Klein Chokes

Well no sooner had the special privileges of the aristocracy around King Ralph been announced than the backlash swept over them.

While the peasants must butt out in public the King and his clowns could smoke in their offices in their castle on the shores of the North Saskatchewan. But the public outcry was a little too much. Public butts in; MLAs butt out

King Ralph choked when he and his courtiers arrogance was shoved back in their faces.

Liberal Endorses Edmonton Strathcona NDP Candidate

In an Edmonton Journal article yesterday profiling Edmonton Strathcona NDP candidate Linda Duncan, was the following endorsement from a local Liberal;

Elly de Jongh, a long-time Liberal who also is helping McLellan in Edmonton Centre, has known Duncan since they worked together on saving river valley communities in the 1970s. "I think she would be a real asset for Ottawa," de Jongh said. "

I would be putting that quote out in the campaign literature and on the front of her web page.

As I have said Edmonton Strathcona this time around is a two way fight between the Conservatives and the NDP.

And congrats to the Duncan Team running their web site they have added 'Citizens Media', comments and links to the blogosphere on their 'In the News' page.

Take note Brad Lavigne.

NDP Fights Back

With an attack TV ad that gives the Liberals the Xmas Boot....it's called The Gift very clever and very funny. Well done guys.

And their rapid response to the Liberals Gun Ban announcement was quotes from the community that the Liberals are supposedly speaking for, except nobody thinks the Liberals ban will work....The community is calling for more butter and less guns, but not a gun ban.

Attacking the Liberals is a good response to mitigate last weeks Buzz Factor.

Redmonton Votes

Daaveberta my fellow Redmontonianblogger has provided us with the voting numbers from the 2004 Election. So I left this comment on his site:

The Edmonton Strathcona numbers are telling, while some would look at this as vote splitting between the NDP and Liberals, the NDP actually improved their numbers, far beyond what they had gotten in the last two Federal elections in the riding. Now they did have a high profile candidate, which is one reason. The other may have been the Liberals ran a hand picked Martinite, who had been a provincial MLA. Togther the NDP/Liberal numbers show that Rahim Jaffir gets in up the middle. But I see no urge to strategic voting here where it might actually make a difference. Though with a high profile NDP candidate this time, and a no name Liberal the numbers might change in favour of the NDP.
The other two ridings to watch are Edmonton East total opposition numbers could defeat Goldring And they may coalace around the high profile NDP candidate there since the Liberals last time ran a high profile candidate, but this time its no-name brand.
And Beaumont-Mill Woods could go strongly Liberal as they have the only Indo-Canadian candidate running, the Conservatives ran Uppal last time and seriously challenged Kilgour with the South Asian vote, this time the Conservatives are running a no name White Guy....big mistake.....
Yep four ridings to be watched in Redmonton this time around. Place your wagers gentlemen.

Also See Redmonton Not In The Bag for the Conservatives

CTV does it again

Cutting edge at CTV on their Election Blog page. They now have Blogging Banter
where you can leave your comments unmoderated and they appear instantly. Gee just like a real blog. And of course the usual suspects are there plugging errr blogging away.

Note to Brad Lavigne; we know you don't read blogs, but maybe you should check this one out.......it is after all MSM which we know is all you respect.

The Real Liberal Hand Gun Ban

The majority of hand guns on the streets are illegal, smuggled in from the U.S.A. And we don't have enough border patrols to actually reduce the influx of smuggled guns. Well the Liberals are already enforcing a hand gun ban in Canada. No, not the one that severely restricts the legal ownership of hand gunds. Rather they continue to ban handguns from use by the very folks who patrol the borders. They are overworked, understaffed and un-armed. They also have no powers to arrest anyone for bringing guns into Canada!

The real Liberal Hand Gun Ban has been in effect for years, on the border guards. See how effective that has been.

A note; I am opposed however to issuing border guards Tasers, they are an offensive weapon that kills instead of stunning. Guns are guns, you know they are lethal. Arming border guards is sufficient.

CANADA EMPLOYMENT AND IMMIGRATION UNION FEDERAL ELECTION 2006

December 6, 2005 06:45 Tasers and sidearms needed by Immigration Officers to enhance border security and own safety; union president urges federal party leaders to act OTTAWA, Dec. 6

The President of the Canada Employment and Immigration Union today called for heightened protection, up to and including the issuing of tasers and sidearms, for Immigration Officers of the Canada Border Services Agency. Jeannette Meunier-McKay said the CEIU would be contacting the campaigns of all major federal parties to seek their support for making higher levels of protective force for Immigration Officers a post-election priority. She also stressed that the union was representing the views and wishes of its Immigration Officer members. "A recent, internal union survey revealed that an overwhelming majority of Immigration Officers - 86.5% of Enforcement Officers and 74% of Port of Entry Officers - expressed a strong need for additional protective devices, including tasers and/or sidearms," she said. "Our members have spoken strongly with a united voice - that current force options are inadequate to ensure their security when carrying out their duties to protect the public by keeping high-risk criminals and terrorists out of Canada." Meunier-McKay also pointed to last June's interim report of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, which called for strengthened port of entry security and concrete measures to improve the safety of CBSA enforcement staff. "The Senate Committee was very clear in urging the Martin government to give CBSA workers the tools they need to carry out their important duties in a safe and secure work environment," Meunier-McKay noted. "Whatever the composition of the next Parliament, the federal government has a clear duty to ensure the highest level of protection for these frontline peace officers." The Canada Employment and Immigration Union represents more than 17,000 federal public service workers, including some 1,300 immigration staff at both ports of entry and at inland enforcement offices. : Jeannette Meun

Why Jack Doesn't Blog

Many of us Dipper and progressive bloggers have wondered why the NDP is the only election site without a blog. And now we know. The PTB in the NDP war room have decided in their divine wisdom that blogs are not where its at. In fact they are so fixated on old media, that no less a high mucky muck than Communications/Media Director Brad Lavigne dismisses the importance of blogs.

In the NDP camp, insider Brad Lavigne says blogs have had a minimal impact so far on leader Jack Layton's campaign. The top priority is to track the other leaders' daily campaigns and mainstream news coverage."Our focus is established by our team,'' said Lavigne, the party's campaign communications director. "While from time to time it's interesting to see what these people are posting, they certainly don't drive our agenda.'' Election war rooms consider impact of blogs

Ah ha thats why the NDP is so behind on the communications eight ball, failing to take advantage of the blogosphere. Yep Lavigne is really old school, you can tell from his hair cut and their communications strategy so far.

Guess I will have to e-mail this little missive to the NDP cause they don't read blogs.

Correcting Kinsella

Well its always a joy here in mudville to correct Warren Kinsella's jaundiced view of the blogosphere, which is always highly coloured by his own blog prescence and his belief that he plays a more important role than he does.

Warren Kinsella, an aide to former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien, says his blog gets as many as 100,000 hits a day. He has traced some of the heaviest traffic to Prime Minister Paul Martin's most trusted advisors and says his sources of information include former and current cabinet ministers, party leaders and rank-and-file members.
Election war rooms consider impact of blogs

100,000 hits a day?! Methinks Warren doth exaggerate his popularity a wee bit. Oh by at least five zeros. (see comments)

On December 8 after this article came out on CP, he posted it on his blog, he writes his latest backhanded defence of the importance of blogs in this election. He says that so far the blogs have not found a scandal of equal importance as American blogs did in the 04 election.

"In this bizarre two-part election, no big political story has been unearthed by Canadian bloggers - at least not in the way the American blogs broke the Trent Lott or Dan Rather stories. But it's coming."

Well gee what would he call this? The undue influence of American right wing lobby groups with the Conservatives is a major scandal,that has not been covered in the MSM as well as it has in the blogosphere. And I would call that a scandal uncovered by the blogs. Just not by Warrens blog. Hmm do I detect a bit of jealousy in his comment?

For an updated page on this Scandal go here.

Retirement Reverse Discrimination

The Ontario Government has ended a great injustice today, they have ended legislated compulsory retirement. Yep now you can work till ya die. The logic of this reversal of discrimination, is classic liberalism; the rights of the individual over the group. And classic Liberalism.

Moments after the province approved the legislation, Ontario Labour Minister Steve Peters hailed it as an opportunity for workers, especially those who joined the workforce later in life, to continue to contribute to their families and the economy. “It’s a very historic day,” Peters said. “We’ve ended a great wrong in this province.”

They found that the law restricted individual choice. For shame. But in changing the law to meet the sacred rights of the individual they lost site of that other important value of classical liberalism, utilitarianism, the greater good.

The so called compulsorary retirement law while restricting the rights of some was for the greater good of the many. Which is why unions lobbied and won compulsorary retirement, because they knew that if the bosses had their way, they would work us till we died, or toss us out with no pensions in order to hire younger workers who will not earn a pension for years. The idea of compulsorary retirement is directly tied to pensions, and to corporations paying into those pensions.

The McGuinty Liberals capitualted to the business community, who having underfunded their pension plans in order to put their capital into the stock market, wanted the government to bail them out. The best way to do that was to up the age of retirement. Business have campaigned provincially and federally to turn the clock back on retirement.

Of course for academics, such as the one who challenged the law in Alberta and got it overturned, or managers and bosses and even journalists working into your seventies or eighties is a career choice. For those of us who do blue collar work, by the time we are 65 we beasts of burden are well willing to give up the work life for the cottage life and we deserve it.

But now our pensionable earnings, our ability to retire early, or to retire at 65 have been put at greater risk.

Wayne Samuelson, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, warned that in years to come, employees can expect to work up to the age of 67 or beyond before they can access government benefits.

Samuelson also brushed aside assertions by the province that the law won’t undermine early retirement rights or existing pension plans.

“That’s crap,” Samuelson said. “I’ve been going to union meetings all my life . . . and I’ve never seen anybody stand up and demand that they work longer. People want to work less. They want to have a decent pension. That’s the debate we should be having.”

He pointed to the United States, where access to government benefits has been increased to age 67.

New Democrat critic Peter Kormos slammed the law for not resolving fears of under-funded pensions.

“This legislation . . . is going to result in employers reducing pension benefits for younger workers who have not yet become vested,” Kormos said.

“This is going to create some real iniquities and further worsen, heighten, aggravate the crisis in under-funding of pensions and levels of pension benefits.”

It’s expected that less than two per cent of Ontario’s 1.5 million people 65 and over would continue to work, Peters said.

So you change a progressive law, compulsorary retirement for less than 2% of the working population, hmmm thats the same number that represents the ruling class in Ontario. So 98% of the working population must be subjected to the opportunism and greed of the ultimate minority. So much for the idea of majority rule, or even the greatest benefit for the greatest number. The McGuinty Liberals are classic neo-liberals, not real liberals like Bentham and Mills.

Previous Pension Articles are Here and Here

And Now A Word From David Orchard

The populist iconoclast David Orchard who was stabbed in the back by Peter McKay over the merger of the PC's with Harpers Alliance Party, never forgets. Nor should we. Last April he wrote; David Orchard campaign says Conservatives as unethical as Liberals

And it applies as much in this election as the one the Harperites were hoping for last spring. In fact the unethical behaviour of the Conservative party regarding David Orchard came back to bite them in the ass just before this election was called.

Two and a half years after the Progressive Conservative leadership race, the Conservative Party of Canada has yet to pay David Orchard more than $70,000. About $55,000 of that is owed to the Borden-area farmer from donations to his leadership campaign.

Nor has the Harper yet released who donated to his leadership race where he defeated Peter McKay for the leadership of the newly merged Conservative party.
So when it comes to ethics Mackay and Harper prove that old cliche that the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, in Davids Orchard.

Rumours had it that Orchard might run for the Liberals, it was a reporters fantasy, but that would never be. He is too principled for that. Unlike his opponents for the PC Leadership or those who now run the strange beast that is the Reform/Alliance/PC Conservatives.

David is still fighting NAFTA and is the only Canadian to continue to offer a real solution to the Soft Wood Lumber crisis, Abrogate NAFTA.

Wanna disrupt a Conservative rally? Just start chanting; Orchard! Orchard!

Guns and Butter

When I was introduced to supply side economics in high school we were all taught that capitalism is about supply and demand, the old guns and butter hypothesis. Its all about what we call today rational choice economics, you can choose to spend money on the military or on essentials such as public service. Guns or butter. The more guns the less butter. And guns were always more expensive to produce than butter.

Today we could use the same analogy for the Paul Martins announcement that he will ban hand guns in Canada. His audience was a group of school kids in Toronto. What he told them was the old guns and butter example as applied to politics. You can get more headway publicity wise by banning guns than by promising social programs (butter) to deal with the issue of violence in visible minority communities. His presence in a visible minority community school shows he was trying to butter up folks for his gun announcement.

Hand guns are severly restricted in Canada, and have been since Trudeau introduced gun control. To get a handgun in Canada you must be registered with a FAC, and now registered with the billion dollar Firearms Registry boondoogle. You must get a permit from your local police department, to move your gun from your home, if you are going to the shooting range. And that permit is for that day only and for transportation from point A to point B and back to point A. Failure to get the permit and you can loose your gun and your FAC and your access.

So who is carrying guns? Well not legal hand gun owners. It's the new bling bling of Night Club culture as the recent shooting in Vancouver shows. Graffiti artists's slaying may spur gun amnesty Guns have replaced fast cars and cell phones as the club culture status symbol.

Ms. Slade said a decade ago she thought nothing of going out to nightclubs in the city. Now, however, she wouldn't because of a series of shooting incidents in recent years. "I'm afraid to go the bars. . . . It's getting worse and worse. You never know who's going to have a gun."

In Torontoa recent spat of shootings is driving the Martin announcement, and at the point of stating the obvious gun violence in the largest city in Canada has always driven the governments gun control legislation. While gun violence is also a problem in other large Canadian cities, such as Vancouver and even in Edmonton the shooting violence in Toronto is identified with the poverty of the Afro Canadian community in that city. In the other cities its identified with middle class ethnic crime, usually around drugs. Where the issue is poverty then we need social programs for employment to overcome this. If it is drugs then we need decriminalization.

Now drugs are illegal, and illegal guns are well illegal, but that doesn't stop anyone . Nor will Martins hand gun legislation. It will only further restrict those who abide by Canadas restrictive gun laws, moreso than even England, and reduce their access to hand guns for sport shooting.

Legalizing drugs would be a start to reduce crime both in the suburbs and the inner city. But the deciminalization of marijuana laws died on the table, again, when the election was called. Decriminalizing all drugs, would go along way to breaking the cycle of crime that prohibition has always encouraged. Its butter thats , better social programs and decriminalization, the economic solution to theproblem of gun violence in Canada. Some may say this is simplistic but it is no more so than Paul Martins announcement this morning.

For more debate on this go to progressive bloggers.

John Lennon Working Class Hero

John Lennon 1940-1980

John Lennon was asassinated 25 years ago today. The world lost a revolutionary voice that day.

A day after he died, his wife, Yoko Ono, said, "John loved and prayed for the human race. Please do the same for him." Millions mourned his death across world. As a leader of the Beatles, John Lennon helped to transform popular music. But to his fans he was far more than just a musician.

While the highlights of Lennon's career with the Beatles is well known, Lennon is less remembered for his political activism and dedication to peace. Lennon wrote some of the most famous songs of the anti-war movement: "Give Peace A Chance", "Imagine" and "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)". He sang at political protests against the Vietnam War, in support of the radical John Sinclair and even for the prisoners of Attica. He and Yoko made international headlines simply by lying in bed as part of their Bed-In For Peace.

The U.S. government saw Lennon as such a serious threat that President Nixon attempted to have him deported in 1972. In addition the FBI closely monitored his actions and amassed a file on Lennon of over 400 pages.

A voice that used the mass media to get his and Yoko's message out.
And that is important to remember that John was nothing without Yoko, something he acknowledged much to the anger and slagging of fans and critics at the time.

And while he was a working class hero for my generation he remains a voice of protest and disestablishmentarianism for all generations. He and Yoko spoke out for peace activists, for anti-war activists, for women, for anarchism, for humanism, for all those exploited and oppressed. Before they chanted "This is what Democracy Looks Like" in Seattle, we sang Power to the People!

He was the kid from Liverpool the Working Class Hero he wrote of.

Working Class Hero

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so ------- crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still ------- peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

They Vote

Hey it worked for the Tories in Alberta for years under Lougheed and Getty. Every election they gave seniors something. It wasn't until the Klein Reich that seniors were ditched and King Ralph has regretted that ever since cause they are his biggestand most vocal opponsnts in the province. And they vote. Layton promises $1.5 billion for senior care The NDP's plan to spend $1.5 billion a year on long-term care and home care would begin to address the needs of seniors and help hospitals reduce waiting times, party leader Jack Layton said on Thursday.

Privatization Canada's National Rail Disaster

As major railway accidents caused by CN have occured over the last six months I have blogged about the disaster that is the Canadian National (CN) Railway (sic). Which it no longer is; Canadian or National. It is now a Contiental Railway, since it was privatized. And this is the core problem with it, while a successful business, it has sacrificed workers, communities and public safety for the bottom line. Yesterday another major crash occured with CN in B.C. Not one but two of them.

Under US president E, Hunter Harisson the working conditions at CN have worsened, the use of just in time management strategies and reducing workers for automated systems has led to an unprecidented summer and fall of accidents.
And now that they have taken over B.C. Rail, privatized by the Campbell government last year, their record for accidents has beat that of the previously provinicial owned and run B.C. Rail. BC Rail accident rate higher with CN in charge

When a bridge in McBride B.C. collapsed in 2003 and killed two railworkers it was the direct result of CN's bottom line fixation. Rather than maintain and fix the bridge, the company cut costs and corners the result was the death of two workers.

CN was fined in court yesterday a mere $75,000 of a potential $200,000 penalty. This is what a rail workers life is worth with privatized CN, $37, 500. Less than what those workers actually earned in a year. In their after profit per worker, after wages, and taxes, this is what CN makes, in annual productivity per worker funny that. And no one went to jail for nurder or manslaughter even though CN admited it was at fault! And they have two weeks to pay! Get out the cheque book.

Two Prince George men, Conductor Ken LeQuesne and Engineer Art McKay, both 51, were killed when the train left a wooden trestle bridge and plunged into a ravine.Canadian National Railway Spokesperson, Jim Feeney, says, "Yes, we pleaded guilty to a count under the Railway Safety Act for failing to ensure proper documentation and procedures in respect to railway work, inspection and maintenance on that bridge." The company has received a fine of $75,000.00 on a count that carried a maximun $200,000.00 penalty. Feeney says a broken rail has been indicated as the cause, which is "an unforeseen and unpredictable accident."

No it's not an unpredicatble accident, it was as they say in the Health and Safety world an incident waiting to become an accident. CN admited they cut back maintenance inspections, and in doing do the result was that this unpredictable accident could have been avoided.This was murder by negligence. And the court did nothing about it because it was restrained by the law which was applied against CN. The State failed to take CN to court for negligence and willfull neglect, or even criminal manslaughter. Instead they filed charges under the Canada Labour Act, and the Railway Safety Act, lesser acts which carry lesser penalities. Clever CN, pleading guilty, to get out of really paying for their crimes.

CN was privatized under the Liberals, not Mulroney's Conservatives, and it is the Liberals who are defending their sell off of our National Railway. Liberal Cabinet Minister and Candidate David Emerson said yesterday that CN's problems in B.C. were because they inherited them from B.C. Rail who failed to maintain their raillines. Thats passing the buck. Funny that we didn't have all these disasters when B.C. Rail ran its trains over the same lines. The reason is that CN has expanded the number of cars on the tracks in order to meet its just in time obligations to the coastal ports. After 11 derailments in the past six months the government has finally acted. CN ordered to shorten trains to no more than 80 cars after B.C. derailments

This speed up with the increase use of intermodal cars began after CN was privatized. A woman in Richmond has taken CN to court over the increasing traffic through her neighbourhood which she says began in 1992 after CN was privatized.

CN faces suit over derailment damage East Richmond woman says Monday's incident was not a surprise

But that all changed in 1992, when CN Rail began to operate its works yard in the middle of the night and escalated its operations.
Short trains became longer, overnight noise routine. A couple of thunderous diesel-spewing locomotives turned into nearly a half dozen. And the odd shake turned into troublesome daily quakes.
As activity ramped up in the works yard, so worsened the impact on Fisher's life.
Fisher, who has sued Canadian National Railway in B.C. Supreme Court, contacted The Richmond Review Tuesday, following Monday night's four-car derailment of a 39-car train not far from her home.
Four trains jumped the tracks on the Lulu Island trestle, one of which plunged into the North Arm of the Fraser River, carrying with it numerous brand new Toyota cars.
Fisher pointed out that this isn't the first derailment in the area, and that one on Dec. 31, 2002 happened next to her house and caused her already-split garage foundation to heave several inches. The split itself, she claims, was caused by the increased rail activity.
The cause of the 2002 derailment, according to Fisher, was speed and specifically trains being coupled together with too great a force.
Fisher's court case begins the discovery phase early next year.
Fisher said the sound of trains being shunted together each night is ruining her quality of life.
In addition, the ear-splitting 90 decibel whistle that screams four times each occasion a train reaches a level crossing now repeats itself up to 100 times on the worst of days, she said.
Trains are now a lot longer and much heavier, causing her property to routinely shudder, one time generating a jolt powerful enough to knock food off her table.

And in Alberta where we had one of the most serious toxic spills ever this summer thanks to CN the people whose lake was polluted have waited and waited to get compensation. Now CN is offering them a piddly $5000 each.CN offers cash for spill

Residents discussed the compensation offer at a meeting on Oct. 29. According to minutes of the meeting, Goss told residents CN was "mad as hell" with the provincial government and threatened to move its regional office out of Edmonton.

The Aug. 3 derailment spilled more than 700,000 litres of fuel oil and pole-treating oil in and around the lake. Since the spill, the company has been under a strict environmental protection order from Alberta Environment.

Provincial investigators executed search warrants on the company's Walker Yard facility in Edmonton. That generated "a lot of anger, I think, that (CN) were treated like criminals and things like that," said Goss, adding that the company sent Premier Ralph Klein a letter threatening to relocate.

It took the threat of criminal charges to get CN to actually act. At first they threatened a capital strike, to move out of the province because of the way the usually business friendly Klein regime was treating them. But the spill embarassed the government and showed they had no plan for dealing with a disaster of this magnitude. A disaster that again was predictable considering this province is an industrialized chemical hazard from north to south. Whether it is petro chemicals, fertilizers, etc, we have plants every where, and we have toxic goods on our highways and raillines, that travel across the province daily. The CN spill exposed the fact that the government had no environmental disaster plan. You don't embarass King Ralph and expect him to laugh it off.

In order to forestall further criticism about its decades old failure to maintain its lines, except for its bottom line, E. Hunter Harrison has announced CN will spend 10% more next year than they did this year to repair and maintain its lines in Western Canada. Oh be still my beating heart. Clearly what they spent this year did not even address the basic maintenance they have neglected over the years.

Thats because along with attacks on workers wages and benefits, reductions in the workforce, increasing train traffice and intermodal capacity, the capital privatized CN gained was used to buy up American Rail companies in order to become a Continental rail company. Sacrifices had to be made for the bottom line, and those included worker and public safety. And now the chickens are coming home to roost.

It's still not to late to rethink privatization. What we once owned as national crown corporations could be nationalized again. And at least one NDP candidate this election is saying so. And he running against the Minister in charge of Canada's railways.

An NDP candidate in Quebec says the Canadian government should run Air Canada, CN Rail, and the oil and gas industry. Leo-Paul Lauzon, a university economics professor in Quebec known for his left-wing views, said Canada should never have privatized those national commodities.Lauzon is the NDP candidate in one of the most hotly contested ridings in Quebec, facing off against Transport Minister Jean Lapierre, who is running for the Liberals, and against former PQ cabinet minister Jacques Leonard, who is running for the Bloc Québécois.

Where there's Smoke there's Smokers

Do as I say not as I do. Klein caucus ignores smoking ban
EDMONTON - Children could be banished from parts of Alberta's legislature so politicians can continue smoking in their offices.
Yep whats good for the goose ain't good for the gander in Alberta. Actually having well ventilated electro disperesed air filtration smoking rooms in the work place is a rational thing to do. But the taxpayer funded anti-smoking lobby is all about All or Nothing. So while the rest of us suffer the pariah of being smokers, the MLA's can merrily smoke in their offices. Now I take exception to that since we know that the majority of Kleins Caucus and MLA's are children, they should be protected from themselves. Meanwhile the impact on business in Edmonton, especially resteraunts and bars, lounges, etc. of the complete smoking ban, is a decline in business by 70% anecdotalely. Watch as the weather gets colder that will rise to 90%. So much for no impact on business that the anti-smoking fascists lied about. Oh wait a minute isn't the Legislature in Edmonton? Why by golly gum it is. So how come the provincial legislation trumps the city bylaw banning smoking in all public buildings. Hmmmm. Like I said what's good for the goose.....

Stand Up Canada

This election you get to choose who you want to Stand Up for you. And it ain't the Liberals cause they don't use the Stand Up Slogan, they hope their opponents will sit this one out.

However if you want somebody to Stand Up for you
then your choices are;

The NDP

The Conservatives

"It's not where you sit but where you stand." — Belinda Stronach, addressing criticism over her switch in parties from Conservative to Liberal by saying her principles stayed the same.

A Liberal Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there were Three Bad Liberals in Quebec, and the first one said, I wanna unload alot of money on my pals, the second one said I can unload alot of money on your pals, and the third one said I can make alot of money off you unloading money on your pals.

And then a big brave Liberal named PM rode into Ottawa and said I am offended at all the money that them Liberals spent in Quebec and I am going to do something about it. But the people were not amused and they said, but you are a Liberal.

And big brave PM said Yes I am but not a Liberal like them. And so he got the good sheriff of Gomery to look into the nasty deeds done by bad Liberals. And the good Sheriff of Gomery said that PM was a good Liberal, and that he did not know what the bad Liberals were doing, and the bad Liberals should go to jail.

And so the Liberal party was saved by PM and they all lived happily ever after...........

Except for the nasty Troll Kretien who lived under the PeaceTower and kept popping up and saying; "I yam gonna sue dat Sheriff Gomery d'about what he been saying about me".

But other than that..........

oh yeah and then their was the other Troll Peltme who said "nyah nyah I got my job back",

But other than that...............

opps then there was that other Troll DingDonginthewell who was a bad Liberal and PM got rid of him but he kept popping up saying; "I'm entitled" (he thought he was a prince)...

Well ok they kinda lived happily ever after........Except that the people called an election and PM was sad, cause he wanted to do so much for the people, with their money, and he said that the people didn't need an election cause he had put the Kingdom right with all his Kings Horses and all his Kings men, and it was just that nasty Prince of Darkness the Harp that wanted an election.

And then PM said to all the boys and girls in the Kingdom I will give you daycare, they cheered, I will give you healthcare,they cheered, I will give you clean air, and they cheered.

Suddenly there was a flash and in a puff of smoke the Pied Piper Layton appeared and said, hey I already said that stuff, and the children cheered.

Well it all got complicated after that and we are not sure where anyone was living or whether they were happy or not, cause no-one talked about the homeless or the poor, but that is a tale for another day.

The End.

CPP Funds Wal-Mart

The Green Party leader Jim Harris announced today that our Federal pension fund,the CPP, is a shareholder in union busting, child labour exploiting Wal-Mart. Congarts every Canadian is now a shareholder in exploitation. The Greens called for a Corporate Social Responsibility Act and for the end of CPP investments in Wal-Mart.

"Wal-Mart has a proven track record of insufficient sensitivities to the communities in which it operates, and a prime example of this corporate approach is the closing of their store in Jonquière last April, shortly after its workers unionized", said Harris.

As of the 31st of March 2005, the CPP held 322 000 shares in Wal-Mart valued at almost 20 million dollars. "If the CPP still owns these shares they have a responsibility to divest and send a strong message to all companies that our values as a community are more important than a single corporation's interests," said Harris.

Recently Radio Canada exposed the fact that Wal-Mart goods sold in Canada were being made by child labour in Bangladesh. In response to criciticsm of expoliting child labour Wal-Mart has refused to change its practices and has instead run away from its responsibilities.Bangladesh Wal-Mart criticised for cut and run policy - not taking responsibility for use of child labour

The use of the CPP,which all retired Canadians rely upon, as an investment vehicle has been a major source of controversy. Anti War Activists have pointed out the Military Weapons investments made by the CPP and recently David Dodge of the Bank of Canada suggested the CPP be used to invest in P3's.

When we think of ethical investments we would be forgiven for thinking that would be the prime investment vehicle of our publicly funded CPP. But it is not. The CPP is out to make money with no democratic control or transparency. Once again the Market Managers invest our pension money with no ethical parameters to restrict them.

Previous Pension Articles are Here and Here

You Like Us You Really Like Us

Canada 'not at its best at the moment': Economist

The Economist this week is Covers Canada literally. We are the Cover Story. They like us they really like us. Well they should we are the most successful capitalist economy in the G8, or the G9 or the G10, of the G11 or the.....And we Love NAFTA.....Ask Paul........We are fighting those nasty Yankee Protectionists to defend something that the Liberals once claimed was the fight of their life to oppose.....Yep the Economist says we're cool, and then the other shoe drops........
The magazine also points to Canada's peculiar flaws. "Canada has everything, except perhaps ambition." Ouch. And with tha erudite British aplomb they co on to give our little country their capitalist report card;

The latest edition says Canada is beset dysfunctional politics, grumpy anti-Americanism and three brewing political storms: one in the West, one in Quebec and one in its relations with the United States. The business-oriented publication is running a 14-page special report and a lead editorial on Canada.

It's upbeat about Canada's overall prospects: "Peaceful, diverse, tolerant (in June gay marriages became legal throughout the country) and with long-term riches to boot - if this isn't 'cool', what is?"

However, it points to building political turbulence.

Looking at the campaign for the Jan. 23 federal election, the survey describes the country's politics as "a fractured mess."

Prime Minister Paul Martin is "a fine finance minister, but as prime minister he has, on the whole, disappointed."

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is described as "an aloof, cerebral figure, disparaged well beyond Liberal circles as a neo-conservative importing dangerous ideas from the United States.

He is also "clueless with the media."

Yep that sort of hits on the head doesn't it.

The Logic of the Homophobic Right

Here is an example of the irrefutible logic of the anti-gay rightwhingnuts. It appears today on the Anti-Abortion Anti-Gay Anti-Feminist Lifesite (sic)- The rightwhingnutz of Lifesite claim that the Charter defends individual rights not rights to Same Sex Marriage.

However, as the Family Research Council (FRC) has pointed out, "while every individual person is free to get married, no person, whether heterosexual or homosexual, has ever had a legal right to marry simply any willing partner. Every person, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is subject to legal restrictions as to whom they may marry. To be specific, every person, regardless of sexual preference, is legally barred from marrying a child, a close blood relative, a person who is already married, or a person of the same sex. There is no discrimination here, nor does such a policy deny anyone the 'equal protection of the laws', since these restrictions apply equally to every individual." Aha now I get it Mr. or Ms. Individual regardless of sexual orientation may NOT engage in pedophilia, incest, bigamy or gay marriage. The first three are 'criminal acts' under the Criminal Code of Canada. So what Lifestyle is saying is that gay marriage is not a human right for Mr or Ms. Individual it is a Criminal Act apparently banned by the Criminal Code.

To further clarify this important point, in case you didn't get it Mr. or Ms. Individual, they say; "The fundamental 'right to marry' is a right that rests with individuals, not with couples. Homosexual individuals already have exactly the same 'right' to marry as anyone else. " As long as you marry Mr. or Ms. Individual of the opposite sex. FRC points out that "Many people who now identify themselves as homosexual have previously been in legal (opposite-sex) marriages. On the other hand, many people who previously had homosexual relationships have now renounced that behavior and married persons of the opposite sex." So Mr or Ms Individual can marry someone who is or was gay as long as they are of the opposite sex.

Yep see what I mean irrefutible logic. I am convinced. I will now go marry my dog cause it's not specifically banned by the Criminal Code. Its my individual right according to the logic of FRC.

Contradictions of the Security State

So explain this, Canada and the US are looking at imposing passport identification for cross border travel. US passport plan gives way to cross-border ID Meanwhile the government says Canadians are NOT entitled to passports. Hmmmm...... The Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn't entitle any Canadian — including Abdurahman Khadr — to a passport, a government lawyer argued yesterday as the man with family ties to Al Qaeda fought for the right to have the travel document"There is no authority suggesting such a right (to a passport) exists in Canada," said Morris. "It doesn't guarantee you a right to travel and it's not necessary for it." Oh really, tell that to US and European Customs!

Better yet the current Toronto Centre Liberal Candidate Bill Graham bungled this case, and denied Khadr his passport.....Government lawyers admitted yesterday that former foreign affairs minister Bill Graham bungled the handling of Khadr's failed application. Court documents reveal that the passport office withheld information from Khadr and his lawyer related to the decision because the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service requested secrecy. Yep I smell another Liberal Scandal happening here, just in time for the Election.

Blame 50 Cents

Carrying guns has become trendy, Vancouver police fear
Vancouver police say they're worried about a new trend, as more young men with minimal gang or criminal connections are carrying handguns - that packing a gun appears to have become an "in" thing. Yep it's all that ultra violent motherf***** n****, yo ho, you bytch, Gangsta Hippty Hoppy music thay all listen to.....Gangsta Hip Hop is to Black Community Resistance as the Iraqi Resistance is to Freedom for Iraq. It's all about guns and money, and money and guns, and money for guns, and guns for money.......and I just realized that in Canada 50 cents is two bits...as in two bit punk...or two bit gangster...or two bit thug.....We waz ahead of our time.....

Election Comix

Harper will 'burn people out,' Martin camp says

Paul Martin's handlers believe there is a chance
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper will "burn people out"
with his daily doses of policy announcements.

Thats cause Martin has Nothing to say.......

Venezuela vote was fair

As I said here the other day, Chavez was elected by popular vote, once again. Three times now. And those that boycotted the elections did so under the misguided support of the United States,US Criticizes Venezuelan Vote ,and in doing so cut their noses off to spite their faces. As the song goes "When will they ever learn". America loves democracy, wants to spread democracy around the world, as long as its on America's terms, with American approved leadership, and friendly to America.
Observers say Venezuela vote was fair Jose Silva, head of the European Union team, said the vote was clean and praised the elections council."For us, there was transparency in the electoral process," said Silva, who oversaw about 160 observers

Purge

In the long standing tradition of Stalinism China is looking to blame local officials, Beijing vows to punish polluters, for the recent toxic spill and explosion at the gas plant that has now polluted two major cities. Toxic slick hits another major Chinese city But how do you punish capitalism? Since China's problems are all related to her growing market economy, that still relies on the party cornyism of Stalinism and its lack of regulation of the market. Ironic that. The Chinese state capitalists share something in common with the American Free Marketers. Like Bush they refuse to accept Kyoto or their responsibility for the environmental damage their rush towards industrialized Fordist production brings.

The vice-mayor of the Chinese city where a chemical blast polluted a major river last month has been found dead.

Three weeks on from the accident, China's leaders are finally scrambling to assign blame, says a BBC correspondent in Beijing, Louisa Lim.

The saga has already led to two resignations - the head of the environmental watchdog and the boss of the petrochemical company in charge of the plant which exploded.

The government has set up a team to find out who was responsible for the explosion. It warned that anyone who failed to co-operate would be punished.

Government leaders are increasingly stressing the need for local officials to be seen to be accountable, and more transparent.

But our correspondent says that the terms of the investigation refer only to the immediate explosion, not to any ensuing cover-up, and therefore might not be enough to assuage public anger.

25,000 and counting

Over 25,000 people have signed the online petition in Arabic and English, demanding freedom for the four members of Christian Peace-Keeper Teams, who were taken hostage in Iraq. The petition was begun Dec. 1 and it is now seven days later, and that is an amazing amount of signatures. And its still not too late to add your name.

Canadian Muslims have been out spoken in defense of the CPT. Muslims appeal for westerners' freedom As have Palistinians who know them and their selfless work well. A Canadian Iman is in Baghad attempting to negogiate with the gangsters that have kidnapped them.Montreal man in bid to free hostages

Today is the eve that these defenders of the defenseless may face their last day alive. Fear grows for hostages as deadline looms The fascist thugs who have kidnapped them threaten to kill them tommorow. Their demands are unrealistic, and a feint, it is these very CPT members who have done more to help the imprisioned and detained in Iraq than the creeps who have kidnapped them.

The current so called resistance movement in Iraq is not, it is a fascist movement, as are all those who support either Al Quaida, or the Sunni and Shite militias. The Americans and their puppet government in Iraq are directly to blame for the CPT plight. For having falsely imprisoned hundreds of innocent Iraqi's. For the abuse they have suffered at the hands of the American Empire and the Iraqi State. As new evidence has shown in the media the New Democratic State in Iraq has tortured, abused, killed and secretly detained Iraqis for poltical purposes.

This is the situation that these brave souls, two Canadians amongst them, stepped into to side with the oppressed, and the families of the detained. Those who kidnapped them are the lowest of the low, and in good company with the Bush Administration, and the Iraqi Government.

If anyone thinks this so called resistance movement and its civil war in Iraq is about bettering the conditions of the Iraqi people, this incident should dispell that illusion. Anyone who would do this to those who support the people and oppose war and imperialism are fascists.

The War For Chocolate

In an article about Chocolate and the continuing civil war in the Ivory Coast, there was a Canadian connection.....The cocoa industry is a sensitive subject here. Secrecy is such a priority that the government doesn't publish official production figures. French-Canadian journalist Guy-Andre Kieffer, who wrote articles about corruption in Ivory Coast — including its cocoa industry — disappeared in the country in 2004 and was believed murdered. The vast majority of the crop is grown in government-held territory, but the U.N. report said rebels use cocoa, along with gold, diamonds and timber, to fund "their military activities, as well as for personal profit." On the other side, the U.N. said, the government "is dependent on the cocoa crop to maintain solvency and succeed in paying its civil servants, including the military."

War in Africa is always about business, about the resources a region has. The right wing analysists will talk about tribalism, and try to project this as still the Dark Continent of primitive peoples warring amongst themselves. But such is not the case.

In the Congo and Rawanda the conflict is over gold, silver, and diamonds, still is. In Sierra Leone its over diamonds. In Ethiopia and Somolia its oil and heavy metals. In the Sudan, its not about Darfur, its about oil. Nigeria, Angola, oil.

And my favorite is Chad. You never hear of Chad except once a decade when one of its neighbours and their European allies decides to invade. Little Chad is one richest countries in heavy metals, uranium and precious ores. If nuclear power gains popularity again expect Chad to be in the news.

And chocolate, well that is a major commodity that while it melts in your mouth it's harvested and processed by child slaves in the Ivory Coast. Ironcially this was the point of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that critics overlooked.

Children who are slaves are then dragooned into the internecine rivalries as child soldiers. Just as we have Child Armies in the Central African conflicts funded by the diamond trade, we have child armies in the Ivory Coast funded by Hershey. As the saying goes War is good for business, invest your son.

Victory at MotherCorp

JB the CBC Election Blogger has added the Green Party Blog and Blogging Greens to his blog side bar listings. And he wrote about the NDP candiates blogs and a very funny piece on Monte Solbergs blog and his new roommate Chuck Strahls blog. Very funny. All is forgiven JB. Could you remind the PTB that the CBC main election page still has the Green Party lumped in with 'Others'.

Blogging NDP Candidates

Jack doesn't blog, strange that for such a with it guy. Nor does any mysterious unnamed party flack on their website (like with Tory Flog). Nor does Jacks brain trust of Anne, Brad, or Jamie. However there are Blogging NDP Candidates and their blogs are listed here. And while the Tories and Liberals have TV ads the NDP has Radio Ads, rumour has it that Jack is being toured with an Amish Horse and Carriage.

Green Opportunism: The Anti-Sealing Lobby

Green organizer quits over seal hunt opposition

Lori-Ann Martino, who was a candidate in Labrador riding in the 2004 federal election, says she cannot abide the party's opposition to a commercial seal hunt.

"This is a terrible strategy," said Martino, who feels the Green party is attempting to recruit voters who are morally opposed to the seal hunt but may not be informed about it.

"I have put so much work personally in distancing Newfoundland from that generic, stereotypical view [that] completely overrides the complexity of the issue ... and the economic importance and cultural importance of the hunt," Martino said.

Martino, though, said Green strategists hoping to appeal to new voters devised the initiative.

She said rank-and-file members she consulted did not support the decision.

"There was just such a disconnect between the membership and the leadership. And the Green party was never supposed to be about leaders," Martino said.

Harris said potential economic replacements for the seal hunt could include ecotourism.

Good on ya Martino. Jim Harris has placed the Green Party in the position of taking on a popular yet misguided opposition against Sealers. Martino is right it isn't about cute cuddly seals, thats incidental. Its about oddles and oddles of money that Green NGO's make off the seals so called plight.

Its about demonizing people in favour of animals. its about anthropomorphizing seals and dehumanizing sealers. Its about eco-racism, Inuit sealers are never attacked but Newfoundlanders are, cause they are Irish. The English colonial attitude about the stupid peasant Irish is reflected in the language and attitude of the anti-sealer movement.

I have taken the unpopular position of questioning the whole logic behind the anti-seal hunt protest last sealing season on my Red Between the Lines Blog.
See:

• Did Viagra impact the Seal Hunt

• Seal Hunt Deja Vu Redux

• Who Speaks for the Sealers?

• A Rational Observation on the Seal Hunt

• Seal Hunt Deja Vu.

I was influenced by a critical article on Greenpeace that appeared in the Fall 2004 Issue Of Labour/le Travail, The Canadian Labour History Journal, that I reccomend reading: Environmental Justice for Whom? Class, New Social Movements, and the Environment: A Case Study of Greenpeace Canada, 1971-2000 by John-Henry Harter.

It is rare that the left or labour or anyone identified as progressive criticizes the Real Politicks of the Green NGO movement. But here is an excellent article that shows how Greenpeace first aligned with the Sealers, then abandoned them on the ice so to speak by first supporting a limited hunt and then calling on their own for the ending of any hunt. Harter goes on to link this anti-worker attitude to the very nature and structure of Greenpeace and its subsequent attempts in the last few years to bust the union created by its own workers.

While the knee jerk reaction of Canadians and Americans, young and old, left or right, is to end the seal hunt this is neither sound social ecology nor real environmentalism.It is psuedo environmentalism created as a publicity ploy by GreenPeace many years ago to get their name known to the public. And it foucused on the cute cuddly seals while making the sealers into brutal sadistic Nazi like killers.



It all had to do with the success of the PR image they created around the cute big eyed seals. A subliminal image in the eye of the poor seal shows a sealer about to club it.

The success of this PR move led to the split between Paul Watson and Greenpeace, over their moving on to other issues, while Watson wanted to make the seal hunt their main focus. Thus Watson created the Sea Sheperd Society opposed to both Whaling and Sealing. Like Greenpeace he bought a boat and hit the high seas like Captain Ahab, for Paul his Moby Dick was the Whaling industry.

And there is a difference between these two sea marine mammals and their status as endangered species. Which is why focusing on one species that is not endangered perse, over one that is, blurs the lines between rational ecology from animal liberation.

And currently this issue is no longer about rational ecology or even environmentalism it has become a simple Animal Liberation cause celebre on one hand and a quick way to make bucks and get free publicity for Green NGO organizations like the Humane Society of North America. Who launch the same campaign year after year with little intention of changing the seal hunt, but cashing in on donations from the gullible.

The seal hunt in Canada this year was scandal ridden with a falsified news story sensationalizing the hunt in the Boston Globe.

The Boston Globe has retracted an article by a Halifax-based freelancer that described the opening day of the seal hunt. The article, by Halifax-based writer Barbara Stewart, was published Wednesday, and described vividly how on the preceding day "hunters on about 300 boats converged on ice floes, shooting harp seal cubs by the hundreds, as the ice and water turned red."

The story was untrue, a figment of the writers graphic imagination. But it sold to a liberal newspaper conditioned to see the seal hunt as bad. Greenpeace which had begun the campaign jointly with the sealers to reduce the quotas had abandoned them and went on the attack against them. The Seal hunt maybe the issue on the surface but beneath the surface the target has been the workers; the sealers.

This isn't an anti-sealing movement its an Anti-Sealer movement, and those in Newfoundland know it. Which is why Martio in all good conciousness could not continue in the Green Party where an Ontario based leadership made a decision based upon populist politics.

In the ROC we have been so innundated with this anti-sealer propaganda that every year like clockwork the campaigns rollout , the protests begin and the money flows in to the various Green NGO's. If people were so concerned about the sealers fate that money would flow to them to pay them to end the hunt.

During last seasons seal hunt a member of the Board of Wattson's Sea Sheperd Society sayed it was ok to kill sealers to stop the hunt. Dr. Vlasak was an outspoke Animial Rights activist who had already said it was ok to kill scientists who work on lab animals.

Vlasak was barred from entering the United Kingdom after he told a 2003 conference in the United States that he supports assassination of animal researchers as a means of stopping animal-based research.

"If these vivisectors were being targeted for assassination, and call it political assassination or what have you ... strictly from a fear and intimidation factor, that would be an effective tactic," Vlasak said at the time.

In an interview this week with the CBC, Vlasak did not back down from those remarks, and he said he also supported violence against sealers.

"Are these people comparable to people that chop up animals in laboratories just to further their academic careers? Yeah, I think they're all abhorrent in a certain way," he said.

Meanwhile, Vlasak – who did not back down from any of his previous comments about violence – has blasted CBC's coverage of his views.

He said his comments were not comprehensively reported by CBC, and that he was not speaking on behalf of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

"What an unethical breach of journalistic integrity," he wrote in an e-mail message, adding that he had repeatedly described the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as a non-violent organization.

"I didn't expect much from a Newfie, but you have hit a new low for one-sided reporting," Vlasak wrote.

Watson himself was pressured to get rid of Vlasak, but that was not the only incident where violence against sealers was promoted by Watson. RCMP investigate death threats against a sealernd his family posted on the Sea Shepard Blog.

The CBC reported; An April 2 posting on a blog on the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's website identified Genge's name, mailing address, phone number and even the name of his wife. The RCMP are investigating the incident.

These are not just aborations from an otherwise socially conscious campaign, they show that the anti-sealing campaigners will stop at nothing to destroy the livilihoods of the sealers. After that you can expect them to pop into your neighbourhood to end the slaughter of inncocence in the meat packing plants.
Or the lobsters in your local resteraunt.

This is not about living with animals, the animal activists around Sea Shepard or PETA have one agenda, them or us. And in this case the them is animals and the us is well us. They want to impose their vegan, not vegetarian but the much more radical dietary restriction, morality on us. And after all if their tactics resemble shock troops, thats cause Adolph was a vegetarian too. One's dietary preferences do not a progressive social movement make.

And their opposition to the seal hunt is purely opportunist now, they will make millions of dollars doing it, funding their lifestyle activism, with little or no concern for the impact they have on the the people and their communities. Whether it is sealers in the Arctic, Norway, Greenland or Newfoundland.

In Watson's case what began as a campaign against the stupidity of Whaling has now become a campaign against fishing. Period. Like globe hopping anti-globaliztion spokespersons, Watson is a one man show, who pops up whereever he thinks an injustice is being done protests, gets busted, makes the news and leaves. With no consideration his actions have on the people or communities he disrupts. This isn't eco activism this is eco protest tourism.

After all as Vlasak said he doesn't much care for Newfies, nor does Greepeace or Paul Watson. They only care about using the seal hunt to publicize themselves to gain more money from the unsuspecting but sympathetic public.

As they go on another mission somewhere else in the world to disrupt another community. This is not eco-activism, this is not the long struggle of working with communities to evolve change. It is animal liberation at the cost of other animals, us. This is simply eco protest tourism. Meanwhile, Watson's protest is over for this year. His ship the Farley Mowat passed by the seal hunt off the northeast coast of Newfoundland before heading to the Grand Banks to protest overfishing. The Farley Mowat has now left Canadian waters and is now sailing to Bermuda.

Victory!

Pressure from progressive bloggers and blogging dippers has forced the CTV Election Weblog to add the Green Bloggers to its links! And congrats to them for publishing comments, the other webbieelectionbloggies don't. And congrats to actually publishing a visitor blog article, and a good one at that. And for actually having this. Its unique. They have also been watching the blogosphere for leads and giving credit to the source. Again CTV take the lead in web blogging during this election. Hey Mother Corp there are lessons to be learned here.

And while giving tips o the blog I wanna draw your attention to the great coverage on CPAC. Yesterday they ran a feature background documentary on Day Care/Early Childhood Education in Canada, featuring all sides of the debate. The winners clearly were propenants of publicly funded, regulated daycre. Great documentary very fair and balanced.

Harper the Statist

Ok I couldn't believe it when I read this editorial but here it is. For a moment I will let you guess where this came from.

Tories offer a big buyoff

Day-care allowance echoes Quebec's statist programs

Well, it's not your father's Canadian Alliance any more.

The Conservative Party's baby bonus -- more precisely, its promised annual $1,200 allowance per child -- is classic state interventionism. It's also a significant upping of the bid in the parties' competition to stake out the family values constituency.

As such, it is the thin end of what could become a ruinously expensive wedge. Society may be prepared to countenance tax breaks for low-income families, but as a general principle, people who have children should pay for them.

Why would anybody expect the state to do so?

The reason, of course, is that Quebec's socialist Parti Quebecois started this madness in 1997, with its so-called $5-a-day day care. Since upped to $7, it proved wildly popular.

Looking for a vote-winner itself last year, the embattled federal Liberal government adopted the idea, pledging $5 billion over five years for national day care.

Frankly, Quebec's experience should have been a salutary warning, rather than an inspiration.

Well contrary to this editorial the Quebec program didn't just pay parents it provided a public regulated non profit day care system for children. It then subsidized these programs at a cost of $5 per day allowing for more affordable access. The creation of public day care spaces is what this ediorial must mean by statist.

That is not what the Harper plan is, not even close, his plan is to give parents $4 a day, with no plan to fund non profit regulated public child care or build more centres.

So to call his plan statist is a bit much. To compare it to the Quebec model is an even greater jump in logic. To say that this isn't your fathers Alliance party, well yes it is, it just isn't yer grandaddies Reform Party of Presto Manning.

To say that people who have children should pay for them contradicts the conservative eulogy of the sacredness of family, and how children are a resource for the future. Thats the contradiction of conservative thinking, on the one hand children are their parents problem on the other they are our future. Which is it?

Well both, but in order to raise children and to have them socially develop not as a resource but as citizens in the commune, err community, then they are a responsibility for all of us. Hence it takes a village, always did, to raise children. Today society is the extended family that replaces the tribe, clan and village. So yes we do have a social responsibility for children. Thats why we have public education and need public regulated day care in the community and in our schools and workplaces.

The editorial, was not from the National Post, scion of the new right, nor from the Calgary Sun or any of the Sun papers. Nope it was from the Calgary Herald today. So anybody still out there think our media is liberal?

More MSM Election Weblogs

Canwest news, publishers of the Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, owners of Global TV etc. have their correspondents web blogging about the election here.
And for Alberta politics from the Press Gallery in the Leg I can highly reccomend Graham Thompsons new blog at the Edmonton Journal.

Albertans Challenge Harpers Day Care Plan

I got this email from Public Interst Alberta which has been lobbying for better child care in Alberta. Thought I would print the whole thing as it raises serious criticisms of Harpers Made In Alberta Day Care Plan.

The Conservative Party of Canada released their plan for Childcare
yesterday. The main focus of the Conservative Party plan is to give families
$100 per month for every child under the age of 6 ($2.4 billion annually)
regardless of income and allow them to "choose" their own childcare
preferences.

The media called on Public Interest Alberta to respond to this new plan. In
particular, I did a CBC Television Interview (in English and French that ran
province wide) and an interview in the Calgary Herald and the Edmonton
Journal (see article).

It is very important that people who care about this important public
interest issues use the election to participate in phone in shows and write
letters to the editor of your local new papers. Here are some points that
are important when looking at this issue.


* Families will not have a real choice for childcare and early
childhood education options unless there is an affordable, accessible and
high quality childcare system in place.

* Giving all parents money directly as a policy to build a childcare
system is the same as giving money to everyone who owns a car and expecting
that will build a road system.

* The tax incentives for corporations to start new childcare centres
will not work. This was tried by the Harris government and it failed because
most businesses are not interested in creating childcare centres. They do
however, want their employees to be able to access quality childcare and
expect that their tax dollars will provide this important public service.

* The Conservative plan makes no mention of support for low and
middle income families who are currently getting subsidies other than to say
that the current agreements will end next year. Under Alberta's recently
released 5 point plan to use the federal childcare funds, families are
currently able to receive a subsidy up to $500/month per child ($575 for
infants) (paid directly to the childcare centres) for licensed and
accredited childcare. Presumably the subsidy arrangement for these families
would be replaced by the Conservative plan with this $100/month plan.

* The Conservative party plan does not even mention early childhood
education as an essential element of any childcare system. The current 5
point provincial plan allows families to receive $100/month for early
learning opportunities for pre-school children.

* There is no mention in this plan for enhancing necessary supports
for parents such as exists with Alberta's new parent link centres.

* The Conservative plan does not address the issue of children
between the ages of 6 and 12 who require before and after school care. There
is a real crisis in after school care that needs to be addressed and any
childcare plan must reflect this.

* Quality childcare comes when childcare workers are well trained
and properly paid for the important work they do. The Conservative plan does
not address the need to increase the training and pay childcare workers get
and would not support the current salary and training for childcare workers
announced in Alberta's 5 point plan for childcare.



I hope these points help provide some context to the debate and will
encourage you to speak out on this issue.



Thank you for your support of Public Interest Alberta.



Sincerely,



Bill Moore-Kilgannon

Executive Director

Public Interest Alberta

From the Harpers Mouth

quoth-the-harper This is a great article on Harper I highly reccomend it. Couldn't have done a better job on it myself, nice piece of research and political analysis.

Harpers Day Care Plan Redux

For $1200 a year here is the kind of child care Harpers sacred 'Parental Choice' brings. This happened in Ontario where the Harper plan is already in place introduced by Mike Harris.

Woman's mental deficiency cited

Jeffrey's grandmother assessed in 1970
Had been charged in death of her first baby, court told

The 54-year-old woman facing a murder charge for the starvation death of her grandson, Jeffrey Baldwin, was diagnosed with "borderline mental retardation" 35 years ago, court heard yesterday.Elva Bottineau, who was assessed at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in 1970 by psychiatrist Dr. Eugene Mandryk, was described in a report as being of "borderline mentally defective intelligence," and displaying "social immaturity, poor judgment, aggressive tendencies and poor impulse control." Bottineau and Kidman, 53, have pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder of five-year-old Jeffrey, who died of septic shock on Nov. 30, 2002. They have also pleaded not guilty to the unlawful confinement a granddaughter. Despite each having a criminal record for child abuse, the couple was given custody of Jeffrey and his three siblings by the Catholic Children's Aid Society.

Like the Conservatives and Real Women the Catholic Childrens's Aid Society probably adhered to the idea that parenting and child rearing are 'natural', and one needs no training it just comes to you when you have children. Yep ideology trumps reason. Much like Harpers dumb Made in Alberta Child Care plan.