447 KB PDF format)

Like the poor Kangaroo Rat, Stelmach's Tories have become an endangered species.

g posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Alberta, Premier,
Alberta Cabinet, Harry Strom, Ed Stelmach,
Social Credit,Socreds, PC, Calgary, Party of Calgary, politics, leadership, Conservatives, Edmonton, One Party State,History, Politics, Economics,leadership, politics, PC,
Alberta, MLA,

Strom More Popular Than Stelmach

Here is another nail in Eddie Stelmach's coffin.

He is less popular than Harry Strom.

Stelmach polled at 32% in a new poll released Tuesday, likely the lowest ever for a Conservative leader in Alberta.

Even Harry Strom, Alberta’s last Social Credit premier, polled at 43%.

Strom led the Alberta Socreds in their swan dive as the lame duck Premier who would be defeated by Peter Lougheed's PC's.

The PC's had only seven seats, and the NDP had one, when they defeated the eternal party of Alberta.

Strom became Premier and Social Credit leader in 1968, succeeding Manning who had just led the Socreds to their ninth consecutive term majority government in 1967. However, this election proved ominous for the party. Despite winning 55 of the 65 seats in the legislature, it won less than 45% of the popular vote. It previously won with more than half the popular vote. More importantly, the once-moribund Progressive Conservatives, led by young lawyer Peter Lougheed, won seven seats, mostly in Calgary and Edmonton.

Today the Opposition Liberals have sixteen seats, the NDP have four and the right wing Alberta Alliance has one.

Whenever Stelmach calls the election, winter or spring, it will not be an anointment of a new King for Alberta. It will be a defeat for the Tired Old Tories, not the ultimate defeat, but like the one that Strom faced from the upstart Lougheed, it will be the penultimate defeat. A loss of seats and support. Which will then lead to a final defeat in the following election.

It is not how the opposition parties look now that will determine who comes out the winner, but how they are poised after the next election.



g posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Alberta, Premier,
Alberta Cabinet, Harry Strom, Ed Stelmach,
Social Credit,Socreds, PC, Calgary, Party of Calgary, politics, leadership, Conservatives, Edmonton, One Party State,History, Politics, Economics,leadership, politics, PC,
Alberta, MLA,

Rural Boots

Here is why Farmer Ed our unelected Premier is falling behind in support from his rural roots.

Albertans protest approval of seismic testing in Marie Lake

He can blame his competitor for the Premier, Ted Morton, for some of this.

Sustainable Resource Development Minister Ted Morton is right about one thing. The province has to reform the way it sells oil and gas leases if it wants to avoid more battles like the one over proposed oil extraction on Marie Lake.

Currently, the energy department sells a lease with no regard for environmental issues or community concerns. In fact, the department doesn't even have to notify landowners that a lease has been sold in their area.

g posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Alberta, Premier,
Alberta Cabinet, Harry Strom, Ed Stelmach,
Social Credit,Socreds, PC, Calgary, Party of Calgary, politics, leadership, Conservatives, Edmonton, One Party State,History, Politics, Economics,leadership, politics, PC,
Alberta, MLA,

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

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Stephen Harper, Harper, NCC, Reform Party, Conservatives, Conservative Party, politics, Government, PM, Ottawa, Canada,
Leo Struass, Calgary School,Carl Schmitt,polls,Harper
Canada, poltics, Conservative, parliament,
polling, Angus Reid, Conservatives,

Really Corrupt Mounted Police

Gee it's hard to be a law and order government when the official state police force is riddled with corruption, cronyism and fraud.

Those who uphold the law once again act as if they are above the law.

Which suits the Harpocrites just fine since they are acting the same way.

a parliamentary committee reviews allegations of pension-fund fraud, cronyism, and three years of expense reports of former RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli that were either swapped out or disappeared by his underlings, his successor, Bev Busson retires today. The planned departure comes only hours after the report of lawyer and Bay Street minence grise David Brown delivered a report on the force's corruption to Public Safety minister Stockwell Day. The RCMP, Mr. Brown declared, is "horribly broken."

Like other political police forces; the FBI and KGB for instance the RCMP have maintained their traditional para-military structure through political blackmail.

"I've worked with Liberals and Tories, and nobody wants to tangle with the RCMP," said Shirley Heafey, the former chair of the force's commission of public complaints.

"They have a lot of information on a lot of people ... It causes a chill. They have long memories in the RCMP."

And so do we on the left. We remember their infiltration of the left, their penchant for protecting strikebreakers and shooting strikers, their attack on the On to Ottawa Trekkers, their role in the Liberals attempt to discredit their opponents in particular the Quebec nationalists, their systemic refusal to deal with members of the force who abuse natives and prisoners, their role in the Arar affair and the Air India debacle, the list could go on and on.

After all the RCMP Motto is Maintain the Right.

The solution to the problem of the RCMP is three fold; implementation of the recommendations of thirty year old Macdonald Commission including; a non RCMP Commissioner, civilian control and oversight and allowing the rank and file to unionize.

Others call on Ottawa to break up the RCMP's mandate, which they believe is unwieldy. While it has many federal responsibilities whose powers range from protecting the borders against drug-smuggling, enforcing stock markets against fraud and investigating politicians, the RCMP's bread-and-butter is the contracts it has with provincial and municipal governments.

These contractual arrangements harken back to the RCMP's roots as a guns-for-hire protection and enforcement group, said Paul Palango, investigative reporter and author of The Last Guardians, a book on problems within the RCMP, calling them essentially a paramilitary force working at the behest of their hosts.

The force, he said, has turned into a hybrid organization that is both a business and a national institution.

Articles referenced;

RCMP Terror

New Math

Why The Tories Want Tory Judges

More Foreign Affairs Incompetency

Statist Anti-Terrorism Act

Paranoia and the Security State

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, anti-terrorism act, Government, Liberals, NDP, Conservatives, War Measures Act, 1970, Arar, terrorism, crime, liberalism, state, statism, libertarian, civil liberties
Air, India,, John, Marshall,, RCMP,, CSIS,, Sikh,
Giuliano Zaccardelli, Zaccardelli, , RCMP, Resigns, Arar, Commisioner, Harper, Government, lawandorder, Conservatives, Parliament, MPs, Liberals,

Ms. Joe Clark

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Alberta Deja Vu

The tired old Tories in Alberta can only repeat one message and one message only since 1995 and that is restraint. Prepare to tighten your belts.

Having created the chimera of a mythical debt and deficit dragon that they so boldly slayed they now have nothing else to plan for. And so having failed to plan for the past decade they once again return to the tried and true.

I am having a Deja Vu flashback.

Alberta's education minister is warning the province's school boards not to expect large funding increases in the future.

Ron Liepert told a meeting of Alberta school board trustees in Edmonton Monday morning that the government needs to rein-in spending because Alberta's booming economic growth may start to slow down.

"I believe we have a potential revenue wall coming at us and it's not nearly as far out as some people think it is."

Alberta's Progressive Conservative government has decided to pump up the volume on this message, with Oberg appearing Tuesday on a radio talk show and Education Minister Ron Liepert telling a meeting of school board officials Monday that they should curb their funding expectations. Liepert says it's time for Albertans to face up to this reality as drilling is down 50 per cent from last year and corporate tax revenues are also expected to decline.

Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier keeps saying nasty things about the provincial government.

He's saying the Tories broke their word about stable funding for the future of this city which, in case nobody noticed, is the economic engine that makes the province run. Also, in case nobody noticed, it has started to come apart at the seams because of the boom that our provincial government, in its wisdom, apparently didn't see coming, and did not have a plan to deal with even after being roused from slumber.

Premier Ed, sounding somewhat steadier this day, responds to the cage-rattling of Ron Liepert, his tough-talking supremo of schools, who tells school boards Albertans shouldn't expect big dough from the province.

Ron warns the public coffers could lose a billion or more from the rising loonie. Oh my. A "potential revenue wall" is "coming at us." Ouch.

Big surpluses are done. Double ouch.

If the province doesn't hold tight to the purse strings we could one day end up in a deja vu disaster, like the early days of Ralph and his axe-swinging Ralpholution with all the cuts, to say nothing of all the nights of drinking to forget. Double vision ouch.

Seriously, Ron's Apocalypse Soon is hard to swallow.

A survey shows growing numbers of Calgarians already feel the quality of life is tanking and aren't hopeful of better things to come in the next five years.

The gong show of too many people and too little of everything is beyond rage. It is eroding psyches.

Despite this year's cash for construction from the province, including big bucks just to cover costs going through the roof because they are playing catchup at the height of the boom, there is still a huge backlog in building the province could have started on earlier by spending some windfall bucks of years past.

Alas, they didn't.

No, now is not the time to chatter about a scarcity of cash. People are not in the mood for a lecture on austerity, especially those of us who went through the '90s, paid the price, bought all the bull about sacrifice and are still waiting for the victory parade. Unfortunately, one reason you couldn't hold a parade is the streets are too clogged.

Of course, if the province wanted to give us a break and did think they'd run out of coin, Big Oil in the oilsands could pay more than a penny on the dollar in royalties.

Of course Ron could be just waving the red flag of lower expectations and budget doom and gloom to avoid paying the governments share of the Teachers Pension fund.

The task force will review options to address the teachers' portion of a pre-1992 unfunded pension liability. Since it started in the 1930s, the teachers' pension fund has been underfunded by both the government and the ATA. The liability currently totals $6.4 billion. Under a deal struck in 1992, the provincial government is responsible for two-thirds and teachers for the rest.

And while he cries the sky is falling the reality is; Centuries of oil left in Alberta



nd blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Alberta, Premier,
Alberta Cabinet, Harry Strom, Ed Stelmach,
Social Credit,Socreds, PC, Calgary, Party of Calgary, politics, leadership, Conservatives, Edmonton, One Party State,History, Politics, Economics,leadership, politics, PC,

Casey Up To Bat

In a stunning move the longest serving Conservative MP in parliament; Bill Casey from Nova Scotia has announced he will vote against his Party and its Government over its budget, which he claims is a broken promise.

Flaherty repeated that Nova Scotia can't enjoy the benefits of a new equalization formula and its offshore accord at the same time.

This is the point that Danny Williams and Lorne Calvert have been making.

If only Alberta CEO Ed Stelmach and his PC crew could muster the indignation of betrayal that Casey has, and denounce this resource royalty grab, this unequal national transfer program, this new NEP, might well be dead.



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
MP, Bill Casey MP, Canada, poltics, Conservative, parliament,
Stelmach, Alberta, tarsands, oilsands, Canada, equalization, royalties, oil, profits,
>Flaherty, Calvert, Harper, Government, Conservatives, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Accord, Newfoundland, Premier, Danny, Williams, Province,

Writing On The Wall

Our lame duck premier Ed Stelmach continues to prove he is the political heir of Harry Strom.

a growing number of urban Albertans are unhappy with the rookie premier's performance.

Mr. Stelmach was responding to a poll in which fewer than half of those surveyed this month said he was leading Alberta in the right direction.

The poll also suggests the overall number of people in the province who felt Mr. Stelmach was leading the province in the wrong direction has tripled to 30 per cent since January.

The Cameron Strategy poll found Tory support in rural areas has increased slightly to 58 per cent, while support in Calgary and Edmonton is down to roughly 40 per cent over the last five months.

The Cameron Strategy poll provided to the Calgary Herald shows disapproval of the premier's performance in Calgary at 39 per cent, more than double what it was in January. In Edmonton, 29 per cent of people disapprove of Stelmach's performance, again, more than double what it was in January.

"It's the doubling of the disapproval that should be worrying," said pollster Bruce Cameron. "It's the first shoe dropping."

Also, more Calgarians (41 per cent) believe the premier is leading Alberta in the wrong direction than those who think he's taking it down the right path (35 per cent).

Stelmach noted that during the race for leadership of the PC party, polls consistently showed him behind the other candidates. For him, the real test is yet to come. "The big poll for me, judgment day, is the next general election."

Which is why he is afraid to call one.


ind blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Alberta, Premier,
Alberta Cabinet, Harry Strom, Ed Stelmach,
Social Credit,Socreds, PC, Calgary, Party of Calgary, politics, leadership, Conservatives, Edmonton, One Party State,History, Politics, Economics,leadership, politics, PC,

Stelmach's Silence

Alberta's CEO Ed Stelmach remains silent and on the side lines as Saskatchewan and Newfoundland battle Ottawa over provincial resource rights. A promise made by the Conservatives to all three provinces. So much for defending principles.

As Andrew Coyne pointed out.

But Oberg's charming indifference to the issue -- we don't receive any equalization payments, so what do we care what changes the feds make to it? -- while a welcome departure from the usual federal-provincial hairpulling, hardly shows a becoming concern for the province's taxpayers.

Of course had the Liberals been the government the screaming, and howling from the Alberta government would make the headlines.

At least one Alberta right winger gets this sell out by the Harpocrites. Who take Alberta for granted.

Albertans have understood what the Liberals are about for a very long time. Where I differ with many right wing Albertans, is in their support for Reform politicians and Reform-style policies. The Reformers have a record in government now - and it is pathetic in all respects - yet somehow, they still have a reputation amongst many Albertans and Westerners for "standing up for the West". Their reputation is completely undeserved, and the policies of the Harper government clearly show it.

Meanwhile King Stephen refused to meet with Premier Calvert yesterday letting his henchmen do his dirty work in the finance committee.

A federal Conservative MP says her party never mentioned it wouldn't impose a cap on equalization payments -- a cap that Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert argues is a broken election promise.

The comment from Calgary Tory Diane Ablonczy came Monday as Calvert appeared before the Commons finance committee, making his case on why a province's non-renewable resource revenues should be excluded from the equalization formula, which -- without a cap -- would mean an estimated extra $800 million in annual federal funding for the province.

"You say there was no mention of a cap when this was discussed in election rhetoric, but there was no mention that there would not be a cap, either," Ablonczy said.

That is the logic of desperation.

See:

Feds Screw Alberta, Again

Stelmach

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Stelmach, Alberta, tarsands, oilsands, Canada, equalization, royalties, oil, profits,
Flaherty, Calvert, Harper, Government, Conservatives, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Accord, Newfoundland, Premier, Danny, Williams, Province,

The Law Is For The Rich

Laws are made to protect property and property relations not people. In other words them that have the gold make the rules. And don't you forget it.

Poor have no blanket right to counsel
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not give impoverished litigants a blanket right to obtain legal counsel, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday. By unanimously upholding a B.C. tax on legal services, the court riled critics who had hoped that it would give an important symbolic boost to legal aid programs by removing a bar to those who cannot afford legal services.

And those Libertarians who oppose taxes should be outraged over this, but from our Conservative friends not a peep of outrage, only cheering.


See

Libertarian Justice

Why The Tories Want Tory Judges

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada,Government, crime, liberalism, state, statism, libertarian, civil liberties
Bemjamin Tucker, Liberty, Lysander Spooner, Godwin, Jury, Constitution, law, libertarian, anarchism, invdidualist-anarchist, Proudhon, mutualist, mutualism, anarchist-law, jury, Canada, Conservatives, Harper, Toews, government, Papineau, Riel, 1837, judge, judicial-reform, three-strikes, police

Proroguing Parliament

Greg Weston of the Sun is speculating about the Harpocrites proroguing parliament sometime in June.

The speculation around the capital is Harper and crew will pull the plug on the current session of Parliament before the middle of June, and return in October.

Sometime in that period the PM will announce that Parliament has been prorogued, an arcane way of saying Act I of "Harper and the Conservatives go to Ottawa" is formally over.

The Globe and Mail joined in the speculation "The rumours suggest the government will prorogue this session of Parliament in early June. The next session would not begin until after the Ontario election on Oct. 10."

But on Politics with Don Newman on CBC yesterday Jim Travers of the Toronto Star speculated that Harper may Prorogue Parliament as early as next week. In fact without calling parliament back the PM could do it.

And given the stalling tactics used last week over committees, the disaster which is the Afghan detainee issue, now swept away temporarily with the Harper trip to Kandahar, the failure of their Green Plan, proroguing parliament immediately after the break would be a way to start again.

Since they didn't call an election the Conservatives have nothing new to offer Canadians. They are now stale, and they can only stall.

To Prorogue or Not to Prorogue that is the question facing the dysfunctional Conservative government.

And Travers told Newman that it might happen Monday night when the PM has called a special meeting with the press corps on the hill.

Of course that is also the first night of the Stanley Cup between the Ottawa Senators and the Anaheim Ducks, and being a big hockey fan maybe the PM is inviting them to 24 Sussex drive to share beer and chips and watch the game.

But somehow I doubt it.



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, politics, Conservatives, Harper, Liberals, Dion, NDP,BQ, Hockey, NHL,