...is where we've always known the Conservatives stashed any of their ideas that weren't short-sighted, grasping or just plain ruinous. Danger, Rona Ambrose, danger!
This CBC story suggests that yet another brilliant move by Stephen Harper's government is going to send Canadian aerospace dreams crashing back down to earth - apparently Maxime Bernier's "strict adherence to free market principles" extends to pissing off the Americans AND the EU at the same time (no mean feat, that). I guess anything involving reaching fo the stars just smacks of being too Liberal - or is it simply that the Conservatives don't want anyone taking a bird's eye view of the sorry state of the country any time soon?
In other news, it looks like sober second thought is going to give way to cheap party tricks.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Grapeshot
Do you the remember the Mike Harris "Common Sense Revolution"? 'Cause I do.
I remember making a deal with God the day before vote in 1995- if I managed to get my last project of the year finished early, then the Conservatives wouldn't win, and my parents would stop looking so upset and worried. I guess God doesn't like presentations about Star Trek.
I remember marching up University Avenue with 10,000 people during the Days of Action; I remember Dudley George, shot because Mike Harris wanted "the fucking Indians out of the park"; I remember the 7 people who died in Walkerton because "common sense" meant cutting 700 jobs from the Ministry of the Environment.
I remember the homeless who froze to death on Toronto streets. I remember the suburbanites paralyzed by West Nile virus because the Conservatives refused to allow the Ministry of Health to warn people about mosquitos in 2002. And I remember Kimberley Rogers, who was 8 months pregnant and who died because the Conservative government refused her welfare.
Remember friends: John Baird and Jim Flaherty and Tony Clemente, all ministers under Harris, all serve a new master now. Remember that our federal government of vicious, cunning ideologues has the putative support of perhaps 30% of the population, but is doing 100% damage to the national fabric of Canada. And remember why it's called a revolution - because there's already been blood, and the casualties continue to mount.
I remember making a deal with God the day before vote in 1995- if I managed to get my last project of the year finished early, then the Conservatives wouldn't win, and my parents would stop looking so upset and worried. I guess God doesn't like presentations about Star Trek.
I remember marching up University Avenue with 10,000 people during the Days of Action; I remember Dudley George, shot because Mike Harris wanted "the fucking Indians out of the park"; I remember the 7 people who died in Walkerton because "common sense" meant cutting 700 jobs from the Ministry of the Environment.
I remember the homeless who froze to death on Toronto streets. I remember the suburbanites paralyzed by West Nile virus because the Conservatives refused to allow the Ministry of Health to warn people about mosquitos in 2002. And I remember Kimberley Rogers, who was 8 months pregnant and who died because the Conservative government refused her welfare.
Remember friends: John Baird and Jim Flaherty and Tony Clemente, all ministers under Harris, all serve a new master now. Remember that our federal government of vicious, cunning ideologues has the putative support of perhaps 30% of the population, but is doing 100% damage to the national fabric of Canada. And remember why it's called a revolution - because there's already been blood, and the casualties continue to mount.
Their Ancient Custom
"I don’t have to remind Quebecers of this, but all Canadians need to realize that when they hear Mr. Martin talking...it is all just to cover a record of scandal."
- Stephen Harper, December 19, 2005
"In one of those you-gotta-be-kidding moments too typical of this capital, Harper's government declared full confidence in Giuliano Zaccardelli just minutes after the RCMP Commissioner admitted keeping silent publicly about Maher Arar's innocence.... Think about that. A party that fought and won an election on accountability is now saying it's acceptable to do next to nothing about a Canadian citizen rotting in a Syrian prison, ultimately provoking a needless and pricey public inquiry."
-James Travers in the Toronto Star, October 3, 2006
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed "concern" over RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli's conflicting Commons committee testimony Tuesday about the Maher Arar affair....
"You can't just go out and fire someone without due process," Harper said. It's the first time Harper has expressed anything other than full confidence in the embattled commissioner."
-CBC News, December 5, 2006 (italics mine)
"[Wheat Board CEO Adrian] Measner, who supports the current [single-desk] system, received a letter from federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl last month saying his position is under review and he will likely lose his job... Strahl told CBC Tuesday he hasn't fired Measner yet, but has asked for a response from Measner outlining why he should continue as president. 'That's a position that serves at the pleasure of the government,' Strahl said. 'Obviously, I'm not pleased right now at what's going on at the wheat board.'"
-CBC News, December 5, 2006 (italics mine)
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Let me get this straight, O Righteous Rulers - you're allowed to fire someone whom you disagree with (although he doesn't actually work for you), but you can't fire the nation's highest law enforcement official who has perjured himself to the House of Commons?
There's nothing like talk to cover up scandal. But Steven Harper already knows that, doesn't he.
- Stephen Harper, December 19, 2005
"In one of those you-gotta-be-kidding moments too typical of this capital, Harper's government declared full confidence in Giuliano Zaccardelli just minutes after the RCMP Commissioner admitted keeping silent publicly about Maher Arar's innocence.... Think about that. A party that fought and won an election on accountability is now saying it's acceptable to do next to nothing about a Canadian citizen rotting in a Syrian prison, ultimately provoking a needless and pricey public inquiry."
-James Travers in the Toronto Star, October 3, 2006
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed "concern" over RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli's conflicting Commons committee testimony Tuesday about the Maher Arar affair....
"You can't just go out and fire someone without due process," Harper said. It's the first time Harper has expressed anything other than full confidence in the embattled commissioner."
-CBC News, December 5, 2006 (italics mine)
"[Wheat Board CEO Adrian] Measner, who supports the current [single-desk] system, received a letter from federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl last month saying his position is under review and he will likely lose his job... Strahl told CBC Tuesday he hasn't fired Measner yet, but has asked for a response from Measner outlining why he should continue as president. 'That's a position that serves at the pleasure of the government,' Strahl said. 'Obviously, I'm not pleased right now at what's going on at the wheat board.'"
-CBC News, December 5, 2006 (italics mine)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let me get this straight, O Righteous Rulers - you're allowed to fire someone whom you disagree with (although he doesn't actually work for you), but you can't fire the nation's highest law enforcement official who has perjured himself to the House of Commons?
There's nothing like talk to cover up scandal. But Steven Harper already knows that, doesn't he.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Someone find that man an airport...
My hunch about all this is that we've just been through something that is a lot closer to the 1958 Liberal leadership convention than the 1968 one. That's not to say Dion won't be more successful than Pearson, because I hope and think he could be. But there's a similar kind of instability in the current climate, and I don't just mean global warming.
It would be interesting to examine Pearson and Dion comparatively - both well-respected academics with international reputations, both possibly a little shaky getting off the ground (Liberals: remember the 1958 election? You don't want to), both (in my view) doomed to a lot of minority governments. Yet Pearson shaped this country into what it is, and into what most Canadians ( I think) want it to be. Dion could do the same. And as everyone noted this weekend, there's no shortage of young blood (Gerard? Is that with one R or two?) hovering in the wings to carry things on.
Memo to the NDP: do something. Now. Or else you're gonna get creamed into pumpkin pie.
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Addendum - one place where 1958 and 2006 have NO similarity whatsoever is in the actual convention voting pattern - Lester got it in a landslide. If only Paul Martin Jr. had avenged his father's loss by being more like Mike....
It would be interesting to examine Pearson and Dion comparatively - both well-respected academics with international reputations, both possibly a little shaky getting off the ground (Liberals: remember the 1958 election? You don't want to), both (in my view) doomed to a lot of minority governments. Yet Pearson shaped this country into what it is, and into what most Canadians ( I think) want it to be. Dion could do the same. And as everyone noted this weekend, there's no shortage of young blood (Gerard? Is that with one R or two?) hovering in the wings to carry things on.
Memo to the NDP: do something. Now. Or else you're gonna get creamed into pumpkin pie.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Addendum - one place where 1958 and 2006 have NO similarity whatsoever is in the actual convention voting pattern - Lester got it in a landslide. If only Paul Martin Jr. had avenged his father's loss by being more like Mike....
Unconventional Wisdom
A few questions/queries about Canadian politics, in the wake of this weekend's seismic shift in the landscape:
- Isn't Jean Charest supposed to be a federalist? Just how Liberal are Quebec Liberals anyway? I know they need to be a little more autonomous than they might...but surely the definition of supporting federalism implies a federation of more than two actors? Maybe they could annex New Brunswick before they go?
-Conservative Cabinet ministers sure do throw a lot of stones for people whose houses aren't just glass, but air-conditioned as well.
- Wouldn't you expect Jacques Parizeau to spin Stephan Dion's election as good for separatism? Why should anyone take this as anything other than partisan rhetoric? Only because it's being repeated by every journalist from Moncton to Manitoba...
- Ed Stelmach's victory was even more improbable than, though eerily similar to, Stephan Dion's.
- Let me get this straight just once: Dion won't attract votes in the West because he's from Quebec, even though he's hated in Quebec because he's not nationalist enough. What to make of this? Completely irrational region-based xenophobia? Well, stranger things have happened I guess...but don't Albertans like the Clarity Act? Or would they prefer a flamethrower?
- People in British Columbia are rumoured to care quite a lot about the environment. Especially when bits of the environment are putting food (and turning up as food) on the table. Come to think of it, doesn't this sustainable economy thing involve some sort of rural policy?
- Dalton McGuinty sure did look sour on Saturday evening.
- Isn't Jean Charest supposed to be a federalist? Just how Liberal are Quebec Liberals anyway? I know they need to be a little more autonomous than they might...but surely the definition of supporting federalism implies a federation of more than two actors? Maybe they could annex New Brunswick before they go?
-Conservative Cabinet ministers sure do throw a lot of stones for people whose houses aren't just glass, but air-conditioned as well.
- Wouldn't you expect Jacques Parizeau to spin Stephan Dion's election as good for separatism? Why should anyone take this as anything other than partisan rhetoric? Only because it's being repeated by every journalist from Moncton to Manitoba...
- Ed Stelmach's victory was even more improbable than, though eerily similar to, Stephan Dion's.
- Let me get this straight just once: Dion won't attract votes in the West because he's from Quebec, even though he's hated in Quebec because he's not nationalist enough. What to make of this? Completely irrational region-based xenophobia? Well, stranger things have happened I guess...but don't Albertans like the Clarity Act? Or would they prefer a flamethrower?
- People in British Columbia are rumoured to care quite a lot about the environment. Especially when bits of the environment are putting food (and turning up as food) on the table. Come to think of it, doesn't this sustainable economy thing involve some sort of rural policy?
- Dalton McGuinty sure did look sour on Saturday evening.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
"Canada First, Canada Last, Canada Always"
The line was Bob Rae's, but the victory was Stephan Dion's.
I watched the final ballot of the Liberal Leadership Convention with a number of family members. They live in Scarborough, and tend to vote Liberal, or Progressive Conservative in the old days. Some of them still vote Conservative, even without the Progressive part attached.
They were spitting mad when Stephan Dion won. Not so much because of what he represented (though my grandmother's "milquetoast" comment wasn't expecially flattering) but more because he, in their opinion, wouldn't be able to beat Stephen Harper's government. There was despondency because Dion didn't seem "winnable," wasn't likely to win over the legions of Canadians who voted Conservative. "He's from Quebec," someone said, Quebec apparently turning into a four letter word.
I didn't ask if any of my relatives would vote for another party because Dion had won. Maybe I should have. All I know is that there's a good chance that I will vote Liberal in the next federal election.
People who know me well are going to be aghast, jubilant, or scornful at this news. Or maybe they won't. Maybe I'm falling into the same trap that Bob Rae once came into, only in reverse - sacrificing principle for practicality. I don't know - I'm going to have to ponder that for a while in private.
Canadians, if any of you are reading this: remember the kilometres of railway track that were laid, foot by laborious foot, between Halifax and Vancouver. Those tracks meant we were all going from somewhere, to somewhere else, be it Montreal or Calgary (two places, incidentally, that my grandfather spent quite a lot of time). The contention that a man from Quebec cannot speak with, to and for all Canadians is calumny. After all, a man from Alberta currently claims to be speaking for all of us.
Just remember those railroad tracks, and think about what else binds us all together. One Stephen would have you believe that all that Canada should be is a firewall, a stripmall, and a garage. The other has a bigger, better view.
I watched the final ballot of the Liberal Leadership Convention with a number of family members. They live in Scarborough, and tend to vote Liberal, or Progressive Conservative in the old days. Some of them still vote Conservative, even without the Progressive part attached.
They were spitting mad when Stephan Dion won. Not so much because of what he represented (though my grandmother's "milquetoast" comment wasn't expecially flattering) but more because he, in their opinion, wouldn't be able to beat Stephen Harper's government. There was despondency because Dion didn't seem "winnable," wasn't likely to win over the legions of Canadians who voted Conservative. "He's from Quebec," someone said, Quebec apparently turning into a four letter word.
I didn't ask if any of my relatives would vote for another party because Dion had won. Maybe I should have. All I know is that there's a good chance that I will vote Liberal in the next federal election.
People who know me well are going to be aghast, jubilant, or scornful at this news. Or maybe they won't. Maybe I'm falling into the same trap that Bob Rae once came into, only in reverse - sacrificing principle for practicality. I don't know - I'm going to have to ponder that for a while in private.
Canadians, if any of you are reading this: remember the kilometres of railway track that were laid, foot by laborious foot, between Halifax and Vancouver. Those tracks meant we were all going from somewhere, to somewhere else, be it Montreal or Calgary (two places, incidentally, that my grandfather spent quite a lot of time). The contention that a man from Quebec cannot speak with, to and for all Canadians is calumny. After all, a man from Alberta currently claims to be speaking for all of us.
Just remember those railroad tracks, and think about what else binds us all together. One Stephen would have you believe that all that Canada should be is a firewall, a stripmall, and a garage. The other has a bigger, better view.
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