After the meeting in Calgary Wednesday night I was famished. Another day on the road, and it had been fourteen hours since I’d eaten. In the hotel, we ordered two salads, two small portions of fish and ice tea. It cost $107. The hotel itself, an aging second-tier establishment, was vastly overpriced.
In fact, just about everything in this city, and much of the province, I gather, comes at a premium. An oil premium. The booming economy has translated into big salaries, big houses, big SUVs, big prices, big mortgages and, too often, a big nothing at the end of the month. So many people tell me they may be making the most in their lives, but they’re spending it just as fast. Topping the list of reasons why is the burden of real estate.
So after Edmonton this morning and Red Deer at noon, it was Calgary that consumed the rest of my day. In the afternoon I met with a small hall full of jilted income investors, and at night with a bigger room of regular folks. For them, too, that trust disappointment was the burning issue, but we also spent time on Canada’s lack of a climate change plan, on the unresponsiveness of Calgary MPs, on Stephane Dion’s perceived struggle for popular support, on the chances of a quick election and the slipping accountability of government itself.
As usual, I did a 30-minute opening presentation, then we went open mic for the next hour. It’s seldom I get heckled during my formal shtick, but this is Calgary, home of the ugliest emails that this poor little defenseless blog receives. The fact there were two Con operatives lurking in the corner of the back row, one carefully taping my every move, became immediately obvious.
I started to feel all tingly. Finally, protestors. Be still, my heart.
But the big issue to hang around my poor neck once the comment period arrived? That mailers were sent out to people in Calgary, advertising the meeting, and that this was done from the office budgets of more than a dozen of my colleague MPs. As I explained, the mailings were printed by the House of Commons, stuffed into envelopes and mailed by the House, according to rules all MPs must respect. The point was also made that the prime minister uses this technique more than any other MP, flooding other ridings (like mine of Halton) with pro-government material. Like, yawn.
I left it to another person to bring up the current scandal about Conservatives laundering national election money through local ridings. Then the crowd shouted the guy down. And that was it. The two sat and grumbled for a while. Shot more videotape. But when a CBC television cameraman started mousing around their corner of the room, the ops fled.
I was crushed. Two crappy agent provocateurs with one no-traction charge? Is that the best material loser Blogging Tories can engender in the red meat-eaters after two weeks of attacking my little tour? Are Conservatives actually ready to cede Alberta?
Probably not. Perhaps they were just intimidated by a bunch of people who, if they are not already Liberals, will likely be voting that way in the pivotal election to come. Yeah, in Alberta. Got a problem with that?
192 comments ↓
You are doing a fantastic job. nicely done.
I agree with one of your commentators about Mike Duffy and the gang at CTV. Not worth watching this network. Take a look at their women newscasters, they all look like sick Mannequins – no wonder after being forced to talk about Harper and his gang of misfits.
Good luck the rest of the way. Gary R.
Why is it that every time you refer to someone who seems to be unimpressed with you, or *gasp* recording you, must be a conservative operative?
Seems to me that paranoia is setting in, perhaps too much time on the hill has begun to rot your mind.
Because they were. — Garth
Hello again Garth
I hope the tapes are somewhat decent in content, even if only in visual material alone. Sweet! Those are my legs in the first pic! Yes, my semi pathetic, no make that full pathetic, claim to immortality.
I must say though, he certainly seemed to really want to rake you over the coals about something trivial in the grand scheme of it all. I do recall him stating beyond any doubt that he was there without any party afilliation as well as you inviting him personally. Given the 10 percenters lord knows who that could have been. Although it was a shame to see that Lorraine did not grace herself to your meeting but such is life I suppose.
Perhaps with any luck he will also make himself known on the blog as well.
Oh, getting back to my second question, I will be asking in the future but would it be too much trouble for Mr Dion to make a trip to Hiroshima to declare Canada to be nuclear weapon free? I will ask this in a couple of months once I re-visit the shrine/commemoration but I do believe that Canada has not made itself a declaired nuke weapon free country. If we are nuke free, then why have we not done so with so many Japanese students that see it every year, much less to any foreign tourists? Again, I will get back to you on this one once I visit and take some pictures.
Other than that, it was an absolute pleasure to sit (or in my case almost stand) during your presentation. You are a gentleman and a scholar as well as very civilized and tolerant even if a protestor is wanting to nail your nads to anything. If there is anyone that will comment negatively I can assure you that it is false.
Until your next town hall meeting, wherever that may be.
Steve
As for your comments about real estate and the overall cost of living, I am thankful I don’t own a house in Calgary at all. It is vastly overpriced and questionably made in my honest opinion. My wife and I agree that it is in our best interest to focus on the bigger pitcture of retirement and say screw it to owning a house now. Then again, if the economy slows down as Garth has told us that it is quite likely, then I should consider myself fortunate to be going back to school within a few months.
But yeah Garth, it is so damn expensive to live here. You should go to Canmore then next time you are out here. There are mountain side/view lots for sale in the $1,000,000 range! Beautiful scenery but expensive enough that to serve coffee at Tims, they’ll pay you $12/hr for part time work!
Yep, go to love free enterprise and all the nastiness that comes with it.
“I left it to another person to bring up the current scandal about Conservatives laundering national election money through local ridings. ”
Laundering? Are you trying to compare this to the way drug dealers launder their money or, the way the Quebec LPC executed the adscam?
I do believe there’s still about 40 Million of our tax dollars missing from the LPC’s adscam? Garth, any ideas where our tax dollars are?
Heck, while you are so forthcoming with answers, maybe you can tell us where the 1 Billion is from HRDC and another 1 Billion from the gun registry program?
After the last election I gave a speech to a Conservative riding association. Before I spoke the association treasurer told the crowd they’d received a $40,000 cheque from the national party during the campaign, then written a cheque back for the same amount. That little transaction entitled them to a taxpayer-funded 60% ‘rebate’ of election expenses – in this case a $24,000 windfall for the local group. You’re right. Maybe it’s not laundering. Maybe it’s fraud. — Garth
Garth, “Well Shiver me Timbers” read this, and pleasse ask Reformers and new
Alliance/Conservatives to comment, hell I can understand the fine generousity of the West to give Mr. Charest-Harper taxpayers money for a Quebec tax-cut but this….come on now. Hay Catherine please lead the charge with an openinig statement ” It’s Different”
Tories launch revamped sponsorship program
DANIEL LEBLANC AND VAL ROSS
From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
September 13, 2007 at 4:04 AM EDT
Garth you are right on again PMSH has now plan for governing and must find a way to call an election.
Why do the cons hate native peoples so much?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070913.wunrights0913/BNStory/National/home
Why do they want to keep the worlds aborignal population poor?
Is it so their corporate buddies can rape and pillage all their ancestral lands and destroy the environment?
Alberta is one part of Canada which is suffering from the ideological drive for constant economic growth. Growing the GDP has become such an obsession of this ideology that it leaves rational thinking behind.
Economic growth is not the panacea for everything. In a rapidly changing world both environmentally and economically the focus should be on adaptation, not growth at all costs.
Robert Stanfield, in my opinion one of the last true Conservative leaders this country had this to say: “A Conservative naturally regards a healthy economy as of great importance, but increaseing the size of the gross national product is not in itself a sufficient goal for a civilized nation, according to a Conservative. A healthy economy is obviously important, but a Conservative will be concerned about the effects of economic growth–what this does to our environment, what kind of living conditions it creates, what is its effect on the countryside, what is its effect on our cities; whether all parts of the nation benefit or only some parts of the nation, and whether a greater feeling of justice and fairness and self-fulfillment result from this growth, thereby strengthening the social order and improving the quality of national life.”
It is unfortunate that both new Conservatives and Liberals are still focused on growing the GDP at all costs through increasing economic power in the hands of fewer and fewer private individuals. Both Stephen Harper and Stephane Dion have adopted the neocapitalist ideology (defined as state intervention-supported capitalism) which promotes that system.
The Income Trust issue underlines the way government intervenes in the marketplace to protect capital concentration. With capital in Canada becoming concentrated on energy production both Harper and Dion have become major marketers for that segment of the economy, promoting large capital concentrations (big business) rather than taking a broader view.
In the end, Alberta will suffer just as much as other parts of the country, or likely more, for that narrow thinking.
This is one of the reasons that I have been terribly disappointed by Dion. With all her flaws, Harper and Dion are making Elizabeth May look a lot better.
I hope it does not take disaster before our political and business leaders realize that we are moving in a direction that is unsustainable.
Hope the Westerners know the flatulence might be killing us!
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070913/meat_climate_070913/20070913?hub=TopStories
Garth
The force IS with you!
Access denied ›
You are not authorized to access this page.
http://www.gpo.ca/node/221
3. – ”More autonomy for teachers and local school boards, including restoring the boards’ right to levy property taxes up to 5 percent of their provincial funding allocation.”
After the HARRIS/EVES download, forced amalgamation[s] and resultant increases in property taxes, Frank de Jong has just lost a lot of potential core voters, because property taxes, as everyone knows, are not based on ability to pay. Buh Bye, Frank!
Your energy is inspiring, Garth.
Local politics are engineered by private media so you usually get party supporters to “open house” MP meetings and woe betide if’n you ain’t.
Debate over issues is also controlled by private media in Calgary so the philosophy of “say anything you want, just mention my name a lot”, works only for loyal Conservatives; you ain’t gonna be mentioned. It is amazing how private media can create thoughtless Zombies and lord knows there is lots of them around here.
Wouldn’t it be grand if initiatives like yours caught on, though???
Previous video fouled up so here is the written word (Calgary Herald)
When he saw what looked to be a rat in downtown Red Deer, Alta., the deejay announced to his radio listeners that the central Alberta city was home to at least one, if not more, of the vermin. on a “Lost Liberal Tour.”
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/national/story.html?id=3ee86c9b-4a73-447b-90de-9adb8b43db91&k=3034
I’ll bet what he saw was a juvenile muskrat…….We’re as close to rat-free as you can get! (Well we were until noon today)
Has Pierre Poilievre got PMSH’s approval for the self-help group discussion talking point; ”How to LIE truthfully, while TIRELESSLY OBFUSCATING.” Personally, I will never forget Poilievre’s effectiveness on the Shane Doan inquiry. I hope, when I meeet him, I’m wearing my Kodiaks, ‘cos I sure want to give him my stamp of approval.
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070912_164232_5044&page=1
Good on you Garth. We like pics of these
ToryCRAP Cowards. My dart board needs resurfacing anyway.Lots of talk recently about an elected Senate, mostly because of Harpie’s embarrasing comments to the Australian Parliament.
We know little about Senate, like it anyway
Canadians want to keep it, but favour elected reps
By JENNIFER DITCHBURN The Canadian Press | 4:43 AM
See http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Search/859045.html
Yes, the Senate needs modification, but I’m against an elected one. Imagine non-stop electioneering as is the case now in the HoC. Its supposed to be a chamber of 2nd thought. Do we need more big biz interest groups controlling Canada?
“The findings, released this week by Government House Leader Peter Van Loan, come from a series of public consultations and polls conducted for the Conservatives by Compas Research. Participants were asked how much they knew about different federal institutions, and their opinions on them.”
Gee, wonder how those questions were worded to obtain the answers they wanted.
We often receive calls – at least 1 or 2X a wk from long distance numbers but has ceased picking up the phone. Wonder how many others do likewise & how many polls Cdns don’t respond to. BTW, I used to respond to certain tel. polls awhile back and noticed the biased questions, cut them off politely & refused to answer the remainder of the questions. IMHO polls mean little, such as the one above.
Garth,
Lookey here! McDonald’s outlets getting comfy look Your next tour can be held in a truly upscale ambience, and at no cost whatsoever.
Yes, McDonald’s is going Class! Well, at least the decor is, the food will never have Class. LOL
How to tell the world you’re the best!
…Drawing upon our richest caricaturist resources, in support of ”A proof is a proof.”
‘Why don’t you go f*@! yourself’
The best bits from Brian Mulroney’s Memoirs
http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/article.jsp?content=20070911_151621_7636
http://www.thestar.com/images/assets/271633_4.JPG
“The Mulroney tome — and at 1,100 pages it can only be described as such — combines the comprehensiveness of Sir Robert Borden’s, the anecdotal flavour of Lester B. Pearson’s, and the pithy character portraits of political celebrities that are the zeitgeist of our times.’’
http://www.thestar.com/images/assets/272449_4.JPG
http://cartoonink.com/Page_Components/Current%20Cartoons/Full%20SizeCurrent/Toonink0347s.jpg
http://deadder.net/DailyNews/dailynews/dea70907c.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE09npz6CCo
I’m waiting for the voice-book rendition so I can absorb the contents as a SUB-LIM-A-DIDDLE MESSAGE.
Klees [PC], Seaward [NDP]
Appealing to Ontario voters to recognize their status as Visible Minorities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S68mKDAfFvM
Job action shuts Petro-Can site
The Harper sponsorship programme – if I’m not mistaken, this is Bev Oda’s sponsorship programme designed to help “Conservative” held ridings – as discovered by Charlie Angus of the NDP. After a committee meeting, Angus picked up material Oda mistakenly left behind – with the plans to sponsor only Conservative MP’s ridings – I think this should be checked out and “kept track of” – research “EVERY” area monies are given and if they are only Conservative MP’s ridings.
This whole thing with Conservative operatives attending Liberal meetings makes me think of the Mafia with thugs checking things out. It’s pretty pathetic.
Garth sure can’t be muzzled like the rest of Harper’s cronies. To be able to
ask questions and get answers compared to the last two town halls of Ablonczy
and Kenny was a complete 360 degree turnaround.
I have always Liked Garth thru-out his career as he has written books and has
had T.V. shows about money, financial issues, capital markets, how financing is
obtained, investments etc. and knows his topics well.
He is very knowlegable about many issues and if he doesn’t have the answer he
tells you so.
I am just as ready to vote Liberal come the next election as Garth quit the PC’s
and became Liberal after hearing him speak.
Thanks again Garth for coming out west and presenting your views for a great
Canada going forward. We cannot have a prime minister who supposely knows it
all and will not let his MP’s speak for their ridings and their constituents. I
really enjoyed your talk.
Doug
Calgary
Maybe it’s fraud. — Garth
And not a word of protest from you at the time, eh? The word “fraud” applies alright, but in this case it’s a pronoun.
I think I was in enough trouble at the time. But thanks for making the issue about me instead of the Conservative swindle. — Garth
Muskoka, re. P. Petrobitch’s 8:36 AM -
for chrissake, explain to your GPO leader that the property tax system in this Province is so screwed up that even McGuinty noticed it. After the Ombudsman’s report of March 2006, the Government imposed a moratorium on MPAC re-evalutuations (until after the election!), and promised a study of the property tax system (results due after the election!).
We don’t need a GPO promising to make a flawed system worse.
You’re right. Maybe it’s not laundering. Maybe it’s fraud. — Garth
By Catherine on 09.13.07 4:21 am
…AAAAAHHHH Love the smell of napalm!
Tories launch revamped sponsorship program
“The Harper government replaced the sponsorship program that brought down the previous Liberal government in a storm of scandal, launching a $30-million initiative Wednesday to sprinkle cash to hundreds of community festivals across the country.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070913.wsponsor13/BNStory/National/home
-R
Hey Garth – your little open house chats in Edmonton must have worked.
In today’s paper it says that EDMONTON is the SECOND MOST AFFORDABLE major city in Canada for housing prices!!
FIRST is OTTAWA.
Now you just have to have your little chats in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal which are now nearly double the costs for homes as in Edmonton.
Oh, and maybe Regina and Saskatoon need you too.
By PYOTR PETROBITCH on 09.13.07 8:51 am
brian who?
Garth, will a Western Liberal MP now make a Town Hall tour of Eastern Canada, telling Ontarians, Quebecers, Maritimers how much better it would be if we had another Liberal government with another Liberal prime minister from Quebec ??
I’m thinking Goodale who is taking intensive French lessons this summer (for a leadership run perchance?). Also come the next election, are you planning to tour the country again in support of Dion as our next prime minister?
Have you started you French lessons yet? — Garth
You’re right. Maybe it’s not laundering. Maybe it’s fraud. — Garth
So where are our Royal Canadian Barn Burners, oops, I meant Royal Canadian Letter Openers.
Garth, it apppears that the potential ‘atomic bomb’ blowup at your town hall in Calgary turned out to be little more than a whimper from a neoCon plant. Funny how your direct, honest approach disarms the knuckle-dragger neoCons! You’d think they could have done much better than that. Yes…but then they would have to face people directly, and in public, rather than run cheap shots from their bunker (‘Dion is not a leader’ crap), and hide in the shadows while they try to smear people.
I really hope this funding issue during the last election blows up in Harper’s face! From what I’ve read it certainly appears to be a clear violation of the law and indications are it was orchestrated from ‘on high’.
The Conservatives were nailed by Elections Canada for improper fund raising in the past and had to repay $530,000. I hope this one is serious enough that they not only have fines to pay, but that it is also investigated by law enforcement. LOL…maybe Stevie and his cronies will look good in stripes. They are supposed to be good to hide bulging waistlines, as long as the stripes are vertical! (hmmm…I wonder if Stevie’s image consultant is trying to deal with his ever expanding self?)
Keep up the great work Garth! You’re a great example of what an MP can be.
Here comes the Reality Check!
Soaring house prices ‘unsustainable’
Gary: Finally some back up on the whole Duffy thing. I’ve seen less softball in an actually softball game. Duffy just sits there, jovial, amicable, fat and just lets who ever the interviewee is spout the party line. He never challenges his guests claims just chuckles and lets them continue their rhetoric. It’s the media as mouthpiece and not investigative reporting at all.
Becuase I’m a news junkie I’ve switched over to Don on CBC Newsworld at 5. He’s a bit better and actually gives the politician a little friction.
How I long for British journalist who press, berate and demand politicians come clean and not just let them bounce rhetoric off of them.
Is this Saudi Alberta’s future? Canada Stands Up and Speaks
Garth, I am still impressed what one MP with imagination can do for democracy.
And there is more quality here on the Liberal side of the fence. McCallum and Goodale out there selling the story too while Harper has who? Jim F is short on more than height. Intellectual challenges are starting to become more apparent also.
Lots of CON op-eds out there this morning trying to sell the unsellable smelly CON story. I wonder how many people believe it and how many dismiss the nonsense.
The more the Harper Party faithful heckle, the more voters will see the CONservatives for what they are, a hollow imitation of a formerly great political party.
Still no Town Halls in Conservative-land to counter the Liberal effort? I guess Town-Halls don’t work right? Then why all the uproar when you roll into town?
The volume of BS thrown out by the Harper party camp-followers continues to astound.
We don’t need a GPO promising to make a flawed system worse.
By Herb on 09.13.07 9:24 am
Garth, come on home. We are a giving lot out here in Ontario, but it is time you get back here and ge back to work. I hope the people out west found your townhall meetings inspiring.
Now when is your next meeting out here in Ontario, and where will it be? Hey, after all Harper maybe be will to take an extra long summer vacation, but I know you want to get back to the peoples business.
It will be good to have you back.
Zorph.
Herb,
Here, maybe this will help you to understand?
“When other parties say that it’s time for change, they mean that it’s their turn to be in power and do what they usually do,” de Jong said. “When the Green Party says it is time for change, we mean that it is time for this province to change fundamentally the way it does business.
The Green Party of Ontario platform’s highlights include plans to:
* Phase out the Ontario Health Premium Tax and gradually raise the personal tax exemption to $11,000, thus reducing personal taxes by $5.7 billion over the next four years.
* Reduce corporate income taxes by $1 billion over four years through a revenue-neutral green tax shift that moves taxes from profits and onto resource use.
* Apply an immediate 2% carbon tax on oil, natural gas and coal imported or extracted for use in the province.
* Address the unique challenges of Northern communities by investing $90 million in health and well-being, $180 million for Northern economic development initiatives, and $25 million for improving regional transportation linkages.
* Place a moratorium on increases in the assessed market value of all residential properties and replace the existing property tax system with a revenue-neutral Location Value Tax.
* Double the maximum provincial energy-efficiency grant for homeowners to $10,000 per household, and create a 10-year, $500 million grant program for municipal building projects that use green building technologies.
* Ban the construction and refurbishment of nuclear reactors or the refurbishment of existing reactors, and phase out all coal-fired power plants by late 2009 if consumers are able to reduce electricity use by 20% through conservation and efficiency programs.
* Implement a total volume cap on water-taking permits, and tax all water-taking at an initial rate of $100 per million litres to encourage conservation.
* Adopt California-style mandatory emission standards for new cars, light trucks and SUVs by 2012.
* Phase in a province-wide ban on the cosmetic or non-food-related application of synthetic pesticides.
* Invest $100 million over four years to expand the Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) to compensate farmers for the public benefits of the ecological goods and services that they provide, and invest $10 million over four years in an Organic Farming Transition Plan.
* Provide a fuel-efficiency incentive of up to $2,000 per vehicle in addition to the existing retail sales tax rebate and the federal government program, and levying an additional $2,000 fee on low-fuel-efficiency vehicles.
* Move toward a single publicly funded education system that treats all students fairly and equally, reinvest the money saved in classrooms, and introduce a mandatory world religion course.
* Provide $500 million per year by 2011 to cap university tuition at $3,000 average per year and college tuition at $700.
* Provide Ontarians in the lowest 75th percentile of income an additional health care allowance of $1,000 per person.
* Implement a $10.25 minimum wage by June 2008, and prohibit unpaid overtime.
* Stop the provincial claw-back of the National Child Benefit Supplement.
* Lower the voting age from 18 to 16 years and increase electoral education in our schools.
The Green Party of Ontario’s goal is to build a fair and just society in balance with nature, a society that values the health and vitality of our families, local communities and economies. It strives to achieve this balance through sound fiscal management and progressive social policies, with solutions that acknowledge the interdependence of the economy and the environment.
OOOOOOPS !!! Somebody covering their arses ??
………………………………….
Dion caught in Kyoto cloud
By ALAN FINDLAY, NATIONAL BUREAU
OTTAWA — Federal bureaucrats questioned whether Canada could meet its Kyoto Accord commitments even before the Conservatives took power, according to a ministerial briefing obtained by Sun Media.
The paper copy of a power-point presentation assembled for incoming Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn specifically addresses whether Canada’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels during the next four years and when Canada can pull out of the accord.
One page raises the question, “Whether/when to acknowledge Canada will be very unlikely to meet target?”
It goes on to state the government “Cannot formally ‘de-ratify’ (Kyoto) until 2009.”
The document,dated Feb. 3, 2006, was only days before Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet was sworn in after the Conservatives’ election victory. Less than two months earlier, the former Liberal environment minister Stephane Dion hosted a conference on climate change.
“Once again, the Liberals have been caught misleading Canadians,” said environment minister John Baird’s communications director Garry Keller. “This document clearly shows that in the dying days of the Liberal government they were fully aware that Canada had no chance of meeting our Kyoto targets.”
Dion says he was never given such advice. He suggested the report resulted from civil servants reading the Conservatives’ criticisms of Kyoto and predicting it was no longer a priority.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2007/09/13/4492528-sun.html
(Let me try that one comment again with proper HTML)
We don’t need a GPO promising to make a flawed system worse.
By Herb on 09.13.07 9:24 am
Perhaps you would like to elaborate and explain you accusation Herb? Links, things like that please. You, too, can easily comment to Frank de Jong on any issue. He, unlike McSquinty and Tory, actually listen and respond.
Is this Saudi Alberta’s future? Canada Stands Up and Speaks
By Bill-Muskoka on 09.13.07 10:19 am
LOL! Exactly, thanks!
In Ontario, I can’t wait to have my tax dollars go to faith based schools when I see what is going on in Britain.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=206f698a-b68a-4f58-8537-4389ec414bfa
How long before we are an American Police State
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/12/tech-privacy.html
By Bill-Muskoka on 09.13.07 10:33 am
Actually Bill, though I am not voting for him and he knows it, because of the faith based funding, John Tory has answered every e-mail I have ever sent him. McGuinty and company, you are right, it is like pulling teeth.
Have you started you French lessons yet? — Garth
By Myron on 09.13.07 10:08 am
May wee mon cher ami Garth. Je parlay francais oosi, ay voo ..?!
You are an embarrassment to this blog, let alone to your country. — Garth
The volume of BS thrown out by the Harper party camp-followers continues to astound.
By Transcanada on 09.13.07 10:19 am
Got that right, and McSquinty is no better. It is Noise Pollution!
I don’t know about you, but this voter has had my fill of the rhetorical BS of all three parties. There are some good ideas, and good people in each of them, but as long as it is an all or nothing ‘Our way or the highway’ attitude instead of wanting to work together for the best for we poor saps, then they will not get my vote.
I could support Garth, Dion, Elizabeth May, or our Green candidates. Therefore, because I cannot vote for anyone but our Green candidates they get my vote. I am solidly supporting MMP as well, and that is the fastest way I know to actually change this BS game of back and forth empty promises, lies, and screwing of we the people.
I could say ‘I’m mad as Hell and am not going to take it anymore!’, but I prefer the old Marine Corps maxim ‘Do not die for your country, make the enemy die for his!’, and that, my friends, is what we all have to do. We have to destroy the inbred power structure of the Big parties, and bring it back home to ourselves. i think we will see the Good Guys and Gals in each of those parties come join in.
The rest of the Power Brokers can go on their globalization extravaganza and ‘KMA’. Enough is enough!
And what kind of blatant, racist hypocrisy is this voting against the UN Indigenous People’s Rights bill by Harper? Is there no limit to his xenophobia and bigotry? Probably not, just like in Bush’s clique of ‘White is Right’.
See you all later today!
Muskoka,
what is a “Location Value Tax”? We actually have one in effect right now: property taxes are based on fair market values that are tied to trends in neighbourhood market values. It is even supposed to be “revenue neutral”, as it is in the overall order of a municipality’s tax revenue. Unfortunately, it is the individual distribution and effect on property owners that is messy and will become unworkable.
As a joke, someone worked out statistically that, if the current process continues unabated, the City of Ottawa might own all local homes through tax default in about 20 years. Funny, isn’t it.
“That mailers were sent out to people in Calgary, advertising the meeting, and that this was done from the office budgets of more than a dozen of my colleague MPs.”
…..at taxpayer expense. Geez, Garth. I’m pretty sure you said your Promote Garth Tour wouldn’t cost the taxpayers anything. There’s plane tickets from your MP budget, mailers from more than a dozen of your Liberal colleague’s MP budgets. Anything else? Why don’t you tell the tuth and disclose exactly how much of the taxpayer’s money this western adventure of your’s has cost?
I said no additional cost to taxpayers, and that’s exactly the situation on this, the last day of the trip. Give it up. — Garth
By Bill-Muskoka on 09.13.07 10:26 am
Very interesting Bill…thank you for this!
I said no additional cost to taxpayers, and that’s exactly the situation on this, the last day of the trip. Give it up. — Garth
……………………
I believe you Garth, now could you find out which ~15 Liberal MPs kicked in to make your tour the success it was, and tell us who they are ?? Openness and transparency is your forte, isn’t it ??
Thanks in advance.
Told you. Do not know. — Garth
You are an embarrassment to this blog, let alone to your country. — Garth
By Myron on 09.13.07 10:56 am
……………
How so, Garth? Really Garth, you should be a tad more explicit in your blog blurts, otherwise how can we comprendez-vous ??
By Herb on 09.13.07 10:59 am
Well, like I suggested, email Frank de Jong and ask for a clarification. Then post it here, eh? I haven’t the time to do that for you my friend. To me, and I may be wrong, the term means this…’You want waterfront property, a massive showcase home?’ Fine, then you will pay for the encrouchment on our environment to do so.
I would love to see that applied to the Muskoka, as well as the GTA.
We are losing way too much farmland for sprawling housing developments. They put added drain on our infrastructure and resources. Tax them and make them actually pay for what they consume.
Like I said, email Frank. He is a nice guy, most always. He is a human like you and I as well.
I note you seem to have this one and only issue with the Greens? Where have you been against the PC and Libs while they did it all to everyone?
By Moron on 09.13.07 10:56 am
Oh, Herb, has it struck you a tad odd, as it has me, that if Canadians are not having children, then why the heck are there so many new homes being built?
Likewise, where are the smaller two bedroom, single level homes for all we Boomers? There are NONE. No, now everyone is supposed to buy their own private cell called a Condominium.
Places like Sandy Cove Acres in Innisfil is what most people want, and you can buy a manufactured home there for about $60K plus monthly fees for maintenance of the common grounds.
Our housing situation is a total FUBAR in my opinion. Too many years of developers buying off the politicians, and absolutely no foresight to the future. If they had a conscience they would be ashamed.
Muskoka Bill – I’m with you 100%. While I haven’t figured out who I’m voting for yet in the provincial election, I do know that I will NOT be voting for McGuinty or the Liberals provincially. I don’t see Mr. Tory offering up too much different that McGuinty once you get past the rhetoric. As for Faith Based School funding. I do believe that is a bit of a ‘red herring’ so to speak. McGuinty is supporting public schools, but that includes the Catholic schools. Yet he will not outright say that. Even if the funding is put in place, the numbers are so small that I do not believe it will make much of an impact to the public system. The sky will not fall.
That only leaves the Greens (Mr. Rae made sure I would never vote NDP again) and I’m not sure that their policies won’t hurt me as they try to implement their policies.
Having said that, I’ll probably vote Green provincially in the hope that it helps provide us with another minority gov’t.
As for MMP, I too will be voting in favour. I have always been a little befuddled when someone who did not get the majority of votes one the election. Just doesn’t make sense to me. So MMP is the first step to electoral reform and fairness to us, the constituents.
As a joke, someone worked out statistically that, if the current process continues unabated, the City of Ottawa might own all local homes through tax default in about 20 years. Funny, isn’t it.
By Herb on 09.13.07 10:59 am
And, the MVA Review Panel, as reviewed by Ombudsman André Marin, was not only unfair and arbitrary in its review of appeals, but was also unwilling to change its position on any review despite the preponderance of proof contrary to MVA Panel position.
From John Tory’s Tory platform:
* Cap annual property assessment increases at 5 per cent and review the current system … Translates as ‘will permit property tax increases up to 5% in any given year.’
Using your rule-of-thumb, how many years would it take to see the incremental/cumulative 5% (including roll-up) to double property taxes? Straight-line is obviously 20 years, but with cumulative roll-up, considerably less.
Can you see the bailiff on the horizon getting ready to unleash his hordes to effectively SEIZE YOUR ASS-ETS?
Again, in addition to the perceived unfairness, I reiterate, the system provides no means of measuring ability to pay.
I have noticed recently that the newest buzz word adopted by the Harper and his Conservative government is “aspirational goals.” It is a great term for politicians because these kind of goals never need to achieve anything. In fact, when we consider “aspiration” as a drawing of something in, out, up or through by or as if by suction” it provides a good description.
Example: did the “in and out” movement of federal Conservative funds in the last election from the federal to the riding back to the federal represent an “aspirational goal.”
As a joke, someone worked out statistically that, if the current process continues unabated, the City of Ottawa might own all local homes through tax default in about 20 years. Funny, isn’t it.
By Herb on 09.13.07 10:59 am
Herb,
Shh…you are revealing the Final Solution. The Crown granted the Land, and now, it is taking it all back, returning it to the First Nations, and we are all going to move to Mars.
After all, we have pretty much screwed it up as much as is profitable to do, haven’t we?
We are the ‘Diposable Society’, remember?
Muskoka,
without writing a pamphlet on a well-known subject in Ontario, the problem is that too much is funded by property taxation. There is only one taxpayer.
While the income side of taxation is based on income and presumed ability to pay, the property tax side is divorced from that reality. Loading more and more on property taxes (social services, public health, and as proposed by the GPO, part of education) scews the situation even more.
As to links, I’ll just link you to the Sharbot Lake Property Owners’ Association that is pertinent to your area and provides lots of other links.
A real ACE in the hole with a roll back to boot! Too funny here in Ontario.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070913.whampton0913/BNStory/ontarioelection2007/home
Sorry, the link disappeared in transmission: http://www.slpoa.ca/Articles.asp
I think I was in enough trouble at the time. But thanks for making the issue about me instead of the Conservative swindle. — Garth
I already gave my opinion about the Conservative swindle, more than once. I just think it’s amusing how you now admit to being a party to a taxpayer fraud (your word, not mine). So, it’s now your position that you were deeply offended by it, but found it inconvenient to object at the time?
Boy, that’s the principled rebel we’ve all come to know & love, eh?
I was not party to anything. Stick your slurs. — Garth
If they had a conscience they would be ashamed.
Who?
Are you blaming politicians for the fact that people are choosing to spend their money on big trophy houses? That’s got to be the most backward thinking in the world; it’s a FREE market, people. You can enslave yourself to a mortgage payment and live in comparative luxury, or you can live modestly and frugally and enjoy freedom from onerous debt. The choice is yours and mine and that’s the way I like it… Why the hell do you want the government involved in your own free choices?
This blog is getting truly bizarre.
By PYOTR PETROBITCH on 09.13.07 11:40 am
My opinion is that Property Taxes are as archaic as we can get. Why not simply call them what they are The Feudal Use Tax?
What should be done, and it would really help conserve our resources, is collect all municpal funds from useage taxes.
Those would include sewer, water, electricity, road maintenance based on frontal footage, and apply all major improvments amortirized over a choice of years. In other words pay as you use. That returns the choice to the taxpayer, not some bunch of friggin’ real estate agents who got onto a board.
All Provincial roads should be paif for 100% by fuel taxes, and those should not be used for a General Fund expenditures. Charge the truckers and heavy haulers appropriately on their annual tags as well.
People that want to use municpal facilities pay as the use also. No more everyone pays for the few to have fun. If it doesn’t make economic sense, then what is the sense?
Oh, and cut the salaries of these Bozos by at least half. They do not work full time in most places, and they should be happy to serve their community, not live off of it. How’s that for a ‘Common Sense Revolution?’ LOL
Thank you for coming to Calgary, Garth. It was a genuine pleasure to meet you in person. Great Town Hall last evening!!! Keep on keeping on – our country needs you.
By Lawrence Garvin on 09.13.07 12:15 pm
Larry, please enroll in an ESL course so you can interpret clearly stated comments here.
I said no additional cost to taxpayers, and that’s exactly the situation on this, the last day of the trip. Give it up. — Garth
So are you saying that unusued mailing credits are not credited back to taxpayers?
Who would have recieved the unspent money from your ‘unknown’ MP’s budgets? Someone with a brown paper envelope in quebec?
please enroll in an ESL course
People who don’t know how to express themselves clearly often blame others. How about I ignore your lame-ass insult and give you the opportunity to express yourself better?
Who exactly is to blame for the horrible situation that you can’t adequately define?
With people like Myron no wonder the French feel alienated and not respected. Hey, Myron, the French were here first and the Enlish became rulers because of a battle that quite frankly could have gone either way.
By Catherine on 09.13.07 4:21 am
Catherine, you just leave yourself wide open on this kind of post.
Firstly, you appear to acknowledge that malfeasnace has occurred. You do so by virtue of the fact that you don’t deny it.
Secondly, you defend it by pointing at acknowledged Liberal malfeasance and effectively implying they did it so why shouldn’t the Conservatives do it, too.
If that’s your defense, I don’t know why you even bother.
I vote(d) Conservative because I believe we don’t have the same integrity problems that the Liberals manifest. It turns out that in practice, the Conservatives have similar issues with doing the right thing and demonstrating not just integrity, but the appearance of integrity.
Rotting garbage smells, whether the Liberals do it, or the Conservatives do it. This issue is indefensible, and you should avoid further attempts.
Garth,
I have an idea! Send all your mailing credits to truth, then when it uses them the RCMP will arrest his arse for FRAUD! Simple, might just work, eh?
There is only one taxpayer.
By Herb on 09.13.07 11:47 am
I’ll be damned! Every time I ask Ottawa, Queen’s Park, Municipal/Region, for the guy’s name, they ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO TELL ME WHO IT IS. I’ve got a pile of tax bills that I’m just waiting to unleash on the poor bugger!
It was the same thing with the Mikey Harris ‘pinkie-swear’ that the jiggery-pokery was revenue neutral, which the tiny perfect David Crombie said was NOT.
…. Sponsored by the Harris ‘Who Does What?’ Committee.
Great Orwellian name, eh? Sounds like the WWF [wildlife] bemoaning the extinction of the Fakawi bird. Where the Fakawi? Don’t speak it aloud … else someone will appear wondering if you’re Dr. Livingstone.
How about I ignore your lame-ass insult and give you the opportunity to express yourself better?
By Lawrence Garvin on 09.13.07 1:04 pm
Sure Larry. UP YOURS! Is that better for you?
This issue is indefensible, and you should avoid further attempts.
You should check out Janke’s website, Angry in the Great White North… Apparently one Stephane Dion, did the exact same thing and dutifully recorded the transactions with Elections Canada.
Imagine – the very act the you have called “indefensible” and Garth Turner has called a “maybe fraud”.
LOL
Janke. Mr. Credibility. Talk about a good yuk. — Garth
Rotting garbage smells, whether the Liberals do it, or the Conservatives do it. This issue is indefensible, and you should avoid further attempts.
By Ed Brooks on 09.13.07 1:07 pm
BEWARE! That’s the same argument I used with the LURKING CHURCHMOUSE!
Conceptually, from his corner, the view appeared to be ‘once in the political realm’ all professed values, including religious, should assume a lesser role, if any at all. I was happy to learn I BORED HIM. We await his next encyclical.
GARTH !!!
The Conservative money laundering was overt and easily spotted by Election Canada.
Your Western tour was covertly financially supported by 15 Liberal MPs (your words?).
All I am asking of you is to find out and reveal which 15 Liberal MPs supported your tour, and to what extent.
Surely that is not asking too much of you?!
Why do you possibly care? — Garth
How’s that for a ‘Common Sense Revolution?’ LOL
By Bill-Muskoka on 09.13.07 12:36 pm
I found this ‘proposal’ in a national newspaper recently …
”But the boards would have the power to levy taxes up to, say, 5 per cent of their budgets to address local priorities.
This option was actually recommended to the Harris government a decade ago by the ”who does what” panel, chaired by former Toronto mayor David Crombie.
”The recommendation got lost in the general mangling of our report,” said Crombie last week. He then added: ”Make that the intentional mangling of our report.”
As Crombie recalled, the Harrisites did not trust the school boards and wanted to take over complete control of education.”
Now the idea has reared up again. This time, it will include the consideration:
”To lessen the impact on taxpayers, the province should *lower its share of the education property tax by an equivalent amount.* And then we could all stop talking about ”fixing” a funding formula that is beyond repair.”
* Meaning, as usual, from the taxing powers, for each equivalent $10 increment, the taxpayer shall receive in return the equivalent of one $4-bill, and two $3-bills. I hope you catch that subtlety … It permitted Janet Ecker to declare a ‘balanced budget’ in the spring of ‘03 at Magna, when the reality was a deficit of $5.6 Billion.
Myron,
Je crois que tu parles bien le français et que tu te caches derrière un nouveau nom.
Que est-ce que tu t’en pense?
-R
Hang our head in shame thanks to Chuck Strahl.
Canada votes ‘no’ as UN native rights declaration passes
We, of course, being blinded by the Harper/Bush/Howard Conservative Movement should not question whether there is a White Supremecist aspect to these God fearing Born Again PIA’s…Right?
only Canada, New Zealand, the United States and Australia dissenting. and all have large indeigenous aboriginal populations that were displaced by the Great White Hope that arrived from Europe.
Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl says the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is not balanced and conflicts with Canada’s Charter.
In his address Thursday to the General Assembly before the vote, Canada’s UN ambassador, John McNee, said Canada had “significant concerns” over the declaration’s wording on provisions addressing lands and resources, as well as another article calling on states to obtain prior informed consent with indigenous groups before enacting new laws or administrative measures.
“We shouldn’t vote for things on the basis of political correctness; we should actually vote on the basis of what’s in the document,” Harper said. Yeah Steve we will surely remember that next time you bring up SSM, veils, or any other CRAP issue. HYPOCRITE!
And as always we need only follow the money to find the Truth.
‘Totally incredulous’
But human rights and aboriginal groups claim Harper’s Conservatives launched a well-financed campaign to derail the declaration and undermine a process supported by the previous Liberal government, saying Ottawa is trying to keep control of the vast resources on land claimed by aboriginal communities.
The government’s argument that the declaration goes against the Charter simply doesn’t stand up, said Paul Joffe, part of the legal team that has been trying to convince countries to support the human rights of indigenous peoples.
This Canadian is ashamed of our ‘gnu’ government and all its Ministers. But then that has been going on for almost two years now.
And there is more evidence of the Harper governments obsession with power over principle.
Electoral officer says he won’t ‘juggle’ fundamental rights over veil issue
“You have the power for veiled women to remove their veil … but you’re suggesting you do not wish to exercise that authority that you have and I’m wondering why,” asked Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski.
“Fundamental reason is that this authority … I believe is designed much more for operational matters as opposed to dealing with some fundamental rights protected by the Charter, including the right to vote and freedom of religion,” Mayrand responded. “And I think it’s not up to an administrator of the electoral system to juggle those rights.”
Asked whether he would use those powers if directed to do so by the committee, Mayrand said he wouldn’t, because it would require him to “offend the act and not uphold the law.”
Damn all those laws…Right Steve? There are such a total pain in your fat arse.
At least there are so, me bureaucrats working on behalf of the people while Harper squirms under the veil of reality! Harper should be wearing a burqa so:
A. We don’t have to look at his ugly puss any longer.
B. It will conceal his fat arse much better than the blue silk ‘Nam attire.
By PYOTR PETROBITCH on 09.13.07 1:16 pm
ROFLMAO! Yeah, who is that taxpayer?
$107 for two small orders of fish, Ice tea, and your room??? Just goes to show we are paying you too much for the crap job you do.
Try to make like a Conservative, give Mickey D’s a try. It won’t help your heart, but who’d care.
Hear that Garth…
Thats the sound of an $80 barrel of Oil.
Price of crude is up, Alberta makes more and more money, but that darn loonie won’t stay at .65 cents like you Liberals like it at.
Pretty hard to hide all those years of graft, corruption, and of ignoring the manufacturing sector in Ontario when that darn loonie is trading at .97 cents eh?
Oh well, I’m sure Ontario voters will remember the Liberals fondly as they walk across the road from the EI office to the voting booth.
I wouldn’t worry though Garth, your just a junior Liberal, newly minted as it were. Voters won’t blame you, after all you were a Conservative during all those years of “do nothing and spend the money we save from doing nothing on golf balls”.
Yep, Voters are great that way aren’t they Garth? They know how to single out one MP from the brandname… oh yeah.
Are you feeling okay? I’m worried for you. — Garth
Oops…missed a ” in the HTML for the link. Here it is.
Electoral officer says he won’t ‘juggle’ fundamental rights over veil issue
From all accounts Garth’s Lost Tory Tour is an unqualified success,we always knew it would be.
I’ve lived in Alberta all my life and i have rarely seen this kind of positive(generally speaking)response to federal politics.
The usual strategy for most federal politicians in Alberta, is to take an adversarial position against Ottawa and have the sheeple vote against the sitting government. It will be interesting now to see if Garth’s success will upset the Harper brain trust as they work to manipulate and spin the un-conservative results of the Harper spending spree and their misrepresentation and incompetence on most things we Canadians hold dear.
slg,
to add to your comment on 09.13.07 1:07 pm about the French presence here. For some of us with ‘French’ ancestry The Plains of Abraham is the least of it.
For many of us there are still memories of that little matter of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in what is now modern day Nova Scotia. Not once (1755), but twice (1758).
No bitter feelings on my part, after all we’re still here, but a wary vigilance is healthy.
(Well we were until noon today)
By Gerry on 09.13.07 8:36 am
Re: Rats
This will all change with TILMA Gerry.
Geo
garth,
Didn’t answer the posters question earlier. Are you comparing stealing Taxpayers money to pay for a campaign, which is what Adscam was to what the Cons and now we learn Mr. Dion did to. Check out mr. janke. Dion pulled the same crap. So the question to you is “Where is OUR $40 million dollars?” Try answering without blaming it on the cons. Where the hell is our money Garth????? You joined the liars and theives so you must know know.
BTW – If the cons open their campaign books are the Liberals going to? No, I didn’t think so.
How is you little taxpayer financed tour going? “There will be no cost to the taxpayer.” Yep thats what you said. What do you call someone who intentionally lies Garth?
‘Jeff’? — Garth
By TimeForAChange on 09.13.07 10:49 am
I wonder if Google is trying to make amends for selling internet spying technology to China? Or just improve it’s image?
Seems there is no end to the assaults on freedom and privacy these days. A common enemy for all.
FOR ALL YOU PEOPLE CLOSE TO RETIREMENT AND ALL OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION CONCERNED ABOUT RETIREMENT AND HOW THEY,LL MAKE ENDS MEET HERE,S A GOOD EXPLANATION OF WHO YOU SHOULD CONSIDER VOTING FOR NEXT TIME AROUND.I DIDN,T WRITE THIS BUT IT,S FOOD FOR THOUGHT!
There must be a million or more votes amongst the ages 40 through 60’s who are wondering about how they can save for, or even just increase their retirement earnings. People that have never even heard of income trusts. Thus; ”’Are you worried about short-of-income or short of retirement monies in this low-interest, possible inflation-coming environment ?? There are easy to obtain tsx-listed investments that pay quarterly and in most cases monthly cash distributions to you with average annual yields of anywhere between 5 and 15% that any broker or financial advisor can steer you into. These particular investments have already helped a whole generation retire with dignity because they’ve been mostly tested and true for more than twenty years already. But in the next Federal election whenever it comes, if you vote for the Harper conservatives you’ll lose your chance to participate in these wonderful retirement helpers called ”income trusts.” If you vote Liberal, they’ll still be available to you. It’s as simple as that. The conservatives want to kill income trusts but the Liberals want them to thrive. You don’t need to be rich or a big money earner to own them. They are for everybody. Or ‘were,’ if the Harper conservatives get re-elected. Give yourself a fighting chance. VOTE LIBERAL in the next Federal election.”’
So are you saying that unusued mailing credits are not credited back to taxpayers?
By Truth on 09.13.07 12:56 pm
Don’t you know what government departments do with unused budget?
Uh, now don’t get all huffy with me for this suggestion Garth, but could this be more realistic?:
After the last election I gave a speech to a Conservative riding association. Before I spoke the association treasurer told the crowd they’d received a loan of $40,000 from the national party during the campaign, then after they got on their feet with their own fund raising has repaid the loan with a cheque back for the same amount. That little transaction entitled them to a taxpayer-funded 60% ‘rebate’ of election expenses – in this case a $24,000 windfall for the local group. Corporations of all stripes lend themselves money all the time as tax saving measures. L
No. As I reported. — Garth
Don’t you know what government departments do with unused budget?
By Greg on 09.13.07 3:07 pm
No idea, that’s why I am asking. According to Garth they are already spent, regardless of need. Hence his “no extra cost to taxpayers comment”; he made sure that any unused budgets were used for his personal mailouts, but what would have been made of them otherwise? Brown paper bags?
After the last election I gave a speech to a Conservative riding association. Before I spoke the association treasurer told the crowd they’d received a $40,000 cheque from the national party during the campaign, then written a cheque back for the same amount. That little transaction entitled them to a taxpayer-funded 60% ‘rebate’ of election expenses – in this case a $24,000 windfall for the local group. You’re right. Maybe it’s not laundering. Maybe it’s fraud. — Garth
So Garth, what did you do at that time (you were still part of the Conservative riding). Why did we not find out about this until now?
Can you please provide us proof of your actions upon learning of this “fraud” at that meeting.
I gave my speech. — Garth
Garth, I see “Bonded Life Settlements” being offered to Seniors. They guarantee a 12% annual return with and advertise with “Eliminate Market Risk”.
Do you cover this specific investment in your talks?
Shouldn’t David Dodge and the banksters take advantage of such a sweet deal? They just have to bundle some of it up with the subprime toxic waste and presto/bingo….financial nirvana for all.
But in the next Federal election whenever it comes, if you vote for the Harper conservatives you’ll lose your chance to participate in these wonderful retirement helpers called â€income trusts.†If you vote Liberal, they’ll still be available to you. It’s as simple as that. The conservatives want to kill income trusts but the Liberals want them to thrive. You don’t need to be rich or a big money earner to own them. They are for everybody. Or ‘were,’ if the Harper conservatives get re-elected. Give yourself a fighting chance. VOTE LIBERAL in the next Federal election.â€â€™
By don bool on 09.13.07 2:42 pm
………………………………….
How about voting for the NDP in the next general election .. or does it have to be the Liberals so that you can help corporations dodge taxation by shifting it on to Canadians at a lower tax rate.
You know that something reeks of tax avoidance with these ITs, and on the advice of the civil servants in the Finance Dept, the Harper government decided to phase out ITs, as would have Minister Goodale had the Liberals won the election.
Now we have the Dion Liberals promising to rescusitate ITs to some extent, but surely that shouldn’t be the only reason to vote Liberal. Why else should we vote Liberal ??
My simple formula is Gas goes up! Travel goes down! With it my fuel purchases.
Enjoy that $80 price.
Shame on Stephen Harper
Shame on Chuck Strahl
Canada votes against UN aboriginal declaration.
Sep 13, 2007 03:40 PM
Steve Lambert
Canadian Press
Canada voted today against a United Nations declaration on aboriginal rights, arguing the document’s sweeping wording goes against the Canadian Constitution.
“It’s inconsistent with the Canadian Constitution, with Supreme Court decisions and with our own treaty negotiations and obligations,” Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said from Ottawa.
Critics blasted the decision, saying the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a non-binding show of support for aboriginal people around the world.
Before the vote, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, John McNee, told the UN General Assembly the country has “significant concerns” about a number of issues, including provisions on lands, territories and resources.
“It’s with disappointment that we find ourselves having to vote against the adoption of this declaration as drafted,” McNee said.
The declaration was easily approved, passing 143-4. Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States voted against and 11 countries abstained.
Human rights groups have slammed Canada’s bid to derail the declaration, accusing the government of trying to keep control of the vast resources on land claimed by aboriginal communities.
The opposition parties condemned the Conservative government, accusing it of embarrassing Canada internationally.
“By opposing this declaration the Conservative government has signalled to aboriginal Canadians that their rights aren’t worth defending,” Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said in a statement. “The government has also dramatically weakened the leadership role Canada has long enjoyed in the global human rights movement.”
In Nanaimo, B.C., NDP Indian affairs critic Jean Crowder called it “a very cowardly and, I would say, un-Canadian approach to human rights.”
“Canadians by and large are wanting to be seen as being leaders in human rights,” she said.
Among the many problems with the document, Strahl said, are sections that say laws that affect aboriginals should only be passed with the prior consent of First Nations.
“We’d have to consult with 650 First Nations to do that. I mean, it’s simply not doable,” Strahl said.
Another section of the UN declaration says aboriginals “have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions.”
That is also unworkable, according to Strahl.
“Some people … say that means we can have our own legislatures, our own council in our own language,” Strahl said.
“But no one’s quite sure, and that’s the trouble with language like that.”
The Liberals accused Strahl of using semantics as an excuse to reject an important yet symbolic sign of support for native rights.
“It is a sad day for aboriginal Canadians; in fact, it’s a sad day for all Canadians,” said Liberal Indian affairs critic Anita Neville.
“(The declaration) has been developed over 20 years of compromise and discussion.”
The document sets out global human rights standards for indigenous populations.
Native groups, especially in developing countries, report abuse, land losses, disappearances and even murder at the hands of governments that refuse to recognize their status or title.
“I said no additional cost to taxpayers, and that’s exactly the situation on this, the last day of the trip. Give it up.” — Garth
Seen as you are disclosing that taxpayers are footing the bill during this tour, how about the total costs be disclosed just out of curiosity so us taxpayers concerned about where our money flows can feel confident it is money well spent. Thanks
Travel points and House of Commons mailings. Period. The same as all other MPs. All other costs covered by donations or paid by me personally. I’d say this was one cheap trip. — Garth
…..at taxpayer expense. Geez, Garth. I’m pretty sure you said your Promote Garth Tour wouldn’t cost the taxpayers anything. There’s plane tickets from your MP budget, mailers from more than a dozen of your Liberal colleague’s MP budgets. Anything else? Why don’t you tell the tuth and disclose exactly how much of the taxpayer’s money this western adventure of your’s has cost?
I said no additional cost to taxpayers, and that’s exactly the situation on this, the last day of the trip. Give it up. — Garth
By Bob Frill on 09.13.07 11:04 am
So that was you huh Bob? At least get a leather jacket that has as few pieces as possible. It does look like you decided on the cheapest jacket just made out of scraps.
Anyway, would it make any difference to know that ALL MPs have a budget allocated for the 10 percenters? And if perhaps some MPs don’t use up their allocation and another MP wants to use them?, is this wrong? Should Ottawa do away with 10 percenters altogether? I don’t know. But if this issue gets your panties all bunched up between your hemispheres, well that is not my issue. If your MP is a CPC member, then why don’t you stop bitching about it and actually start the process of removing it from our bureaucracy.
You seem to have part of a brain at least, perhaps you should direct it to better use.
I said no additional cost to taxpayers, and that’s exactly the situation on this, the last day of the trip. Give it up. — Garth
So are you saying that unusued mailing credits are not credited back to taxpayers?
Who would have recieved the unspent money from your ‘unknown’ MP’s budgets? Someone with a brown paper envelope in quebec?
By Truth on 09.13.07 12:56 pm
The great PM with his foot in his mouth & least we forget, his zombie deadbeats?
* Cap annual property assessment increases at 5 per cent and review the current system … Translates as ‘will permit property tax increases up to 5% in any given year.’
Using your rule-of-thumb, how many years would it take to see the incremental/cumulative 5% (including roll-up) to double property taxes? Straight-line is obviously 20 years, but with cumulative roll-up, considerably less.
Can you see the bailiff on the horizon getting ready to unleash his hordes to effectively SEIZE YOUR ASS-ETS?
Again, in addition to the perceived unfairness, I reiterate, the system provides no means of measuring ability to pay.
By PYOTR PETROBITCH on 09.13.07 11:40 am
5 percent looks cheap at the moment in Burlington…12.38% last year, 7% this year, 7.17% next year and they claim that is just to maintain basic services…one councillor predicted a 40% rise over the next 5 years….he seems to be low in his assessment. It appears they haven’t figured in any costs for maintaining the new arts centre or parking for the Mac Campus. Taxpayers Coalition Halton Inc. has come to life again and will be visiting City Hall with an alternative plan but we need members because the first question Council asks “How many members in your coalition?” loosely translated “Do we really need to listen to your garbage, do you have the votes to affect our cushy position!”
Hey Garth – your little open house chats in Edmonton must have worked.
In today’s paper it says that EDMONTON is the SECOND MOST AFFORDABLE major city in Canada for housing prices!!
FIRST is OTTAWA.
Now you just have to have your little chats in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal which are now nearly double the costs for homes as in Edmonton.
Oh, and maybe Regina and Saskatoon need you too.
By Lorraine on 09.13.07 10:00 am
L – as others have said, you’re a no. 5. Time to get your head out of the sand me girl. Oops, better yet, keep it long enough to extinguish it.
Keith Phibbs,
Six Nations to issue building permits
Chiefs say Grand River developments need native OK
“we’re not going to rely on the Canadian court system.”
—-
I live not far from Ipperwash where the natives have managed to shut down a developer planning to build a housing subdivision. Supposedly natives found bones they claim are their ancestors. My solution: have the natives remove the bones of their ancestors and bury them wear natives can play homage to them. Would I call anyone if I found human bones in my backyard that backs on to the Pinery Provincial Park. You are joking aren’t you? That is the claim they often make … there were bones found beside the bridge on highway #21 which is the only access across the Ausable River. The village council told the native groups they were welcome to bury them in a location of their choice. I have no idea if they picked them up or lost interest. Natives have claims for all of the lands bordering Lake Huron. List of 50 Native land claims
I do not find Canada’s federal decision not to sign the UN Aboriginal Declaration alarming because it asserts Native rights they presently do not have. Sections of charter affected according to a legal student at the Centre for Constitutional Studies I do not see the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law as being partisan.
—–
Do you live close to a reserve and have any idea of how aggressive natives become in relation to the rest of the population and their refusal to abide by laws that everyone else does?
By Pete Becket on 09.13.07 10:16 am
I stopped watching puffy duffy since he came back from his op. Same goes for his sidekick Taber and CTV national news. Malheursement, there’s few journalists today that actually ‘question’ the garbage put forth by those they “interview’.
Myron,
Je crois que tu parles bien le français et que tu te caches derrière un nouveau nom.
Que est-ce que tu t’en pense?
-R
By Rob Wiebe on 09.13.07 1:45 pm
Rob – Il a aucun capability de penser. Pardon my spelling – its been a long time.
By Rob Wiebe on 09.13.07 1:45 pm
Je pense qu’il est juste un crapaud ignorant, mais je ne parle pas français.
Has Pierre Poilievre got PMSH’s approval for the self-help group discussion talking point; â€How to LIE truthfully, while TIRELESSLY OBFUSCATING.†Personally, I will never forget Poilievre’s effectiveness on the Shane Doan inquiry. I hope, when I meeet him, I’m wearing my Kodiaks, ‘cos I sure want to give him my stamp of approval.
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070912_164232_5044&page=1
By PYOTR PETROBITCH on 09.13.07 8:36 am
ROTFL – a good one PP.
Don Bool,
How right you are to say “There must be a million or more votes amongst the ages 40 through 60’s who are wondering about how they can save for, or even just increase their retirement earnings.â€
The other day at a town hall in Edmonton, Garth said “50% of Canadians have no savings; and of the 50% who do have savings, the average amount is $40,000 invested (typically in RSP).†In sharp contrast, many government pensioners are paid $40,000 (and up) per year, and that’s on top of the $16,000 from CPP and OAS.
Clearly, there are two problems here: too many Canadians have too little savings, and Finance Minister Flaherty has damaged the savings of many Canadians who have saved. We need a government that wants to help individuals.
The Green Party of Ontario’s goal is to build a fair and just society in balance with nature, a society that values the health and vitality of our families, local communities and economies. It strives to achieve this balance through sound fiscal management and progressive social policies, with solutions that acknowledge the interdependence of the economy and the environment.
By Bill-Muskoka on 09.13.07 10:26 am
Bill – I’m really going to have to look into the Green Party’s platform. You mention that its The Green Party of Ontario’s goal. Is that a national goal? Pardon my ignorance.
From the Cannadian Press:
“The Conference Board’s metropolitan outlook study, released Thursday, shows that the seven fastest growing cities in Canada are all in the West, led by Saskatoon and Calgary.”
Head West.
Dell
Does no one pay attention? It’s not about transfers – it’s about “advertising” and wrangling taxpayers to cover it. Janke, Mr. Super Sleuth doesn’t get it obviously. It’s about using our taxpayer money for “advertising” – duh!
By KPN on 09.13.07 5:38 pm
Check out the National website and read their platform. At the moment we are focusing on the election in hand, and that is Ontario.
These are provincial issues for Ontario, as I know your realize. However, the national platform includes the concepts as well, espeically a sustainable economy that does not destroy the future.
The Green’s are not a bunch of Tree Huggers Ecoloonies. They are as Canadian as a party can be caring about people, the environment, and balanced fiscal budgeting. They are Centrists and slightly right of centre. They have a very sound, realisitic, and long term plan that is what we need IMHO.
We have had enough of short term planning by the other parties solely to get elected.
By Bill-Muskoka on 09.13.07 4:15 pm
Re. Please don’t give that advise again. If too many people follow that suggestion my oil stocks will take a pounding. My attitude has always been if you can’t beat them join them and now I welcome high gas prices and high profit by oil companies, although admittedly gas prices do not affect me as I ride my bicycle to work 20 kms each way.
Property Tax is real cheap. Enjoy it while you can.
“Lawrence Gavin” and “Catherine”, please provide this blog with a list of the expenses we taxpayers have been called upon to pay in order to fund you’re adventures on Garth’s blog. We all know you two are picking our pockets, I’m just wondering how much the damage is so far. How many extra mortgage payments would I have been able to have made if you two wern’t picking my pockets?
By Marc on 09.13.07 6:13 pm
OKey Dokey. How’s this Vote Green for a Suatainable Future? ah so sorry about your Black Gold investments.
PS Oil will still be needed for lubricants, plastics, older power generation, and most importantly pharmaceuticals…that includes the derivitive of Petroleum Jelly to sooth the pain. Curse has many uses, the problem is in just burning it without thought.
BTW, on our drive to Peterborough the other day we saw four signs advertising Hydrogen to farmers.
Heck, from what I saw on Global National this evening, Lake Ontario has enough junk metals in it to reduce the Missabi Iron Range takings. Apparently, many people think Lake Ontario is their personal Landfill?
By Keith Phibbs on 09.13.07 4:22 pm
Well stated in addition to what I posted earlier. Notice who the only four against are? Yeppers, the Great White Born Again Leaders. They believe they will not have to worry because they are going to get raptured away from the mess they have made.
Well, that word does not even appear in the Bible, and doggone it, there are typos as well. Rapture was really supposed to be ‘Rupture’, just like ‘Celebate’ was supposed to be ‘Celebrate!’
What a
sockshock they will have, eh?People,
I hope I’m not too boring for speaking the obvious. The vote in the UN is another attack on a minority—NL, NS and SK, seniors and investors, Muslim women, veterans’ widows, etc. And now Natives, again.
As I understand, the guys in the 35+ demographic are loving it. Well fellas, don’t go away. Your number’s coming up.
=======================================
Disabled veterans protest clawback
‘Faceless bureaucrats’ deducting benefits for pain and suffering
Glen McGregor
The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, September 13, 2007
A group of Canadian Forces veterans is calling on the federal government to end a policy they say unfairly claws back disability benefits for soldiers who are injured serving their country.
The veterans say the officials who administer the disability insurance program for Canadian Forces members wrongly deducted pain and suffering payments received from the Veterans Affairs Canada from their benefits.
“We have gone to war for Canadians,” said Sean Bruyea, a former soldier who is on long-term disability. “We did not sacrifice our health and the stability of our families to fight another war with bureaucrats.”
More than 4,000 former Forces members who were deemed medically unfit for service before April of this year are affected by the clawback of disability benefits, Mr. Bruyea said.
=======================================
Where are the Guardian Pumpkin MPs?
Do you live close to a reserve and have any idea of how aggressive natives become in relation to the rest of the population and their refusal to abide by laws that everyone else does?
By Canuck on 09.13.07 5:04 pm
I grew up in Hagersville .My parents still live right across the road from the disputed land on Main st.. I have family and friends on both sides.
So yes I have a great idea on what is going on.
Do you understand how frustating it is to have legitimate land claims and other issues before the Canadian courts for decades and still no settlements?
How about voting for the NDP in the next general election .. or does it have to be the Liberals so that you can help corporations dodge taxation by shifting it on to Canadians at a lower tax rate.
You know that something reeks of tax avoidance with these ITs, and on the advice of the civil servants in the Finance Dept, the Harper government decided to phase out ITs, as would have Minister Goodale had the Liberals won the election.
Now we have the Dion Liberals promising to rescusitate ITs to some extent, but surely that shouldn’t be the only reason to vote Liberal. Why else should we vote Liberal ??
By Myron on 09.13.07 3:54 pm
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Thanks for your questions Myron!
AS you well know the IT tax would not have been passed if Harper had not handed a carrot to good old Jack Layton and Judy Wasylycia-Leis for public pension plans and unions to aquire IT,s without having to pay taxes. When Goodale attempted to have consultation on IT,s the public sector pension plans like ontario teachers were prohibited from owning no more then a fixed percentage in their portfollios.(not positive but 5% rings a bell) Now harper has handed these pension plans like ontario teachers the ability to grab all the trusts they want and no tax is payed but ordinary canadians with no pension(that,s 70% of the population folks) have to pay 31 1/2% tax.(sounds fair eh!. not only that but trusts in RRSP,s pay the tax and then are taxed again on withdrawl!(Whew! that,s even fairer eh! Myron.)(good on ya!) With good old Judy Wasylycia-Leis raising hell with the RCMP about Goodale possibly tipping his buddies off about ending this consultation on IT,s and giving an unfair advantage to his cronies and a possibility of making big profits and with unethical behaviour by the RCMP(the commissioner has since resigned.not for just this, but many questionable practices.) announcing an investagation into this, the final death blow was struck to the liberals.Goodale was proven to be innocent of these accusations and not one appology from the RCMP,Harper,Jack Layton or Judy Wasylycia-Leis. It even gets better!– One of the main characters in D.O.F was the culprit and was charged with using privalaged info. to make an insider trade. IT even gets better still!– At the IT hearing when the head honcho from the D.O.F was asked for proof of tax leakage by IT,s they produced 18 pages of blank paper for their justification for the 31 1/2% tax. The guy even had the gall to say that if the D.O.F had made a mistake the wouldn,t admit it! (What a hoot!)
They can shift taxation from corporations to Canadians like myself anytime. No problem! Corporations in general pay just over 6% tax on average. I haven,t checked lately but i,m pretty sure indivdual canadians who pay taxes from IT income pay a touch more! like a measly minimum of approximately 24% and up depending on your income.DUH!
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
As for your question re:-
Now we have the Dion Liberals promising to rescusitate ITs to some extent, but surely that shouldn’t be the only reason to vote Liberal. Why else should we vote Liberal ??
—-I hear ya! your right! Let,s start with a leader you can trust! Let,s look at a leader like Dion who consults his M.P,s and ordinary Canadians and the buiseness community when major decisions and changes are in the making! Let,s look at a party that tried to find a middle ground for IT,s which Goodale tried to do. It,s called compromising without devastating one side or the other.
This IT issue won,t possibly be the main issue in the next election but it will likely be a deciding issue! Look at it this way!– The figure of 2 1/2 million canadians are affected by this fraud by Harper and Flaherty. Let,s eliminate 500 thousand who could care less about this! OK ! we,ve got 2 million pi$$ed of IT investors left out of a population of let,s say 33 million. In my own circumstance(being one of the 2 million) i can name at the very least 12 people who voted for Harper last time and will definately vote for Dion and the liberals next election. They are all seniors and they all vote. And these seniors all have sons and daughters who are getting an ear full from their pi$$ed of parents. The kids inheritance is at stake. (NOT GOOD!eh! Myron) The kids could usually care less about politics and elections but this little tid bit raises their hackles somewhat eh! I could go on and on about why you should vote liberal but this should suffice!
WELL MYRON, I GUESS IT DOESN,T MATTER IF YOU AND THE CONSERVATIVES ARE CONSISTENTLY WRONG AS LONG AS YOU,RE CONSISTENT!
Canuck,
So if I came to your house ,got you drunk or physically forced you to sign over your deed to your house,
and made you live in the basement forever.You wouldnt be aggressive ?
Would you stand by and watch me do whatever I wanted?All the natives want is their basement back.Is that too much to ask?
Elias Ecrize: “Lawrence Gavin†yadda yadda yadda…
First of all, it’s Garvin. Who’d have guessed that even cut n’ paste is too challenging for you.
Secondly, nobody pays me to deal with the egregious horseshit spewed by Garth and his leading buttboys (yourself prominent among them). Frankly, I wouldn’t do it for money because it would take all the enjoyment out of it…
Thirdly, “pickpockets” was old and lame and unimaginative the first time you used it some 9600 instances ago… Don’t you people have a spark of originality?
Fourth and Final point; your constant whining about “paid” agents raining on your parade only underlines how inadequate you are feeling. I make you look like an idiot – for free – in my spare time, because it’s just that easy! I imagine the same is true of Catherine but I wouldn’t be so bold as to speak for her.
LOL
What do you call someone who intentionally lies Garth?
‘Jeff’? — Garth
By Jeff on 09.13.07 2:39 pm
Don’t you just love it when they give you a line like that?
Makes it impossible to not help them direct their own foot into mouth. LOL
Taxpayers Coalition Halton Inc. has come to life again and will be visiting City Hall with an alternative plan but we need members because the first question Council asks “How many members in your coalition?†loosely translated “Do we really need to listen to your garbage, do you have the votes to affect our cushy position!â€
By pjw on 09.13.07 4:35 pm
That’s not your only problem, PJW.
Two ‘newbies’ on your council have a tendency to either vote with the perceived wind direction, or offer polite inadequacies when making a point.
You’ve got a guy in the mayor’s chair who ran and hid when the downloading took place, all the while insisting, in accordance with the party line, it was revenue neutral. Now, while McGuinty is trying to undo the damage of downloading, at least 5 members of council refuse to level with their constituents. Holdouts: ..Taylor, Thoem
http://www.thespec.com/article/246901
Maybe you should declare the other 5 members ‘parkettes’ and see if you can fob them off on the real estate people.
The best mayor we ever had was Walter Mulkewich. He was the guiding light all during the early nineties through ‘97 when the province DUMPED on all the municipalities. He was responsible for delivering 18,000 protest petitions to Queen’s Park. (with Savoline in tow)
They were both promptly ignored by Harris/Eves … That’s why I can’t see Savoline as a consistent/true representative of the Professional Criminals’ Party of Ontario.
She was a great self-promoter, but she’s too selective when it comes to defending her constituents. Marianne Meed-Ward is going to get my vote.
At least McGuinty has tried to restore the funding shortfall from the downloading dump … but the restoration
is only at 20% of former levels.
As for Mikey Wallace, obfuscator extraordinaire, he’s going to get the KIAFB award in the next election for his abrupt about-face on income trusts.
Salut!
Bill R,
“Property Tax is real cheap. Enjoy it while you can.”
Just remember that everyone repeat everyone is enjoying it, even renters.
Apparently Pierre Poilievre has achieved international status and recognition for his ability to LIE, OBFUSCATE and chew gum at the same time.
http://bp2.blogger.com/_gao_CdlNOqY/Rmd09tDTspI/AAAAAAAAAF0/lBtD6h30GA4/s400/1003027.jpg
I’ve sent an e-mail to their central committee requesting that they provide a contingent [oops, I mean cadre] with paint brushes & lead paint ‘cos we don’t want Pierre stuck out there with his bare face hanging out.
FYI:
Bad news for the USA dollar and possible inflationary reseccion?
See, http://baconreport.blogspot.com/2007/09/bad-news-for-dollar.html
Reg: When you state that the cost of John Tory’s plan to fund religious schools seems small you have to look ahead several years . The 53000 students enrolled in religious schools today could climb to 200000 or more. The money that will be required to build new schools, provide busing, specialized staff: therapists, counselors, psychologists etc will be staggering.
How can John Tory suggest that he is bringing religious schools into the public system when they will never be public?Public means open to all. Will they allow students not of their faith to enrol in their schools?
Will they allow teachers not of their faith to teach in their schools?
John Tory has no idea what he is proposing. Once again, as the P.C.’s before him, he is trying to create a “crisis” in education where none exists.
This story reports that a B-52 was carrying five small nukes over the US mainland which, apparently is a strict no-no; I seem to recall reading a couple of days ago that it was six nukes, and one had (conveniently) gone missing.
One aspect is that suposedly, Russia, China and Iran had signed various agreements a few months ago, possibly protecting Iran’s oil and gas assets.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18374.htm
FYI
Antiwar rally set for Sept.15/07
http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15778/index.php
Keith Phibbs
Believe it or not, but I am in agreement with how atrocious natives were mistreated. Land claims have dragged on for years that the federal government should have settled. Ditching the Kelowna Agreement an egregious error in my opinion. But how does surrendering my rights to the peaceful occupation of my property further Indian claims? In this instance, as I understanding the issue, signing the UN Agreement encroaches on territory that is presently under dispute. This may be the ‘only’ time this Conservative federal government got it right! There are occasions this could happen as freaky as that might be.
Lorraine said:
EDMONTON is the SECOND MOST AFFORDABLE major city in Canada for housing prices!
As I live in Vancouver, voted most livable city in the world for 5 or 10 years running, and I have visited Edmonton, which has never made the list at all of 140, it is really not clear what it is you are bragging about. Affordable or cheap?
Geo
Not yet you say!!
http://patriotsquestion911.com/
All you need.
By PYOTR PETROBITCH on 09.13.07 11:00 pm
offered up:
Apparently Pierre Poilievre has achieved international status and recognition for his ability to LIE, OBFUSCATE and chew gum at the same time.
http://bp2.blogger.com/_gao_CdlNOqY/Rmd09tDTspI/AAAAAAAAAF0/lBtD6h30GA4/s400/1003027.jpg
So nice to see someone be so appropriately recognized.
I’m impressed, I mean REALLY impressed! lol!!
(Actually the more I think about it… It’s not taken from?… oh never mind… what I mean to ask is… oh forget it… nothing nothing… wow, who’d a thunk? But it sure explains a lot.)
Geo
should read: UN Agreement encroaches on territory that is presently ‘not’ under dispute.
Elias
While I am not terribly concerned one way or the other in what services are available to all parties, your bitching is noted and ….meh whatever.
If this is a problem for you, no doubt because he represents something you detest, probably accountability and freedom to express himself, then start a movement to review how all parilamentary expenses are made and petition those that are not necessary.
Well, it is unfortunate that there is a function that everyone must fill, and I see yours. Such is life for the rest of us I suppose.
John Tory has no idea what he is proposing. Once again, as the P.C.’s before him, he is trying to create a ”crisis” in education where none exists.
By Judy on 09.13.07 11:47 pm
See John Tory … Vote ‘PHISHING’ …
http://www.cagle.com/working/070906/nease.jpg
http://www.cagle.com/working/070904/nease.jpg
http://www.cagle.com/working/070730/nease.jpg
Lorraine must be on crack….2nd most affordable? Yeah I guess it is, in Alberta. When is the data you are using on that claim Lorraine? Last year? Please provide a very recent link showing the price of Edmonton real estate being affordable and I will type an acknowledgement reply.
Steve on 09.13.07 4:24 pm said:
So that was you huh Bob? At least get a leather jacket that has as few pieces as possible. It does look like you decided on the cheapest jacket just made out of scraps.
Nope Steve,
It wasn’t Bob. It was LLoyd, or rather it was Syncrodox as he likes to style himself. He of the tatty black vinyl jacket who is a BT tho protests that he’s really not one of them but a small “c” conservative. Whatever.
He’s put up a series of You Tube videos of Garth’s TH in Calgary. With quite the written commentary to go with it. An awful lot of explanation even before one sees the videos. Mostly to apologize for the quality and of course to get his con-style witty jabs in.
Perceptions are funny things no?
Geo
FYI
Antiwar rally set for Sept.15/07
http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15778/index.php
By Greg W., Oakville on 09.14.07 12:37 am
I’ve known about the march for a while. We should be marching with them.
Powerful video with this article. Bush is demented!
Harper wants to attach our star to this madman’s wagon? Harper is demented.
Geo
No. As I reported. — Garth
By Angry Canadian on 09.13.07 3:24 pm
Yeah, could be. I don’t know. I know Janke is reporting a similar thingy with Mr. Dion. Could be. Who knows?
Here’s the thing; the majority of Canadians don’t care. Unless someone physically walks in their houses and takes money directly from their pocket, the apathy among us fine Canadians with Government abuse of funds is amazing. The masses do not equate tax dollars as ‘their own’. Take our little neck of the woods, the Ontario tax payer just bought a toilet for $50K, we paid someone for an unnamed project $600K after his brother resigned from the ‘project approval committee’. We spent $15million of tax payer’s money to fund competing businesses within our area putting people out of work and out of business. $15million with no over-sight and no transparency.
The people who do care and are upset resign themselves to frustration, because with no accountability, no one is responsible, so what do you do? That’s why people become apathetic in the first place. All too often they learn you cannot fight the machine and win. You spend the hours trying to find someone to stand up and say ‘yeah, it’s me, I take responsibility’ only to find those concerned have banned together to protect their own. You begin to feel beat down and tired.
Life must be very pleasant for those who can let it go in one ear and out the other. Ignorance is bliss.
L
Lawrence GABIN, well, I must be hitting close to the mark judging by your reaction.
As for doing it for free – indeed, it is free for you – at the expense of my tax dollars.
Pickpocket is an apt description and I will use it again and frequently under the hope (delusion?) that some sense might seep through your thick neoCON skull.
As for it being easy for you – well, if I lived off the public purse like you, everything would be peaches and cream for me as well. Unfortunately, I have to work for a living in order to pay taxes to fund YOUR lifestyle.
Have a nice taxpayer funded day.
Canuck: All U.N. countries noted that the vote was symbolic, non-binding.
Canada chose not to make the gesture.
And yet this same government made a symbolic gesture to the Quebecois with their symbolic vote that the Quebecois is a nation?
So why not the same symbolic vote for the First Nations people?
By Lawrence Garvin on 09.13.07 8:59 pm
Such a nasty, mean-spirited post does not deserve to be repeated by cutting and pasting, and probably most people are just pushing their imaginary “ignore” button.
Have you thought of taking an anger management course, Mr. Garvin?
“You people”, you said…, care to describe to whom you are referring? This “us and them” game is boring and childish.
Muskoka,
I did not rise to your bait yesterday on account of lack of time.
What have I got against the Greens?
Nothing, which is as much as I have for them. In a comment to Greg at 7:48 PM on 28 Aug, I passed on my observations of the political fortunes of the Green Party in Germany, which has been active on the federal scene for over 25 years. I know that our Greens will try to be different, but they have not yet made contact with political power and reality. I also have worked with two Green politicians on local committees and have come to the conclusion that activists are great – as long as realists hold their ears and point their noses in the right direction. Finally, when I see Green innocence in something as pervasive as property taxes, I see no reason to let hope triumph over experience. Yes, they are a new party, but so were the New Democrats decades ago, and yes, the environment is important, but it is not (yet?) a deciding issue. I am impressed by May, whom I have heard in person and would vote for in any party or capacity, but don’t consider her a Great White Hope all by herself.
What have I done in the past about the LPC and PCP/CPC?
I have voted for or against them as I thought appropriate over 40-odd years. I have never joined a political party because, as a soldier, I was apolitical and, in retirement, propose to maintain my independence. I did spend one evening working the phones for Ed Broadbent when he came out of retirement as a candidate in my riding because I wanted to keep a Liberal apparatchik out, but determined that Ed did not need my help and left it at one evening. The only financial support I have ever given to any politician was a modest donation to Garth when he asked for money for signs. I have never donated to a party because I do not support any party permanently, and have seen some ways parties can feather their nests on their own. (We have had ADSCAM, but we have never had a party leader serve a year in jail over election financing, or have another one make a substantial return of illegal contributions to avoid prosecution [Lambsdorff and Kohl in Germany].)
To cut it short, I have been and will stay a swing-voter in an attempt to keep parties and politicians on their toes. That’s about all one can do given our current system, which, Rope notwithstanding, I can live with because I have seen worse. Wait until we have coalitions hanging on for 20 years (Germany) or 30 years (Austria) simply because they do not want to leave power and can hang on under MMR.
Have you thought of taking an anger management course, Mr. Garvin?
I’m not angry, Lana.
Why are you angry? Are you seeing someone about it? LOL
I share your concern about “us and them” mentality but I don’t let it get me down too much. This board is absolutely rotten with political cheerleaders and I just give them the odd poke for my own amusement.
Nice chatting with you, Lana. Speak up again sometime before you get all pissed off.
Unfortunately, I have to work for a living in order to pay taxes to fund YOUR lifestyle.
And let me tell you, I really appreciate it…
But… time to get back to work, the drive-thru is backed up onto the street!
Herb: To cut it short, I have been and will stay a swing-voter in an attempt to keep parties and politicians on their toes.
Well stated, Herb. I feel the same way. I have conservative leanings but I am in no way a Conservative partisan. Even when I donated some money to the Cons, I flatly refused a membership card because I am -agressively NOT- loyal to them.
We need to keep all politicians in suspense because we’ve seen, on all sides, what happens when they get too comfortable.
With no disrespect to Green supporters, I just don’t see that the Green’s are anything but a disorganized fifth party right now. Certainly voting for them sends a message, but it’s a bit of an empty gesture at the moment. From my perspective anyway.
I know that our Greens will try to be different, but they have not yet made contact with political power and reality. I also have worked with two Green politicians on local committees and have come to the conclusion that activists are great – as long as realists hold their ears and point their noses in the right direction.
I am impressed by May, whom I have heard in person and would vote for in any party or capacity, but don’t consider her a Great White Hope all by herself.
By Herb on 09.14.07 9:18 am
Herb,
Thank you, and do not concern yourself about the delay in responding.
I can appreciate your position as it has been mine as well.
I will say that I do not compare the German GP to our’s, and do not deny that they have too many ‘activist’ types. That, however, has changed. The ‘activists’ have been grabbed by their ears properly, helped to understand reality, and I believe the GPO and GPoC are ready for Prime Time. if I did not they would not have my support.
Bottom line is they have earned the right to be given an opportunity. they are no going to form a government, nor a majority, but they have solid ideas and that is the point.
Todate all we have gotten are the ad nauseum Bandaide proposals as promises from the other parties. We are simply in need of fresh thinking and solid solutions.
I, for one, am damn tired of having my intelligence insulted by the likes of McGuinty, Tory, Harper, and the rest of these wannabe leaders. A leader knows how to resolve problems, not extend them forever.
Likewise, I do not want Canada to become like the U.S. where ’swing voting’ is more akin to watching the monkeys at the zoo. Finally, I want to vote FOR someone, not merely against someone.
The pendulum needs to be stopped and point like a plumbline to the centre where the Truth and reality has always been.
I have pretty much admired your comments here, even if I did not agree with them all, and I do not expect everyone to agree with mine either. My comments are most always designed to stimulate thought in others, not tell them what they must do. That is what we call Freedom. The freedom to think, to chose, and to act.
Anyway, please give them consideration and not use a foreign country to denounce them. They are Canadians just like you and I, and they deserve to be heard and to sit on our behalf. God knows they cannot be any worse than the failed jerks we have handed the baton to in the past.
Until Elizabeth May took the reigns I ignored them myself, but her sound, intelligence, and very experienced leadership grabbed my attention. She is a skilled lawyer (and I do not particularly like lawyers writing laws as ligislators, but compared to some of the Bozos they are an improvemnt), and knows politics very well. that knowledge is being passed on to the Green candidates and I truly believe things are more than acceptable to support them.
Right now all I am focused on is Ontario’s upcoming election. We were screwed by Harris/Eves, and now by McSquinty. We need real change, and sorry, but the NDP is not the solution. Not because of Bob Rae (he got handed a bag of crap, and then the MSM crucified him), but because they simply are way too emotional about everything, more like watching adolescents attempt to figure out the meaning of life. Actually I hoped rae would win the Liberal leadership because he is a descent man and open wit people. Iggy I do not, and never will trust. Dion is smart, but as was said last night on CBC, he seems to be adopting a little too much guidance from the backroom.
Please forgive me, but as a combat Veteran, I know what real leadership is, and I simply have not seen anyone that I would follow into a combat situation. I want a leader who thinks the mission through before executing it, has a backup plan, and a backup to the backup as well. I want a leader who recognizes the value of the troops, listens, and tells the truth so that we can make informed and intelliegent decisions. I want a leader who will watch my Six and I will watch their’s in turn. Then we can knowingly place our lives on the line and get the mission accomplished.
I have led men into Hell personally, and those are the qualifications I demand of myself. Maybe that is why I was chosen to lead? I demeand nothing less from our politicians.
Show me some Suckass liar and I will never follow them.
With no disrespect to Green supporters, I just don’t see that the Green’s are anything but a disorganized fifth party right now. Certainly voting for them sends a message, but it’s a bit of an empty gesture at the moment. From my perspective anyway.
By Lawrence Garvin on 09.14.07 9:59 am
That was an honest statement Lawrence, and appreciated. I consider a vote for more of the same as being an empty gesture as well.
Remember I define insanity as ‘Repeating the same act and expecting a different result!’
I want real results, because, IMHO, we have run out of time. We need a Centrist, fiscally balanced, progressive government at all levels. One that can actually balance the books, put aside funds for infrastructure, and create a true sustainable economy. A government that does for we the people what we cannot do individually, and pro tects the poorest and most needful. I have no problem whatsoever with having my hard earned tax money go to that.
Building massive monuments to political egos I have LOTS of problems with. Just like $40 million to reno Nathan Phillips Square when the roads are in horrid condition, the streets are worse, and people need help just to survive.
The total costs of bad social programs is huge in law enforcement, incarceration, healthcare, mental health, and it IS the cause of most of that. Another reason I am not a Dipper. They never seem to know where reality stops and uptopia begins.
I do not know about you, but I am running out of energy to constantly regroup from the actions of political idiots who repeatedly destroy the economic stability of myself and our country. At the end of each day I run a tally of what happened, and each and every day I find there is no real stability left to plan ahead.
We have fluctuating everything, and this voter has had his fill of broken promises, incompetent management, and outrageous graft paid to CEO’s and politicians who only use our lives to enhance their’s and their friends.
With no disrespect to Green supporters, I just don’t see that the Green’s are anything but a disorganized fifth party right now. Certainly voting for them sends a message, but it’s a bit of an empty gesture at the moment. From my perspective anyway.
By Lawrence Garvin on 09.14.07 9:59 am
This kind of attitude has made it possible for the Liberals and Conservatives to create a revolving door in Ottawa. The result, as suggested in another comment section, is that in each election the choice is dictated by minimizing corruption. There is no incentive for the old parties to change because they know that a few years after their corrupt behaviour becomes public they will be back in power.
Voters need to look beyond the issue of corruption and decide on whether we need to maintain the same direction we have been moving for the past few decades or rethink that direction.
The primary issue of our time has become the concentration of wealth to promote corporate globalization. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives are driving in that direction pushed by the CEOs of the major corporations who are using the system to increase their personal wealth and power. If you believe that is the correct direction then I can understand you voting for the Conservatives or the Liberals. If not, then I believe you need to seek alternatives whether it is the Green Party or some other party.
Personally, I believe we need to make a new start, even if all it does is force the current established parties to move in a different direction.
As Canadians we elect over three hundred(300)Members of Parliament and send them to Ottawa to REPRESENT us, the Canadian electorate.So far we have one MP (Garth)who truly puts himself out there to consult with not only his constituents but also anyone else who needs to be woken up to the political reality in Canada.
Oh ya there are some try hards who speak to the local Chamber luncheon or the Seniors Lodge but do they actually hold OPEN, TRANSPARENT meetings with a welcome all comers mind set like Garth. NO
What about a party platform policy that says all MP’s that represent this party must hold at least four Town Hall meetings annually to discuss issues with their constituents in an open transparent manner?
Why not amend the election Act to say the books and records can be open to the public with proper notice at no charge to be examined by us ?
If Garth can do this why can’t all the other MPs hold regular TH meetings and give us all a renewed sense of a government we are truly a part of!
Garth it was a pleasure to share the stage with you at Mount Royal College in Calgary.
I can’t defend the cost of your meal without more details but I will promote our quality of life in Calgary. The city is beautiful and the people outgoing and energetic.
Many of our growing pains are the result of a weak and largely incompetent provincial government. The Conservative brand in Alberta, including the Harper brand is not based on professional competence, research and facts. It is based on beliefs, bias and a limited circle of friends. The Conservatives in/from Alberta do not exhibit leadership other than through their positions of power. Canada will suffer the same lack of planning under Harper as Calgary has under Ralph Klein and our new conservative premier.
Garth, with your honest out-spoken approach and your knowledge and experience in business and economics, you are a great example for Calgarians to see how the federal Liberal party has changed. More open, more accessible and more accountable, all traits Calgarians were concerned about with former Liberal governments.
Although we are different in many ways, I hope you don’t mind if I include you with Stéphane Dion as one of the role models for the type of MP I hope to be.
Calgary West Candidate
So why not the same symbolic vote for the First Nations people?
By Judy on 09.14.07 8:32 am
They don’t have enough votes, if they did, the government would have voted yes on the issue!
Calgary West Candidate
By Jennifer Pollock on 09.14.07 12:36 pm
Interesting. Now when you hit the ‘ol campaign trail will you be screaming for the immediate implementation of full blown Kyoto like your party says we should? Also, do you think Alberta should share the wealth with the rest of Canada?
Just curious. L
C.B. and Muskoka,
the concentration of corporate wealth and power and globalization are major issues, since they do affect essential aspects of national and international life, and do so without reference to the common good. To Conservatives this is as it should be, while Liberals only insist that some of the benefits are spread around. The establishment parties (and that is what major political parties are to be major), have no reason to change the system under which they operate.
Minor parties can advance ideas and rant and rave in the political wilderness, but without much effect unless major parties are persuaded to assume their causes. For instance, remember David Lewis and his “corporate welfare bums� It was derided, but it was an apt expression. If course it has been forgotten, but the reality it decried continues quite happily. How many corporations still get big bucks from government to stay in or open up in certain areas? How many get grants, contributions, tax breaks, concessions, other support or contracts that would not be as rich were they to deal with other corporate entities? (Who pays? Why, Pyotr Petrobitch!) Let’s see what happens with the environment.
Doing some research on the Warsaw Pact years ago, I ran across a statement published after the Prague Spring in 1968 that has stuck with me. It was about “the power of truthâ€, and I looked it up again to-day:
“The true word makes its mark only when it is spoken under conditions that have been properly prepared. Properly prepared conditions – in our context that must unfortunately include the whole impoverishment of our society and the complete collapse of the old system of government … Truth, then, is not winning the day; truth is merely what remains when everything else has been frittered away.â€
And so it was in the former Czechoslovakia. Here, I don’t see CPC or LPC about to commit suicide, I can’t see a small party getting big, and I see no Cromwell on the horizon. We are stuck in our current political system until we are bankrupt, until truth remains after everything else has come unstuck. And since we have a lot to “fritter awayâ€, and governments and parties know what would await them should things get too bad, it may take a long time indeed. Meanwhile, all we can do is vote “for†or “against†and punish or reward the ruling rascals and prevent one set digging in.
I’d love to be more optimistic, but I see no reason to be.
Re: comments by Herb on 09.14.07 3:54 pm
The fact is that there are only two parties capable of changing the ideology of the old parties: the NDP and the Green Party. The system now is so biased by law to the establishment parties that you are correct in saying that no new party has a chance. The Reform Party got its start at a time when when democracy had not been as curtailed as it today.
The easy way is to give up to what you see as the inevitable. Historically we have never been in the situation before here in Canada where democracy means so little. There was always a potential for new political movements to push the parties in new directions.
The CCF/NDP at one time was a major force in influencing the old parties to look at issues in a new way. Today it seems to have become a tired relict of the past. The only party that seems to have the courage to seek new directions is the Green Party.
Things happen very quickly in the modern world. I suspect when things get bad this are going to get bad so fast that the current politicians will not have time to catch their breath. Anyone who has read Stephane Dion’s speeches could mistake them for one made by Paul Martin or at times Stephen Harper.
There is really nothing to lose by voting for a party other than the two establishment parties.
C.B.,
forgive this broken record, but the choice is whether to keep CRAP in office or throw them out. Neither NDP nor Greens will get enough votes to replace the government, so a vote for them anounts to a vote for the CPC (I know that’s been said in the past about votes for the NDP, but I think it’s very true this time). Only the LPC has a chance to retire Harper, so unless I want a few more years of neo-Con government, that’s where I have to park my vote.
If there is another way of throwing out this travesty of a government short of praying for the Greens, let me know.
We are stuck in our current political system until we are bankrupt, until truth remains after everything else has come unstuck.
I’d love to be more optimistic, but I see no reason to be.
By Herb on 09.14.07 3:54 pm
Herb,
You are quite correct in your analysis EXCEPT. The power rest with ‘We the people’, and it is up to US to exercise that power.
I seem to remember a certain document, and please forgive my imputation of American values here, that defined the No No’;s of a government. it was called the Declaration of Independence, and remains a Hallmark of democracy for the World.
Read it over and see if we, as Canadians, still loyal to the Crown (God save our Queen) cannot fathom the difference that has evolved? What were the acts of a mad King (George III) are now the acts of multinational conglomerates whose only goal is slavery of the masses for the benefit of their own clique.
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Are we not as brave as those who came before? Are we so afraid of change that we would allow further insults to our dignity? We are Canadians, and we are strong and free. But only as free as we chose to be together. Let us, therfore, submit to the facts of reality, and act accordingly as responsible Citizens.
Sorry, I messed up the HTMl for the link. Here it is corrected
Declaration of Independence
By C. B. Innes on 09.14.07 5:10 pm
Amazing your post preceded mine in such a timely fashion! Thank you.
And if one reads the charges, you will find that Bush and Harper have followed the same path of corrupt power as did King George III, and they are without excuse in doing so.
A few key points to ponder, but read them all.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
These make AdScam and the graft seem like minor financial inractions, compared to our sovereignty and freedoms!
Muskoka,
this being the “Peaceable Kingdom”, armed rebellion is out. Unless the sky falls, action will be limited to the ballot box and a vote for or agin’ the government. That is the only power the people here ever have held, and we haven’t done too badly. Ideals have not shaped Canada, common sense has. Hope it stays that way.
Ideals have not shaped Canada, common sense has. Hope it stays that way.
By Herb on 09.14.07 8:55 pm
As do I also Herb. One vote per person…hopefully chosen without FUD and with forethought. Rememeber, that those souls wrote it to King George, and he sent the troops to suppress them. A point of significant detail to consider, eh?
APEC, SPP, for some reason those come to mind writing this?
armed rebellion is out.
Oh, except in Caledonia apparently!
“Only the LPC has a chance to retire Harper, so unless I want a few more years of neo-Con government, that’s where I have to park my vote.”
By Herb on 09.14.07 8:55 pm
You are making the same argument that has been made by Liberals over and over and over since 1993. It is the same argument that destroyed the Progressive Conservative Party in the end and empowered Harper.
If I decide to vote for the Green Party that is just as much a vote against the government as a vote for the Liberals. The only way a Conservative candidate would be elected in this riding at the moment would be through electoral fraud.
Bill M quoted:
…He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: …
Bill,
This is amazing. Where did you find it? Wonderful stuff.
Geo
Herb said,
this being the “Peaceable Kingdomâ€, armed rebellion is out.
Never say never Herb.
In this last handful of years I’ve witnessed things I never thought to, we all have. Really, so many things we can’t even remember all of the injustices, the affronts, the lies, the unlawfulness and the terror that is going on just outside our Peaceable Kingdom. (let alone what has slid in)
We seldom look too closely at Central and South America. Or even at our erstwhile partner Mexico. Not at the people and what they must endure.
How difficult would it be to build “quarantine” centres? for our own good of course. Just like the famous ones in Texas. This could be just one of many “new” things in store for us.
Should polite Canadians start to get too uppity eventually, and the SPP and TILMA is more firmly entrenched, and should we be (Golda forbid!) still under some flavour of CRAP-Con Gov., then yeah, armed rebellion is not out of the question at all.
Ha, this coming from me, left coast, left wing pacifist. Wonders. Never. Cease.
Geo
ps:Harper scares me, can we get rid of him now please.
“Lawrence Gavin†and “Catherineâ€, please provide this blog with a list of the expenses we taxpayers have been called upon to pay in order to fund you’re adventures on Garth’s blog. We all know you two are picking our pockets, I’m just wondering how much the damage is so far. How many extra mortgage payments would I have been able to have made if you two wern’t picking my pockets?
By Elias on 09.13.07 7:18 pm
So Elias, we can ask you the same. Maybe you should ask your bosses at LPC to give you a raise. Fool.
By Truth on 09.13.07 3:34 pm
Seeing that no one is jumping at the chance to explain to you what Gov. dept’s do with unused budget, let me tell you a little secret.
They almost never have unused budget. The reason is simple. If your Dept. has a budget of say 10 million, and you only use 8.5 million, then when it comes time for the next budget, you won’t get 10 million. You will get 8.5 or so.
In order to avoid a big shimozle over trying to get substantially more than you actually needed, you spend spend spend until it’s all gone. See? Now you can ask for 11.5 million and have a chance of getting it.
Farmin’ the People, Hi Ho, Hi Ho it’s off to the trough I go….
To C.B., Herb and Bill
Some perspective;
It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
H. L. Mencken
One more ditty from Mr. Mencken
It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.
C.B.,
a couple of remarks on your 10:50 PM -
I think that the PCP was destroyed by national revulsion against Mulroney. There was no way we were going to put up with more of the same under the guise of Kim Campbell. (Nod to Garth: she and her team might have been all right at another time.) And if voting against Martin empowered Harper, so be it, because we had had too much of a Liberal entitlement to government, not to mention “Mr. Dithers”. Now it’s time to discard Harper, or do you really think he would change to please voters?
I know your frustration, having often voted NDP (the sole alternative) in protest when it was not imperative to replace a government. This time it is imperative to replace the government, so a protest vote would be counter-productive.
You are fortunate in your riding. I have to block the devil with Beelzebub: vote for a Liberal apparatchik to vote against the CPC, the sitting NDP MP not being an overriding factor.
Too bad politics is all about choices.
Re: comments by Herb on 09.15.07 11:16 am
Sometimes I think people’s hatred for Mulroney has gone beyond the bounds of rational thinking. Mulroney certainly did a great deal to make the public want to punish the Progressive Conservatives.
That might have been understandable if Chretien and Martin had not followed the direction he started and pushed it even further.
Was it rational to want to destroy the Progressive Conservative Party three leaders later? If I follow your logic since I disliked Chretien and Martin as much as Mulroney so why would I want to ever vote Liberal?
I can understand why partisan Liberals sought to destroy the Progressive Conservatives. They always saw them as a bigger threat than the hard social right. They were wrong.
What I find is more interesting is the reasons the media decided to destroy the PC Party. For example, the CBC made a conscious decision that it could not afford to cover all the parties in 2000. It wanted to limit its coverage and they decided to eliminate the PCs. One of the individuals at the time involved in that decision was Jason Moscovitch (?) who then left the CBC for a Liberal political appointment. Don Newman became a major voice initially for the “unite the right movement” and then began to rethink his promotion of the idea when it was too late.
The suggestion at the time was that all of the media had made the same decision. The media mantra became “unite the right.” Harper and company agreed and as long as the PC’s would jettison the progressive and moderate elements in the party.
The result may not have been exactly what eveyone wanted but it is what happened. The new Conservative Party became a right wing party jettisoning all of its “progressive” or moderate wing.
It was the choice you and other voters made as a voter and you are stuck with it at least for the immediate future. Don’t expect the rest of us to have much sympathy for your viewpoint. By venting hatred for Mulroney on all other Progressive Conservatives you have made your bed.
C.B.,
a pathology and a national, irrational plan to destroy Mulroney and the poor PCP? Surely you jest, Sir!
A couple of million voters (and that’s all it took) individually but deliberately rejecting a PM and his government (with their party hardly an innocent bystander) do not a conspiracy make. And returning Joe Clark as leader merely finalized the suicide. What is it that adherents of the former PCP do not understand about their fate?
Hey, I have no problem accepting blame for Harper’s election, especially since I voted for him. He was a necessary interregnum, and having seen him in action, I propose to make that as short as possible. Hope a couple of million fellow voters see it that way too.
By Georgine on 09.15.07 2:43 am
Georgine,
It is in the U.S. Declaration of Independence…penned by my ancestor, George Mason. I posted the link, read the rest and find out just how much full-circle things have come. I find it shocking.
Bill M,
Thank You. I am, I suppose, as familiar as most Canadians with the DoI, as least the beginning of it. We all saw “Independence Day” at least once. I am ashamed that I did not recognise what you posted.
I do not think I have read it in it’s entirety in at least ten years which is a shame because it is a powerful and stirring document, and never more apropos since its signing as it is today.
Taking that section separate, as a stand alone piece, is almost prophetic.
I wonder how many American citizens would remember where it is from?
(Just read it out to my husband, a smart cookie from Brooklyn NY, he did not recognise it, but he said, “Makes sense, but it sounds like it’s referring to Bush”.)
Or a check list that the Bush Administration is using, and Harper is busily catching up on and adjusting to apply to Canadians, such as this latest BS regarding “Lawful Access”.
Each time I reread it something else occurs to me. Another affront to civil society, Canadian and American people, not to mention what’s going on in areas of Mexico.
I wonder if we have something as equally stirring and prophetic from the pens of any of Canada’s great thinkers?
Thanks again Bill, you have really made me think with this one. But then you usually do:)
Geo
Oh Bill, I forgot,
I’ve got Masons in the family tree too. Out of some almost impossible to pronounce town in Wales. Impossible to spell too unless I look it up.
Gee, maybe we are related! LOL
Geo
I do not think I have read it in it’s entirety in at least ten years which is a shame because it is a powerful and stirring document, and never more apropos since its signing as it is today.
Taking that section separate, as a stand alone piece, is almost prophetic.
I wonder how many American citizens would remember where it is from?
(Just read it out to my husband, a smart cookie from Brooklyn NY, he did not recognise it, but he said, “Makes sense, but it sounds like it’s referring to Bushâ€.)
Georgine, I sit here almost hanging my head that your husband did not recognize those words?
But, I cannot be critical of him. He made the appropriate connection, which so far, the Congress has failed to do, or they would already have begun Impeachment Hearings.
In fact, the majority of the members of Congress have no clue what the Constitution says either. Much less the Bill of Rights. Obviously, Dick Cheney is ‘Two clicks short in the making of a clue!’ as well. The American education business has failed GROSSLY to educate in the most important points of the preservation of Democracy, or they simple choose to ignore the wisdom!
Even Greece, is recanting their leadership and returning to true Democracy. What a total upheaval that is causing, leadership that is held accountable! Oh my Gawd…What a terrible reality, eh?
George Mason penned all of those, plus the Virginia Constitution and Bill of rights.
Following the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin went back to Paris and helped guide the French Revolution of 1779. He actually got many of the ideas for the American Revolution from France.
GAWD, how we could use a solid, stout Madame Guillotine today, eh? A little fear of Le Blade could work wonders!
Would Bush have a clue what it stood for? Probably NOT! LOL
Comments by Herb on 09.15.07 2:02 pm
As I said before, you got exactly what you voted for. Anyone who researched Harper or paid attention to what was going on would have known what he was all about and what the new Conservative Party was all about.
How could you expect those people who engaged in the kind of dishonesty that went on during the merger process to be any different in power?
You apparently have no experience in party politics. It is cutthroat and when the big money interests decide to manipulate the system they do it.
Do you really believe that Belinda Stronach was working alone to achieve the merger? She was naive, available, and used. Where did the money for the merger campaign come from (both parties had about equal debt; even most party members were not aware of how far in debt the CA actually was)? Who paid-off Peter MacKay? Why did the Chief Elections Officer agree to open his office on the Sunday morning after the merger so that the PC Party Constitution would no longer apply? That meant that all legal requirements for Peter MacKay to make known who paid off his creditors ended, in spite of the fact that the law required a thirty day grace period.
I don’t feel sorry for you. You allowed yourself to be CONned. You may sneer at progressives such as myself who have been denied a voice in Canadian politics but don’t expect us to play your kind of game because we know better.
C.B.,
I think we are chasing each others tails. The only option to Harper was more Martin and longer Liberal rule. Are you the kind of “progressive” who would have preferred that?
Glad you know better. Now how about letting me know the outcome of the next general election and why you think it will be like that, so that I can save myself the trip to the poll.
By the way, I can’t remember an election where the electorate has not been conned.
The way out of our electoral mess is to convince politicians that we will no longer be satisfied with being dis-, mis-, or uninformed. And the only way we have of doing that is to beat them about the head and shoulders at election time.
That’s why I play the game I play – picking my target for reward or punishment as warranted by the circumstances obtaining at election time. If you go for party promises or principles, good luck.
Hi Bill,
In my husband’s defense I would have to maybe say that his area of expertise and love would not be so much American history (tho he should have known) but music. Ask him what is playing on the radio, if it is a classical piece, and he will tell who, what, when, what came next, and who performs it better.
On top of that he is a computer geek. In NY he taught elementry PS kids music and computers for years. (a side note: was told when he moved here,and went looking for a teaching gig “experience counts for nothing”). Now he teaches adults, and the music is just for himself and for fun.
Regarding Congress et al, I have no idea what they know or don’t know. Why won’t they impeach? They impeached Clinton for a blow job for christs sake!
They do forget their place, their position, their… they probably need or want something they can’t quite get yet.
American Education Business, No Child Left Behind? Billions of $$ taken out to feed the occupation of Iraq. Such crap. Careful, Harper is watching and renaming things the Bushco way. ie: Choice in Childcare? That is no choice at all.
I knew about Ben Franklin:) Not so much about Greece:(
GAWD, how we could use a solid, stout Madame Guillotine today, eh? A little fear of Le Blade could work wonders!
Would Bush have a clue what it stood for? Probably NOT! LOL
hehe Probably not. Especially as his brain retired just recently. I suppose it’s running on fumes for now. Toxic still. And still Harper holds on to his coat tails. What is to happen when Bush is out next year?
What do they expect to have accomplished by then? 2 men that stole their elections, and one with a weak minority.
How are we to hold them accountable?
Geo
Re: comments by Herb on 09.15.07 10:34 pm
I can understand why you might be getting a bit snippy. You have already made up your mind but I suspect the decision does not make you entirely comfortable.
The next “election” is really the by-elections in Quebec tomorrow. I have no idea how any future election will turn out but I see a ray of hope in this by-election as well as some ominous signals.
The ominous signals come from the suggestion that the Ignatieff forces are trying to throw the election in Outremont in order to undermine Dion’s leadership. This is much the same as the Martin vs Chretien split in the Liberal Party that will drive the Party further to the right. Anyone who has read Ignatieff’s writings would understand that he operates on the same basic ideology as Harper. As well the Ignatieff people have already captured the Liberal nominations for the next election in a number of ridings.
You cannot trust the direction the Liberals will take because to accomodate its hard right wing, with its well-heelded supporters, any leader, whose bend may not be as right wing, will be forced to accommodate them.
Dion’s selection by the grass roots of the Liberal Party was an attempt to move the party more in line with the general public but Dion is already moving away from the positions that got him elected in order to accommodate the other camp.
On the other hand, the election of someone like Thomas Mulcair for the NDP could only be a positive. He is a fiscal conservative, not afraid to rock the boat, and just might be an asset in helping the federal NDP set a new course. This could change the whole dynamic.
No election is predictable. Things can change in a very short period of time. One can only gauge the trends. With ideological factions still splitting the Liberal Party by the time the next election rolls around the NDP might be in a better position than the Liberals to challenge the new Conservatives.
I probably won’t decide where to place my vote until the night before the next election. I will keep all my options open until then.
“Progressives” from the old PC Party have always been more fluid in their decision making processes. Most are fiscal conservatives without being economic or social conservatives so they have no natural political home any longer. They could support the results of the Chretien/Martin financial program without supporting the manner in which it was achieved.
C.B.,
I did get snippy, but not because I am uncomfortable with my decision. It was because you blamed the demise of the CPC on a conspiracy by the media and other powers, and on swing-voters like me. Personally, I have always found that the simplest explanation is not necessarily the worst. When the government party could not win even one of six seats in an Ottawa where public servants formed a good part of the electorate, I need few deeper explanations.
I can feel with “progressives” who have been left without a voice. Hell, I’ve never had one. The only party I could belong to is one that credibly worked for the good of the whole country, without fear of or favour to particular interests. Haven’t seen it yet, but perhaps digital democracy, with its fast transmission of news and views, will make it possible some day.
Meanwhile I can vote for what I see as the temporary lesser evil, or stay home. Internal machinations in political parties interest me only to the extent that they might affect the quality of government to be expected, and that depends on the last man/faction standing and laying out the course.
I sense an idealization of the media in your position. The reason I know about the CBC strategy is that they actually discussed it on air and wondered if they were doing the right thing at the time.
I have been involved in politics for many years. When a party loses touch with the electorate they often lose all of their seats (maybe it does not happen in Ontario but it happens in other provinces). Maybe you are one of those who hold the view that Canada and Ontario are one and the same and that would explain your more narrow viewpoint.
Provincially, the punishing of a party gives it an opportunity to re-connect with voters. Progressive Conservatives have been shut out totally in the provinces and come back within a few years to become the governing party with majorities.
The reason that Harper was so desperate to take over the PC Party was that it was on the way back and he had to stop it to save his dream of an exclusively right wing party. The PCs had just won two by-elections, one in NF and one in Ontario, and they were ahead of the Canadian Alliance in at least one poll. The Canadian Alliance was deeply in debt and their debt was far more serious than that of the PCs.
I am not sure why you are so sensitive about taking the responsibility for your own decision. If you are comfortable with it then you should be comfortable with the Harper government but I get the sense that you are not.
I am in contact with many former PCs who themselves are wondering what they were thinking of when they accepted the merger on Harper’s terms.
It does not make sense to me why you so vindicated in the choices you made and I am simply trying to understand your thought processes.
C.B.,
My though processes:
1. I am a voter in a country governed by elected governments at various levels.
2. I am neither beholden to nor reject any party on the basis of ideology or principles. Thus, I vote to sustain or replace a government, or to confirm or reject a municipal, provincial or federal representative. (I do both, depending on issues and individuals.)
3. When a government does not do as I think it ought, I vote against it and vote for the party that can replace it. The priority is to throw the current rascals out to prevent them carrying on.
4. I give the new government a chance to do the job. If they do it to my satisfaction, I vote for them in the next election and keep them in business. If they do not perform as I think they should, I vote against them at the next opportunity and give the alternative a chance.
What is so difficult to understand in this thought process? It may give politicians the willies because they stay vulnerable and subject to the will of the electorate, but that should come with the territory. It also applies positive and negative reinforcement to the behavior of elected officials. They may reflect on personal or vicarious experience and realize what they should or should not do to stay elected.
I have no problem with Harper I cannot solve in the next election. I voted for change because it was time for change. My disenchantment with the Chretien Government started with the aborting of the Somalia Inquiry, and increased with Radwanski, Gagliano and company even before ADSCAM. So it was time to throw them out, and the CPC was the only alternative. Yes, and Harper had even made the right noises. So I had no problem voting for a CPC candidate I did not know, vice a Liberal who had been part of Martin’s inner circle, and an NDP candidate I knew but thought a lightweight, to end the long Liberal regime.
My disenchantment with Harper started on 6 February 2006 when Emerson and Fortier were sworn in. At that point I knew that it was business as usual and that the promise of accountability and change had been hogwash. And my disenchantment has grown with every new move PMSH has made. So I will vote Liberal to get rid of the Harper Government and give the LPC a chance to form a new New Government of Canada. They might have learned something in their short time in the political wilderness, hardly could do worse in any case, and know what will happen should there be excessive entitlements or other shenanigans this time around.
So I expect incremental improvement in the way we are governed if we manage to make clear to governments that they do hold power only at our pleasure. And we can’t do that by loyally voting at our party’s call.
Strikes me as simple and effective, although Rope never did manage to hoist it in.
By Georgine on 09.16.07 12:52 am
Especially as his brain retired just recently.
I was totally unaware, and remain unconvinced that Bush has ever had a brain, much less one that could be retired. From what I understand he may have had one prior to university but pickled it in alcohol and drugs. Like the old joke goes, and should be taught to all youth.
Bill,
Didn’t you hear? Rove, aka Bush’s brain, has retired. To what evil darkness, I know not, don’t care to even consider. But they do all seem to be fleeing a sinking ship.
Geo
Bill, I’m afraid to ask….what old joke? Geo
(Will I thwap my head afterwards?)
Herb,
As long as you are contented with being stuck in the revolving door. From your description you never see any forward movement so you will continue in the revolving door until the end.
What is amazing is that instead of getting incremental improvement we keep going around in a circle or even in a spiral downward.
By Georgine on 09.16.07 10:09 pm
AHA! I forgot the Puppet Master had left. Now it makes sense.
The joke did not quite pass Garth’s hands, but that is okay…it was a tad borderline…You know what I mean? LOL