Local coverage of all-candidates debate, here.
Some Harper promises, 2005. Trust him again?
Day Seventeen
As I stood on the shoulder of a highway outside Milton this morning, watching the first rays of a golden sun glint off the arterial in my hand, I was struck at the irony of my situation.
I reflected on what the Harper-picked Conservative candidate in Halton, a lawyer and government bureaucrat, had said about this election during our debate hours earlier : “This to me, going through the electoral process, is nothing more than a job performance review and it is about whether or not you adhere to what the company’s goals were or what the party’s goals were, and how well you executed what you did in the community of Halton. and that’s what you should be judged on and that’s how you should move forward.”
Her argument was simple: Voters pick brands, not people. Elections are merely “job performance reviews”.
Well, review this. During the 2005 campaign I, like her, was a Conservative candidate. I spent weeks telling worried citizens – most of them over the age of 60 – they need never worry what a Harper government would do to their financial security. Never, I promised, would their income trusts be attacked.
I said this because my leader said it. Over and again. I stood behind him on a platform in Burlington one night, when he scored big applause from a crowd of 700 people, by promising a Conservative administration would protect their finances. Hell, it was even in the policy book, saying a Harper government would, “stop the Liberal attack on retirement savings and preserve income trusts by not imposing any new tax on them.”
Sadly, I could not see what was to come.
In mid-October of 2006, Mr. Harper kicked me out of his caucus for the crime of being too independent and outspoken. I’d told him privately I would be answering to my constituents first, and him second. I also indicated concerns I had with a number of his actions.
A few days later, his government shocked more than two million investors by slapping a 31.5% tax on income trusts – a move which caused a market meltdown and erased at least $20 billion in private savings. It led to the sale, at pennies on the dollar, of a host of Canadian trusts to foreign interests and eventually to the turnover of mighty Bell Canada Enterprises.
And while the trust business needed some more regulation and reform (I said so at the time), it did not deserve to be massacred. The callous betrayal of voters and investors stunned me. The lives of many people I’d come to know personally over the next few months, had been shattered.
Like the retired teacher in Peterbrough who had invested the insurance money from his wife’s tragic death in income trusts for his grandchildren’s education. Gone. And did Mr. Harper ever apologize, ever acknowledge the pain he had caused, ever offer compensation or even support? Where was the empathetic leader in the fuzzy blue sweater then, when words of explanation were most needed? How did he and his government do with that “job performance review”?
As an independent MP, I took up the cause of these people. I brought several dozen of them to Ottawa so the national media could put a human face on a reality the finance minister was calling a “Bay Street story.” I toured the country talking about this, because I felt I had to. I was ashamed and embarrassed that I had ever given a single investor my personal assurance their money would not be taken by a capricious government and an uncaring leader.
When I joined the Liberal caucus months later, I teamed with John McCallum and others in keeping the story alive. The Liberal leader listened, and was moved to announce that should be become prime minister, the tax would be rolled back.
On Monday morning, he took it to the bank. The commitment to reverse an insane, economically destructive and socially malicious tax measure is now in writing in the Liberal platform. If we form government, the 31% tax will become a 10% levy which only foreign investors will pay. This means the day after the election, the stock market will rally, adding value to trust portfolios which have been leveled by political deceit.
Standing in the gravel as the first commuters started streaming past, a candidate once more on the side of the road, I felt a sense of accomplishment. I’d been a part of this process of renewal. It brought me full circle, from holding a blue sign and repeating my leader’s lies, to holding a red one and repeating a leader’s hope.
Now Stephen Harper has a new Conservative candidate in Halton, parroting the party line, giving assurances, promising anything in return for office. Her first action of the campaign was to utter a false statement. He first media release contained false quotes. I wonder if she, a smart woman, will ever struggle to put principle ahead of party.
Or understand what it means to be judged.
* * *
A drive through Halton will reveal the obvious: my well-heeled opponent has far more resources that I. Hundreds of blue signs have gone up on public roadways, while a goodly number of our precious arterials have walked off during the night.
I am told the Conservative candidate has made a very heavy, and very expensive, media buy in the local newspapers covering the area. There are glossy mailings about to go out, and carloads of workers have been pouring in from other ridings. Professional phone banks have been busy for some time, identifying supporters for lawn signs and get-out-the-vote activities. I am a target.
To win Halton will take about $90,000, and we remain far short of that goal. As you know, I was required to leave a large sum of money with the Conservatives when I left, and thus started off with a hand behind my back.
I am asking you to help me free that hand, so I can fight fully to return to Parliament. You know why.
If you can help at all – and twenty dollars is wonderful – then I would be grateful. Please consider it. To donate, go here. Thank you.
147 comments ↓
When will the RCMP investigate Flaherty’s fraud about tax leakage?
FBI probes finance giants for fraud: report
1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing allegations of fraud by finance giants Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and insurer AIG, US media reported on Tuesday.
CNN said the mortgage, investment and insurance titans were part of a fraud inquiry by the FBI, which has widened its net to include probes of 26 Wall Street firms as lawmakers rush to agree a 700-billion-dollar government bailout of the troubled US financial sector.
The FBI probe aims to determine whether company executives had any responsibility for the institutions’ financial woes through “misinformation or material misinformation,” CNN said.
Word of the investigation came after lawmakers in Washington grappled for a second day with the hefty bailout proposal to absorb shaky mortgage-backed debt weighing on banks and other financial institutions.
The uncertainty prompted fresh turmoil on financial markets and the main global stock markets were hit hard.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the rescue plan was urgently need to avert a deeper economic crisis.
Today’s debate with Jim Flaherty
Sinclair Secondary School in Whitby had the first all candidates debate this morning, that was open only to the student body. Here were my opening remarks. We were confined to one minute:
As students you work hard to get ahead.
Imagine if you worked hard your entire year at school and found yourself failing at the end of the year.
Not because of your fault, but because your teacher left out 38% of your marks.
That’s exactly what Jim Flaherty did to 2.5 million Canadians, mostly older Canadians, like your grandparents.
These people worked their entire lives to have enough money to pay their bills in retirement.
Jim Flaherty destroyed these people’s savings when he double taxed income trusts.
He claimed income trusts cause tax leakage.
He created that false argument by leaving out 38% of the taxes these Canadians pay to the government,
Jim Flaherty’s actions have caused $92 billion in takeovers of Canadian companies, mostly by foreigners, causing $2 billion a year in lost tax revenue and 2500 people to lose their jobs at BCE.
Jim Flaherty needs to take responsibility for his massive policy blunder which is causing great harm to all Canadians and to your futures.
If the Conservatives are so terrible for our country,then how do you explain poll after poll after poll that are not favorable to your party hummm?
Ethics, honesty and accountability will always win in the end. Congratulations for being the first to post tonight. I know what effort it took. — Garth
Jim Flaherty needs to take responsibility for his massive policy blunder which is causing great harm to all Canadians and to your futures.
By Brent Fullard on 09.23.08 10:54 pm
Go get em Brent. You get gold star for today.
Just sent you another donation Garth. Keep up the good work. You will be successful. You are supported here for sure.
Thank you! — Garth
By Brent Fullard on 09.23.08 10:54 pm
Did the kids know what an income trust was?
Gord.
“Ethics, honesty and accountability will always win in the end. Congratulations for being the first to post tonight. I know what effort it took. — Garth”
Just like a politician ask one thing and they talk about the weather. I will repeat my question.
If the Conservatives are so terrible for our country,then how do you explain poll after poll after poll that are not favorable to your party hummm?
Question number 2: What is your point to link to my blog? Is it because I’m not someone who you really wouldn’t call a blogger in every sense of the word? You didn’t have to link to my blog,my blog name links directly.
Indeed Garth, the Conservatives did back peddle on their Income Trust promise. I totally agree with you
That said, a Liberal complaining that the Conservatives lied is like the Hell’s Angels saying Satan’s Choice are bad people.
That’s what you don’t see in yourself Garth. You’re no different than any of them, just another politician that’s all about himself but puts on the show that he really is for the common man.
And if you’re ever wondering why over half the country doesn’t vote…walk up the stairs in the house of commons and look down. There you’ll find the reasons
Irvine
vote for “None of the Above”.
You pose no solution and no hope. And your nihilism will not prevail. — Garth
Ethics, honesty and accountability will always win in the end. — Garth
Are we thinking that maybe this is why the libs got punted 2.5 years ago? Just “a wee bit” of this was missing for most of the previous 13 years!!!
BY THE RIGHT ON 09.23.08 11:35 PM
The Right looks like a kind of lonely place.
Just want you to know Garth, many who don’t post here often but read regularly, really appreciate the fact that you are the champion of “digital democracy”. My modest donation to your campaign is my way of saying thanks and good luck !!
By Brent Fullard on 09.23.08 10:54 pm
Why was this debate in front of students only? How many of them are eligible to vote?
Seems to me that this was a miss placed effort and an attempt to avoid the voters!
Since strategic voting may be very important in getting Harper evicted from the power seat, here are two good sites. I like the first one best and they are both good.
http://www.voteforclimate.ca/
http://www.voteforenvironment.ca/
Please send them to everyone and spread the word far and wide.
TS did a lot of work and provided those of us who wanted them, files for every riding in Canada and how to vote strategically. I was going to set up my own website with his information. However, these websites are great and far better than anything my son and I would provide.
I have much appreciation for TS and his contribution. I assume TS is a male:>)
Reminding people just before the election will be important. Unfortunately the election comes right after a big holiday when our families get together. Shows how much Harper cares for the family. He cares more about the advantage and getting power.
If the Conservatives are so terrible for our country,then how do you explain poll after poll after poll that are not favorable to your party hummm?
Question number 2: What is your point to link to my blog? Is it because I’m not someone who you really wouldn’t call a blogger in every sense of the word? You didn’t have to link to my blog,my blog name links directly.
By The Right on 09.23.08 11:35 pm
It is very simple. A poll in I think it was the London Free Press this past week asked online if you are following the political campaign, and 2 out of 3 voted NO! If and when the rest of the nation wakes up to the issues, you may just get your wish, a major shift in the support numbers. And some of us are possibly lying to the posters, but guess who set that example for them?
Powder blue sweater boy, that’s who!
As for your blog, this is the fiorst and last time I will click on it. NO SUBSTANCE, AND JUST RUDE LAUGHTER AT AN UNFORTUNATE MODEL ON A RUNWAY! NO CLASS< NO EMPATHY< NO BRAINS<
Irvine’s got a point – we need a barack obama in canadian politics.
Dion, kennedy, ignatief – they’re never gonna be it.
Layton’s too far in bed with the unions and rae may have too much baggage from his ndp days
(although if they could merge the left, that might not be an issue)
May/green party is a nice idea, but scary in practice, and the greens shamefully join the ndp in siphoning off centrist/left votes
Until there is some hope (charismatic leader or merger), I’ll keep voting, but I won’t be the least bit excited about it.
No hope/solution? Time to start working on a merger. Do the liberals have a backroom to negotiate with anymore?
FBI probe to determine whether company executives had any responsibility for institutions’ financial woes through “misinformation or material misinformation
BY BRENT FULLARD ON 09.23.08 10:53 PM
…
Gee, that sounds just like Harper’s election campaign strategy.
I finally got around to sending a cheque!
Thank you! — Garth
Here is Diane Francis’ take on the trust issue. It is damning.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archive/2008/09/07/jim-flaherty-s-worst-nightmare.aspx
Next, what about todays announcements. Harper insulted artists and the educated. Anyone who has been taught b y a prof, a researcher. We are ivory tower eggheads. He sees all, knows all, apparently.
His idea to put 14 years olds in jail will require 22 more jails to be built and ongoing operating costs.
Note that harper has yet to cost this item or ANY item in his platform.
Something tells me we won’t be seeing that.
How can anyone vote for someone who refuses to outliner and cost their plan?
Ot is extremely arrogant and also insulting to those of us that care.
http://consortiumnews.com/2007/011707a.html
For inspiration in building this new brand of Canadian conservatism, Harper looked to Washington, where Rep. Newt Gingrich was promoting a combative style, to replace cooperation with confrontation.
In 1993, Harper ran for the House of Commons again, this time aided by a tactic pioneered by U.S. conservatives – having ostensibly independent organizations tear down one’s opponent with large sums of money outside the legal limits on campaign spending.
In this case, a group called the NCC went on the offensive so that Harper was able to win the seat in Calgary West.
Harper was learning from conservative spinmeister Frank Luntz, who helped Gingrich. Luntz was a specialist at the take-no-prisoners-style of politics that envisioned permanent conservative control of Washington.
This is not the U.S. Big, cheating corporations are not going to be allowed by the Canadian people to bring Canada down like they have in the U.S. Get their friend Harper-the-cheat out.
What’s the law on donating to party and donating to candidates? I have monthly payments charged to my credit card (to be a Laurier member). I think that’s the maximum one can donate in a calendar year. Will I get in trouble if I also donate to you?
If not, I’ll gladly send $50 your way. My parents are near retirement and have worked hard their whole life. They deserve better than Harper.
“. . . by slapping a 31.5% tax on income trusts . . .”
If harpo and dimdumb had thought this out from the get go, CRAP would have taxed ITs at 10%, raised the GST to 10% and lowered personal income tax rates to 10% for folk who earn up to $49,999.
Instead, they chose to listen to Carney’s (and Paulson’s) incompetent baffle-gab and took Cdns. to the cleaners, and almost certainly it was deliberate.
Well, don’t get mad, get even. Time for us volunteers to kick the Lib. campaign into a much higher gear, by clearly showing the decepions and lies that CRAP are full of.
Not too long to go now — turn the after-burners on and leave CRAP in the dust!
BTW, did anyone see the latest rumour on the ‘net?
It may well be PNP — President Nancy Pelosi — in charge at the WH come January; dubya will do what Putin has done (elevate himself one step higher), McCain will have an “illness” so he’s gone and Obama will wait until 2012.
An extra-large Pina Colada would go down well just about now!
****************************************
“That Canadians do have a reason to fear him? . . .” — Dee, 9:57 pm
No reason to fear him. He is a bully / coward (one and the same); talks and acts tough, but with all CRAP affiliates, their bark is worse than their bite.
Oct. 15 / 08 will sort the current mess out!
Download “The Harper Record”
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/Reports/2008/09/HarperRecord/index.cfm?pa=BB736455
BY CM 23.08 1:43pm
Hi CM,
I’ve started reading it. If the media explores it, that may help, and might be something Harper never expected.
__________________________
For expediency.. Harper won’t tell us his platform. He can’t. But you can easily read his plans:
“No hidden agenda, just an ugly one”
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/westview/story/4224051p-4861619c.html
“Harperstein”
http://www.straight.com/article/harperstein-0
“The Man behind Stephen Harper”
http://www.davidorchard.com/online/media-2004/flannagan-walrus-macdonald-200410xx.html
“Harper’s ‘nation of shopping centres”
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/columnists/f_russell/story/4161046p-4748030c.html
“Deep Integration”
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article/132553106-deep-integration-planned-at-secret-conference-ignored-by-the-media
__________________________
Harper even consulted with the architects of what was supposed to be a permanent Republican majority in the United States. Republicans found their strategy of exploiting wedge issues and relying on aggressive media outlets to demonize opponents.
Harper even had brought in Republican advisers, such as political consultant Frank Luntz, to give pointers on how the Conservative Party could become as dominant in Canada as the GOP was in the United States.
Canada had its version of Rupert Murdoch and Fox News in the Asper brothers and their CanWest Global Communications Corp., which owns the National Post, the Montreal Gazette and nine other Canadian newspapers, 25 television outlets and two radio stations.
It was the Montreal Gazette and the National Post that trumpeted the phrase “Quebecistan”. Harper had become the face of modern Canadian conservatism much as George W. Bush came to personify right-wing politics in the United States.
http://consortiumnews.com/2007/011707a.html
Now look at the mess they’re in. Same dif’. Don’t put people with no sense of public morality in charge.
By Gord G. on 09.23.08 11:20 pm
Voters know what IT’s are Gord and don’t forget it.
Speaking of IT’s, its about time we elect a Liberal government that grows a Canadian tax base through Income trusts that maximize profit potential (and therefore tax base) for our ALL Canadian corporations and investors!!
It’ll work once, it will work again. We just need to keep NCC spawned U.S. corporate lobbyists like Harper out of parliment once and for all before he does far more serious and irreversable damage to our economy.
Ethics, honesty and accountability are just as mundane and unimportant as talking about the weather to’The Right’.
This is not surprising when we see the tone set by his/her leader.
I have been trying to write a letter to my local newspaper in an attempt to draw attention to the lies and distortions Mr. Harper is spieling off along his campaign trail.
I know such a letter should be short and to the point but I have found myself including Harper’s slurs and lies against individuals, lies about the economy when he brags how well we are doing in the G7 when, in fact our GDP has been second last only trailed by Italy, and other such distortions of the truth when it comes to the economy — such as this little gem he drops into his talk: “We don’t want to go back into deficit”. Now this is just so typical of how he tries to mislead people — the implication being that we were in a deficit position before his government took over. Of course, the Liberals took the government out of deficit left by Brian Mulroney and we haven’t gone back into deficit in all the years since. We are now, under Harper/Flaherty mighty close to one. I’ve read a number of economists statement that Harper and Flaherty have not been good in looking after our economy–but they say they are–with straight faces.
More dishonesty has come out of Harper’s
mouth than truth when I have heard his speeches across the country and it makes me feel pretty sick because I can see so many people are buying into his lies and spin.
I used to think, “How stupid the Americans were to elect Bush for the second time. And then I’d think. “well, I guess Ontarians voted Mike Harris in for a second time when I didn’t think Canadians would be so stupid. Well, maybe Canadians aren’t stupid but when people are so busy that they can’t take time to give the future of their country any thought, I almost think they deserve what they get.
Would you believe I’m just hearing, on my earphones, another ad against the Liberals — the one with the slot machine where they tell three lies in a row and then tell another about the carbon tax. Wouldn’t you think people would realize at least one or two of these lines are false — but they are apparently getting away with all four!
It was on CTV. What? You’re not surprised?
I wonder how many publications and media outlets are being manipulated by big business and media concentration. Tonight, Mike Duffy really made me ticked off. I have nothing but contempt for him now and am disappointed in Lloyd Robertson too. Hasn’t anyone got any integrity anymore?
The answer to that is ironic. Stephane Dion has the most integrity of anyone running. I guess sincerity, courage and strength or character matched by an intellect and tireless effort which has been used for the good of our country
isn’t the kind of leadership some people want. They prefer smooth, glib talkers who are more about their own agenda than they are about serving Canada.
I want to shout, “Wake up, Canada! Don’t let them do this to you!” But I know I can’t cover all the destructive things that are happening to our country in short letters. I’m on page six in my letter and don’t know what should be cut out.
I’ll take another crack at it tomorrow.
M. Dion is ‘on fire’.
“And beyond that, we want to have fun in life,” Dion declared with a broad grin. “With a Liberal government, Canada will have more movies, more novels, more theatres and more music.”
Dion also underlined his party’s opposition to the Conservative government’s attempts to use the power of the minister of culture to censor the film industry.
“If there is something that is basic for us, it is to respect the freedom of arts and culture,” he said.
The Conservatives have introduced legislation aimed at giving the heritage minister, or a government committee, the authority to deny tax credits to productions deemed offensive and “contrary to public policy.”
The measure was in an amendment to the Income Tax Act that did not win parliamentary approval before the election was called. Industry critics say it will put a huge question mark over film financing.
At the breakfast gathering, Dion zeroed in on the Liberal record for fiscal management and portrayed the party’s Green Shift plan as the foundation for a strong economy.
Dion challenged the Conservatives to release the costs of their carbon-pricing plan before the election, and emphasized that his party, but not the government, is proposing income-tax cuts to offset higher fuel costs.
Of the Conservative’s carbon-pricing plan, Dion said: “They are all pain and no gain.”
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/decisioncanada/story.html?id=14f834d6-0272-4964-a1c3-b19096c44c4a
P.S. I think Elizabeth May has integrity too.
Forgot to mention that Harper still said today that Dion wanted to raise the GST and somehow he still made it sound as though the Libs. would cut out the child care benefit. It’s not that this man can’t read — he just can’t stop lying.
Good points. Also let’s remember the Green platform includes an increase to the GST and a 12-cent hike in the price of gasoline. Worth reflecting on. — Garth
I supported Mr Harper in the last campaign because I thought he was a true old time Progressive Conservative–as I found out very soon after he was elected he is neither progressive or conservative–his views may be right wing but certainly not PC.
I watched him promise over & over again that he would not tax income trusts–because I assumed he was both progressive & conservative , I believed him ,after all , my party had never lied to me before.
Of course , the rest as we say is history–a huge number of us old folks whose only crime was to believe our Prime Minister , took the shaft big time.
When we asked why , all we received were 18 blacked out pages which were nothing more than a slap in the face–then we were told that we were too greedy & didn`t deserve the time of day–we were given the ultimate kiss-off by Jim Flaherty when he said that corporate Canada was more important as he helped his friends to the bigger piece of the pie & saved them from being held accountable for their companies performance.
So where has this gotten us??
The country has lost some great businesses–all gone into the tax free land wished upon us by the Tory party–Canadians now have to deal with a loss of nearly 2 billion per year in tax revenue–where in hell will new money come from to replace it as we teeter on the edge of deficit.
Mismanagement like this cannot be tolerated despite the fact that the Cons bleat out that this was the right thing to do.
If it was so right , why are so many Canadians left without a large portion of their life savings??
If it was so right , then why are Canadians left to make up some 2 billion in lost tax revenues??
If it was so right , then why have I lost all faith in the Conservative gov`t & the party brand??
There is no recovery from this unless the Canadian people wise-up & take back control of their gov`t.
Today is the day to start.
Dr Mike Popovich—former life-long Conservative.
It is a sad reflection on our political system when elections are bought by the highest spender.
There are 70,000 households in Halton. Sending one piece of mail out during a campaign alone costs more than $20,000. If you have a better idea, let me know. — Garth
Actually, compared to the Liberals who have 3 ‘RED BOOKS’ under their belt, just chalked FULL of broken promises, Mr. Harper has done very well on keeping promises.
I think he was shocked after becoming PM to see what a total mess ITs were in and what they were about to cost this country. Shame on the liberals for being so weak as to let things gets so out of hand that Mr. Harper was forced to do what he did.
BTW…I hear all you guys are becoming Dippers after the election Garth. What will the new party’s name be?
Leasa
This means the day after the election, the stock market will rally, adding value to trust portfolios which have been leveled by political deceit. – Garth
Unfortunately, this will only help those investors who held onto their IT’s. For those that sold, they lost regardless, for those who bought more a big increase. Did the conservative deceit cause on of the biggest wealth transfers from the single investor to the wealthy in history?
As for a performance appraisal, your opponent set herself up. Now all you have to do is make it nationwide… 2005 promise made, 2008 promise broken.
Garth, in my humble opinion, what will turn this election campaign around is not money, but a hot button election issue that can truly capture the heart and imagination of the people.
For the first part of the campaign, many votes have been drifting from the Liberal to the NDP. Now that Jack Layton has had his THIRD candidate drop out of the race due to moral issues (the last one being a stripping incident back in 1996), perhaps people will start coming back in droves from the NDP camp to the safety of the Liberal fold.
These are the sorts of things that can be defining moments in an election campaign.
What we need to turn it around is not so much money as it is to connect at the heart level with what truly resonates in the hearts and minds of Canadians.
There are still three weeks left, and anything could happen. The Liberal Party must present itself as the “alternative government-in-waiting,” and get the votes back that it needs from the NDP and the Green.
This stripper who was running for the NDP, and was formerly with the Green Party, was one whom some women felt could be dangerous if given power. He may have been an “environmentalist,” but this type of environmentalist gives a bad name to all environmentalists if we want to elect candidates.
GEORGE DUBYA’S BUSHIDO BUSHIDDER FIX
Not everything in government is a confidence matter
Article Comments (8) Globe and Mail Update
September 23, 2008 at 11:13 PM EDT
Most public opinion polls taken in the months leading up to this federal election campaign suggested that another minority government for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives was very likely. Mr. Harper was well aware of this, when he asked Governor-General Michaëlle Jean to dissolve Parliament; indeed he predicted another minority on the campaign’s first day. Now, however, he is acting as though he would in effect refuse to accept that result.
For the second time in two days, Mr. Harper announced yesterday that his party would reintroduce anti-crime legislation that the previous Parliament did not pass – and that, if the opposition stood in the way, he would be ready to force another election over it. His aides indicated that the bills would be put to the opposition as take-it-or-leave-it propositions.
This is not how a minority government should work. Confidence votes are to be limited to money bills and measures at the core of the government’s agenda – not routinely invoked by a prime minister whenever he wishes to put pressure on other parties to support less important bills. If Canadians elect the Conservatives with another minority, they will be explicitly saying that they have not entrusted them with full power over the legislative agenda – that they expect them to try to work with the other parties.
It is easy to understand why Mr. Harper does not believe he would need to make that effort. If they remain in opposition, the Liberals will likely begin another costly and all-consuming leadership campaign. In the midst of it, they will be in no shape to enter yet another general election campaign.
That does not mean, however, that the Liberals and other opposition parties should be unable to call Mr. Harper’s bluff. If they have deep-seated objections to an anti-crime initiative, or any other bill, then they should vote against it. Mr. Harper should not put the Governor-General in the highly controversial constitutional position of having to think about declining a request to call another election in the near future and inviting the opposition government to form a government.
This campaign is a consequence of what Mr. Harper interpreted as political stalemate. He cannot keep creating dubious scenarios until he gets the result he wants.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080923.wEConfidence24/BNStory/specialComment/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080923.wEConfidence24
I don’t know why you are asking for donations Garth. It seems obvious to all that you are going to win!
When will the RCMP investigate Flaherty’s fraud about tax leakage?
By Brent Fullard on 09.23.08 10:53 pm
Please hit Flaherty HARD, Brent.
He needs to know SENIORS’ awareness now brings his confidence game STING to an abrupt end.
I hope you will present Flaherty with the full sheaf of 18 blacked-out pages.
Hi Irving. I’am with you. 100%. Yet… it is a sad day for Canada when we need to look at people such as Garth for a solution, ANY solution, because everybody else is SO, SO, much worst…. sad indeed.
I love endorsements. Thank you. — Garth
http://www.naomiklein.org/main
Excerpts from Naomi Klein’s Latest Column
Free Market Ideology is Far from Finished
by Naomi Klein
September 19, 2008
Whatever the events of this week mean, nobody should believe the overblown claims that the market crisis signals the death of “free market” ideology. Free market ideology has always been a servant to the interests of capital, and its presence ebbs and flows depending on its usefulness to those interests.
During boom times, it’s profitable to preach laissez faire, because an absentee government allows speculative bubbles to inflate. When those bubbles burst, the ideology becomes a hindrance, and it goes dormant while big government rides to the rescue. But rest assured: the ideology will come roaring back when the bailouts are done. The massive debts the public is accumulating to bail out the speculators will then become part of a global budget crisis that will be the rationalization for deep cuts to social programs, and for a renewed push to privatize what is left of the public sector. We will also be told that our hopes for a green future are, sadly, too costly……
…..And now that nationalization is not a dirty word, the oil and gas companies should watch out: someone needs to pay for the shift to a greener future, and it makes most sense for the bulk of the funds to come from the highly profitable sector that is most responsible for our climate crisis. It certainly makes more sense than creating another dangerous bubble in carbon trading.
I posted my comments yesterday on how I feel none of the current political so-called “leaders” have failed to address the issue of family security. There is a good reason for this.
Their focus in on competitiveness in the global economy. The national economy, as a result, has lost all relevance to that kind of leadership. Even Jack Layton tends to focus on the viablity of large multi-national players such as the automobile industry.
They have totally lost sight of what the global perspective means to the individual family unit as the major capitalist interests compete for control of the global marketplace. It is not just jobs that are threatened.
By freeing global markets our political leaders have sacrificed security. When we purchase a product in our stores we have no way to determine where the ingredients have originated. Currently the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is unable to tell us how much tainted milk product from China may be in our marketplace contaminating our food. No government has the resources, even if they had the will, to regulate this kind of system.
The market has become so free, through globalization, and the size of operations so large, that there is no way for the public sector to prevent contamination of our food and no way for us to make informed decisions. “Buyer Beware” means very little in this kind of a marketplace.
Anyone that thinks things are better in the United States are wrong. The last time I was there the same issue arose and the U.S. government told the American people that it was “buyer beware.” It took months to trace the possible source of the last example of a major tainted product and they are still unsure whether the real source problem was identified.
Globalization may have provided high profit levels for importers and cheap, poor quality goods for a throw away society with “only” environmental implications but now that this economic theory has been extended to food we eat maybe it is time for civil society to rethink their support for the concept.
Garth all the large signs are out for the CPC candidate here now, saw one on a vacant lot in no man’s land. Very few lawn signs perhaps that is their plan who knows, but we do know their main plan is not to allow candidates to engage in conversation….. The question remains why? then again what’s new? leaving ????????????????? a thousands times over. Small donation on the way.
I think he was shocked after becoming PM to see what a total mess ITs were in and what they were about to cost this country. Shame on the liberals for being so weak as to let things gets so out of hand that Mr. Harper was forced to do what he did.
Leasa
By Leasa on 09.24.08 7:08 am
You were doing ok. until this. Yes, the Libs have broken promises.
But you must have selected memory when it comes to IT taxation.
Remember how Mr. Harper attacked Mr. Goodale when the latter said he was looking into taxation issues on IT, but that no decision had been made?
Remember how Mr. Harper said that Mr. Goodale should leave them alone?
Remember that Mr. Goodale’s final answer was to leave IT’s alone but to increase the dividend roll up to put them on an equal footing by REDUCING taxtion on dividends?
Remember Mr. Harper’s promise never to tax retirement savings in IT’s? (If you don’t, its shown above.)
Remember Flaherty’s flip-flop based on the premise (unsubstanciated) of tax leakage? Remember how IT prices fell, retirees lost their savings and how these IT were bought up at cent’s on the dollar by those that could borrow the money and hence offset the interest they pay against the earnings so NO taxes are paid.
Remember? Obviously not!
The only mess when it comes to IT’s was caused by the Harper deceit and his incompetant finance minister.
Garth please make a nice ad for all the local papers in the area with short precise points on why we should not vote PC in this area. That will help!
Thanks. (Halton will sufer if “Lisa Who” wins)
I think he was shocked after becoming PM to see what a total mess ITs were in and what they were about to cost this country. Shame on the liberals for being so weak as to let things gets so out of hand that Mr. Harper was forced to do what he did.
By Leasa on 09.24.08 7:08 a
So you’re defense is that he was incompetent? He SHOULD have KNOWN the issue, before he made a promise on it. He was Leader of the Opposition. His job was to know. The IT reversal was inexcusable.
By Gord G. on 09.23.08 11:20 pm
Voters know what IT’s are Gord and don’t forget it.
By brain on 09.24.08 2:25 am
Interesting observation, Brain, and you kept your comment to less than 3 pages, good job!!!
Gord.
http://strategy.sauder.ubc.ca/antweiler/edutainment/debt.pdf
The above link is a graph of the combined federal/provincial/municipal debt to GDP ratio from 1977 to 2006. It is very detailed graph that has in three colors, the federal/provincial/municipal debt isolated by color and combined year by year. The graph illustrates what I was previously saying yesterday in terms of how serious our debt to GDP ratio really was, and how we got out of it when one compares this graph to the growth of Canada’s GDP over the last 30 years in the link below:
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/canadagdp.htm
Both links contrasted together spell out how bad Canada’s economy really was in the 90’s and how Canada turned it around. Yesterday, even though I had a few shaky numbers (of which I wasn’t really all that far off) in terms of fed debt to GDP, I felt bad about it and I’m making up for it now and the points I made yesterday I feel so compelled to reiterate again for a platitude of reasons of extraordinary importance in the wake of whats happening to the U.S. economy and my main points are:
- no nation should allow itself to go over 100% of combined intergovernmental debt to GDP or it risks a currency collapse which could further spiral intergovernmental debt to the brink of bankrupcy which I believe the “tipping point of no return” to be 150% intergovernmental debt to GDP.
- We need to know where the U.S. is right now with their combined intergovernmental federal debt is to get a handle on just how serious their economic crisis and financial meltdown truly is and it too, is for a platitude of reasons, the most important of which is due to the reality that we have over 76% of our international trade with the U.S. and if their currency collapses, Canadians must be prepared for it and defend Canada economically.
- The Chretien government with Paul Martin as the then finance minister had very limited choices as to how to turn it around and it worked. Everyone felt taxed to death but did we have a choice? We need to go back to see if Martin could have done it any differently as modern day Conservatives claim. The arguement has always been by them that the Cretien/Martin Liberal governments downloaded federal spending onto the provinces by cutting provincial transfers and that this was not necessary. Is this true or false? And if it is a fallacy or lie/smear of the truth, can the U.S. use the Paul Martin model to keep their own economy from a currency collapse/bankrupcy? This is thee question, fellow Canadians because its not us that is in trouble now… its the U.S. . They really are the elephant in the room. If they go down, we could go down with them because our governments truly are that intertwined.
- Finally, GDP growth (fueled higher commodity/real estate valuations) is what saved our butts in Canada. Its all about growing the size of the economy, the size of the pie. But is that all there is to it? Lets consider once more the government revenue to GDP ratio and the debt service to government revenue ratio. Again, lets take one more look at just how serious our own national debt/currency crisis really was because right now, the U.S. economy is so huge, it is unlikely to double in a decade and bring back high times. Considering the size of the pie (nominal GDP) they have to work with… can they generate enough government revenue within their economic pie to balance their budget buying them enough time to grow their GDP out of a currency crisis and/or national bankrupcy? Can they increase their taxes and cut spending enough to turn it around?
Canadians need to know these answers and we need to give them those answers because if they don’t heed the danger to their own economy, the world will be in a recession that will last for several years or more, Canada will go down in its wake and the possibility of an unstable federal government sitting on the worlds greatest nuclear arsenal is not something that helps people sleep at night.
As it is, consumer confidence is severely shaken. People are left in the dark with how bad it is, whether or not they can survive and what must be done before confidence is shaken to the point of city riots, a possible depression or worse… a destablized government that is sitting on more nuclear weapons and military air tactical weaponry than any and likely all other nations combined. If you have all lost sleep as I have (didn’t sleep last night, way too much on my mind…) over this, by all means, read on…
Yesterday in a post here at garth.ca, I put out this information concerning the U.S. economy.
The Clinton administration ran up the U.S. treasury fed deficit from 4.45 trillion to 5.662 trillion on Jan/’01, or just over 1.2 trillion bucks over 8 years. (link below is for U.S. intergovernmental debt calculations)
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/NPGateway
And this link below is a U.S. real/nominal GDP chart
http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=353
Combining the data from both links, GBW/Cheney took their inherited 5.716 trillion dollar intergovernmental debt (January 31st, 2001 figures) with a GDP (nominal) economic pie of 9.875 trillion (Jan of ‘01 figures), an intergovernmental debt to GDP (nominal) ratio of 57.88%
Presently, without GWB’s bailout package and congressional budget overuns included, U.S. intergovernmental debt now stands at 9.668 trillion (April, 2008) and their GDP (nominal) is 11.740 trillion (April, 2008). As of April 2008, U.S. intergovernmental debt to GDP ratio was at 82.35%.
But that was in April of this year.
The subprime financial meltdown in the U.S. got ugly and the fall of AIG, the leviathon of insurers against bankrupcies that protected every saving account holder up to $180,000 for personal savings, went bankrupt themselves. The fall of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Bros, Bear Stearns, Merryll Lynch and others, well… just read it yourselves and note the clip below from this link:
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/080920/b092008A.html
“The legislation Congress passed this summer that gave the authority to rescue Fannie and Freddie boosted the limit on the national debt by US$800 billion to US$10.6 trillion.
The legislation the administration is now seeking to authorize the financial system bailout, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press, would boost that debt limit to US$11.3 trillion, up another US$700 billion.” – CBC
11.3 trillion is where the U.S. debt will be next year if congress approves this bailout and that is likely to occur by January of 2009, just one quarterly away.
So lets put this all together shall we? Lets say the laggard U.S. economy staggers to a round figure of a 12 trillion (nominal) GDP pie. It was at 11.740 trillion in April and while the U.S. nominal GDP could have risen as much as 5% since due to a major slowdown in imports (due to shrinking consumer spending and an increase in exports to a falling dollar in the middle of the year but strengthening late this year with U.S. dollars being bought from a combination of international shorts on financials and U.S. governments looking for $$$) and strength in GNP, but these financials have hurt this economy and the fallout has to have dented the GDP, we just don’t have the hard figures so lets ballpark it safely at… 12 trillion from the April 11.74 trillion mark, modest GDP growth of 2%. An 11.3 trillion dollar intergovernmental debt to 12 trillion nominal GDP ratio leaves us at a whopping 94.16%.
These figures are estimates… but they should be close and up to date. My own estimate yesterday of 91% was based on a 12.4 trillion nominal GDP that was in itself, an estimate that is likely 400 billion too high (it was based off a U.S. GDP search online that is trend based, not a hard but soft number). Today, 94.16% seems more accurate considering all the unknowns at this point because the U.S. has effectively lost its largest finanical insurer, its 2nd largest national bank, and its two largest morgage brokers, Fannie May and Freddie Mac with a combined 11.2 trillion dollar portfolio in its own right.
There is a great deal of speculation out there but one thing is for sure. If congress approves the $700 billion dollar bailout, the intergovernmental U.S. national debt to nominal GDP ratio will be between 91 to 95%. We will know the intergovernmental U.S. national debt at that point to be at 11.3 trillion and will need to see updated GDP growth to really know for sure, but its anywhere between 91 to 95% and the fluxuations which one would never see such a spread normally all center on this major runup of debt to the whopping tune of 1.6 trillion year over year.
Back to speculation….
It could be that the U.S. financials bailout needs more than $700 billion. It could be that liquidation will put money back into the treasury as it did with the S n’ L bailout back in the day… it could be a way for Bush to stay in power to finance his next war (say Iran) so he doesn’t have to step down! It could be a way for Bush to steal from the taxpayer as the two biggest Bush senior/junior financial nest eggs Carlyle are eyeing liquidations on a fire sale, and Goldman Sachs is moving into banking to drum up capital to buy “cheap” and I do mean “cheap” firesale financial liquidations. But whatever one speculates, someone will have to do the cleanup.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/080922/w092255A.html
At this point, I’d say Mccains bid for president is done. There is no way he can win with following a Repbulican presidency that has doubled their national debt in just 8 short years while growing the economy (nominal GDP)a mere 25%. There is no way that the american voter will approve of McCains senatorial record of voting for all of those bills deregulating the morgage and banking industry. I’m literally certain that barring some nutty successful assassination attempt, Obama will be the next president.
Solutions anyone?
Well… lets try the Canadian record of Liberal prudence with our own nation when we grew our way out of a net intergovernmental debt to nominal GDP ratio. Again, lets look at this graph:
http://strategy.sauder.ubc.ca/antweiler/edutainment/debt.pdf
By the way, I will not tolerate any lame lies from Conservatives who want to get their party elected by saying that Paul Martin did not have to cut transfers to the provinces. A look at the graph in the above link tells all.
So… what did Chretien/Martin do to save our butts back in the 90’s? He raised taxes! Corporate taxes, in case we all forgot, was in the 20’s. Personal income taxes were at all time highs. We had taxes on everything. Our federal crown CN was sold (in large part to stimilate Ontario’s manufacturing and cut spending and generate revenue from the privatization itself).
The GST which Cons rail on about not being axed as a boner promise Chretien made, was dramatically needed. In reality, one can go back to the PC’s as being steward enough for this nation to introduce it. If they hadn’t, the cumbersome 14% manufacturers tax would have continued to bleed red ink in terms of revenue from a manufacture driven recession.
We did two things, folks, that really saved our butts. We gave our Ontario manufacturers a huge tax break making them internationally competitive again and pulled Ontario out of a major recession (much to the dismay of the west, of course, who felt that they were paying the GST for an east tax cut, all goes east, you know, but blind by their own self centered wants to see the literal edge of the cliff Canadians were standing on and what needed to be done). Without our manufacturing base back to profitability and competitiveness, Canada, I think, would have been sunk. Mulroney finally recognized it before it was too late and Martin was all over healing Ontario’s battered economy mainly in manufacturing. And we had some luck. Commodity valuations increased globally. Real estate bottomed and valuations came back from ugly uglies.
The second thing we did, was cut spending dramatically. We cut everywhere, and to the bone. No one liked it. Health care cuts, social spending, the arts, media, grants, scientific research, education, provincial transfers, everywhere we looked, Martin made cuts and they were deep… to the bone.
Was it necessary? Hell yeah!!!
So I offer this advice to Obama…
- Cut military spending. They spend 14 to 20% of their nominal GDP on defense, folks. Its the second highest in the world. They have 175 military bases world wide. Its time for the U.S. to stop bullying the planet for corporate resource wars through the barrel of a gun.
- Green their economy. They burn 1/4th of all conventional energy and import 70% of it. Unfortunately… the main driver of U.S. nominal GDP is GNP or Gross National Product. GNP is the income that is made outside of their borders that corporations pay taxes on back home but earn abroad. The main economic sector of GNP is their energy sector (Exxon, Chevron, Imperial, Haliburton) and there is fierce lobbying against a green economy by what is todays richest corporations in the world. Nevertheless, there has to be a paradigm shift for several reasons. U.S. economic survival depends on it and if they go down, Big oil loses their best customer regardless and their own wealth devalues with a crumbled currency. World life ecologies including human survival depend on it. Peak oil… its for real. And finally, the U.S. isn’t the only consumer of oil!!!! The less the U.S. consumes, the more oil big oil has to market elsewhere… like China. If the U.S. doesn’t green their economy, they are sunk folks.
- Restart their manufacturing base again. They have to get their corporate manufacturing back home. They need jobs and a full congressional hearing must take place to look at what they can do with manufacturing tax cuts/incentives or even the possibility of legislating their U.S. corps back to work but this will be a major juggling act as major money has been spent abroad and it will hammer GNP temperarily when they most need corporate tax revenue so what can they do? They can try parent corporate spinoffs to recreate an internalized economy to supply their own domestic needs.
- Raise taxes everywhere else. It worked for Martin…. it will work for america but americans need a bump in income to offset this and it won’t happen without getting their workers back to work manufacturing the best products in the world once again.
- Look at the Canadian model of how we pulled ourselves out of an intergovernmental national debt to nominal GDP of 100%. What we did, while there are differences, worked for us here. Most of what we did will also work for americans now. And keep in mind that if Canada did not kick start its manufacturing… or interest on debt had not been renegotiated to smaller rates… this is why when a nation hits 100%, they are at such a great risk to bankrupcy. If international banks jack up interest rates, the debt service kills that nations ability to pay down debt, never mind balance budgets and if currency crumbles and imports aren’t legislated to a trickle and/or government revenues slip past 45% debt service, it could well be over for that nation and bankrupcy follows. National debt to GDP will continue to climb past 100% and it will hit a death spiral that is… generally… a national debt to GDP ratio of 150%.
- Clean up their government and educate voters to quit electing corporate lobbyists!!! And on that note… they can take the NCC U.S. corporate lobbyist puppet plant Stephen Harper and his bass ackwards Republican disfunctional deregulatin’, privatizin’, war mongerin’, gun totin’, oil burnin’, social misfit, superiority complexed cause God said so ways with him. It didn’t work for the U.S. economy, human rights and freedoms in the U.S. these last 8 years… it won’t work here.
And one final note, fellow Canadians. Get rid of this Republican plant Stephen Harper and his failed Bush led economic and social policies. If we want to go down the same path as Bush just did, follow Bush to the next illegal war and the next striped human right or liberty and the next failed economy standing on the edge of a cliff… y’know, just for kicks or because we got tired of a national governing party that has been the brunt of everything we hate about our federal government but never give it credit for because its governed so long… never gave this Liberal party of Canada the credit it deserves for all the good and decent things its done from saving our economy and restoring federal spending to the preservation of our human rights here and abroad… then we will reap what we sow.
In the meantime… lets park our punk drunk mouth foaming ways for some peace n’ luv for its time to appreciate what we do have… as others… many others throughout the world including those south of the line right now… are not so lucky.
Good then the second question is this:
If Mr.Dion raised the GST will you (if elected) stand in the house of commons and tell him he is a liar,and immediately quit the liberal party and sit as an indy, or join another party.
If not elected will you write a letter to every news outlet in this country proclaiming Mr. Dion to be a liar, and never belong to the liberal party again.
Remember as you say. You are for your constituents not the liberal party.
I’ll go one better. I’ll vote against it. — Garth
That’s great but that didn’t answer my question. Your voting against it still means it will pass. So will do what the question asks or not
Your question is idiotic. I will stand for what I believe in. It is my constant. — Garth
Challenge to all:
Talk 10 friends that don’t normally vote and don’t think it’s important into voting. Your voice matters. Your vote matters.
Raise the issue in every conversation. It’s important to vote and politicians are NOT all the same.
Garth represents Halton. Garth represents democracy. He represents your voice.
VOTE
By Gord G. on 09.24.08 9:36 am
Your disappearance from this blog would not cause any one of us a minutes grief. In fact we would all feel even happier than we already feel as we get ready to welcome Stephane Dion as our PM.
Thank you for your very detailed, intelligent and valuable posts Brain.
“Garth please make a nice ad for all the local papers in the area with short precise points on why we should not vote PC in this area. That will help!
Thanks. (Halton will sufer if “Lisa Who” wins)
By AM on 09.24.08 9:24 am”
It costs ‘money’ people
(The cons have more money, not to mention they break the rules on campaign spending.)
Send whatever financial donation you can to Garth’s campaign.
Every dollar makes a difference as does every vote.
Please donate now and let’s ensure that Halton get’s what Halton needs and wants (GARTH). An ad in the paper costs a fortune but a small donation from EVERYONE can go a long way to helping the campaign.
http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20080920%2felection2008_softwood_deal_080924
Layton is really talking out of his butt now. All the other points he addressed, the Libs are addressing but this softwood lumber deal… the ink is dry. Its done. Much as I hated Emersons deal that smacked of corruption ($350 mil went to the whitehouse while another $650 mil went to the U.S. softwood lobby), it wouldn’t be legal and any PM would risk a trade war if they tried. I guess Layton thinks he can say what he wants to get elected these days.
And what did I tell you?
http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/investing/news/businessnews/article.aspx?cp-documentid=10614131
Goldman Sachs is there with Buffet at the finanical liquidity fire sale. “1,000 percent off, everything must go!”
And the origins of Income Trusts…
I guess Leasa doesn’t like the policies of the Mulroney government from wence Income trusts were born (my oh my, how the apple has fallen far from the tree). It was a PC idea, folks… and the Libs embraced it and Dion will again because its great to protect a specific tax base and preserve the growth of a specific group of “CANADIAN CORPORATIONS” which HARPER HATES!!! (we can get rid of him and the guy with short mans syndrome as well, the evil elf has to go)
Speaking of ethics, President Sarkozy calls for a global summit on moralising capitalism. Brazil’s president gives Bush a lecture on what he called the “anarchy of speculators” whose “profits were always to be privatised, while their losses are invariably socialised”.
heh,heh….USA kneels in contrition – passes 5 Hail Mary financial bailouts with more to come
Since you’re begging for money may I ask if you’ve donated the maximum amount to yourself and the national party yet? Considering you’re a 6+ figure guy you can certainly afford it more than the people you’re asking.
I notice that in 2007 you didn’t donate ANY money to either the LPC or the Halton EDA. And up to the end of the 2nd quarter of ‘08 you’ve only donated $208.32 to the national party.
You probably make a little bit more than I do, and you’re definately worth more than I am, and yet I’ve given the maximum to both the CPC and my MP’s campaign. Why are you so cheap Garth? Why do you ask the people to do what you are unwilling; and that’s put your money where your mouth is.
Of course I have donated the max for this year. And last year I spent a large sum on the party, which was previously noted on this blog. As for ‘begging’, I think the Conservative Party has set the standard for that. Obviously they spun you. Money is required at the local level to communicate with voters, so they might make an informed choice. Thanks for coming to my blog so you could communicate for free. My campaign is financing it. — Garth
Because I was sick of the personal attacks.
…
Just to accurate (not your strong point, I realize), Ralph Goodale made the right decision not to tax trusts prior to teh last election, and the values of them recovered. They stayed high as Stephen Harper vowed to follow Goodale’s model. Then they were destroyed when he broke that vow. Smooches. — Garth
By Leasa on 09.22.08 4:24 pm
Lyin’ Leasa, the KY “lady”,
You have the audacity to complain of personal attacks? You who in one fell swoop offended and attacked over 1000 people attending Dion’s town hall meeting in Oakville with your filthy figurative references to sodomy. That would have been bad enough, but you had to revel in your own muck with a follow up posting bragging that your filthy remarks were “real zingers”.
Hypocrisy your name is Leasa.
hey garth, the first presedential debate is on friday and obama has the voters’s trust when it comes to the economy. THe talk is that this will be one of the most viewed debates in a long time.
Any plans in the liberal camp to leverage this event and obama’s message, here in canada?
Obama shoots past McCain in polls amid economic fears
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4818022.ece
Obama, McCain Prep for Presidential Debates
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5857679&page=1
Trust – the financial crisis is a failure in trust. How much do you, the taxpayer, trust the guy that categorizes installments of $150 Billion interventions in the free markets as just “dribs and drabs”?
YOU SAID
I don’t know why you are asking for donations Garth. It seems obvious to all that you are going to win!
By Johnny Test on 09.24.08 8:06 am
––––––
Johnny, this riding has become the ‘Litmus Riding’ for the CON’s. So, if you read Garth’s heading to this daily blog piece, you must agree that he will face the proverbial onslaught of Blue Negativity.
If you have $50 spare for Garth, which you have not gotten around to donating, consider it now.
By Gord G. on 09.24.08 9:36 am
Wouldn’t wanna burn you out mentally this morning Gordo, you can glaze over my posts and all should be well. (fart smeller this guy is, specially with his sage denial of man made climate change, lol)
Morning Bonnie, all.
By Tim N on 09.24.08 9:24 am
Tim, unfortunately for all, the Liberals were not very transparent on the IT file. There was no way Mr. Harper could know exactly what this was going to cost the country. I think he was as shocked as you were that he was forced to tax ITs. There was a reason after all why Goodale was languishing on this file and left so many wondering for so long if he would tax them. Then the writ was dropped…and Goodale backed out on doing what was right for the county. Shame.
If the Conservatives manage to survive this election without a platform, it will be the fault of the media. Really? Yes. It will be the fault of people like the bad journalists who thought the Liberal platform was not front page news for the Globe and Mail. Even the National Post covered the bloody thing! What is the point of electing a government if the media aren’t even going to tell voters what the different parties are proposing? What incentive do the Conservatives have to propose a plan if the media aren’t going to report it anyway?
The above is a paragraph I quoted from Jason Cherniak from his blog Cherniak on Politics. http://jasoncherniak.blogspot.com/. It got me thinking that maybe if someone could organize a petition to be displayed in key areas, it would do wonders towards letting the MSM know that they will not get away with their brazen display of partisan reporting by their journalists & their Editors. They have too much to lose if people don’t buy their paper & especially if they don’t buy their ads.
A petition of this sort would be welcomed by organizations such as the arts, economists, Income trust losers, environmental groups & their supporters. The possibilities go on & on. Even businesses would be happy to sign such a petition.
Anybody who has a better idea needs to come up with a plan ASAP because if we do nothing, we are in a lot of trouble if Harper & his goons get back in.
Regards, Irene
Garth, it is not the amount of money that you spend, but the amount of attention you get that translates into influence.
For example, one thing that you have going for you is right here on this blog. You are influencing others in ways that are more impressionable than lawn signs or radio ads right here on this blog.
What you need to do is to make some strong statements that will get the attention back to the Liberal Party, and to your campaign in particular.
This is what Harper and Layton are doing. They are each putting the other in the limelight so as to divert attention away from the Liberals, and to make the NDP appear to be the real alternative to the CONS.
Somehow, the LIBS have to get back into the limelight once again. All Jack Layton will do is to split the opposition vote, and something needs to be done about it.
Don’t let Stephen Harper put the NDP rather than the Liberals into the limelight as his greatest threat. We are in danger of seeing the media give all of the attention to the NDP and the CONS while the LIBS stand haplessly on the sidelines.
Something needs to happen to get the focus of the attention back on to the Liberals, and it must be done quickly. Time is of the essence as NDP poll nunmbers continue to soar.
Challenge to all:
Talk 10 friends that don’t normally vote and don’t think it’s important into voting. Your voice matters. Your vote matters.
Raise the issue in every conversation. It’s important to vote and politicians are NOT all the same.
Garth represents Halton. Garth represents democracy. He represents your voice.
VOTE
By voter on 09.24.08 9:56 am
Voter – I was the first to put up a Lib sign on our property. Several days later my neighbour had a Lib sign on the lawn. I spoke to another neighbour yesterday. They’ll be voting Lib as well. In my riding, I’ve being receiving emails that their are too many requests for Lib signs that they are asking for volunteers to put up Lib signs. Unfortunately, I’m unable to do this kind of work.
My niece recently moved and have sent her the Canada Elections website to ensure she knows that she has to act quickly to ensure she’s registered. Not sure if she has the required documents as she’s sharing, and may not be able to provide them.
This is totally OT, but she sent me the following, as many of the younger generation care about poverty and the environment.
I just signed an urgent global petition to urge Berlusconi, Sarkozy and Harper to keep their promises to the poor.
It is vital that we do not let these leaders undermine the world’s anti-poverty efforts. On Thursday, UN poverty expert Jeff Sachs will deliver our global call to the United Nations General Assembly. I thought that you might want to join me in taking action — read the following email to learn more and click the links to join the call!
http://www.avaaz.org/en/poverty_promise_breakers/98.php/?cl_tf_sign=1
Thanks
————————–
Dear friends,
World leaders gather this Thursday at the United Nations to renew the fight against extreme poverty. But three countries — France, Canada, and Italy — are threatening to undermine the world’s anti poverty efforts, by slashing their development aid budgets and breaking their international promises.
Sarkozy, Harper, and Berlusconi promised to contribute 0.7 of their national income to fighting poverty — aid money that would save millions of lives, and still leave these donor countries with 99.3 of their money. But apparently, they think 99.3 is not enough.
Our best chance to keep these rich countries to their word on aid delivery is to raise the alarm in New York this week. Sign our petition now, spread it to friends and family — and our friend, world famous economist and top UN official on poverty, Jeffrey Sachs will deliver it in speeches to the assembled heads of state at the UN summit this Thursday. The more names on the petition, the stronger the message that promises on poverty must be kept. Click below to sign now:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/poverty_promise_breakers
We know that public outcries like this one can work — because massive people-powered movements have transformed the fight against poverty over the last decade. The Jubilee movement cancelled hundreds of billions in dictator debt in 2000, and pushed world leaders to adopt the Millennium Development Goals to cut world poverty in half by 2015. In 2005, poverty campaigners the world over won commitments from G8 leaders to double aid to Africa. Because of these efforts millions of poverty related deaths have been stopped and millions more children are attending school, sleeping under anti-Malaria bed nets, and drinking clean water. Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have all exceeded the 0.7 target and in this year aid rose in real terms in nine EU countries. If all countries stick to their promises, programmes fighting disease and alleviating extreme poverty could be scaled up across the world.
But this year, some rich-country leaders apparently think that the public no longer cares about poverty. In Canada, which kept 99.7 of its income last year, Stephen Harper seems more interested in winning his election than in upholding Canada’s tradition of moral leadership. France’s Sarkozy, for all of his diplomatic efforts, appears to think that his people don’t care about lives and deaths beyond his borders. And in Italy — already one of the stingiest donors in the world — Berlusconi appears happy to slash crucial funding, even though, as host of next year’s G8 summit, his actions set an example for the other richest countries.
French and Italian Avaaz members are already flooding their governments with thousands of messages about aid. But those of us in the rest of the world can play a crucial role as well–sending Harper, Sarkozy, and Berlusconi a clear signal that we expect them to keep to their word — so please help us raise an outcry that can’t be ignored at the UN summit:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/poverty_promise_breakers
In recent years, millions have been galvanized by a vision: that ours can be the generation that ends extreme poverty. With other crises vying for our attention, the strength of this vision is now being tested. Let’s join together and ensure that leaders keep their promises — so that the promise of human potential in even the poorest communities can be unleashed.
With hope,
Ben, Alice, Ricken, Graziela, Paul, Milena, Iain, Veronique, Brett — the entire Avaaz team
PS: For a report on Avaaz’s campaigning so far, see: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2
Sources:
Fact sheet on Official Development Assistance from rich countries:
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/27/55/40381862.pdf
More on the Millennium Development Goals:
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
Bono and Jeffrey Sachs’ blog on the poverty debate this week in New York:
http://blogs.ft.com/mdg/
To learn more about the international campaigning that has moved governments in recent years, see:
http://www.whiteband.org and http://www.inmyname.com/ and http://www.one.org/international/
More on concern about France’s meeting 0.7 targets see:
http://www.oecd.org/document/45/0,,en_2649_201185_40948205_1_1_1_1,00
More on Canada’s backtracking on 0.7 commitment:
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=9c489487-aab9-477c-babf-5d109566df2f&p=2
To see the 2008 report on governmental aid to Africa see:
http://www.one.org/report/en/press.html
To learn about Jeffrey Sachs’ work on UN Millennium Development Goals see:
http://www.unmillenniumproject.org
To see examples of how aid is working see:
http://www.millenniumpromise.org and http://www.mdgmonitor.org/factsheets.cfm
Canada expected to follow U.S. lead in climate fight
Expert calls for economy-wide emissions price
Sept 24, 2008
…..
“Jaccard said Liberal Leader Stephane Dion’s Green Shift plan will work because it applies an economy-wide cost on emissions to industry and non-industry. That or an economy-wide absolute cap, which Dion promises within two years, is the only way to reduce emissions without destroying the economy, he said.”
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/calgarybusiness/story.html?id=0baeda99-45b5-474f-a13b-7117328d2b68&p=2
…..
The United States will probably beat Canada to the punch when it comes to controlling greenhouse gases by imposing emission pricing, says Mark Jaccard, a Simon Fraser University professor who specializes in assessing the economic costs of climate change policies.
But that’s OK, he told a Calgary audience.. because the action south of the border may be the only thing that can force Canada to adopt what he believes is the only effective policy to control the emissions associated with global warming.
“I think we’ll see the Americans are about to do it and we’ll do it two months before, so that we can say we were original and we are leaders,” he said after his speech at the 2008 Canadian Decentralized Energy Conference.
U.S. legislation can’t happen now, he said, because President George W. Bush has vowed to veto it.
“We need an economy-wide emissions price,” said Jaccard.
“You can get that two ways — with the absolute economy-wide cap or with a carbon tax.” He admitted both would result in higher prices to consumers — the former imposed at the wholesale level and the latter on retail sales –> but the latter would make more sense from an efficiency and economic standpoint.
Rick Hyndman, senior policy adviser for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in Calgary, said he agrees in general terms with emission pricing. “I don’t think anybody denies — and this is the whole idea of emissions pricing — that eventually you want a system in which the cost of emissions are showing up through the price system and therefore affect what decisions people make,” he said. “The design details of how you do that are absolutely critical.”
…..
Garth,
I alas do not live in your riding. I will say that I enjoy your posts and only hope that all politicians represent their constituents with the same fervent passion. As an outsider from your riding, but one that uses your blog, I will send you the $20 you request via paypal knowing that Canada is served well by your representation of your riding in Ottawa. At the very least I get to read your blogs and comment on your forum.
I think the best thing Dion has done is highlight his team and also Dion’s entrusting of Liberal candidates and supporters to engage Canadians to undo the lies Harper has spread about the Liberal platform.
A big story in BC right now is how Harper last night used the RCMP to stop the media from access to Donna Cadman. This morning on the radio a Conservative spokesperson was quoted as saying that, “it is the job of Candidates to get elected, not talk to the media.” Dion has the opposite message.
As host City to the 2010 Olympics I am glad the Federal Government has taken steps to support this City and this event. Any government would have done so. But it should not come at the cost of struggling artists which is at the heart of Canadian identity.
Harper said he would not be one to pick the winners and losers in industry as his justification for not helping the manufacturing sector, but apparently this does not apply to Arts and Culture. Here Harper clearly choses Sports over Arts. Considering Vancouver alone has a $1B/yr film industry, employing thousands, it is very poor judgement. It is wrong.
Thank you! — Garth
Second donation sent from our household. Keep up the good work Garth.
What people seem to forget is that the IT debacle also cost Canadian tax payers plenty since the Canada Pension Fund had millions invested. With all the financial gurus in the pension fund why would they have invested so much? If Harpo didn’t know what he was talking about why was he so adamant about protecting the IT during the elections, sounds kinda stupid…okay, just answered my question there…
Leasa
So you have come to conclude that Harpers Income Trust betrayal was the right thing to do huh?
Why don’t you refer to the justification that Harper issued to the seniors and retirees that he mercilessly damaged and let us all know what page of his justification convinced you?
Here’s a link:
http://caiti.info/resources/fla_docs.pdf
Let us all know what page convinced you.
Is that how democracy works in your little twisted world Leasa? Make damaging, catastrophic decisions and then refuse to justify them to the very people whom you are supposed to serve?
Here’s a little hint Leasa, THAT is how a DICTATORSHIP works, and that is not Democracy no matter how you spin your lies this time
Harper is a dictator and he has proven beyond a doubt that the people can not trust him.
Tim, unfortunately for all, the Liberals were not very transparent on the IT file. There was no way Mr. Harper could know exactly what this was going to cost the country. I think he was as shocked as you were that he was forced to tax ITs. There was a reason after all why Goodale was languishing on this file and left so many wondering for so long if he would tax them. Then the writ was dropped…and Goodale backed out on doing what was right for the county. Shame.
By Leasa on 09.24.08 10:59 am
I conclude, as usual, LEASA doesn’t know what the hell she is talking about. It was all part of a CPC sponsored SCAM to gain votes in the hope of attaining a majority government.
Brain,
your 9:40 was great! Too bad that facts are irrelevant in partisan politics.
This is a disturbing article;
http://www.oakvillebeaver.com/news/article/207822
I wonder how much talking up our dollar and cutting the GST helps folks who are struggling to pay the rent/mortgage and buy groceries.
Good luck to Brent Fullard because Jim Flaherty and I do have at least one thing in common…neither one of us is qualified to be the federal finance minister.
Seems to me that this was a miss placed effort and an attempt to avoid the voters!
By Truth B Told on 09.24.08 12:07 am
No these things are quite common ion ridings, mine has one as do the two on either side of me. Its way to try an engage young minds, most of which already know a pack of lies when they hear it.
It is a sad reflection on our political system when elections are bought by the highest spender.
There are 70,000 households in Halton. Sending one piece of mail out during a campaign alone costs more than $20,000. If you have a better idea, let me know. — Garth
By C. B. Innes on 09.24.08 6:50 am
I have been closely following elections since 2000. What has become apparent is that the media gives the most positive support to the party that has the most money.
This is what seems to be happening. There is a great deal of money to be made during an election for the media. The pressure is on to get the most advertising dollars so they cater to the richest party or parties. This has happened when the Liberals were rolling in dough and now with the Conservatives. It is a “business” decision.
I just listened to part of an interview regarding your riding and it seemed to me that the editor of the Halton paper involved favoured Raitt, even to using some of the Conservative “talking points.” Your coverage was more negative because you have made it public that you are having problems raising funds.
Giving away the fact that you do not have as much money as she has means it is in the self-interest of the media outlet to try to attrack that money to their business.
Most media outlets will not give any coverage the minor parties. In the last federal election in which the Progressive Conservative ran the media made a decision not to cover that campaign and did not do so until after the debates in which Clark did very well and they were shamed into some coverage. The PCs did not have the money to pour into advertising.
The “affluent” parties and candidates get far more bang for their dollar for that reason.
The whole system has become geared to the subversion of democracy.
If the Conservatives are so terrible for our country,then how do you explain poll after poll after poll that are not favorable to your party hummm?
By The Right on 09.23.08 11:35 pm
Easily answered my friend. Harper panders to the uneducated voters which sadly make up the majority of the country. He tells them what they want to hear because he knows that they, like him, have no vision or foresight. He sucks up to minority groups with apologies and false promises. He lies outright. A lie repeated often enough and with great vigor will eventually be believed. He knows he’ll never be held accountable for his lies as he could care less about upholding the truth. Heaven help us all if he gets a majority.
Andrew Coyne shows “How journalists get in the way of the election”
Protesters oppose private clinic
Questions raised about legality of $4,000 fees
One angry woman said she was protesting because the private facility recruited her doctor of 16 years, leaving her without a family physician.
“It sucks,” said Noreen Branagh. “I can’t afford the $4,000, and there are no family doctors in Calgary.”
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=a643dfdc-72ac-472e-9ef7-71ce6d85912e
I can’t stand it anymore; Leasa, it’s chockful not chalkful. And Brain, plenitude not platitude, dammit! But Brain, don’t stop writing. Lease, you can leave off anytime – please.
the Conservatives did back peddle on their Income Trust promise. I totally agree with you
By Irvine on 09.23.08 11:36 pm
“Back peddle” is that the new “death star” spin on the out right lie that mr harpo did to us?
I am so mad at you for this “spin” that since harpo is in my town today I am going to be at the site with my sign “harpio is a liar!” and you are a stupid person to follow such a liar.
Aw nuts! When one sets herself up to have a superior knowledge of the use of the language, she should probably also strive for accuracy in herself. So, sorry Leasa…I should have typed chock-full.
Propped-up-gander: “irvines got a point – we need a barack obama in canadian politics. Until there is some hope (charismatic leader or merger)… but I won’t be the least bit excited about it. -MIKE FROM OAKVILLE 24.08 12:48AM
…..
Mike, the funny thing is, how closely both your comments and ’suggestibles’ (suggestions for indiscrete digestion) resemble Karl Rove’s Harper consultations. “Scatter the opposition vote” – and – “Spread the smear that “all” politicians lie “all the time” so that the slime-based ‘new neocon’ lies “can assimilate into the conversion unchallenged.” I’ll give Karl Rove and Frank Luntz credit, it works for a while, but it will catch everyone’s suspicion eventually. Especially now — the harder people like you try, the worse the neocons “suggestions” look, the more people notice. (Hmm, so maybe keep it up.)
People talk you know, or did you think everyone is too afraid to talk to their families and friends about this? Ah, that’s right, you KNOW people are a bit too polite/afraid to broach these subjects with each other. Well, you’re wrong.
OH! And you know what’s even worse Mike?! What’s even worse is when citizens of this country need stimulation to get off their couch to protect their democracy.
Sorry Mike, democratic stimulation has to come from within. You have a complete ignorance of your role as a citizen. Now, go get your rag and brush up on Ms. Hilton. Either that, or brush up on democracy, where your feint attitude always results in inevitable revolution.
By the way, unlike a lame and cowardly response like your words, I personally have made the effort of being a good citizen, by paying attention, by clicking on some Dion’s video, one of which Garth has posted here, but you can YouTube the rest of them. I also knew, as a Calgarian, what Harper has been up to for 20 years.
…..
Stephane Dion is charming. My husband and I went to see him speak at open forums twice in Calgary, something Harper never does.
Mr. Dion probably has the highest quality of character we will ever see in a Prime Minister. Dion’s not just charismatic, he’s kind, intelligent, fun, personable, forthright and honest. And he has great ideas and the strong ability to work with people, not against them. It’s pretty obvious that Dion scares the hell out of Harper because of that. Evidence: Harper’s attempted two-and-a-half year ’smear & lie’ campaign against the character of an amazing man like Mr. Dion.
Harper is nothing more than a coward for that.
The complaints against the media are ever-growing. If the media doesn’t begin to back off on their lone support of Harper, the media empires will completely lose their markets. The media supports who they ‘think’ will win. They’d better think twice. Voters are not dumb, and they will not fall for gimmicked tactics — because the end result of ‘not paying attention’ has become all too clear.
Halton Oracle Sees Clearly-Meltdown coming
TORONTO — One of the world’s most respected investment firms says that Canada may be heading towards the same housing problems that have led to the financial crisis in the U.S.
Merrill Lynch economists say Canadian households have “been running a larger financial deficit than households in either the U.S. or the U.K.”
“After forty years of net saving, Canadian households moved into sustained deficit in 2002,” David Wolf and Carolyn Kwan wrote in a report issued by Merrill Lynch’s Canadian division.
The firm’s data implies that the Canadian household sector is now overextending itself “as much as the U.S. or U.K. ever did.”
Canadians’ household net borrowing was 6.3 per cent of disposable income in 2007. That’s more debt than households in Britain and close to the peak of the U.S. shortfall, just before the subprime mortgage crisis erupted in 2005.
The Merrill Lynch report says the market view that Canada’s housing and credit markets are not going to “crack” like they have in the U.S. may be wrong.
“We fear, however, that it may simply be a matter of time. The clear ‘tipping point’ in the U.S. was the emergence of falling house prices in the summer of 2006, kicking off the vicious circles that have brought the financial system and the wider economy to the brink,” the report said.
“We’re just now starting to see house prices fall in Canada, and sharp rises in unsold home inventories increasingly imply that this will not be a transitory phenomenon.”
The report’s authors admit that their analysis runs counter to the prevailing view.
In fact, just this past weekend, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told CTV’s Question Period that Canadians can “rest assured our banks are solid.”
He said the banking crisis in the U.S. is a concern for the global economy, but Canada has taken steps to make sure its financial sector will not end up in a similarly precarious situation.
From your debate link;
One of the responses that gathered enthusiastic applause for Raitt was her position on a question about increasing welfare rates to levels seen in the 1980s. She said the solution to unemployment is a multi-pronged approach.
“Through tax cuts and programs, there is a way to deal with this,” Raitt said. “I find it much better to fund programs, teach and train people, and provide them with jobs, and provide them with help in tangible kinds of ways, as opposed to just handing them a cheque.”
She said a multi-pronged approach and tax cuts. What does that mean? Tax cuts for people on Welfare? Teach and train people. What is she talking about? If you qualify for Unemployment Insurance there are some funds for training opportunities but that is not the case for people on welfare. What limited training opportunities there are, are more like make work projects for those giving the training. In Southern Ontario the rates are so low that unless people qualify for subsidized housing and can find an available unit (2 years wait time), many turn to illegal activities to find enough money.
This of course creates greatly increased crime levels which require more and more Justice Industry. What does it cost to keep an individual incarcerated?
In reality, the cost to society both in economic and social terms is extensive.
So Ms. Rait, what was your position again and what are those tangible ways?
Get tough on crime?
Listening to the polls is the same as listening to the propaganda from the main stream media.
Anyone who believes that the NDP would protect our democracy, by saying they would coalition with the Liberals, needs to only remember the NDP support for the Harper government’s fraudulent and purposeful Income Trust Tax. That tax removes billions of dollars from Canada’s tax base, which is needed to support our entire system. To have enough money to support our healthcare, education and our entire benefit system, a vote for either NDP or CRAP/NEW Conservative government, will require either MORE taxation OR the ELIMINATION of Canada’s social network system – things like healthcare.
Do not listen to liars and thieves. Do not vote for liars and thieves. The NDP HAVE PROVEN which party they would support. A vote for them is a vote for Harper – so, do not vote NDP, just in case the rigged polls would say that the Liberals are ahead. It is just another trick.
The MSM, corporate lobbyists, NDP, CRAP/New Conservative government, banks etc. all want to sit at the NEW economic banquet table that Bush/Paulson/Bernanke are setting up for the 2000 people in the world that count. They want to ensure they won’t be left out.
Canadians, (and Americans alike), HAVE THE POWER to flush the UNdemocratic forces down the toilet. It is called THE VOTE. It is truly going to be either us being flushed down the toilet, or them.
It is no small coincidence that Harper called his election at the moment that the “financial crisis” was really put to the fore, and perhaps, purposefully was heated up. The solution offered for that is a power grab of horrendous proportion. They deem it ‘urgent or else catastrophe will happen’??? The only catastrophe ‘they’ urgently seek to avoid, is the UPHOLDING of the American Constitution. And in Canada, Harper and co. wields the same – HE HAS PROVEN IT – dismanteling the democratically placed watch guards (nuclear, food safety, justice, etc.) and he pledges MORE of that loss to voters!
Thank you! — Garth
~ by BARB THE PROOFREADER 24.08 12:55am
You’re welcome. I kinda like this digital democracy thingy* that you champion, and obviously the enemies of democracy are keen to disrupt it.
Wishing you, Mr. Dion, and all the Liberal team a successful campaign, and a richer, fairer, greener Canada. Go get ‘em!
Barb
– Not really a proofreader.. more a “Reader of proof.”
______________________
[* "Thingy" -- Compliments of Harry S of course.
]
By Barb the proofreader on 09.24.08 1:45 am
CCPA’s “Harper Record” is a pretty good read, eh? That close-up on the cover is enough to give small children (and me) nightmares. I plan on reading another chunk of it today if nothing else gets in the way. (I’ll skip the cover.)
It’s amazing how much the Harper money people have managed to control the message so far. Visualize a world run by ad agencies, PR people, lobbyists and national leaders in make-up (Harper, I mean here, not Sarah Palin). That will be Harper’s Canada. Maybe he could hire his make-up/style consultant lady as finance minister and market prognosticator. I hear she reads entrails or sees angels, or something.
She should check out heat-resistant make-up for the Glorious Leader, though. In an appearance a few days ago, Harper’s make-up was melting and his mascara/eyeliner were running. Not a pretty sight!
Bits of Ken Dryden’s speech were running through my head all day yesterday, especially the view of the campaign as one giant ego-trip for Stevie. Completely unbidden, a parallel universe version of “Titanic” came into my mind, with Harper and one of his acolytes, or even better, Doug Finley. clasped to his manly chest as they sail towards the unseen iceberg, bellowing out “I am kind of the worrrrrrrld!”. (The extra “r’s” are for Dougie.)
—–
Merrill Lynch Canada seems to think that Canada’s going to have a nice little mortgage melt-down of its own.
http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080924.wmortgage0924/BNStory/Business/home
But that couldn’t happen, could it? Didn’t Harper just say that if it was going to happen, it would already have happened by now? He couldn’t possibly be wrong, I’m sure.
—–
Locking up 14-year-olds? Brilliant. Has the Giant Brain checked out how much it costs to keep one person in prison for a year? You could pay them a nice salary just to behave themselves and it would be cheaper.
Reena Virk’s mother said yesterday that she honestly didn’t believe that the young people who killed her daughter really thought about what they were doing. If someone who has had that terrible thing happen to her could still find it in her heart to have compassion for those kids, I think Harper should start looking into his supposed caring about Canadian children. The U.S. is a prison planet at the moment. We don’t need that here.
It would give him a convenient out for the whole Omar Khadr thing, though. He could then be retroactively exonerated for abandoning a child soldier in an American torture site.
—–
Hey, I thought Leasa and Harry S said they were going to go away until after the election?
Another HarpoCon promise….ain’t worth the screen it’s written on.
Johnny, this riding has become the ‘Litmus Riding’ for the CON’s. So, if you read Garth’s heading to this daily blog piece, you must agree that he will face the proverbial onslaught of Blue Negativity.
If you have $50 spare for Garth, which you have not gotten around to donating, consider it now.
By Windsurfer on 09.24.08 10:52 am
I’m leary of donating to any political party after Sponsorship and the In & Out Scheme.
Lies Dear Leader Tole Me :
Stephen Harpers Broken Promises
As a victim of one of Stephen Harpers broken promises (no.23) I have often been asked the question, just how many promises has this guy broken? This is my attempt to answer that question, although with Harper the line is blurred between a Broken Promise, a Lie, a smear or a flip-flop. There is no doubt that for such a short time in power this man has an extraordinary record, it leaves one wondering what or who is the real Stephen Harper and what is his Agenda. If he ever wins a majority we will find out.
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Can anyone explain to me the theory that you can save the financial system by creating even more bad credit?
An economy that is based on credit and debt rather than real value has always seemed to me to be on the road to disaster. The government buys up this bad debt so that the financial institutions can create more debt to fuel the economy. In the short term it might shore up markets but eventually, and in the not so distant future.
The U.S. needs to start living within its means but it does not appear willing to do so.
Tim, unfortunately for all, the Liberals were not very transparent on the IT file. There was no way Mr. Harper could know exactly what this was going to cost the country. I think he was as shocked as you were that he was forced to tax ITs. There was a reason after all why Goodale was languishing on this file and left so many wondering for so long if he would tax them. Then the writ was dropped…and Goodale backed out on doing what was right for the county. Shame.
By Leasa on 09.24.08 10:59 am
It is exactly the same as Dalton’s -”no new taxes” – then implementing the health tax, because the books were off by $6 B. The opposition’s job is hold the government to scrutiny on all it does. Harper not knowing the file (because “it was hidden”) is no excuse. He did not do his job then. If he was the least bit unsure on the file, he should have kept him mouth shut, or stated that he didn’t know the file. Instead he made a promise (that was a poor policy anyways) – then flipped on his promise. Once he decided to change his mind, he should have released the information – not blacked out – and stood up and been accountable for that decision.
Lyin’Leassa said she wasn’t invited to leave .
Her absence was voluntary .
Here is the truth :
Nice whine, Leasa. Your accusation that I impersonate posters here also means it is your last. I adhere to a higher standard than you, apparently. — Garth
By Leasa on 08.24.08 4:23 pm
I wonder how it really makes Garth feel to know his support on this blog comes from the lowest end of the brain pool? Honestly. If Garth really wanted to clean this up and stop the insults, he could…all he’d have to do is post IPs, but then again, if Garth himself is one or more of the characters on this board…
When you mentioned that your wild-eyed foamers from this blog would be there for a personal time with Mr. Dion the business woman in me did think about selling KY when they were going in and Prep H when they were leaving. If only I had the time.
Leasa
By Leasa on 08.16.08 11:03 am
Just in case anyone thought of taking Leassa seriously .
She is a filthy liar with no redeeeming social value whatsoever .
You pose no solution and no hope. And your nihilism will not prevail. — Garth
LOL, brilliant Garth. What hope does the current system provide? You rant and rave over the Income Trust fiasco, yet you fail to acknowledge the Liberal governments own failures. Again, it’s like a member of the Hell’s Angels telling a member of Satan Choice that he’s a bad person
And in case you haven’t noticed Garth, about half the population that’s able to vote never bothers to show up. Do you think they’re just too busy Garth? Or they’re doing laundry? They seem to have the time to vote on American or Canadian Idol tho, don’t they
You’re part of the problem why Canadians are disengaged with politics. You claim you’re the champion of the “common person” when in fact you’re just a grandstanding ego. You cannot admit your own faults & refuse to accept your failures.
Maybe we need to make “deception” by political parties a criminal offense. Both the Liberal & Conservative government have “frauded” me. If I was to do that to my customer, I’d go to prison. And so should you.
Adscam? = prison. Income Trust fiasco = prison.
Bring that idea into the House dude. I dare ya.
By Gord G. on 09.24.08 9:36 am
Wouldn’t wanna burn you out mentally this morning Gordo, you can glaze over my posts and all should be well. (fart smeller this guy is, specially with his sage denial of man made climate change, lol)
Morning Bonnie, all.
By brain on 09.24.08 10:54 am
Thank-you.
Gord.
In a previous post, I mentioned Harper’s melting make-up during a recent photo-op.
The BBC Friday Night Comedy podcast did a sketch about male make-up being offered by a local shop on the August 1st podcast of the Now Show.
There was Manscara and Guyliner. They were wondering what a catchy name for a male lip preparation would be, and finally settled on – Dipstick.
I’ll say no more.
Mr. Garth TurnerMP,
So what do you believe is the job of an MP, or for that mater the job of our elected government?
Should the government be looking out of Corporation or the people?
Should government be handing corporations more and more powers?
Should corporations have superior rights over human beings?
PMSH has signed the secrative SPP dealings that give away our rights and the ability of future elected government to take actions in the best long term interests of people, you and me, and everyone else that is a human being.
The signing of the SPP is a TREASONOUS act!!!!
PMSH is not looking out for you and your family but only his corporate masters.
PMSH is furthering the
Corporate Fascist agenda!
Lieing is just find if it get them what they want.
Total control.
Secrate are also important to keep or at lease keep the masses from finding out before it’s to late.
(look up Cororate and Fascist in the dictonary yourself.)
Even some past USA Presedents have WARNED us of this evil in the world.
So I guess this Lisa person Harper forced into Halton as the ‘changed’ conservitive party is all for ‘corporate fascium’.
Give control to the corporations if it helps you out short term and screw everyone else, lie if you have, don’t say to much or more people might start to catch on to the road that PMSH/Bush gang is taking us down.
If you haven’t notist the technology is now avalible to make this a oneway trip to slavery for us all.
Don’t think it’s not happening. Just look around, read your history books!
Pay attention to what PMSH has done, wha he has said in the past, is lieing about now.
Check your faces, ask both sides to make sure you are being told the truth.
PMSH has shown his words can not be trusted.
Even breaking laws is not beowned his actions.
Finanshal considerations to Cadman.
Income trust rap.
The in and out rip of our tax money.
The crap mailings you get, that we pay for.
Raise income tax and lower them back to clam you lowered income taxes.
Spend like a drunked sailer.
What to kill people buy joining the illegal Bush Iraq war, bast on more lies!
Ingnor the warnings and evidence from the scientist regarding Global climate change.
Ingnor peak-oil.
Teargas people that disagree with you.
Fixed election dates every 4 years. NOT!
If they can do it to them, they can do it you and your family!
Doing nothing now, will not save you in the end. You must stand up now or loose all your human rights!!!
Human rights are not for just a small few at the top.
PMSH speaks with a forked tong.
Is a bold faced lier.
His word is worth less.
He seems dogmatic in his thinking.
Not my idea of good leadership material.
Be very carefull what you vote for, you might end up with something fare worse than you can imagin with this PMSH gang.
MP job are to look out for the people/families/human beings not corporations.
It is important that you know who your MP is and what they believe since there decide on the LAWS of the land.
Or in PMSH case give more power and rights to corporations that we the people.
STOP LOOK AND LISTEN: This evening the King of the Neo Cons: George “Dubya” Bush,Stephen Harper’s mentor is going to address America and the world and ask we the taxpayers of the world, to give Wall Street $700,000,000,000 (Billion Plus) complete with multi millions in severance for the crooks
(many are under investigation for fraud, here in Canada Harper halted the in and out scandal with an election call) with not guarantee’s It seems like yesterday the Neo Con`s attacked Iraq looking for WMD`s that could strike America….. PM Chretien said NO! Harper went to the US to apologize with Stockwell Day in his famous: WE stand with you speech. Can it get any sadder than that, YES! put Harper in control in the North Wing (Ottawa Canada) again.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080924/mortgage_meltdown_080924/20080924?hub=TopStories
Read the comments on that. I am utterly SHOCKED at how people react to this type of news. The gospel of the cons has spread far and wide…. my god are we in for a horrid ride down.
My faith in my fellow Canadian seems to dwindle more and more each day. Just brutal.
Looks like we’re getting a great reputation for keeping our hands clean.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/09/24/ahmad-release.html?Authorized=1&AuthenticationKey=2_3_314c50bc-c45e-4341-8ed6-0dbe3c98045c.pakhpnlifgagea
A lot of immigrants aren’t voting for Harper or Dion because of what happened to Arar. Today it’s the muslims, tomorrow it may be the South Asians, the day after that the Chinese and so on.
I haven’t heard a single politician address this issue.
Fixed Election Dates
“A Conservative government will: Introduce legislation modeled on the BC and Ontario laws requiring fixed election dates every four years, except when a government loses the confidence of the House (in which case an election would be held immediately, and the subsequent election would follow four years later).” (”Stand Up For Canada”, Conservative Party of Canada Federal Election Platform 2006, p. 44)
Dear Leader lyin’ through his teeth .
To be fair, Garth, you should post here also a copy of the Liberal platform that have been promising to get rid of GST. All parties break election promises, so I would not trust Libs any more than Cons in this department. If Dion becomes a PM, he will break a few too – I would not rush with any politician’s promise (including yours) to the bank.
Dion is the leader. Give an instance in his entire career in which he did not tell the truth. — Garth
I would like to see an MP put forth a bill banning polls reporting on
elections .
This is the law in BC . I am sick,tired and fed up with these morons manipulating numbers to make it appear their party is leading .
I think the pollsters are in for a rude awakening come October fourteenth .
But as Dion was taking his shots at the NDP, he was dodging some flak of his own.
Stephen LeDrew, Liberal party president from 1998 to 2003, wrote in an opinion piece in the National Post that, barring a miracle, the Grits were going to get a well-deserved “drubbing” on election day.
LeDrew said the Grits must “regain their relevance” and discover what it means to be a Liberal in the 21st century.
“One hopes that, in defeat, the Liberals will realize that they must do more than paint Stephen Harper as a Bush clone. They must do more than chant that the Conservatives will steer Canada inalterably toward its demise. The Tories are following the small-l liberal agenda because they know the majority of Canadians will not vote for a right-wing platform.”
The Liberal Partisans on this blog would better serve their party and country if they listened to Mr LeDrew.
But hey – thats just my opinion!!
Yawn! Another day with no significant anything to make me want to stand up, so here I sit waiting to become excited for a candidate in my own riding.
Back to productive activities.
BTW, May and Layton have the spotlight and are saying things that tantalize Canadians, this Canadian in particular.
The Harper/Dion pissing contest is typical and boring.
The Liberals/NDP/Bloc know what’s coming down the pike in 3 or 6 months. Most Canadians don’t. Harper is blackmailing them and using fear to do it. They just aren’t aware of how bad it is going to be, what an awful leader and country we will be living in with another minority gov’t as he forces his will onto us.
Canadians have elected three minority governments in the past eight years and is about to elect the fourth. We are demanding, through our votes, that parties work together.
IF the opposition stand in his way, he would be ready to force another election over anything, such as his anti-crime legislation, even though it is not a minority gov’ts privilege to act like a majority.
If we had PR of course, this wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but we don’t. So OTHER PARTIES, form a Coalition and get over yourselves!
And yes that was a Panic Post.
The New Democrats are facing tough competition from the Green party as a second choice for voters in the Oct. 14 federal election campaign, a new poll suggests.
A Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll taken over the last four nights found one in four respondents, or 25 per cent, would take the NDP or the Green party as their No. 2 choice if they opted to change their vote. The Liberals were the leading second choice at 28 per cent.
At the start of the campaign, 26 per cent of respondents made the NDP their second choice and 22 per cent opted for the Greens.
The survey also identified the Greens as the second choice for 28 per cent of Conservative respondents, 27 per cent of Liberals, 34 per cent of New Democrats and 19 per cent of Bloc supporters polled.
The findings are particularly interesting given that voters have become more rootless in recent years, shifting their loyalties from one party to another, said Harris-Decima president Bruce Anderson.
“We can see lots of volatility from week to week, even with such light engagement, because the strength of attachment to any of the parties — with the possible exception of the Conservatives — is weaker than it has been in the past,” he said in a release.
Across Canada, the poll put the Conservatives at 37 per cent support, with the Liberals holding on to 24 per cent and the NDP in third spot at 16 per cent, one percentage point off previous highs.
The Greens had the support of 12 per cent of respondents and the Bloc Quebecois nine per cent.
“Most voters remain hesitant to vote Conservative, but neither troubled enough at the prospect of a Conservative win nor attracted enough to the idea of a Dion government to coalesce around the Liberals,” Anderson said.
Mr. Garth TurnerMP,
For any American fiends that read your blog.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: “There are about 30 scams the Republicans are deliberately using, particularly in the swing states to get Democratic voters off the rolls.”
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/24/01946/7406/888/608305
The Liberals needed to go with the government until October 09, they needed to look at their policies and compare them to what the country wants. You can’t run a campaign on fears for the future, by raising taxes to mitigate that fear and bringing back policies that helped to lose the last election.
The NDP wanted the election because they knew the Liberals were on the ropes in terms of cash, policy and underdeveloped leadership. They also knew the Conservatives were going to a policy convention in Novemember and they feared the outcome of that. The last one developed policy that generated a minority government.
The NDP advantage is that they have nothing to lose. They have no record, have never implimented one policy since their genesis and thus carry no baggage. They are held to a lower standard and know they can sway the less educated with emotional issues. Look at their targets and attack ads and the truth will be revealed.
Liberals who care about their party have to stifle that extreme left vote, elect their good candidates so that they can to keep the official opposition status and in ridings where losses are evident support the party that has taken the center away from them while they rebuild. The Conservatives will have to stay mainstream with a strong Liberal opposition. Liberal support for good policy would be seen by many as a positive thing, and if a minority is achievable principled cooperation would make them competetive in the next go around.
The Liberals also need some new leadership, and the last batch of candidates will be lacking because of their performance in the last parliament. Walking out on votes will haunt them forever! Perhaps they will find someone that gets elected this time that has he qualities to once again inspire the masses.
Mr Garth TurnerMP, FYI anyone,
Still not sure if Bush and PMSH are taking us toward fascium?
US troops will patrol American streets, starting on 1 october 2008.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/
U.S. Troops In Homeland “Crowd Control” Patrols From October 1st (in complete violation of Posse Comitatus).
http://www.infowars.com/?p=4803
from above link,
‘Wednesday, September 24, 2008
U.S. troops returning from duty in Iraq will be carrying out homeland patrols in America from October 1st in complete violation of Posse Comitatus for the purposes of helping with “civil unrest and crowd control” – which could include dealing with unruly Americans after a complete economic collapse.’…
Or maybe the Bush is just getting set to start another war with Iran before his term is up?
Yes Mel, and Liberal supporters need to get more involved. Folks who are apathetic need to get informed and realize this election is important- they need to vote. People also need to realize that running a campaign costs a lot of money. Literature to inform and communicate with constituents doesn’t get printed for free. Ads in the paper cost money.
What needs to happen Mel, is that each and every supporter needs to step up to the plate and offer assistance. Call the campaign office and ask what you can do. Pay for stuff, deliver stuff, talk to people, bang in signs or deliver lawn signs, make phone calls…there is literally tons of things that “need to happen”. It all begins and ends with us and WE CAN generate what the media talks about.
When a flood of people organize and deliver a campaign – things happen.
What do you want to happen folk?
Rally support for Garth and lets get to work!
Leasa is now Harpers apologist.
Today in B.C. Harper said ” no one can predict what the next four years will bring”–and yet he says he has the best plan for the next four years.
Harper also said the U.S. Fed bailout plan is something he would not like to comment on yet Flaherty comes out and says the bailout is “critical”.
Harper says us “ordinary folk” don’t care about the arts,culture or any of that hoity toity stuff. Guess we are all redneck hicks who don’t get out much.
Wonder why he bothers to fund amateur sportsmen who go on to earn millions with sponsorships and professional sports teams. I don’t really care much about hockey, baseball or Olympic competitors using my tax dollars to launch their million dollar careers either and yet Steve seems to think I do.
Why is he favouring mega sports over the arts?
Might be a great idea for Brent Fullard to make it a point to remind us of his status as both a candidate for the Liberals and a former salesman in investment industry, presumably the same folks selling Investment Trusts. It’ll help folks keep a perspective on his opinions.
So, go comment on his blog. — Garth
On the Liberal plan to revisit the IT issue the consensus seems to be that what they’re offering to do is less than meets the eye.
Google News, type “income trusts”, for more.
I’ve had the displeasure to engage in conversation with a few tough nuts who make up the hardcore base that Harper is all about… “not your brother’s keeper” types. As with everything in life, if “beliefs” are too sheltered and extreme, the altruistic message drowns.
But on the other hand, there are reasonable people here in Calgary, even in the oil and related industries, who are not fooled. They have stated they are not going to vote for Harper’s people, and they are looking for where to place their vote.
And it will come as no surprise, I can confirm that the large contingency of Americans here, have their clutches of Republicans and some others who support and rally the troops for their own reasons.
The American Neoconservative influence here is much more dominant than most Canadians would suspect, with hands in a shocking amount of Canadian institutions — for a long time. The U.S. supporters don’t really care about Harper’s personal goal to destroy Canada’s social safety nets, other than the fact that it does fall in line with their beliefs as well. But additionally, we’re just a commodity to them.
Harper’s small Canadian base, a corps of groups, the insiders, and the ties he built with the even more insidious U.S. core of powerful neoconservatives if you will, have made for a good partnership — in a Doctor Evil and Mini Me kind of way.
But for the rest of the west, they will vote for Hr. Harper in his riding and they will vote for his other minions. Because many voters here have lived and grown in years of intentionally planted, narrowly-carved “anti-help” culture — not a “Progressive Conservative” culture as such, but it has been rather cunningly disguised to feel that way. The voters just don’t know what’s really up. Because here, as in Canada now, up is down.
In people’s busy lives, and trusting souls, “it never occurs to many people” to take the time outside of family and work obligations, and their fun, to challenge what they hear within the slanted walls built by Harper’s so-called “New Conservatives” and their usually unwitting cohorts. None, (but a few) realize that the new party and it’s controlling leader weave a tangled web. Some voters just stay on the bandwagon because what they hear seems to sound safe.
If only they had the time to take a subjective look at who and what “changed the tires” on the vehicle they think they are still riding in.
Harper and his core group have managed to get to the point where they can achieve their goal of ridding Canada of any social safety nets.
If you needs “hints” about this, Harper had to quickly comfort his “Core Base” with these hints:
- an early attempt to end Medicare (he temporarily shelved it)
- gutting Status Of Women Canada
- imposed ban on all federally-funded advocacy regarding women’s equality
- cancelled Kelowna Accord
- abandoned Kyoto
- immoral manipulation of farmer’s votes with deceptive practices
- AIDS conference snubbed
- gradual shrivelling of Canadian cultural production industry
- tried bid to reopen the same-sex marriage debate
- stacked Immigration Board
- put dozens of far-right fundamentalist candidates on ballot
- criminalizing youth sexuality
- fake neoconservative charities
- cutbacks – culture, museums
- Harper voted against addition of gays and lesbians to hate propaganda laws 2004
- no Parliamentary debate on SPP
- Harper: “A Conservative government in its first term led by me will not be bringing in abortion legislation or sponsoring an abortion referendum.” –CTV
- Military spending up, social programs down
- Accountability promises broken
- loopholes for oil sands
- loopholes for Harper to use Canadian’s hard earned tax dollars to blanket Conservative targeted ridings with degrading and defamatory lies about the Official Opposition Leader
This is not “good government”. If you’re in a coma you’re off the hook. Otherwise, I want our Canada back.
“So, go comment on his blog.”-Garth
Seeing as he was using your blog as a podium this seems like a good place to mention it. Problem for you?
Despite Harper and Flaherty and Canada’s big bankers stating how strong our Canadian banks are, I don’t see even ONE of them listed as THE TEN SAFEST BANKS in the world.
According to Global Finance :
” New York, 4 September 2008 — Global Finance
magazine has released its annual ranking of the
World’s Safest Banks, which will be featured in
the special October issue alongside several of
the magazine’s renowned Best Bank awards.
The World’s Safest Banks were selected through a
comparison of the long-term credit ratings and
total assets of the 300 largest banks around the
world. Ratings from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s
and Fitch were used.
This is the 16th year that Global Finance has
published its list of the world’s largest banks
ranked by their creditworthiness. The 10 banks
at the top of the list are designated as the
“World’s Safest Banks”.
These banks will be honored at an awards
ceremony to be held in Washington D.C. on
October 13th to coincide with the World
Bank/IMF annual meeting.
“These banks have demonstrated an
appropriately prudent approach to risk in
providing international financial services,” says
Global Finance publisher, Joseph D. Giarraputo.
“More than ever customers are viewing strong
credit quality as an important feature of the
banks with which they do business.”
WORLD’S SAFEST BANKS
Groupe Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) France
Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (BNG) Netherlands
Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank Germany
Rabobank Netherlands
Landeskreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg-Förderbank Germany
Lloyds TSB United Kingdom
BNP Paribas France
Dexia Belgium
Wells Fargo United States
NRW Bank Germany
Global FInance, which celebrates its 21st year of publishing in 2008, has 50,000 subscribers and more than 284,000 readers in over 158 countries. This audience
includes chairmen, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers, and other financial officers responsible for making investments and strategic business decisions for large global companies and financial institutions. Global Finance also targets the 8,000 key portfolio investors who control over 80% of all assets under professional management.
For editorial information please contact: Dan Keeler, Editor, phone: 212 447 7900 ext 232, email: dan@gfmag.com
GLOBAL FINANCE names the
World’s Safest Banks 2008
PRESS RELEASPRESS RELEASE”
Perhaps Canada’s banks are try to become as “bad” as the American ones in considering whether they will start to purchase American banks (eg. TD looking at Washington Mutual). Our banks have, perhaps, been given “a heads up” to what the Harper/Flaherty/Carney government would do for them, should they run into trouble.
Seeing as he was using your blog as a podium this seems like a good place to mention it. Problem for you?
By Simon on 09.24.08 4:38 pm
Have you got copies, with details, for the 18 blacked-out pages provided by Flaherty?
If they can’t tell the truth about their “rationale” with the “attest” function support, why would you expect anyone to believe anything other than it was a SCAM to gain votes in the hope of attaining a majority government.
Might be a great idea for Brent Fullard to make it a point to remind us of his status as both a candidate for the Liberals and a former salesman in investment industry, presumably the same folks selling Investment Trusts. It’ll help folks keep a perspective on his opinions.
So, go comment on his blog. — Garth
By Simon on 09.24.08 4:07 pm
You forgot to mention that Brent has the courage to run against Jim Flaherty!
Also it is his duty [Brent's]to stand up for his clients that were ROBBED AT LAW POINT by the not so conservative Cabinet gangsters in Ottawa!
Your posting needs some Simonizing!
BTW, May and Layton have the spotlight and are saying things that tantalize Canadians, this Canadian in particular.
The Harper/Dion pissing contest is typical and boring.
By Bill-Muskoka (not anymore) on 09.24.08 3:08 pm
When i got here, i was gonna ask garth where dion is today?
Took the words right out of my mouth, dude
SOME THINGS TO PONDER:
-will a Yo Harper majority change the color of the Canadian Flag both figuratively and literally? They seem to hate the color RED, so much so that all the red election signs in many ridings across Canada are “taking a walk” in the middle of the nights!
-will a Harperish majority abolish Question Period in the House of Commons because it too undignified to have to answer the points brought up by the observant and intelligent voices elected by We the People?
-will a Stevie wonder boy Harper bannish all Federal welfare payments and equalization payments to the Provinces because that is not how his model of Confederation should be written?
-will a Harperite majority increase the tax breaks for the mega multi-national oil and gas companies so that they can make even greater record profits?
WAKE UP CANADA BEFORE YOU FIND THE FARM HAS BEEN SOLD OFF TO THE LOWEST BIDDER!
Harper is a dictator and he has proven beyond a doubt that the people can not trust him.
By Ben on 09.24.08 11:55 am
I guess that is why he is leading in the polls by a big margin and the Conservatives are nearing a majority approval rating. It is comments like yours that is turning people off the Liberal brand. The boogie man scare tactics the Liberals used in the previous two elections just is not working anymore.
Stephen Harper has told Canadians that his party is the party of capitalism. He has considered the U.S. system the best application of capitalist principles.
U.S. capitalism has collapsed and we do not know the implications yet but the proposed package to bailout U.S. capitalists will only make the problem worse by creating more credit without any value behind it and downloading more debt onto American society.
We are not immune to this collapse because the freeing of capital to create massive amounts of personal debt, especially in mortgage debt. Garth has been highlighting this. Merrill Lynch is probably right, as the system continues to collapse we will also start to topple unless the U.S. takes the hard decisions it needs to take. Those include abandoning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, cutting military spending, increasing taxation especially on the affluent, getting the deficit under control, tackling the debt and then investing in the U.S. starting with rebuilding its decaying infrastructure, while rebuilding a more regulated financial structure.
That would require abandoning the ideology of “free enterprise, free markets and free trade” but they have already done that, haven’t they?
The Liberal Partisans on this blog would better serve their party and country if they listened to Mr LeDrew.
But hey – thats just my opinion!!
By Ken on 09.24.08 3:05 pm
Yeah ken, I read that too and I don’t agree 100% with ledrews comments.
to me, the prob has more to do with strategy and comms then it does with agenda.
I like the libs platform that was released the other day. I think it’s a good one, i think it’s something that would make canada successful and canadians proud.
The prob is that dion thinks that voters are rational and all they need are facts and truth.
So far the liberals are about laundry lists of policies that have no further symbolic value. the liberals are going to lose a totally winnable campaign becuase their missing the symbolic, metaphorical, moral, emotional and frame-based aspects that are needed to break through, to get people to react, to sit up and listen.
You just have to watch harper. He knows taht frames, metaphors and moral worldviews play a huge role in characterizing problems and then solutions to those problems.
Your question is idiotic. I will stand for what I believe in. It is my constant. — Garth
By nemessisss on 09.24.08 9:50 am
Idiot can’t even spell his own name correctly .You expect brilliance ?
JUST MADE MY FIRST EVER POLITICAL DONATION ($25), at age 48
I am in Edmonton but I have been reading this blog for a while and it is great. (I have never seen a blog with so many comments posted so that alone tells you it is a great blog)
Garth is really onto something with his grass-roots approach.
He has a ton of common sense and I enjoy his thoughts.
I have followed politics since I was 12 in 1972 and Stanfield nearly beat Trudeau.
But I’m almost ready to not bother voting. I’m not sure either main party is really going to do much good.
Usually, I am a Conservative but last election in Alberta I voted liberal.
Gath’s opponent is correct most people do vote by brand. Perjhaps because the individual candidates are unknown and will vote the party line.
Garth is different he is known and will not necessarily vote the party line.
Good luck Garth, keep on working. I suspect you will win. But don’t take the foot off the gas. Don’t trust people who say to your face that they will vote for you, they may not want to say they are conservatives.
Thank you! — Garth
There was one response in today’s KDC to my 2nd letter on Monday. A negative, pro-CRAP response, but at least it stimulated some thinking.
I’ll start the next one in a few days. Basic research (googling Canada under Trudeau, Mulroney, Chretien, etc.) should provide enough one-liners to keep ‘em in stitches!
Then I will point out (as Molly and Greg W. have said here) that harpo is hell-bent on taking Canada down a path of destruction, and reasonable voters, once shown the real truth behind harpo’s lot will force his gang out.
A coalition is a very good fall-back to stop him, and with give and take from all sides, it would work.
Interesting reports from CP. In one, reporters were prevented from interviewing Dona Cadman.
The scene was similar to the last election, when a local candidate was hidden — stuffed! — into a restauurant kitchen. Was the food that good?!
What did CRAP have to hide then, and what is it keeping from the public now? Obviously, they DO have plenty of cats in the bag they don’t want released.
A second told of harpo’s approach to ‘ordinary people’, yet it was approx. two mln. ‘ordinary people’ who lost their retirement funds due to the IT lie.
What I dislike is CRAP’s continued endorsement, and following of dubya’s dorks on The Road To Hell (great song by Chris Rea), akin to The Pied Piper of Hamlin.
We are the ones who have to get out, speak with the undecideds and maybes, and show them where Canada is headed if left unchecked.
By Simon on 09.24.08 4:07 pm
Simon,
Does anyone else have to register a conflict of interest, or is it just Brent that you are concerned about?
It seems to me there are several people who seem to have a vested interest in the opinions they espouse.
Read the CAITI blog: “IS POWER CORPORATION TAMPERING WITH ELECTION IN WHITBY OSHAWA?”
“Why are paid Investors Group Consultants canvassing door to door in Whitby Oshawa touting Flaherty’s Tax Free Savings Account during an election?
These Investor Group employee(s) are handing out full colour brochures whose cover carries the Government of Canada logo and flag and read:
Budget 2008
Responsible Leadership
February 26, 2008
Tax-Free Savings Accounts
Government of Canada (in English and French) and the Canada logo
Cover depicts a child waving the Canadian Flag”
Looks extremely possible, that all these behemoths, from banks to brokerages to large corporations HAVE indeed been given a SECRET heads up by Harper/Flaherty/Carney, that should they fail, the Harper NEW conservative government would bail them out, just like Bush/Paulson/Bernanke in the states is urgently promoting. ON THE BACKS OF TAXPAYERS!
Yes indeed – you rub my back and I’ll rub yours!
BRIBERY? EXTORTION?
Dion is the leader. Give an instance in his entire career in which he did not tell the truth. — Garth
Well HALLELUJAH! After 140+ years of confederation we finally have a liberal leader that doesn’t lie. EXCELLENT!!! We are saved!!! It’s been a long time coming!
Now compare him to Stephen Harper. — Garth
By Lisa on 09.24.08 12:30 pm
Goofy post… Bite your tongue!
By Van on 09.24.08 5:04 pm,
The Conservatives are doing so well because they are holding their core vote but little more.
The polls are not providing the undecided, etc. data. I suspect that is huge. The last data we had the undecided was at 19 %. That seem reasonable when an NS poll gave the number of undecided, refused to answer, and not voting together at 41 per cent.
The polls are so up and down that I don’t think anyone should put their money on them at this point.
Certainly the problem is that the Liberals are not doing a good job of communicating their agenda. That does not mean that Harper’s status quo approach is any more popular except among his core supporters. The swing vote seems to be moving more towards the NDP and Greens which indicates an extremely volatile situation.
Harper is a dictator and he has proven beyond a doubt that the people can not trust him.
By Ben on 09.24.08 11:55 am
I guess that is why he is leading in the polls by a big margin and the Conservatives are nearing a majority approval rating. It is comments like yours that is turning people off the Liberal brand. The boogie man scare tactics the Liberals used in the previous two elections just is not working anymore.
By Van on 09.24.08 5:04 pm
………………………..
The truth hurts Van. Now slip on your big girl panties and stop sniveling.
Your man has lied to us, cheated the system (repeatedly) and is alleged to have committed election fraud.
These are facts. Harper has proven that he can not be trusted.
Harper is NOT a leader
I’m always in favour of “full disclosure”, avoiding “conflict of interest” and “vested interests”. Can’t get anything past you kids.
Thanks for the article, Go Green.
I’ve been thinking something along the same lines over the past few days. I expect that very soon out of the blocks, should they win a minority, the Conservatives will introduce their most controversial legislation with the “Confidence” qualifier. The Opposition parties should meet, cooperate, call their bluff and unamimously vote them down. Then participate in an election in a minimalist manner, running ads that point out the contempt for Parliament and cynicism displayed by the government, ask simply “Do you want this pattern to continue?”. Opposition MPs who won their ridings would be run again uncontested by the losing opposition parties in those ridings. In Conservative ridings, only the opposition party that did best would run a candidate. It matters not to me which of the parties would end up forming government, because it would likely be a minority kept in check, but one formed with the understanding that the true spirit of cooperation will be demonstrated and on display, even if it was for but a few years. A breathing space for the electorate to contrast and compare, evaluate what truly has is best for the country. I’ll say it again: Country First.
Remember, the Conservatives have no natural allies. The other parties can compromise if they get over themselves (eg. if the NDP realizes that corporations are not evil incarnate and cut them a certain amount of slack). And while all other leaders truly exude a love of country and its citizens – even Duceppe can’t mask that he likes us – but that trait is not present in Harper. With him it comes of as more a case of how can I use this or that, him or her, to advance my thesis. A suppressed contempt. Canada his personal labratory.
I think with that, there would be a big flush the next time round, and it wouldn’t be from the opposition camps.
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/09/24/canada-housing.html
Harper either is lying, or he doesn’t know what he’s doing. If I’m not mistaken, Flarehty opened the door to 40/0’s back in April of 2006 in his first budget as we all know here on Garths site:
http://www.garth.ca/weblog/2008/07/10/the-mortgage-bomb/
http://www.garth.ca/weblog/2008/08/22/harpernomics/
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2006/06/29/cmhc-thurs.html
Initially once Flarehty introduced his first budget, Flarehty opening the door for mortgage regs to be insured for mortgages up to 40 years with nothing down.
At that point, the minister of CMHC, Monte Solberg had the disgression to insure mortages up to Flarehty’s allowed regulations.
The link above gives an indicated timeline of when CMHC insured mortages by CMHC lending approved institutions to the 40/0’s we see today. On July 29th, Monte Solberg introduced 35/0’s that evolved to 40/1.5’s and then to 40 year 0 down mortages, (I’m guessing now, Garth would know this, but I believe this all evolved in 2006 while Monte Solberg was minister of CMHC (Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Mortgage_and_Housing_Corporation
If one reads the link above as well, effectively it became the equivalent of U.S. subprime with nothing down only bankrupcies were insured by CMHC backed guarantee’s of 90% to insure banks. Folks… thats our taxpaying dollars that are on the hook if Flarehties version of subprime hits here.
If the Canadian real estate market slides substantially, mortgage bankrupcies will sky rocket and tax payers will be picking up the tab. Mabye thats why Monte Solberg, the minister of CMHC, decided (or was told) not to run. (by the way, Harper couldn’t have picked someone less qualified for this ministerial portfolio at the time or for that matter any other ministerial position, he was a radio jounalist with what I believe was a Gr. 11 education before becoming a career politician.)
An overvalued housing market?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_lang/20080208.html
http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20080924%2fmortgage_meltdown_080924
A clip:
The firm’s data implies that the Canadian household sector is now overextending itself “as much as the U.S. or U.K. ever did.”
Canadians’ household net borrowing was 6.3 per cent of disposable income in 2007. That’s more debt than households in Britain and close to the peak of the U.S. shortfall, just before the subprime mortgage crisis erupted in 2005.
The Merrill Lynch report says the market view that Canada’s housing and credit markets are not going to “crack” like they have in the U.S. may be wrong.
“We fear, however, that it may simply be a matter of time. The clear ‘tipping point’ in the U.S. was the emergence of falling house prices in the summer of 2006, kicking off the vicious circles that have brought the financial system and the wider economy to the brink,” the report said.
“We’re just now starting to see house prices fall in Canada, and sharp rises in unsold home inventories increasingly imply that this will not be a transitory phenomenon.”
One final comment (if I could ever be brief). Banks are protected from foreign ownership which currently allows only 10% foreign ownership of our charters. If a chartered bank does go down, savings account holders are insured for $180,000 C$ and are protected from a run by foreign investors with shorts due to the 10% foreign ownership max regs.
Further, if mortgages default, as long as the lending institution is CMHC approved and follows CMHC guidelines, banks/homeowners are 90% insured. And they did learn a thing or two from the last Ontario led real estate recession in the early 90’s. Portable fixed rate mortgages and 5 year locked in fixed rates are excellent examples of this.
But…
In spite of what Harper/Flarehty says, (never believe a chronic liar) our banks are still at risk. There is more fallout to come from ABCP/subprime exposures and a shrinking economy with the very real crisis the U.S. economy is in for Canadian banks. Nor are Canadian banks immune to consumer debt which could default in a big way from lost jobs due to a U.S. led recession. The elephant in the room is lying down and doesn’t look good if you all know what I’m sayin’.
Who is most at risk if housing prices fall and mortgages default from negative equity in my most humble of opinions?
Our crown corporation CMHC itself and that, folks, puts every taxpayer on the hook for a ugly failed mortgage regulation that was cribbed by this Harper government and implimented here… for 2.5 years now. It was another Harper/Republican engineered loser policy then, its a loser now, and even though major changes to the mortgage industry are coming on Oct. 13th of this year, its too late in terms of the high level of irreversable damage that is done.
People… its not just about money. Its about affordable housing which Harper/Flarehty took away with such policies that truly jacked up our real estate valuations by a full 40% across Canada. And anyone that bought in high… one persons heaven being another persons hell… well guess what.
They are people too.
How is the cost of maintaining Garth.ca charged to your campaingn, Garth? You’ve had it, and been campaiging via it, long before the writ was dropped and now you claim your “campaign” is paying for it. When does if start and stop being charged against your campaign budget. When not campaigning is it charged against your MP budget?
NOYB. — Garth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_federal_Crown_corporations
A partial list of what is up for sale should Harper ever get his majority.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/09/24/harper-ndp.html
Folks, the food regulations report prepared at request by the Liberal party of Canada in 2004 and presented to the Martin government in March of 2005 was a report that wasn’t “for Liberal eyes only”.
For Harper to blame the Martin government for his deregulating policies with food inspections in this nation is, well… lies!!!! He had close to 3 full years to do something about this clearly failed file and all he can do is blame the previous administration that requested the report to be completed to begin with.
And why did the Martin government not act on this right away? It truly takes time to draft the necessary changes needed for implimentation because we are talking about the safety of all Canadians here and changes have to be carefully thought out at the ground/inspection level.
Just for the record, the Maple leaf meat packing plant that was responsible for 18 deaths so far and a huge recall across Canada was one of 4 self regulated meat packing plants the Harper administration turned over for self inspection by the industry itself in April of this year. (God, I hate liars)
“NOYB”-Garth
Thanks for the response, Garth!
Sometimes refusing to answer a question is an answer in iself.
Sometimes refusing to answer a question is an answer in iself.
By Simon on 09.24.08 7:29 pm
Where’s my answer on the 18 blacked-out pages? Wassamalla you? Frightened what a stomatch x-ray will show? You bim-bots never answer questions, do you!
You’re SCAMMERS, that’s all, SCAMMERS!
Say “hi” to Kory Ten-Acre for us!
I got LOTS MORE IN THE DAYS TO COME … STAY TUNED!
Are you expecting the breakout of integrity in the corporate world, C.B.? They will continue to worship the Great God Marketplace with hymns of “free enterprise, free markets and free trade”, and do whatever is necessary to protect their interests. As Vespasian said, “money does not stink” (pecunia non olet), to which a corporate Croessus would add “especially if it’s someone else’s.”
Wall Street is going to declare victory in this lost war and go home to business as usual. Obama is making brave noises, but he hasn’t been taken behind the woodshed yet.
It seems you have touched a soft spot for Garth. He seems to forget that if he is using public money to pay for this website then it is in fact our business.
No tax dollars are dying here for you. — Garth
By Barb the proofreader on 09.24.08 11:46 am
By Barb the proofreader on 09.24.08 1:01 pm
By Barb the proofreader on 09.24.08 4:13 pm
By Men With Hats on 09.24.08 1:59 pm
Excellent posts
Just for the record, the Maple leaf meat packing plant that was responsible for 18 deaths so far and a huge recall across Canada was one of 4 self regulated meat packing plants the Harper administration turned over for self inspection by the industry itself in April of this year. (God, I hate liars)
By brain on 09.24.08 7:08 pm
I am well past hate at this point. I’m looking for a different kind of confrontation.
There’s two totally purposeless imports from Calgary I’m especially looking forward to meeting. Unfortunately, one is not Anders … I would consider him a delicacy at this point.
Touch my signs … handcuffs, and then onward to deep-breathing lessons at the bottom of the nearest water body.
By Simon on 09.24.08 7:29 pm
Sometimes your questions are ridiculous, they answer themselves. (shaking my head)
Saw you on Mike Duffy Garth and if more Liberals were like you they may have a chance of winning this election. But sadly there are not.
You did give me chuckle though when you said that once Dion gets out to meet the people they will like him. Well he has been leader of the Liberals for how long now? two years in December and he has been travelling across Canada since then and has been criss crossing our nation several times since the election writ was dropped and he still hasn’t connected with the electorate. Out here in BC his popularity along with the Liberals is dropping like a rock.
“NOYB”-Garth
Thanks for the response, Garth!
Sometimes refusing to answer a question is an answer in iself.
By Simon on 09.24.08 7:29 pm
I guess you will have to wait like everybody else to see what each and every candidate files with Elections Canada for a report on their campaign income and expenditures accounting. This means that their chartered accountant will vet and approve what is legit for the filings. It is my guess that there will be some kind of percentage allotted for an ongoing digital personal blog used partly for campaign purposes. If you are so nosy, why don’t you search online for what other candidates and Garth filed in previous years? Or are you too lazy to do your “homework”?
By brain on 09.24.08 7:08 pm,
I read somewhere self-regulation has been in the process of being incrementally implemented for some time. Government officials would meet with “stakeholders” and together set the regulations, often based more on financial concerns of the companies than on consumer safety.
The Conservatives took the concept to the next level by allowing certain large companies to police themselves relegating inspectors primarily to auditors of the paperwork.
There is plenty blame here to go around.
“NOYB”-Garth
Thanks for the response, Garth!
Sometimes refusing to answer a question is an answer in iself.
By Simon on 09.24.08 7:29 pm
And sometimes it means NOYB .
By C. B. Innes on 09.24.08 9:35 pm
I would agree with that assessment… to a point.
Watching the news tonight, the report the Libs commissioned for a food safety review was received in May of 2005, not March which I found as a contradictory timeline between the CBC link provided below and what I saw on CBC newsworld. This would have given the Martin government 6 months to impliment the changes recommended by the CFIA.
As well, the changes that were recommended to the Liberal government might not have been in any way related to the “self created” deregulated changes that the Conservative government implimented to create the Listeria outbreak itself.
I’m not convinced that the Martin government had the time or the even would have been able to address the issue that spawned 18 deaths from Harpers food inspection deregulations.
Until the details are made public to us both CBI, (and the devil is in the details) its premature to assume that the Libs put the public at risk with the previous standards used by the CFIA.
What is clear to me however, is that the meat plant that spawned the Listeria outbreak was one of four meat packing plants that implimented corporate self inspection by Maple Leaf foods in April of this year and that means to me clearly that Harpers changes to the regulations within the meat inspection agency was directly responsible for 18 dead Canadians from Listeria.
For Harper to say what he said today and blame the previous Liberal government for 18 deaths… well… thats more than an outright lie. Its an ugly scapegoat smear.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/09/24/harper-ndp.html
By PYOTR PETROBITCH on 09.24.08 8:06 pm
Temperance, dude (although I have explored certain options I wouldn’t normally have considered myself, lol). I’ll explain fully what needs to be done next if Harper should actually ever win a majority in this fine nation but I’ll wait ’til after the election results first before walking readers through the necessary steps to keep this nation whole.
I still maintain a Liberal majority government after all is said and done. Its an extremely logic based assertion and if I’m wrong, plan B is not weak! (and then there’s plan C, and D, and E and..) How would one best put it… keep the barrels empty but keep the powder dry.
Just for the record, the Maple leaf meat packing plant that was responsible for 18 deaths so far and a huge recall across Canada was one of 4 self regulated meat packing plants the Harper administration turned over for self inspection by the industry itself in April of this year. (God, I hate liars)
By brain on 09.24.08 7:08 pm
Brain,
Now that Harper thinks he has a majority the lies are coming thick and fast. Obviously a report some three years ago had nothing do with a very bad decision that Harper , himself, is responsible for.
I am sure you are aware that to be truly effective quality assurance must be free of the pressure of price and delivery. This is fundamental quality assurance. In the nuclear and food industries this is essential.
Harper either doesn’t understand this or he chooses to ignore it. Hence his decision to fire Linda Keen and his decision to curtail independent inspection on the floor of the Maple Leaf factory.
Given this and the fact that Harper rules with an iron fist, it follows that Harper, himself, is responsible for 18 deaths and counting. To put it another way, Harper has the blood of eighteen people on his hands.