Toronto Mayor David Miller Did An Excellent Job Handling The Strike

The Toronto Star, The Globe & Mail and the National Post have gone all out to attack Toronto Mayor David Miller's handling of the strike and of the deal he reached with the unions. They claim that he caved in and gave the unions what they wanted from the beginning. If not directly saying that he failed, they put a negative spin on his name and his achievements regarding the strike.

However, he was very successful in his handling of the strike and of the deal finally reached.
He set up temporary dump sites all over the city right away.
He got injunctions against strikers right away if they caused undue delays (so they couldn't keep on delaying people at those sites).
He organized existing management staff to work on keeping the streets and parks as clean as possible.
And, regarding the deal, he managed to get it so the banking of sick days will be phased out - this will save the city millions of dollars.

The unions wanted to completely keep on banking sick days. The city wanted to get rid of the banking of sick days. A compromise was reached to phase the banking of sick days out. This is about as fair a deal as could be reached. And, that's what you end up getting when you negotiate - a bit of give and take - a compromise.

The MSM seem to think that he should have been able to get rid of the banking of sick days all at once. This would have been very unfair to the workers, and impossible to get through the negotiations during the strike. And, it would have been impossible to get if the mayor had got the Province to legislate the workers back to work. If this had happened, the negotiations would have gone to binding arbitration. And with this, the unions always get a better deal - they most likely would have kept the banking of sick days completely.

So, what would you have preferred - a harder approach by the mayor, resulting in either the strike going on for months (and getting no better of a deal than we got), or back to work legislation sending the workers back to work and binding arbitration with no change in the banking of sick days,
OR
The deal we got with the phasing out of banking of sick days?

All in all I would say Well Done David Miller!

Banked Sick Days Frozen, Toronto To Save $Millions (MSM Misleads Public In Toronto On Issue of Banked Sick Days)

TheStar.com | GTA | Banked sick days in city offer
The title, todays poll on the Star's site, and the article seems to stress the point that workers will continue to bank sick days. This is very misleading.
In the article, you can see that new workers will not be able to bank sick days and that current workers will have their banking of sick days frozen to what they have already. This means that they will no longer be able to bank any more sick days from here on. The Star reported on the freeze of sick days yesterday as well

Here is the quote from the article:
New employees will not have the option of banking unused sick days. Current employees can cash out their banked days at a discount and move into a new short-term disability plan, or may have their sick bank frozen to draw on for days that may not be covered by the new plan.

And the Globe and Mail completely leaves out this point and claims that they can continue to accrue credits

The MSM has been attacking the unions stance and the mayor David Miller's handling of the issue from day one. They don't like the mayor and they would like to see a more conservative person in the mayor position. So, they are doing all they can to smear the current mayor. But, he has done a good job in handling the strike. The city has been far cleaner than during the last summer garbage workers strike (which went on for a shorter period). And, the city has managed to stop the workers from continuing to bank new sick days - which is what the city wanted all along. This will save Toronto millions of dollars.
The headline, more realistically should have been Banked Sick Days Frozen, Toronto To Save $Millions

UPDATE
Okay, so the details are finally released.

Current employees can either continue to collect and bank sick days (the collecting is not frozen at this point for these people, contrary to what was reported in the Toronto Star over the past 2 days)
Or
They can cash what they have in now and switch to the new short-term plan (which does not include banking sick days)

New employees will be enrolled in the short-term sick leave plan and will not be able to bank sick days.

Here is a link to the agreement.

Still, this phases out the banking of sick days and it seems like a number of current employees will opt for cashing out and joining the short-term plan.

Prior to the strike, the unions did not offer this, nor, would they agree. If the strike had gone to binding arbitration (like, if the workers were legislated back to work by the province - which probably would have happened with a more conservative mayor), the city would not have gained this phasing out of sick day banking, but would have been stuck with it for all employees, current and new.

So, hats off to Miller and his team for accomplishing this phase out for the city.

Disgraceful Tories Contine To Hold Back The Money

TheStar.com | Canada | 'Virtually nothing coming' from Tory stimulus fund
...

"There's virtually nothing coming," NDP Leader Jack Layton said.

"There are billions of dollars of stimulus that should have been flowing already," he said. "Some of the people being laid off across the country could have moved into those construction jobs."

In fact, the funds are flowing even slower than forecast in the 2007 budget, before the financial crisis hit. According to that timetable, programs under the Building Canada Plan should have pumped more than $5 billion into projects by this fiscal year. Yet the amount spent so far is $1.3 billion less than forecast, calling into question whether pledges to boost spending are sincere, Layton said in an interview.

"I've always suspected that when Stephen Harper announces big sums of money to be spent, he so fundamentally doesn't believe in it ... the money is very unlikely to flow at all," Layton said.

...

Also see here

Mayors say Conservative government is all talk and no money

TheStar.com | Canada | Mayors decry delay in stimulus cash from Ottawa

Money for the stimulus projects was announced in January, but Ottawa is not releasing the money.

See also: Conservative government actually tightened the purse strings in this time of a need for increased spending

Why vote Liberal when it means you actually support the Conservatives?

Ignatieff failing the middle class: Liberals offer no alternative or opposition to Conservatives | NDP

Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals can’t have it both ways. They
can’t say they are opposed to Harper’s agenda and do nothing to stop
it. Instead the Ignatieff’s Liberals are giving Harper a de facto
majority by voting confidence in him, time and time again, while
offering no alternative program of their own.

With the support of Ignatieff’s Liberals, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have:

(Read on...)

UN demands compensation for war crimes in Gaza

globeandmail.com: UN demands compensation for Israeli strikes in Gaza

This is a good first step. But, unfortunately, with the US supporting Israel's genocide of Palestine, the UN will always be toothless against Israel.

NAFTA continues to hurt/kill people

HealthZone.ca - News & Features - Blame NAFTA for swine flu, experts say , Lax farming rules under free trade deal create breeding ground for virus, environmentalists argue

One of the things the proponents of NAFTA kept buried was how it would affect health and environmental rules. Basically it hurt these very much. And now one of the results is coming back to haunt us - with this recent swine flu outbreak.

NAFTA should be scrapped and renegotiated with stronger support for good environmental rules and the power put back into the hands of the people and their government. As it stands, the power is mainly in the hands of the multinational corporations.

Stephen Harper offends a principle of fundamental justice

TheStar.com | SpecialSections | Harper must press U.S. to free Khadr from Gitmo, court rules

...Federal Court Justice James O'Reilly ruled toay that Ottawa must request that the "United States return Mr. Khadr to Canada as soon as practicable."

O'Reilly wrote that Canada's "ongoing refusal" to request that Khadr be sent home "offends a principle of fundamental justice" and violates his constitutional rights....

Conservative vacactioned while people lost their jobs.

Impolitical: Prorogation politics while unemployment and bankruptcies soared

What's becoming even more clear in hindsight, the fact that the Conservative government, facing a political challenge of its own making, went on a prorogation vacation for two months at what is now proving to have been an epically bad moment.

Two thirds of the electorate wanted parliament to immediately deal with the economic issues of the day, but, instead, the Conservatives prorogued parliament and went on vacation for 2 months. Now we are seeing the results of putting off immediate action. Sure there would have been some losses regardless, but shutting down parliament when the country needed it most was a very irresponsible thing to do.

Wine Cask Hotel Rooms

Sleep it Off Inside a Wine Cask | greenUPGRADER

Why won't the Canadian government help out government-funded CBC, but will help out private broadcasters - WTF?

A BCer in Toronto: Will Steve Harper bail-out the National Post?

Mike Harris is back

TheStar.com | Ontario | Mike Harris is back as Tory kingmaker
This should ensure that Tim Hudak is never elected Premier.

Former premier Mike Harris is aggressively building support for MPP Tim Hudak in the race to succeed John Tory as Progressive Conservative leader, the Star has learned.

Why is our Science Minister a Creationist?

globeandmail.com: Minister won't confirm belief in evolution

You would think that he would be the Creationist Minister and that we would have someone who actually believes fully in Science would be a Science Minister.
Ain't the Conservatives got no sense?!

Conservatives aim for more pollution

globeandmail.com: Layton warns of 'brown and polluted' economic recovery

A leaked document that shows Ottawa doesn't want to do as many environmental impact reviews doesn't bode well for the protection of Canada's land, air and water, Mr. Layton said Saturday.

No big surprise here.

Ontario NDP Leadership Race - I'm supporting Michael Prue

Straight Goods - Why I'm supporting Michael Prue for leader of the ONDP - Although all the candidates are attractive, Prue is the only one who has actually led a government (as Mayor of East York).

This article pretty much sums up my own reasons.

Conservative cover-up of their fault in the lysteriosis deaths coming back to haunt them

HealthZone.ca - News & Features - Opposition slams Tories over listeriosis secrecy

"What has the prime minister got to hide?"

Civilian deaths on the rise in Afghanistan

globeandmail.com: Afghan civilian deaths up 40 per cent: UN

KABUL — The number of Afghan civilians killed in armed conflict rose 40 per cent last year to a record 2,118 people as the Afghan war turned increasingly bloody, the United Nations said in a new report Tuesday.

The report said insurgents were responsible for 55 per cent of the deaths, but that United States, NATO and Afghan forces killed 829 civilians, or 39 per cent. Of those, 552 deaths were blamed on air strikes.

Support the troops - either bring them home, or set them up keeping the peace. Lets stop killing civilians and be peacekeepers again.

Conservatives don't care about your health safety

HealthZone.ca - Diet & Fitness - Vets target meat inspection plan

During the Conservatives' last term, they began cutting back on inspectors. As a result, we had the lysteriosis outbreak(s). Now, they want to further dismantle the inspection system.
How many people do they have to kill with their negligent policies before they and the public catch on?

Amnesty International asks Harper to bring Khadr home

TheStar.com | Canada | Amnesty asks Harper to bring Khadr home < read full story

OTTAWA — Amnesty International has written an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling for the repatriation of Canadian Omar Khadr from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

"While the responsibility for closing Guantanamo Bay in a manner consistent with international human rights requirements rests with the U.S. administration, other countries should assist and cooperate in that effort," the letter states.

The human rights organization plans to deliver a petition signed by 50,000 Canadians to Harper today, asking the Conservative government to bring Khadr home.

The letter urges Harper to make three Guantanamo-related concerns a topic of discussion with U.S. President Barack Obama when he visits Ottawa Feb. 19 and to tell him that Canada is ready to participate in solving the problems.

"We urge that you immediately make a request to U.S. government officials for the repatriation of Omar Khadr to Canada, where his case will be dealt with under Canadian law in a manner that recognizes his status as a child soldier," the letter says.

Khadr was 15 years old when he was charged in the death of U.S. Sgt. Christopher Speer during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan. He has been held at Guantanamo ever since.

Israeli soldiers shoot children in the head at point-blank range

as we were saying: Demographic problem? Shoot children<read full post and follow links

Bullets in the brain
The Telegraph [UK]: Doctors at a hospital near Gaza are almost overwhelmed by the number of Palestinian children needing treatment for bullet wounds to their heads. Dr. Yahia, a professor of neurosurgery who has worked in both the United States and Britain, believes that the bullet was shot from close range... 'I can't precisely decide whether these children are being shot at as a target, but in some cases the bullet comes from the front of the head and goes toward the back, so I think the gun has been directly pointed at the child'... 'We've had one child with two bullets in the head and nowhere else,' he said. 'We think that this shows something.'

NDP is all that's Left

The Militant Dipper: Falling for Jack. <read full post.

Any one who stands opposed to Stephen Harper has only one choice. Smilin Jack Layton period. The Liberal, Conservative coalition government can only be opposed by New Democrats.
Left leaning Liberals I implore you, stop taking abuse from your own
party, stop apologizing for Gaza and for Afghanistan and join me at my
new party. It's great to have a leader who you can agree with once in
awhile. The blood is already coming off my hands too.

York U - Bargaining in Bad Faith

Ontario NDP Accuse YorkU of Bargaining in Bad Faith | The Dominion <read full story!

Howard Hampton: "This isn't deadlock. This is a university that decided, "We'll lock out
the students. We'll put them in the street. We'll go through the
motions of making it look like we're interested in bargaining and we'll
just string it out, string it out, and then we'll go to the McGuinty
government and ask them to end it."

Harper & Ignatieff together in a state of denial

TheStar.com | Insight | Harper and Ignatieff have heads in the sand

If
the budget demonstrated anything it's this: The government and
opposition are united in a state of denial about the economic crisis
...

First, the depression promises to be worse than most analysts have
been predicting. It hasn't yet hit Canada full-bore. It will. The fact
that the U.S. appears to be re-embracing trade protection only
underscores the point.

Second, neither the governing
Conservatives nor the opposition Liberals seem to understand the
seriousness of this crisis. Rhetoric notwithstanding, both parties
appear to think they are dealing with a problem that will go away in
two years and allow the world to return to business as usual.

...

Yet the government remains grudging. Much of the $12 billion in planned infrastructure spending is contingent upon dollar-for-dollar matching by provinces and municipalities. If they can't come up with their deemed share, it's not clear whether the federal money will be spent.

The unemployed got enough in the budget to win Harper Liberal support, but not enough to help the 58 per cent of jobless Canadians who don't qualify for employment insurance.
...

Yet for Ignatieff's party, the fixation on deficits is driven less
by ideological commitment than desperation. During their last 13 years
in government, the Liberals shredded most of the social safety net they
had once helped to construct.

Their only significant achievements
over this time were their decision not to go to war against Iraq and
the elimination of the federal deficit.

In fact, even the
latter may be an exaggeration. It's arguable that the deficit problem
was solved less by good government than by the worldwide reduction in
interest rates and a renewed global appetite for Canadian raw materials.

Majority of Canadians still see through Harper. Budget fails to impress.

globeandmail.com: Budget fails to quell criticisms of Prime Minister, poll suggests

Although this poll shows that a majority of Canadians support the budget, Harper and his Conservatives are on shakier ground.
Some points to note: 

... voters are now less likely to support the government because of the budget.
... 69 per cent say they still blame Mr. Harper for causing an unnecessary
political crisis late last year when he should have been focusing on
the economy.
...When asked to name the top three beneficiaries of the budget, large
corporations showed up most often. Poor Canadians and older/retired
Canadians were seen as those benefiting the least.

If only the leaders of other countries had the guts that the Turkish leader has to call a lie when he sees one

TheStar.com | World | Turkish-Israeli clash stuns Davos economic forum

DAVOS, Switzerland–Turkey's prime minister stalked off the stage at the
World Economic Forum red-faced Thursday after reproaching Israel's
president over the Gaza offensive by saying ``You kill people."
...
Ergodan brushed past reporters outside the hall. His wife appeared
upset. "All Peres said was a lie. It was unacceptable," she said, eyes
glistening.


Shimon Peres stood up at the World Economic Forum and lied about the
situation in Gaza, and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Yayyip Erdogan
called him on it.

Conservatives and Liberals vote to turn back the clock on pay equity for women in Canada

Pay equity: U.S. moves forward, Canada falls behind | NDP

“What comes as a shock is that the Liberals, who were so critical of
those cuts, would now support a budget that entrenches these regressive
policies.”

After they see that Iggy is just Dion in wolf's clothing, will the Liberals toss him out and elect Bob Rae?

CBC.ca News - Political Bytes - Obit: the coalition

With Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal party accepting the latest Harper budget, asking little in concessions, we see that things are back to exactly the way they were before the election. The Conservatives putting forth bad policies, and the Liberals, although saying the policies are bad, backing them. Nothing has changed. The majority of Canadians are still shafted.

Maybe the Liberals will see their error in choosing Iggy and turf him out in favour of Bob Rae. It remains to be seen.

I'm not keen on the same old coalition - Conservatives & Liberals - with the Conservatives making the policy, and the Liberals either abstaining or going along with things even though they don't like it (instead of standing up for what they believe is right).

The Liberals have thrown away a large voice for Canadians in Parliament. The people who voted Liberal no longer have a Liberal voice in parliament - they have Conservative supporters instead (that's not what/who they voted for). The only federal opposition voice left is the NDP. And in Quebec, I can see the Liberals losing more seats to the Bloc next election for this.

"Ignatieff says he is prepared to swallow"

globeandmail.com: Tories put on probation; coalition declared dead

Is Ignatieff the same or worse than Dion here?
Not only is he accepting a bad budget, the Liberals are going to vote for it (instead of abstain from it, like the Dion Liberals), and demand pretty lame concessions.

Bad news from the Liberals

globeandmail.com: Ignatieff to call for changes to budget

It seems that the Liberals are going to roll over and accept this lame budget:

The MP said there would be some Liberal positioning on the issue, but that more individuals were leaning toward letting the government live than pushing to defeat it.

More Israeli war crimes

Israel accused of war crimes over 12-hour assault on Gaza village | World news | The Observer

In testimony collected from residents of the village of Khuza'a by
the Observer, it is claimed that Israeli soldiers entering the village:

• attempted to bulldoze houses with civilians inside;

• killed civilians trying to escape under the protection of white flags;

• opened fire on an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded;

• used indiscriminate force in a civilian area and fired white phosphorus shells.

If the allegations are upheld, all the incidents would constitute breaches of the Geneva conventions.

The
denunciations over what happened in Khuza'a follow repeated claims of
possible human rights violations from the Red Cross, the UN and human
rights organisations.

Israel continues to murder Palestinians after the ceasefire

First Palestinian shot dead after Israel's unilateral ceasefire_English_Xinhua

A Palestinian farmer
was shot dead on Sunday morning by an Israeli soldier in Khan Younis in
southern Gaza Strip, becoming the first fatality since Israeli declared an
unilateral ceasefire, local witnesses said.

    The witnesses said the farmer was killed while checking his farm.

White-Phosphorus and its use in Gaza

Special: White Phosphorus and its use in Gaza - International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC < read me.

Reports of usage in Gaza: The Los Angeles Times reported January 12 that 20 homes burnt, one women killed and several injured from the use of WP in Gaza writing:“One landed in my kitchen and caused a fire,' said Zohair Mohammed abu Rejila, 35. 'I went to put it out, but another one landed on Mayar, my baby daughter. It was like a block of fire, a piece of plastic on fire. When I knocked it off her, it exploded and out came this heavy white smoke with a very bad smell.' http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg...story

Al-Jazeera TV reported on its use for several days between December 29-January 9 and aired footage of several civilian victims of white phosphorus bombs showing characteristic burns. One teenage girl, Jamila Al-Habash, had both of her legs amputated and an interview with Dr. Raed Al-'Areeny from Al-Shaifa Hospital explained the need for amutation because of the WP adherence to and reaction with soft tissues penetrating even to the bones.

Footage released also show the characteristic images of shelling in neighborhoods with WP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVY4NUKowzg http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20....html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq-b_40IKfs On January 12, 2009, Human Rights Watch issued a report demanding Israel stop using WP (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/10/israel-stop-unlaw...-gaza)

Death toll continues as Israel continues its assault on Gaza using White-Phosphorus

18th day under attack: Gaza death toll reaches 940 with 4200 injured - International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC < read me.

Dr. Hassanen told IMEMC over the phone that doctors are witnessing burns and disfigured bodies of victims, adding that the injured are arriving with a powder on their skin. On Saturday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Israeli Army to stop using White Phosphorus in its artillery shells against the Gaza Strip. Researchers of HRW said that they observed white-phosphorus use on January 9th and January 10th near Gaza City and Jabalia,.

Using this type of artillery, in this manner is banned by international humanitarian law, the group added. The shells are capable of burning human flesh right down to the bone and are capable of setting structures, fields and other civilian facilities on fire. The group added that using these kind of shells against one of the most densely populated areas in the world causes magnified harm, and called on Israel to stop using these shells.

Remember that school that Israel targeted a few days ago ...

UN: IDF officers admitted there was no gunfire from Gaza school which was shelled - Haaretz - Israel News

"In briefings senior [Israel Defense Forces] officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school," Gunness said. "The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional."

He noted that all the footage released by the IDF of militants firing from inside the school was from 2007 and not from the incident itself.

Israel continues to target civilians in Gaza as the UN demands a halt to the aggression.

In spite of UN Resolution (1860); army continues offensive killing 29 Palestinians on Friday - International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC

On the ground, in Gaza, hospital, medics, civilian areas and homes, school, universities and mosques are including in the Israeli shelling and in the so-called self defense.

Descendents of the Holocaust now committing the same crime.

Bil'in demonstrators remind the world of the Holocaust - International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC

This angry message was to remind the world of the Nazi Holocaust and of the promise made by the international community to never allow another Holocaust to happen, while this promise is being broken by the same people whose ancestors were victims of the Holocaust.

Interviews with US congressmen regarding Gaza

kucinich.us - Al Jazeera interviews Congressman Kucinich on Gaza

Point - US arms are supplied to Israel for defence purposes only - not for invasions. Israel is breaking contract rules with the USA regarding its use of the supplied arms

Point - Israel broke the ceasefire agreement by bombing Gaza on Nov. 4th. Hamas only starting firing rockets in retaliation AFTER Israel broke the ceasefire.

Point - the majority of US congress put the onus on Hamas to stop firing rockets and to recognize Israel's right to exist as a nation, and see Israel as doing nothing wrong in it's bombing and killing of hundreds of innocent civilians (which is a war crime - targeting civilians) and do not ask Israel to recognize Palestine as a nation (or to stop invading and besieging Palestine).

Harper about faces again on Senate reform

globeandmail.com: Harper pushes to gain control of Senate

Seeing that his is up against a stronger opposition this time, Harper has decided to scrap his ideas of Senate reform and continue to appoint senators until the Conservatives have a majority in the Senate. Is this fair and ethical? No. Is it allowed in the rules? Yes.

He is running scared.

Time to take the government away from the minority Conservatives and put it in the hands of the majority - the opposition parties > The Coalition.

But bombing innocent trapped civilians is okay...

TheStar.com | Ontario | Jewish leaders blast CUPE

Please tell me how the current siege and invasion of Gaza is okay and not an abuse of civil, moral and ethical rights.

I think Canada should boycott Israel until Israel plays nice. And I think we should stop selling oil to the USA until the USA stops sending military aid to Israel to help kill civilians in Palestine. Until the USA demands that Israel stop the siege of Palestine, we should cut them off too.

Oh, poor Israel

TheStar.com | Columnist | Israel must fight its battles alone

Oh, they are not allowed to join in fights and kill other people in other countries. Oh, they are limited to only genocide against Palestinians.
Oh, no one understands them - that they have to bomb the crap out of innocent trapped civilians they have had under siege for decades.

Oh, they have to over-react against people who have very little in ways to fight back and who do little relative harm to Israelis.

Maybe, just maybe, if Israeli stopped besieging the Palestinians and allowed them to be a free nation, and stopped the illegal settlements stealing the Palestinian land, THEN the Palestinians would stop throwing rocks at them and stop firing inneffectual homemade bombs at them and the world would show Israel some respect.

Oh Rosie, you are sooooo out to lunch with your analysis.

And then they will bomb them again

TheStar.com | World | Israel to halt Gaza operations for 3 hours

And then they will seal off Gaza again and bomb the people, again, who have just received aid.

Israel: "the region's bully"

Al Jazeera English - Focus - Israel's failure to learn < read me

Already we see tensions increasing in the region. Damascus has pulled out of third-party talks with Tel Aviv and Arab anger has been mounting not just at Israel, and not just at America, but also at their own regimes which have collaborated with Washington.

Some Israelis have started to realise their government's flawed approach. While 81 per cent of Israelis support the military campaign, a poll has showed only 39 per cent believe it will succeed in removing Hamas or reducing violence.

An editorial in Haaretz, an Israeli daily, even went so far as to label Israel "the region's bully".

Barack Obama, the US president-elect, remains silent as Israel kills Palestinians with impunity. In his silence he expresses his complicity.

We could have a $20 billion surplus

TheStar.com | Canada | Harper says deficit could hit $30 billion

Hey Stephen.
How about you roll back the $50 billion in tax cuts to corporations? We already have one of the lowest taxes for corporations in all the industrialized nations. And, it has been proven time and time again that the trickle-down effect down not exist/work. So cutting back these tax cuts would a) not change any of the corporations' practises, and b) not affect the economy one way or the other (except to make more money available for services and stimulating infrastructure spending), and c) it would actually boost jobs by increasing the money for services and infrastructure spending.

Lets take that $20 billion surplus and invest it in Canada - not in foreign-owned corporations who will just pocket the money and invest it outside of Canada.

Bill Blaikie - running for a seat in the Manitoba legislature

Winnipeg Free Press

Welcome back Bill!

Veteran New Democrat Bill Blaikie will run for a seat in the
Manitoba legislature in a byelection expected to be called this spring. Blaikie won the NDP nomination for the provincial riding of Winnipeg Elmwood.

"I can't believe that the Prime Minister is just literally giving Canadians the finger."

TheStar.com | Canada | Harper's Senate plan blasted

For someone who was all about making the Senate more fair, representative and elected, this is an odd way to suddenly deal with the Senate.

OTTAWA–Constitutional experts and opposition parties yesterday
condemned Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plan to fill every empty
Senate seat in advance of his government's possible defeat in the new
year.

Constitutional scholar Desmond Morton called the move a
scandal in view of the precarious position of Harper's minority
government.

"He has the power to do it, but he shouldn't have the gall," said Morton, a professor emeritus at McGill University.

"I
think it's more in keeping with the principles of parliamentary
democracy that a potentially lame-duck administration should not make
appointments," said constitutional scholar Ned Franks.

Harper
will name the new senators before Christmas – likely in one fell swoop
– in a move his office says will bolster the chances of eventual Senate
reform, but opposition critics called a hyper-partisan power grab.

"It's
outrageous," said New Democrat MP and reform critic David
Christopherson (Hamilton Centre), whose party advocates abolishing the
Senate. "I can't believe that the Prime Minister is just literally
giving Canadians the finger."

Read more of the article at the link above.

James Laxer ponders what will Ignatieff do

No time for Ignatieff to play Mackenzie King | rabble.ca

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.

Click the link above - read the whole post

What Harper would do if he had a majority

If Harper survives | rabble.ca

Both know only too well just who Stephen Harper is and what he would do to the country should he ever achieve a majority.

With no mandate to do so, he would dismantle the work of three generations of Canadians in building a decent, if far from egalitarian, society.

He would, for starters, gut and or sell off the CBC.

He would repeal the Canada Health Act and open the Medicare system to massive privatization and balkanization.

He would, as quickly as he could, further gut the spending powers of the federal government with more destructive and ill-considered tax cuts for the wealthy and for Canada's corporate welfare bums.

He would rapidly devolve power to the provinces, balkanizing the country and its egalitarian approach to social programs.

Our foreign policy would be made in Washington and our energy and environmental policies would be made in Alberta. More billions would be poured into making our military a war-fighting adjunct to the U.S. war machine. (If you think Obama is going to dismantle the American Empire, think again.)

None of this will ever be part of a Harper election platform. But it is what he would do.

Conservatives wasting your money

TheStar.com | Canada | Luxury travel contradicts Tories' frugal image

This article from the Toronto Star exposes that the federal Conservatives are not so fiscally responsible with your money. Another example that they can't be trusted with our money and our economy, and how they don't practise what they preach. [I know this news came out a couple of weeks ago, but I just bumped into it now.]

Read the whole article for all the details. Here is a snippet below:

Some federal travellers can't seem to get to London, England, for less than $6,000, even though economy seats were available for $1,000 to $2,000. In our analysis of 60,000 travel records over four years, we found $18,000 flights to Australia, $7,000 flights to Paris, $11,000 flights to Indonesia and $8,000 flights to Switzerland.

By contrast, travel surveys show businesses are reducing costs by choosing more economical flights. At least one other government, Alberta, has shown more care with taxpayer dollars. For example, the Alberta environment minister and an aide spent $3,200 each to fly to Bali for a United Nations conference on climate change last year. The former federal environment minister, John Baird, took a $10,920 flight to the same conference. Three political aides and two bureaucrats joined him at similar rates. Total airfare was $61,000.

An excellent resource on the record of the Harper Conservatives

start [DokuWiki]

Canada may be the first industrialized country to fall into political
crisis as a result of the global economic recession. Could this crisis
involve the suspension of our democratic institutions?

So here's the story so far:

In the last parliament Harper was a bully, pushing around opposition parties and forcing them to support his agenda.

The Harper Government introduced a new culture of secrecy and
centralized control. No more press conferences, and Cabinet Ministers
are muzzled

Harper broke his own election law by calling the last election.

Attempted to bankrupt the opposition parties by introducing a motion to eliminate voter subsidies to political parties. Debate on Party Financing

Attempts to dehumanize Quebec sovereigntists. Debate on including the Bloc Quebecois in the coalition

Demonizes the opposition. Debate on the Ethics/Constitutionality of Coalition-Forming

In this light, perhaps proroguing Parliament should be viewed as a
dictatorship in function, since the PMO would remain in power and in
control of the Government while the opposition is shut out and
Parliament closed. Debate on the Ethics/Constitutionality of Prorogation

This may be the end of the Harper reign. The Conservatives want power
and as long as Harper could deliver, they supported him, even if it
meant biting their tongue about some of the more outrageous moves. But
he blew it - he misjudged the opposition and the troops will turn on
him just like they did to Kim Campbell when she blew it with the “face”
ads. Hatred is not a family value, but it characterizes a lot of
Conservative politics.

How does Stephen Harper respond to this global economic challenge? He locks the doors of Parliament so he can desperately cling to power.

"Today’s families have spoken loud and
clear – we need action on the economy right now. Action to create jobs,
to protect your pension and retirement, to build the green economy of
tomorrow. Stephen Harper didn’t act.

That’s why the
New Democrats have joined with the other opposition parties to put
forward an alternative government – a coalition for real change.

How
does Stephen Harper respond to this global economic challenge? He locks
the doors of Parliament so he can desperately cling to power.

Now
you and I can send a strong message to Stephen Harper. Change is coming
– and even Mr. Harper must respect the majority of Parliament and the
majority of Canadians." - Jack Layton