What's in it for the Bloc?

As critics have pointed out the Bloc are considered to be traitors to the cause of Canada because their 'raison d'etre' is Quebec's independence. But that is not all they want as political goals. It stands for progressive (read left leaning) policies. In all of the debates I have seen Duceppe has hammered both the Libs and Cons for the mess that the EI system is in - only 30% of those paying in ever qualify, fund is in surplus yet benefits have been cut, differing qualifying rules for different regions and the list goes on. He wants to reform that for Quebecers not for an independent state that could not afford its own EI. He stands for workers' rights. On the whole the Bloc is against most of the Tory positions. Calling them traitors may be semantically correct but practically wrong at this time.

So in signing a timed contract will be a restraint on the Bloc because the Quebecers will not forgive anybody who makes the situation worse.

I am an optimist!

The PR campaign has started

As noted before an intensive PR campaign about the possibility of a new government has started in earnest. All Tory MPs received an email from Guy Guiorno, the PM's Chief of Staff story and copy here. In the meantime the other side has started, I received an email from a local chap who will remain nameless asking all interested parties to email the Governor-General:

Hi.

I have written to the Governor General, asking her to appoint a coalition government if the current Conservative government falls. Canadians do not need the obscenity of another $300 million dollar expenditure on another federal election at this time. My view is that Prime Minister Stephen Harper must learn to work cooperatively with other political leaders and parties, or step aside in the most effective and expedient manner possible.

If the current government cannot sustain the confidence of the House, less than two months after we last cast our ballots, then a coalition government is clearly the only viable option at this time.

Please consider sending your own letter to the Governor General. She can be reached at info@gg.ca.

The welfare of Canada is at stake

Thank you.

XXXXX

Now the latest news is that the public funding of political parties is to be taken from the Economic Statement and a speech outlining the new "economic stimulus package" will be delivered in Toronto, by Mr Flaherty this afternoon. So by tomorrow cooler heads will have prevailed. But somehow I doubt it - all the Tory blabbermouths - the Talk Radio shows start at 6am. Be prepared for an onslaught of outraged and righteous microphoneheads, (John Oakley, Bill Carroll, Mike Stafford to name a few) just waiting to boost ratings and whip up the usual "hard-working Canadians"!

What's on the Cobourg Council agenda tomorrow?

The agenda is posted here and a couple of items of worthy note stick out:

• The LCBO is dead in the water for downtown. An application for rezoning at the Linmac plaza - Pizza Hut area is in the works. Proposed use - a LCBO store. The interesting thing is will it be built in the green space next to the paved area or will they build in the parking lot. Just think the bums who drink on park benches [do we have any - ed?] will only have ten paces to walk to get a refill!
• The ongoing dispute about the Town's building that the Lion's Club leases is still raging. The LC wants the Town to pay for HVAC repairs and the Town thinks it is the responsibility of the lessee. I wonder what would happen if the Lions said "Up yours" and moved to another building. The Town would have fix the HVAC then, wouldn't they?

So who's trying to change the rules now?

The Prime Minister is pulling out all the stops to cling to power in the face of a constitutional crisis. In an email to all of his MP's he ordered them to communicate the message that the proposed coalition is a power grab and:

"Friday, Stephen Harper articulated the general theme of the e-mail, stating that while the Opposition has the right to bring down the government on matters of confidence, he said they had no right to "take power without an election." Globe & Mail full story here

My position is simple - if the government loses the confidence of the house, the opposition, no matter who they, are should have the option of forming a government. That is not a power grab just the normal constitutional way of doing things. If Mr Harper wants to remain in power he has to govern and keep the confidence of the house.

It sure looks like a long weekend for some folks in Ottawa

As we sit here listening to the radio and looking at the latest internet updates on the situation in Ottawa it seems that as the National Post's Kelly McParland observes "Somebody has thawed out old pols (Broadbent and Chretien) to discuss coalition government and to decide on a new Prime Minister." Paraphrasing was done by me!

All of this has been prompted by the Weasel's move to include the removal of public financing for political parties and the lack of a stimulus package in a motion to be voted on, on Monday. But as of 30 seconds ago, when I last checked the best blogger from Ottawa - Kady O'Malley ( she actually gets paid to 'liveblog' parliamentary affairs) is saying that the motion is going to be split. But the opposition is still saying they will vote against it on Monday. In fact they will be voting on a motion:

“In light of the government’s failure to recognize the seriousness of Canada’s economic situation and its failure in particular to present any credible plan to stimulate the Canadian economy and to help workers and businesses in hard-pressed sectors such as manufacturing, the automotive industry and forestry, this House has lost confidence in this government and is of the opinion that a viable alternative government can be formed within the present House of Commons.”

So fun and games on Monday means lots of strategic planning over the weekend.

Who will be the lucky Eighteen?

More on the Olympic Torch Run. Runners will be carrying the torch for 500 metres. That means that eighteen carriers will transport the torch the nine Kms from Oliver Rd. in the East to Loveshin Rd. in the West. So who will be amongst the lucky eighteen? This story merits a continual look. Will politicians jump to the front of the line? For more details here is a snippet of the story in the Globe & Mail written by Dave McGinn:

As part of the application process, RBC's campaign is asking people to make a personal pledge to "create a better Canada," whether by organizing a community cleanup or using fewer shopping bags. Coca-Cola will be selecting 1,000 teenagers who participate in a physical activity campaign called Sogo Active to run in the relay. The rest of Coke's spots will be allocated by lottery to people committed to living by the motto "live active, live green," says Nicola Kettlitz, general manager of Coca-Cola's Olympic Project Team. The relay's two corporate sponsors, RBC and Coca-Cola, each have 4,500 torchbearer positions for the 45,000-kilometre, 106-day journey. The remaining 3,000 spots will be doled out by the Vancouver Organizing Committee.

So there it is folks "live active, live clean" and be selected by lottery. That looks as though local pols will have to take their place in line just like everybody else - we shall see!

Some MSM reaction to the public funding cut

The Globe & Mail's Adam Radwanski has a thoughtful ( I think so, some others think it is stupid) piece here about the cut to public funding of political parties. One of our readers has a comment about it in entry below, and my position hasn't changed - we should finance political parties! I pulled a comment from Adam's comments as it sums up my position very well.

Some posters conveniently ignore a key point by Radwanski - "To scrap public funding without lifting the ban on corporate and union donations (and raising the cap on personal ones) means there's simply not enough money in this country for a multi-party system." That was the trade-off with the public subsidy program. And, as Jean-Pierre Kingsley the Chief Electoral Officer of the time pointed out, the system was reformed to "enhance the value of equality in the political and election processes. Specifically, the potential for large contributions [corporations, unions, etc.]to confer influence, or the public perception thereof, will be addressed."

Well said

The Weasel's at it again

We have as a Prime Minister a man who appears to be absolutely unable of being capable of getting along and is congenitally presupposed to act as the "bully-boy" at every turn. This latest example of "getting along" is just despicable.

As Canadians have demonstrated, not once but twice, Mr Harper has not gained the their full trust. It appeared, for about five minutes, that he had changed and was making conciliatory moves to Parliament. But yesterday it became obvious that the mean streak that Mr Harper possesses emerged.

In today's Financial Statement there will be, as reported but not confirmed, a move to eliminate public funding for political parties. For every vote received in a general election each of the recognised parties receives $1.75. Now this provision of the Act is to be eliminated.

It is predicted that the other parties are furious and might vote against it. However a much more exciting idea has re-emerged - the three opposition parties should form a coalition and take on a unity government. A great idea!

OK you be the judge

With 3800 contested ballots in the Minnesota senatorial race it will come down to an interpretation of voter intent. At the moment the gap between Norm Coleman (Rep) and Al Franken (Dem) is about 200 votes. So the 3800 contested ballots become very important. Take a look here and see what you would say about who voted for whom.

So let's talk about organics

Since 1995 (or thereabouts) when the former King of Hope Twp - Sir Ian Molsen Angus - cut the crap out of the County budget composting hasn't had a chance. When the County expropriated? (bought over landowners' objections) the land that the that Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) sits on in Grafton and designed a properly designed total waste recovery system Composting was to be an integral part of it. That empty space of land to the West of the big building was to have sited many rows of trommels and compost piles. But in his zeal to eliminate everything that made sense King Ian led the way to chop the composting facility from the plan, I think it saved about 1.5 million at the time. Penny wise and Pound foolish! We have been playing catchup ever since. Not only have we failed to divert 40% of the waste from the landfill but the cost of that unneccesary use of landfill has cost us money in lost opportunity costs, as landfill space gets more expensive with each load dumped.

Now the County's expert, who's last job was being cozy with incineration friendly operations, wants us to put off the idea again. Citing costs was his reason. Well I have some opinion for you - the cost of the next recommendation, which will be a multi-municipality incineration operation will be much more costly both in dollars and damage to the environment. So do we compost now or burn everything later, that unsaid debate will be a long and nasty one.