Harpers Most Dangerous Cabinet Minister

The most important change in the Harper Cabinet shuffle, which was overlooked by the MSM , is the decision to put Monte Solberg in charge of HRSDC. This is a logical step and a dangerous one for workers and the trade union movement in Canada.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re in Camrose or Calgary, Edson or Edmonton, ‘Help Wanted’ signs are everywhere,” Solberg said “And you know, when it starts to affect our ability to go to Tim Horton’s and get a double-double, it ceases to be a laughing matter. It’s a serious issue.”

Solberg was in charge of liberalising Canada's temproray worker program under his Immmigration portfolio, now he can see it to its logical conclusion under HRDC. That means more flexibility for the employers in the oil patch to hire temporary workers for Alberta. Something they and the Alberta Government have been lobbying long and hard for.

British Colombia, Alberta and Saskatchewan will benefit from a government program designed to ease regulations concerning foreign workers coming into Canada.

"Canada's new government has been listening to employers in Alberta and British Columbia, and they are truly having a hard time finding enough workers. The improvements we are announcing today are making it easier, faster, and less costly for employers to hire temporary foreign workers," said the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Monte Solberg.

Temporary workers are not allowed the same rights as other workers, including immigrant workers. They are subject to exploitation by the state and employers while being used to undermine wages and working conditions, through no fault of their own.

Already scandals around exploitation of Polish Workers in the oil patch have come to light.

Polish welders sue employers, college for $5.5 million

A group of 30 Polish welders who say they were brought to work in Canada under false pretences are suing an energy services company, Lakeland College and three individuals for more than $5.5 million.

The lawsuit, filed in Edmonton's Court of Queen's Bench on Monday, makes two main claims:

- That the men believed they were being hired by Kihew Energy Services Ltd. to work in Alberta as full-time welders, not full-time students as their visas said.

- And that once here, they received inadequate pay for their work, earning $10 to $12 an hour from Kihew while four companies contracted with Kihew paid up to $28 an hour for their services.

The court action comes one month after Alberta's Auditor General raised questions around Lakeland College's involvement in the program where the college collected more than $200,000 in tuition from Kihew to educate students who attended virtually no classes.

Auditor General Fred Dunn said in his report on Lakeland's contracting practices that the former general manager and three people who reported to him also failed to follow the college's policy about who can issue letters to Citizenship and Immigration Canada verifying international student registration. As many as 158 letters were sent to the federal agency.

And in B.C. guest workers have also been exploited by contractors. Guest Worker Contract Dubious Alleges Union Lawyer

And while Solberg cracked down on 'illegal' workers in Canada, in particular Portugese workers in Toronto's Construction industry, he did not declare a general amnesty as was done in the eighties, quite successfully, rather he deported them. In preparation to replace them with a formal temporary worker program.

March 21, 2006 – Illegal workers in Toronto's underground economy are being deported as the new Conservative government abandons a Liberal amnesty plan, immigration lawyers and consultants say. Some families who have been in Canada five years or more are given less than two weeks to pack up and leave. Toronto's Portuguese community – with up to 15,000 undocumented members, working mainly in the booming construction industry – is especially concerned.

And our laws in Canada still allow for indentured servitude, a polite term for slavery, of some foreign temporary workers especially farm workers and nannies.


Canada is one of the preferred countries of destination for Filipinos aiming to work and live abroad. But life for migrant workers and overseas Filipinos is not all that rosy in the “Land of the Free,” a motto coined and patented by Canada.


Monte's riding was the site of last years long ugly labour dispute between Tysons and its largely immigrant unionized workforce. A strike Monte didn't bother to comment on.

Placing Monte in charge of HRDC is a reward to the Alberta government and its Big Oil partners in an attempt to undermine the building trade unions in Alberta. It can only mean more confrontations between the Feds, Big Oil, the Alberta Government and the labour movement.


See:

Alberta's Free Market In Labour

The Labour Shortage Myth

AFL Agrees With Me

Monte Solberg




Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
temp-workers, foreign-workers, labour, labor, labour-shortage, Federal Government, Alberta Government, Canada, Builing Trades Unions, AFL, immigration, Big Oil, Alberta, Conservatives, Monte Solberg, Stephen Harper, HRSDC, Cabinet Minister

Harpers New Green Guy

The headlines read John Baird set to be Tories' 'green guy' maybe that should be 'teal' guy.

The real news out of Ottawa isn't about his appointment as Environment Minister but that he has another job, boy toy to Mrs. PM.

Has John Baird finally been outed by the Globe and Mail?

John Baird, 'first consort of the first lady'

Does that make her a 'fag hag? '?

Or perhaps a 'progressive' conservative.

We will never know since the Harper Conservatives have a don't ask don't tell policy.

I thought social conservatives opposed polyamory. So Mrs. PM has a husband and a mistress. Good thing that's ok in Ontario now.

Well at least she can dress up her consort, unlike her stiff necked husband. And he does look dashing in a tux.

"I love John," Mrs. Harper said yesterday. "He is a great guy, he is fun to be around, he looks good in a tux and he is a great date. "

Kinky happenings at 24 Sussex to be continued.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
JohnBaird, Canada, MP, Minister, Government, Conservative, gay, homosexual, Mrs.Harper, PM, PM's, wife, Laureen Harper, Stephen Harper,

The Road to CWB2

I found this news aggregator covering the Tories plan to dismantle the Wheat Board in favour of granting more powers to Corporate Agribusiness to purchase and distribute Canadas western wheat and barley. Gee I wonder if he likes the idea of dismantling the Wheat Board, do ya think?!

The Daily the Road to CWB2

Chronicling The Policy Issues Debate And The Moves Towards Implementation of Wheat Board Changes

Bob Rempel has worked for federal and provincial departments of Agriculture, as well as in all three Western provinces. He is a public relations and communications advisor with a political science background, who has had an ongoing professional and personal interest in the Wheat Board single desk debate. That mean’s he’s been watching this for some time.

CWBII has been proposed by a federal task force in October, 2006 with full implementation by 2013. The blog will watch the progress along the way with an ongoing interest in the policy decisions and the communications choices.

See:

Wheat Board

ind blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, agriculture, wheat, WTO, G8, WheatBoard, farmers, Western-Canada, barley, wheat, Strahl, Government, Conservatives, Harper, Free-Trade, Klein, NDP, taxpayers, PR, propaganda,
Canada
Politics
Harper
CWB
Wheat Board
farming
Supply Side Management
Conservatives

I Would Have Left A Comment

It seems to me that if you want to discuss someone’s ideas with them, you should do so at their blog… says Joseph at Canada's Debate, over the Cherniak posts of late; Can’t we all just get along?

I wanted to leave a comment on his blog but unfortunately it was locked. Sorry, you must be logged in to post a comment.

So here it is.

Thanks for commenting at my blog. To reiterate my points about Jason. His argument came from the right, which I wanted to point out and I could do that with a blog article and links not something I could do easily in his comments.

He has a pathological hatred of the NDP and the left in general. Regardless of his specific arguments they are quickly invalidated by his partisanship.

He makes it personal when challenged, complaining about personal attacks, which in some cases occur on his blog in the comments, but then he moderates those so he could exclude them.

I have challenged him on my blog as a leading voice of Liberalbloggers, who consistantly speaks from the right, in order to point out that not all liberals are Liberals, not all progressives are Liberals and of course conversly not all Liberals are liberal nor are all Liberals progressive.

He is a self professed political pundit so he should expect to be treated as such.

After all I do claim that my blog is about Left Wing Comment and Analysis.

I also politically challenge BloggingTories , Green Bloggers, Dippers, etc. I disagree with on my blog.


See:

Jason Cherniak


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Ontario, Canada, NDP, Liberals, blogs, bloggers, Jason Cherniak,

Google Cherniak

In a pitiful whine on the Progressive Bloggers Diary page Jason Cherniak claims he googled himself and found he was wanting. All the negative press he has gotten over the minimum wage debate he ascribes to character assasination, claiming it is ruining his career potential.

To all you bloggers who think I am being a cry baby or something to that effect, I suggest you think hard about what is going on here. Every time NDP bloggers disagree with me, I seem to get at least five posts questioning my integrity, compassion, intelligence and/or honesty. Few other non-professional bloggers have to put up with that.

Please show some respect and recognition for the fact that what gets posted online really does affect my future, including job prospects. For a 27-year old, that is a DAMN big deal and I will never apologize for or regret saying so.


Well I googled Jason, lets see what shows.

What he is complaining about is the MyBlahg post appearing as item number seven in this listing on JasonCherniak under Google Search. Pretty standard stuff until you go to page two....then all hell breaks out, because of Jasons comments and the responses he garners.


There is also one news story on Google News And the page is blank.

Ex-preem MacLellan didn’t get to vote for his guy
ChronicleHerald.ca, Canada - Dec 10, 2006
The members include Colin Hebb, one of Mr. Dion’s Nova Scotia organizers, Jason Cherniak, the Dion blog campaign co-chairman, and Adam Lomas, now a student ...

Jason Cherniak Google Blog Search

Not much here that is different than reading the PB and certainly nothing that would draw attention to him.

So why is he all upset? Well as a self agrandizing politcal hack perhaps his posting this on his own blog;

I suggest you take a look here. Particularly if you are a reporter.

So if Jason is slagged in the press its not because of Blogging Dippers or any other bloggers it's because of his own big fat ego and his insatiable need to draw attention to himself.

Like this link to his photo under Google Images




And if he is wondering why those of us on the Left consider him a whining sanctimonious partisan hack well lets not forget this post of his that started it all.....

The NDP is sick

Why does the NDP exist? What is their purpose in Canadian politics? Should a political party be celebrating because they won less than 10% of the seats in the House of Commons? Should a political party be celebrating because the group most opposed to their ideology is now in government? Should a political party be kicking out lifelong members because they do not adhere to party policy? What is the purpose of the NDP?

I will admit that I am personally biased on this. Some readers might have noted that I have no NDP bloggers on my link list. This is not because there are no good NDP bloggers. It is because I do not tend to have much time for the NDP.

Except to constantly attack the NDP and Blogging Dippers.


See:

Jason Cherniak


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Ontario, Canada, NDP, Liberals, blogs, bloggers, Jason Cherniak,

The Enemy Of My Enemy

Is my friend. And it looks like Jason Cherniak has some friends in the Blogging Tories. Told ya he was a right winger.

Hackonomics: How Reality Is Lost On The Blogging Dippers
BC Tory | 3 Jan 2007 | 8:40pm EST
It is not very often that I agree with Liberal partisan Jason Cherniak; however, in his argument against the minimum wage being raised to $10 in Ontario, I have to say I agree wholeheartedly.

Say no more.

Of course Jason might want to reconsider the company he keeps....

From a Sexless Pig to a Sexist Pig
ThePolitic.com | 3 Jan 2007 | 11:42pm EST
Did you know?: Only sexist pigs say no to a $10 minimum wage Oink oink.

See:

Wages

Minimum Wage

Social Wage

Jason Cherniak


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Ontario, Canada, NDP, Liberals, minimumwages, wages, social-wage, living-wage, blogs, bloggers, Jason Cherniak,
daycare, childcare, public, Canada, Harper, government, baby, bonus, tax-credit, politcs,
single-mothers, Blogging Tories, conservative economics, Stats-Canada, Working-Mothers

Trotsky on Harper

The Reform Party of Preston Manning is Dead. The Canadian Alliance of Preston Manning is Dead. The New Conservative Government of Stephen Harper has liquidated it's Reform Alliance democratic populist ideology for the politics of the Strong Man.

Wait a minute...the Reform/Alliance party was always a one man show, it was never really a grassroots democratic movement after Preston consolidated power. It was always about the Cult of Personality.

Stephen Harper understood that, which is why he quit the Reform Party under Preston and came back to usurp the King and make the R/A/Conservative party his own.

Which is why since his election as PM he has personally dominated his party and the government. We did not elect a political party we elected a PM. The party may be in a minority position but the PM is not. Thus the cult of personality that is now appearing on the Conservative home page.

Stephen Harper - megalomaniac?

Fellow blogger Jeff Davidson made the observation today about the Conservative Party website which features endless pictures of Stephen Harper... Link to Conservative Site I agree, what's up with that? Is it a one man party? I have heard the stories about Harper being a control freak, but I think this says something about his character and the party; that it is about Stephen Harper. Link to Jeff's Blog Post

Ironically the Supreme Leader of Canada now appears to have done to his party what Trotsky accussed Lenin of wanting to do the Russian Social Democratic Party.....

The most prescient critique of Lenin's style and methods was contained in Trotsky's 1904 pamphlet, "Our Political Tasks":

"Lenin's methods lead to this: the party organisation at first substitutes itself for the party as a
whole; then the Central Committee substitutes itself for the organisation; and finally a single 'dictator' substitutes himself for the Central Committee."


And of course the result of Lenins 'dictatorship' was Stalin, the founder of the cult of personality, who seems to have a special place not only in Stephen Harpers library but in his view of the world.

See

• Post Modern Conservatives

• The Great Dismantler

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,

Golden Parachutes

Recently in my posts on CEO's pay, comments have been made to the effect that these fat cats get paid cause they make money for their shareholders. Most of those shareholders are either insiders with the company, ie. the Board members and executive officers, or institutional shareholders, mom and pop investors are relatively small beans in the world of high finance.

In the world of casino capitalism corporations are paying out golden parachutes to their CEO's whether they make money or lose it.

Well here is an example of a CEO NOT MAKING MONEY FOR HIS COMPANY BUT GETTING A GOLDEN PARACHUTE.

Embattled Home Depot CEO resigns By The Washington Post | January 4, 2007. WASHINGTON -- Embattled Home Depot chief executive Robert Nardelli, under fire from stockholders for earning hundreds of millions at the same time the company's stock fell and market share dropped.

AND HERE IS ANOTHER

Back in April, shareholder groups at Pfizer's annual meeting made it abundantly clear that they'd had enough with the rich payouts to then-CEO Hank McKinnell. Groups, led by the AFL-CIO, staged a raucous protest. As they handed out fliers, chanted, and held up signs to demand McKinnell return part of his pay, an airplane circled the company's annual meeting in Lincoln, Neb., with a banner reading, "Give it back, Hank!" The protesters were upset that one of the top-paid pharmaceutical executives was also going to be granted an $82 million lump sum if he ever stepped down.

But on Dec. 21, Pfizer (PFE) revealed that McKinnell, who did give up the CEO post in 2006, is getting even more money than originally thought. He'll receive a total of $122 million in retirement, as well as deferred compensation worth an additional $78 million.

The sum total of $200 million isn't going over too well among investors. "It's not reasonable to pay someone who failed as CEO this much; he's the poster child for pay-for-failure," says Daniel F. Pedrotty, director of the investment office of the AFL-CIO, whose member unions' funds hold about $568 million in Pfizer shares. "Unfortunately, once you've negotiated this and gotten it wrong, it's hard to fix."

And while the Corporate Bosses make fat salaries off thier losses at the tables of casino capitalism the newest scam, Hedge Funds, rake in even bigger winnings. Tax free of course.

Even these handsome rewards appear almost Spartan compared with the huge fortunes amassed so quickly by those who manage - and collect the fees from - private-equity deals:

In the midst of the junk-bond craze of the 1980s, the $500 million made by Michael Milken on his junk-bond deals was novel and shocking; but now, as hedge and private-equity funds have moved to the Wall-Street mainstream, rewards of such magnitude are closer to the everyday norm. For 2005, the two highest earners are reported to have been Steven Cohen who manages a $6.5 billion pool of assets for wealthy investors in SAC Capital Advisers and Stephen Schwarzman whose Blackstone fund handles private assets of a similar size. The rewards, mostly in cash, for their year’s work are calculated to be $500 million for Cohen and $300 million for Schwarzman. Milken’s takings were so huge that, in his day, it was thought that they must have been ill-gotten. Nothing of the kind is imagined today. “These big paydays are based on performance,” former hedge manager Andy Kessler is reported to have said. “For capitalism, it’s great these guys are taking a piece of the upside and saying we took the risk so we get the reward” (page 436).

Review: Capitalism Unleashed by Andrew Glyn

See

CEO

Criminal Capitalism

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
CEO, pay, goldenparachutes, Corporations, fatcats, rich, superrich, America,

Will Bush Blog?

Now that US President Bush has written his first newspaper opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal is blogging from the White House far behind? He could use this graphic as the header for his Victory Blog.

See:

Bush


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
George W Bush, Bush, President, US, blogs, blogging, WSJ, Wall Street Journal, newspaper article, Bush writes for WSJ

Bitch Bitch Bitch

I love Feminist bitching in the blogosphere. As they say, you go girl. They make the usual political infighting of the boys look just sooooo tame.

This is the intellectual equivalent of catfights.

And when it comes to so called Reality TV shows like Beauty and the Geek, not a word. Nada. But hey they do trash the Geeks when it comes to their actually profiling their favorite blogger babes.

Completely ignoring the whole sexist blog culture of 25peeps. (As in 25 cent peep shows, Adults only, come in and watch porn videos in our booths).

Or the sexist presumption of such mainstream shows like Beauty and the Geek, geeks being all guys women are never geeks of course, and blonde good looking dumb guys don't exist either.

Actually the sturm and drang over the Gizmogeeks posting of his favorite blogger babes, is wee bit over the top. He at least choose to pick intelligent women who blog and are not just models. Which seems to have been lost on the feminists critizing his post. Actually to be fair they are criticizing comments to his post.

Which is rather lame considering that this particular feminist blog has been trashed by other feminists because they promote themselves with provocative T-Shirts ads showing tits.

As I said ya gotta love feminist bitching.

I will now sit back and await the slap back.


See

Feminist

Feminism



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Beauty and the Geek, 25peeps, feminist, feminism, bitch, feminst blogs, blogs, bloggers, blogging, women, sexist, sexism,