While the government cowers and the opposition squirms, while Stephen Harper licks his wounds and Stephane Dion contemplates rejection, while the economy disintegrates, houses devalue and Parliament is dark, there is something else for you to worry about. Something big. Disturbing.
Do you know what’s backing your money? You should. Because in the last 90 days this has changed drastically. There’s a big gamble been taken by politicians which was never explained, never debated, never questioned, and yet could affect us all.
Here is the way the system is supposed to work, and until this autumn, did.
* Our money’s printed by the Mint and backed by the Bank of Canada. The central bank is expected to hold assets equal to the amount of cash in circulation, which is more than $50 billion.
* Because our nation no longer owns gold reserves, our money is backed by the safest of securities, long-term government bonds and Treasury bills. This is what gives our money true value. At least, until recently.
But in the last 90 days, without public notice, the Bank of Canada has sold off more than $11 billion of those secure T-bills, plus cashed in billions more of its bonds. As stock market researcher John Paul Koning discovered last week, the central bank now lists on its balance sheet a stunning $32.4 billion in “other” assets, which comprise a whopping 42% of everything it owns.
That means more than two-fifths of the total assets backing our money supply is – what, exactly?
Well, let’s flip back a month to the middle of November, when finance minister Jim Flaherty announced the federal government was purchasing $50 billion in residential mortgages from the Big Six banks, following an earlier deal to buy another $25 billion in mortgages. “At a time of considerable uncertainty in global financial markets, this action will provide Canada’s financial institutions with significant and stable access to longer-term funding,” he said, adding, “with no additional risk to the taxpayer.”
So, the “other” assets the Bank of Canada has swapped for secure, near-cash holdings appear to be tens of billions of dollars in high-ratio mortgages. The money to buy those assets apparently came from the central bank, through CMHC, and ended up in the vaults of the Big Six banks. It’s also believed that the Bank of Canada has been buying up other commercial bank liabilities, such as credit card debt.
In fact, the central bank was at it again yesterday. On its web site, the Bank of Canada announced it’s buying another $1 billion in “private sector money market instruments” on Monday.
So, what are these mortgages with tens of billions that now stand behind a good chunk of our money? They are loans given to people who bought houses with little or no money down, many of whom purchased before October 15th, when it was still okay to buy a home with a 0% down payment and to take out an amortization of 40 years. The government, under intense criticism that these were Canadian equivalents of the disastrous US subprime mortgages, chucked them two months ago.
So, here we are. The Big Banks have unloaded tens of billions of dollars in potentially toxic assets to the Bank of Canada, which cashed in ultra-secure investments to hand over cash. The federal government orchestrated this in order to make the commercial banks more secure. But in doing so, what’s it done to our currency? As Koning wrote in an article in the Financial Post last week, “Our central bank has swapped a sure thing: a large chunk of liquid and non-volatile AAA-rated government debt, for a slew of ‘other’ assets whose nature remains uncertain to everyone but bank insiders, assets which are inherently more volatile and less liquid than government debt.”
That this compromising of our money supply could happen is alarming. That it could take place without citizens being told is shocking.
Why didn’t the finance minister explain his actions? Did he understand them? Where were the opposition watchdogs? What happens now if unemployment and falling house values turn some of those mortgages worthless, as happened in the US?
Let’s hope this comes to light on the floor of the House of Commons.
Oh wait. It’s locked.
241 comments ↓
Thanks Garth
This should be front page news, yet it takes an “unemployed” ex-MP blogger to find it and tell us.
Forget hidden-agendas, this is just the latest example of these guys actively dismantling my country by “stealth”. And I am sure it is just the tip of the ice berg.
There’s a big gamble been taken by politicians which was never explained, never debated, never questioned, and yet could affect us all. – Garth
And has never been voted on in the HoC, or by the citizens of Canada.
Just goes to show how Harper is spinning the confidence showdown and the coalition. There are many things which we the citizens don’t get to vote on.
Glad to see you’re still on the ball Garth. If these toxic securities become worthless, who will bail out the BoC and the Loonie will be worth 40c US or less? Or is this a Harper plan to make the Loonie worthless so we have to adopt the less than almighty greenback?
How can we diversify our savings?
I have nothing but savings, and moving money into new currencies is expensive.
And the hyper partisan CPC supporters wonder why the majority of CANADIANS do not trust the Harperites.
What is really scary to me, is they, too, are not aware of what is really happening, yet they blindly spout the Party line. Their Party is doing more behind closed doors, without any form of “trnasparency” than ANY previous government.
Is their hate for anything not CRAP so intense they are blind?
“There are none so blind as those who will not see”.
Wow, is this why our dollar is tanking?
That is shocking ! I wondered where that 75 billion was coming from as they preached a surplus.Makes me wonder how much more has went on behind our backs.How can a minority government make these kind of decisions?
Central banks around the world are doing this to stave off a deflationary armageddon. The US Fed has more than doubled its balance sheet in a couple of months.
There would be NO mortgage money in Canada right if the government wasn’t buying mortgage bonds. It would be an immediate housing meltdown. In a deflationary scare, the government is the lender of last resort to keep money velocity in the economy. That is what the BOC and other central banks are doing. The world economy is suffering a heart attack, and the central banks are trying desparately to keep the blood flowing…i.e. money velocity in the economy.
In Canada, it isn’t so bad, because the government already is liable for the mortgage bonds because they insure them. So a less visible liability that already exists just becomes a visible one. The liability if the bonds go bad really hasn’t changed.
Secondly, the mortgage bonds the government is buying are basically 5-year bonds, because although most mortgages are amortized over 30 years, they are only 5-year mortgages. They are nothing like the 30-year mortgage bonds that are being bought in the US which are real 30-year bonds amortized over 30 years.
Plus, since the mortgage default rate in Canada is still so low, the Bank of Canada is actually making a lot of money on the deal because of the spread between 5-years Canada Treasuries and 5-year mortgage bonds.
The government and the Bank of Canada are doing the right thing here. But keeping the financial system afloat is NOT enough. Governments also are going to have to be the spender of last resort, because being the lender of last resort is insufficient to prevent a global deflationary depression.
if people and corporations stop borrowing and spending, and hunker down in fear and in cash, than governments have to borrow and spend.
Garth, the Bank of Canada sold us out when they sold off ALL our gold at $250/oz.
Effectively, what this means is that now all the wealth we have is dependent on and backed by some future promise by someone to repay it.
If those promises aren’t kept (and it looks as if many of them cannot possibly be), we will be in for much the same experience as our fellow Commonwealth member, Zimbabwe.
Well, It appears Mark Carney is just another Tory hack almost fresh from the Tory Finance Department. Isn’t that where he was plucked from by Harper, Garth?
I hope you will forward a copy of your post to The Star, the Globe and western papers such as the Calgary Herald. This needs more daylight, Garth. It is seriously quite shocking.
Gosh, Halton lost a good watchdog and a critical voice in our parliament.
Thanks for your concern, Garth.
Just throwing this out there.
The plan for devaluing the currency has been going on for a number of years, beginning with the Bush administration. A 700 billion dollar bailout package, that was pushed through after it was rejected at first?
It should have remained rejected! ‘Bailouts’ serve the rich and powerful, while stealing value from the currency as a hidden tax on the people. What we are seeing is the INTENTIONAL widening of the gap between the rich and the poor.
A question–for example if 50% of these mortgages become worthless (which most likely will happen probably more) what would be the impact on our money? Also i am quite shocked to read they are buying up credit card debt (what security is there in that for the taxpayers?
Garth – do you have a link to Koning’s original article in the Financial Post?
Those mortgages were mostly backed by CMHC and the government was on the hook in any event. But, I think that if any more liquidity needs to be pumped into the banking system, there’s an easier way: give every Canadian who filed an income tax return last year a certificate worth $500 which could only be placed in a tax exempt savings account and which cannot be withdrawn for something like 3 years. The banks get the liquidity and because they are paying account holders interest, they will be forced to lend the money to make a profit. That gets rid of the liquidity problem.
As far as worrying about house values, isn’t better to think that the only people who have to worry about the value of their home are those who are moving and will need to sell their home and real estate agents worried about their commissions. Those who own their houses and have absolutely no plan to move have no need to worry, in the short term, about what their house is worth. A home is first of all a home and only then a long term investment.
Call it old fashioned, but every investment should be considered in the light of the investor’s intentions. If I own shares in NS Power, I shouldn’t be looking for short term gains, only the safety of the investment, the expected dividends and long term growth in value.
Except for when Chretien had that manager fired who called in his buddy’s loan…have the people ever been told what is going on at the B.O.C.? Do things usually come before the HoC? Not that I remember. Maybe they can have every headline screaming this so people can panic. Would that be good for the economy?
That was the BDC – Business Development Bank of Canada – not the Bank of Canada. Try to keep up. — Garth
By the way, thank you Mr. Turner for remaining a guardian of Canada in spite of the dirty deeds of that prick Harper.
Are the “Golden” years coming?
http://seekingalpha.com/article/109210-the-manipulation-of-gold-prices
by James Laxer, a professor at York University
Friday, December 05, 2008
Canada’s Choice: the Liberal-NDP Coalition or One Man Rule
As the debate continues about who should hold the reins of power in Ottawa, the urgency of the economic situation, the underlying cause of the debate, has become unmistakably evident.
Stephen Harper and his Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, have been portraying Canada as an island of economic stability in a turbulent world. Everyone with any sense, however, knew that the global storm was about to break on the shores of this country, as it now has with resounding fury.
In November, Canadians lost 71,000 jobs, with Ontario bearing the brunt with a loss of 66,000 jobs. Right at the centre of it was the shedding of 42,000 manufacturing jobs in the province.
Canada’s loss of jobs, the worst in a single month since the recession of 1982, was three times as high as economic forecasters had expected.
The Conference Board of Canada anticipates that in the crisis-ridden auto sector, another 15,000 jobs will be lost before the New Year.
Worse still, while Harper fiddles, Canada’s share of North American auto jobs could be dramatically reduced as a result of talks and potential bankruptcies south of the border. The federal government, the provinces, the auto makers and the CAW should be agreeing right now on a plan to save our auto industry.
In the forestry sector, tens of thousands of jobs have been shed in recent months. Two hundred mills have shut down over the past five years, over half of these shutdowns seen as permanent. In one-industry towns in the B.C. interior, what for others is a recession, has become a full-blown depression.
In Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland, the AbitibiBowater paper mill is about to close. Four hundred and fifty workers will be out of a job. The economic future of the entire community is at stake.
Even the formerly high-flying petroleum sector is seeing plans for expansion being put on hold by Petro-Canada and Suncor.
Job loss, belt-tightening, severe dislocation in many communities is now the order of the day. The economic crisis the Harper government failed to anticipate is here.
Stephen Harper’s response to the economic crisis was an almost incomprehensible failure to act, and when this cost him the loss of the confidence of the majority of MPs, he turned to scapegoating the Quebecois, and he has now hijacked the federal government.
The response of all shades of Quebec opinion to Harper’s onslaught against the legitimacy of the province’s MPs makes clear that the Conservative leader is in the process of provoking a national unity crisis for which he alone will be responsible.
There is only one possible road ahead to restore political sanity and parliamentary rule to the country so that Ottawa can deal effectively with the economic malaise—the formation of a Liberal-NDP coalition government. The alternative is the one-man rule of Stephen Harper. In the absence of a move by moderate Conservatives to force Harper to resign as their party leader, there will be no middle ground.
Despite the bad video of the ever hapless Stephane Dion and the ranting of the ever witless Jim Karygiannis, the supporters of the coalition need to stay the course. Many temptations will be put in their path. The Globe and Mail, to take one example, will plead that even if Harper will not resign, he could be purged of his sins by walking barefoot to Canossa. I don’t buy it. This Holy Roman Emperor is not redeemable.
To emerge into the land of the sane, we will all have to do our part. That includes those who will attend rallies across the country tomorrow in support of the coalition. It needs, as well, to include the full-time support of Michael Ignatieff, who is very effective when he shows up.
Meanwhile in the spirit of the Season, I wish to bestow kudos on three individuals I’ve often criticized in the past.
First, Jack Layton. This week has been his finest. He has explained more clearly than anyone else why we need the coalition. In the midst of the taunts of Stephen Harper, Layton has kept the country on track by pointing out the ways Canadians are suffering as a result of the economic crisis.
Second, Bob Rae. He got it right yesterday when he said that there is no turning back from the course the coalition has set. The reasons Harper has to go cut to the very centre of the way we run our government. Rae’s cross-country tour to make the case for the coalition provides leadership we sorely need.
Third, CBC Television’s Don Newman. His interview with Transport Minister John Baird was an exercise in skillful surgery. With grace and wit, Newman (who knows more facts about Canadian politics than any other mortal) didn’t allow Baird to get away with the lies and half-truths on which the Conservatives have rested their case.
posted by James Laxer @ 11:35 AM 11 comments
West suffering from a CRAP ATTACK? Oh the gas pain!
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Oblivious+Tories+still+only+hope/1039848/story.html
70,600 jobs lost in November. 3 more of our gallant soldiers killed yesterday. Now I have learned of this issue. Where is our government, off for 7 weeks. We pay large salaries to our representatives a majority of whom would like to be at work right now. What a mess.
There would be NO mortgage money in Canada right if the government wasn’t buying mortgage bonds. It would be an immediate housing meltdown.
whyshouldIsellyourwheat on 12.06.08 1:42 pm
There seems to be a bit of a disconnect in your logic.
The current housing meltdown didn`t pick up speed till after the banks were refinanced with new mortgage money. That would suggest a shortage of buyers. This could be due to a lack of buyers with enough credit or wholesale departure of eligible buyers. I think you`ll find the problem is a broke consumer that has spent past the ability to pay. I can cite increased credit card defaults and foreclosures as fact.
You might want to check the real estate numbers on mortgages declined over credit issues as further indications on the status of consumer spending power.
http://www.jameslaxer.com/blog.html
Saturday, December 06, 2008
The Liberals Must Now Endure the Twelve Temptations
According to the ancient myth (I just made this one up), when men and women set out on a righteous course, they must endure twelve temptations calculated to lure them from their path.
So it now is for the Liberal Party, which is being sorely enticed to abandon the coalition with the NDP and seek an accommodation with Stephen Harper.
The first temptation came today in the form of an op ed piece in the Globe and Mail by John Manley, former deputy prime minister and minister of finance.
Technically still a Liberal, Manley has long served the cause of neo-conservatism and even that of the Harper government. He was the Canadian co-Chair of a commission whose goal was to promote the much deeper integration of the Canadian economy with that of the United States. A year ago, he offered succor to the Conservatives when he served as the head of their panel on Afghanistan, helping them to stave off criticism of Canada’s military role in a conflict which most Canadians do not support.
Manley’s advice to the Liberals is that the party’s national executive and parliamentary caucus should pick a new leader to replace Stephane Dion before Christmas. The first job of that leader should be to “rebuild the Liberal Party, rather than leading a coalition with the NDP.”
When the House resumes in late January—here Manley is at his most beguiling as the tempter—the Liberals should work “collaboratively with all other parties to restore the confidence of Canadians in their Parliament.”
Go back to work, under the Harper government, he is saying. Forget about the coalition and the plan to turn the Conservatives out of office.
The upshot of his advice, of course, is that the neo-Cons would remain at the helm. And then when Harper wants an election sometime down the road, he’ll get to choose the circumstances and the timing.
There is only one chance for the coalition to replace the Harper government and that is at the end of January before the Speech from the Throne or the Budget are passed. That course is precisely what Manley wants to prevent.
In the coming days, the other tempters will appear, some in more diaphanous apparel than Manley’s garb. According to the myth, each temper will be more beseeching than the ones who came before.
Liberals should remember though, that if they give in to temptation, awaiting them will be Stephen Harper and that he will visit upon them a terrible pestilence that will afflict them and their heirs to the end of days.
posted by James Laxer @ 2:51 PM
This is extremely disturbing. Especially since falling commodities prices and low interest rates are placing downward pressure on the canadian dollar. wow, we are really not as secured as we thought.
Not factored into all of the above is that crude oil futures on the New York and London exchanges closed at $40.98 and $37.9x Friday. One analyst has predicted that oil could crash to $25.xx a barrel. At these prices, not even the conventional crude oil supplies in Canada are economically viable. If the auto industry giants are allowed to fail, followed by one or more of the banks, expect to see several oil companies go to! Alberta and Albertans must learn that they are not an Island unto themselves! As go the economy of Central Canada so goes the whole of Canada! Printing more money, or adopting some other currency does not solve the crisis of no jobs, and no confidence in the economy. Also cheap oil is not a solution if the oil companies go bankrupt that is no oil!
I’ve said it before, we need the government to buy all the oil/gas produced and resell it at guaranteed fixed prices but rationed fairly and equally. Speculation in oil futures was only one of the elements in this economic collapse, but it can be removed as a problem from future situations. It would guarantee the oil companies a fair price for production, and if citizens over use their quota, then they would have to buy someone elses unused quota at what ever they will charge.
Now explain to me what the Federal government will do with the potentially thousands of houses that will have to be repossessed? Are they going to have to rent them out to the welfare organizations that will have to care for the homeless families? What a stupid damn mess this is turning out to be!
Mary Walsh for Governor General….we need someone who’s more serious!
Just got back from the Toronto rally at City Hall….it was awesome.
Huge crowd despite freezing cold.
Mary Walsh opened the event up and then Dion and Layton each spoke. All were great.
Closed with Mary Walsh…….who would make a great Governor General by comparison to the present comedienne holding that office.
I drove past Queens Park to get to City Hall.
The Harperites were having their mini rally at Queens Park with a modest turnout of flag wrapped fanatics and former followers of Reverend Jimmy Jones.
Meanwhile the major league game in town was the Coalition Rally at City Hall….after all we are the MAJORITY in Parliament, which is why Harper closed it. Coward.
You’re the hypocrite. You want to take the voice away from western Canada and give it to the separatist losers (That’s Garth’s term, not mine)
What about when the Lieberals had a majority, how many times did they shove crap through parlament?
Look in the mirror hyporite. You and Barb-the-barf-bag.
BY LOONIELEFTWINGERS ON 12.06.08 11:44 AM
All Canadians wanted it did they? Like all Canadians want to spend 1.8 Billion a month and lose Canadian lives for WHAT? Why are they in Afghanistan for?
You tell your man Stevie to bring a picture of himself and give it to Asper at the Human Rights museum sod turning ceremony. Asper can hang it right next to Pinochet. A $40 million taxpayer FARCE since which tourists from abroad would ever take it seriously?
Afghanistan is a JOKE just as Canada is a JOKE. Bring our troops HOME!
Thanks for posting Mr. Garth. Didn’t someone from higher up in Bank of Canada just resign after 14 years employment there?
The leveraging is troublesome.
Except for when Chretien had that manager fired who called in his buddy’s loan…have the people ever been told what is going on at the B.O.C.? Do things usually come before the HoC? Not that I remember. Maybe they can have every headline screaming this so people can panic. Would that be good for the economy?
That was the BDC – Business Development Bank of Canada – not the Bank of Canada. Try to keep up. — Garth
By Leasa on 12.06.08 3:03 pm
………..
Like I said, LYING LEASA, the stench permeates this blog every time she opens her foul mouth and spews more lies.
Leasa, how do you sleep at night knowing in your heart that you are SUCH a liar?
Perhaps, just like that prick Harper, you too are a SOCIOPATH?
In keeping with Garth’s post thus far . . .
****************************************
Dear Sirs,
In view of what seems to be happening internationally with banks at the moment, I was wondering if you could advise me.
If one of my cheques is returned marked “insufficient funds,” how do I know whether that refers to you or me? Maybe we’re both broke and don’t know it.
Sincerely,
Your Customer
****************************************
A few links re: gold. Part of two paras. reads as follows:
“. . . It will bleed to death, maybe rather slowly, even if no other hits, blows, or shocks are dealt to the system. Very few people realize what is going on and, of course, official sources and the news media won’t be helpful to them to explain the significance of all this. . . . Gold going to permanent backwardation means that gold is no longer for sale at any price, whether it is quoted in dollars, yens, euros, or Swiss francs. The situation is exactly the same as it has been for years: gold is NOT FOR SALE at any price quoted in Zimbabwe currency, however high the quote is. To put it differently, all offers to sell gold are being withdrawn, whether it concerns newly mined gold, scrap gold, bullion gold or coined gold. . . .” — http://tinyurl.com/6obzyr http://tinyurl.com/5jyzjp http://tinyurl.com/68ejhn
Intro. to the second link is:
“Well, since at least 1972, the price of gold futures has been higher than the spot price of gold — a condition called ‘contango’ by futures traders.
“But on December 2 / ’08, for pretty much the first time ever, the futures price went below the spot price – what futures traders call “backwardation” – and has stayed there for several days. . . . Fekete argues that this means that gold owners are hoarding their gold and simply won’t sell, because (1) they’re not confident that they’ll be able to buy it back in the future, and (2) they have lost all faith in paper currency.”
———–
“Toxic cash?” Yes, it is very big and disturbing and, to a large extent it was going to happen anyway.
It is easy to realize why CRAP took a time out — to buy time, and along with their zionist neo-con friends, to keep the downward spiral we’re in now quickening in pace and to eventually run folk into the ground. Taxing ITs was the first of many steps.
A while back, I speculated that the greenback, loonie and peso would run their course, finish and the Amero would be introduced as a single currency. This would make things considerably easier for a small group (which is what CRAP wants) to control CANAMEX.
The Eurozone has one currency — the Euro, and Sarkozy (one of zionism’s friends, as is harpo) is in the chair for the present and hence, promoting their ideals while using verbal garbage to keep sheeple off base.
“. . . this compromising of our money supply could happen is alarming.” Paper currency is outmoded, there just needed to be right people in the right place at the right time for the right reason to set all this in motion.
What will eventually transpire is that those who “THINK” they control the world are in for a surprise, as they will see the only thing they can control is themselves, nothing more.
There are forces far greater than us at work here, which many do not understand.
———–
BTW, there is a 57-second video of Coke and Pepsi, which are now used as pesticides on farmland. Rum and Coke, anyone?!
———–
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY! — “In any society the dominant groups are the ones with the most to hide about the way society works.” — Barrington Moore, 20th century philosopher
The conservatives are looking and carrying on like crazed rabid animals.
By Leasa on 12.06.08 3:03 pm
So Catherine is manning the Leasa persona at the disinformation desk I gather from the level of your recent posts.
You folks really need to let her go.
Well, well, well! How deep is the well?
So, now we learn that the Bitch Doctor (aka Steve ‘the Sleeve’ Harper) has brewed up another fine concoction and had his trusty Dim Wit, Jimmy The Mouth Flatulance, peddle it about.
Isn’t that just precious?
Okay, I’m in I want Park Place for $100,000 Cdn. That would be the REAL one in Toronto. Oh, and please put it all on my Master (of Voodoo economics) Card because somethings are worthless, er priceless.
Can I bid on the Parliament Buildings too? Can I, can I, huh? How about $0.02 Cdn? Note: I plan to turn it into a Homeless Shelter as it now fits the requirements. Abandoned, in poor repair, and formerly occupied by some very naughty people, and right acorss the street from the other LOSER, the U.S. Embarassy.
Grab those bargains while they last folks. This opportunity will never come again. (God, I need some Don Cherry suits to fit the part perfectly!)
Garth said: Because our nation no longer owns gold reserves, …
I am aware that a number of Central Banks have been playing games with their gold reserves, but Canada being a gold mining nation, I had assumed that the Bank of Canada would maintain some type of minimal gold reserve. I wonder if Barrick Gold is involved in this somehow, since they and JP Morgan were working together to manipulate the price of gold.
For example, the Americans list a high amount of gold on their balance sheet, but it has not been audited for at least 15 years. I have read a variety of stories that the gold in Fort Knox may have been moved offshore in the 1970s and may not have been replaced. Watch to see what happens with the COMEX this month. A lot of ETF contract buyers are demanding physical gold deliveries this month.
I have been wondering why The Powers To Be have directed PM Harper to create this recent turmoil in the Parliament and with the population at large. There was no obvious reason to speculate about.
Here is some more bad news. After hearing a remark that Harper could continue to keep the House prorogued for as long as he wanted to, I did a little bit of research. In general, that is true.
The last election was on October 8 and April 8 would be six months. I suspect that Harper will keep Parliament shut down until at least April 8, regardless of what he may have promised the GG.
Harper would then look at what is happening with the Global Crisis, and then determine if he should recall Parliament or call another election. However, if the people who are expecting the American Financial System to collapse during the summer of 2009 are correct, then Harper might only recall Parliament for an emergency session where there will be no chance for having a confidence vote.
So it looks like TPTB will continue to have things their own way unless the Revolution begins before then.
With this kind of news, it is difficult to maintain a positive point of view about the near future.
By the end of 2009, we will probably be integrated into the NAU and associated with the EU using a new Digital form of Currency.
Cheers.
Thanks for pointing this out Garth…if only one of the major media outlets will take at this too.
Austin
What we are seeing is the INTENTIONAL widening of the gap between the rich and the poor.
By Ninjadoctor on 12.06.08 2:36 pm
And that leads to revolution and then we start all over again.——-minus a few heads.
If the coup wasn`t enough to push Canada closer to a depression than the 40/0 already has unloading the cost of a low dollar export trading advantage,,, again,,, but this time on an already broke consumer, is fast tracking a depression.
Garth said it, “that`s the way Parliament works”.
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.06.08 3:31 pm
I wish you dunder heads would stop trying to call the coalition a “coup”
A “coup” is when a MINORITY steals power, usually by force.
You show your lack of any education when you use words that you do NOT understand.
Typical of the harpo’crits. Dummies that you are.
I wish you dunder heads would stop trying to call the coalition a “coup”
Typical of the harpo’crits. Dummies that you arre.
By A.R.Wainwright on 12.06.08 6:18 pm
I don`t share the importance you place on calling it a coup or a power grab compared to the subject of the post, an economic depression. lol, hope you`re not anyones financial advisor.
The major media in Canada will not run with this information. They are all controlled by three families who are all ultra right wing and support that prick Harper.
Here is what you can do to help!
Many media outlets have “comments” sections. Some also have blogs.
Post a link to this story on blogs and comment sections where ever you can find them. With the number of readers here, if we all just put a little effort into posting everywhere that we can, the message will be read.
Visit as many of your favorite media outlets and post a link to this story.
Copy this link :
http://www.garth.ca/weblog/2008/12/06/toxic-cash/
to your clipboard by highlighting it and RIGHT clicking your mouse and choose COPY.
Then when you want to put the link into a comment, right click and select PASTE.
Spend an hour (or two or more if you can) and spread the word. If enough eyeballs read this it could make a difference.
Mr. Turner, can we call ourselves GARTHS ARMY?
: )
Bocanut: Stop living in the past and focus on what the current ruler is doing. Harper has become the most divisive P.M. in history–he is really a disabler.
Perhaps, just like that prick Harper, you too are a SOCIOPATH?
By ben on 12.06.08 5:09 pm
“The main characteristic of a sociopath is a disregard for the rights of others. Sociopaths are also unable to conform to what society defines as a normal personality. Antisocial tendencies are a big part of the sociopath’s personality.
Let’s examine just one past action of Jean Chretien one of the greatest sociopaths in Canadian political history who just recently slithered out of retirement to save Canada by brokering a deal with the seperatists.I suppose the margin of 50.58% “No” to 49.42% “Yes” in the ’95 referendum wasn’t good enough for the Bloq.
This is what happened to anyone who dared challenge “Da Boss”:
“He was smeared in the media. His cottage and home were raided, not by police, but by BDC lawyers and accountants. Incredibly, a judge had authorized the search. Meanwhile, Carle was on the phone to Chrétien’s office, co-ordinating statements in the media and the Commons. Judge Denis would later describe this as “incredible ”
http://joantintor.blogspot.com/2007/06/another-liberal-leader-who-charted-his.html
And the hyper partisan CPC supporters wonder why the majority of CANADIANS do not trust the Harperites.
By maybe Rhino? on 12.06.08 1:35 pm
Far less do not trust the Liberals ands far less still do not trust the NDP. That fact is Chretien earned a majority with the same % of the vote that Harper received.
Another fact is that only two governments in the last 50 years received more then 50% of the vote share and both of them were Conservative Governments. The first one was Diefenbaker in 1958 with 53.7& and the Mulroney in 1984 with 50.03%. This history doesn’t bode well for the Liberals and NDP.
IN our system ,the winner is the party who gets the most seats and the vote share means very little. So this talk about the NDP and Liberals getting a COMBINED more vote share is just spin and means nothing. So let the public decide in a vote.
What is this coalition afraid of? History perhaps.
By Bill-Muskoka (not anymore) on 12.06.08 6:00 pm
Hey Billy, I am RLMFAO! Good one. BTW a well is a hole in the ground, drop in and have a drink sometime, it is very cool and refreshing, but remember to wear your wet suit!
By A.R.Wainwright on 12.06.08 6:18 pm
This COUP IS a minority stealing power. They could not do it without the Bloc. Ergo, by your own definition, a coup we have. L
That was the BDC – Business Development Bank of Canada – not the Bank of Canada. Try to keep up. — Garth
By Leasa on 12.06.08 3:03 pm
Okay, point to Garth, sort of. The content of my reply is still relevant. How often has anything to do with either bank been brought before parliament? (excluding when the opposition of the day went to bat for that poor bank manager) L
Okay, I’m in I want Park Place for $100,000 Cdn. That would be the REAL one in Toronto.
By Bill-Muskoka (not anymore) on 12.06.08 6:00 pm
There is no REAL Park Place in Toronto.
This is stunning..
By Leasa on 12.06.08 7:17 pm
Leasa im very curious as to why you support harper still?Were you fortuate enough to be a benificary of one of his vote buying schemes?Are you related to him? Does your job depend on him staying in power? The facts are the facts why don’t you acknowledge them?—Waiting for your reply.
Leasa: A “coup” is an illegal takeover.
The coalition is legal, democratic and parliamentary.
Global National points out that Israel has been a Coalition Government for a long, long time, and with 18 political parties participating.
Couldn’t hoirt, eh?
What these neo-cons power perverts can’t grasp is in a democracy ALL people are represented. They want a two party system like the U.S. because their widdle minds cannot conceive of more than two sides, Black & White. They, of course, being God’s Chosen (Just ask them) think they are the White that is right.
What a bunch of moronic maroons!
Thanks for pointing this out Garth…if only one of the major media outlets will take at this too.
Austin
BY AUSTIN SO ON 12.06.08 6:08 PM
I don’t think anyone is paying attention except for some economists and maybe a few on Bay st.
What have we got to sell? CPP? Are we going to go to IMF or World Bank? Put CPP up as collateral? Let them dictate how the money is invested? Sell our buildings in this market?
Does anyone know what account the infrastructure money is being held in? Perhaps that’s why they’re delaying the spending???
It is not a coup. More like a coop…Chicken coop that is!
And I’s knows chickens!
By A.R.Wainwright on 12.06.08 6:18 pm
This COUP IS a minority stealing power.
By Leasa on 12.06.08 7:17 pm
Leasa, you know perfectly well Wain was trying to change channels from the thread topic. You elicit enough off topic posts on your own, mind not encouraging the other trolls, thx.
Van and Leasa/Catherine, spin all you want, it doesn’t make a lick of difference.
The current situation proves that the Conservative Party of Canada is waiting for Obama. Even though they dis him, they are like the little dog dancing around the big dog. Spike, I believe his name was. I understand the game. Just say so. It’s ok.
You know what? You know what? As Howie Mandell used to say; no one gives a rat’s ass about your reflections on Ghosts of elections/parties/leaders/gimmicks past. At this point in time.
What people in the street and in fields care about is putting a head on the Headless Horseman, and getting on with it without selling our soul to get there.
Please, for the Love God, say something intelligent.
Your Messiah has attacked the unity of our Country. The fine and tenuous balance that has been struck. I expected better from Mr. Harper. His lackies, not so much.
For me, this isn’t about the coalition, it’s about Leadership and what people will do to dishonor themselves, the Canadian People, and especially those who are not politically astute and aware.
Thinking Canadians of all political stripes, agnostics and other are not served by autocracy. It can lead to dark places.
What we have isn’t a great deal. It’s flawed and it’s corrupt, but for now, it’s all we have. Let’s not advocate that it tear itself apart until we are willing to make the necessary changes. That being;
Electoral Revolution.
BTW, I’m still accepting applications.
Van : what you fail to acknowledge is that in our system a “minority” government needs the confidence of the majority of elected M.P.’s.
Remove the question mark and you would have a perfect description of the millions of dollars stolen by the Libs during Adscam.
BY BOCANUT ON 12.06.08 2:27 PM
Nut,
Harper raped Canada.
Harper blew the $13 Billion surplus he was handed.
Harper screwed seniors for $35 billion in IC’s.
Harper flung $75 billion to the wind.
Adscam was a civil servant and ad agency for the most part. A civil servant moved millions, and it looks as though there was an obvious attempt to obfuscate the theft and future guilt by associating it with party funds. The snake in charge of sponsorship, was that Conservative Civil Servant, Chuck Guite. Hmm. I would think he did just that, so if caught, he’d have a running start to get away before they noticed it was him. Good thing they caught him, thanks to Paul Martin calling an immediate inquiry.
Harper has robbed Canada blind of Billion and Billions of our dollars. Canada may not recover from Harper’s rape of the country for a very long and terrible decade, probably much longer than that.
A couple of other things. The Con posters faux sympathy for Mr. Dion is beyond hypocritical. It’s ghoulish.
Personally, I respect a Man who endures the ridicule of the self centered wolves of our world, in an attempt to make it a better place, as he sees it, over those whose motives are driven by the instincts of the piranha.
Political death before dishonor Mr. Dion. Even though I didn’t agree with your strategies, I respect you.
If only you had listened to us, the progressives, on the Afghanistan vote . Sam, Sam pick op thy musket Sam.
You too Garth.
100 and counting.
Thanks John L. Cheers to you!
This COUP IS a minority stealing power. They could not do it without the Bloc. Ergo, by your own definition, a coup we have. L
By Leasa on 12.06.08 7:17 pm
Ok. Leasa, you can turn off the Harper recording.
Forgetting that you beloved leader was in bed with the Bloq in 2005, and his predecessor, Stockwell, was using the same sheets in 2000; how do you think the Harper minority government managed to survive as long as it did?
It needed the support of one of the opposition parties. No surprise there, its a minority. But which party was the one that propped it up. The Bloq.
So Harper is once again showing he is a hypocrite; do as I say not as I do.
But that was then. Today we need a government that has the confidence of the house. As the protestors shown on the previous link state, “We voted, Now make it work!”
Harper has shown he hasn’t got the confidence of the house, although until he allows a vote, his record is still clean. He no longer has the support of one of the opposition parties. He is a lame duck.
The Lib-NDP coalition, which is constitutionally permissable and legal, now has the support of the Bloq, the same support Harper has previously enjoyed. Their agreement will make things work for at least 18 months. It is the next 18 months that will make or break this economy.
So which do we want for the next 18 months; a government that insists it has the mandate to govern (which it doesn’t because constitutionally that’s given by the HoC, not the voters) but can’t get things done, or a coalition that has the ability and the support to take action?
I’ll chose the latter!
By Leasa on 12.06.08 7:17 pm
The word COUP, by definition, means that government is being overturned by illegal means.
Under the Westminster parliamentary system, what the Libs, NDP and Bloq are doing is perfectly permissable, that is it is totally legal.
Quae cum eta eset; it CANNOT be called a COUP.
By barb the proofreader on 12.06.08 8:34 pm
Don’t forget the millions, Harper burned on his pre-election ad campaign, and the millions he about to burn on the next one!
Adscam was a few lower ranking Libs, Harperscam is the PMO and government!
Garth, if you could forward this to Mr. Dion: After my time of tribulation, and the assaults that I have endured, in spite of my best intentions and well meaning.
I am only a Man. I have offered my soul. For now, I have been cast aside. I will reflect.
I Love My Country, even if sometimes it seems that My Country doesn’t Love me.
I may return, better, wiser, more equipped to deal with the Viper.
I wasn’t always wrong. I did battle against those who have all the money, and who have no heart, no mercy and they care only about themselves and their own.
Hollow words I expect right now, but hold them close. They may mean something in time.
Always Faithful.
The information provided by Mr Turner is very informative.
The only concern that I have is that some country out there must have money to support this scheme.
I read the blogs and cannot understand why we want to pile a political crisis on top of an economic crisis.
These parties are going to have to get together and resolve the problem and forget who is running what.
The Liberal will benefit if people see they are working to solve the problem rather than this attempt to grab power and put NDPers in the cabinet and senate.
This is what upset Canadians along with the bloc saying an extra 1 billion was going to Quebec. This is a back room deal at the same time the three parties are speaking of democracy.
The polls I reviewed indicated that 67% of Canadians were against the colition. The same polls indicated that if an election was held today the conservatives would have 44% of the vote.
The move to change the electorial system has been bounced around. However, this proportional representation has not been accepted when the some of the provinces surveyed their people. Until this happens the party that gains the majority of the seats is the party that wins the prize. If this was done by popular vote no party would ever have a majority.
Garth:
The answer is simple. The only other alternative would have been to purchase these mortgages with cash from the government itself as opposed to the Bank of Canada.
Cash from the government, I will point out that the government doesn’t have. As such it would have to have borrowed $50 billion from the markets. Not something you do every day. That would also have resulted in the debt level of the country increasing by $50 billion, which would mean we would have more debt outstanding today, than at the start of the Harper regime.
How politically attractive do you suppose that would be for sweater man?
As such, they stuck it to the Bank of Canada, and the home of friendly Mark Carney, he of the income trust lie that cost Canadians a cool $35 billion of their life savings.
PS: You speak of $50 billion in mortgages being acquired from the banks. I thought the number was $75 billion.
By Van on 12.06.08 7:08 pm,
I can understand not trusting the Liberals. What I don’t understand is why you trust Harper so much.
I have always been a PC and I am still a PC but I don’t trust this new Conservative government because they are not conservative. There is little in this country they want to conserve.
The have already re-defined democracy as absolute rule by a plurality (a minority). They have introduced radical monetary policy making us poorer and banks richer. They want government to enforce rigid and regressive forms of social control. All value is measured in monetary terms hence only the control over wealth measures an individual’s worth and entitles them to the wealth of others.
It’s flawed and it’s corrupt, but for now, it’s all we have. Let’s not advocate that it tear itself apart until we are willing to make the necessary changes.
By Comrade Okie on 12.06.08 8:19 pm
Lets have `none of the above` on the ballet, we`ll see who`s `willing`.
This COUP IS a minority stealing power. They could not do it without the Bloc. Ergo, by your own definition, a coup we have. L
By Leasa on 12.06.08 7:17 pm
Failed math did you?
Your government did not “win” a majority. It received only a plurality which means that more people voted against the party than voted for it.
It does not have the “right” as you seem to think to enforce its agenda on the majority. It had no mandate to abolish the right to pay equity, it had no mandate to eliminate the right to strike in the public service, it had no mandate to change the rules for equalization, it had no mandate to attack the public service. Harper never campaigned to cut the public funding of political parties.
You are as dishonest as Stephen Harper.
I haven’t figured out a way to post wmv clips here, so I’ll just go with a written description.
This fighter is awesome — goes straight up, stops / stalls, turns back down, all kinds of things.
Russian Fighter SU-30 MK — AMAZING!
Russia now has the #1 fighter plane in the world. SU-30 – Vectored Thrust with Canards. As you watch this airplane, look at the canards moving along-side of and just below the canopy rail.
The ‘canards’ are the small wings forward of the main wings. The smoke and contrails provide a sense of the actual flight path, sometimes in reverse direction.
This video is of an in-flight demonstration flown by the Russian’s SU-30 MK fighter aircraft. The fighter can stall from high speed, stopping forward motion in seconds (full stall). Then it demonstrates an ability to descend tail first without causing a compressor stall. It can also recover from a flat spin in less than a minute.
These manoeuvre capabilities don’t exist in any other aircraft in the world today.
Take a look at the video with the sound up. This aircraft is of concern to U.S. and NATO planners.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Note: Friends worked with advanced aircraft flight control systems and concepts for many years as an extension of stability control and means of control. Canards and vectored thrust were among many concepts examined to extend our fighter aircraft performance.
Neither our current or next generation aircraft now poised for funding and production can in any way match the performance of this Russian aircraft NOW FLYING in any near combat situation.
Somehow the bankrupt Russian aircraft industry has out-produced our complex politically tainted aerospace industry with this technology marvel.
Scratch any ideas of close air-to-air combat with this aircraft in the future.
———-
A rather interesting description of harpo & co., and why he shut down Canada (other than to serve his zionist friends). — http://tinyurl.com/6xrr2p
———-
It is well known that Israel is among the world’s top ten countries for having nukes, and that the IAEA has never been allowed to inspect facilities there. Iran has zero nukes, but there may be another player soon.
On the front, it states four nuke power plants, but it gives Russia a toe-hold there. — http://tinyurl.com/5qwkt7 http://tinyurl.com/5b8qmf
To further the first link: “John Bolton — the neocons’ neocon — laments that Bush (and Israel) did not have the gumption to confront Iran militarily – yet a third war in Asia. Bolton pontificates — with, of course, NO EVIDENCE — that Iran will now become a nuclear military power, says Robert Dreyfuss.” — http://tinyurl.com/57uurk
Two articles kinda run together. First, there are 49 states facing bankruptcy in 2009; second, the foreclosures went up a little. — http://tinyurl.com/64vmg8 http://tinyurl.com/6cpfdg
Lets have `none of the above` on the ballet, we`ll see who`s `willing`.
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.06.08 10:19 pm
Monday morning, there will be no one in parliament to listen. They have gone on Vacation. Again.
I wonder how many listened when they were there? Not a question I ponder very much now.
You knew it was coming, I did and Garth did and in all likelihood, so did many others. The right people didn’t say anything in time, and some of them may have felt that no one would listen anyway.
I’ll be quiet now. I’m tired.
“The sky is falling! It hit me on the head!”
Toxic Cash?
Interesting title.
Remove the question mark and you would have a perfect description of the millions of dollars stolen by the Libs during Adscam.
An exclamation mark would be a nice touch.
By Bocanut on 12.06.08 2:27 pm
Comparing $250 million to over $75 billion in toxic securities does not equate sorry. Neither does the $35 billion loss in market value of income trust securities that Harper nuked.
Harper raped Canada.
By barb the proofreader on 12.06.08 8:34 pm
That’s just silly.
Harper blew the $13 Billion surplus he was handed.
By barb the proofreader on 12.06.08 8:34 pm
Wrong ,the Conservatives gave back Canadians the money that the Libs were overtaxing.
Harper screwed seniors for $35 billion in IC’s.
By barb the proofreader on 12.06.08 8:34 pm
Wrong, Harper made a decision for the benefit of the greater good of Canadians.
A move that Goodale didn’t have the gonads to make because he was only concerned with getting re-elected.
Harper flung $75 billion to the wind.
By barb the proofreader on 12.06.08 8:34 pm
A ridiculous statement.
Adscam was a civil servant and ad agency for the most part. A civil servant moved millions, and it looks as though there was an obvious attempt to obfuscate the theft and future guilt by associating it with party funds. The snake in charge of sponsorship, was that Conservative Civil Servant, Chuck Guite. Hmm. I would think he did just that, so if caught, he’d have a running start to get away before they noticed it was him. Good thing they caught him, thanks to Paul Martin calling an immediate inquiry.
By barb the proofreader on 12.06.08 8:34 pm
Wrong,the only reason Paul Martin called the inquiry was because the media were days away from breaking the story.Chretien ridiculed Martin saying he would have obstructed every attempt to have any type of investigation.
Martin also promised that every cent stolen from Canadians would be paid back by the Liberals.
The Libs started this scheme,every Liberal in Quebec wanted into Adscam,to say they weren’t involved at the very top level is delusional.
Harper has robbed Canada blind.
By barb the proofreader on 12.06.08 8:34 pm
Name one instance where the Conservatives have stolen directly from the Canadian taxpayer to profit themselves?
Don’t forget the millions, Harper burned on his pre-election ad campaign, and the millions he about to burn on the next one!
Adscam was a few lower ranking Libs, Harperscam is the PMO and government!
BY JAMES – CHATHAM ON 12.06.08 9:37 PM
James, it just drives Cons crazy that adscam has no more fizzle for them now that it’s completely overshadowed by their evil leader Harpo committing the Cadman bribery, the In & Out illegal grab of tax dollars, ten percenter abuse of electioneering flyers and the endless other “technical crimes” against the common good that Harper keeps committing. I wonder what will be unearthed next about Harper’s abuse of money and power? Never dull moment.
“This COUP IS a minority stealing power. They could not do it without the Bloc. Ergo, by your own definition, a coup we have. L
By Leasa on 12.06.08 7:17 pm
Failed math did you? Your government did not “win” a majority. It received only a plurality which means that more people voted against the party than voted for it. It does not have the “right” as you seem to think to enforce its agenda on the majority. It had no mandate to abolish the right to pay equity, it had no mandate to eliminate the right to strike in the public service, it had no mandate to change the rules for equalization, it had no mandate to attack the public service. Harper never campaigned to cut the public funding of political parties.
You are as dishonest as Stephen Harper.
BY C. B. INNES ON 12.06.08 10:26 PM
C. B.,
We might as well just give up and admit to Leasa that yes, it’s a coup. I’ll now reveal to the imperialist pig what I wrote to Che Dion in a manifesto the other day. I hope Che Dion, or Mrs. Che Dion, receives this communiqué in the usual covert manner, via Garth’s blog:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevarastop polluting young minds with your hate for a government that kicked you out. pessimist. maybe your not the all mighty after all/
EDITORIAL
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/549439
C.B. Innes,
What we need is a phrase to capture that essence and that can be used against the “Conservatives” the same way they have turned “Socialists” and “Separatists” into pejoratives.
The “Revolution” needs a label for the enemy. “Neo-cons” died with Obama (except in Canada), “Capitalists” and “Corporate Elitists” are not pejorative enough, and “Business Class” might upset the airlines.
Any suggestions?
Fine reading in “Six degrees of separation” in to-day’s Ottawa Citizen at http://www.ottawacitizen.com/degrees+separation/1043345/story.html
Sample from Scott Reid (who produces several more pithy summaries):
“Well, well, well”, indeed Bill-Muskoka (Not Anymore).
After reading this hot on the heels of what I read yesterday on the CPPIB website and their investment performance/strategies, I think I better pick out a building as trade for my pension plan.
Amazing how the stupidity over there dovetails so nicely with this news. Not enough buildings to go around for us and I don’t think they have enough donkeys or chickens to pay out our pensions – oh wait, silly me – forgot the big (currently saving us good folks some money on their electric bill) house on the hill has lots of them.
Best move the BOC and the Mint to Las Vegas. We’d have a better shot at keeping our currency afloat on the mothership of gambling than the leaky raft of toxic mortgage and credit card debt launched on the Ottawa River.
I sew. What color plaid would you like your Don Cherry suit Bill?
How about ‘The Clone War’?
All the clones of Caesar Disgustus, created personally in his image at the Death Star, need to be set free from the Matrix in which their sub-standard minds are imprisoned.
Name one instance where the Conservatives have stolen directly from the Canadian taxpayer to profit themselves?
By Bocanut on 12.07.08 3:00 am
………………..
Here’s TWO right off the top:
Harpers “In and Out Scandal” – stealing millions from taxpayers by defrauding elections Canada.
Harpers use of “10 percenters” to flog election propaganda at taxpayer expense.
Twist and spin all you want, that prick Harper has stolen MUCH more money from taxpayers than you will ever admit.
And he is a SLEAZEBAG, a LIAR and a SOCIOPATH. Harper is sick minded, and his twisted mind bent on the destruction of YOUR Canada.
You are either stupid or a paid propaganda tosser for that prick Harper. I am betting on the second, because no one could be a stupid and you (and Lyin’ Leasa) pretend to be.
Name one instance where the Conservatives have stolen directly from the Canadian taxpayer to profit themselves?
By Bocanut on 12.07.08 3:00 am
10%’ers!
Where is the urgency while the economy deteriorates? Proof positive CRAP leaders lack corporate experience. Might as well rename the party:
Cavalier Regressive Avoidance Party.
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/549790
Great blog Garth!
Do you know what the debt of university and college students debt is in Canada?
Just read that the debt for college students in the US was $85 billion at…
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/12/06/recession_not_for_college_presidents/
When you add up all the debt, it’s pretty scarry !
Harper raped Canada.
By barb the proofreader on 12.06.08 8:34 pm
That’s just silly.
By Bocanut on 12.07.08 3:00 am
I don’t think raped is the correct word.
But it does usually proceed pilaged, which is exactly what Harper has done to this great country!
To Herb:
Since when is it considered pejorative language to call separatists by their correct name. I lived in Quebec on three separate occasions for a total of more than 25 years. I was there when literally hundreds of thousands of English-speaking Canadians moved out of Montreal for the simple reason that they were not welcome to stay. I was there when the provincial government was paying a bounty of close to $100,000 to teachers in the Protestant School Board if they would resign and go away. These people are prime examples of what no less an authority than Michael Ignatief called ethnic nationalism – ie. you had to have an ethnic and linguistic tie for you to belong.
Calling these sepratists by the now politically correct name soverignists is like putting lipstick on a pig. They are simply dedicated to the proposition of breaking up this wonderful country by any means possible. Nobody with any sense of civic nationalism (nationalism based on constitutional rights and the mere fact of citizenship) something espoused by Michael Ignatieff should ever accord these people any moderating appelation.
A pleasant, smiling fellow like Gilles Duceppe is just the nice, public face of a movement which has boasted leaders who are and were prepared to treat Quebeckers like lobsters in a pot if they ever got 50% + 1 vote in any referendum.
I believe it is perfectly legitimate for any opposition parties to band together to form a coalition, but to sit down with the Bloc and sign a formal coalition is simply beyond the pale. What is implied by the word coalition is to rule with the permission of the Bloc. Nobody with any sense of self preservation should feel good about a coalition with separatists and to dress up the name we should call them is political correctness run amok. Where is the shame which should be displayed with a formal agreement signed by the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc. Not giving cabinet seats to the Bloc was just window dressing.
Now go ahead, whale on me.
Your government did not “win” a majority. It received only a plurality which means that more people voted against the party than voted for it.
By C. B. Innes on 12.06.08 10:26 pm
Sorry C.B., but we have to be correct. the popular vote does not count, it is irrelevant except to show how our system or electing MP’s to the HoC is flawed.
There is a plurality in the HoC, that is the majority of MP’s are not CPC or from any other party.
The end result however and your conclusion are correct.
By Jon C. Coates on 12.07.08 10:00 am
There may be something to what you say about sitting down with the Bloq and having a signed agreement.
But it is hypocritical to take the Libs and NDP to task when Harper did the same in 2005. Maybe he didn’t go as far as having a signed agreement, but the very fact that he, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe wrote to GG Clarkson suggesting she give the opposition parties the option of forming government, required that Harper had the support of the Bloq to make it happen.
In that respect, the signed agreement we now have seems extremely wise as it takes the separation/sovereinty issue off the table. That wouldn’t have been the case with Harper’s 2005 plan. If Harper had no signed agreement with the Bloq, then their support would have been unconditional and would have given the Separatists free rein!
John C. Coates,
I’m not going to “whale” on you, but will point out a few facts.
The “pejorative” aspect comes from the use of the word. Did you see the TV clips of Harper and assorted minions snarling “socialists” and “separatists” in and outside of the House? Those words were intended to be used and were used as invectives, not simply as nouns.
The problem with your approach to the separatist Bloc is that its members were elected under the laws of Canada to sit in Parliament. Therefore, their vote has the same weight as that of the purest federal patriot in the CPC or any other party. The vote of a Bloc MP cannot be ignored; it is legal and must be counted.
Harper’s and the CPC’s dislike of Bloc MPs and their votes is a new phenomenon that arose suddenly with the real possibility of the Bloc voting against the Government in the aborted confidence vote. The CPC and its predecessor actively sought the support of the Bloc, billions have been poured into Quebec to keep it friendly, Quebec has been recognized as a “nation” of sorts, and the Harper Government has accepted the support of the Bloc in a reported 140 votes Therefore, it is the purest hypocrisy to decry the Bloc now as “separatists” and deny them their federal democratic legitimacy and rights. I’m not surprised, merely disappointed that so many fellow Canadians have fallen for this ploy.
By the way, I liked your suggestion at 3 pm yesterday to give the banks liquidity by giving cash to taxpayers for deposit in banks. Too bad it makes too much sense and will never happen.
These mortgages are insured by CMHC. In the case of 40 year, 0% down mortgages does CMHC receive the premium at the beginning of the mortgage and does it have enough to cover large numbers of defaults? The government would be required to cover any short fall I would expect.
I note that in July 2008 TD was advertising $75000 cash back on new mortgages. This always seemed troubling to me.
Maybe Canadians need to be reminded what our “noble” NOT Prime Minister and his henchman wrote in 2003. From Brent Fullard’s site
“Canadians Stand With You
Wall Street Journal
March 28, 2003
By STEPHEN HARPER and STOCKWELL DAY
Today, the world is at war. A coalition of countries under the leadership of the U.K. and the U.S. is leading a military intervention to disarm Saddam Hussein. Yet Prime Minister Jean Chretien has left Canada outside this multilateral coalition of nations.
This is a serious mistake. For the first time in history, the Canadian government has not stood beside its key British and American allies in their time of need. The Canadian Alliance — the official opposition in parliament — supports the American and British position because we share their concerns, their worries about the future if Iraq is left unattended to, and their fundamental vision of civilization and human values. Disarming Iraq is necessary for the long-term security of the world, and for the collective interests of our key historic allies and therefore manifestly in the national interest of Canada. Make no mistake, as our allies work to end the reign of Saddam and the brutality and aggression that are the foundations of his regime, Canada’s largest opposition party, the Canadian Alliance will not be neutral. In our hearts and minds, we will be with our allies and friends. And Canadians will be overwhelmingly with us.
But we will not be with the Canadian government.
Modern Canada was forged in large part by war — not because it was easy but because it was right. In the great wars of the last century — against authoritarianism, fascism, and communism — Canada did not merely stand with the Americans, more often than not we led the way. We did so for freedom, for democracy, for civilization itself. These values continue to be embodied in our allies and their leaders, and scorned by the forces of evil, including Saddam Hussein and the perpetrators of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That is why we will stand — and I believe most Canadians will stand with us — for these higher values which shaped our past, and which we will need in an uncertain future.
Messrs. Harper and Day are the leader and shadow foreign minister, respectively, of the Canadian Alliance.”
Maybe we should send this to all the newspapers so those Canadians who do not know the real Harper get educated on what a danger he is to Canada. I think most Canadians did not want the war in Iraq.
Your government did not “win” a majority. It received only a plurality which means that more people voted against the party than voted for it.
By C. B. Innes on 12.06.08 10:26 pm
I fail to see how a vote against Harper is a vote for the coalition. A great many opposition supporters voted to hold Harper to a minority. It would seem the supporters of the opposition got exactly what they wanted from this election, a Harper minority, not a coalition as it got 0 votes.
All fiat money eventually reverts to it’s true value, zero. It doesn’t matter if it is the US dollar, Loonies, Francs or whatever.
Fractional reserve banking only magnifies the effect.
Monday morning, there will be no one in parliament to listen.
I wonder how many listened when they were there? Not a question I ponder very much now.
You knew it was coming, I did and Garth did and in all likelihood, so did many others. The right people didn’t say anything in time, and some of them may have felt that no one would listen anyway.
By Comrade Okie on 12.06.08 11:50 pm
While it`s true there is no one to listen the question as to who was listening can be answered clearly.
What has the elected federal government done right in the last 40 years, bingo is how many are even thinking let alone listening.
From one screwup to the next scandal to the next screwup, it`s pretty obvious that our elected federal government has failed Cdns for decades. Because the complete system is controlled by one dysfunctional system it makes the complete system unworkable.
Under these circumstances one can hardly blame the politicians for running an election 365, the political engines are the only thing up and running. In other words why think about anything other than conning your way into power in the next election when the system is already broken beyond repair. Why even talk about it when in order to fix the system we`d have to shut down the only running component, the political engines.
`none of the above` to change the system is the only option for Cdns
I note that in July 2008 TD was advertising $75000 cash back on new mortgages. This always seemed troubling to me.
By Joe The Plumber on 12.07.08 11:21 am
Did you also notice that the interest rate was higher than just a straight, no-incentive mortgage.
Sneaky ploy by the banks, because they know they will make the “cash back” back and more on top!
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.07.08 12:54 pm
sorry, Buddy, but you need to learn how our parliamentary system works.
Read back, many have explained it, but we did not vote to give Harper a minority. That was a result of individual ridings voting for individual MP’s.
Harper got more MPs than anyoneelse, but not enough for a majority.
From that point, “We voted, make it work” is the mandate we always send to the HoC. One option is form a coalition! Just because you have more seats than anyother party doesn’t guarantee you form government.
Harper knows this, but won’t say so now (he did in 2005) because the door would hit him in the butt on his way out!
I wonder how many listened when they were there?
By Comrade Okie on 12.06.08 11:50 pm
The government isn`t listening to the people, to busy electioneering. The people have post election trauma compounded with each election and are not listening to the media, the media promotes pre-election trauma in the people causing them to stop listening.
Here`s an off topic thought, why don`t we fix the system by replacing this disgrace with the worlds second successful provincially nominated, impossible to be partisan, federal government.
Is anybody listening?
Read back, many have explained it, but we did not vote to give Harper a minority. That was a result of individual ridings voting for individual MP’s.
By James – Chatham on 12.07.08 2:12 pm
I can see you`re not a student of democracy in the peoples right to elect a government.
What justification has the coalition to suspend the right of the people in overthrowing a duly elected government? Economic plan, the one you`ll give us after your back in power?
The opposition parties all asked the voters to hold Harper to a minority, the opposition voters (majority) got what they wanted.
No one voted for a coalition, if you want one then follow democratic procedure, vote non-confidence and take it to the people because under the circumstances where the majority of voters got what they wanted as evident in the polls. Suspending the right of the people for Parliamentary procedure can`t be defined as anything other than an undemocratic power grab.
Perhaps I`ve missed some obscure point James so if you know of a reason the precedent of the right of the people would be suspended in favor of silencing the people with Parliamentary procedure I await the details.
The only way to save this country is for the opposition parties declare the GGs permission invalid since Harper gave himself the vacation, hers is a ceremonial position. Open Parliament and resume governing as a majority. Would Harper arrest everyone? He may but then the country will realize that he is the one that usurped power and hijacked our country. The Parliament then could send the RCMP to retain Harper and force him to resign as he should. Resume the work of Parliament and deal with the crisis. If not we will have no government at all, Harper will not recall Parliament till late spring and will declare an election. Guess who is going to cheat then too and say he won, because more people voted for him personally? He will declare us a republic with him at the helm and Canada will cease to exist but will remain the de facto occupied north run from Washington. Welcome to the brave new world of the North American Union.
When a man with money meets a man with experiance – the man with experiance will end up with the money & the man with the money will end up with the expericance. GOT GOLD?
I have suggested this before.
Is it possible that the Democratic coalition can, as a majority, call an emergency session in parliament and then have a confidence vote?
It would seem to me that if a national emergency were to come upon us (say a 911 type situation or some other national disaster) Harper’s pathetic cut and run panic and hide stunt would surely be called off and parliament would reconvene to deal with the emergency. Wouldn’t it?
Well this too is an emergency. A crisis of untold magnitude!
Why can’t the Democratic Coalition call an emergency session and boot Harpers sorry ass to the curb where it belongs, right next to the green bags full of smelly garbage and yesterday’s news?
Comments?
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.07.08 2:53 pm
The structure and mechanics of our system of government as it stands today have been explained many times over during this and previous threads. You persist in spouting your misunderstanding and incomprehension. You are proving to the entire world that you are in the true meaning of the word an idiot.
I am surprised that you have managed to survive this long without killing yourself through your own stupidity.
Well, we officially made it into the league of countries with dodgy governments. On Friday, Democracy Now, had the Harper Tantrum in its headlines.
Amy Goodman said that Harper closed parliament to prevent his government’s defeat in a no confidence motion on Monday.
So, Harper takes his place with the likes of Mugabe and the head of the military junta in Myanmar.
I’m so proud.
—–
So, our economy isn’t as strong as the Canadian shield, like our dear finance minister Flaherty would have it. Instead, it is built upon sand. Sorry for the biblical reference. The theology isn’t worth much, but some of the practical observations are stellar.
I’ve been getting a feeling throughout all this that Harper’s acolytes are trying to cover something up. If the coalition took over, they would have access to the books. What is – or isn’t – there that they are so desperate to cover it up?
I’m not sure I want to know.
—–
Rick Mercer had a good piece on the Globe site on the weekend.
He talks about Con staffers told to stand outside in the dark and cheer and sing O Canada! to stoke his ego as he left home to shut down parliament.
“Mr. Harper, by all accounts, actually believed that the young people were there of their own accord and represented a groundswell of love and support for his actions.”
He’s either deluded or megalomaniacal.
“…[S]tephen Harper loves being the Prime Minister of Canada. Since he came to power, the motorcades have got longer, the office more presidential, the trappings more grand.”
What would he do if he was chucked out? He hasn’t got any job skills.
This is the bit that’s scary, though,
“…The facts are clear. He has a minority in the Commons — something he has never accepted. So he loves daring the opposition to defeat him, and prides himself on shaming them at every opportunity.”
“Them’s the rules and he knows it. And yet, when faced with actually losing a confidence vote, he chooses to launch a full-fledged attack on the very institution he is sworn to protect.”
“He took to the airwaves saying that having him lose a vote would amount to a coup d’état. He knows this isn’t true, but he said it anyway. Then his ministers fanned out and told everyone who would listen that an election was being stolen.”
—–
I know that lies and smear have become common by the Cons during their election campaigns, and for some reason has become acceptable, although false advertising for every other reason is prosecutable.
This isn’t an election campaign. The minority PM Harper spoke on television to Canadians and LIED about the way the government works and his place in it.
Sounds like treason to me.
Baird the Bombastic said that they would go over the GG and the parliament and go “directly to the people” if they had to.
That sounds like incitement to anarchy.
I believe that’s illegal, too.
Read back, many have explained it, but we did not vote to give Harper a minority.
By James – Chatham on 12.07.08 2:12 pm
It`s pretty hard to deny James, that was the united opposition buzz during the last election.
From the viewpoint of the none of the above crowd.
A bunch of dumbass politicians grabbing power from another bunch of dumbass politicians.
First government fails, then the electoral system, then the country.
The government failed when it turned the democratic rights and freedoms of the people over to a handful of unelected unaccountable lawyers.
The electoral system failed when we elected government that imposed an illegal tax on the people they were forced to support an illegitimate government through following elections.
The country has failed, Ontario has been losing jobs and investors since 2002 and is now a have-not.
Reality isn`t always good for digestion but if you want to rescue and repair Canada you might want to consider changing the system.
Guess who is going to cheat then too and say he won, because more people voted for him personally? He will declare us a republic with him at the helm and Canada will cease to exist but will remain the de facto occupied north run from Washington. Welcome to the brave new world of the North American Union.
By candu on 12.07.08 3:09 pm
No, more people did NOT vote for Harper personally. Only those in his own riding voted for him.
This the fallacy that has been allowed to occur in our system, among many. The PM is supposed to be elected by the MP’s forming the Parliament. That is what our Constitution actually calls for. The NWT understands it, but not Oddawahaha.
As to a NAU, when Hell Freezes Over! Talk about an act that would cause a revoltuion on all three borders?
Americans will never agree to merging with Mexico, nor for many Pinko-Commie Socialist Canada. Candians will not agree to such a deal either. Want massive welfare rolls? Add Mexico to the mix, plus we would find out how corrupt a government really can be. Our’s are rank amatuers at best.
We would be liable for the American $110 TRILLION debt as well is our currencies merged. Hell, we are all in a tizzy when we are talking a mere $30 billion.
Then throw out our one Federal Criminal Code, and go for 51 version from the U.S. (1 Federal, and 50 States)
Then consider the IRS versus the CRA’s tax laws. You haven’t seen Jack Squat of a paperwork meelee until you read the U.S. Tax Laws. Not even the IRS understands them. It has more loopholes written in than a circus piece of Swiss Cheese.
Kiss, your freedom goodbye, because the U.S. ‘ain’t taken no directions from no foreigners’ Trust me on that.
You have a lot to learn about American thinking. Our Rednecks are wannabes compared to the American ones, and they have lots of GUNS!
And Canadians have a very undeveloped sense of Flag Waving. another defite no-no to Americans. Like Carlin stated ‘The flag is a symbol. For the symbol minded!’
The NAU is a corporately organized criminal enterprise, of the profiteers, by the profiteers, and for the profiteers. They have absolutely no patriotism in them unless it tricks the masses and makes them more powerful. In fact it makes the dastardly plot of the X-Files look tame in comparison.
BTW, seems the Congress is now wondering where about $200-250 BILLION of their bailout actually went. Someone forgot to ‘jot it down’ like during the Reagan Iran-Contra fiasco. The Congress can’t tell who the money went to. My first guess is Halliburton Corp., or Lockheed-Martin. You can bet Cheney is involved somehow, as is the Bush family.
There is a lot of push by the American power structure to capture Canada’s and Mexico’s resources. Think NAFTA sucks? Its only a hand held vac compared to the BIG SUCK planned.
Watch John Manley closely, and Harper, but Harper is a stooge I think, like Bush.
Sorry. Forgot the link to Mercer’s piece.
It’s not the economy, stupid, by Rick Mercer.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081205.wPOLmercer1205/BNStory/politics/
I am surprised that you have managed to survive this long without killing yourself through your own stupidity.
By William Laidlaw on 12.07.08 3:48 pm
Thanks for that personal attack on my effort to defend democracy, the right of the people to elect a government. I have no doubt you`ve just converted a few more to none of the above.
I can see you`re not a student of democracy in the peoples right to elect a government.
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.07.08 2:53 pm
Au contrare, mon ami.
No one ever votes for a coalition. did we see a coalition on the ballot. No.
As I’ve said before, even though we might think we are voting for a party or a PM, we cannot. The only thing we can vote for, in the system we have, is the person to represent our riding.
The madate which Harper is always talking about, is to make parliament work. With a majority, that’s easy as the governing party doesn’t need any friends to pass its agenda. In a minority, its a completely different situation.
If we were half way through the government’s term, an election would be the result of a non-confidence vote. The minority government would have made it work for 2 years.
However, that is not the case this time around. Harper can’t even get this parliament started. After 6 weeks, another election is not required.
Like it or not, under our system the opposition parties, Bloq included, can attempt to form an alternative government.
All that is needed is the confidence of the house and that is determined by the 308 MPs we elect, not by the popular vote. Party politics only facilitates the process of whether the party with the most seats gets to form government.
It may not seem fair, but thats the way it is.
But if I were to use your flawed assumption on how the system works, many voted ABC! So for them, a coalition is exactly what they voted for!
By William Laidlaw on 12.07.08 3:48 pm
Unfortunately, instead of explaining the way the system actually works, Harper continues to spin it so that the emotional reaction to unfairness continues to drive his support. This is typical of any cult, with the one leader centralising power. (They’re picking on me, we have to stand against them!)
Short of ECT, the only way to counteract it to to continue to explain the truth. Sometimes, it may feel like its directed at a “brick wall”, but sometimes it does get through.
Being dismissive is a Harper strategy and look where thats got him. He hasn’t just burnt his bridges with the opposition parties, he’s nuked them!
Harper has robbed Canada blind.
By barb the proofreader 12.06.08 8:34 pm
Name one instance where the Conservatives have stolen directly from the Canadian taxpayer to profit themselves?
BY BOCANUT 12.07.08 3:00 AM
Bocanut,
Okay, since it’s keeping you up at night, and if I have to keep it to just one, I will:
The long time best friend and former policy adviser to PM Stephen Harper is Ken Boessenkool, who lobbied and was quickly given a $300,000,000 contract for Merck drugs to begin injecting 9 year old Canadian girls with an unproven vaccine against sexually transmitted diseases, with false claims that the vaccine prevented cancer in older women While it takes decades to develop cervical cancer, the trials for Gardasil were held over just 2 years. It’s too soon to say if the vaccine actually prevents cancer.
Merck, the same company that made Vioxx, and you’ll recall those 60,000 deaths.
Just add it to the long list of Harper’s Broken Promises, barring anyone leaving senior ranks of government or the public service will face a five-year freeze before they could lobby the federal government. Big broken promise. Boessenkool successfully lobbied in record time ahead of other far more dire and realistic health projects that had been ahead of it.
And why the rush? For Merck’s race to exclusive profits, wanting to beat it’s upcoming competitor to the market, because in the series of three vaccines, whoever got the drug into the little girls first, would get to sell them the next 2 follow-up vaccine shots.
Funding for the vaccine fell to pharmaceutical marketing, not sober public health policy.
And it’s not clear how it became a priority for the federal government amid so many demands on the health care system.
The drug is unproven to prevent cancer despite Merck’s fantasy claim, and has so far been related to the deaths of at least 18 young girls and tens of thousands suffer complications including Guillean barre syndrome with full or severe paralysis, amongst other severe side effects.
This is the only case of government-mandated mass vaccination in the world. The last time Canada took such drastic action was during a polio outbreak in the 1950′s. But there is no epidemic of cervical cancer now. In fact it doesn’t even rank in the top 10 cancers affecting Canadian women. Whereas 400 women die of cervical cancer annually, over 5000 die of breast cancer. So the cost of this alledged cancer prevention if nearly $1 million dollars per case, despite the fact the numbers are dropping.
Gardasil is being sold under the illusion that it is an anti-HPV vaccine. Gardasil protects against only four of about 100 strains of HPV.
The FDA’s own press release from 2003 admits that, “Most women who become infected with HPV are able to eradicate the virus [without intervention] and suffer no apparent long-term consequences to their health… most infections are short-lived and not associated with cervical cancer.” (Source: “FDA Approves Expanded Use of HPV Test,” March 31, 2003, http://www.FDA.gov)
This vaccine is the most costly vaccine on the planet.
So Bocanut tell me why did Harper quickly and against his promise shuffle a broken promise contract for $300,000,000 to his lobby best pal Ken Boessenkool almost as soon as he became supreme ruler?
Buying friends of the powerful is arguably more important than ever in Stephen Harper’s world. Oh, and don’t forget, when Taser International needed to scramble, they have Boessenkool.
Boessenkool’s resume not only grew to include a key spot in getting Stephen Harper elected leader, a top designer role for the Conservative’s five-point 2004 platform and supervisory duties in policy and strategic planning for two Conservative election campaigns. That’s why he is now a go-to lobbyist in Calgary’s Hill and Knowlton office when clients in-a-pickle need to bend a friendly federal ear quickly. This undoubtedly explains why his latest client is Taser International.
The manufacturer of the controversial stun gun clearly needed inside influence to ensure its product wasn’t at risk of a government takedown following the Taser-implicated death of Robert Dziekanski in the Vancouver airport.
And given Boessenkool’s history with Stockwell Day, who was the RCMP-supervising Public Safety Minister, and connections to Harper, Boessenkool’s a natural troubleshooter for a company in a shocking crisis.
Boessenkool is also a fellow who is a big wig speaker at the Fraser Institute and Vice President at Hill and Knowlton, and Fellow at the equally lame Canada West Foundation, as well as the usual incestuous circle of other phony baloney farcical facades for a vast network of organized grime biz.
http://www.harperindex.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=0062
Bocanut, now you tell me:
That answers your query as to where the Conservatives have stolen directly from the Canadian taxpayer to profit and finance their cabal.
But it in turn begs the question of you, Bocanut:
How did Merck Frosst get such quick action on their nonsensical proposal to harmfully and blatantly experiment on 9 year olds when real health projects, that were actually worthy, were ahead of them?
Toxic Cash?
Interesting title.
Remove the question mark and you would have a perfect description of the millions of dollars stolen by the Libs during Adscam.
An exclamation mark would be a nice touch.
By Bocanut on 12.06.08 2:27 pm
KKK Bocanut,
What utter nonsense. The alleged amount “Stolen” had no significant economic impact, contrary to potential economic risk at hand.
Forty million dollars spread over the population of Canada amounts to about $1.25 per head. And this is spread over a four year period! If, for example, you ever buy a newspaper you don’t read, pay for a cup of coffee you don’t drink, fill up at a gas station when you could pay less a short distance away or unnecessarily pay banking charges when you withdraw money from the wrong banking machine you squander many times over what adscam may have cost you.
Like the CPC’s “In and Out” scheme Adscam was morally wrong but it had no significant economical impact.
Contrary to the “In and Out” scheme, only a handful or people were involved in Adscam and the guilty are being punished. However a long list of CPC candidates, including a very large number of sitting CPC MP’s, participated in the illegal “In and Out” scheme.
Illegal advertising is far more wide spread within the CPC than it ever was within the Liberal government. And it goes right to the top. It is just a matter of time before the chickens come home to roost.
While neither scheme has any significant economic impact the moral impact of the CPC scheme is vastly more wide spread.
Suspending the right of the people for Parliamentary procedure can`t be defined as anything other than an undemocratic power grab.
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.07.08 2:53 pm
I agree. Thats what Harper has done by proroguing parliament, silencing all our duly elected representatives, so that they couldn’t pass judgement on his economic update by voting no-confidence.
Power grab is right. Harper has it clutched tightly in his grip and won’t give it back!
When we look at the Vast Pool of Talent we have in the PROGRESSIVES of all Stripes in Canada I think it’s time to Form a True Progressive Party and Rid all the Parties of The Corporate Owned lackys, they than Can Form the CONCorp Party. I doubt very much that a CONcorp Party would have a Hope of every being Elected.
I wrote the Liberal party and told them that they lost my support and will never get it back for thier lack of Loyality,Unity and Support of Mr. Dion. It’s the Crooks in the party ousting Him because he can’t be Bought and that’s not Good for The Blue Libs Corp CEO Bosses.
I did let them know that I was still supporting Garth and I Hope he runs as an Indy next time,he doesn’t need the taint of the CONS or the LIBs for those two parties only work for thier Corp Masters.Honest MPs like Garth,Joe Clark and Dion just can’t survive because the Corp Owned MSM Aids and Abets the Crooked Politicans. Sadly “Style” now Drowns All Substance because the Dumbing Down of the North American Public has be a hugely Successful Experiment well worth the Time and Effort the Corp Masters invested.
WELCOME to 1984
Addendum.
And Buddy, Spare a Dime, voting no-confidence and forming a coalition government IS valid parliamentary procedure.
Comments?
By Ben on 12.07.08 3:45 pm
The only comment I can make is the country is much better off when the 308 stooges stay at home, the only disappoinment is we still have to pay them. There isn’t anyone there who could handle an emergency so why bother calling them back…they are all finished…Canada has no effective federal government and hasn’t for quite a while…decisions are all made in the PMO and have been for many years…we don’t need representation from the local level as they vote as they are told, so they represent a party not the people. I say shut it down permanently and have each province run its’ own show. Bring our troops back home and forget about federalism, it is a failed exercise.
Bye bye Canada, as buddy always says, from now on economic circumstances will dictate the future.
James – Chatham on 12.07.08 4:26 pm
I understand forming a coalition is constitutional including the installation of a coalition government by the GG rather than an election.
What you have failed to articulate, the reason the GG would suspend the democratic right of the people for Parliamentary procedure. It would take substantive reasons and so far the coalition has done nothing but give us an economic plan after the`re back in power, clearly nothing more than the same election rhetoric we received during the last election. Without a substantive plan the GG cannot suspend the right of the people so stop dreaming and helping the government as a whole distract, dismiss, deny.
Again, if anyone out there is following the news. This fight is for the heart and soul of the Liberal party. Bob Rea with the help of the Chretianites are working overtime to get him in as the party leader.
They want to absorb the NDP and move the party to the far left. Howard Hampton has alerted Layton to this. Today, Layton would not appear on Question Period. Normally you cannot et him away from a camera.
This colition idea has run out of steam. The Liberals can see that it is a recipe for disaster. The move is to replace Dion as soon as possible. Rae was against this on Friday and today on CBC and CTV he is in favour of this move. His only reservation is not to have the Liberal MPs and senators make the decision. He wants the grass roots of the party to have a say.
These same two potential leaders do not have to campaign. They just went through this ordeal with a disasterous outcome. furthermore, very few people want Rea. He states Harper cannot be trusted. There are not too many people in Ontario who put their trust in Mr Rea.
Oops, My little foray into humour yesterday seems to want to hang on. I just felt it appropriate to give due credit to the Old Rooster, but forgot to change the handle back.
How did Merck Frosst get such quick action on their nonsensical proposal to harmfully and blatantly experiment on 9 year olds when real health projects, that were actually worthy, were ahead of them?
By barb the proofreader on 12.07.08 4:40 pm
‘Two Tier’ Tony Clement? What is the pahrmaceutical company he has a major stock holding in again?
BY JON C. COATES 12.07.08 10:00 AM
Mr. Coates,
Besides the smear & lies election email you sent out to fool people, now shame on you for once again attempting to obfuscate the truth:
Jon C. Coates pretends:
"Since when is it considered pejorative language to call separatists by their correct name.""Calling these sepratists by the now politically correct name soverignists is like putting lipstick on a pig."
"Nobody with any sense of self preservation should feel good about a coalition with separatists and to dress up the name we should call them is political correctness run amok."
So Jon,
Please answer this:
Why does Mr. Harper say SEPARATIST when he tries to fool English audience? And why does Harper switch black to white and says SOVEREIGNIST when he tries to fool Quebeckers?
· · · — — — · · · · · · — — — · · · · · · — — — · · ·
Jon C. Coates spins outright lies:
"I believe it is perfectly legitimate for any opposition parties to band together to form a coalition, but to sit down with the Bloc and sign a formal coalition is simply beyond the pale. What is implied by the word coalition is to rule with the permission of the Bloc. Nobody with any sense of self preservation should feel good about a coalition with separatists and to dress up the name we should call them is political correctness run amok. Where is the shame which should be displayed with a formal agreement signed by the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc. Not giving cabinet seats to the Bloc was just window dressing."Jon,
The Coalition is between the NDP and Liberals. As well, Harper fully engaged the Bloc in 2004 and all of Canada knows that.
You can say otherwise until you’re blue in the face, but since you are a long time Conservative Party mouthpiece, no one believes you. You’re in lock-step with heir Harper’s lies. Cry wolf.
people, people…
Read please.
Harper has locked parlaiment at one of the most crucial times in over a generation.
Un-read people like Leasa on here have no clue what harm a guy like Harper can bring.
Harper is a sociopath. At this time we do not need a sociopathic “leader”.
Those that support Harper..please do some reading….look at historical facts and wake the HE( double hockey sticks) up!
Hey Garth, despite Mr. Rae of Sunshine trying to inform the ignorant of this country regarding the new coalition party, people are more confused than ever. We really need some straight answers, please.
First of all, the Liberals including yourself, spent weeks recently telling us what a great, honest, effective leader you had in Mr. Dion. I know for you personally from reading this blog that you considered him a friend and he did welcome you with open arms into the party. So, I can understand the party losing some faith in him after the election and his stepping down as of May. That would allow him a grain of dignity and a smooth exit out of the leadership role. But, Garth, now these same people are pushing him to leave almost immediately to swallow his pride after announcing he will stay on until May. That makes him look no better than a bum being kicked to the street. If they are so much better as you often put it than the CPC…what is your take on this? Do you defend the treatment handed out to him or do you defend him?
Second confusion: I keep hearing over and over and over that this coalition is legit because the coalition has the majority of MPs (votes)…yet…the same people say that the Bloc is not part of the coalition and great pains are being taken to minimize their role. Ummm, without the Bloc the Liberals and NDP are the minority and the CPC is the majority. So which is it? The Bloc is a part of the coalition and will be running government, or it’s not? If it’s not, then they don’t have the majority and effectively this is a coup overturning the majority party.
There are other ‘confusions’ but that’s enough for now. Thanks ever so much. Leasa
And Buddy, Spare a Dime, voting no-confidence and forming a coalition government IS valid parliamentary procedure.
By James – Chatham on 12.07.08 4:54 pm
Is it? Why? L
Canada has no effective federal government and hasn’t for quite a while…decisions are all made in the PMO and have been for many years
By wjp on 12.07.08 5:00 pm
For a true democracy the power in government must come from the people. That`s why I find a provincially nominated federal government so appealing. Besides not being susceptible to partisanship everyone participates. We elected provincial governments on down. Every duly elected official even on the municipal level has input and accountability down to the grassroots level of special interests such as education.
Harper’s song:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Vdydy1cVA
The only way to save this country is for the opposition parties declare the GGs permission invalid since Harper gave himself the vacation, hers is a ceremonial position. Open Parliament and resume governing as a majority.
By Candu.
What you are proposing is out of teh question. The fact remains is that the GG position IS NOT only ceremonial as you claim but rather part of our parliamentary system which has just been demonstrated. What Harper did as well as the NDP, Bloc and Liberals did is also legal under our parliamentary governance. Unfortunately for all of us they all acted like 308 power hungry buffoons.
The problem with thjs coalition is that is was planned well ahead and long before the financial update by Layton and Duceppe with Dion coming in late as usual and their insistence they would still bring down the government even when the government deleted the two primary causes of this crises was removed. The spin by the three Amigos about this being about the government not helping the economy is unadulterated BS. It had everything to do with them losing their government funding.
The GG decision was the right one umder the circumstances and allows the clowns from all sides to settle down, and rethink their stupid positions and finally reaklly start thinking of us and do what we elected to do and that is to govern with respect instead of themselves and their respective parties and the lust for power. No elected MP of the 308 except for perhaps the 2 independents do not come away from this fiasco unscathed. They all need their asses kicked and an attitude adjustment and hopefully we the electorate will do just that in the next election.
Power grab is right. Harper has it clutched tightly in his grip and won’t give it back!
By James – Chatham on 12.07.08 4:52 pm
How could Harper have a power grab. he already had it. The fact is that the three opposition leaders were trying for a power grab. If you had said retain power I would have agreed with you.
Thankfully the GG saw through this facade and granted Harpers recommendation which most experts agree was the right and only decision she could have made under the circumstances without throwing our country into a constitutional crises that we have ever seen.
Van: I disagree. I believe Harper and Flahertys’ total disregard for the economic plight of the average Canadian family is what precipitated this coalition. The “crisis” was fabricated by Harper. He created a unity crisis to deflect focus from his impotent fiscal update.
Then Harper flipped and flopped –made his finance minister look even more stupid by promising a budget in January rather than the announced March.
Now Harper says he has to work night and day to come up with the budget by January. If these guys don’t already have an almost completed budget that had to be ready for publishing, etc for March, then I believe they had no intention of including anything in the way of a “stimulus” in the March budget and are going to be “winging” it to appease the majority in the House.
As I have often said, Harper is only a forward thinker when it comes to partisan plans to kill off the opposition. I believe he spends the majority of his waking hours devising schemes that will decimate any opposing views. Too bad he can’t spend the same time and diligence on important issues, like the economy, social equality and foreign affairs.
Leasa: The Bloc made it perfectly clear. They will not have M.P.’s in the Cabinet. They will support the coalition.
And actually, the majority of M.P.’s do not support the current government so have legitimate right to form a coalition.
Why you insist on using the term “coup” is a mystery. A “coup” is an illegal takeover.
Nothing illegal or undemocratic in forming a coalition. Our parliamentary rules allow it.
And why are you slagging the Bloc? I don’t remember Harper being so critical when the Bloc supported him. Why does your leader say one thing and do another?
I guess that is what hypocrites do.
video: If he was a terrorist..
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/3/23353/63716/865/508646
‘Two Tier’ Tony Clement? What is the pahrmaceutical company he has a major stock holding in again?
BY BILL-MUSKOKA (NOT ANYMORE) 07.08 5:24 PM
Hi No-Muskoka Bill,
As far as I know the Federal Health Minister Tony Clement holds a one-quarter equity position in Prudential Chem Inc., a Toronto manufacturer of pharmaceutical chemicals.
"...voting no-confidence and forming a coalition government IS valid parliamentary procedure."By James - Chatham 12.07.08 4:54 pm
Is it? Why? L
BY LEASA 12.07.08 5:38 PM
___________
Well Leasa,
So you admit you know nothing of Parliamentary procedure. So what did you think "Confidence of the House" is about? Harper betrayed and lost the confidence of the House.
So it is then the duty of the Official Opposition to be ready to be a coalition government. And they are.
The only emergency was Harper's, to avoid facing his due, and parliamentary, demise.
The Liberal-NDP Coalition is how Canada keeps demagogues like Harper in check, and thank heavens for that.
The Bilderburg Group>The ideology put forward at the Bilderberg conferences is that what’s good for banking and big business is good for the mere mortals of the world. Silently banished are the critical voices, those that might point out that debt is spiralling out of control, that wealth is being sucked away from ordinary people and into the hands of the faceless corporate institutions, that millions are dying as a direct result of the global heavyweight Rockefeller/Rothschild economic strategies.
When looking at one of the (partially reliable) participant lists it should be remembered that quite a number of participants are invited in an attempt to get them on-board the globalisation project. These are carefully selected people of influence.>>>>>HARPER NEW BILDERBERG BOY
Bilderbergers Nervous About Canada?s PM
By James P. Tucker Jr.
Bilderbergers are nervous about their host for this year?s secret meeting near Ottawa, Canada.
But this is not the first time the new Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, has been part of this elite group of secret world leaders. Harper was photographed at the 2003 meeting in Versailles, France
Is it? Why? L
By Leasa on 12.07.08 5:38 pm
Let’s play Get Smart Leechate! ‘Because it is in our Constitution!’
Any questions, read your Consitution and the Rules? Then again, you may be assigned to struggle here with the reality because Steve ordered you to?
Have some personal pride, be smarter than your Leader, and show it.
Van: Why would it have been a “constitutional crisis”? The coalition was legal, democratic and just.
Say, here is a thought (only for those MP’s with a real spine, and dedicated to our country’s future), ‘what say you, about gathering together, opening Parliament, and if Stevie Boy wants to participate, then he can enter with the proper Passphrase ‘I am sorry I have been a total ASSHOLE! Let’s get back to work’.
You have a legal majority, exercise it please!
Oh, and forget the pompous ass ceremony with the overpaid Door Knocker. It is 2008. Just open it and get back to work. My, how revolutionary, eh?
A commenter at Kady O’Malleys blog had this to say:
Big Rig wrote:
“Recording another party’s private conversation? I am sick of this nonsense, and sick that Harper is our PM. I have never before posted on a political forum, nor have I ever donated to a political party, but as of today, I have done both, and neither were in favour of the Conservatives.
If a middle-of-the-road guy like me has been galvanized by all of this, I’ll bet plenty of other previously inactive men and women have been too – also not in favour of the Conservatives.
Bring Harper down. Raise an alternative. Move this country forward.”
_______
It would seem the comfy Canuck is waking up to how the Cons operate.
Power grab is right. Harper has it clutched tightly in his grip and won’t give it back!
By James – Chatham on 12.07.08 4:52 pm
I agree. I said all along, no prorogation, take it to the people. The prorogue wasn`t to protect Harper, it was to protect the government. After just 6 weeks after the lowest voter participation in history the voters would want the gallows and not the system.
the peasants have no credit
let them pay cash
It is truly time for the BoC to get those T-Bills and bonds back as the loans expire. Let those banks, who have unwisely invested, eat their losses. No reason why us Canadians should be bearing the risk.
In the meantime, for regular investors like me, may I suggest pulling out of American mutual funds and holding physical precious metals instead. No point holding “paper gold” because it is significantly oversold.
And Buddy, Spare a Dime, voting no-confidence and forming a coalition government IS valid parliamentary procedure.
By James – Chatham on 12.07.08 4:54 pm
I`ve never said either was illegal or undemocratic.
The coalition is formed now they need a non-confidence vote to bring down the government at which time the GG must respect the democratic right of the people to re-elect or change the governing party unless the coalition has extensive and substantive reason to suspend the peoples right to elect.
Again what kind of a reason to suspend the foremost democratic right of the people is an economic plan that will be released after the`re back in power. Odd no one voted for that losing strategy in the last election so why would the GG even consider it an extensive and substantive reason.
Isn`t it obvious that anything this downright stupid there can be only one agenda by the whole of government, distract, dismiss, deny.
And Buddy, Spare a Dime, voting no-confidence and forming a coalition government IS valid parliamentary procedure.
By James – Chatham on 12.07.08 4:54 pm
Is it? Why? L
By Leasa on 12.07.08 5:38
———————————–
Lesa for Goodness sakes, what is wrong with you? Harper tried to do the same thing in 2004. He wanted to form a coalition with the other parties if he could to form the Government if a confidence vote came up and booted the then Liberal party and Paul Martin. What of this answer can’t you understand? My God People wake up.
Yada, yada..
Garth, when I constantly pointed this out to you in your blog before the passing of the last budget, you totally ignored it.
In the last Budget Parliament gave the Bank of Canada the latitude to buy any securities in any amounts. The Liberals passed this bill by sitting on their asses, and what asses they were. I was a one man mouth on this subject for post after post but was totally ignored.
Now all of a sudden, you are astounded and shocked. Doh!
I’m neither. I just lament the people have been so misled. — Garth
And why are you slagging the Bloc? I don’t remember Harper being so critical when the Bloc supported him. Why does your leader say one thing and do another?
I guess that is what hypocrites do.
By Judy on 12.07.08 6:34 pm
——————–
Judy it is like beating your head against the wall with these Conservative / Harper supporters. They just follow the party line and talking points and that’s it. Not capable of thinking or using their own brains to form an opinion. God I pity anyone under 40 in this country if Harper ever does get the majority he so desperately wants. The man will make their Golden years more miserable than they can ever imagine.
There is, as yet, no hard, concrete scientific proof that anything exists between my ears. Until verified, I remain a legend in your own minds.
But enough about you. Let’s talk about me. For a realistic view on how the HoC runs, check out http://www.dilbert.com/
———-
“. . . changing the system.” — buddy, 3:56 pm; /\ “. . . buddy always says, from now on economic circumstances will dictate the future.” — wjp, 5:00 pm
The future is here and now, therefore spoken like true realists because unlike most, we already know the hard reality of life.
Politics, politicians and opinions don’t matter now, as the meltdown, its effects and after-effects — what the fall-out will be — on sheeple is the only priority.
Jim Taylor writes every Sunday in The Okanagan Sunday (a local writer), and his column today has a neat headline: “Who’s in charge of the economic crisis?”
Quite. Who is is charge? Who orchestrated the events happening worldwide?
It was easy to understand the housing meltdown because sheeple loved living high off the hog while expecting that their lifecycles would never end; if it did, someone else would pay all the bills.
Reality check: Everything here has a beginning, middle, end or birth, life, death. That is the nature of life and death.
Opening says: “Do you ever get the feeling that no one — and I do mean no one — knows what’s going on anymore? — (see links following) — The financial meltdown may just be a symptom of a larger collapse.”
Y’all get the general idea; a much larger collapse is coming.
CRAP pulled the plug as they knew they would lose the confidence vote, and either give way to a coalition or have another pointless election. From their perspective, better to bite the bullet and bide one’s time; thus we would forget about what is happening
For those who know what the effects of the fiscal meltdown are, they will not have to forget, as they are already living it.
———-
http://www.moneymorning.com/2008/12/03/bailout-programs/ — This site says inflation is replacing deflation (which is already here, as prices of most things are shrinking).
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/triumph-of-the-dollar-2-28564 — This site says something about a strong greenback and deflation.
agorafinancial (The Daily Reckoning) suggests hedging against the recession, but none mention hyper-inflation, which is on the horizon and that is what will hurt GICs, T-Bills, fixed incomes, etc.
What you have failed to articulate, the reason the GG would suspend the democratic right of the people for Parliamentary procedure.
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.07.08 5:04 pm
How can I articulate something that does not exist?
If the GG had made Harper face the non-confidence vote and the allowed the coalitiong to form government, it would NOT HAVE BEEN a suspension of the democratic process, it would be part of it. As I stated warlier, you need to learn about how the Westminster Parliamentary system actually work instead of relying on the Harper bastardisation of it. I have not heard one political science guru state that the coalition would be against that system.
What you have failed to articulate is why the GG DID suspend the democratic process by allowing Harper to prorogue parliament and silence the 308 democratically elected representatives of the people!
One million layoffs a month, in the US from spring ’09. The Cycle Of Nines again.
Could be this IS the start of something bigger than anything anyone could have imagined. — http://tinyurl.com/6nopmj
Remember the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson ‘A little revolution now and then is a good thing!’
We still have the untried option of actually following the Rules!
Also, the ‘V is for Vendetta’ scenario where Parliament is ‘reduced to a burned out cinder.’ Seems appropriate as we are all dealing a with ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ (aka, the ‘Day the Politicians Disappeared Up Their Own Arse With A CLANG!’ The infamous ‘Clang Bird Scenario!’
BTW, seems a few Liberals actual understand democracy in that they are talking about letting the Party Members vote for a new leader, instead of the Back Room Boys Executive. My, how uniquely enthralling! Icky Iggy, of course, does not support this because, well, the rules, and such (which were never written to address the current meelee) ‘don’t allow it’ (Translation: The Party members may not elect me, the All-Knowing, Magnificent as Leader. This must be censured immediately.)
Just what Canada needs, replacing one Power Pervert with another, both American in their ideology. Yee haw!
God, I am so thankful I am not a Liberal, or any other Party member. I am a Free Man and Independent with a functional brain, and able to make decisions based on FACTS and REALITY!
(Bet Garth has thought the same thing?)
Ok, so what’s the effin alternative? Allow the banks to crumble and EVERYONE goes down?
The amazing ignorance of the comments on this board are as astonishing as the ignorance of the author.
Perhaps you schmucks deserve what you ask for – lose every dime you have in any financial institutions – they’d surely implode without the BOC swaping assets.
And remember, those “assets” aren’t some faceless corporation, but the assets of your sleaze bag families, friends and neighbors who wanted the big home, the Harley, the BMW and the SUV, the vacation home, they 1 month vacations, the diamonds, the fancy clothes and eating out 5 nights a week.
All you have to do to find the culprits is look in the mirror!
“… did we see a coalition on the ballot. No.”
James-Chatham, ask Buddy and any other defender of partisan ruling rights if he/they saw a party on the ballot.
All this talk of the GG can do this or the GG can do that is a load of crap!
She has no authority over elected members of parliment. The reason she got her job was she was a triple hit for the “politicaly correct” crowd and a CBC journalist.
Does anyone seriously think with credentials like that people will allow her to change election results?
As I stated warlier, you need to learn about how the Westminster Parliamentary system actually work instead of relying on the Harper bastardisation of it. I have not heard one political science guru state that the coalition would be against that system.
parliament and silence the 308 democratically elected representatives of the people!
By James – Chatham on 12.07.08 8:32 pm
“If the GG had made Harper face the non-confidence vote and the allowed the coalitiong to form government, it would NOT HAVE BEEN a suspension of the democratic process, it would be part of it.”
Changing the government at the whim of the politicians and not the people is not suspending the democratic process? Where do you live, N.K.?
“I have not heard one political science guru state that the coalition would be against that system
Again no one is saying forming a coalition is unconstitutional, illegal or a coup.
“What you have failed to articulate is why the GG DID suspend the democratic process by allowing Harper to prorogue”
I agree, read buddy, spare a dime? on 12.07.08 7:58 pm
——–
ask Buddy and any other defender of partisan ruling rights if he/they saw a party on the ballot.
By Herb on 12.07.08 8:58 pm
Herb you normally don`t act like an asshole so accusing me of defending partisan rights is over the top when you know I`ve been promoting a totally non-partisan provincially nominated federal government.
Jack and Gille went up the Hill to kill a bill of Harperty
Jack spoke up of broken towns
and Gille told all he, Dion, will back
while never signing dat.
Now Dion has lost his taper, so must fade away unsavory
Jack still crows that he the economy can saverty
While Gille smirks avec entente de coalaction
When all is said and done, en Canada, Ain’t we got fun?
So it is a little rough around the edges! But I don’t claim to be literate.
And remember, those “assets” aren’t some faceless corporation, but the assets of your sleaze bag families, friends and neighbors who wanted the big home, the Harley, the BMW and the SUV, the vacation home, they 1 month vacations, the diamonds, the fancy clothes and eating out 5 nights a week.
All you have to do to find the culprits is look in the mirror!
By Pluheeze on 12.07.08 8:49 pm
Well there you go, judging everyone else by yourself. The great majority of us don’t have most of those items and can not even aspire to them. On their behalf I suggest you just piss off into the middle distance with the remnants of your vast wealth and lack of wisdom!
Buddy, Buddy, etc., etc.,
why don’t you stop your own efforts to “distract, dismiss, deny”? When you talk about the suspension of “the democratic right of the people for Parliamentary procedure” or “substantive reasons” being required, you are being tendentious, not factual.
What suspension of which right of parliamentary procedure are you talking about – accepting the resignation of a government after it has lost the confidence of the House, and asking the leader of the next largest political grouping in the House to have a go? What substantive reasons – a lost confidence vote is all a government needs to be turfed, whether it likes it or not. Of course, it was past precedent and practice that the Prime Minister of a defeated government submitted his government’s resignation, but that was before Harper.
Someone else offering to form a government is parliamentary procedure, not a minority government ending a session to avoid a confidence vote, or claiming that it cannot be replaced without an election.
Remember that individual MPs are elected, not parties. The political grouping does not matter. In theory any MP can form a government if he/she can prove that he/she has enough members in the House to support them. The arbiter for that is the GG, and there is nothing in the Constitution that says that the GG must call an election whenever a government loses a confidence vote.
I’m sure you will correct me if you can dig up contrary facts
Oh, and forget the pompous ass ceremony with the overpaid Door Knocker. It is 2008. Just open it and get back to work. My, how revolutionary, eh?
By Bill-Muskoka (Not Anymore) on 12.07.08 7:24 pm
Oh yes, like ditch the choir boy costumes, salute instead of bow down, and finally, speak in normal voices with polite respectful dialogue.
As far as I know the Federal Health Minister Tony Clement holds a one-quarter equity position in Prudential Chem Inc., a Toronto manufacturer of pharmaceutical chemicals.
By barb the proofreader on 12.07.08 6:51 pm
He better not be the holder of ANY stocks while he sits in Cabinet. All such holdings are required to be in escrow or divested otherwise it is deemed to be a serious conflict of interest, period. Remember the “sold” shares in the golf course and convention center that reverted back to PM Jean Cretien while in office due to a bankruptcy? Short memories are becoming a national liability, me thinks!
Excuse me if I am wrong but doesn’t Bob Rae’s brother run the Toronto Dominion bank. You know “Rae Days” Rae.
Ed Clark runs the bank. — Garth
From the ‘panic’ of 2008 to the ‘collapse’ of 2009. On wrh.com at 10:04 a.m.
“The country’s top trends forecaster, who accurately predicted the ‘panic’ of 2008 nearly a year before it unfolded, is now ominously suggesting that next year will come to be known as “the collapse of 2009.”
COMEX, etc., and quotes about the lack of gold by Dec. 31. — http://tinyurl.com/6ce4ro
———
It appears there is more than meets the eye re: Bombay. — http://tinyurl.com/6q2sn2
Footnote: Basic info. says that Osama bin Laden passed over a few years back, either by kidney failure in Dec. 2001 or murdered, but he is the dead nemesis the US keeps resurrecting to perpetuate their wars.
There are at least two You Tube videos where Benazir Bhutto says the same thing (he was murdered), but she was on the verge of taking over in India and would have made this info. world-wide public knowledge.
However, she was conveniently knocked off by ‘extreme radicals’ — i.e., US mercenaries.
———
A single para. tells all about a true zionist, followed by harpo’s ties with same. — http://tinyurl.com/6os5uq http://tinyurl.com/6o6uf6
———
Then again, the universe is unfolding as it should, and all is in it’s rightful place. Including hairy!
I’m sure you will correct me if you can dig up contrary facts
By Herb on 12.07.08 9:58 pm
“When you talk about the suspension of “the democratic right of the people for Parliamentary procedure” or “substantive reasons” being required, you are being tendentious, not factual.”
I though the expert constitutional opinion that the reason to suspend the democratic right of the voter would have to be “substantive reasons” but I`ll take your word when the coalition makes a convincing case to the GG.
“What suspension of which right of parliamentary procedure are you talking about – accepting the resignation of a government after it has lost the confidence of the House, and asking the leader of the next largest political grouping in the House to have a go? ”
The word suspension pertains to the right of the people and not Parliamentary procedure.
“What substantive reasons – a lost confidence vote is all a government needs to be turfed”
There already is a democratic and constitutional mechanism for that. It`s called a majority non-confidence vote followed by an election.
“or claiming that it cannot be replaced without an election.’
That was the theme of all the Constitutional experts.
“In theory any MP can form a government if he/she can prove that he/she has enough members in the House to support them.”
lol, I`m sure Cdns must be enjoying the thought of May winning a seat and accepting the post of PM to stop the Parties from squabbling.
The arbiter for that is the GG, and there is nothing in the Constitution that says that the GG must call an election whenever a government loses a confidence vote.
Where does it say she has the power to replace government with the opposition because the`re po`d they lost the last election. To replace a standing government with the opposition without “substantive reasons” is obviously a blatant power grab.
Besides Herb everyone is saying the Bloc isn`t part of the coalition so they won`t be part of government, where`s the majority that will form government?
Then there`s the Carbon trading scheme, fewer people voted for that than the CPC no-plan plan, where`s the majority on the environmental plan. Were`s the economic plan that will replace the CPC plan? lol, Herb isn`t it obvious this whole antagonize the opposition to threatening a coup creating the prorogation is all distract, dismiss, deny by all the Parties.
It all seems to be working out rather well for a dysfunctional system, government is down, opposition filling the air waves with so much idiocy the public has tuned out, similar to this blog that keeps readers entertained.
Take it to the people with a none of the above, you`ll hear what Cdns are thinking and not what the politicians are telling the media what people want.
economic conditions will force the changes required, can the coalition compete with that?
http://drdawgsblawg.blogspot.com/
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2008
A tale of two leaders.
Gilles Duceppe and Stephen Harper.
One cannot imagine two men who are more different in the choices they have made with regards to their career paths, their personal and ideological beliefs, and their leadership styles.
Gilles Duceppe has serious, long-term political credentials. He has often sacrificed his own interests, he has devoted himself to advancing the rights of workers, and he has spent long, badly or not remunerated, unsung hours on picket lines and at union meetings. He has taken on lowly tasks because the work needed to be done, he has rolled up his sleeves and pitched in when necessary, and he has listened to criticism from the rank and file. Duceppe takes his responsibilities as an elected official to heart and he dedicates considerable intellectual energy and vigour to being as well-informed, as attentive to the issues, and as knowledgeable about his riding and his caucus members as possible.
Stephen Harper bluffs his way when necessary, brown-noses when opportune and bullies when he feels like it. He has held three, perhaps four jobs so far. He has the personality of a sociopath and the gut instincts of a mafia capo. He was jonesing for an alliance with the Bloc québecois under circumstances less compelling than the asinine stunt that his henchman Flaherty pulled. He is a chameleon, providing in any given circumstance the words and the deportment that are instrumental to his getting what he wants. He needs sycophants, followers and cheer-leaders. He needs to see terror in the eyes of his workers. He constantly needs an audience.
So here’s my idea. Duceppe should be the Prime Minister.
And Harper should be an actor. He would get the adulation and applause he craves. He is thoroughly incompetent as an economist; he merely got that degree to catch the attention of the Reform Party. His Famous Blue Sweater performance during the last federal election, except for a few moments when he dropped out of character, was worthy of an Academy Award™.
POSTED BY MARIE ÈVE AT 9:36 PM
Hi Garth, FYI anyone,
Someone has posted this on http://www.reddit.com today. If you haven’t seen it yet.
The Most IMPORTANT Video You’ll Ever See Part 1 of 8
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u5iFESMAU58
http://inthehouseandsenate.blogspot.com/
Scroll down to second post,
Peterborough Politics uncovers mass sale of souls to the Devil
Cameron at Peterborough Politics did some research and found out that some current CPC members may have signed off their souls in an unholy alliance in 2000.
OMG!!!! Does Harper know this? Cameron suggests writing to those members who may have compromised their souls and ask why, oh why didn’t they do the ethical thing back then – you know, what they are now saying is the democratic thing – why they didn’t let the public vote on the 2000 coalition?
Over to you, Cam -
But with http://cameronholmstrom.blogspot.com/2008/12/originators.html this recent revelation from the Globe and Mail, I had a question pop into my mind: How many current Conservative MP’s were either candidates in 2000 or were in those 2000 Alliance and PC caucuses that were going to, using the Conservatives new slang, “enter a deal with the devil”? Well, here they are folks and I have linked to all of their contact information (phone, fax and email) so that you can contact them to just let them know how you feel about their “awful attempts to overturn the results of that election” and “Why they didn’t let the public vote on their coalition?” Given the events of this week, I would say that it’s quite in order. But please, show these folks the respect their elected positions deserve. And please do circulate this information around so that we can get as many people to let their thoughts be known to these MP’s.
Jim Abbott Diane Ablonczy Dean Allison Rob Anders David Anderson Leon Benoit Garry Breitkreuz Gord Brown Paul Calandra Rick Casson John Cummins Stockwell Day John Duncan Cheryl Gallant Peter Goldring Richard M. Harris Jay Hill Gerald Keddy Jason Kenney Daryl Kramp Guy Lauzon Gary Lunn James Lunney Peter Gordon MacKay Dave MacKenzie Inky Mark Rob Merrifield James Moore Rob Moore Rob Nicholson
Rick Norlock Deepak Obhrai James Rajotte Scott Reid Gary Schellenberger Kevin Sorenson Chuck Strahl Greg Thompson Vic Toews Tim Uppal Maurice Vellacott Jeff Watson Alice Wong Lynne Yelich
John Manley supports Ignatieff. Hate to say this, but the Liberal party must move to the right in order to defeat the Conservatives. Chretien supported social liberalism, but fiscally governed from the right and didn’t fund many Liberal causes. However, he did support enough that he appealed to both left and right-leaning voters. Many, many Canadians are socially Liberal, but fiscally Conservative.
That does leave Bob Rae out of the picture, but timing is wrong — Dion must be replaced–he’s a disaster at the polls.
Ignatieff fits and Rae does not. I do understand that Rae prefers that NDP and Libeal vote splitting ceased, but that won’t happen with Ignatieff at the helm. There could come a day when the two parties join, but not at this time in Canadian political history. What’s important is that the Liberal party are in a position to defeat the current government. There is much work to be done–they must put into position a fund raising apparatus similar to the Conservatives. All successful parties and charities use data-mining techniques (including Obama’s extremely successful campaign.) Data-mining doesn’t have to be used in a disrespectful way that invades privacy–but make no mistake, the money spent by the Liberal party to build a good system, does return grassroot, financial and political support. I don’t expect the Liberals to win the next election–the rebuilding process takes time and supporters need to be patient. Ignatieff as the new leader will increase Liberal voter support, but unfortunately, not enough seats to defeat the Conservatives presently in office. But, perhaps a coalition with the NDP would in the next election?
Blah blah blah coalition, blah blah blah prorogue, blah blah blah. I’m disgusted by the whole lot of them. They all make me sick.
Why couldn’t the selection of the Liberal’s new leader be done by video conferencing? The candidates could give their speeches with riding members voting for the person they want to represent them?
That way the selection is more legitimate than sitting MP’s and Senators voting for the person they believe is best.
Riding members could elect to gather together to listen to the speeches, then discuss what they’ve seen and heard. A hall could be rented in Toronto where they could cast their ballots. There’s enough time between now and January 21st, if the Liberal caucus is modern enough to implement such a plan.
Parliament doesn’t re-convene from being prorogued: until January 26th.
Charles Oxley, I think this is the video link you were mentioning:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=29346567
Hello Garth,
I’m waiting with great suspense for your article that is going to explain, why Ms. Jean is going to be the last GG.
Have a nice week!
Perhaps this is the day Harper shows his true allegiance. The Alberta Tar Sands barons are asking the Feds for more tax breaks to help their crumbling business.
I wonder if Harper/Flaherty will find the $$$$$ to bail out the oil guys over the auto guys??? Surely these Alliance/Reformers saved a little bit for their Albertan buddies rainy day???
David Zussman, outlining lessons to be learned from the current crisis in “What it all means for our political system”, at http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/What+means+political+system/1044901/story.html
P.S. for Buddy. Claiming that a government cannot be replaced without an election was not “the theme of all the Constitutional experts”, only Conservative ones. Are you surprised?
Do you want to know where Canad is going?
Read this:
U.S. Collective Dictatorship Enlarges
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff242.html
Nope, it’s not about war, its about economics. Which is, much, much worst.
This is pure journalism, Garth. I can’t believe that you are sitting as an X MP with what you have to offer Canada, I truly can’t. The media will not give Liberals any breaks. They will spin it Harper’s way and the regulars who follow your blog know why.
Without the help of the media, I don’t know if Harper can lose. I think back to all of the historical examples from the extremes of Mussolini, Hitler, Rhuwanda… to our modern times of Thatcher, Howard and both Bush’s…
I don’t know. The Liberal party of Canada is going to have to fight back with pure information that is accurate at all levels, leave the rhetoric alone and educate Canadians with the facts needed for Canadians to make the right choices come election day. No rhetoric, no frills glitter and glitz (can’t afford it anyways), just facts. Cold hard facts.
Leading die hard partisan supporters to the light is much the same thing as deprograming those who belong to cults. With whats happening the size of this scale, Garth… we will need the media to tell the story the way it is and it hasn’t yet happened. If it doesn’t, Harper could form the next majority and the way I see it is that we have approximately 75 to 100 Billion worth of bad debt bought up from the big six banks stemming mainly from Harper/Flarehty’s toxic 40/0′s and we will have a minimum of 40 billion worth of deficits over the next 3 years federally. I’m looking at $40 to $50 billion dollar deficits on average over the next 4 years if Harper gets a majority.
We can’t let this happen to our nation, Garth… we simply can’t.
Oh yes, like ditch the choir boy costumes, salute instead of bow down, and finally, speak in normal voices with polite respectful dialogue.
By Truth B Told on 12.07.08 10:10 pm
You’ve been watching the new Democratic Congress on CSPAN, haven’t you? LOL
I truly loved the grilling (so very well deserved) that the Big 3 Honchos got before Congress. ‘Are you prepared to sell your private jet now, and fly back commercial?’ Now that is what I call confronting the problem. It is called Tough Love!
The Bozos got the message and carpooled for the next round, and in a hybrid to boot! At least as far as the Congress could tell. they probably still have the corporate jets (nice tax writeoff you know, but with a perky perk attached), flew to some remote airfield near Washington, DC, and then after having some poor bastard drive the Volt to the airfield, they made pretty, pretty and got their photo-op.
Coalition governments do happen in democracies all the time. That is fine. However, if this coalition happens in Canada it will be the first coalition government to take power that includes a separatist party. The same party where just over three decades ago the Canadian government had to invoke the military because of the violence and murder. The same party where it’s members burn the flag and worse.
The Bloc members are voted for democratically, even though we know they have a mandate to break up this country, we tolerate them and yes, they do vote and have supported and not supported the governments of the day many times throughout the years, but not without the losing side of the vote screaming about the other side being in bed with the separatists.
Think about it. Think about all the nasty things Liberals have said whenever the bloc has voted with the CPC. Now all those nasty comments are simple ‘moot’ points? What gives? Do you not see the hypocrisy?
So, now on one hand you tell us it’s perfectly moral and ‘okay’ to allow the NDP & Liberals form a government without the say of the people even though they still do have a minority in the HoC. You say on one hand the Bloc is not a part of the coalition, yet you want to count them as a part of the coalition in order to claim a majority.
This is the first time in our history and the history of democratic countries where the running of the government will depend on a separatist party.
In 2004, the Bloc supported the CPC to take power long enough to bring us to an election. There was NO agreement to govern together. If I recall correctly, even with that temporary agreement (days in duration), the Liberals screamed over and over ‘YOU ARE IN BED WITH SEPARATISTS’ and accused Mr. Harper of hating Canada for doing so.
It’s one thing to have the Bloc support you on legislation in the HoC because they agree with it and another to form legal binding agreements to govern the country.
But, now that’s all changed? Tell me why.
Leasa
Is it? Why? L
By Leasa on 12.07.08 5:38 pm
You, too, need to study the Westinster parliamentary system. Listen to all the political science professors who have commented on this Harper made crisis. Not one agrees with Harper.
The evidence that Harper knows this to be true is his 2005 letter, co-signed by Jack Layton and Gilles Ducceppe. There has also been precidence for coalitions in the UK with the Lib-Lab pact. No one vote for it, but it happened.
However, if you listen carefully to Mr. Harper’s complaints about the coalition, he does not say its illegal, he does not say its unconstitutional, because he knows that it isn’t either.
He does spin the situation based on emotion of being unfair and undemocratic. But there are many forms of democracy, and ours is based on electing 308 MP’s and allowing them to make parliament work, something Harper has failed to do.
His sole complaint is that it has the support of the Bloq; that a separatist party should have no place in government. Not only do we know this is hypocritical due to the afore mentioned 2005 letter, but also is false as the Bloq MP’s have been elected in the same manner as any other MP, CPC, Lib, NDP or independant, and have the same rights and priviledges as any other.
We can debate how our system should be changed; PR, winner takes everything (Which Haroer thinks it is now!) or even banning separatist parties. However, the system we have is the system we have, and it is under that system that we current must work.
Harper refuses to do so!
Very scary to think the Cad. $$ is even partly backed by high risk mortgages instead of gold. I too am surprised this hasn’t been all over the press. When Harper said this was a good investment I started to worry. Now I know why.
Garth,
Please check your server’s time setting. it is off quite a bit. The current time is 8:47 AM
That’s Garth Time. — Garth
Dion dumped like trash. Rae being forced out. Meet your new leader Micheal (A.B.C.) Ignatieff. The ABC isn’t anyone but Conservative, it’s Iggy’s thirty-five year motto: Anywhere But Canada.
No vote of members. No vote of the people. What do you call a potential government that does this?
Poor Dion, he will never live this down.
BTW Leasa,
For a minority government to be successful, it must enter into pacts with at least one party to survive. We’ve seen this with Paul Martin and the NDP, when Martin changed his budget to gain support from the NDP. We’ve also seen it when Harper presented a budget that was designed so the Bloq would support it.
So on a bill by bill basis, secret backroom coalitions are made all the time. An in a minority situation, all the more so.
All the Libs and NDP have done is extend this to an 18 month period to allow for stable government. And they made it public.
They could have kept quiet, voted down Harper and then formed government, and only the GG would have known. Oh, that;s the “COUP” Harper was planning in 2005 which has come to light 3 years later!
What will this week bring us from Oddawahaha? Oh, I can barely wait to find out. Such intrigue, such depth of thought! Why, it is a veritable mixed sald of Silliness.
Iggy wants the reigns (Give me those reigns You inferior things!); Dion is still trying to get someone to understand him in either French or English; Rae is out actually doing something (apparently); and the Back Room Boys are seeing the writing on the wall ‘Your Kingdom has been counted, and you have been found wanting. It is FINISHED!’
Bob Rae understands how a grass roots democracy works. Too bad the rest do not!
Meanwhile, the ship is adrift without Captain or crew. The rocks of Reality Shoal loom in the darkness. And the winds of change are at gale force.
Canuckistan! Vhat a country! Eh?
Meanwhile Harper is acting like the Taliban going about using fear and intimidation to persuade the uninformed (yes, willfully ignorant), and the Blue Kool-Aide drinkers, that ‘All is steady. There are no problems! Things are fine! As long as you mindlessly support ME! ME! ME!’
It looks like Mr. Dion will be stepping down.
I wonder what that sleazebag Lyin’ Leasa will do when it can’t it doesn’t have Mr. Dion’s face to kick sand in?
That prick Harper is next. He must be removed from office. His presence as PM, against the will of Parliament is testimony to his cowardice and sleaziness.
No wonder Lyin’ Leasa supports ultra-sleazebag Harper with the demented fervor of a cultist.
Birds of a feather.
Brain,
you’re our resident expert on media concentration – how do we convince the concentrated corporate media to forgo spin and report only fact?
Media owners either are very wealthy or want to be, so it is in their interest to ensure conditions conducive to building corporate and private wealth. That requires a government that establishes and maintains such conditions. Do not expect them to use the media they own and control to harm their corporate and/or personal interests.
The problem we have always had in government is balancing vested interest (or whatever you want to call it) and the common good. Ideally there should be a balance or at least no contradiction between them, but there is no balance but quite the contradiction in the real world. The latest iteration is the budding “socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor”, and I have not seen much media protest against it.
The “Conservatives” are the party expected to foster individual and corporate wealth, the Liberals are considered to be socialists for the masses. Guess which party will get media support and favourable spin? Why is “toxic cash” not shouted from the rooftops?
What you fear will come to pass because there is no way of stopping it. Our nominal democracy operates very well on the basis of ignorance, misinformation and disinformation. How do we change that in view of the powers that profit by the same? “We can’t let this happen” – but we can’t stop it either.
[...] 8, 2008 · No Comments From Garth Turner there is a potential speculation that the Bank of Canada has been buying mortgages and credit card debt. At first when he was talking about toxic cash, I thought he was trying to suggest that our bills [...]
A question for Leasa, and Buddy, Spare a Dime,
I’ve tried to explain why the coalition is valid, legal and constitutional under the Westminster parliamentary system we have. Bear in mind the first Canadian governments of Sir. John A. were coalitions, so the precedent for a coalition in Canada exists from its
very foundation.
I ask you, why should a coalition be seen as invalid, illegal and unconstitutional?
The excuse that we didn’t get to vote on it will not surfice as the only time we get to vote on any of the backroom stuff that goes on in Parliament is on election day.
What say you?
MONEY AND MARKETS TV
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/MAM-TV/mam-tv.html
Leasa,
do read the link I posted at 8:08 am. Some of those lessons seem to have been written specifically for you.
Gee, if the cons were really interested in cutting back, there’s lots of room. I wonder what the books really look like.
Consultant bonanza DISCLOSURE PROJECT
The Toronto Star is investigating government expenses and contracts.
Previous stories have focused on federal spending on political events and high-flying ministers and political staff.
At the heart of the series are thousands of public records released by the federal government through its proactive disclosure program and assembled and analyzed by the Star’s Andrew Bailey.
Other stories can be found at thestar.com/investigation.
Kevin Donovan can be reached at 416-869-4425 or kdonovan@thestar.ca.
Parliamentarians’ tab for trips abroad $1.1M – and counting
MPs and senators quietly tabled reports for $354,509 worth of junkets abroad before the stormy fall session of Parliament ended abruptly for an extended Christmas break.Dec 08, 2008 04:30 AM
Comments on this story (46)
Kevin Donovan
Staff Reporter
The Conservative government spent almost $1 billion on consultants in its first two years in office – nearly double what the Liberals spent in a similar time period, a Toronto Star investigation shows.
Consultants with expertise in strategy, communications, policy, executive hiring, professional speaking, training and information technology were among the companies that benefited from the Conservative spending spree, an analysis of thousands of government records shows.
The biggest surge was in the use of management consultants to run government programs, such as the supervision and collection of federal student loans.
The increase was seen in many areas across the government, including the office that supports and advises the prime minister and cabinet (the Privy Council), Corrections Canada, Human Resources and Health Canada.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to requests for an interview last week. In the Conservative government’s recent economic update, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the government is asking ministers in all departments to “rein in” costs, including spending on consultants and travel. A recent Star investigation showed Conservative ministers and senior staff were frequently travelling overseas at top prices, often with a sizeable entourage.
When in opposition, the Conservatives frequently criticized the Liberals for high spending on government contracts, travel and hospitality.
The Star found that, in its first two years in power (2006-08), the Conservatives signed consulting contracts worth $917 million. That’s a 42 per cent increase over the $534 million in consulting contracts signed in the final two years of the Liberal government (2004-06).
The biggest jump for the Conservatives came with a $270 million contract with Resolve Corporation, which was hired to manage the government’s national student loan program. The increase of $113 million over the Liberal period was made up of myriad smaller consulting contracts.
The increases were seen in many departments. The Star looked at 18 departments and agencies over four years and found that in 14, the Conservative government spent more in a two-year period than the Liberals did in a similar two-year period.
One company whose government contracts increased dramatically was Dare Human Resources Corporation, an Ottawa-based firm that describes itself as providing “human capital management” to government. Translation: they help staff government departments with full-time or temporary employees. Under the first two years of the Conservatives, Dare had contracts worth $2.6 million in nine departments, including the Privy Council office, which advises and supports the prime minister and cabinet. That’s up from $592,000 spent on consulting contracts to Dare in five government departments in the two years of Liberal government studied by the Star.
A spokesperson for Dare was not available to comment.
The Star obtained 21,000 records of consulting contracts from the federal government’s “proactive disclosure” website. Proactive disclosure is the routine release of information on contracts and expenses. The government says this is done to enhance “transparency and oversight of public resources in the federal government.”
But the information provided is scant – just the name of the consultant, the date and time of the contract, and the amount. The public is not told what the contract is for, or what its terms are. For example, Dare’s contracts are listed only as “management consulting.”
Consultants are hired by governments the world over, typically with the stated purpose of improving efficiency or bolstering the efforts of public sector workers. The lack of description the Star found for the contracts makes it impossible to tell if it’s money well spent.
For example, one series of four contracts in the Canada Revenue Agency in the last year added up to $162,324 for Personal Pace Fitness, a gym in the Ottawa area. The owner of the gym, Dianne Villeneuve, told the Star the payments were made through her gym but were not fitness related. Villeneuve said the government was paying her husband, who does training and team-building consultancy work for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Her husband, Raymond Labonte, said in an interview he is a former manager in the public service with experience in “change management.” He helps managers at the CRA learn to be better managers. Catherine Jolicoeur, a CRA spokesperson, confirmed the consulting work involved training managers.
The Star had the same concerns with the biggest management consultancy contract in the last four years. This was a contract for $270 million to Toronto-based Resolve Corporation, awarded Dec. 21, 2006. There are few details on the proactive disclosure site or in the public documents of the Human Resources and Skills Development department, which granted the contract. But Resolve’s company documents say it has the contract to administer the Canada Student Loans Program, which it states has a portfolio of $6.8 billion, made up of roughly 1.6 million borrowers.
Resolve did not respond to interview requests. A spokesperson for Human Resources said the contract was awarded through “an open, fair and transparent re-tendering process.” Resolve assists “students during their repayment period” and helps students to verify the status and details of their loans, said department spokesperson Jason Bouzanis.
The Star also found that the Conservatives hired more speakers through agencies, though no details were provided on who they were or what they talked about. The Star found $100,000 paid to professional speaking companies like Speakers Spotlight and Spellbinders Speakers Group (all listed as consultants). The departments and bodies involved were the Privy Council office, Natural Resources, Environment and Industry. During the two-year period of Liberal rule studied, only $14,875 was paid to speakers.
The four departments or agencies in which the Liberals outspent the Conservatives are revenue, citizenship, industry and foreign affairs.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/550044
Garth has explained why the economies of the world must return to the gold standard for backing currencies. Currently, money is backed by nothing … better yet, the square root of nothing. The return to the gold standard will be painful, but it will be inevitable.
Gold Bug
P.S. for Buddy. Claiming that a government cannot be replaced without an election was not “the theme of all the Constitutional experts”, only Conservative ones. Are you surprised?
By Herb on 12.08.08 8:08 am
yes dear
If Iggy becomes the Liberal leader then I will not support the coalition.
Yes Duceppe for PM!
OPINION
Leadership AWOL as economy shudders
Dec 07, 2008 04:30 AM
Comments on this story (155)
David Olive
Business Columnist
Somehow the urgency of the present hour has eluded the Prime Minister, who needlessly provoked a constitutional crisis in the midst of global economic peril unmatched since the Great Depression, and a governor general who last week abetted the PM’s recklessness by overturning precedent in granting him the parliamentary adjournment he sought in order to save his skin.
The upshot is that Canada effectively has no federal government as the nation slides into a recession that some forecasters expect will claim 600,000 jobs, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of Canadians thrown out of work in the manufacturing, auto, forestry and other sectors in the last two years.
Relief will have to wait at least the better part of two months, until late January, when Stephen Harper’s government finally tables a stimulus budget, which must then be debated and might well be defeated.
That’s seven lost weeks, at a minimum, when Stephen Harper’s political career will assume primacy over the economy.
A lot can happen, we’ve learned this year, in seven weeks. Entire national banking systems have been exposed as insolvent and in need of a state-financed bailout lest the global system collapse. Oil, wheat and other commodities have rapidly plunged in value, taking oil patch and farm incomes down with them. Everyday Canadians have endured huge losses on their retirement nest eggs invested in the stock market. The North American auto industry teeters on the brink of extinction. Iceland has declared bankruptcy. Hungary and Pakistan are hooked up to fiscal IVs provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
That’s seven weeks of neglected measures to curb further job loss. To soften the blow for those who have been put on the street. And to create new jobs by investing in a sustainably prosperous 21st century economy. One based on knowledge rather than brawn industries. That develops and exploits alternative energy sources.
The contrast with our fellow industrialized nations could not be more stark. Collectively, the U.S., Europe and Asia have committed $2.6 trillion (U.S.) to jump-start economic growth, in addition to more than $2.7 trillion so far to bail out a crippled global banking system. The pump priming and financial-system bailouts are huge, in part to inspire consumer and business confidence – equal to 7 per cent of GDP in Germany, 16 per cent in China, 21 per cent in Britain.
The figure is 6 per cent for the U.S., where president-elect Barack Obama says: “We are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions … The truth is we do not have a minute to waste” in restoring economic health. Obama pledges federal spending aimed at saving and creating more than seven million jobs.
Ottawa boasts it has put stimuli in place equal to 2 per cent of GDP. It is referring to $2.5 billion (Canadian) in tax cuts implemented last year before the world economy went haywire, and that were accompanied by $4.3 billion in spending cuts, for a net stimulus that is in fact negative.
Rather than jolt new life into an economy slipping into what Ottawa acknowledges will be a recessionary period over the six months, ending next March 31 – itself an overly optimistic forecast in the opinion of most economists – Ottawa’s economic statement, or fiscal update, of Nov. 27 actually called for $2 billion in reduced spending. Advertised as a document to reassure Canadians, the statement recalled Abraham Lincoln’s dismissal of a debating rival’s argument: “As thin as the homeopathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death.”
Robert Fairholm, director of economic forecasting at the Centre for Spatial Economics, one of the four companies the federal finance ministry relies on for its economic forecasts, calls Ottawa’s rosy projections a “fantasy.” He says in the absence of substantial new federal stimulus, the Canadian economy will shrink 0.1 per cent next year, in contrast to Ottawa’s stated expectation of 0.3 per cent growth. By contrast, boosting the economy by even $15 billion worth of federal investment would likely yield 1.6 per cent growth next year.
The IMF, an agency traditionally averse to deficit spending, last month exhorted affluent nations to invest in their economies by an amount equal to 2 per cent of GDP – about $30 billion in Canada’s case.
Canada joined the consensus of Group of 20 summiteers in Washington in November that signed on to that target. Yet a day after delivering his Nov. 27 stand-pat economic statement, the strongest tonic federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty chose to offer was, to paraphrase William Lyon Mackenzie King on conscription, stimulus if necessary, but not necessarily stimulus.
Flaherty’s response Nov. 28 was: “I hope the economy will be strong and we won’t need to have any additional stimulus in the Canadian economy, but if it’s necessary to do so, we will do so.”
What parts of a global economy in turmoil is the minister unable to see when he draws back the blackout curtains at the Ministry of Finance? Not his Oshawa riding, apparently, where year-over-year Employment Insurance claims have shot up by 96 per cent.
Reflecting widespread U.S. sentiment that the lame-duck Bush administration has been preoccupied with bailing out Wall Street and ignoring Main Street, David Miller said of Flaherty’s fiscal update: “I’m very concerned the statement does not show the urgency needed to address the economic challenges Canada is facing.”
The Toronto mayor added: “It’s important that as the government addresses the credit crisis (it) ensures that our manufacturing industries, our construction industries and other places that are being affected have relief, and not just the banking sector.”
Pump priming doesn’t agree with everyone, of course. Short-term stimulus packages, says Don Drummond, chief economist at TD Bank, “don’t really generate very much short-term stimulus and they very quickly become long-term structural problems.”
Drummond, a former official in the federal finance ministry, adds that “Canada is not the problem – we’re the only developed economy in which employment and consumption are still rising. Our economy’s been hit by international events, not by domestic events.”
Like many economists, Drummond also casts a baleful eye on infrastructure spending, since putting a spade in the ground usually comes only after a long stretch of planning, by which time the economy has recovered – but the spending, and its potential inflationary impact, remains.
That was a widely held view at the outset of the Great Depression, when Washington remained obsessed with balanced budgets, which even Franklin D. Roosevelt felt the need to promise in his successful campaign for office in 1932.
It does seem a bit odd to dwell on the possibility of mismanaged government spending in the immediate aftermath of one of the global private sector’s most colossal blunders of all time – a U.S. housing boom spawned by often predatory marketing of subprime, or junk mortgages that Wall Street bundled and distributed until the toxic waste, as it’s now known on the Street, had contaminated the balance sheets of almost every major bank on the planet.
While government doesn’t have a monopoly on misallocating capital, it is the spender of last resort when consumers and businesses are too fearful or impoverished to spend. And only government can spend truly big – to build a transcontinental railway, wage a war, finance the early cyberspace network that became the Internet.
Drummond’s argument aside, Canada is hardly isolated from external shocks, though it’s true the impact here has always tended to lag the onset of disturbances in the U.S. and elsewhere. The recent announcement of the closures of two Magna parts plants north of the GTA, with a loss of 850 jobs, came six months after the first credible rumours that Magna customer General Motors Corp. might actually be close to bankruptcy.
Liberal economist Robert Reich, labour secretary in the Clinton administration and an economic adviser to the Obama transition team, makes a persuasive argument in his blog that “government spending that puts people back to work and invests in the future productivity of the nation is exactly what the economy needs right now. When there’s lots of idle capacity, deficit spending is entirely appropriate, as John Maynard Keynes taught us. Moving the economy to fuller capacity will of itself shrink future deficits” – the long-term structural problems to which Drummond refers.
The challenge is to spend carefully. And after the improvisations of FDR’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, and our own experiments with regional economic development and subsidies to hydroponic cucumber growers in Newfoundland, we have by now accumulated sufficient knowledge, one would hope, to invest public funds at least as wisely as the vaunted capital allocators in the private sector for whom we have the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) to thank.
Where to invest?
To continue reading:
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/549790
I ask you, why should a coalition be seen as invalid, illegal and unconstitutional?
The excuse that we didn’t get to vote on it will not surfice as the only time we get to vote on any of the backroom stuff that goes on in Parliament is on election day.
What say you?
By James – Chatham on 12.08.08 10:48 am
I don`t recall Leasa saying a coalition was invalid, illegal and unconstitutional and I certainly have not.
If you recall all the way back to yesterday I said suspending the peoples right to participate in determining the makeup of government and replacing the elected government without detailed and substantive reason to suspend the right of the people would be unconstitutional.
For eg replacing government with the opposition because the op is po`d they lost the last election would be unconstitutional besides downright loonie.
Replacing the government because you don`t like their economic plan when you don`t have one is again as loonie as asking the voters to put you back in power before you give us your economic plan.
So far the only thing the people see is the lefts arrogance thinking they can do away with elections.
So far more and more Cdns see a widening gap between the federal government a sanity.
The system is broken James, suspending elections to take power is just more insanity and arrogance. I`m not surprised, it fits right in with replacing family with daycare.
Sorry not to be addressing the topic of this thread, but feel this is too important to wait for a thread that discusses the Liberal leadership.
Excuse me, but the selection of Ignatieff pictures tends to make readers surmise, “He’s laughing behind his hand that’s covering his mouth!”
Rae is correct, this selection must be seen by the electorate as being democratic. Move the convention date up to January, rent a hall in Toronto, and have all 308 Liberal ridings vote for the new leader.
Ignatieff cannot be the interim leader—gives him too much of an advantage over the other candidates. Also gives Liberal, Convention, late, leadership candidates no opportunity.
The Liberal party opens themselves to ridicule if Ignatieff is crowned.
CRACK goes the Weasel!!!!
Critics slam Prime Minister Harper as ‘pathological partisan’: One top Conservative says, PM has ‘partisan gene that just drives him to poke political foes in the eye.’
In other words. Harper is a pathological BULLY!
Bank rates head to zero
By James – Chatham on 12.08.08 10:48 am
For the sake of returning to sanity we should all be pushing for a national referendum on wether replacing government without an election is constitutional.
Two questions;
a: do you support changing government by suspending elections
b: do you support changing the system
I ran the no side referendum on more taxes and won, I`d be happy to lead the `change the system side` for a provincially nominated federal government
No more political gimmicks James. Canada needs change and it isn`t the federal government, it`s the failed system of governance.
reform or else
Are you waiting for the Night of the Long Knives II to unfold before making another post Garth?
No prob. I will fill in for a bit, with your permission of course.
WARNING! Quasi political Comrade Okie statement to follow. Linear thinkers need not read.
I am torn. I love both of these songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLi_m656tQQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt536Xo7Mcs
If you take a few minutes to watch the above, note the accompanying words. The spin machines have been around a while.
Spin little top, spin. Spin until your head feels like it’s going to pop off.
Some things, just never change.
I like this one best of all though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM4ADoVc6TU
Childlike story of a Vietnam Veteran trying to make a statement for truth, decency and Justice.
I can barely hear it now, over the din of the madding crowds. But I do still hear.
Brief message to the young and beautiful.
They are going to lay a beat down on you. I have no doubt. Raise your fists in Solidarity, not in anger.
They are only Tin Soldiers, after all.
Something of interest.
I`m broke and not a gambler but I follow the global economy as a mind exercise.
The markets are responding to the Obama $250B stimulus package positively. Lots of reasons and doubts with gold spiking too.
The current economic troubles is beyond a shadow of doubt global, global consumers have gone on a spending binge over the last several years.
The doubt come from the amount of stimulus needed to turn the global economy around. While $250B is an enormous amount of money it would take in the order of $5T globally not including bailouts.
The interesting point is the market movement on hope that the $250T will leas to the $5T. We saw the last US Presidential election won on hope and occasional small sentiment spikes in the market on hope but this is by far the largest up side run based purely on hope.
The interesting point, just goes to prove that hope not only has political capital but financial as well.
If you found that boring perhaps this will get a few neurons flowing.
The $5T will eventually trickle in which is where the doubt is causing money to flow into commodities such as gold. The question causing the current commodities hedge is the time it will take. I don`t think there`s any doubt it will be a long and painful experience for the worlds peoples.
The doubts would be quashed if the world leaders moved past hope with a substantive plan on opening the door for a much faster $5T stimulus package on, oh I don`t know, say a global transportation makeover that would save the economy and the environment.
Anyone who is left wondering why Harper has no choice but to behave like a prick can find out easily why that is so.
Just Google SOCIOPATH and read the symptoms. Seriously.
In the 1800′s what we now call a SOCIOPATH was referred to as “Moral Insanity”
Seriously, read the symptoms of a SOCIOPATH and see if it reminds you of Harper.
It really explains his erratic and morally insane behaviour.
Too bad the Crap Party MPs don’t have the balls to stand up to him like Mr. Turner did.
By Greg W., Oakville on 12.08.08 12:27 am
Greg, I hope that you realize those mathematical formulae also apply to human population growth and food supply! Unrestricted growth in any biological organism will eventually bump into the food supply limits, and if the food supply has a partial failure, the population(s) will also suffer serious failures. Numerically, most everything that has or is about to happen can be predicted on a statistical
basis. Prayer is not a meaningful or workable option! Analysing and reacting logically to valid mathematics is the only solution.
To the Liberal heirarchy. Try ‘Change I Can Believe In!’
(Oh, WTH, I am still an American citizen as well. Maybe I will just drive a couple of hours and move my family to the States when Obama takes office.)
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.08.08 12:59 pm
As it currently stands, it is. No referendum required. The issue has been clouded by Harper because he knows this.
If Harper wants to change it, then I would agree a referendum is required, but I doubt he would like the outcome which would be some form of PR. where all governments will end up being minority.
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.08.08 1:34 pm
That’s why I think you are a smart fella.
Umm, to get the neurons flowing, a can of gas, and a match working synchronously, works well.
The wealthy are withdrawing their stake. The peasants have not served well.
Only conflict among them, will serve the greater good.
They are decided.
That’s Garth Time. — Garth
Thanks Garth. Might I suggest you call Scotty and tell him you are now Out-of phase- with the known universe, as evidenced by the Reletavistic Time Shift.
Please note that you are, as usual, ahead of everyone. LOL Time check in this dimension of Time and Space is now 1417 hrs, aka, 2:17PM.
By Bill-Muskoka (Not Anymore) on 12.08.08 12:51 pm
Conservatives on the Hill would not criticize their leader publicly and most publicly defended him. Conservative MP Leon Benoit (Vegreville-Wainwright, Alta.) denied the incident Mr. Casey described ever occurred. “The Prime Minister never made any kind of threat like that either privately or in public, certainly not in the caucus,” said Mr. Benoit. “I don’t see it like that at all and Mr. Casey may feel somewhat jilted. I disagree.”
As well, Mr. Benoit described it as “nonsense” that the Prime Minister doesn’t like opposing views. “He respects democracy. He understands very clearly, he made this point very well on election night if you look back at his speech. He made the point very clearly that we have been elected to a minority government, a stronger minority than last time, and that means we certainly, it will be important that we work with opposition parties and that’s the approach that he takes,” said Mr. Benoit.
~Bill you can’t put your trust in one anonymous person and one person who has a personal axe to grind in taking things as fact, as your article goes on to state.
*********
Hi Jim, I did not say “I ask you, why should a coalition be seen as invalid, illegal and unconstitutional?”
I did say that yes, coalitions do happen in democratic countries occasionally. What I am trying to point out is that on one hand the Lip/NDP insist that the Bloc is not a part of the coalition, which in fact means that the actual coalition still remains a minority whilst the CPC in comparison is the majority. So, even though they don’t want to be seen as dealing with the Bloc separatists in order to run this country long term, they in fact are because without a legal binding agreement they could not possibly form a coalition. So, therefore, the separatists are indeed a major part with power in this coalition. Which is unheard of, to form a coalition and take over governance of a country with a party that has an only objective of breaking up said country.
You can’t have it both ways. Don’t play people as fools in trying to minimize the role the separatists are playing in this. Otherwise, you do indeed have a minority taking over a majority, which is a coup.
I’ll also say this again, please read it this time: in 2004 the CPC, (of which Garth was a part), did ask the GG to allow it to use the member strength Separatist Bloc in order to gain control, long enough to bring about an election. This was due to the disclosure of the theft of tax payer’s money and Paul Martin choosing to ignore a non-confidence vote. This was in no way an agreement to GOVERN with the separatists.
******
Ben, go play with Gord.
Leasa
Hi Truth B Told on 12.08.08 2:28 pm,
Yes I do.
Do the so-called leaders???
And there is climate change.
Do the so-called leaders love there childen?
Garth, the irony is that this will devalue our currency, which people were already complaining that it was too high and hurting manufacturing. So I see this as a bailout for Ontario manufacturing and as a way to handle semi-toxic mortgages. Two birds, one stone. Albeit quite a large stone.
Umm, to get the neurons flowing, a can of gas, and a match working synchronously, works well.
The wealthy are withdrawing their stake. The peasants have not served well.
By Comrade Okie on 12.08.08 2:44 pm
Any mechanic will tell you if you`re not having success fixing something get a bigger hammer. lol, looks like you`re on to me comrade.
the peasants have no credit
let them pay cash
(Oh, WTH, I am still an American citizen as well. Maybe I will just drive a couple of hours and move my family to the States when Obama takes office.)
By Bill-Muskoka (Not Anymore) on 12.08.08 2:40 pm
Just to remind yourself why you moved here in the first place!
Garth, the irony is that this will devalue our currency, which people were already complaining that it was too high and hurting manufacturing.
By ggf on 12.08.08 3:13
The difference is the last time we did this in the 90`s consumers globally were not broke. Using Cdn spending power to bailout the exporters,,, again,,, is the stone that will take the rest of Canada to the bottom of Lake Ontario.
the peasants, sire, they say they have no credit
Leasa,
when splitting hairs (as in your 3:03 pm) it’s much easier to do it crosswise. Lengthwise rarely works.
~Bill you can’t put your trust in one anonymous person and one person who has a personal axe to grind in taking things as fact, as your article goes on to state.
By Leasa on 12.08.08 3:03 pm
tell you what Leechate. People of honour, that means those who care about the truth, their country, the Constitution, and the future would STAND UP and be very critical of a leader who needs it like air.
Obviously, in your world of ethics, being a Team Stooge is more important than your country. You make me PUKE!
Just to remind yourself why you moved here in the first place!
By James – Chatham on 12.08.08 3:54 pm
I have never forgotten. Canada WAS a nation of descent people, fairness, multi-ethnicity, etc. It has been reduced by the Morons of the CPC to about what the U.S. was when I moved here. Same as the result of Bush’s reign of idiocy.
No, I LOVE my Canada dearly, but I am sorely, sorely disappointed in many of my fellow Canadians. The solace is that they are a MINORTIY, just like their dear leader’s so-called goobernment.
Perhaps this is the best thing that could have happened to our country. People needed to be AWAKENED, and I think Harper will be saying ‘I fear I have awakened the sleeping giant!’ But, then again, his psychotic personality will never be able to admit it. Just like Bush. Exactly like Bush!
BTW, it is not about politics at all. I am a Centrist and support many conservative views, many liberal views, and many socialist views. If they help people, really help people, then we should be about doing them, because in the end, government is about real people, not about money and entities that exist only on paper (i.e., corporations). The issue to me is one thing principles, and Harper has NONE!
Have a good day. Back to work here.
Please note that you are, as usual, ahead of everyone. LOL Time check in this dimension of Time and Space is now 1417 hrs, aka, 2:17PM.
By Bill-Muskoka (Not Anymore) on 12.08.08 3:01 pm
Garth, now that I have established you are living 44 minutes into the future…got any hot investment tips? LOL Can I get the winning 649 numbers from you tomorrow at 7:14 PM? Drawing is at 8PM I believe.
Just like Back To The Future, eh?
Any mechanic will tell you if you`re not having success fixing something get a bigger hammer.
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.08.08 3:17 pm
Like they did with the Railway. In order to fix the head, just smash the body.
Anyway, who cares?
Are you excited about the Liberal offerings? One guy who promises he can make decisions when decisions need to be made, but won’t say what or when and the udder guy who wants a members vote because the won’t say guy is gathering the Clan to proclaim him Chief Superintendent of the Might be Government.
Meanwhile, the other Strawman is hiding out stirring his brew.
I have confidence, in those who are confident that they will be confident when they are needed to be confident.
You?
I’m neither. I just lament the people have been so misled. — Garth
Garth, the people have been misled by both sides of the house.
Maybe I will just drive a couple of hours and move my family to the States when Obama takes office.)
By Bill-Muskoka (Not Anymore) on 12.08.08 2:40 pm
Its a free country Billy Boy but if you do decide to move back to teh US please don’t forget to close the door behind you. Cheers friend
BTW, it is not about politics at all.
By Bill-Muskoka (Not Anymore) on 12.08.08 4:45 pm
I agree. It is all about power and money. That goes for all parties including the Greens.
“the peasants, sire, they say they have no credit”
The fact is that the ‘peasants’ as you call them were given credit. 0-down, do not pay until X. They used it in record numbers, never thinking that X may come. Well it did come. I have little sympathy for people who live beyond their means and expect the fiscally prudent to foot their bills. It has little to do with being a ‘peasant’ and more about people living in excess. I also have no sympathy for the greedy buggers who gave these people credit knowing full well that they couldn’t afford it and then bundling these accounts and selling these to legitimate institutions as great investments.
I do have sympathy for the rest of the people/investors who are being dragged down with them.
I have confidence, in those who are confident that they will be confident when they are needed to be confident.
You?
By Comrade Okie on 12.08.08 5:50 pm
I`m confident anyone following the system that socially, morally, legally and financially bankrupted the country is confident enough to handle the coming fire sale.
I have confidence, in those who are confident that they will be confident when they are needed to be confident.
You?
By Comrade Okie on 12.08.08 5:50 pm
Is that a Rummy? ‘We know, yada, yada, yada…but we don’t know what we don’t know!’ Priceless!
I’ll chip in a couple of gallons of gas.
By Bocanut on 12.08.08 5:13 pm
Imperial or U.S.? BTW, we buy gas here in Litres. How are things at the RNC HQ tonight? Getting Bushie’s Farewell (or should I say Falwell? )Party ready are you? The entire world will be celebrating his exit. Maybe Steve can join him down at the ranch. I here Tricky Dick is putting together a Hunting Party too! You should go!
Just to remind yourself why you moved here in the first place!
By James – Chatham on 12.08.08 3:54 pm
You’ve got that right! LOL Nothing like visiting the old ‘hood to remember why you left it!
I’m posting the links this time further to my post 12.07.08 8:31 a.m.
The day before reading this “Toxic Cash” post, I just happened to be indulging in a bit of curiosity about what’s happening over at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
I wanted to know how the CPP surplus pension funds currently not paid out are being handled by CPPIB. And well, for starters here’s this little gem:
http://www.cppib.ca/Results/quarterly_reports.html
After seeing that report, I decided to dig into what and who CPPIB are investing in. Once you get some company names, do a bit of further checking into the various companies by a separate search. Well worth the adventure as the saga of Brokebuck Mountain of Stupidty continues.
http://www.cppib.ca/Investments/
I have little sympathy for people who live beyond their means and expect the fiscally prudent to foot their bills.
By ggf on 12.08.08 7:27 pm
Yet you have no objection to Cdn consumers bailing out the exporters.
Sounds like you`re a Rae Liberal, not ok to suspend the memberships democratic right to elect a Party leader but ok to suspend the peoples democratic right to elect givernment.
Which direction do you usually spin?
economic conditions,,,,,,
Samantha on 12.08.08 9:56 pm
Had they invested in US T`s last winter they would be up about 42%.
Does anyone believe the Minister responsible didn`t know where economic conditions would lead us? I don`t.
By now the reformers must realize a system broken by corruption will not fix itself. I suspect it`s mostly reformers that have the western separation orgs. ringing off the hook.
We still have a little time to change the system, but not much.
confident enough to handle the coming fire sale.
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.08.08 8:06 pm
Salary plus commission plus expenses. Brown bagging optional.
Is that a Rummy? ‘
By Bill-Muskoka (Not Anymore) on 12.08.08 8:39 pm
Could be, but I hear one prefers Gin.
I do have sympathy for the rest of the people/investors who are being dragged down with them.
By ggf on 12.08.08 7:27 pm
I don’t think you quite get it. You see, the adults are supposed to behave like adults. One of the responsibilities of adulthood is not to encourage excesses, and look for what’s in it for you.
Then when all is said and done, the adult shouldn’t go to the children and say, oops, I broke it. You fix it.
Or maybe this analogy? Encourage addiction, feed it, then take it away without adequate warning and preparation. Withdrawal? I think so.
HTTP://WWW.JAMESLAXER.COM/BLOG.HTML
MONDAY, DECEMBER 08, 2008
No Time for Ignatieff to Play Mackenzie King
One current of Liberal thought has it that the best way for the party to prepare for the future is to let Stephen Harper rule during the worst days of the economic crisis. Then the Liberal Party can ride to victory in the next election.
Michael Ignatieff seems to be contemplating playing Mackenzie King to Stephen Harper’s R.B. Bennett. His “coalition if necessary, but not necessarily coalition” remark on the weekend certainly points in that direction.
The luckiest thing ever to happen to the Liberal Party was for it to be out of office for the half decade from 1930 to 1935. If Liberal Prime Minister Mackenzie King had not listened to the advice of a soothsayer, he might well have called the federal election earlier than the summer of 1930 and won. But he lost. That left R.B. Bennett and the Conservatives to govern during the most terrible time in the history of Canada. The Conservative Prime Minister earned the moniker “Iron Heel” Bennett due to his savage repression of those out of work, and his indifference to the farmers of the prairies who burned the wheat they grew to heat their homes because they couldn’t sell it, and the farmers who were victims of the catastrophe of the “dust bowl”.
By the time of the next federal election in 1935, two new political parties, destined to remain on the scene for decades had been created, the social democratic CCF and the right-wing Social Credit (the grand-daddy of today’s Conservative Party). But another party, the Reconstruction Party, not destined to endure, was created as a breakaway from the Conservatives. Under the leadership of former Bennett cabinet minister, H.H. Stevens, the Reconstruction Party captured eight per cent of the national vote but won only one seat.
With 45 per cent of the vote, Mackenzie King’s Liberals took 173 seats out of a total of 245, reducing the Conservative to 40 seats and 30 per cent of the vote. In the multi-party field WLMK won a sweeping victory, and the Liberals went on from there to hold power, with majority governments for the next twenty-two years. Had the Liberals been in power from 1930 to 1935, considering that their economic ideas were as boneheaded as those of the Tories, the slogan out of the Depression would likely have been—“Liberal times are bad times.” And during their half decade on the opposition benches, WLMK and his friends learned next to nothing about how to manage the economy more intelligently. They were only saved from going down in history as a dinosaur government by the outbreak of the Second World War, which bestowed on them the reputation of being sound economic managers.
If Michael Ignatieff plans to follow in the footsteps of Mackenzie King if he is anointed Liberal leader (permanent or interim) on Wednesday, he’d be wise to reconsider. The only way the Liberals can sit out the recession on the opposition benches is to vote for Stephen Harper’s budget when parliament resumes. The NDP and the Bloc are sure as hell not going to do that. If Ignatieff’s idea of leadership is to provide confidence for the Harper government as his first act, he could be dooming himself to a short and unhappy career at the helm.
The Liberals would then wear the Harper record on the economy as their record. And while the Conservatives are bound to include some stimulus measures in the budget, there is no way that Harper and Flaherty are going to propose the overhaul of the Canadian economy based on very extensive public investments. And that is what the country needs.
Much though Ignatieff may wish to avoid it, he faces a clear choice. If he keeps Harper in power, it will be Harper who will hold the strong hand. He will determine the date of the next election, and he could well go on to win it. Meanwhile, the NDP, the Bloc and the Greens will feel deeply betrayed if Ignatieff dumps the coalition and allows Harper to remain in power.
At a date, not of his choosing, Ignatieff would go on to face the electorate, squeezed between the Conservative base vote on the one hand and the one third of the electorate already inclined to support parties other than the Liberals and the Conservatives on the other.
For Ignatieff, the WLMK option is a chimera. “A friend to all is a friend to none,” Ignatieff could say if he comes to his senses, that is if Aristotle hadn’t already said it.
To date, Bob Rae is showing a much clearer understanding of the lay of the political land than is his former roommate.
Encourage addiction, feed it, then take it away
By Comrade Okie on 12.08.08 11:34 pm
But Rae says we can have it back if we pile on another $30B our children can pay off.
Won`t that be a trick. Asking the next generation that will be outnumbered by seniors to take on an even bigger load. Outnumbered by seniors, health care quadrupling, highest number of troubled parent denied children in Cdn history now tweens that took Vancouvers mischief rate up 39% in the last year. Environment, economy, melting polar ice caps, old growth forests and fisheries decimated, Cdns $1T in debt, government still on the 365 election trail, but hey the bankers are good. That should put the next generation in the yoke willingly.
I wonder what voter participation will be in 5 years.
I do have sympathy for the rest of the people/investors who are being dragged down with them.
By ggf on 12.08.08 7:27 pm
Do you think the $75B given to the banks is enough to cover the 40/0 they had to know was toxic when they issued the mortgages?
have-not Canada and you`ll want-not
Can the Bank of Canada buy my shitpile too?
Can the Bank of Canada buy my shitpile too?
Rene Gauthier on 12.09.08 11:42 am
Follow the money.
The feds created the 40 year 0 down mortgage, the banks issued them, the feds have bought them now that they have shown themselves to be toxic. The government has left us with the impression the end result could be revenue neutral, possibly on the upside. aahhemmm, The resultant devaluing of our dollar in government buying toxic assets from the banks added to reductions in commodity revenue so far has the Cdn consumer is paying 20% more for imported goods. Cdns are behind already while housing continues to slide. Foreclosures are up, down payments lost but no problem, Cdn consumers are bailing out the banks the government used to keep the bubble going. More on the good news front, the developers had an extra 2 years to unload surplus units, whew, I was so worried about them.
Ran out of sugar coating in the last para, sry but here it is.
The very same people that allowed the 40/0 to pass have formed the coalition. The very same coalition that allowed the 40/0 to pass now are saying they can form a functional government.
I can see why the coalition would want to avoid an election, they can`t come up with their own economic plan let alone vote down a very bad one.
Is it just me or have we completely converted the Westminster system to the Scamorama system?
If you don`t think this level of corruption isn`t impacting your life and quality of, then your ignoring the fact international investors lost confidence in the future of this country outside of raw resources years ago.
Asking the next generation that will be outnumbered by seniors to take on an even bigger load.
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.09.08 12:26 am
An unfortunate consequence of allowing credit card companies to solicit business on University campuses at the beginning of first semester. Etc.
Re: Scamorama. The other theory of relativity.
credit card companies to solicit business on University campuses
Scamorama. The other theory of relativity.
By Comrade Okie on 12.09.08 1:45 pm
Scamorama has a bigger better plan, indenture our children for another $30B
To be shortnsweet, and totally accurate;
that`s the way our feudal system works
On the $30B stimulus/slush fund.
Cdns made up their minds in 1993 that federal deficit funding was over.
If the Scamorama feudal lords decree entitlement be forewarned the reason for federal deficit financing is subsidized employment (theirs too) that will not outlast this downturn under current public programs on the table. Federal deficit funding because we currently cannot afford current government policy is not a solution. Every indicators points to a deeper downturn making our current government policy less affordable in the future, without piling on another $30B for our children to pay off.
If you`re torn between stupid and scam may I suggest stupid scam.
don`t blame me, I never voted
If you`re torn between stupid and scam may I suggest stupid scam.
don`t blame me, I never voted
By buddy, spare a dime? on 12.09.08 4:57 pm
What I am torn between, is best not put in print. Some people have no sense of humor.
In the meantime, some transparency and common sense would go a long way.
Something to consider is the profile Ignatieff now enters with. It would have cost a small fortune to bring him that level of exposure. Whether by design or other, this places Igg squarely at centre stage.
I wonder if Harper, the master strategist thought of that?
“I don’t think you quite get it. You see, the adults are supposed to behave like adults. One of the responsibilities of adulthood is not to encourage excesses, and look for what’s in it for you.”
For someone who goes by ‘Comrade’ you probably believe in the planned economy. I hope you like standing in line for toilet paper.
How is what I say encouraging excess? I am saying I have sympathy for the reasonable investors who invested in real investments. They didn’t deserve being dragged down by the ones who sold toxic mortgages.
“Yet you have no objection to Cdn consumers bailing out the exporters.”
When did I say that? I simply was pointing out that the exporters were bailed out indirectly by the BoC buying toxic mortgages. That is a fact. Not an opinion.
“Sounds like you`re a Rae Liberal, not ok to suspend the memberships democratic right to elect a Party leader but ok to suspend the peoples democratic right to elect givernment.”
Boy, did you peg me totally wrong. I’m not even a bloody Liberal.
How is what I say encouraging excess? I am saying I have sympathy for the reasonable investors who invested in real investments.
By ggf on 12.10.08 2:26 am
I see I would have to explain everything to you one step at a time. That’s the problem with so many hard core CPC supporters, you can’t see beyond the tree standing directly in front of you.
I’ll just tackle one point for now. Your sympathy should also extend to those who aren’t always astute, and especially the young who have been nurtured in an environment of borrow and spend, borrow some more. They didn’t create the horn o’ plenty mentality. Don’t you get it?
I wouldn’t even bother to try to explain Comrade. That, you wouldn’t get for sure.
“Your sympathy should also extend to those who aren’t always astute, and especially the young who have been nurtured in an environment of borrow and spend, borrow some more.”
Well then you must know that the attitude of borrow and spend started with Trudeau. Trudeau raised a whole generation (commonly called Baby-boomers) to believe that they are entitled to huge, expensive spending binges on the backs of their children. It’s a Liberal idea. I have no sympathy for the children of people brought up with this attitude. I call it a modern-day survival of the fittest.
[...] Canada’s toxic dollar Canadians never got into subprime mortgages, but that didn’t stop Canada’s biggest banks from buying American ones. Now, the Bank of Canada, which issues the Canadian dollar, is selling the stable reserve of T-bills it holds as reserve on the currency, and buying banks’ risky real estate assets instead. Welcome to Canada, where you can’t get a subprime loan, but your currency’s value is based on them… [...]