“If you don’t want.. tax increases and a deficit and recession, the only way to ensure that is the case is to vote for the Conservative party.”
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Oct. 12)
This week I finished the manuscript for a new book on the economic collapse we are all now facing, and what people should do to safeguard their wealth, their futures and their families. There are some inescapable conclusions to my work. One of them: a great deal of the pain Canadian are about to face was totally avoidable.
That was driven home Thursday by the unbelievable drivel delivered by Jim Flaherty in his economic statement. He did nothing to create a single job for one Canadian worker. But he walked us closer to the brink of deficit, started to sell off the furniture, and forced a needless war with his political opponents at a time when the country needs all oars in the water.
Shamelessly he talked about sacrifice and belt-tightening in Ottawa as he stood before the most bloated federal front benches in decades. Stephen Harper has surrounded himself now with almost 40 ministers, all with staffs, limos and drivers, big budgets and departments. That one little excess is costing the taxpayers an extra $10 million a year.
This is also the government which goosed federal spending by 25% in the last three years, taking it to the highest point in Canadian history. Money was shovelled into transfer payments, into Quebec for example, purely to suck in more Conservative votes. We bought useless tanks for $100 million, cargo planes than don’t fly much for $4 billion and pretended we were a military power.
During the election campaign Harper basically lied to Canadians, saying we have a strong economy, would incur no deficit, and had the world’s best banks. Then he won, told us to prepare for hard times, bailed out the banks with $75 billion and warned of a deficit.
Last weekend he went to Peru, stood before the global media, and said things could get as painful as they were following 1929. Then he came home, and delivered an economic statement which helps nobody, and has as its centrepiece a gutting of his political foes – for his own self interest. And for that piece of testo-driven brinkmanship, he gambles another election when the people need help.
What a piece of work.
The Harper Conservatives have, in too many ways, walked the country into this global mess by failing to heed the US mistakes – even when they were clearly pointed out. We brought in our own subprimes and turned the housing market into an unstable bubble. We allowed government to overspend and burn through a precautionary surplus. We cut sales taxes when income taxes were too high. We turned our back on industry requests a year ago, and let troubles turn into crises. We had an unsophisticated finance minister who blabbered the currency around. We acted like $140 oil and an Alberta boom could paper over a black hole in Ontario manufacturing, despite the certainty that boom would fade. In short, our federal government did nothing to isolate us from this contagion, because it was too obsessed with winning an election. And, we now know, winning it by lying.
So, here we are. And Harper’s first acts are to shove a stick in his opponents’ eye, and turn his back on citizens in need. What a piece of work.
There’s talk now MPs will defeat the Conservatives, visit the GG and form a coalition government. Or maybe Libs will find the courage to force an election in which Canadians pay attention.
240 comments ↓
Garth,
I am shocked and disturbed at what this government presented today.
Every single Canadian citizen should be outraged. More importantly, they should be concerned about the lack vision.
Instead of showing us the road ahead, they have sent Canada back in time.
WOW!
Quotes then and now: Harper, Flaherty
Calgary Herald:
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/story.html?id=81b4e168-5b2f-42fa-946e-b5f5fafe1542
_______________________________
And two weeks ago the Hill Times reported:
Tories want opposition to drop ‘In & Out Scam’ and Cadman Scandal probes
Today Harper/Flaherty are trying the equivalent of an “All In” poker move, just like the Republicans did when they promoted that nutbar Palin.
Harper and Flanagan figure the public either falls for their Con job hype that is to follow, or they don’t.
Instead of showing us the road ahead, they have sent Canada back in time.
WOW!
By glen on 11.27.08 11:22 pm
Hence the label “Regressive Preservatives”!
A coalition govt. sounds good to me. Surely the opposition parties can find some concensus against Harper and Flaherty.
It looks to me that Obama is working hard to put forward a really strong TEAM in the US. Harper doesn’t work that way as it’s ALL about HIM.
I see that Lisa Raitt has been given Rona Ambrose’s job–sitting behind the prime minister, looking pretty, and nodding to his every word. As a woman, I find this very OFFENSIVE. Can these CON jobs see no other role for women???
Harper’s faith in the Alberta economy must be quite shaken tonight. As a former resident of Calgary, the talk is how the “economic engine of Canada” is unshakable… It was pure Roaring Twenties talk… Buy this, spend, spend, spend! I had 20 year old employees, earning 1/3 my wage buying $500000 homes with 0 down and just their and their spouse’s salaries… I have a friend who bought 2 “extra” houses, sitting empty – with no renters – which they can’t sell right now, because every Albertan (from the Premier and federal politicians on down) was preaching the glory of the markets and the “endless” Alberta Oil Boom…
Boom.
A Liberal,NDP,Bloc coalition would be interesting. That sounds like a disaster wiating to happen. Would we get a Green Shift first, or corperate tax increases? Perhaps giving all our money to Quebec, while we figure out what to do is easier.
What upsets me about this whole thing is how the Conservatives went on ad nauseum about the ‘not a leader’ campaign?? Well? Where’s the leadership?
We are facing the worst financial crises since 1929? All the U.S. papers are saying that the stimulus that has been put into the system so far is just ’spit in the bucket’ compared to what really has to be put in.
The opposition will have to ask themselves what else they may potentially have to give in to down the road. Coalition or election, as a voter I don’t really care. I want leadership, a steady hand at the till. I’m not getting that right now.
Harper and Flaherty are either totally incompetent and have no idea what to do, or they realize the scope of the disaster is so great that any intervention would be meaningless.
Alternatively, plunging Canada into another election campaign will buy them some time until Obama is sworn in and saves the world.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081127.weParties28/BNStory/Front
Partisanism trumps the world crisis
Everyone, tighten your belts, because Harper just spent all the government’s money! Such a hypocrite.
Harper’s faith in the Alberta economy must be quite shaken tonight. As a former resident of Calgary, the talk is how the “economic engine of Canada” is unshakable… It was pure Roaring Twenties talk… Buy this, spend, spend, spend! I had 20 year old employees, earning 1/3 my wage buying $500000 homes with 0 down and just their and their spouse’s salaries… I have a friend who bought 2 “extra” houses, sitting empty – with no renters – which they can’t sell right now, because every Albertan (from the Premier and federal politicians on down) was preaching the glory of the markets and the “endless” Alberta Oil Boom…
Boom.
By WesternGrit on 11.27.08 11:35 pm
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Well WesternGrit, I guess the bottom line is that your employees and friends are greedy and/or lacking in business smarts. It sucks at times to be either.
Harper’s extreme right party caters to wealthy classes, connected through rich business, wealthy religious and corporate groups who can afford to make political contributions. And of course he works for them and he ignores the needs of us regular folk.
All the other parties who represent the 77% of Canadians in the right, centre and left who need a voice in parliament, are just regular people who do not have wealth, and they cannot afford to make political contributions. Harper will leave us without access to a political voice.
Harper’s bigotry against the poor and the helpless is becoming so very evident.
Funding move tactically brilliant, politically risky
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/11/27/l-ian-macdonald-harper-s-funding-move-is-tactically-brilliant-politically-risky.aspx
“. . . and form a coalition government.”
An excellent idea, as we do not need another costly and pointless election; instead, all parties other than CRAP put their differences aside and then tolerate, or endure one another for the betterment of Canada.
CRAP would be unable to hold power and pass legislation based on non-confidence votes. It won’t stop the economy from tanking, but at least solutions and action could be put forth to steer us through this mess.
1929 was the crash and the catalyst; GD1 didn’t evolve until ‘31-’32, after which it got substantially worse, and it took WW2 to finish it.
“. . . winning it by lying.” — Whaddaya expect? “The CPC will never tax ITs.” Fool me once, etc., etc. Didn’t CRAP lambast Ralph Goodale for considering a 10% tax on ITs?
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Jim Morrison used to sing “People Are Strange”, and how right he was. A 62-second video clip, but the lead-in reads better (nothing happened to the baby) . . .
“This has to be one of the strangest video clips we have ever experienced when a 7 month-old baby in India is placed in front of a King Cobra. What happens is the snake repeatedly attacks the child with the parents in the background giggling.” — http://tinyurl.com/yoeunz
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Well, lookee here. Not so long ago, a ‘terrorist’ was caught by US security as he tried to cross over into Washington State. His ‘intent’ was to blow up up LAX, and the car was jammed with explosives. To quote wrh.com: “Looks like the airport was supposed to be the main event!”
Further, “. . . Thanksgiving, with a false flag operation leading to in invasion of Pakistan in the fond hopes that with a bloody war to distract us, we won’t remember how badly the US Government has screwed up this country. . . .”
CRAP has done a neat job of deliberately screwing Canada up as well. Other link is quite revealing too. — http://tinyurl.com/6f7tkq http://tinyurl.com/63suqu
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Now comes Part Deux of the US mortgage fiasco. The Ala Moana Centre in Honolulu is one headed south.
In the UK, Woolworths and MFI are all but finished; their auto industry is begging for a bailout, and the US bailout stands around US$8.5 trillion.
Smart govts. — http://tinyurl.com/64oy6u
Garth, on several occasions you write:
“bailed out the banks with $75 billion”.
Please explain how Harper did this and what it means.
From my very admittedly “possibly” weak understanding of the issue he allowed the banks to turn weak mortgages over to CMHC prematurely. If the mortgages had in fact defaulted they would have gone to CMHC in any case. My understanding is that this freed up $75 billion for Cdn banks to lend to Cdn businesses and individuals to help alleviate the credit crunch. So in the end I don’t understand how this is a bank bailout as any mortgage defaults would have gone to the gov’t owned CMHC in any case.
Probably I’m just naive SK boy but it appears this is just another of your many many attempts to get your lib lemmings revved up with false information.
Funny how all the conservative back-benchers don’t look to happy with what Flaherty was saying.
http://www.progressivecoalition.ca/form.php
Petition for a coalition.
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081127/mcguinty_xmas_081127/20081127/?hub=TorontoNewHome
McGuinty’s an Idiot. He expects US to restart the economy? Out To Lunch!
India has gratefully declined Israel’s offer of assistance. Hmmmm. I wonder why?
wrh.com has a better line: “Maybe India figured out who was really behind it all.” — http://tinyurl.com/5qhtn3
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Russia says it will finish Iran’s nuke power plant in 2009, which will let Iran generate it’s own power.
How long before USRAEL cries foul and blows them up? — http://tinyurl.com/59zz72
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Another reincarnation of Napoleon, who was once reputed to have said: “I am Alexander The Great”. — http://tinyurl.com/6r6y8n
It is very hard to defeat a SOCIOPATH.
Sociopaths are utterly devoid of integrity, empathy, or honesty. They have no rules, no honour, and EVERY act that they commit is dedicated to their own needs. They care about NO ONE but themselves and they manipulate with complete and total disregard for anyone but themselves.
The only time I have seen a sociopath defeated is by a more twisted sociopath.
The problem is that they have no rules, no moral compass, and therefore take fighting dirty to levels that normal people find far outside of their comfort zone.
Read this link:
http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html
In the 19830’s sociopathy was referred to as MORAL INSANITY.
Read the profile and see for yourself…it describes Harper to a T!!
THAT is the root problem here, you are fighting a sociopath and you can’t do that if you are playing by rules. Any rules.
Don Martin: Crossing the line into fiscal fantasy
Posted: November 27, 2008, 6:22 PM by Kelly McParland
Full Comment, Don Martin, Canadian politics
The true horror wasn’t in the let’s-pretend numbers contained in the much-dreaded fiscal update from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Those were fluffed to give the delusion of deficit-free, rising-revenue fiscal stability, subject to so much imminent change as to be almost meaningless.
It’s the nightmarish aftershock from a sneaky, ill-timed, irresponsible government move to eliminate the $1.95 annual per-vote public subsidy to political parties which, given the united lineup of opposition parties that instantly formed Thursday, sets up Canada for another federal election.
Yes, an election. Like the one that wrapped up 45 days ago. All over again. (Insert screech of national outrage here.)
Prime Minister Stephen Harper put away his friendly sweater vest and, in an epic mistake that might only be resolved if his Conservative government does an uncharacteristic retreat, pulled on his brass knuckles in a ugly bid to inflict knockout blows on his political rivals.
Political parties hooked on taxpayer subsidies for their lifeblood will suffer catastrophic withdrawal from the public purse if this proposal goes ahead next April Fool’s Day, almost to the point where they would be put out of business for the short term. That threat ensured they would vote as a block against the proposal which, as a money bill, would be a confidence vote the government must win or be forced to quit.
So seriously is that threat being taken that former prime minister Jean Chretien has been called in to try and broker a deal between outgoing leader Stephane Dion and the three leadership candidates to see if an new leader could be crowned in time to fight a snap election.
Given Mr. Harper’s legendary chess-match three-moves-ahead insight, the opposition’s united wall of fury had to be anticipated.
His rational for risking his government’s defeat by unleashing such an incendiary idea is a deep mystery.
True, an election can be delayed. Procedural tactics will be deployed by all opposition parties and the Senate to put the financing change in limbo until a time when the next Liberal leader is in place and they have fresh ideas for an economic salvage operation. There’s always the chance of a compromise through, say, matching grants for every dollar raised.
But where’s the win for Mr. Harper in this beyond appeasing a loyal Conservative base that may be unimpressed by his oncoming megadeficit?
An election might catch the Liberals financially flat-footed and between leaders, but the public outrage at a election-triggering stunt perpetrated by the prime minister would unleash a backlash of historic proportions – and the reaction would be angriest in Quebec.
While the merits of political funding might be worth a debate during calm prosperous times, it has no place on an agenda that should now be devoted to important decisions.
The result of such reckless shenanigans would be a $300-million electoral exercise at the precise moment the country needs firm and united parliamentary leadership the most.
To put the entire federal bureaucracy on hiatus, which always happens during a writ period, so financially insolvent parties can clash over a $30-million savings, would trigger an unholy public brouhaha, not only against the unforgivable waste of money and time but for the risk of exacerbated economic damage while the MPs hustle votes.
While not as politically egregious, the fiscal update was almost as pointless as Harper’s move to use his economic update as stealth cover to sabotage his political opponents.
The fiscal update’s numbers are mostly carved in cotton, a document of denial because it represents a snapshot of circumstances today without taking into account any downside developments to come.
It’s not until you reach the very last page of the background material under the heading of “Risks to Fiscal Projections” where everything in the document is put to a harsh reality check.
Income tax revenues will go up, it says. Unless they go down.
Corporate revenues dip slightly and then rise anew, it predicts. Unless, of course, corporations record losses and claim them as a tax break.
Commodity prices are what they are, unless they’re weaker than anticipated.
There’s a thin line between a government putting on its best face to stare down a gloomy situation and practicing fiscal delusion. With this document, Finance Minister Flaherty crossed the line.
dmartin@canwest.com
National Post
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/11/27/don-martin-crossing-the-line-into-fiscal-fantasy.aspx
I just simply cannot fathom how bad this government is.
Goes to show you how ill-informed the general public is.
They arer just NOW becoming informed of the ineptitude. Let’s hope the opposition parties have enough resolve to actually do something about it before it’s too late.
From Friday’s Globe and Mail
November 27, 2008 at 11:29 PM EST
For an economist, Stephen Harper can certainly see a political opportunity faster than an economic mess. In the fiscal update yesterday, the government should have concerned itself with rallying the people – and the Parliament – of Canada behind a vigorous response to the global economic crisis. Instead, the proposals put forward by Jim Flaherty, the Minister of Finance, amounted to fiscal gerrymandering.
After the election, Mr. Harper promised a new, co-operative, less partisan approach to governing. He pledged to work with the opposition to deal with the economic crisis.
The most significant item in yesterday’s update, however, was a manoeuvre that has nothing to do with the economy, and could needlessly plunge the government into chaos.
The proposed cancellation of public funding for political parties stands to save less than $30-million a year. If approved, it will mean that the Conservatives have no viable opposition in the next election.
Under rigid campaign finance laws introduced by Jean Chrétien, and strengthened by Mr. Harper, personal donations to political parties are limited to $1,100 annually, and corporate and union donations are banned outright. The $1.95 per vote in public financing was enacted to make up for the loss in donations. The Conservatives, who enjoy strong grassroots support and the power of government, will be able to cope. The Liberals have deplorably failed to develop a similar basis for their campaign finance. But a viable opposition is essential to our parliamentary democracy.
Barack Obama, the president-elect of the United States, won the Democratic Party’s nomination and the presidency through grassroots election contributions, with countless small and large donations, doing without public money. But he has not now tried to abolish public election finance altogether.
Stéphane Dion, the Liberal Leader, said yesterday that his party would not support the economic update. The Liberals and the other opposition parties could hardly do so: The elimination of public financing would threaten their existence. As a result, unless the Tories drop the plan to scrap public financing, or else relax the donation limits, the government could fall in a matter of days or weeks – triggering yet another election, or a constitutional crisis over the Governor-General’s power of dissolution, or an unstable minority government led by a previously lame-duck Liberal Leader.
By destabilizing their own government, the Conservatives have placed Canada at a competitive disadvantage against other states. Through gratuitous partisanship, they have turned an economic crisis into a political one.
They should withdraw their cynical attempt to rewrite election rules and concentrate on what matters: the world economic crisis.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081127.weParties28/BNStory/Front
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Its Coalition time!
I’m glad that PM Harper has the courage to lead by example. There is no way that Canadians should be FORCED to pay for political parties. I can’t stand the thought that I MUST support the separatists and their agenda to break up this country. IF a party has a leader and policy that people feel they can support they will donate willingly as they do the CPC. What we are doing now is nothing short of what you’d expect from a communist regime. It’s like your boss deciding to take automatic deductions from your pay for HIS favourite charity.
KUDOS Prime Minister Harper for showing us that the three lefty parties are all the same and only concerned with their sucking at the public teat.
Leasa
You pay nothing. The people who voted BQ support them with $1.95, as you do the Conservatives. — Garth
If the communist parties with the help of the separatists take down our duly elected government, the people will riot. I’ll help to make sure of it. Everyone knows that the liberals and NDP are the one and the same and are in fact communist. Boy, do I smell a Chretien here. L
Ever have an ‘AH HA!’ moment? I was right!!! Just reported on CTV that CHRETIEN and the Bloc are trying to FORCE Dion to step down so they can APPOINT a Lib. leader to become Prime Minister. Dare you to actually report this Garth. Leasa
With Dion leading the Liberals, a sure way to a Conservative majority in the election. Let’s go then, topple the government! We can hear again Dion explain for the second time his Green Shift. This time in a more convoluted manner. Heck, after the counting, the Liberals will take the status of the Green Party with just one representative in the Parliament and the Greens having the status of the NDP. The NDP elevating to the status of the Liberals as the Official Opposition. If this is the third Punic War, Dion is the salt on the field that will never grow any more plant and will poison all animals who may dare live on it. Just like Trudeau, the Liberals will only be recognized and found through the tombstone stuck on its deathbed. The natural governing party is the nature dead party. Did the Carthage ever resurrect after the third Punic war? No, sir. Same is true with the Liberals, if they die, they die permanently in real world. We will only find they existed in Wikipedia.
Harper’s new tack: change you can’t believe in
Here’s one way to have your foreign policy be ‘noticed.’ Babble incoherently on Afghanistan.
Paul Wells
The damage caused by this current global economic unpleasantness is incalculable, but we can report this much, at least: somewhere in all the excitement Stephen Harper broke his crystal ball.
Remember Master Strategist Guy who won because he could see further down the field than anyone else? Yeah, not so much. During the Unfixed Election-Date Campaign of ’08, he toured the nation reminding everyone he is an economist—he’s been slow to deliver on promises of credentials recognition, but by God, he recognizes his own. He said, “My own belief is that if we were going to have some sort of big crash or recession, we probably would have had it by now.” He said, “We’ll never go back into deficit!” He made fun of Stéphane Dion for promising to address the crisis by holding a first ministers’ meeting and preparing a fiscal update. “Panic,” Harper called that plan.
On the day after the election Harper called for a first ministers’ meeting and a fiscal update. Two weeks later he began calling for deficit spending. Was anything missing in this Olympics of flip-flopping? Yes: some sort of big crash or recession. Well, fear not, he said the other day in Peru. It’s on the way.
The PM’s sudden blindness does not afflict him only when he is peering at the economy. Two years ago he showed his strategic prowess in Quebec by throwing his party’s lot in with Mario Dumont’s Action démocratique. An economist, if Harper knew any, would have recognized that as a clear case of buying at the top of a market. On Afghanistan, Harper and Peter MacKay are now no more reliable in their forecasts for Canada’s military commitment than they used to be when they expounded on the durability of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives.
I need to hammer this last point home because, all kidding aside, I cannot express how appalling it is. Our Prime Minister and his war minister are now saying random things about a shooting war. “Afghanistan remains NATO’s number one priority,” MacKay said last week. “This is not an operation of choice, it is one of necessity. We are in Afghanistan for the long term under a United Nations mandate for as long as we are needed and welcomed by the Afghan people.”
Which is great, except Harper spent the election campaign saying, not only that our troops must come home in 2011, but that our NATO allies’ troops should do the same. I asked a senior diplomat from one of Canada’s most important allies about these pronouncements. The reply: “We just decided it couldn’t be taken at face value.”
Well, that’s just great. Harper promised a foreign policy that would “actually be noticed,” and he has delivered. Ah, yes, Harper. He’s the Canadian who babbles incoherently about Afghanistan. We’ve noticed.
None of this is meant to condemn the choice Canadians made when a plurality of voters elected Harper’s Conservatives in October. After two years of Stéphane Dion, it’s hard to call the electorate’s choice a mistake. But the result is a freshly re-elected Prime Minister whose political instincts, by all the evidence, are shot.
In this environment expect confusion and cue-taking. Harper will continue to contradict himself while letting the rest of the world decide his next steps. That last bit should come as a relief. In private, Harper shows skill as an impressionist. He is said to do a killer John McCallum. Lately he has begun letting this side of his personality shine in public. At the APEC summit in Peru, for instance, his speech sounded like Bush’s. At the next global confab he will sound oddly like Barack Obama. Speaking as a genuine economist—and has he mentioned he’s an economist yet?—he is a late-breaking convert to the virtues of Keynesianism and multilateralism. Leaders everywhere else are applying a fiscal stimulus, so Harper will stimulate his fisc too. The scale of his stimulus will match the size of theirs. Obama is hinting at between $500 billion and $700 billion in assorted actions over two years. Gordon Brown brought in about $37 billion in stimulus for the current year. That suggests the Conservatives will deliver a proportionate $20 billion to $25 billion in stimulus at their next budget.
So the Liberal opposition is on the wrong track when they warn about “ideologically driven spending cuts.” There is spending on the way, not cuts. It will indeed be ideologically driven, but only at the margin. Given a choice, Harper will avoid spending on things that work or last, because we might conclude that’s what government is for. There will, it is true, probably be roads, because roads have an agreeably mid-20th-century feel to them. You can trust roads. Roads don’t attend rich galas. Beyond that, Harper will look for ways to get money to where it can be spent by individuals as quickly as possible. Cheques, tax credits, vouchers, that sort of thing. You should not be astonished if he cuts the GST by another point.
In every case he will wait for Canada’s neighbours, especially the Americans, to move first. He has been rattled by recent events. On Oct. 30 he appointed Lawrence Cannon as minister of foreign affairs and Stockwell Day as trade minister. Five days later the country Harper has always viewed as a model rejected cronyism for meritocracy. It’s the kind of thing that shakes a guy’s faith in himself.
http://blog.macleans.ca/2008/11/27/harpers-new-tack-change-you-cant-believe-in/
I loved the pic of Harper and some of the comments.
I am concerned about this apparent move to push Stephane Dion out of the leadership role. This smacks of the same tactic that Stephen Harper is using. That is using a crisis to further
their own ambitions. I have sent Mr Dion an email and also donated to his campaign debt. Every liberal whether they support Mr Dion or one of the three contenders should rally around and do the same thing
Garth .. Can you be a member of the Liberal party if it is part of a coalition government with the NDP?
You did state you were socially liberal and fiscally conservative, but can you tolerate being associated with the socialist NDP?
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:55 am,
Leasa you have lost it. Your irrational response is a response to the irrational actions of your leader. At a time like this it was irrational for a political party to put its ideology first and foremost while making political opponents irate.
Remember that the majority of Canadians supported one of the other political parties. Your party did not get a majority but was elected with a minority of votes and seats. It is totally within the constitutional right of the majority to create a government.
If the communist parties with the help of the separatists take down our duly elected government, the people will riot. I’ll help to make sure of it. >>>>>PFFFFFTTT
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:55 am
……shame on you our forefathers and soldiers around the world gave their lives to bring democracy and rid the world of dictators and you appear to be promoting it!!
Jimbo Flaherty said on CBC this morning that Canadians had made their choice on whom they wanted to lead them through this troubling economic time, or words to that effect.
That’s true. They did.
One problem – 60+% of Canadians didn’t choose the Cons, but we got them anyway.
Go figure.
I also noticed that the parachuted candidate for Halton has become one of Harper’s nodding heads who shows up when the camera is on Our Glorious Leader in the HoC.
It reminded me of one of those trophy moose heads displayed on cabin walls.
Look ma! I got me one!
“started to sell off the furniture”
selling the furniture and spending the proceeds shows up on the balance sheet.
how’s that “net debt” promise doing, Jim?
Next week will be very interesting!!!! Chretien & Broadbent negotiating a coalition to take the Pathological Liar down. I can’t wait to see him get what he so richly deserves.
By the way I hope you’re planning to run again. I still can’t believe you didn’t win.
I am concerned about this apparent move to push Stephane Dion out of the leadership role. This smacks of the same tactic that Stephen Harper is using. That is using a crisis to further
their own ambitions. I have sent Mr Dion an email and also donated to his campaign debt. Every liberal whether they support Mr Dion or one of the three contenders should rally around and do the same thing
By judy roberts on 11.28.08 10:06 am
Judy – I sent money months ago to help Dion pay off his debt. And this am I sent another donation to the LPC. A Christmas gift to myself. Well I’m over the limit to receive a 75% rebate on all my donations, but having a democracy is worth it. Stand up and be counted Libs, even if its just a small donation.
Garth,
Every single Canadian Business owner should hold back G.S.T.and every single TAX and force Harper and his Government into RECIVERSHIP.
This would go down in History as the Government that went Bankrupt.
Slam! Bam! Thankyou mam. Thanks for that $300 million election.
What a Punch and Judy show. Libs & Cons are essentially the same and this little drama will prove it.
Parliament is never about measures for the people any more. It’s all about bashing each other about so that the real issues don’t have to be confronted.
Outsource these politicians to a tag team of wrestlers and you’d get the same phony show at a huge cost saving.
A few years ago a jorunalist wrote an editorial on Stephen Harper and the new Conservatives in the Daily News…. his last line to which I had felt true since Steve’s Reform days said… If Stephen Harper becomes PM… May Heaven Help us. Ladies and gentlemen our future is now in hands of three men who must unite and stand tall…. so get the hook the Harper and Flaherty new age phony show is over!
Marc: I believe Harper already emptied the bank by giving cash to Quebec. Blame Harper, not the Liberals.
Leasa: You must be very , very, scared of a coalition or another election if you have to resort to references to communists, etc. Aren’t you the same person who was outraged when derogatory references were made to “Herr” Harper?
If the communist parties with the help of the separatists take down our duly elected government, the people will riot. I’ll help to make sure of it. Everyone knows that the liberals and NDP are the one and the same and are in fact communist. Boy, do I smell a Chretien here. L
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:55 am
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
Hi Ben on 11.28.08 7:03 am,
Thanks for that. Not that I like to put a firm lable on anyone, but PMSH sure makes you wonder if he has fare more of these trates than so-called norman people do.
Hi Glen on 11.28.08 7:30 am,
I wonder is the corporate owned press will be allowed to accually tell the masses what we really need to now? I doowt it. You need to look at how is standing behind PMSH curtains/how is backing him. Maybe more person that
Ben on 11.28.08 7:03 am, above decripbes.
NO KISSES … from lefties!
http://multimedia.thestar.com/images/6e/60/3d0b0e6c4dde9007bc36ee1fafc1.jpeg
Hey Dim-Jim, who’s watching your banishment?
Psssssst! WE ALL ARE …
Hi Garth,
‘This week I finished the manuscript for a new book’.
Could you please remind us all of when we might be able to get ahold of a copie of your new book?
Thanks
By the end of January. Thanks for your interest! — Garth
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:55 am
If the communist parties with the help of the separatists take down our duly elected government, the people will riot. I’ll help to make sure of it. Everyone knows that the liberals and NDP are the one and the same and are in fact communist. Boy, do I smell a Chretien here.
…………………………………
No doubt the communist-capitalist Chinese government would immediately recognize such an abomination in Canada .. after all certain Canadian companies and individuals are heavily invested in China, particularly in Chinese high sulphur coal-fired power stations.
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:55 am
Is your middle name Sarah?
…………………………..
Jimbo Flaherty said on CBC this morning that Canadians had made their choice on whom they wanted to lead them through this troubling economic time, or words to that effect.
By CM on 11.28.08 10:27 am
What troubling time, Jim? When we were voting, you were telling us all was rosey. You told us no deficit was going to happen, in fact your leader stated that if we didn’t want a deficit the only way to ensure it was to vote CPC.
Unfortunately the Libs had their Green Shift plan, which I understood because I made an attempt to find out what each party stood for. Many were confused by the CPC tactics, all’s fair in love, war and elections I guess.
While the CPC said, steady on the tiller, same old same old conservative policies. They didn’t tell us what they stood for, and what their specific policies would be.
With the 2008 election, timing was everything. Harper got it right. Two weeks later, we might have been having a different discussion. And that might be true in just a few short weeks unless Harper lives up to his promise of being more inclusive of opposition ideas.
While I can understand not wanting to throw money at the autos and lumber before Obama is able to put his plan in place, doing nothing is not an option.
When it comes to Flaherty’s economic statement, the measure in it do nothing for the economy. The statement it made was that this Government should not be leading the country as they don’t have a clue.
Leasa … What would your mum say, if she caught you talking ’bout your four fathers?
Maybe things are about to get SOOO bad, that the Tories are hoping the opposition will take over, thus being left holding the bag, and on shakey coalition ground. Brilliant!
Garth: I apologize if this was asked before but, “When could I pick up your new book approximately?”. I bought your last book and am looking forward to reading your new one.
It should be available before the end of January. Thanks for asking. I’ll post a release date here. — Garth
What we are doing now is nothing short of what you’d expect from a communist regime. It’s like your boss deciding to take automatic deductions from your pay for HIS favourite charity.
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:47 am
Give your head a shake and think before you write. Correction, your middle name must be Anne.
If I vote Liberal, which I did, then the Libs get the money from my taxes.
No doubt you voted CPC, so they get the money from your taxes.
Sure, it can be considered a forced donation, based on how you cast your vote.
In a communist or dictatorship state, ALL the money goes to the one party and, generaly speaking, the opposition parties are labeled disruptive influeneces and jailed or made to disappear.
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:55 am
McCarthyism is it now? How quaint.
__________________________________
Well, could it be the Chickens are going home to roost?
Seeing as the ruling party spends a good deal of time on political strategizing, is it possible that while playing see no evil hear no evil, that they really didn’t understand the gravity of things to come? And now they do?
Who in their right mind would want to Captain this ship into political oblivion?
So when the bilge pumps can’t get it out fast enough, and the end appears imminent, comes the order……
ABANDON SHIP ME HARDIES!! EVERYMAN FOR HISSELF!!
Just sayin’
It’s no crazier than the rest of this madness.
I can’t believe this government?! Surely they underestimate the Canadian voter? Even if I was on some sort of wild hallucinogenic trip, and therefore believed all of the bull coming out of Harper’s mouth about his motives here, it is painfully obvious that our country is in no position right now to deal with an election! Hell, while we’re at it, why don’t we open up the constitution again! Meech Lake 2 sounds like a great idea in the middle of a world financial crisis!
This guy is drunk on power! He’s not content to govern unless he’s convinced his opponents have been decimated!
Wake up Canada!
Good luck to the Liberal/NDP coalition.
What a sorry state of affairs in our capital.
It is totally within the constitutional right of the majority to create a government.
By C. B. on 11.28.08 10:15 am
The definition of majority might not include each and every political party on the left. The Libs campaigned on a carbon tax while the NDP campaigned on a cap and trade, obviously neither has a majority and 2 different plans can`t make a majority.
The left is just as divided as the left to right so I`m questioning who is the majority. The only thing the left has in common is the push to replace family with daycare. Is that enough of a tie to call the left a majority or will they need to come out with a common economic plan in order to persuade the GG to install a coalition of the losers as government?
lol, yes CB we already have losers for government, why do you expect anything else from this system?
the peasants have no credit
the parties have no election slush fund
bout your four fathers?
By PYOTR PETROBITCH on 11.28.08 11:32 am
Here a chromosome, there a chromosome….
Egad Igor, It’s ALIVE!
Leasa … What would your mum say, if she caught you talking ’bout your four fathers?
By PYOTR PETROBITCH on 11.28.08 11:32 am
Mama Mia? LMAO!
By Judy on 11.28.08 10:48 am
Judy, give your head a shake! To APPOINT a prime minister is communism. What do you think of Dion being forced to step down by Chretien? BTW, when the media asked Chretien for a comment, he said he couldn’t speak English. The arrogant S.O.B.
If this comes to fruition…we are officially a communist country.
Leasa, my dear little blogroach, C.B.I. is right, you have lost it.
I had no idea that Konservative Kool-aid damages the nervous system and brain to the same extent as Raid. Is there an antropine-like antidote?
You pay nothing. The people who voted BQ support them with $1.95, as you do the Conservatives. — Garth
Sorry, but I disagree. One does not send in a cheque when voting. The votes are counted and the money comes from the general coffers.
If people have a leader and party policy they feel they can get behind, they will donate willingly. Just because I might vote for a party does not mean that I want my money to follow. That should be individual choice.
In a communist or dictatorship state, ALL the money goes to the one party and, generally speaking, the opposition parties are labeled disruptive influeneces and jailed or made to disappear.
By James – Chatham on 11.28.08 11:42 am
James with the APPOINTMENT OF A PRIME MINISTER, we would be precariously close to that reality.
Quite the mess eh? If the CPC was serious about campaign reform the first two items to be looked at are the 60% rebate of all election expenses for people getting 10% or higher in each riding. Next is the up to 75% tax rebate we get if we donate to a political party – thus the $100 that someone donates to the CPC only costs them $25 – which is far better than the 15% we get if we donate to a charity.
The vote based funding allows the rich and poor to have the same degree of voice with the parties. If you get 1 vote from someone on welfare or 1 vote from a multi-millionaire it counts the same. Donation based funding makes it so that millionaire can have 1000 times the voice the welfare person has since the welfare person cannot afford to donate to the party that represents them while a multi-millionaire would have no problem donating $1000 to their choice.
I say move towards removing subsidies for donations to parties rather than the $1.95 per vote earned.
At this point in time, I think a coalition government would be fantastic. Maybe we can bring consensus back to Parliament. Each party (NDP, Lib and Bloc) will have to give a little to get a little, but the most important is that we’ll actually have people leading the country for the people’s BEST INTERESTS. Enough of this political game of chicken. I’m tired of these DeceptiCons maybe every issue an ideological one. Time to start listening to reason again.
Ladies and gentlemen here is your stimulus package according to Dim Jim a 2% cut in the GST and 1.95 that’s all that’s it don’t ask for anything more.
Go Green I also donated before and am almost at my limit and me a poor widow living on government pensions.
A Liberal,NDP,Bloc coalition would be interesting. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Would we get a Green Shift first, or corperate tax increases? Perhaps giving all our money to Quebec, while we figure out what to do is easier.
By Marc on 11.28.08 12:36 am
It seems like your refereeing to the guilty man who tried that tactic before.. It didn’t work to well did it Marcz? You know the man, Hapoon & his idiot minister Dim Jim who seem to believe they re god. Why didn’t they announce some cut backs on his idiotic idol’s security team? What about the millions they spent on polls. And the the 10 % thay clearly reached the 20% range. How much do they pay the Media to cover there every word & not do a little investigation before they use that mighty pen to tarnish the other parties? If Harper is the right man for Canadians, like he seems to believe he is, why does he need more security than the President of the US or the Queen or the pope? If he was so good, he wouldn’t have a thing to worry about.He should just look up Leasa the turnip farmer. She seems to think she’s that powerful. And she would probably do it for free. Got to let this topic go. My blood pressure is rising rapidly. One stroke this month is enough already. This man & his corrupt party isn’t worth the risk of anyone’s health or time, especially mine. There!! that’s my rant for this month. I’m calming down already. To be honest, I would rather experience the Green Shift than have to experience any more of the Harper shaft. That has already cost us more bucks than we can afford.
Cheers
Since you’re all so doom and gloom, and are betting for a Canadian Depression, shouldn’t you be thanking Harper and Flaherty for making sure Canada won’t avoid one?
Barb the proofreader,
“Harper’s extreme right party caters to wealthy classes, connected through rich business, wealthy religious and corporate groups who can afford to make political contributions.”
I believe you are talking about is the Liberal party. The Conservatives receive the most donations from the most people. The average donation is about $40. Hardly ‘big business’.
“All the other parties who represent the 77% of Canadians in the right, centre and left who need a voice in parliament, are just regular people who do not have wealth, and they cannot afford to make political contributions.”
You can’t afford $20 to support a party that you believe will help you? No wonder the Liberals are nearly bankrupt.
“. . . your four fathers? . . .” — Pyotr, 11:32 am
Oooohhhh, math is not good . . . my brain hurts . . . not the one in my pants, the one in my head . . . exploding in gales of laughter . . . hairy’s in the star system Sirius . . . oohhh, what a gay day! . . .
I can’t take all this excitement in one day!
It’s no crazier than the rest of this madness.
BY COMRADE OKIE ON 11.28.08 11:43 AM
I have believed all along that Flanagen and Harper have a separatist agenda so these actions taken by the PMO is not so surprising if you understand their ideology.
If he and his clownies can destablize our government and cause mass confusion among all the sheeple then they are one step closer to accomplishing their goal of one world order.
In the short term they can change the channel so we are not considering what they promised compared to what they are doing and we focus on the political crisis rather than the economic one because he has done it before and he thinks it will work again.
Where is our leadership? I have a checkbook!
Conservatives back down on controversial party funding changes
What’s this
By The Canadian Press
OTTAWA – The Conservative government says an incendiary plan to strip political parties of their public financing won’t be included in a confidence vote on the fall fiscal update.
Government sources say only tax measures will be part of the ways and means motion that parliamentarians will vote upon on Monday.
It’s a sharp reversal for the minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
When the fiscal update was delivered Thursday, government officials and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty expressly stated the party financing measures would be considered matters of confidence.
“It is part of the government’s fiscal framework and so the bill I’ll introduce on Monday is a matter of confidence,” Flaherty said in response to a direct question about whether the party financing cuts were worth sending Canadians to a second, $300-million election in two months.
But with the Liberals and New Democrats in deep discussions about a potential coalition government should the Tories be defeated, the Conservatives are pulling back.
A government source now claims the elimination of the $1.95-per-vote subsidy was never intended to be part of the ways and means motion, which will be voted on Monday evening.
But Liberals and New Democrats say that dropping the financing measures will not influence their decision to vote against a fiscal update they say provides no economic stimulus at a time when Canada is entering a recession.
The party financing measures, at savings of about $28 million annually, would effectively gut the opposition parties, who are far more dependent on public subsidies than is the Conservative party.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081128/national/fiscal_update_vote
How stupid do you think Canadians are Harpie? What hyprocrits.
Conservatives back down on controversial party funding changes
Module body
26 minutes ago
By The Canadian Press
OTTAWA – The Conservative government says an incendiary plan to strip political parties of their public financing won’t be included in a confidence vote on the fall fiscal update.
Government sources say only tax measures will be part of the ways and means motion that parliamentarians will vote upon on Monday.
It’s a sharp reversal for the minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
—–So much for that little game Harper! I hope the opposition takes him down anyway!!
A government source now claims the elimination of the $1.95-per-vote subsidy was never intended to be part of the ways and means motion, which will be voted on Monday evening. >>>WHO ARE THEY TRYING TO FOOL??????
But Liberals and New Democrats say that dropping the financing measures will not influence their decision to vote against a fiscal update they say provides no economic stimulus at a time when Canada is entering a recession.
>>>>>YES! IM LOVIN THIS!!
It appears that the Conservatives have backed down on the cutting of party funding but it is possible that it is too late to stop their potential defeat.
It is difficult to imagine how the partisanship behind the political strategy, in a time of economic crisis, could have done more to unite the opposition.
The media were easily manipulated to focus on the party funding issue in order to draw them away from the rest of the fiscal update which is full of carefully veiled threats against a whole series of public policies from collective bargaining in the public sector to even infrastructure spending. The speech writers may have considered themselves cute in making the references so obscure that they would be ignored but they were so cute that a sinister interpretation could be as easily imposed as any other.
What they have managed by trying to introduce the red herring of party funding they have managed to draw more people’s attention to other elements of the statement which has more cuts to public spending, the attempt to create more debt generated by government bailouts, and increased powers for the finance minister (a frightening thought in itself).
Now it appears Harper will drop his Political Funding para: Silly Silly man and he thinks Dion/Layton/Duceppe will fall for this…. hello…. Harper will say….See it was all about their necks and not Canadians… and then tack in on under the table in next budget like he did with other one…. Fool me once… The new coalition must demand the RCMP lock down all Federal Offices the minute the GG approves the move to ensure Harper’s shedding machines are not working overtime…. Garth please forward to if possible, suspect they have staffers reading here, but just in case….. I like many others do not trust PMSH… a whole bunch of money was spent (?) during a very short time!!
CC: R.H.s M. Dion, J. Layton & G.Duceppe
Sorry for the missing words in my last but my anger over this foolish foolish man has overcome my editorial eyes… Y’all get the message I am sure.
WMT
David
In a communist or dictatorship state, ALL the money goes to the one party and, generaly speaking, the opposition parties are labeled disruptive influeneces and jailed or made to disappear.
By James – Chatham on 11.28.08 11:42 am
AHA! Harper revealed! Very good James!
Personally, I see no difference between a Politburo and a Corporate run government. They are one and the same in the end…NO ACCOUNTABILITY to the People! A monopoly (oligarchy is also appropo) is a monopoly regardless of what other label is placed on it.
By Leasa on 11.28.08 9:06 am:
“Ever have an ‘AH HA!’ moment? I was right!!! Just reported on CTV that CHRETIEN and the Bloc are trying to FORCE Dion to step down so they can APPOINT a Lib. leader to become Prime Minister. Dare you to actually report this Garth.”
Wow, Leasa, you sure seem to have alot of those Ah-ha! moments–try practicing that in the mirror sometime and see what is being reflected back at you–”oh dear, is that a “CON” Government going down one by one like dominos/” yup, um hmmmm.
Desperate times require desperate measures. Forget the coalition, go to the election, all the parties in the oposition agree to only run 1 opposition candidate in each riding. The one running is who won or finished 2nd in the last election. We need to stop this never ending soap opera by taking positive action to not only remove the party in power, but to dramatically weaken them. The only thing a bully respects, is a another bully.
If the opposition parties back down now, then they would be loudly accused of wanting to bring down Harper only when their public subsidies were threatened. The Liberals finally showed some backbone, Harpo blinked, keep on the pressure, don’t back down now!
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:55 am
“If the communist parties with the help of the separatists take down our duly elected government, the people will riot. I’ll help to make sure of it. Everyone knows that the liberals and NDP are the one and the same and are in fact communist. Boy, do I smell a Chretien here.”
AND we all know what Leasa smells like…seriously Leasa you are off your proverbial and metaphoriccal
“teatsucking” rocker
by James Chatham ON
“Give your head a shake and think before you write.”
I will second that motion, James, and while at it take that good long look in the mirror, Leasa.
Buh,bye ! Forever Con-clones .
Here’s your hat what’s your hurry ?
Bang on Ben!
And this news REEKS of the authoritarian’s reaction to a sense of powerlessness. The man is really going “All In” on this poker bet. Harper thinks this is win-win: He either gets his way, or the opposition takes over and takes the brunt.. Harper knows from the books he cooks and G20 meeting.. what’s coming down the tube when his ‘economy’ and all the other world Neocon leader’s ‘economies’ become impossible to hide in 2009.
Bust? Boom goes the chicken cannon.
Conservatives back down on controversial party funding changes
OTTAWA — The Conservative government says an incendiary plan to strip political parties of their public financing won’t be included in a confidence vote on the fall fiscal update.
If the communist parties with the help of the separatists take down our duly elected government, the people will riot. I’ll help to make sure of it. Everyone knows that the liberals and NDP are the one and the same and are in fact communist. Boy, do I smell a Chretien here. L
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:55 am
What a stupid remark you just made, Leasa. Canadians don’t notice or care! The only thing that will get their attention is banning the sale of beer and booze, canceling the televising of hockey night in Canada, or NFL football. This would not bring on a riot, either. They would all just stand around the coffee urn bitching bitterly and not get any work done, ie. a sit down strike, standing up!
Now that you have shown your “colors” by calling the vast majority of your fellow Canadians communists, could it be that you are one of the minority of squareheads who think that anyone who does not click their heels and immediately ya vaux und trot off to do the bidding of the party kammandant has to be a seditious fifth columnist traitor to the national integrity of the True North Strong and Free! Well give me a break. This country is founded on free thought, free speech, plus freedom of religion and freedom from religion. Your labeling of your fellow citizens does nothing but antagonize them, and reduce your stature to that of a brain washed political wanna be hack! Any respect that you might possibly have had has evaporated faster than the value of those ill fated Income Trusts!
For those smug N. Americans who think we don’t have trampling frenzy here, ‘Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death by Customers’.
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:55 am
Once again we see your true colours, even uglier than before, if that’s possible.
http://www.thestar.com/Canada/Columnist/article/545139#Comments
Thomas Walkom, The Toronto Star:
” ‘We cannot ask Canadians to tighten their belts in tougher times without looking in the mirror,’ Flaherty told the Commons.
This would be a noble sentiment if the point were indeed to have Canadians tighten their belts. But, as Harper seems to understand, when deflation threatens the world, the point is to ensure that people keep their belts loose.
As well, Flaherty plans to squeeze $600 million out of public service wages, suspend the right to strike for federal civil servants and throw a spanner in the pay equity program, which is designed to ensure women are paid the same as men for doing work of equal value.
Earlier this month, he announced he is cutting back by $2.4 billion next year the amount that Ottawa transfers to poorer provinces (including Ontario) under the federal equalization program.”
Leasa, do you have more than one mirror? You might want to double up.
Its Coalition time!
BY BRAIN ON 11.28.08 8:28 AM
Coalition and beyond. I think it’s high time that Jack Layton suck it up and realize he’s not ‘the man for the job’, nor is his party ever going to be ‘the way for Canada’. The NDP under Jack has been as divisive – in some ways – as Harper and the Neocons have been. After all, Jack has been the one who was in cahoots with Harper so many times, getting the 2006 election called, secretly agreeing a year ago to ban Elizabeth May from the debate, etc.
So beyond Coalition, I think the left should permanently find a way to unite and serve our country, and have Jack step down. In a sense, two thirds of voters are waiting for this. It’s just that Jack is so untrustworthy that no liberal who watches him closely, whether right-centre or centre, or even left could trust Jack as a leader.
By barb the proofreader on 11.28.08 2:23 pm
I read that. A woman also miscarried during the stampede. We live in a very sad me first continent. Foreign made junk is worth more then peoples lives unfortuantly. How we can call our selves a civilization, while we are not yet civilized is sad. Hoefully we never have to experience food lines, at that would be much more chaotic then Black Friday sales. Black Firday indeed, expecially for the victims.
Black Friday gets bloody: Long Island Wal-Mart clerk trampled in shopper stampede
Posted: November 28, 2008, 12:25 PM by Karen Hawthorne
Crime
Customers in a frenzy for deals at a Long Island Wal-Mart trampled an overnight stock clerk to death, the NY Daily News reports. Witnesses said he tried to hold back the crowds as they took the doors right off their hinges in the dash when the store opened at 5 a.m. this morning for Black Friday:
“He was bum-rushed by 200 people,” said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. “He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too…I literally had to fight people off my back.”
A pregnant shopper who made her way inside the store with the masses was pushed to the ground and suffered a miscarriage, a witness said. Sadly, no one stopped to help the victims:
Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk’s life.
“They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. “People were still coming through.”
Only a few stopped.
“They’re savages,” said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. “It’s sad. It’s terrible.”
From CBC commentary on:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/11/28/tories-fiscal.html#socialcomments
Jules1155 wrote:
Posted 2008/11/28
at 1:56 PM ET
” ‘It’s surprising the opposition parties would act in such an undemocratic fashion.’ I do love a good Friday laugh! Thank you, Mr. “PC” Teneycke. And exactly what kind of mirror do you have in your bathroom?
So much for this government improving the tone of governmental affairs and being willing to play well with others this time out. I never thought we’d see worse than Mulroney but clearly, I was so wrong.”
OMG Leeeeeasa! The mirrors just keep coming out–seriously, you may have to toss the mirrors ’cause you are going to need something much much bigger to make this bad joke of a CON government save face.
—–So much for that little game Harper! I hope the opposition takes him down anyway!!
By john on 11.28.08 1:13 pm
————
Absolutely they should bring them down – but more because the rest of the “fiscal update” is pure and utter crap.
$100 M surplus – but only AFTER we sell $10 Billion in undisclosed assets. Are they nuts? Sell $10 Billion in assets in the WORST SELLERS MARKET ever?!!!? And not even have an idea which assets they will be?
Not one cent of stimulus? Nothing till after Obama gets in? How about getting the infrastructure ball rolling?
The ONLY reason the cut in public funding was thrown in was to confuse a gullible voter, who would see this as Liberals defending their “entitlement.”
This government’s plan for dealing with the worst financial/economic prospects since 1929 (paraphased from Harper in Peru) is to do nothing?
I’m not saying we throw gobs of money out the window – but the MINIMUM we can do is get the funding rolling on projects ALREADY APPROVED – but gummed in the beaurocracy (approx. $3 Billion).
Go Green I also donated before and am almost at my limit and me a poor widow living on government pensions.
By judy roberts on 11.28.08 12:36 pm
I commend you all the more Judy.
Dion Going to 24 Sussex! Merry Christmas Everybody!
Oh Bill! (muskoka no more)..it’s been a while since I last visited you and Garth on the blogosphere…like, alittle over a year or longer, but occasionally I would come by and visit just to check up on you two. Hope you are doing well and yes, Garth, I do hope that you are taking some time for yourself and with your family. As well, I certainly do hope to see you back again in the politico-sphere.
This just in folks:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/11/28/fed-govt.html
Leasa, that is the most fun comment I’ve ever heard you say.
But, when you start the riot, isn’t that terrorism? And will it be in the farm fields near you, or will you take out the power grid??
Hey Leasa, you could take a page from some comments I just found posted 2 years ago in a blog — I just happened to stumble on this very interesting post!!
Hmmm…….?!?!?!?
So……. it’s okay for YOU to invoke rioting, but you called others who protest: “drunken bums” and terrorists ??!??
Wow..
Well, Leasa, as you yourself pondered, your ramblings do not seem “coherent”.
And… back to that good laugh, your line about the other parties being communists… truly the stupidest thing ever spouted. You really are talkin’ like Sarah Palin now. Ha!
You betcha!
Harper, when he was head of the National Citizens’ Coalition, fought against the elimination of third party donations because he wanted lobbyists to be able to contribute to his political campaigns.
He may now tell the opposition parties that he will compromise and allow the Per-vote-payment to parties if they open up available financing from corporations and unions again. I would think corporations have more money than unions and they could really clean up in either case. Just a thought.
What an abysmal excuse for helping Canadians that so-called update was!
If they had any intention of helping people who are being traumatized by their losses (i.e. house), they would have made E.I. more accessible to more people.
sucking at the public teat.
Leasa
BY LEASA ON 11.28.08 8:47 AM
So Leasa, what do you call the tens of millions of dollars that Harper collected and scammed from you and me in his In & Out Scandal the results of which are interesting so far. How about the Conservative MP who admitted under oath that of all the CPC ‘memberships’ he called, none of those people knew that someone had paid for a CPC membership in their name, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Wait till that gets investigated. Can you tell me now who pays for all those mystery memberships so we don’t have to wait for an investigation? That will be an interesting investigation too, eh? And how about all ‘your public teat’ money that Harper steals from our public good will when he sends out two years worth of not-a-leader propaganda paid for by public tax dollars in his ten-percenter scheme? Yes, and he has the gall to claim right on the propaganda that he paid for it. How many ways can Harper lie and cheat and suck on public money? Apparently his bag of tricks is endless.
The $1.95 makes sure that honest people who won’t do your sleazy loopholing, and the poor and struggling middle class who can’t afford your rich schemes also have their say in politics.
Harper plays chess… while Rome burns
Tags: Stephen Harper
Written by Paul Wells on Friday, November 28, 2008 11:17
Well, I looked. There’s not a line about changes to political party funding in the risible excuse for a platform Stephen Harper released in the last few days of what I had been calling, perhaps prematurely, “the campaign of 2008,” with no ’s’ on campaign. But then, the 2006 platform didn’t have a word about senators in cabinet either. The immediate post-election period is Harper’s favourite time for little surprises, so he can show everybody what a super-genius 3D Vulcan chess master he is.
But you know, it’s a funny thing. I’ve heard from a lot of people since the election, I did Q&A sessions at two speaker gigs where people from politics and business asked a lot of questions about how Harper would handle the current economic storm. And not a one of them said, “Is he going to do something clever to wrong-foot the opposition? I sure hope he’ll be clever. Our sales are collapsing and we can’t get any financing, so please tell me, Paul, that we’re going to get some o’ that old Vulcan chess from the tactical genius.” No, that’s not what people have been asking for.
The stock market is a bit of a mess these days. Every week another massive pillar of American capitalism collapses. The OECD and Kevin Page say we’re headed for a deficit and probably a recession, and I profoundly don’t care if Jim Flaherty disagrees, because he’s not in the credibility business, is he? There’s a religious gang war in the streets of the world’s largest democracy and the latest quarterly report from Afghanistan suggests, as cheerfully as possible, that that benighted country is slipping a little deeper into the drain despite the most heroic efforts of our best men and women.
So you’d really have to be Stephen Harper to survey all of this wreckage and tell yourself that this is another excellent buying opportunity.
It’s bad enough, as Heather Scoffield points out, that much of the world is taking a different policy track from Canada. Harper would be free and might be well advised to take a different path. But even Angela Merkel, the poster child of the anti-stimulus set, passed a budget this week. Barack Obama, meanwhile, had three news conferences in three days to put serious, serious people in charge of economic policy.
And Harper has not led any kind of anti-Keynesian resistance. In Peru on the weekend he called deficits essential. So on the economy as on the war in Afghanistan, he is now in the full-time business of spinning like a weathervane. But then, wars and jobs aren’t what Harper’s in politics for, right? No, he just likes to play chess.
So, drawing his inspiration from Jo Moore, the Downing Street spin doctor who thought 9/11 would be a “very good day” to get some embarrassing news releases out, Harper decided an economic crisis would be an excellent cover to use for a little political kneecapping. What could be more clever? That’ll show them he’s a serious guy.
So the real outrage of yesterday’s economic “update” is not that it seeks to impose on most parliamentarians a change to funding rules that most of them would never ordinarily accept; it’s that it accomplishes nothing else. It’s that in the most dangerous economic times Canada has faced in 20 years if not far longer, this prime minister can’t wipe the smirk off his face and grow up a little.
What comes next is beyond my ability to guess. The forces facing Harper do not look more encouraging, for me as a taxpayer, than the forces arrayed around Harper. But so what? Too much of our politics in recent years has been given over to warring camps who don’t care what their guy does as long as he’s their guy and he wins. A lot of the rest of us care less about the colour of the winning team so much as they desperately hope that whoever it is, he might take the job seriously.
At least since September, we have not been so lucky. Stephen Harper is my prime minister and for all I care he can go on being my prime minister as long as he cares and can win the little fantasy confrontations that so excite him. But he is acting like an idiot and I am ashamed of his behaviour.
http://blog.macleans.ca/2008/11/28/harper-plays-chess-while-rome-burns/#more-20550
Harpo blinked, keep on the pressure, don’t back down now!
BY MOLLY ON 11.28.08 1:46 PM
Molly, my husband just said the same thing. We all agree the opposition should get this done before he can do any more harm.
James with the APPOINTMENT OF A PRIME MINISTER, we would be precariously close to that reality.
By Leasa on 11.28.08 12:18 pm
Which Prime Ministers have been appointed? None of them, or all of them?
None because we know who the leaders are at election time and therefore we vote them in? Well thats garbage because we’ve seen Kim Campbell and Paul Martin appointed without election when their predecessors resigned.
All of them, because we the people don’t get to choose who the leaders of the political parties are, and hence we don’t really choose the Prime Minister, the Parties do.
Or are you refering to the possibility that Harper will be voted down, the Libs and NDP will go to the GG, ask to form a coalition government, and between them they will decide who will be PM. Check the constitution, in the event of a minority, the one with most seats gets the “opportunity” to form a working government. If they can’t the GG has always had the authority to ask the next party if it wishes to form government under the same proviso. As for who they choose as PM, whats the difference, its still the Parties and not the public that decides.
Bill-not of the Muskoka’s there is a difference between a politburo and corporate run government, at least for now; we get to vote them out at least every 4 years. We get to say things on this blog and elsewhere that would see us incarcerated or worse.
(Same goes, Leasa, when refering to communist of dictatorships!)
I say for now because the removal of the right to strike, across the board, could be the first step in turning the corporate run government into a politburo. I note the MSM hasn’t given much comment on this numbskull idea from Flaherty’s update!
—–So much for that little game Harper! I hope the opposition takes him down anyway!!
By john on 11.28.08 1:13 pm
I’ll bet we’ll see this measure slipped into some totally unrelated, but essential piece of legislation. Harper will make it a confidence vote, so that if the opposition votes it down, he’ll be able to say they voted against something that was needed.
We’ve seen it before from Harper.
Wal-Mart worker trampled to death
NEW YORK– A worker was killed in the crush today after a throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains burst through the doors at a suburban Wal-Mart, authorities said.
At least four other people were injured, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island was closed.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a “tragic situation” and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store.
“He was bum-rushed by 200 people,” co-worker Jimmy Overby, 43, told the Daily News. “They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too. … I literally had to fight people off my back.”
This is how totally dumbass people have become in their never ending quest for material ‘things’. There is NO excuse for such behaviour, and those responsible should be charged with manslaughter.
God, to think these assholes breed and vote.
If this comes to fruition…we are officially a communist country.
By Leasa on 11.28.08 12:09 pm
Leasa, you are so full of SHIT we can smell it here. You don’t know communism from your soiled undies.
You neo-cons have been screaming ‘communism’ for decades every time someone tries to do something to help the average citizens. You hypocritical shit for brains totally ignore the real communism, i.e., bank and auto sector bailouts by taxpayers. Oh sure, that’s fine because they have stocks for sale.
God, you have lost all the respect you ever gained with me. You are a pathetic mantra screamer like the typical mindless neo-cons that have screwed up people’s lives, futures, and hopes. Get lost!
Go kiss your sociopathic hero, Harper. The rest of us are going to get on with life.
Breaking News… Liberals to table non confidence vote on Monday…. Bout Time… Live by the sword, die by the sword… No need for me to explain the David Orchard Incident is there?
Now we will see how a government works with 70% of the voters behind them, no polls no phone In’s, or mass media voting…. all who never voted will be represented and yes even those that did. Times are changing, we have a country to run and I for one will try my best to keep em honest….. When y’all think about it Canada was founded on two distinct societies so it only seems natural that we can run this country well with three voices working for all Canadians Coast to Coast to Coast… for those who are selling Dion Layton & Duceppe short careful where you place your money… put it on Harper and it may go South with him as did Blair and Howard. Heck Steve should do fine having one or more of Howard’s speaches down pat!
Garth .. Can you be a member of the Liberal party if it is part of a coalition government with the NDP?
You did state you were socially liberal and fiscally conservative, but can you tolerate being associated with the socialist NDP?
By HARRY S on 11.28.08 10:15 am
Oh shut the fuck up Harry, you little worthless, lying piece of shit. Go back and suck on Harper’s asshole, its all you are good for anyways.
Conservatives back down on controversial party funding changes
OTTAWA — The Conservative government says an incendiary plan to strip political parties of their public financing won’t be included in a confidence vote on the fall fiscal update.
By barb the proofreader on 11.28.08 2:08 pm
Can you say red-herring ? That is all the talk about campaign financing was about .
Something the Con-clones could pont at and say ” See the Liberals are all about the money ”
Filthy, lucre loving Liberals .
It was meant as an incendiary device,meant, to explode during an election .
These guys are soooo stupid ! They make the Three Stooges look brilliant .
The reality is,is there is nothing in this so-called update of any substance or consequence.
Clueless .
By Bill-Muskoka (not anymore) on 11.28.08 4:24 pm
My curiosity is killing me, Bill. How do you know that Leasa even wears undies, never mind that they are soiled? With the stream of ***** coming from her they would just get in the way would they not?
If the communist parties with the help of the separatists take down our duly elected government, the people will riot. I’ll help to make sure of it. Everyone knows that the liberals and NDP are the one and the same and are in fact communist. Boy, do I smell a Chretien here. L
By Leasa on 11.28.08 8:55 am
oh come on Leasa, you forgot to mention, Marxists, anti-democratic, anti American, Anti-Freedom, Anti-Free Speech , soft on crime, pro terrorist, baby killing, dictatorial and tyrannical.
Sorry Leasa, this is the way our system works. And you should be very happy that the Liberals, NDP and Bloc are going to try form a collation government and save us tax payers 300 million.
Now if you want to start talking about entitlements, why doesn’t Harper and the CPC pay back Canadian that approximate 10 million they pissed away in pre-election advertising (aka those lovable bullshit ten percent’ers that Harper and the CPC paper bombed Canadian ridings with prior to the HOE [Harper's Optional Election]) Or why don’t you ask Harper to do way with all Political Party Welfare, like those tax credits you get when you donate to a Party (that’s way more money than the $1.95 per vote) Oh, and hey, how about doing away with the election campaign refund (60% of costs) that all parties get if they get more than 5% of the popular vote (that Political Welfare is worth about $200 million each election)
So Leasa, if this is all about getting Politicians to stop sucking your teats, then worrying about the $1.95 per vote is chump change and only chumps will buy this arguement from Harper. You want to save money, go for the cash cows that the Political Parties receive from the public funds.
Oh, and is Harper going to stop insisting that Election Canada pay the CPC for their In and Out Entitlements? That’s another 1.3 million in CPC Entitlements that Harper could save us,… you if it is all about getting government spending under control and getting Political Parties to stop sucking Leasa’s teats
This is how totally dumbass people have become in their never ending quest for material ‘things’. There is NO excuse for such behaviour, and those responsible should be charged with manslaughter.
God, to think these assholes breed and vote.
By Bill-Muskoka (not anymore) on 11.28.08 4:09 pm
That is why Wal-Mart refuses to let their employees to unionize. they would want danger pay for the Greeters!
I want my Canada back.
It starts Monday.
“. . . accomplishing their goal of one world order.” — Calberta, 1:06 pm
As this may eventually happen here (remember Germany in the dirty ’30s), would this be in accord with the New World Order’s Plan of arranging this planet according to their liking?
If so, it’s deja-vu all over again and chances are it fits with today’s http://www.dailyreckoning.com/ , and this may aid in one’s culinary digestion:
“Reuters reports on the results: ‘Zimbabwe’s inflation estimated at 89.7 sextillion percent
“Johannesburg — Zimbabwe’s central bank Governor Gideon Gono has been re-appointed for a second five-year term…. Appointed in December 2003, Gono’s term has spanned the economic collapse of once-prosperous Zimbabwe, highlighted by shortages of basic goods and the highest inflation in the world, which the government put at 230 million percent in July. Washington-based Cato Institute foundation estimates Zimbabwe’s inflation at 89.7 sextillion percent.
“In an effort to deal with hyperinflation, Gono has introduced higher denomination notes and lopped a total of 13 zeros off the currency – 3 zeros in August 2006 and 10 in August 2008 – but it has continued to lose value. Currently, the highest denomination banknote is Z$1 million, not enough to buy a loaf of bread and consumers have to carry huge amounts to make simple purchases.
“But instead of bringing in someone who really knows how to keep prices from falling, Obama has appointed Timothy Geithner to head up the Treasury department. As head of the New York Fed, Mr. Geithner was practically in the room when the ‘bad stuff was going down.’ He was the G-man…the government’s eyes and ears…right on-the-scene when Wall Street was packing its pipe bombs with subprime debt…filling its molotov cocktails with unsecured commercial debt…building its WMD with more than $400 trillion of derivatives. Apparently, he didn’t see a thing!”
Now y’all have a slightly clearer idea of what is likely to come here shortly!
BTW, there’s some fluffy white particles of gooo falling from the sky. I don’t think I can sunbathe anymore!
by James Chatham ON
“Give your head a shake and think before you write.”
I will second that motion, James, and while at it take that good long look in the mirror, Leasa.
By Dor – York ON on 11.28.08 1:59 pm
Leasa, notice how Jummy Flaterty looks in the mirror. He closes his eyes so it doesn’t break into many pieces. is that how you do it, or do you just look down into the nearest mud puddle in the shelter out of the wind to see the reflected image?
You neo-cons have been screaming ‘communism’ for decades every time someone tries to do something to help the average citizens. You hypocritical shit for brains totally ignore the real communism, i.e., bank and auto sector bailouts by taxpayers. Oh sure, that’s fine because they have stocks for sale.
God, you have lost all the respect you ever gained with me. You are a pathetic mantra screamer like the typical mindless neo-cons that have screwed up people’s lives, futures, and hopes. Get lost!
Go kiss your sociopathic hero, Harper. The rest of us are going to get on with life.
By Bill-Muskoka (not anymore) on 11.28.08 4:24 pm
So as not to raise your anger level any higher I will simply say ‘ditto’
By Zorpheous on 11.28.08 4:48 pm
Keep you cool “Z” Harry is just cranking you… he knows the truth, he has friends and co-workers who could loose their jobs and he knows Dion mentioned extending EI… that is too simple as I think those working would not mind. Also the markets have reacted in positive tone knowing that under a new government they will take some positive steps sooner rather than later… so the GST goes back up, hey I can handle 2 cents more for coffee and the stores now have signs posted “We pay the Tax and Tax Free…. and I hear some car dealers have a two for one sale…. Harper could not see this…why? because he was on different track….. the truth hurts… Keep you head held high “Z” we need your positive strokes.
What’s a million or ten to the Con-clones.
They’ll just steal more and hide it .
Can we tone down the language please? I know the Conservatives have their backs up so they’re going to really hurl the insults.
Today’s TSX close is 9,270.62 +516.85
Harper, not a leader.
By Bill-Muskoka (not anymore) on 11.28.08 4:24 pm
HA HA HA HAAAAAAA! Guess I touched a real nerve eh, Bill? You are just mad because the liberals are doing exactly everything you and friends have been ranting about for months now. So, how do you feel about Dion being overthrown? Good? Call me all the nasty names you want Bill, it won’t change the facts. But, I guess swearing at people makes YOU feel better. It’s obvious the behaviour of the liberals and NDP is making people very touchy and squirmy. Sorry for your pain. Not. Leasa
There’s “not a chance” that the Liberals and NDP will be able to convince Governor General Michaëlle Jean they’ll be able to form a working coalition, says Barry Cooper, a political science professor at the University of Calgary.
Expert in bullshitology 101 . Barry Cooper screaming mouthpiece of the Con-clones .
Nice try Barry .
Yea, your school has all kinds of
credibility as a degree mill .
Now SHUT UP !
And who said Canadian Politics was boring? (I did, actually). Can’t wait to watch Don Newman tonight.
I would like to thank the 43% of Canadians that did not vote, abstained, or voted for the small fringe parties or independants on the Oct.14th federal election. Your actions have saved this country appox, 18 million odd dollars, by not giving any of the parties that acheived at least 2% of the vote their $1.95 per vote. If only I was aware of what was at stake as well, I would not have voted N.D.P. and would have voted Libertarian. Next time I will join you all, unless this party welfare is abolished.
Oh shut the fuck up Harry, you little worthless, lying piece of shit. Go back and suck on Harper’s asshole, its all you are good for anyways.
By Zorpheous on 11.28.08 4:48 pm
Amen !
GARTH: And today(Friday) the TSX closed $516.85 higher,up 5.9% The market sure re-acted to the Conservatives Economic up-date.Get a life guys!!!!!!
By barb the proofreader on 11.28.08 3:35 pm
Well Barb, I just typed a response to you, but it disappeared before I could post it. I don’t know the relevance between that old post and what is happening now. I remember that post, that incident cost me over $100K out of pocket and it was right after an elderly couple was roughed up by these same thugs. The thugs in question, do not represent anyone, certainly not our native population at large, but are simply just what I said, drunken bums who have nothing better to do than cause trouble and reek havoc. So, getting back to the topic here: the last thing this country needs is a power struggle and power grabs. That’s all this is about. It should trouble you that Chretien is involved and Dion may very well be bullied out of his leadership. That is not democracy, but if you find that this kind of behaviour is acceptable within your party, so be it.
~Bill, don’t drink and post. It’s beneath you. L
So let’s just imagine that the P.M. uses some procedural puffin poop to hold on. Even if he does unless he prorogues parliament he has to have opposition days in the House eventually.
Is it really possible that Mr. Harper united the left of centre to govern for one to two years?
My bet Mr. Harper will have a temper tantrum and prorogue until he can introduce his budget in February.
Watch him do it on Monday before the motion…
I know, I know it’s Rick Mercer. But, he slams all parties.
Like a trip to Baskin Robbins
Article Comments RICK MERCER
Globe and Mail Update
November 28, 2008 at 3:09 PM EST
Okay we just might as well admit it and get it over with. Stephen Harper is a genius.
Here we are faced with a global economic crisis. Nations all over the world are struggling to figure out how to protect their citizens — who are terrified. We’ve seen unheard of cooperation between political rivals all over the industrialized world.
But not in Canada. Not with Stephen Harper. Not on his watch. No my friends, he has one goal and one goal only and it has nothing to do with governing: how can he use this crisis to destroy the opposition?
And wouldn’t you know, he almost did it.
Stephen Harper decided Canada doesn’t need a stimulus package; all we needed to do was cancel the subsidy that political parties get.
Which would have saved the government about $26-million. That’s about the same amount Harper spends on bodyguards every year when he visits danger zones like Thunder Bay or Nunavut.
But the real upside for Harper, of course, is that the entire opposition would have been crippled or destroyed. It gives me great faith to know that as our economy crumbles Harper is on the case trying to come up with new an innovative ways to cutback the Green Party’s office budget and bankrupt the Liberals. And then the world will be a better place.
Maybe he has a point. Maybe that’s why Canada keeps refusing to give the man a majority. It’s not because he’s a mean little man obsessed with revenge, but because we just have too many choices. We go to the voting booth and get confused. Like that first trip to Baskin Robbins.
Maybe we’d all just be better off if Conservative was the only flavour on the menu.
Well we almost found out. Because if Stephen Harper got his way on this, democracy would have changed forever. And not a single citizen will have gotten to vote on the matter.
Special to The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081128.wPOLmercer1128/BNStory/politics/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20081128.wPOLmercer1128
Mainstream communist parties? In Canada? I had no idea! What’s next? Vegetarians?
This isn’t the first blog I’ve come across where people are saying that Canada will “descend into chaos/rioting” if the coalition comes to fruition. Fortunately, I live in the suburbs; if anyone riots here, they’ll surely clean up after themselves.
P.S. Watch for the usual “the west will separate!” threats from the usual corners of the blog world until this “crisis” passes.
“So, getting back to the topic here..”
BY LEASA ON 11.28.08 5:44 PM
Uh.. Leasa, hello, your “topic” was that ‘violent riot’ you are planning, when the tens of millions of “communist” hoards take over:
So Leasa, you’re saying “your riot” will be different than protests by what you call drunken non-tax payers?
Okay, as long as you promise not to cause any physical or financial harm to innocent people.
Gee… what a boring riot that will be! Hope it’s in the winter so you don’t trample your million dollar crops!
But if you do get violent and the riot police getcha, we will lose a pet blogroach! Kinda like losing a bigoted chia pet.
I just heard Keith Boag on Newman. He said he had spoken to several economists during the last 24 hours and several of them suspect Harper’s govt. may have cooked the books, if I heard correctly.
By Divad on 11.28.08 5:37 pm
Could it be the markets feel Harper and Flaherty are off to the junk yard…. to be recycled as a old Bush Mobile and sent to the desert never to be seen again.
is it really possible that Mr. Harper united the left of centre to govern for one to two years?
BY BONNIE N BC ON 11.28.08 6:03 PM
Bonnie, I dare say he has united the centre, the right-of-centre, the “entire left side”, the progressive-right and any Tory who is actually paying attention.. In fact anybody who isn’t an extremist-ultra-right-winger like Harper is on high alert!
..
Mr. Harper, after tucking us in for our little nap, wearing your blue sweater, so we could again doze off, you probably shouldn’t have started beating your chest so loud.
The big chimp has woken the natives.
Just finished watching Newman with the 3 pundits. Apparently Harper is posponing Opposition Day to Dec 8th – Election Day in P.Q. I forget which pundit said that it could be to the advantage of the Opposition. Did anyone catch Stevo’s Press Con. – no questions allowed, of course. Did he use the word illegal? Guess he’s not a constitional expert, like he’s not really an economist, having never worked as one. He’s just trying to fool those who don’t read or only listen to sound bites on the news, if even that.
Leasa: You speak of power grabs but fail to mention Harper’s sole purpose in life is to annhilate any opposition to his right wing agenda. Is this not the ultimate power grab in a democracy?
Bankrupt any entity that may cause your own demise…..and pass it off as an economic plan?
Just saw Harper’s speech on Duffy – was it me – or did I actually see fear in the man? Did he realize he screwed up big time?
This is going to be a WILD week!
Divad:Actually the market reacted to the possibility that Harper would be deposed by a Liberal/NDP coalition and Canadians would actually be given hope again. We need a government that can provide stimulus not the status quo.
Garth, I meant to ask before. Who will carry your book when it comes out?
Chapters, Indigo – the usual. — Garth
Leasa,
While you are complaining about how “undemocratic” a coalition government would be, I would like to draw your attention to something. If I remember correctly when Paul Martin won his minority Harper tried to negotiate the same kind of coalition with the NDP and the BQ. These backroom negotiations fell apart and became public when Jack Layton withdrew from the negotiations.
It seems from Harper’s speech tonight he forgot all about that.
GARTH: And today(Friday) the TSX closed $516.85 higher,up 5.9% The market sure re-acted to the Conservatives Economic up-date.Get a life guys!!!!!!
By Divad on 11.28.08 5:37 pm
—
Or did they react to the opposition saying they will oust the Cons and form a coalition?
Oh my i just finished reading the posts and the adrenalin is flowing today
.Well as much as Dion pissed me off for backing down to Harper on many occasions i have to take my hat off to him ! He knew what he was doing–he played with the bully! Harper’s ego got the best of him and he played the game too long! He got sucked in! and exposed himself and his intentions to everyone in Canada–his quest for power–but not only to Canadians but the world,you can bet every leader in the world has been watching this scenario and taking a second look at him! Democracy has been hard fought to them all–even the newspapers criticised this move! He has created his own demise and created his own downfall–his future is limited id bet!! 
Isn’t it curious that the stock markets rebounded today when the Harper government is in trouble? something to think about!
One thought: Minister of Finance Jack Layton.
By C. B. Innes on 11.28.08 7:04 pm
That was for a vote in the House, not to form a government. Imagine; Finance Minister of Canada, Jack Layton. How wrong is that?
By barb the proofreader on 11.28.08 6:27 pm
How do ya know I wasn’t talking about a riot of the hearts? LOL
Is it really possible that Mr. Harper united the left of centre ….
By Bonnie N BC on 11.28.08 6:03 pm
Yes, yes He Has, it’s too dam delicious. Even if the Trio Coalition somehow buggers this up, Harpo et al ARE DISCREDITED FOR THE REST OF THEIR TERM!
I just heard Keith Boag on Newman. He said he had spoken to several economists during the last 24 hours and several of them suspect Harper’s govt. may have cooked the books, if I heard correctly.
By Go Green on 11.28.08 6:32 pm
Curious you brought that up and i agree–where did all these bailouts come from?? I have been wondering that myself?? And they are saying we are not in deficit?? Makes my small mind wonder??
GARTH: And today(Friday) the TSX closed $516.85 higher,up 5.9% The market sure re-acted to the Conservatives Economic up-date.Get a life guys!!!!!!
By Divad on 11.28.08 5:37 pm
No, the market was reacting to Harpo being thrown out om his fat ass on Monday and the government being turned over to people with ‘real’ intelligence not a bunch of knuckle dragging Neandethal sassholes who you exemplify perfectly .
So if the Liberal and N.D.P. form a coalition, where does that leave Ujjal? He said during the election that the only way to stop Harpers Ontario recession from coming to B.C. would be to vote Liberal. Garth, if Ujjal worked with and sat in cabinet with N.D.P. members from B.C. would Ujjal be considered a liar, or an idiot?
Absolutely brilliant move by Mr. Harper, he has done what the opposition could not do…defeated the CPC…what is that old saying, you shall reap what you sow…as Elmer Fudd says “That’s all folks”
Harper averts immediate political crisis
40 minutes ago
By The Canadian Press
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper is moving to avert a major political showdown, pushing off the earliest non-confidence vote in his government by one week.
Harper’s dramatic move late Friday follows a day of political turmoil in Ottawa as the opposition parties threatened to bring down the minority government and form an unprecedented coalition.
The prime minister cancelled a scheduled opposition day Monday, at which the Liberals threatened to put a motion of non-confidence in the weeks-old government.
The threat was so real that Rideau Hall said Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean had made contingency plans for a swift return to Canada from a European tour should the government fall.
Harper said the next opposition day will be set for Dec. 8, giving his government a week’s breathing space
…Hot damn! What was that song–”you always play the cards just right and you never play the game too long” Well Mr Harper..Mr Dion played you like a fool and im lovin it
Is Clement living in reverse warp speed? Or is he just waiting for the Democrats in the U.S. to state their plans before he mimics them?
Today Clement asked the auto industry to provide a plan.
Two weeks ago the U.S. congress asked their auto industry to provde a plan.
How long have we known that the auto industry is in trouble. Why has it taken so long for our government to act?
Do they really need input from the U.S. to do their own jobs?
Or are they so lacking in ingenuity and foresight that they can’t produce an original idea of their own?
Or did they react to the opposition saying they will oust the Cons and form a coalition?
By Tim N on 11.28.08 7:06 pm
Correct .
the Harper government seems to have no idea what is going on.
In the US, the Bush administration, in its last chaotic hours, is just hoping the bad movie will go away. In Ottawa, Stephen Harper and Jim Flaherty (whose first instinct was to sell the CN Tower) are praying that Canada’s oil patch will save them (haven’t they noticed that the US economic crash has already hit Fort McMurray between the eyes?)
http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature8.cfm?REF=619
Hey there Bill Muskoka here’s something to go with that Walmart greeter story earlier.
PALM DESERT, Calif. – Two people have died in a shooting incident at a Toys “R” Us store in Southern California on the busiest U.S. shopping day of the year.
Possible cause?
One witness thought the incident began as a fight over a toy that got louder and louder before shots were fired.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081128/world/toy_store_shooting
Dion just a few weeks ago:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=4o0IEq_1kto
Today, he wants to make Jack our finance minister and form a government with him. ROFLMAO
They’re scary. Just plain scary. They want this to go to election so they get majority to do whatever the F’ they please.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1001750
I thought the banks were in good shape. Who is lying?? What are they playing at? Why wasn’t this in the ‘FU’? Or is it another FU to Canadians?
By barb the proofreader on 11.28.08 3:35 pm
Barb, nice play on your above post *high fives*
Leasa, done much reflecting, lately? Honestly, what is your purpose other than to create constant nonsensical gibberish known as conservo-speak. You and the CONS talk a lousy talk when the word coalition creeps up on you! I mean really, you and your friends on parliament hill “simply” cannot handle the fact that it is completely and utterly democratic for the other parties to unite in non-confidence–a coalition is a democratic process and is a constitutional order of the house. However, considering the “disorder” of the ‘CONservemyself’ government, I really don’t expect alot from your diatribe postings.
So Harper’s complaining that while the Government was working on the economic problems, the opposition have been working to bring them down without asking Canadians.
Well, where to start. I guess they’ve only been working on the problem for 6 weeks, since they didn’t recognise there was problem to work on before the election.
The economic update, put the issue into perspective, but all Flaherty told us was what everyone had been saying for weeks before the election.
The measures contained in the update show that they have been conducting an exercise in futility because they don’t amount to a hill of beans.
So much for working on the economy. If they were on a contract, it would be terminated for lack of results. Which is why the opposition wants to kick them out.
As for asking Canadians. They did 6 weeks ago. A minority means make it work or else. Since its so close to the last election the GG would be within her rights to ask the opposition if they wanted the opportunity to form government. Sorry Steve, this isn’t the US. where a lame duck president can stay his full term.
And if you need a more recent “asking of Canadians”, I for one say get lost, Steve!
” Leasa,
While you are complaining about how “undemocratic” a coalition government would be, I would like to draw your attention to something. If I remember correctly when Paul Martin won his minority Harper tried to negotiate the same kind of coalition with the NDP and the BQ. These backroom negotiations fell apart and became public when Jack Layton withdrew from the negotiations.
It seems from Harper’s speech tonight he forgot all about that.
By C. B. Innes on 11.28.08 7:04 pm”
—————————————
Wow Innes, I was not aware of this, as I was helping at a summer camp in that 2004 election. Would you happen to have a newslink to this, as i’m curious to learn more about this matter…
Or did they react to the opposition saying they will oust the Cons and form a coalition?
By Tim N on 11.28.08 7:06 pm
What’s that saying,
“Buy on speculation, sell on fact!”
Proves your point!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o0IEq_1kto
Dion on the NDP on day 18 of the election. “We cannot have a coalition with a party that would be damaging to the economy. Period.”
I guess that would rule out the Cons. — Garth
What a liar.
By Go Green on 11.28.08 6:32 pm
“I just heard Keith Boag on Newman. He said he had spoken to several economists during the last 24 hours and several of them suspect Harper’s govt. may have cooked the books, if I heard correctly.”
Actually, GG, it is highly possible that the CONS have. Take a look at this comment from Ruby Dhalla’s report to the house on Bill C-36. I am not sure if the bill has passed but my huge concern that everyone has been wondering about regarding the money that the CONS have been throwing around is how the CPP and Old Age Security Fund is being used as a collateral asset. Scroll down to bills and click on c-36 Canada Pension Plan:
http://www.rubydhalla.ca/inparliament.html
“However, it is completely misleading and irresponsible to attach the CPP fund to the national debt. Implicitly, the government has announced that the CPP fund will be used as collateral for future borrowing when in fact we in the House all know that the CPP fund exists for one reason and one reason only, to pay future CPP benefit payments.”
Fools… many of us have been making fun of Americans for so long now, asking ourselves how they could have possibily let someone like Bush win an election and then get reelected!
Well well, isn’t it funny how we are now the fools and many of us are now left feeling like we’ve been had…
Clinton was impeached (dispite doing a wonderful job as president) for a personal indiscretion, yet Bush stays in power far too long and causes irreperable damage to the USA and in the process affected the global economy! The liberals were “voted out” and shamed over the sponsership scandal worth 100 million and since then the concervatives have done more damange than we can possibly account for…
Somethings gotta give! Something has to happen!
Judy and Barb are soooo rocking my world.
By Homer C. on 11.28.08 6:21 pm
“Mainstream communist parties? In Canada? I had no idea! What’s next? Vegetarians?”
…and Homer, such a cutie, let’s not forget radical/liberal feminists (to name a few). Ya, Leasa, whoever you are, be afraid, be very afraid–you may think we are all silent but we’re around and we’re watching every CONservatard on this planet! Do send my proverbial finger to Real Women, won’t you.
The big chimp has woken the natives.
By barb the proofreader on 11.28.08 6:46 pm
Barb
So do think Leasa would agree that the only way is to stop this coupe is to put M. Dion under house arrest at Stornaway “protected” by the National Guard.
Or they could riot at Parliament Hill and burn down Centre Block.
Or they could read the flippin’ Constitution and understand that we have a Parliamentary system and don’t have a hissy fit because it is democratic to challenge the government and replace them if they do not have the confidence of the House from a majority of 308 members.
We don’t have a Republic you idiots – it’s Canada… Big Gorilla in the room!
So as not to raise your anger level any higher I will simply say ‘ditto’
By Men With Hats on 11.28.08 5:24 pm
I am neither angry nor afraid, nor do I care about the Liberal Party. I care about Canada and Canadians, and above all truth. How quaint, eh? Thanks for the thought.
My curiosity is killing me, Bill. How do you know that Leasa even wears undies, never mind that they are soiled? With the stream of ***** coming from her they would just get in the way would they not?
By Truth B Told on 11.28.08 5:10 pm
Depends, eh?
Looks like the Bully is hiding and healing his wounded ego. Good, Bullies need to have their cajones kicked hard. It transmits reality to their widdle nerve knob of a brain!
December 8th now, eh? Well, seems Harper, aka, Caesar Disgustus, more than blinked. I think he crapped his panties. That gives the opposition parties time to form up and get ready to throw this lying power pervert POS out.
Or did they react to the opposition saying they will oust the Cons and form a coalition?
By Tim N on 11.28.08 7:06 pm
I’ll take your door Tim.
Or did they react to the opposition saying they will oust the Cons and form a coalition?
By Tim N on 11.28.08 7:06 pm
Exactly what is the majority the left claims to have to form a coalition? Other than replacing the family with daycare there is nothing else. It`s not the GreenST as less people voted for that than the CPC no-plan plan. Can`t be the NDP cap and trade as even less voted for that. Layton can formerly declare the NDP is joining the Liberals and that will leave the majority of the NDP that voted for the cap and trade out in the cold or probably in the CPC camp if they dislike a carbon tax enough.
lol, what is the left in majority of???
Dion wants a coup, Layton wants a coup, we could have the first Cdn co-co government.
lol absolutely a history moment reaching never before dreamed heights in giving new meaning to dysfunctional.
From my very admittedly “possibly” weak understanding of the issue he allowed the banks to turn weak mortgages over to CMHC prematurely. If the mortgages had in fact defaulted they would have gone to CMHC in any case. My understanding is that this freed up $75 billion for Cdn banks to lend to Cdn businesses and individuals to help alleviate the credit crunch. So in the end I don’t understand how this is a bank bailout as any mortgage defaults would have gone to the gov’t owned CMHC in any case.
Probably I’m just naive SK boy but it appears this is just another of your many many attempts to get your lib lemmings revved up with false information.
By Doug on 11.28.08 1:42 am
Perhaps this not so naive Sask boy can help you back, Doug.
CMHC approved loans guarantee through insurance, 90% of all CMHC approved mortgages. 75 Billion in mortgage defaults is in reality, a 7.5 Billion dollar bailout for Canada’s banking industry so it is a bailout of sorts but the real bailout is CMHC, Canada’s own crown corporation put at heavy risk by a Harper government who up and decided it was prudent to change CMHC approved mortgage regs from 25 year 10% down regs to 40 year 1.5% down and with the cash back schemes at least two of the chartered banks were offering, it is safe to say a 40 year nothing down mortgage, Canada’s version of sub prime. Flarehty introduced this in July of 2006 and in so doing, flooded the mortgage industry with a whole new set of buyers, buyers that in reality could not afford to buy homes in the first place but that didn’t matter, it was the deal that mattered to everyone, the cut, the commission on the sale.
And since July of 2006, valuations of homes went up by 40% nationwide and in some cities, doubled. This fueled a major boom on an already lucrative housing, residential and commercial real estate market and created hyped new construction starts like no other and the consequences? Overdevelopment (and we can stop right there and ponder what that means as that alone is bad on its own), grossly inflated real estate valuations that breed negative equity for those who buy in late and a market poised for dramatic devaluation which later breeds foreclosures, unemployment and recessions all on their own if bad enough.
So lets consider the consequences of Harper/Flarehty’s version of subprime, a nasty real estate led recession all on its own without the big drop in commodities and think for a moment about why, Doug, you think its wise to attack a messager because you don’t like the message and believe this Harper Con job is worth defending because we now have a major housing, condo and commercial real estate correction, a major stand still in construction and what will be huge layoffs in the construction sector as a result of Flarehty/Harper’s disasterous version of subprime that will end up costing taxpayers 75 Billion bucks before federal deficits begin coming in from what will be a devastated commodity market, gutted manufacturing, busted construction industry spawned by nutter government deregulation.
And Harpers hail mary answer is?…??
Get rid of public election financing in favor of corporate/private payoffs and bribes so that future elections can be bought outright… bring back gender pay inequality… and bust unions.
This is their hail mary.
Doug, if you didn’t at the very least try to feign humility and say “From my very admittedly “possibly” weak understanding of the issue”, I would have been much less than kind. But… if you still wish to defend Harpers policies after reading these words, I would find no reason for remorse or regret in quickly pointing out that people who believe its wise to support governments that waste 75 Billion on policies that breed recessions are quite naive, ignorant or just plain stupid. And since you should now know better, Doug…
Canada’s version of sub prime. Flarehty introduced this in July of 2006
brain on 11.28.08 9:31 pm
A minority government can do nothing without the support of the opposition but lets not let fact get in the way of partisan finger pointing.
the peasants have no credit
By Truth B Told on 11.28.08 5:10 pm
Depends, eh?
By Bill-Muskoka (not anymore) on 11.28.08 8:51 pm
Really. Sleep it off guys. While you’re sleeping you can dream of Jack Layton Finance Minister. Gawd, what a hangover that one will be! LOL
Why would a very intelligent and ambitious man try to end the game? Why not prolong the game? Does this man see how the rules of the game are constantly changing and is afraid? No longer wants to play centre?
Yes indeed I believe the CONs have cooked the books……so once again Dion Layton and Duceppe must insist that the RCMP lock all offices shut before Harper puts government shredders on overtime. Me smells a rat big time… as billions have been spent in his short time in office…. and who knows how much has been funnel back. Soon such funds will be blasting the airways with CRAP as they try to snowball Canadians….
No, the market was reacting to Harpo being thrown out om his fat ass on Monday and the government being turned over to people with ‘real’ intelligence not a bunch of knuckle dragging Neandethal sassholes who you exemplify perfectly .
By Men With Hats on 11.28.08 7:36 pm
The TSX was up due to Canadian financial banks soon to be released quaterly reports coming out that are looking to be positive. Canadian banks not hiding losses, being upfront with writedowns is seen as a wise decision by some investors. I wonder why?
Harper’s govt. may have cooked the books, if I heard correctly.”
Actually, GG, it is highly possible that the CONS have. Take a look at this comment from Ruby Dhalla’s report to the house on Bill C-36. I am not sure if the bill has passed but my huge concern that everyone has been wondering about regarding the money that the CONS have been throwing around is how the CPP and Old Age Security Fund is being used as a collateral asset. Scroll down to bills and click on c-36 Canada Pension Plan:
http://www.rubydhalla.ca/inparliament.html
“However, it is completely misleading and irresponsible to attach the CPP fund to the national debt. Implicitly, the government has announced that the CPP fund will be used as collateral for future borrowing when in fact we in the House all know that the CPP fund exists for one reason and one reason only, to pay future CPP benefit payments.”
By Dor – York ON on 11.28.08 8:20 pm
>>>> WOW i have been wondering for some time if Harper had his fingers in CPP- Good post!!! And if it passed very alarming ! Its time to get rid of him ..i suspect we are in for lots of surprises when the books are opened!
By Bill-Muskoka (not anymore) on 11.28.08 4:24 pm
By Truth B Told on 11.28.08 5:10 pm
You two are competly insulting towards Leasa. You may disagree with her, and that is fine, but your comments are rude and in no way appropriate to be considered civil discussion. It actually says more about you two, then it does about her, but who am I to judge, so carry on children.
By Jordan Lester on 11.28.08 8:04 pm,
This link refers to the issue:
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:qqHSC1uyKHwJ:www.thehilltimes.ca/html/cover_index.php%3Fdisplay%3Dstory%26full_path%3D/2004/september/20/paco4/+Duceppe+Harper+Layton+%22to+consider+all+your+options%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca&client=firefox-a
It is also mentioned in Peter H. Russell’s book Two cheers for Minority Government, p. 40. It was referred to as well on Newsworld this evening.
Looks like another analyst is predicting the demise of the US worse than Argentina Russia and Mexico COMBINED!
http://www.thecomingdepression.blogspot.com
WOW the bully is squirming now!>>>>Harper ended an extraordinary 36 hours in the national capital by announcing the cancellation of Monday’s scheduled opposition day and the delay of a confidence vote on his government’s fall economic update.
But his measures only buy the government a reprieve to Dec. 8, when the Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois can use their combined majority to vote non-confidence.
The prime minister is appealing to public opinion to turn the tide by then.
“The opposition has been working on a backroom deal to overturn the results of the last election without seeking the consent of voters,” Harper said late Friday in a statement in the foyer of the House of Commons.
“They want to take power, not earn it.”
Is it not curious that our secret government is now appealing to to the public to defend him? He has ignored the public and the press–blacked out documents,lied over and over again,muzzled our elected representatives,parachuted in candidates in ridings,accused of attempting to bribe a member of parliament to overthrow the government ,is under investigation by elections canada for his “in and out scheme” and attempt to defraud the taxpayers of approx.1.4 million dollars —-and now he’s asking for people to stand up and defend him ——THE BULLY IS GETTING HIS DUES!
Garth …. will you keep your Liberal party membership if Liberals align themselves with the NDP and BQ separatists???
Where do your political principles lay nowadays ???
I think if the CONS, who are now in damage control, attempt to quickly saddle a deal with the BIG 3 and push on government control of banks that to me suggests that they are going to force the opposition into voting down a stimulus package made up willy-nilly. I doubt this little idea will work to prevent the parties from forming a coalition. When the CONS, NDP, BLOC voted against the Liberals in 2006 to being them down–they brought them down on a very good stimulus package that included 5 billion for aboriginal peoples while shouting Sponsorship scandal. There is no reason that the Libs, NDP, and Bloc cannot present their own stimulus package in replacement of any ridiculous spin the CONS create. The CONS are not to be trusted and most every Canadian (60%+ of us)knows this.
I want to know what concessions did Douceppe extract from the Liberals/NDP back room boys and the Liberal Party for Bloc support. I am afraid that it will cost rest of Canada big time. I don’t have any time for Duceppe but he is no dummy and he hates Dion with a passion and probably can not wait to stab Dion in the back.
In any event it appears the Liberals will make any deal with the devil in order to gain power.
Of course Dion as PM is not a done deal yet he could be ousted very easily in the next week or so for Iggy. This could bring up another problem for the Liberals and has everything to do with a democratically elected leader which he wouldn’t be.
I kind of hope the Liberals/NDP/Bloc go through with it for three reasons.
1. This coalition probably would last 6 months.
2. It will give the Conservatives more ammo for a majority government.
3. It will help the Conservatives gain a majority especially if the Conservatives have the “cut to party funding as part of their platform.” It may not fly in Quebec but the other parties would be trounced in the ROC.
Liberal supporters may be dancing in the streets about the idea of the Liberal/ NDP coalition but this scenario could spell disaster for all parties including the Liberals and the Conservatives.
For the record, it is really obtuse of anyone to think that a minority is somehow a “strengthened minority”. No, it isn’t! It is a minority–it is NOT a right but a PRIVILEGE (like driving), and if you ABUSE that privilege then there are consequences. Get it CONS?!
If you want a coalition formed to evict Harper, you can make your wshes known by sending a letter from here:
http://www.smartvote2008.ca/?p=393
Good stuff Stevie!
Harper’s new tack: change you can’t believe in
http://blog.macleans.ca/2008/11/27/harpers-new-tack-change-you-cant-believe-in/
The opposition has every right to defeat the government but Stéphane Dion does not have the right to take power without an election.
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-Prime Minister Stephen Harper gives the nation a lesson in parliamentary democracy from the foyer of the House of Commons (November 28, 2008)
As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could be asked by the Prime Minister to dissolve the 38th Parliament at any time should the House of Commons fail to support some part of the government’s program. We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority. Your attention to this matter is appreciated.
-From a letter to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson signed by all three opposition leaders: Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton and Stephen Harper
(September 9, 2004)
Someone asked for this info. Hope this answers a few questions out there. Trust Harpoon to forget this little tidbit. when he stood in front of the people & made his hearfelt plea to Canadians today when he was running scared of being tossed out on his extended long fibbing nose.
Too bad so sad Stevie, you blew it big time. YOU can’t hide so stand up like a man & take the punches you deserve & earned all by yourself. You can delay this all you want but eventually you will have to face the music. Maybe the lIbs can use the Media to their advantage & remind Canadians that this coup was also planned in Nov 2008 by Stevie wonder boy
Great weekend all,
A few years ago a jorunalist wrote an editorial on Stephen Harper and the new Conservatives in the Daily News…. his last line to which I had felt true since Steve’s Reform days said… If Stephen Harper becomes PM… May Heaven Help us. Ladies and gentlemen our future is now in hands of three men who must unite and stand tall…. so get the hook the Harper and Flaherty new age phony show is over!
By David Bakody on 11.28.08 10:48 am
Stephen Harper did not become PM as a result of the last election. Canadians had 2 years to decide if he was the best leader for the country moving forward or the Lib promoted scary monster with hidden agendas. The people made their choice.
I watched Pierre Polievre(PP) on Don Newman last night commenting on the “update”. It is incredible how similar PP’s message was to Leasa’s posting on the same subject. In fact if you put a wig on him and threw in some trite expressions and ungrammatical vernacular he could easily pass off as Leasa. (albeit not as effectively as Jack Nicholson in drag!) Evidently they were reading from the same script. There are also obvious parallels in character. Or is it possible that Leasa is actually this vicious, vindictive, foul-mouthed,hypocritical, dishonest, racist in disguise? It would be a simple thing for anyone with even a trace of acting ability to pull off such a masquerade. PP is, if nothing else, certainly clever enough.
Leasa,
Synchronize watches?
The timing of your post is very coincidental to the timing of a blathering John Baird interview I heard on “As It Happens” tonight whilst doing my grocery shopping. The man can spew meaningless political rhetoric and platitudes ad nauseum, yet in the end, spend a gross of minutes saying absolutely nothing. Throughout that verbal polenta there was one baseless thing he kept repeating (as though saying it often enough renders it true): “Jack Layton, Minister of Finance”.
I see you got your talking points.
“GARTH: And today(Friday) the TSX closed $516.85 higher,up 5.9% The market sure re-acted to the Conservatives Economic up-date.Get a life guys!!!!!!
By Divad on 11.28.08 5:37 pm”
How wrong you are!!!! The markets had a late day rally when the news was full of talk about the opposition parties forming a coalition and booting Harper and his cronies out of office….and actually doing something to tackle the economic crisis this country is in.
Oh shut the fuck up Harry, you little worthless, lying piece of shit. Go back and suck on Harper’s asshole, its all you are good for anyways.
By Zorpheous on 11.28.08 4:48 pm
Garth, it is amazing to look back at some of my previous comments that did not “make the cut” and posted to your blog but you accept this kind of garbage from a few twisted individuals that also happen to be dedicated contributors. True colours Garth……
Hi Garth,
I haven’t posted since the election, but I have been reading both of your blogs.
I just hope the Liberals/NDP/Bloc and even Ms. May are prepared for the coming week of the nastiest TV, Radio and Print ads we will have seen from the Harper Conservatives.
At stake is the government and Canadian democracy and the survival of each opposition party.
If they can put together a coalition, then Harper will be finished in short order.
And then we can get on with putting back together the engines of our economy.
Harper has seriously underestimated the political mine field that he has created for himself. By taking an obvious partisan shot at the very existance of the other parties he gives them no choice but to unite in a common front against him. Now that this snowball is rolling he will not be able to stop it.
A coalition will work because there is a strong concensus to fight a common foe of democracy…Harper.
Having Broadbent and Chretien work on negotiations is a great strategy. Neither one is close enough to have a vested interest, but both are well entrenched and respected by their mutual parties.
Harper has just shot himself in the head by giving the opposition parties another week to pull their coalition together. Negotiations will be fruitful since the parties can horse-trade over specific issues and arrive at a mutually agreeable legislative agenda.
This is absolutely possible since people need not focus on the best possible solution, but rather the best solution possible…there is a HUGE difference in these two approaches.
Some of the obvious trade-offs in the negotiations:
1. The Liberals will abandon Dion’s carbon tax and agree to support the cap and trade approach favoured by the NDP and Bloc.
2. All parties will agree on an accelerated environmental policy initiatives and all will agree to have environmental assessments done on the Alberta Tar Sands.
3. The Liberals and NDP will agree with the Bloc’s position that manufacturers need refundable tax credits when investing in new plant equipment to improve productivity.
4. The Bloc and NDP will change their position and agree to support the Liberals approach to fix the income trust mess created by the Harper Conservatives.
5. The Liberals will change their position on Afganistan and agree to recall Canadian troops in 2009 after advising NATO. The huge increases in defense spending will be reduced and many projects cancelled.
6. All parties will agree to speed up infrastructure spending.
7. All parties will agree on a national day care program.
8. All parties will agree to immediately end subsidies for the Alberta Tar Sands and other fossil fuel projects. This funding will be redirected to renewable energy projects. Some delay on corporate tax reductions are possible.
9. All parties will agree to cancel the Conservative tax free investment accounts and replace them with tax write offs for higher education funding.
10. To gain Bloc support, Dion will agree to step down as Liberal leader and be replaced by Michael Ignatieff who will serve as PM in the coalition government. Dion will be appointed to one of the vacant senate seats. Arrangements will be made to assist with fundraising so he can eliminate his personal debt from the 2006 leadership race.
11. The size of cabinet will be reduced to no more than 25 ministers with 3/4 being Liberal MPs and 1/4 being NDP MPs.
12. All parties will support ‘fairness in democracy’ legislation which will make it illegal for any political party to advertise outside of an election timeframe, thus neutralizing the Conservative’s war chest of money and eliminating the potential of them doing more character assassinations like they did with Dion. Additionally political parties will not be allowed to donate funds, loan money or otherwise support lobby groups or special interest groups.
13. All parties will support the Auditor General doing an immediate, third party, impartial assessment of the economic state of the Federal government budget and uncover any and all ‘creative accounting’.
14. All parties will agree to investigate ways of significantly reducing the personal income tax of Canadians earning less than $150,000. The possibility of raising the GST back up to 7% and using the proceeds to fund a massive income tax cut will be seriously discussed. I give it 50/50 whether it actually happens.
15. All parties will agree to level the playing field with EI benefits for all provinces.
16. All parties will agree to restore funding to the arts, and constitutional challenges initiatives.
17. All parties will agree to provide the auto sector with funding and grant support, but this will be tied directly to job guarantees.
18. All parties will agree to rollback the Conservative’s punitive and costly approaches to criminal justice. These have been proven to be unsuccessful and grossly expensive in the US and have no place in Canada.
19. All parties will support a 5 year Federal tax holiday for all new businesses that start up as green field in Canada.
20. All parties will agree to tighter restrictions on mortgages to help avoid a credit meltdown in Canada.
21. All parties will agree to set maximum allowable interest rates on credit card debt.
22. All parties will agree to mortgage extension legislation to help homeowners restructure debt and reduce the number of foreclosures.
23. All parties will agree to tax credits for homeowners who make energy saving investments in their homes.
24. All parties will agree to accelerate the investigation of the Conservative ‘in-and-out’ scandal, the Cadman affair, Airbus etc.
25. All parties will agree to cancel the Ministerial veto over film funding brought in by the Conservatives.
26. All parties will agree to cancel planned MP salary increases, and limit public sector wage increases.
27. All parties will agree to put an immediate stop to the Conservative plan to sell off Federal government assets at fire sale prices.
28. All parties will agree to set national certification standards under the Canada Health Act to speed up the approval of foreign doctor certification.
29. All parties will agree to reinstitute the Kelowna Accord.
Hmmmm…. I suppose that should be enough to keep a coalition busy for at least 18 to 24 months – return Canada to its proper place in the world, turn our economy around, make Canada a model for social justice in the world, and return us to our recognized role as independent peace keepers. And, demonstrate to Canadians what a collaborative, progressive government is all about.
New York Times
November 29, 2008
Canada’s Conservative Government in Danger of Being Replaced
By IAN AUSTEN
OTTAWA — The prospect that Canada’s Conservative government could be replaced by a coalition became more likely on Friday following a day of negotiations and agreements between opposition parties.
If the opposition effort is successful, it will mark the first time in Canadian history that a formal coalition has taken power from a sitting government, although the country’s political situation on Friday was filled with uncertainty and confusion.
The Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, were returned to power in October but did not obtain a majority of seats in the House of Commons. The opposition has now vowed to defeat an economic program presented by Mr. Harper’s government on Thursday. The Conservative plan would cut government spending and provides no significant measures to offset the economic downturn. The proposed cutbacks include eliminating the public financing of political parties, something that would leave only the Conservatives in good financial health.
Mr. Harper said that the vote on the economic program was also a confidence measure. As a result, its defeat would also bring down his government.
On Friday the three opposition parties in Parliament made it clear that was exactly what they hoped to do. They have agreed to support a Liberal Party motion that rejects the economic plan, declares their lack of confidence in the government and adds that they are “of the opinion that a viable alternative government can be formed within the present House of Commons.”
Exactly what form that government would take was not entirely clear Friday night.
Early on Friday, a former Liberal prime minister, Jean Chrétien, and Ed Broadbent, the popular and widely respected former head of the New Democratic Party, met to discuss how their two parties might work together. (The Bloc Québécois, a Quebec separatist movement, has agreed to help defeat the government but said it had no interest in governing Canada.)
Several Liberal and New Democratic members of Parliament confirmed that negotiations were under way to work out the details of a coalition, but they added that much remains to be done.
“The lawyers aren’t writing the prenups or anything like that,” Scott Brison, a prominent Liberal member of Parliament, told reporters.
If the government fell, Mr. Harper would probably ask the governor general, Michaëlle Jean, who represents Queen Elizabeth II as the nation’s head of state, to call another election. But several constitutional scholars believe that because the last election was so recent, she would be likely to give a coalition the chance to govern. But that is not a certainty.
Early Friday evening, Mr. Harper made a procedural move that would delay a vote on the Liberal no-confidence motion until Dec. 8. He also characterized the opposition parties’ actions as undemocratic.
“While we have been working on the economy, the opposition has been working on a backroom deal to overturn the results of the last election without seeking the consent of voters,” Mr. Harper told reporters outside of an empty House of Commons before declining to take questions.
******************
Hypocrite Harper’s letter to the Governor General of September 9, 2004
As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could be asked by the Prime Minister to dissolve the 38th Parliament at any time should the House of Commons fail to support some part of the government’s program. We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority. Your attention to this matter is appreciated.
-From a letter to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson signed by all three opposition leaders: Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton and Stephen Harper
(September 9, 2004)
The worm has turned .
Buh,bye Stevey .
“. . . Dion wants a coup, Layton wants a coup, . . .” — let them pay cash, 9:12 pm
Hello Robert.
I have a slightly different view. The more I see CONS’ wilfully destroying the equilibrium, then it is better working to overcome a political party who has only their best interests at heart. Like everyone else, the CONS do have an achilles’ heel; it just has to be found, exposed then done away with.
If a centre-right person was in charge, then you are correct as there wouldn’t be much, if any difference between the two main parties. This time is different, with the present ‘leadership’ hell-bent on taking Canada down an ultra-conservative path, which most Cdns. have never faced.
However, the economy will take front and centre stage, not the least of which will be much higher unemployment, leading to inflation then hyper-inflation.
It is a vicious cycle — companies shut down, workers go on E.I., the entire economy takes a long yawn and the govt. is currently spending $75 bln. of our money to bail banks out. What for? What happened to all those multi-bln. quarterly net profits, achieved through attrition by not replacing staff or simply downsizing?
The buck has to stop somewhere, and I hold the view that in the best interests of Canada, a coalition — as much as the parties may dislike working with each other — is infinitely better than the narrow, ego-based way of the CONS.
****************************************
Food for thought. First para. pretty much says it all (only three or four paras. in story). — http://tinyurl.com/6cy8a2
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How long before the msm reports on stuff like this? Try never! The second link is another view. — http://tinyurl.com/5q5s9u http://tinyurl.com/6gmtuw
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‘Owzabout renting a big ship? Read para. below the chart; the figures aren’t too bad! — http://tinyurl.com/55mg7g
Then this is a day of Independence For all the Munchkins and their descendants
Stephen Harper’s Index
Amount former Conservative Minister Michael Fortier charged taxpayers for 4 one-hour flights on private jets between Montreal and his summer home in Portland, Maine: $22,000
Cost of four economy tickets between Montreal and Portland: $1,768
___________
Amount Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty claims the federal government will be in deficit over the next three years: $0
Amount that the 2008 Fiscal Update reveals that the Conservative government will actually be in deficit over the next three years: $11.2 billion
___________
Amount of fiscal stimulus recently announced by:
U.S.A : $1,859 billion
China : $726 billion
U. K. : $518 billion
Japan : $341 billion
Germany: $264 billion
France : $93 billion
Canada (2008 Fiscal Update): -4.3 billion
___________
Cost of Cooked Books : Priceless
For everything else there’s Coalition.
Keep you head held high “Z” we need your positive strokes.
By David Bakody on 11.28.08 5:25 pm
Seriously over worked of late, need to spend some serious time underwater breathing compressed air for a few weeks,… Christmas can’t come fast enough,… Christmas in Cozumel, away from my wife’s family and mine, away from our jobs,…
Three more weeks, and then Cath and I are gone. I plan to spend Christmas day shore diving and photographing the fishies.
Frankly Harpers cake hole is flapping a million miles per hour right now, he still believes he has a mandate from Canadians and that he has a majority.
While I am not keen on Collation Government, as long as the Lib/NDP and Bloc keep the books balanced (yes raise the GST back to where the PC under Mulroney place it, 10 billion extra will keep the books balanced and allow the Canadian Government to stimulate the economy).
I still stand by my words to Harry S., FUCK OFF YOU LITTLE SHIT!!! And that goes for Mr. “The Fundimentals Are Sound” Harper, fuck you too!
Harper tries to force a poison pill down the throats of the Parliament and then get all bend out of shape when the other parties call bs on him and call his bluff. Harper tried to sow salt,… well now Harper can go pound salt, and that goes for all his cock sucking harper bots (don’t like my langauge? Too Fucking bad, I have had it with Harper and the neo-clown Harper bots, fuck’em)
Sorry Garth, I’m just not going to play nice any more. If you decide to run again (lib, Green, Bloc or NDP) let me know, I will be there with money in hand, I’ll provide IT support and rent you the required Computers and network gear to run your campaign office, just say the word Oh Bearded One! I may even look into building a robo call PC to combat Lisa Ratts lying PR bull shit as well.
Never fear. Harper’s “obviousness” will happen, as the public figures it all out one day.
And BTW, as you probably know, all those items you mention are connected. In fact, everything that’s been screwing us up is connected:
- CNP developed Clinton Impeachment Kit at 1997 Montreal meeting (bonus note: CNP also assassinated Clinton’s healthcare plan with millions in negative ads, which was also the model for Harper to assassinate Dion’s character using tens of millions of public tax dollars in government ten percenters)
- CNP approved, then made sure Bush got in power and stayed there
- CNP’s darling speaker at that very same 1997 meeting was Stephen Harper, at the time President of NCC, an advertising and elite corporate lobby extension of the Conservative Party.
Harper remained President of the NCC until 2002. He soft-peddled his June 1997 speech before the CNP – an ultra-conservative American political advocacy group – as “the leader of a conservative organization addressing another conservative organization.” In describing the similarities between the NCC and the CNP, Mr. Harper said, “[Y]ou know, obviously, we admire values of freedom and democracy and the promotion of our traditional values and I think we’ve, we all understand that.”
Through nearly four decades, the NCC has been a faithful shill for business and for far-right politicians of all kind, all the while proclaiming the most transparent and hilarious of its lies – that it is a politically-independent organization.
References:
make the connection - a must read:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/5939999/reverend_doomsday/
The Impeachment Organizers Kit
http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/clinton/Clintonculwar8-27.html
CNP
http://audaciousontology.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html
CNP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_for_National_Policy
NCC
http://www.harperindex.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=0010
http://www.nupge.ca/news_2005/n07se05a.htm
Harper CNP speech in full
http://stoppingharper.blogspot.com/2005/12/captain-america-part-ii-cnp-speech-in.html
CNP mentor and model for Harper
Wow Innes, I was not aware of this, as I was helping at a summer camp in that 2004 election. Would you happen to have a newslink to this, as i’m curious to learn more about this matter…
By Jordan Lester on 11.28.08 8:04 pm
Jordan – below is the letter
Harper’s letter to the Governor General of September 9, 2004
As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could be asked by the Prime Minister to dissolve the 38th Parliament at any time should the House of Commons fail to support some part of the government’s program. We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority. Your attention to this matter is appreciated.
-From a letter to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson signed by all three opposition leaders: Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton and Stephen Harper
(September 9, 2004)
It seems like yesterday Harper rose in our H of C and said: “Quebec is Nation within Canada” as he quartered separatist votes! now it appears they are on his hit list… This begs the question who of the 70% of Canadians that did not either vote and give him money is on his new list? OMG a list with people names that are not friendly to Harper’s CONs …. it appears there is more books other than the disruption book hidden in the deep dark sealed walls of Harper Con’s War Room! Hello MSM….
JEFFREY SIMPSON
From Saturday’s Globe and Mail
November 28, 2008 at 9:23 PM EST
Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an election to secure a majority, and failed to get one.
This week, he created a completely unnecessary crisis that now threatens his government’s very survival. And they call Mr. Harper a great strategist and superior tactician?
Thursday’s economic statement was an economic lame duck and a political boner. It revealed, among other things, the kind of Conservative Party that all but its core supporters suspected would eventually be outed: a group of ideologues, led by a Prime Minister who discarded his campaign sweater to reveal an economist with a tin heart and a politician who looks everywhere for political advantage.
Instead of trying to grow Conservative support, he appealed only to his party’s core. Instead of acting in a statesmanlike fashion at a time of crisis, he opted to play politics, proposing to cancel public subsidies for parties, a move that would disproportionately benefit his.
Instead of reaching out, as leader of a minority government and as president-elect Barack Obama is doing by talking to moderate Republicans, he smacked his opponents in the chops. Instead of heeding the advice of economists everywhere that the economy needs stimulus, he got his Minister of Finance to present a budget that offered cutbacks and tiny surpluses that absolutely no one believes will be realized.
There is a plausible case for caution, to wait a bit until economic issues clarify themselves and until the new American administration settles definitively on its approach. The government therefore, quite credibly, could have gone to Parliament, said it could not offer precise numbers because of unprecedented volatility, said there would be a deficit but a modest one limited in time, promised a budget in January, got a few infrastructure programs speeded up, and asked for suggestions. After all, this was a government that had admitted the economy would be in a “technical recession.”
That would have been prudent, statesmanlike and economically credible. There would have been no political crisis; the country would have accepted that the government had heard its concerns and worries; and a serious plan could have been developed.
Instead, the government unsheathed its ideological swords, attacked political opponents, public-sector unions, disregarded overwhelming economic advice in the country (including from deficit hawks, premiers, and conservative-minded economists) and dared the opposition parties to turn the other cheek – a move, to the government’s apparent surprise, the other parties were not prepared to do.
The economic statement was wrongly conceived on every front.
It misdiagnosed what the economy needs, and offered a completely bogus explanation.
Said the government: We have already injected $31-billion of stimulus in the economy through tax cuts since 2006. As if tax cuts in 2006 were designed for stimulus in 2009. No one believes that.
That would be like President George W. Bush saying his tax cuts of years ago were designed to help the current recession. Conservatives cut taxes mostly when the economy was robust (and therefore at the wrong time and in the wrong way, but that’s another matter). The point now is that the stimulus hasn’t been enough.
The government also gratuitously set off a political firestorm that will damage the Conservative Party.
Taxpayer subsidies for political parties exist everywhere around the world, even in the United States, where Mr. Obama refused them because he was raising so much private money. The subsidies exist, there as here, as a quid pro quo for eliminating corporate and union contributions. As such, they help parties finance themselves, do their work, and therefore contribute to democracy.
But since the Conservatives have mastered soliciting contributions from individuals better than their opponents, they now propose to eliminate the public subsidy that amounts to a tiny sum relative to total government spending. Nothing the Conservatives have done has been so malevolently partisan as this.
Finally, the government created a potential constitutional situation in which it could be defeated and replaced, quite properly under constitutional convention, by a Liberal-NDP coalition.
Late yesterday, Mr. Harper refused to modify his economic statement, put off confidence votes for a week to buy himself some time, and in effect dared the Governor-General, should it come to this, not to exercise her proper constitutional authority to ask another party to try to form a government without bringing on an election.
He argued that if his government were to be defeated, there would have to be an election, which is not consistent with constitutional convention. He was really threatening a possible constitutional crisis that, again, would be of his own making and that he would hope to turn to his partisan advantage.
The miscalculations have been stunning. Mr. Harper’s strategy has accomplished already the near-impossible: to bring the Liberals and NDP together.
He had so many other, less partisan options at a time of economic crisis and grave national concern. That he acted in this fashion, at this time, was enormously revealing. And very sad.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081128.wcosimp29/BNStory/politics/home
By let them pay cash on 11.28.08 9:12 pm
http://caiti-online.blogspot.com/2008/11/harper-is-nothing-if-not-hypcrite.html
Harper’s letter to the Governor General of September 9, 2004
As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could be asked by the Prime Minister to dissolve the 38th Parliament at any time should the House of Commons fail to support some part of the government’s program. We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority. Your attention to this matter is appreciated.
-From a letter to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson signed by all three opposition leaders: Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton and Stephen Harper
(September 9, 2004)
Interesting that when Harper tries it – it’s for the good of the country – when others do – they are usurpers and traitors to democracy.
What exactly did the CPC and NDP have in common?
What I expect is a minority government to work with AT MINIMUM one other party. Harper works with no one (except for his first budget, where he threw billions at Quebec for the Bloc).
All Harper needed to do was consult one other party – but he figured he had them all running scared – “the Liberals have no leader, the NDP can’t grow their support, the Bloc and Quebec are busy with a Provincial election, none are in a position to stop me.”
Well buddy, you gambled, and you lost. If all this coalition does is to get Harper booted from leadership, it will be worth it. (I wonder what is going in backroom’s across CPC land today?)
Where does a person access the details of the “coalition” plans for their economic bailout? Strikes me that if they claim they’d bring down the elected government because of a failure to offer a sound plan it would be useful to see what they’re bringing to the table as an alternative. Links?
~Bill, don’t drink and post. It’s beneath you. L
By Leasa on 11.28.08 5:44 pm
And McCarthyism is beneath you too Fairy Gartmudder.
Mises on Inflation (1943):
It is essential to realize that what makes the economic crisis emerge is the public’s disapproval of the expansionist ventures made possible by the manipulation of the rate of interest. The collapse of the house of cards is a manifestation of the democratic process of the market.
It is vain to object that the public favors the policy of cheap money. The masses are misled by the assertions of the pseudo-experts that cheap money can make them prosperous at no expense whatever. They do not realize that investment can be expanded only to the extent that more capital is accumulated by savings. They are deceived by the fairy tales of monetary cranks from John Law down to Major C. H. Douglas. Yet, what counts in reality is not fairy tales, but people’s conduct. If men are not prepared to save more by cutting down their current consumption, the means for a substantial expansion of investment are lacking. These means cannot be provided by printing banknotes or by loans on the bank books.
In discussing the situation as it developed under the expansionist pressure on trade created by years of cheap interest rates policy, one must be fully aware of the fact that the termination of this policy will make visible the havoc it has spread. The incorrigible inflationists will cry out against alleged deflation and will advertise again their patent medicine, inflation, rebaptising it re-deflation. What generates the evils is the expansionist policy. Its termination only makes the evils visible. This termination must at any rate come sooner or later, and the later it comes, the more severe are the damages which the artificial boom has caused. As things are now, after a long period of artificially low interest rates, the question is not how to avoid the hardships of the process of recovery altogether, but how to reduce them to a minimum. If one does not terminate the expansionist policy in time by a return to balanced budgets, by abstaining from government borrowing from the commercial banks and by letting the market determine the height of interest rates, one chooses the German way of 1923.
Full Mises on Cheap Money:
http://mises.org/Manipulation/section5.asp
Read It. Digest It. Educate yourself.
THEN vote.
On US Government default:
“People who do not understand the Federal government, who do not understand inflation, and who do not understand the nature of the massive theft that is in store for them, ask the question: “When will the government default?” The answer to this question is obvious: it has been defaulting through price inflation since 1937. It has gotten away with this.” GN
At this rate, Canada is NOT that far away. Get ready.
I’ll bet we’ll see this measure slipped into some totally unrelated, but essential piece of legislation. Harper will make it a confidence vote, so that if the opposition votes it down, he’ll be able to say they voted against something that was needed.
We’ve seen it before from Harper.
By James – Chatham on 11.28.08 4:03 pm
Exactly what I’ve been thinking, James. I watched Flaherty on tv speaking at a function yesterday (Canadian Economic Club?) and he talked about how his economic update would help seniors (mother pie issue) and businesses.
I watched Question Period and almost every Conservative MP who spoke recited the same lines “the opposition isn’t interested in helping Canadians…they are only interested in their entitlements”. That phrase was used at least 20 times–they sounded like a bunch of pre-programmed robots.
——————-
If I remember correctly when Paul Martin won his minority Harper tried to negotiate the same kind of coalition with the NDP and the BQ. These backroom negotiations fell apart and became public when Jack Layton withdrew from the negotiations.
It seems from Harper’s speech tonight he forgot all about that.
By C. B. Innes on 11.28.08 7:04 pm”
—————————————
Wow Innes, I was not aware of this, as I was helping at a summer camp in that 2004 election. Would you happen to have a newslink to this, as i’m curious to learn more about this matter…
By Jordan Lester on 11.28.08 8:04 pm
Jordan (and/or Leasa), a newslink isn’t necessary. Many of us on this blog can attest to the fact that Harper tried to negotiate a coalition with the B.Q. I remember the NDP opting out of that “backroom deal”. Last night in his speech Harper criticized the Liberals for wanting to form a coalition with “a party that is out to destroy Canada”. Duceppe clearly stated that his party would not be part of a coalition, but would support one.
It is Harper’s hypocrisy that will do him in, in the end.
Oh my!
It’s Ok to dump the 10%er mailouts everywhere, but not to fund political parties.
To conservatives everywhere, where is your leader now?
Down and down you go, where you stop, no one knows.
Harper is not a leader, he is just easily led.
Get rid of public election financing in favor of corporate/private payoffs and bribes so that future elections can be bought outright… bring back gender pay inequality… and bust unions.
This is their hail mary.
By brain on 11.28.08 9:31 pm
Right on, Brain. Public financing for parties levels the playing field, and allows a party like the Green Party to slowly build its base. The Green Party needs this mechanism, and this country needs the Green Party. It is the “party of conscience”.
Last I looked, this was a democratic country.
After coming across a compilation of quotes by a Conservative woman, on myblagh, I felt sick. They pretty well despise any group that isn’t, well, them, the A-Listers’…
A further comment on Flaherty’s luncheon speech yesterday…he mentioned Garth at the beginning (a put down of course)and then later he said that “nobody predicted this financial crisis” (or words to that effect). My immediate response to the tv was “you should have read Garth’s blog”!
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/545795
Hard-right Tory ideology has put the PM in a bind
Nov 29, 2008 04:30 AM
Excerpt..
The only thing that links these targets is their place in the Conservative party pantheon of villains.
If there’s anything a red-meat Conservative hates more than a civil servant, it’s a unionized civil servant. Indeed, the only thing worse is an uppity, female, unionized civil servant who complains to a human rights commission (which red-meat Conservatives also hate) that she’s not paid enough.
In short, Flaherty’s update is a standard piece of hard-right Conservative ideology, released at a time when Harper is promising to be less ideological, and just days after the Prime Minister explained why he thought his party’s usual cut-and-squeeze nostrums wouldn’t solve the crisis.
It is this contradiction, as much as anything, that signals the Conservatives are neither serious nor united about tackling the economy. Putting off substantive action until February, as Flaherty has suggested, is arguably reasonable. Using recession as an opportunity to ride Conservative hobby horses is not.
From an economist…
The environment doesn’t vote,” said Desai. “You need people who are going to bring issues such as the environment to the forefront. Without funding, they won’t be able to do that.” Desai said the decision to stop funding equity litigation puts the cause of women workers, as well as that of minorities, back another few decades.
“We are putting Canada back to a 19th-century party system in which rich people will get representation and the rest won’t.”
Re: possible coalition government. A big question is leadership. I cannot see Dion taking the helm. If the Liberals allow their caucus to elect their leader, it will be Michael Ignatieff. That would allow them to cancel their May convention in Vancouver and save needed money.
If the leadership convention goes ahead then look for ex-banker John McCallum or rock solid Ralph Goodale to be interim leader of the coalition.
The notion of a coalition is picking up steam and I don’t see any way that Harper can avoid the defeat of his government other than to prorogue parliament. This would simply show him to be the chicken s*** bully that he is.
Things that go around, come around. Harper miscalculated the political fallout from his meaningless, but malicious economic update and will pay the price. All of the abuse etc. that he has thrown on the opposition parties is now coming back to haunt him.
Watch for the knives to come out quickly in the Conservative party making him a footnote in history and earning him 1st place in the political blunder hall of fame.
Ooooooooooo…Looks like Steve is genuinely worried…Not about canada of course, but his own arse.
Make Layton the PM. He at least has some charisma and relates to people. Go coalition GO!
“The only reason Harper’s crowd is in government, is because the left is composed of four (4) party’s, and the right has only one (1). Harpers right-wing crowd got 35% of the vote. The left-wing crowd got 64% of the vote but split amongst four parties. The Canadian mindset is left-center.”
This is from a blogger on the Toronto Star website. It has the ring of truth to it, and supports the idea of a coalition. If the Liberals and NDP can’t come to an agreement, and put political ideology aside, I’ll be very disappointed in them.
“However, it is completely misleading and irresponsible to attach the CPP fund to the national debt. Implicitly, the government has announced that the CPP fund will be used as collateral for future borrowing when in fact we in the House all know that the CPP fund exists for one reason and one reason only, to pay future CPP benefit payments.”
By Dor – York ON on 11.28.08 8:20 pm
Right out of the Rethuglican Handbook on ‘How To Destroy Democracy’. They did the same thing with U.S. Social Security, borrowing from it like drunken sailors to pay for their never ending Imperial wars.
GM did the same thing to their retired employess in November, 2007. I know personally because my dear brother worked for them for almost 40 years. He was then was asked to take an early retirement. He did, and had a full pension, medical coverage and everything. He died last year, and then his wife in December. Fortunately, my nephew got all the money out before GM tanked belly up. He saw it coming and acted to preserve a lifetime of effort and contribution for the family.
This is what people are getting from these narcissistic bastards and the Rethuglicans have allowed them to do it unregulated.
With Harper I could, have, and would agree with some of his recommendations, but it is his arrogant, attitude as a Bully, a spoiled brat prick that I reject. That position will not change because he is incapable of change. He is not and never will be my PM, because he is undeserving of such a level of respect due solely to his own persona. He is a power hungry, sociopathic pervert. Look at his eyes, his facial expressions. Do you call those normal?
Gee, and I thought I had seen the limit of angst with Bush. Bush is just a pathological liar and a retard (no offense meant to those who are mentally challenged), but Bush is not mentally challenged. He is the persona of a spoiled brat narcissictic moron, Whereas Harper is a mean spirited, sociopath lusting after power and his own warped ideology at any price to Canada.
I put Harper in the same psychological category as Joey Soprano, any punk gangster, or slimeball gangbanger.
Get rid of Harper ASAP. As ‘Air Farce: Final Flight’ siad last night ‘Our House of Commons is a pre-school for MP’s’. We not only deserve better, we must DEMAND BETTER.
Sorry Dion, you are NOT PM material. You should gracefully step down, and let either Bob Rae or Jack Layton take the helm. Rae has class, Layton has charisma. Either trait is better than the ‘Professor’ and a helluva lot better than the other professor who is an elitist arsehole IMHO.
Given a choice, I would opt for a coalition government all the time. That is real democracy, not this pissing contest for minority power that we have been sorely subjected to for the past three years by Harper.
Regarding functional coalition governments. Look to the NWT. There are no party affiliations, the MLA’s are elected as independents, and then select the best leader from those elected by the people to be the Premiere.
All legislation is passed based on a consensus of all the members, and that results in everyone being satisfied.
That is DEMOCRATIC PROCESS. We should try it in Oddawahahaha.
Legislation is not a hockey game. It is about each and every one of our futures and to pay these brats to carry on as they have, without benefit to all Canadians is grounds for a revolt.
Time to GROW UP people!
One of the “private consultants” touted by Jim Flaherty in support of his economic update describes Flaherty’s document in these terms: “a big shock”, “presto-chango”, “real surprise to us”, “it’s a strange document”, “why in hell would you want people tightening their belts in the middle of a recession?”, “a very strange response to some really trying times”, “I found the announcement yesterday bizarre” … etc. You get the picture:
Where does a person access the details of the “coalition” plans for their economic bailout? Strikes me that if they claim they’d bring down the elected government because of a failure to offer a sound plan it would be useful to see what they’re bringing to the table as an alternative. Links?
By simon on 11.29.08 7:56 am
It is ridiculous to believe that a coalition could have a ready made economic plan when the government has failed to develop one even with all the information at its disposal.
I don’t believe any of the parties thought that the Conservatives would be so reckless as to press forward such an ideological statement so soon in their mandate. However, this is a strategy that Harper advocated in the past and it seems that he may have miscalculated as to the stomach for his kind of his hard right ideology.
The government did not gain a mandate on this statement. This is the danger of making an election campaign a referendum on one person. Trying to enforce a personal ideological mandate in a minority government situation.
At least, if a coalition is created, the Prime Minister has given them a week to work out a preliminary economic plan. Once they are in government and have access to the necessary information it would be expected that the plan would be adjusted to meet the real conditions.
I doubt that the opposition will be able to put together a coalition but in politics anything is possible. All sides would have to be willing to make major compromises and I am not sure that the egos involved will be able to agree.
Leasa,
Your “Communist” comment with respect to the Opposition is an interesting one. In fact I’d say a Freudian slip, for you seem to have things backwards. When one thinks of Communism, what comes to mind is one-party government. Exactly the long term goal that Harper seems intent on engineering. (The context that you try to apply it to is a bad fit, a 3-party coalition). Now there is one revision that I’d say is required with Harper Conservatives, however, to make it more accurate: apply the closer model of Singapore. Authoritarian, only one ruling party since independence, absolutely obsessed with law-and-order, commerce trumps all, perpetually suing the token Opposition — what little there is — through laws tailored to favour the government. Yes, a fine “aspirational target” indeed.
Here’s a sampling of that last point, right out of the Cadman playbook:
2001 Elections:
2006 Elections:
2008 Lawsuit #3:
Hmmmm…. I suppose that should be enough to keep a coalition busy for at least 18 to 24 months – return Canada to its proper place in the world, turn our economy around, make Canada a model for social justice in the world, and return us to our recognized role as independent peace keepers. And, demonstrate to Canadians what a collaborative, progressive government is all about.
By TS on 11.29.08 1:19 am
TS, that was brilliant. Hopefully, some of the bigwigs in the Liberal party read this blog. Maybe you should send your “most excellent” list directly to Dion.
Simon: Harper has had 3 years to offer us a stimulus plan. Where is it?
Are you not annoyed with him?
You want a plan from a yet to be formed coaltion and are only willing to give them 3 days?? Hypocritical.
Canada was founded on a coalition of Liberals and Conservatives to create a nation in 1867.
The Party Sir John A led was the Liberal-Conservative Party.
I am confident that a coalition governmnet can be put together to save our economy.
Love it!
Fair enough
The point is that the aspiring “coalition” don’t have a stimulus plan available to share with anyone. So much for the need for urgent action on the economy.
It tortures credulity however to believe that the Liberals and NDP are starting with a blank sheet of paper to know what they’d do if they were in a position to actually move the economic levers in Canada.
Well put Zorpheous. I’m sure you speak with the same feelings many of us have. Their leaderless actions (CPC) are what leave me disgusted. And fighting mad.
Please do every Canadian a favour by sending your assessment to all opposition MPs. We need to do everything possible to put starch into the backs of these parliamentarians.
the present ‘leadership’ hell-bent on taking Canada down an ultra-conservative path
Charles Oxley on 11.29.08 1:47 am
lol, right left. The CPC is farther to the left than the LPC. Harper has used public money to buy assets from our banks, Socialism pure and simple. The left wants a stimulus package which is in every form trickle down economics which is by popular definition classic conservatism.
The fact is none of them have a plan because this isn`t a corporate problem, it`s a consumer problem. It would take 100`s of billions to bailout Canada, all our political parties are on the same plan, distract, dismiss, deny.
Your favs put out the GreenST when the economy was the election issue and couldn`t present a plan unless they were elected and only after 30 days. It didn`t even hold Harper to a minority, he did that himself in Quebec.
This blog represents the Liberals in Halton and Garth lost, anymore questions?
Don`t you find it curious how the multitude of political hacks on this site only respond to this observation with personal attacks in defense of our broken system. Many people come to this page for answers and are treated to bashing the opposition into losing.
Where`s the plan???? Ok how about anything you could base hope on? I can`t see turning this country around without replacing the system but at least it`s hope not based on convincing people to vote against the worst.
Technically we already have a co-co government so replacing it with a coalition won`t change anything. As I said before the last election it won`t make any difference which party wins or by how much. The bad news is regardless of the outcome your IT loses will not be coming back.
None of the above was the answer then and it still is.
the peasants has no credit
How do ya know I wasn’t talking about a riot of the hearts? LOL
BY LEASA ON 11.28.08 7:23 PM
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You ARE a riot.
(but ‘riot in your head’ explains a lot)LOL, as you say.
Leasa, did you see Bill Moyers last evening? (Nov. 28)
You’d be interested in several segments. He interviewed MICHAEL POLLAN, the author, most recently, of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”
He urges putting the interests of farmers, families and communities ahead of the fast-food industry’s. “For that industry and its apologists to imply that it is somehow more “populist” or egalitarian to hand our food dollars to Burger King or General Mills than to support a struggling local farmer is absurd.”
He explains exactly how “cheap food” is dishonestly priced — it is in fact unconscionably expensive.
Pollan calls food from the farmers, “sun-food” and that it needs to be better supported, on which you and I agree. Supporting small farmer builds on our agrarian past, but turns it toward a more sustainable, sophisticated future. It “honors the work of farmers and enlists them in the 21st century’s most urgent errands: to move into the post-oil era and to improve the health of the people”.
I think you’ll enjoy the interviews. His shows repeats (Sunday morning?). But all segments are available anytime at PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html
Or you can just read the transcript:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/transcript5.html
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Go Green, you probably saw the show, but if not, it’s very interesting to finally hear this kind of logical talk.
MICHAEL POLLAN’s open letter to Obama appeared in the NY Times Oct. 9 and you can find it either by googling The Food Issue – An Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief or try this link to that search:
http://tinyurl.com/6kce2h
Now THAT’s funny! Good one Bonnie N.
By Zorpheous on 11.29.08 3:03 am
I see you too have reached the point of saying ‘The Hell With It’ and have taken off the PC gloves.
While we both prefer the more civil approach, when the morons are threatening our country, we take up arms to defend Canada against these psychotic arseholes.
Words still are better than swords, but if they keep pushing then they may just find out how much they are NOT IN CONTROL!
Words motivate people to think, and that is still better than drawing the sword.
By Leasa on 11.28.08 10:05 pm
You are too idiotic to waste time with.
By Leasa on 11.28.08 10:05 pm
You are too idiotic to waste time with.
By Bill-Muskoka (not anymore) on 11.29.08 9:40 pm
Finally .
Canada’s version of sub prime. Flarehty introduced this in July of 2006
brain on 11.28.08 9:31 pm
A minority government can do nothing without the support of the opposition but lets not let fact get in the way of partisan finger pointing.
the peasants have no credit
By let them pay cash on 11.28.08 10:01 pm
Thanks for the correction. It was the Conservatives first budget that opened the door to CMHC mortgage deregulation that did pass the house of commons and I believe it was earlier than July but having said this, the oppostion parties had absolutely no way of knowing that the Conservatives would have goosed CMHC approved loans from 25 year 10% down to 40 year 1.5% down.
So its like this. We have the first Conservative government we’ve seen in 12 years and a minority one at that. The opposition had no choice but to avoid an election and give them a chance to govern, its as simple as that. But for you to say that the opposition is just as dirty on as the Cons on deciding CMHC mortgage approved loans should be bumped up to 40 year 1.5% down, I’d have to openly question your own morality and intelligence… just as I’m doing right now.