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.

The flame is coming!

Whoopdidoo, the Olympic Flame will be passing, NOT STOPPING, through the County as it travels along Hwy 2 to Hwy 28 and up to Peterborough, where it WILL STOP. So a message for all the local pols - cool it. There are so only many photo ops that can be fitted in and I'm sure you (the pols) will grabbing all of them. I can just see it now - all the female Mayors rushing off to the local Curves, and all the male Mayors buying new bikes. Good for them to improve their personal fitness but ending the purpose with a vain grab at a good photo op is a bit tacky. Still they have over a year to train for it. I think that the spaces allotted to the run should be applied for by the municipality and allocated by lot. The way it is at the moment is anyone who wants to run applies here and they, RBC, will get back to you. Nothing said about the process, but I am sure there will be some form of vetting.

A YouTube comment on the subprime crisis here the one below Britney Spears - click on the barely clad female by the truck (who has nothing to do with the video)

I think we should sue them!

After living through a financial meltdown , one which anyone over the age of sixty will never recover from, I think we should be suing our financial advisors. All of us little people who have squirreled away money and fallen for the charms of whatever financial institution we use have been told "Don't panic, every thing is cyclical, it will come back!". Well I disagree. Financial advisors should be telling investors, their clients, that there is a time to rescue capital. And that time has more than passed. Don't worry the big money did this weeks ago and now are sitting in cash or certificates. As usual the small investor has taken it on the chin so that the crooks can get away with our money. The thieves and fraud artists started this by rigging derivatives and hedge funds, giving themselves big bonuses and fat fees every time a grubby hand signed the useless paper on to the next stage of the con game, and they are still playing the game selling short and making money. Enough is enough - rant over

Pay this place a visit

Last night my better half and I were invited to a sneak preview of "Jamaica Flavah" ,this epicurean delight takes place each Friday from tonight on at the Human Bean - Cobourg's Coffee House. Dave and Sue Glover have invited a Jamaican couple, who live in Ajax to take over the kitchen on Fridays to make food all day. Starting with Lunch and finishing with Dinner. The menu staples will be traditional Jamaican food - Jerked Chicken and Chicken Rotis to start but other foods will be on tap such as Curried Goat. Takeouts will be available and pre-orders are being taken.

[OK enough about the ads what about the food? - Ed]

The food last night was delicious, plentiful and if we had paid for it would have been cheap. The meal in the pic is a small spinach salad trimmed with raspberries and beans, the Jerked Chicken is traditional in flavour and set off by a mild rice touched by a savoury sauce. The Roti contains curried potatoes and chicken wrapped in light roti bread. Wonderful.

So if you want a bit of Carribean flavour on a Friday come on down to the Human Bean and meet Denry and his wife Michelle. I would suggest that Dave get a special permit for Friday's - eating this food isn't right unless you can quaff "Red Stripe" at the same time.

What a surprise Bob Rae's in the race

OK it took a while but BR wants to be the leader of the Liberal Party. Nothing wrong with that but I do think he should not be in. He is too old to rejuvenate the party. We need generational change not just change. I don't beat up on him for switching parties, Winston Churchill did it three times, but I do begrudge him the chance because in his last appearance as leader (of the NDP) he proceeded to jettison the party platform and govern like a liberal when he wasn't. Perhaps this time when he is a Liberal and there is no discernible party policy he might actually make it work. In fact his readiness to adopt Keynsian economics in 1990 in the last recession should be seen as a plus. I guess it's OK to run deficits now (come back Floyd Laughren all is forgiven) but not when you are a dipper. After all how could anyone govern with a majority when 67% of the population didn't support you?