Obfuscated Thoughtlessness Inversed

We could believe all kinds of things as a result of reading this poll including that Bloc voters aren't really hard-core federalists or that all the Bloc is, is a coalition of anti-Liberal voters. I don't think there is enough data to make any such assumption clear.

I love the accuracy of the research SES does, however, if you ask people a fictional question you get a fictional answer. It definitely is interesting to get a sense of the political unknown fantasy world of all Canadian federalists in which a separatist option didn't exist for Quebec voters.

That option does exist and it will continue to no matter how much Dion and May would like to eliminate voters options to gerrymander an outcome.

Labels: alternatives, canada, cons, democracy, leftist content creation, ndp, opinion, quebec, tools

Today, at 17:30 EST will be a critical vote for the federal Liberal caucus. Anti-Scab legislation that has existed with much success in British Columbia and Quebec is coming up for a vote. Bill C-257 has passed first and second reading but in a move designed to destroy the Liberal Party's left-wing credibility Dion has ordered his caucus to kill this legislation.

Dion appeared to be extremely happy that the government was going to fall, this bill would die on the order papers and that he would be able to avoid voting on this key motion. Instead, the Bloc has kept the sitting alive and Dion's Liberal caucus can't hide behind another unlikely to be fulfilled future promise to introduce a $10 minimum wage.

I hope you can take a few minutes in the next two hours to send a message to your MP and to Dion to encourage them to rethink this and support the legislation. Anti-Scab legislation saves lives, improves working conditions and is international law.

Take this action now:

Bill C-257 is now back in the House of Commons for debate on the Committee Report and a final vote at Third Reading.

A strong majority of MPs supported the bill last October because they agreed that ending the practice of using replacement workers during labour disputes would provide the balance required to bring better labour relations. They also supported it because so many of their constituents asked them to.

I'm asking you to support C-257 at Third Reading.

The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) heard from many witnesses during its study of C-257 – 13 representing unions, 32 representing employers, and various technical experts. What stood out from those hearings was the many ridiculous things big business put forward to confuse and scare MPs.

A good deal of the big business fear mongering about C-257 focussed on the continuation of “essential services” during labour disputes. No doubt your Ottawa office has received some letters or phone calls about this in recent weeks.

Essential services are already protected by both the Canada Labour Code and other statutes that deal specifically with federal public services. Passing C-257 does nothing to diminish those protections.

While it is unfortunate that the Committee's attempts to make direct reference to those protections (contained in section 87.4 of the Canada Labour Code) were ruled out of order by the Speaker, rest assured that ruling should not be taken to mean these protections are gone. Quite the contrary.

In fact, the one amendment the Speaker did allow (because it has always been part of the legislation) anchors C-257 to the strict safeguards that are already in place to guarantee the essential services upon which Canadians depend are not interrupted by a labour dispute.

The bottom line is that C-257 provides a much-needed balance to labour relations that take place under the Canada Labour Code. A balance that goes much further towards the protection of essential services by eliminating the threat of tactical lockouts by employers or strikes that happen because a few rogue employers refuse to bargain with their workers.

Bring balance to labour relations and reduce the risk of labour disputes that put essential services at risk in the first place. Support C-257 at Third Reading.

Labels: alternatives, cons, democracy, leftist content creation, link, ndp, online campaign, opinion, union

The Conservative Government and its backers in the Liberal Party should be ashamed of themselves. Canada's last government brought in an abandonment of basic civil liberties with the so called anti-terror act. Thankfully, after five long years two parts of the act are being allowed to sunset.

In the end, 12 Liberal MPs didn't show up for the vote, with some excused by the party whip for other parliamentary duties.

But at least four no-shows were known to oppose killing the powers: Keith Martin (Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca), Don Bell (North Vancouver), Derek Lee (Scarborough-Rouge River) and Roy Cullen (Etobicoke North).

Only one Liberal – Tom Wappel (Scarborough Southwest) – outright defied Dion, voting with the Conservative government to renew the powers.

Wappel was a member of the Commons subcommittee that last fall supported their extension.

Another Liberal – MP Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister – showed up, but abstained from voting because he supports renewal of the powers, but only if they are accompanied by a comprehensive review and reform of the act by Parliament.

Cotler (Mount Royal) said he expected no discipline for doing so, and Dion didn't indicate what if any consequences Wappel or the no-shows would face. - from The Star

With friends like Keith Martin and Irwin Cotler who needs enemies? If Dion hopes to be Prime Minister he had better show he can discipline his caucus now. Speaking of which why is Ignatieff sitting down during the standing ovation for Dion?

"The two measures, introduced by a previous Liberal government in 2001, have never been used." - from CBC

"Prescription drugs are 16,400% more deadly than terrorists" - via Rational Reasons

Dion should get his caucus together and vote to repeal the rest of the ridiculous Anti-Terrorism Act. In the end though - both the Liberals and the Conservatives are right about one thing - each other:

Leading up to Tuesday's vote, Conservatives ... accused [Liberals] of flip-flopping on a law they'd written themselves.

Liberals have responded that governments cannot be trusted with too free a hand over people's rights, especially the current Conservative government. - from CBC

At least we still live in a multi-party democracy even if the only two parties that have ever held the federal government don't act like it.

Labels: alternatives, anti-war, cons, day, democracy, leftist content creation, ndp, opinion, spy-watch, whale rights abuse, yay immigration

"The previous Liberal government ratified the Kyoto Protocol knowing Canada wasn't ready to take the tough measures needed to address climate change and would likely miss the deadlines for reducing emissions, says a top adviser to former prime minister Jean Chrétien." - from Cullen on Climate Change

Tell our political leaders to stop the rhetoric, take action, and do something real for the environment. It will take you 20 seconds. - from David Suzuki Foundation e-mail

To: Stéphane Dion (Liberal Party), Gilles Duceppe (Bloc Québécois), Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Conservative Party of Canada), Jack Layton (New Democratic Party)
From: Morgan

If I were Prime Minister... I would condemn my predecessors incessantly for their crimes against humanity for failing to act to avert the environmental crisis that is overcoming our world.

Hey Stephen & Stéphane its time for action!

Get your butts in gear and stop holding up effective solutions in committee.

After you send a note; sign this petition.

Labels: cons, democracy, environment, green isn't just a colour it's an imperative, leftist content creation, ndp, online campaign

"Conscription: involuntary labor, especially military service, demanded by some established authority."

A new low in decency has been achieved by our Prime Minister. Unlike the rest of the blogosphere, I'm not talking about the mildly annoying linking in the house of the terrorist Air India bombing (Canada's own per-capita equivalent of the World Trade Centre attack) and the federal Liberals. In this rant, I am complaining about something that will likely see Stephane Dion and 100% of his caucus vote below the belt with Harper.

What am I talking about? Conscription.

I understand that we are at war, but, like the goalie who mooned the refs in this hockey game, "I['ve] had my fill." The war must end, but, it isn't like the conscription I'm complaining about only happens at wartime in this country.

The conscription that has me mooning mad, is the ubiquitously named back-to-work legislation proposed by the federal government to conscript striking UTU workers back to work at CN Rail.

Shame on you Harper and Dion. If you want workers to work, pay them and negotiate in good faith. Clearly, no company will negotiate in good faith if they know they can have a contract imposed. Don't overrule the labour board that sees no basis to force workers back.

The one upside to this story is it appears that Canada's border guards are using their powers positively, by preventing scabs from illegally crossing the border.

Labels: alternatives, anti-war, canada, cons, conscription, democracy, leftist content creation, union, yay immigration

	Alexa.com Canadian Rank	Alexa.com World Rank	Google Pagerank	Technorati
Conservatives NDP Liberals Greens	1:6,371 2:6,470 3:11,108 4:11,154	3:230,398 2:192,757 1:166,558 4:435,101	2:6 1:7 2:6 1:7	3:9,072 2:8,501 1:7,528 N/A

I bet you didn't guess those ranking.

Before I looked it up, I certainly didn't expect the Liberals to be behind in several significant ways except blog links. The Liberals are even behind the Greens in a couple of measures. The methodology might not be perfect but it is a very interesting look at what is going on on the web for the main party sites.

What does all that mean?

It means that the Liberal Party's blogging strategy is working best, yet, they just aren't reaching internet users in Canada. Despite this blogging strategy the Conservatives have the most reach right now. The NDP is consistently doing well across the board with a great deal of interest being shown on the web in what the NDP is up to.

A part of the NDP strength may come from the fact that the provincial NDP sites are for the most part, sub-domains of the federal site (ie bc.ndp.ca and ns.ndp.ca). The strongest of these sub-domains ontario.ndp.ca is attributed 13% of the NDP.ca traffic by Alexa.com. However, to see NDP.ca ahead of the Liberal.ca in some ways and ahead of Conservative.ca in others, when they are 10-15 points behind in polls, is astoundingly positive. The sub-domains are not substantive enough to explain all of this reach, instead this shows the NDP has the best overall web strategy to date.

The following graph shows the last three months on Alexa. The Liberals obviously got a gigantic bump during their leadership convention, visible on the left of the graph:

Labels: alternatives, canada, cons, leftist content creation, link, ndp, new media critique, opinion

It isn't that the provincial police used in Ontario, Newfoundland and Quebec are any better than the RCMP. However, the enforcement of the criminal code is jurisdictionally a provincial matter in Canada. Why is it that the BC Attorney General continues to pretend he has no control over the policing of our province.

The BC office of the Police Complaints Commissioner has had a rocky ride since its inception nearly ten years ago. A limiting budget and a more limited mandate from the start got much worse when the courts over ruled the first significant Public Hearing into the riot at the Hyatt. I remember the police's actions that night vividly and a public hearing was absolutely warranted. The courts however, stated that the commissioner acted without jurisdiction in calling for a hearing. Although Commissioner Morrison was eventually successful in overturning this ruling, 4 years had now passed since the incident. Morrison himself was finished as commissioner long before there was a final outcome. Now, a series of suggestions for improving the complaints process have been brought forward by Justice Wood.

From Opininon 250:

• Strengthening the oversight powers of the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) to ensure that serious complaints are properly investigated and resolved.
• Shifting from the current model where the OPCC oversees a complaint after police have investigated it, to contemporaneous oversight where the OPCC can be involved throughout the handling of a complaint. This would involve the use of new software to track complaints across all municipal police departments.
• Increasing the police complaint commissioner's powers to include the ability to provide advice or direction to a police department during an investigation; the power to issue guidelines that are binding on police; and statutory responsibility to monitor non-lodged or oral complaints (complaints made by a member of the public who does not want to commit the complaint to writing).
• Compelling police by law to co-operate both with internal and external investigators, including providing a statement and submitting to an interview. Failure to co-operate would constitute a new category of discreditable conduct under the Code of Professional Conduct regulation.

Of course, no Canadian can forget how much worse the RCMP's Public Complaints Commission is. Their handling of the complaints related to the injured protesters at APEC will go down in history as a massive blunder almost as bad as the actions of the RCMP in the first place.

For those of you who don't live in British Columbia, or who do and don't follow policing jurisdiction closely, I should give some background. The RCMP is a federal police force reporting to the federal government. The BC Government and all but a few BC municipalities contract the RCMP to provide policing. This arrangement is used instead of provincial police forces in much of Canada. Cities like Surrey, Kamloops and Kelowna don't have their own police forces. Many smaller cities, districts and municipalities do, like Central Saanich and the District of Oak Bay. It gets weirder though, districts like the UBC endowment lands and the Naval Base at Esquimalt are policed by the RCMP on contract but surrounding areas like the Esquimalt municipality and the City of Vancouver have their own policing arrangements that don't include the RCMP. Federal legislation stops any kind of real oversite of the RCMP by the provincial governments, civilians or municipalities. However, the option exists to negotiate a new policing regime or simply do away with municipal and provincial policing duties by contract with the RCMP.

Today's call from the BC NDP Opposition that all communities should benefit from improvements to police complaints requires extending a new kind of civilian over-site to the majority of the province is one I hardily support. The RCMP can no longer operate by a different set of rules than the rest of the police in BC.

If Stockwell Day and the RCMP continue to insist they should have their own set of rules; then we should simply call their bluff and stop using the RCMP in BC.

Labels: alternatives, bc blogs, bc ndp, cons, copwatch, day, democracy, human rights abuse, link, ndp, opinion, rcmp

"There were 469,685 sick and wounded, of whom 53,753 or 11.44%, were wounded, injured or sustained concussion and 415,932 (88.56%) fell sick. A high proportion of casualties were those who fell ill. This was because of local climatic and sanitary conditions, which were such that acute infections spread rapidly among the troops. There were 115,308 cases of infectious hepatitis, 31,080 of typhoid fever and 140,665 of other diseases. Of the 11,654 who were discharged from the army after being wounded, maimed or contracting serious diseases, 92%, or 10,751 men were left disabled." - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan from Wikipedia

The latest headline screams "Iranians 'at highest levels' meddling in Iraq War".

If it is meddling to provide bombs to Iraqi insurgents, wtf was the United States doing in Afghanistan prior to and during the Soviet occupation.

Oh, you know, at the highest levels - meddling. Presidentially approved meddling in fact, as revealed recently by Robert Gates and admitted as a US trap to bring the USSR into Afghanistan. The trap was effectively the arming of the Afghan Mujahideen. These same people, including Osama Bin Laden, are the people that Canada is at war with in Afghanistan. Of course, the USSR actually committed a large number of troops (620,000 total 80,000-104,000 at a time) to their war effort, unlike the US in Iraq or the NATO forces in Afghanistan.

You don't win a counter-insurgency war by fighting. But you know that story... and if you don't, you'll go read about it from historians, not me, while I'm commenting on current events. Here's a little more about that current event:

"Over the last year there has been a major about-face in the Canadian military's view of the usefulness of tanks.

Last fall, after originally denying that it was going to send Leopards to Afghanistan, the military confirmed the armoured vehicles were indeed headed for that south Asia war zone. "Tanks produce a certain amount of shock action," army commander Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie said at the press conference confirming the deployment of the Leopards. "They can be extraordinarily intimidating."

In the late 1990s the Canadian Forces spent $145 million to equip the tanks with new computers and heat-sensing equipment to improve their fighting capability." - Canadian military hunts for new tanks from Canada.com

By the way, tanks aren't cheap:

"In May 1976, DND received Cabinet approval to purchase 128 Leopard tanks at a cost of $187.1 million to replace the aging Centurion tanks that were used in carrying out Canada's commitment to NATO. The purchase also allowed DND to equip an operational squadron at the Combat Training Centre, CFB Gagetown and to provide tanks for use in the Armoured School in Gagetown and the Land Ordnance Engineering School at CFB Borden." - 1984 Report of the Auditor General of Canada

These current tanks cost $641 million plus the $175 million in CPI inflated dollars that it took to re-equip them. Meaning the commitment of tanks is more than a $800 million commitment of assets to this war. Given the survival rates of the Soviet equipment that was committed to Afghanistan this is one asset we may never see again.

No clear amount has been quoted for the newest 80 tanks, but let's say they are each worth about the same amount as the first 128. That would mean another $500 million committed on the next 80.

It is time for Canadians to make it clear that they are not willing to fund a potentially never-ending counter-insurgency war in Afghanistan. We must let our elected representatives know that $1.3 billion on tanks is an unacceptable expenditure.

Population estimates put Afghanistan's population at about 30 million or very near to the same population as Canada. These tanks represent an expenditure of about $40 per person. That's more than the cost of two chickens for a family in need from Oxfam, but two chickedns would also have the desired effect of "produc[ing] a certain amount of shock action." The chickens, however, would be unlikely to kill anyone. Although, I'm not sure Oxfam can provide 60 million chickens as quickly as Germany can get 80 tanks to Kandahar, I think we should get Gen. Hillier to make the call. I hear he is a man of his word and a very persuasive Newfoundlander:

A few months ago General Rick Hillier promised me a Christmas I would never forget; turns out he is a man of his word.

This year, on Christmas morning, I was in Sperwan Ghar in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan sitting around a single-burner Coleman stove with a dozen Canadian soldiers. Rush was on the stereo and we were watching a pot of Tetley tea bags threaten to boil. Outside it was wet and muddy, but inside the sandbag bunker where these Royal Canadian Dragoons ate and slept it was warm and as comfortable as one could expect under the circumstances. Corporal Frank Farrell was in charge of the pot and there was no top on it this morning - this was not to be rushed.

Gen. Hillier is a very persuasive man. He is also a Newfoundlander. And while he is the chief of the Canadian Forces it has been suggested that he might think he is the chief of all Newfoundlanders. He'll call you up and suggest to you that on Dec. 25 there is only one place you should be and it's so special that by agreeing to go there you render your life insurance null and void. You aren't asked so much as you are voluntold.

... On Christmas morning, the convoy headed to Sperwan Ghar. The troops here sleep in dugouts with sandbag perimeters. ... The trip carried on. We visited more forward operating bases. Gen. Hillier made good on his goal of shaking hands with practically every [Canadian] soldier in harm's way this Christmas. And by late afternoon we took the convoy back through "ambush ally" to the main base in Kandahar for the prime show of the tour for about 800 soldiers in the newly opened Canada House. - A Christmas in Flak Jackets from Rick Mercer's Blog

Maybe next Christmas... by then maybe we will all be voluntold how to support this developing world war.

It isn't enough for us to sit passively by and watch our tax dollars be spent. We need to actively oppose this war.

We must express our disappointment with the direction of our government. In part this means being extremely clear that Rick Mercer and other people who think it is ok to entertain (or for that matter arm or supply) the Canadian Forces are participants in and contributers to war. The Guardian has an excellent piece on the trouble the US Forces are having getting quality entertainment.

Ultimately it is up to Canadians to avoid being trapped into a war in Iran, the one country that separates Afghanistan from Iraq. Our neighbours to the south seem trapped already. Robert Gates sometimes takes 27 years to admit the truth about traps so don't read too much into this denial of an intention to attack Iran:

“I don't know how many times the president, Secretary (of State Condoleezza) Rice and I have had to repeat that we have no intention of attacking Iran, that the second carrier group is there to reassure our allies, as well as to send a signal that we've been in the Persian Gulf for decades and we intend to stay there." Robert Gates quoted on the Pentagon's website.

Labels: alternatives, anti-war, blogosphere, canada, cons, democracy, historical, human rights abuse, in memory of

No deal has been cut with the Tories, but balance of power pressure is making a difference.

The Great Bear Rainforest, a series of beautiful and largely pristine watersheds up the BC Coast has some new funding to develop sustainable industries within the forest.

Saved permanently? Nope. Our world is still at risk. We need to keep up the fight but, for the short-term and for a just transition this is an incredible sign of the recognition of climate change. A realization that this is a gigantic intact tract of a disappearing and irreplaceable part of the world we live on.

18,000 km2 of protected area and 46,900 km2 to be sustainably managed forest. A government that 6 weeks ago wouldn't acknowledge climate change was anything but bunk science. Today, we have a Prime Minister forced into actively working against climate change and I don't mean just by replanting Stanley Park.

I'm not going to start blogging about how I like this government but, I sure like this house of commons and its balance of power.

Brad Lavigne's quote attributed by catprint yesterday, on Mike Duffy, sure seems apropos. Hey Dion.. "So you only needed 14 years, then it would have been done right?"

The NDP has shown that a couple of weeks in the pole position is enough to "Take the lead on climate change."

Thanks LeftCoastRant for the inspiration for this post.

Labels: alternatives, blogosphere, cat, cons, environment, green isn't just a colour it's an imperative, leftist content creation, ndp, public power

This morning I was introduced to my new favourite MP. Paul Steckle.

You guessed it, that's him in the picture, with his family and their firearms. This was the Christmas card he sent out to his constituents in 2004. As he puts it in this recent article "people are still talking about that one."

Apparently this Christmas card is old news, but sometimes Members of Parliament distinguish themselves in ways that shouldn't be forgotten. Whether that be Darryl Stinson's infamous "Do you have the fortitude or the gonads to stand up and come across here and say that to me, you son of a bitch? Come on." Or Jean Chretien's "For me, pepper, I put it on my plate." These two however have moved into the past and are gone from parliament with Stinson retiring at the last election.

This pro-life, anti-gay marriage, gun-toting (yup that's him and his family in the picture), Christmas wishing-in-fatigues Liberal is still an MP for the riding of Huron-Bruce.

To the great delight of the anti-choice freakazoids Paul Steckle went so far as to introduce a motion into the house last June (2006) attempting to further restrict abortion.

As Stéphane Dion tries the inevitable lefty-reinvention we have seen every time the Liberals are in opposition, we should ensure that we don't forget the likes of Steckle. Scary guys like this one end up damn close to the back room and cabinet if the Liberals win.

Labels: alternatives, canada, cons, human rights abuse, pro-choice