LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Attention Progressive Bloggers Admin

Your page is still not working. I get this at the top of the page:

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And when I try and use the 'related articles' button this shows up

Warning: array_shift() [function.array-shift]: The argument should be an array in /home/progress/public_html/lib/inc.search.php on line 155

And I still can't log in.

Just thought you would like to know.

Tories Kill Kyoto

No, not Dion's Dog.



New Liberal Leader, Stéphane Dion is the owner of Seadream's Kyoto. 
We wish you the best

Canada's commitment to the Kyoto accord.

Had they killed his dog well then maybe he would have had enough principles to get mad and get even.

Dion's choice: Save the planet, or save his political ass

But somehow I doubt it, after all he has made his choice.

Dion pledges to ‘make parliament work'

Instead this staunch defender of Kyoto, the accord and his dog, wimped out and the result was gales of laughter in the house today.

Tory laughter rains down on Dion
Dion drew the loudest laughs as he read press releases from environmental groups who accuse the Tories of cancelling Liberal programs and replacing them with inferior ones.
"And I quote the Sierra Club," Dion began.
"Federal programs were slashed and the importance of climate change was downplayed. An entire year was lost. End of quote.
"But I continue to quote the Sierra Club. . ."

Of course when you abandon your principles you deserve the cat calls.

Canada Liberals send PM lifeline

Dion has accepted a Throne Speech that Kills Kyoto, and his Party will sit on their hands to allow it to pass.

No retreat with honour for Dion
Harper's government a majority in all but name

Not because Canadians don't want an election, which is his excuse. But because the Liberals don't want an election. Showing that they are not only fiscally bankrupt but politically bankrupt as well.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
politics, Jack Layton, Conservatives
Canada, Stephen Harper, Liberals, Dion, PM, Kyoto, Throne Speech,

Rent A Crowd

The right wing press pundits and those opposed to Albertans getting their fair share will make a big deal out of the Oil Bosses Venezuelan Style Protest at the Leg today. Until you realize that the workers there were bussed in by the bosses and paid to be there, complete with signs provided by their bosses.

Also most of them have not read the Royalty Report nor know what its recommendations are. And thanks to your's truly helping get the message out about this right wing demo a counter protest occurred.

The workers, many carrying signs printed by Ensign Energy, the drilling giant based out out of Calgary, and wearing hard hats brought by the company for the occasion, said they fear losing their livelihoods if the report's recommendations are accepted.
Whether the crowd had considered the accuracy of the report was another matter; while several said they felt it was flawed, they either admitted they hadn't read it, or, in several cases, that they didn't really understand the complexities of the royalty structure. Many also confirmed their employers had given them a paid day off to attend the rally.
And about two dozen pro-report demonstrators also showed up. Alan Boyle said he worked in the oilpatch for nearly 40 years. "I don't blame these people for being apprehensive because the message they're getting is fear and they're following that. They're scared for their jobs. I notice some older fellas who in the 80s were perhaps hurt when the NEP came in."
But Boyle also said based on the price of oil, the only reason for companies to fear monger about slowing down is because they want to make more money, instead of paying the public its fair share -- something that repeated reports from multiple economists suggests hasn't happened in years.
"It's generally fear and these people are bought and paid for. I don't think the royalty review is way out of line. I think it's quite fair. I don't really see where, based on the price of oil per barrel right now, that any company is really hurting. There are traditionally seasonal sectors feeling the pinch right now but that's got nothing to do with oil royalties."
The AFL issued in a statement criticizing the Wednesday event planned for the Alberta legislature in Edmonton. Gil McGowan, president of the AFL, said:
"These are people who have bought into the scare tactics currently being used by Big Oil. Obviously, they have a right to speak for themselves. But let's be clear: they don't speak for anything close to a majority of Albertans working in the oil patch or related industries." "It's always scary when the people who sign your paycheques start talking about job loss," says McGowan. "But it's clear that a strong majority of workers in this province - regardless of what industries they happen to be in - want a much better deal on the resources that we all own collectively as citizens. And they're not about to back down just because a few cranky CEOs have been rattling their sabres." "Right now, Big Oil is behaving like a kid throwing a tantrum," concludes McGowan. "They're stamping their feet and making threats. But they're not about to leave the sandbox - because there's too much money to be made and, frankly, because there's nowhere else for them to go."
He described the legislature rally, organized by owners of small energy and oilfield service companies, as “essentially a bosses’ rally.”

While it’s being billed as a “grassroots oil workers rally,” McGowan wondered how it could be when most of the companies don’t work in the northern Alberta oil patch, including Fort McMurray. He added those involved are mostly natural gas employers. At a time when many industry players have already admitted the gas industry is slowing as basins mature and prices increase, McGowan said these companies are using those pre-existing market conditions as scare tactics.
“These employers have been trying to say their recent layoffs are a sign of things to come when in fact they have almost nothing to do with the current royalty regime or the one being proposed by the royalty panel,” he said. “Their problem has nothing to do with current royalty regime or the proposed one. They’re caused by the recent slump in the price for natural gas.”

As for the claims about the slow down in the conventional gas and oil patch, that is the nature of the business. Last spring was too warm for some patch operations. Guys I know working in the patch who start in December or January weren't getting started till late February early March. This fall appears to be another Indian Summer so again the patch will start up later than usual.

Dave Hamsing, who runs a drilling company south of Calgary, said companies are already scaling back operations, waiting to see how the government responds to the royalty review.

Hamsing has only two rigs booked this winter, after six were cancelled. He fears another bust in Alberta is a possibility.

"The ones who suffer from the fallout will be us, the service companies, entrepreneurs, employees, families. The rest of Alberta is going to suffer if they implement the royalty report in its state," said Derrick Jacobson, owner of a small oil service company in Red Deer.

"It's not threats anymore, I mean some companies have shifted operations to Saskatchewan already."
Jacobson called Wednesday's protest in Edmonton a "grassroots oil workers rally," but the involvement of a high-priced public relations firm is raising questions.

Don't believe me,well then lets ask Mr.Right Wing his-self, Neil Waugh;

Threat of job losses in the oilpatch due to royalty boost may just be a Big Oil invention

But it was a great day for the flat-earth believers in the Calgary oil towers and their compliant, soon-to-be communications directors.
Fortress Stelmach had been finally breached and the Stalmachistas are fleeing for the hills after the Cowtown oil aristocrats launched their third and final desperate assault - code-named the "Perfect Storm."
That is where tens of thousands of oilpatch workers would lose their jobs if the modest royalty tweaks go through - not to mention their double wides and dually diesels.
THE PROBLEM IS REAL
Of course, there is a problem. The winter drilling season is going to be a bust. And the summer one was nothing to brag about either.
Big Oil has already pulled back their big budgets. Rigs are racked and trucks haven't turned a wheel all summer, especially in Stelmach's rural heartland.
Big Oil invented the storm. Now they want to pin the blame on Stelmach, as rig moving king pin Murray Mullen tried to do last week when he announced the "temporary layoff" of 100 truck drivers and swampers.

Yep today's protest was the Oil Rig Bosses blaming the Royalty report for the fact that they had a poor spring and summer and are preparing for a slow start this winter. It has nothing to do with our getting our fair share and everything to do with the weather.

But heck you know they would look silly if they protested the weather.

Come to think of it I wonder if they have considered the impact of Global Warming on their jobs.

Nah, that's just another socialist plot like the Royalty Report.

Representatives from the fledgling Wild Rose Party and the Alberta Alliance, Alberta's two ultra-right wing parties, also addressed the crowd. Alliance leader Paul Hinman, the MLA for Cardston-Taber, called the recommendations a colossal mistake. "It's pure politics to talk about 'fair share' because that's how you make everybody upset, by saying 'you didn't get your fair share'," he said.

Don't Let Big Oil Set Our Royalty Rates make sure Ed hears from you

SEE:

Our Resources, Our Future, Our Decisions

Real Oil Workers Rally

I Am Malcontent

Who Will Decide About Royalties

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
royalties, oil, profits,
Bill Hunter, Alberta Royalty Review,
Alberta Cabinet, CAPP, Ed Stelmach,
Big Oil,oil royalties, PC, Calgary, Party of Calgary, politics, NEP, Conservatives, Fort McMurray, One Party State,

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?

The image “http://www.conservative.ca/media/20070914-Banner-e.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

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.

The image “http://www.pm.gc.ca/grfx/eng/bannermain_e.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

H/T to Red Tory.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, Government, PM, PMO, Harper, Stalin, Great, Leader, Autocrat, Conservatives,
ethics, accountability, autarch, autocrat, politics,

Tokenism

The Harper Government does this;

Ottawa hopes to make Aung San Suu Kyi an honorary Canadian citizen

Instead of doing this;

NDP calls for review of Canadian Pension Plan investments in Burma

And increasing the number of Burmese refugees we accept into Canada.

There are currently 140,000 Karen refugees from Myanmar living in nine border camps in Thailand, and many of them have been there for up to 20 years.
The Canadian government has pledged to resettle roughly 2,000 of the Karen refugees in this country, and the Grimsby church’s sponsorship is part of that initiative.

In fact making Aung San Suu Kyi an honorary Canadian citizen will not change what is happening in Burma. Nor give Canada any sway over the Burmese military junta.

There was never any chance that the monk-led "Saffron Revolution" in Burma in the last six weeks would be successful.
The notion of the junta collapsing and fleeing in the face of the moral armour of the monks and the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi is fanciful nonsense.
The generals have ruled Burma since 1962 -- two generations -- and, as they have shown in 1988 and in the last few weeks, they will not give up their golden goose without inflicting extreme violence on their enemies.

And considering how badly Foreign Affairs has bungled the cases of actual Canadians held as political prisoners well I hope she isn't expecting much.

Meanwhile these Canadian Citizens want to know why their government aided and abetted their imprisonment and torture. But they don't get to find out cause Harper has approved a secret Star Chamber review of their cases.

And this Canadian citizen remains incarcerated illegally at Gitmo facing a Star Chamber trial and the Harper government has done nothing about it.

SEE:

Canada's Not So White Knight In Burma

Burma Watch

Blogs Left and Right Unite

Blogging Burma

Myanmar Ghost Dance

No Reincarnation Without Permission

The Road Out of Mandalay

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
saffron revolution Aung San Suu Kyi, Buddhist,, Myanmar, Burma,, resistance,, insurgency,
Harper, Throne Speech, Canada, CPP,

Jack Layton PM?

The headline is misleading. Harper may be way ahead of Dion but Jack is right behind him in popularity

And in Qubec Jack beats him, Dion and Duceppe (!!!!) in popularity.

If as the article says his popularity is only 'slightly more' than Harpers in Quebec the same could be said of Harper in the rest of Canada. He is only slightly more popular than Jack. If the upcoming election is about leadership Jack wins.

Harper is way ahead in race for best leader, says poll
Nationally, 63 per cent of voters gave Harper "great" or "good" leadership marks, compared with only 36 per cent for Dion.

NDP Leader Jack Layton scored 57 per cent.

In Quebec, Duceppe's leadership rating (63 per cent) was in a virtual tie with Layton's (64 per cent), and only slightly above Harper's at 61 per cent. Dion was last in his home province with 33 per cent.

SEE:

Stephane Dion remained undecided Tuesday whether to bring down the Harper government over its throne speech even as evidence mounted that his Liberal team - particularly in Quebec - is not ready to fight an election.
The Liberal leader lost both his Quebec lieutenant and the director general of the party's Quebec wing just hours before Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled the government's blueprint for the new session of Parliament.
More top Quebec Liberal officials quit party
With a federal election campaign possibly only days away, the federal Liberal party has just lost two of the key people responsible for ensuring it can fight a campaign in Quebec.
On Tuesday, former MP Serge Marcil resigned as the director-general of the party's Quebec wing, saying he has decided to take an attractive job offer in the private sector. While Quebec wing president Robert Fragasso agreed the timing was "very particular," he said Mr. Marcil is leaving the Quebec wing in good shape and there are a number of talented people who can replace him.
However, Mr. Marcil's departure leaves the Quebec wing without a director-general, just as the party is searching for a national director to replace Jamie Carroll, who quit amid controversy over remarks many members of the party's Quebec wing felt treated Quebec francophones as just another ethnic minority.
News of Mr. Marcil's departure came only 24 hours after Hull-Aylmer MP Marcel Proulx handed in his resignation as the Liberals' political lieutenant for Quebec. After MP Denis Coderre, a savvy veteran political organizer turned him down, Mr. Dion reached past his dozen Quebec MPs and into the Senate to name Celine Hervieux-Payette, one of the few caucus members who supported his leadership bid, as his new Quebec lieutenant.
However, her Senate colleague, Liberal party president Marie Poulin, was nowhere to be found on Tuesday.
While her office refused to comment, confirming only she was not going to be present for the reading of the speech from the throne, sources said Ms. Poulin is vacationing in Bermuda.
Ex-Dion adviser is now the Prime Minister's secret weapon
Mark Cameron knows the inner workings of Stéphane Dion's brain, and now he is one of Stephen Harper's most trusted advisers.
In the unique position of having served Mr. Dion and now the Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron recently joked that if the Conservatives lose the next election and the Liberals win, he could just stay in the PMO and no one would notice.
Chrétien's book revives spectre of house divided
Pollster says former prime minister's memoir could undermine Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion could find that his old boss, Jean Chrétien, is more trouble than any Conservative attack ads, according to pollster Nik Nanos.
By reigniting his old feud with Paul Martin, his successor, in his new book, Chrétien could do some serious damage to the Liberals, Nanos says.
"The Liberal brand has been able to effectively weather the image storm outside of Quebec," Nanos said yesterday. "Even with Stéphane Dion's rough ride, the Grits are still very competitive in Ontario and urban Canada. However, if a narrative emerges that the Liberals are a house divided, that would be potentially more damaging than any attack ad on Dion."
Harper vs. Dion: A battle of the bland
A new poll suggests the next federal election won't exactly be a battle of towering personalities.
Both Tory Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal Leader Stephane Dion have a "charisma deficit" among voters, according to the Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll.
The good news for Harper is that while his personality is deemed a weakness by 41% -- among voters of both sexes and almost every age group -- Dion fares even worse.
Half deem Dion's personality as a weakness.
And while 38% consider Harper's personality an asset, just 19% feel that way about Dion.

The natural governing party is a house divided. Which means this is the best time for an election for the Conservatives and NDP.

SEE

Our Resources, Our Future, Our Decisions

Date:
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Time:
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location:
Alex Taylor School Gymnasium
Street:
9321 Jasper Avenue
City/Town:
Edmonton, AB

Who should get the royalties - big oil or the people of Alberta? Come and have your say.

Participate in community discussions about the current Royalty Review. Hear from respected panelists and join in the discussion

Panelists Include:
Brian Mason - Leader of Alberta's NDP
Diana Gibson - Parkland Institue
Bill Moore Kilgannon - Public Interest Alberta

Don't Let Big Oil Set Our Royalty Rates make sure Ed hears from you

SEE:

Tags
royalties, oil, profits,
Bill Hunter, Alberta Royalty Review,
Alberta Cabinet, CAPP, Ed Stelmach,
Big Oil,oil royalties, PC, Calgary, Party of Calgary, politics, NEP, Conservatives, Fort McMurray, One Party State,
Alberta, Premier,
Alberta NDP, Brian Mason,

Leaky Ship Of State

Gee now who could have done this? Throne Speech Leaked

Considering how tightly under wraps they had their Income Trust announcement last year, and how tightly controlled all information from the PMO is, including its ability to gag cabinet and back bencher's, who do you think did it.

See:

Harpers Shoe Fetish

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, Tories, Harper, Government,Sandra Buckler,Parliament, Ottawa, Press Gallery, PM,PMO,Throne Speech

Real Oil Workers Rally

In response to the right wing rally by oil company executives in hard hats today at the Legislature the Alberta Federation of Labour will be holding a real oil workers rally in a real oil city.

Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 9pm to 10:30pm

Timberline Room, Sawridge Hotel, Fort McMurray

The Real Oil Workers Forum and Rally

Come sign our petition urging the government to increase royalties and guarantee more value-added production in Alberta. Make your voice heard. Bring copies of the petition back to your jobsites!

Hosted by the Alberta Federation of Labour

Meanwhile the guys from Quattro Energy Services and their Alberta Alliance pals might be in for a surprise at their rally today. Real hard hat oil workers might show up to counter protest.

Don't Let Big Oil Set Our Royalty Rates make sure Ed hears from you

royalties, oil, profits,
Bill Hunter, Alberta Royalty Review,
Alberta Cabinet, CAPP, Ed Stelmach,
Big Oil,oil royalties, PC, Calgary, Party of Calgary, politics, NEP, Conservatives, Fort McMurray, One Party State,

Date:	Sunday, October 21, 2007
Time:	2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location:	Alex Taylor School Gymnasium
Street:	9321 Jasper Avenue
City/Town:	Edmonton, AB