Kate McGarrigle Feb 16, 1946 - Jan. 18, 2010

Sadly, Kate passed away yesterday from cancer. She & her sister, Anna, were a big part of the folk music scene in the 1960's, before they became known, playing in small coffee houses in Montreal as well as other Canadian cities & in New York State.

She will be missed by many, many people. My condolences to her family & friends.

Go here to see a montage of photos & listen to one of their songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7FQCmQz474

RIP Kate...

For more info on Kate please go here.

Cons Win In & Out Court Case

How depressing. Now they can do the same thing again in the next election - cheat the taxpayer & use more money to run their campaign.

Read it here from Kady O'Malley at CBC.

More Double-Talk from a Con Minister

This time from Vic Toews who was in the Middle East for 5 days. He says one thing when out of the country & something else here at home. Hmmm...just like Jason Kenney. What is it with these Kons? Do they think no one in Canada is paying attention when they are on foreign trips? Why are these fools still in Govt.?

From Mia Rabson at Winnipeg Free Press:

Manitoba's senior cabinet minister Vic Toews was able to escape the winter and the flurry of post-prorogation reaction last week for a trip to the Middle East.

However, stickhandling accusations his party is undemocratic has probably been easier than the delicate task of wading into Middle Eastern politics.

Toews's five-day tour included stops in Jordan, Israel and the West Bank.

Following his trip, a number of Middle Eastern news outlets, and even B'Nai Brith Canada, reported Toews used the journey to announce Canada was yanking its funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The UNRWA runs 59 Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

In 2008, Canada was the eighth-largest donor to the organization, which receives 97 per cent of its funding from foreign governments.

Critics, including B'Nai Brith, accuse UNRWA of being infiltrated by Hamas and terrorists.

Toews was quoted in several newspapers, including the Jerusalem Post, as saying Canada's aid for Palestine is being "redirected in accordance with Canadian values." Instead of funding the camps, Canada is going to pay for projects to train Palestinian justice officials like judges, police and prosecutors and build courthouses, something Canada began doing in 2007.

Certainly, paying for police and courthouses is in keeping with the government's anti-crime agenda at home.

The news was well-received by B'Nai Brith Canada, but when the stories were checked with Toews's office, it seems there isn't much changing at all. Christine Csversko said the stories were "inaccurate," including the suggestion that Canada's funding to UNRWA goes to the Palestinian Authority's general revenues. She said UNRWA manages its own accounts and Canada continues to give it aid money.

Con Ministers Abusing Challenger Jet

Translation from Le Devoir:

The Harper government ministers regularly use the luxurious type aircraft Challenger improperly, causing unnecessary costs for taxpayers. Une enquête du réseau TVA montre que ces voyages injustifiés ont coûté 236 000 $ durant les 30 premiers mois du règne conservateur à Ottawa. A survey of the TVA network shows that these trips unnecessary cost $ 236 000 during the first 30 months of Conservative government in Ottawa.

In French here.

Canadian Cover Up?

This is about our latest losses in Afghanistan. From Michael Yon:

"A reporter at Canwest News Service, emailed Saturday asking for information on the four Canadian soldiers and the journalist who were killed on December 30 in Afghanistan. I supplied a portion of the unpublicized information, and the reporter emailed Sunday that the Canadian military is “trying to suppress our telling of your information.”

Read the entire, interesting, article here.

Afghanistan: 4 Cdn Soldiers Dead, 1 Cdn Journalist

How sad - & painful.

From the Globe & Mail:

A massive roadside bomb has killed four Canadian soldiers and a Canadian journalist in a dramatic signal of an upsurge of violence in the crucial battleground around Kandahar city.

>snip<

It was a deadly day for foreign forces in Afghanistan, with eight American CIA agents killed by a suicide bombing at a U.S. base in Khost province. The attacks were seen as part of a major salvo against the U.S.-led troop surge in the region and shattering the typically peaceful winter season when Taliban fighters normally lay low, or regroup in neighbouring Pakistan.

Four additional Canadian soldiers and one Canadian civilian official were also injured in Wednesday's IED blast and were airlifted from the wreckage to the military hospital at Kandahar Air Field, where they were in stable condition last night.

But for Stephen Harper, bully, this could have been avoided, would never have happened, if we had left Afghanistan, as originally planned, in 2009. Tomorrow is Jan. 1, 2010 & we would no longer have been there.

Harper To Suspend Parliament - Again

So here it is, just over a year later, & Great Leader Harper wants to prorouge again. By doing this he draws attention away from the Afghan detainee issue & will finally gain control of the Senate.

From QMI Agency:

The Conservative government will ask the governor general to suspend Parliament today, delaying the return of MPs until the beginning of March.

>snip<

Preventing the return of Parliament until after the Olympics would effectively shut down all government committees, which would stop MPs from pursuing the Afghan detainee controversy until Parliament returned.

>snip<

In early January, there will be five vacancies in the Senate, all of which Harper could fill with Tory loyalists. Even though the new senators would give the Tories majority over the Liberals in the Senate, the Liberals retain their majority on Senate committees until the next general election or until Parliament is prorogued.

Read the entire article here.

Wake up Canada! Wake up Opposition! Do we want to continually be manipulated by Stephen Harper control freak?

Harper Screws Canada - Again

This time with the Olympics.

From the NP:

"Canada's $9.2-million, Olympic pavilion is being built by a U.S. firm from Chicago.

And Joyce Murray, Liberal MP for Vancouver Quadra, is accusing the federal government of badly botching the contracting process by waiting too long to issue it."

Yep. Staying "tried & true" to his best buddy the - U.S.A.

"The timeline excluded a lot of Canadian firms that would have otherwise been eminently capable of doing this work. This is something that they've known they would be doing for four years."

"The contract was awarded on Nov. 17 and published on Monday, leaving only 81 days to build it before the Olympics open on Feb. 12."

What kind of work will be done in only 81 days? Lots of cutting corners to get done in time? Wouldn't surprise me. And could this cause some kind of danger to those in the stadium enjoying the events? I certainly hope not.

So what is it with Harper awarding so many big contracts to American companies. He does it continually with defense contracts, which are huge, the billboards for the EAC were done by a U.S. Co., & I don't know what else. Does anyone out there know?

Let's hope that Canadian labourer's are the actual ones who are hired to do the building of the Stadium - not imported
U.S. ones. Gee, thought we were in a recession & needed stimulus funds going into OUR economy. We need more job creation - here, not there.

Harper loves the U.S so much why doesn't he just pack up & move there & take his cabal along with him.

Say WHAT Michael Ignatieff???

From TheDailyGleaner:

"Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff vowed Friday night to attack the policies of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, saying the Conservative leader's four years in power gives him lots of political ammunition."

"You want me to attack Stephen Harper," Ignatieff told a standing-room-only crowd at the biannual convention of the New Brunswick Liberal Association in Fredericton.

"You expect me to attack Stephen Harper ... But I am not going to attack him as a person.

"I am not going to attack his career. I am not going to attack his past."

He said Harper's legacy after four years in power is his attack ads and the politics of spite."

What ARE you thinking Michael? How do you think Harper crushed Dion & is crushing you? By making it PERSONAL! Yes, there is a lot to bring forward about the Conservative led Government. Plenty of fodder - which should have been touted & hit upon, hard, over & over but you didn't do it. And you think now is the time to start, now that there is 4 years of scandals, misinformation, lies & obfuscation? Yes, by all means get started as it's long, long overdue. BUT if you don't start attacking Harper the man, & what drives him & his ideological bents, then you will not make inroads into the public perception of who Harper really is & what he is doing to this country & how he is making it into something Canadians will eventually be shocked to see.

Read this Michael from the latest Nanos Poll:

"Looking at which of the party leaders Canadians believe would make the best Prime Minister, Stephen Harper now leads by a significant, 17 point, margin over over Michael Ignatieff. This represents the widest gap since Ignatieff was elected leader of the Liberal Party."

Best PM Question:
Of the following individuals, who do you think would make the best Prime Minister? [Rotate]
Stephen Harper 34.8%
Michael Ignatieff 17.7%
Jack Layton 14.9%
Gilles Duceppe 6.5%
Elizabeth May 4.5%
None of them 9.0%
Unsure 12.6%

Wake up Liberal Party. The continual embracing of "the high road" will get you, & us, nowhere. People don't remember that, they remember hard-hitting attacks. That's what sticks & stays in their minds. Once you have that THEN they will listen to all of the other issues, the policies, including yours if you would please enlighten us..

ADDENDUM: Read Ottlib's post here. He says a lot more on what the Lib Party should be doing.

Duffy's 3 Months of Spending Taxpayer Money

From this CBC article:

"P.E.I.'s newest senator is shaping up to also be the Island's most expensive.

During his first three months in the red chamber, Conservative Senator Mike Duffy racked up more than $100,848 in travel and office expenses, more than double the average of what the other three Island senators spend in a typical quarter."

P.E.I. senators' expenses
(figures are for one fiscal quarter)

Catherine Callbeck: $40,667

Percy Downe: $50,248

Mike Duffy: $100,848

Elizabeth Hubley: $53,036

Also from the article is this:

"Duffy's rate of spending puts him in the top rank of senatorial expenses. An NDP-produced report showed the top spender for the 2008-09 year was Mobina Jaffer, a Liberal senator for British Columbia, at $323,173. Sustained over a year, Duffy's expenses would come in at $403,392."

Jaffer's expenses are also deplorable & disgusting. The craven use of the hardworking taxpayer's money to be used, especially for partisan purposes (Duffy), is revolting.

Here is one commenters post at the article that I'm sure many would agree with:

"Margolispei wrote:
Posted 2009/11/11
at 8:38 AM ETMike Duffy is only a small part of a very large problem. The large problem is NO ONE is looking after the common person. My tax dollars and YOUR tax dollars are not being looked after. Having worked in the Federal Government and the PEI government, it is embarrassing to see people get elected and then turn into pigs at a trough. There are no other words for it. Spending at each and every level of government is being monitored by people who are just as complicit as the people spending the money. Then we have the Public Servants who happily or unhappily (does it matter?) say absolutely nothing when they see or know of any spending mismanagement. Maybe they are afraid of their jobs. Government growth has been staggering at the Federal level in recent years. Hard to believe that it is a "fiscally responsible" government. What does this mean? You can bet at crunch time, the Feds will take a long hard look at the amount of people they have in their employ. Then the axe will fall hard. Just like in the 90's with Paul Martin. I am now of the mindset that my vote doesn't matter. They are all crooked in my mind. Lest we forget all right."

Aglukkaq Is Now Blaming "Us", The Public, For The Vaccine Shortage!

Well, well, well. It seems it's now "our" fault that there's an H1N1 vaccine shortage.

From this article in the Ottawa Sun:

"Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq says production "over-estimating" by the company producing the H1N1 vaccine and a panicked public are to blame for the shortages now gripping the country."

WHAT???? We know the Cons blame everyone but themselves when things go wrong but this is outrageous. Oh are they going to pay for this debacle!! The media is jumping on this vaccine nightmare for all it's worth & I'm glad. They could, & should, have been ready a few months ago - there are NO excuses.

Will be doing a post soon on my experience of getting the vaccine.

More Outrageous Spending

From an article by Kathryn May in the Ottawa Citizen:

"The size of the executive cadre in the government has grown steadily over the past decade and so have the number of assistant deputy ministers whose salaries have cracked $200,000. Treasury Board reported that among the government's 5,400 executives about 69 EX-5s made an average of $214,000 last year -- compared to 14 three years earlier. Salaries are in the $186,000 range, plus up to 25 per cent in bonuses."

Note that there were 69 executive employees making over $200,000 a year last year compared to 14 only 3 years earlier. This large an increase has happened since Harper came to power & he began increasing the size of Govt. assistant deputy ministers as well as others. This from the man who speaks of reducing the size of Govt. Of course when he says "decreasing" he means our social programs like healthcare - his favourite program he dreams of privatizing.

Read the entire article here. It's interesting. And outrageous.

$46,000 of Taxpayer's Money Spent On GO Trains Ads.

From The Star:

"The Conservative government has spent more than $46,000 to turn two GO train cars into rolling advertisements along the Lakeshore line for its stimulus spending program, which has been widely criticized for putting image ahead of substance."

This is revolting & it's only just beginning as The Cons are in the process of running this "campaign" on billboards all across Canada. Wonder how much that will cost the taxpayer. The money could be better spent on helping the unemployed feed their families & keep roofs over their heads. Thanks Harper - for nothing.

Big Changes at CBC

On Monday, Oct. 26th, CBC will begin their restructured platforms. Newsworld is even getting a name change - CBC News Network (CBC NN).
Lots of new programming & even changes with their flagship newscast The National. Kady O'Malley, formerly of MacLeans will be blogging for them online & Don Newman will also be making online contributions. Will be interesting to see the new format as well as a new political show from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. (weekdays) with Evan Soloman.

For more info on the changes & programming read here.

Tory Ridings Get Bulk Of Stimulus Money

This just out from the Ottawa Citizen:

"A joint investigation by the Ottawa Citizen and Halifax Chronicle-Herald shows that 57 per cent of the projects with more than $1 million in federal funding nationwide went to Conservative ridings. The party holds only 46 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons. Blue ridings therefore received 23 per cent more $1-million-plus projects than if the projects were divided evenly among all ridings.

The difference between government and opposition ridings is particularly pronounced in Quebec, where Tory ridings received 22 per cent of large projects, although the party holds only 13 per cent of the ridings, which means they received 62 per cent more per riding than if the money was divided evenly."

And it just gets better & better! Read it here.

RALPH GOODALE’S REPORT

This is an excellent commentary by MP Ralph Goodale:

STEPHEN HARPER’S LEGACY OF DEBT

The Harper government passed an embarrassing milestone last week.

After months of denial, the Conservatives finally had to release the audited financial statements of the Government of Canada for last fiscal year (2008/09). They revealed that for the first time in more than a decade, this country fell back into the red by about $6 billion.

Here’s a key point to note: This deficit began BEFORE, not because of, the recession!

These financial statements reflect primarily what was happening BEFORE the recession hit last fall.

They show how the Conservatives wildly increased spending by a whopping 18% between 2006 and 2008. That’s three-times the rate of inflation.

They show how the Conservatives eroded Canada’s tax base, and recklessly eliminated all the “reserves” which had been built into the federal books to protect against sudden nasty downturns

All that happened BEFORE there was any recession.

So when the housing market collapsed in the United States and American banks began to fail last fall – spreading economic contagion around the world – Canada had nothing left to protect itself.

We were forced back into deficit because our financial strength had been squandered through Conservative fiscal tomfoolery when times were still good.

Two key points are clear:

1. If the prudent fiscal policies of previous Liberal governments had stayed in effect in this country after the government changed in 2006, Canada’s deficit today (even with the recession) would be only a fraction of what it is; and

2. With Mr. Harper’s reckless fiscal policies, Canada would have a deficit today no matter what – even if there had been no recession at all.

For the future, his numbers will get worse. Mr. Harper is another $56 billion in the hole this year (2009/10), and his total legacy of debt will balloon to more than $170 billion.

Raitt Being Investigated - 2 Different Probes

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt is being investigated by the conflict-of-interest and ethics commissioner AND the privacy commissioner. Both probes concerning her use of the Toronto Port Authority in a recent political fundraiser held for her.

From The Star:

"[Paul] Szabo, the chair of the parliamentary ethics committee, filed a 42-page document questioning whether it was ethically correct for Raitt to allow employees of a federal agency she once ran – the port authority – to provide services for the partisan event, which was held at a trendy downtown Toronto restaurant in September."

=snip=

"Szabo's confirmation of the investigation by the conflict-of-interest and ethics commissioner comes a week after junior transport minister Rob Merrifield told Parliament that Raitt "has told me that she has received correspondence from the ethics commissioner and that correspondence has cleared her of all allegations."

Raitt could not be reached for comment."

Isn't that cute? Lying to her junior minister. Not only do the Cons lie to us, the people who pay their salaries, but they even try to pull the wool over their own colleagues eyes. Tut, tut.

It seems that Stephen Harper & his fellow Cons are finally being revealed for who they really are - miscreants of the highest order! Let's keep the pressure on these hoodlums.

MP Olivia Chow, NDP, also filed official complaints along with Szabo.

Red Canuck Has Passed Away

For those of you who missed yesterday's posting by a friend of RC's on Red Canucks blog here is a link to the post. His father also posted in the comments section.

For those of us who followed RC & his posts he will be sorely missed. His wit, humour, & insightfulness were great reads! He was already missed but this makes it final. Very sad.

My condolences to his family, friends & to all those whose lives he touched in his own unique, wonderful way - bloggers & his blog readers included.

Way To Go Kady!

Kady O'Malley, whose blog "Inside the Queensway" at Macleans Magazine, has been hired to blog for the CBC starting Oct. 26th. She is the best blogger for covering Canadian politics on the Federal level that I've encountered. Looking forward to following you at your new location Kady & all the best!

Read more here.

Harper Bait & Switch - Again!

It seems we are now staying in Afghanistan beyond 2011 &, yes, in a combat role.

From CBC News:

"Speaking in Welland, Ont., Friday afternoon, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters the government would not seek to extend the mission authorized by parliament in 2008.

"Well, let me be very clear …" Harper said, "Canada's military mission in Afghanistan will end in 2011"

=snip=

"But now it appears the government has two views of what constitutes a "mission," in Afghanistan.

The current mission in Kandahar, which begun at the end of 2006, includes 2,800 troops focused around an infantry battle group.

This, in the government's view, is the military mission.

The new mission will still contain troops, but its focus will be reconstruction. In the government's view, this new mission should be called a development mission — not a military mission — whether or not it contains troops."

You can be sure we will still be in a combat role. After all surely the boys in power will want to try out the new toys that will be available after the 2011 withdrawal date? Like new aircraft, tanks, eg.

And Canadians continue to trust Harper & his lying cohorts? Hope the media attends to this one, at the very least.

More info here.