Bailing Out

Jim Arnett, appointed only 3 weeks ago as special auto industry advisor to Stephen Harper and Dalton McGuinty, has quit his job. Although he will continue to work with McGuinty, he appears to have had irreconcilable differences with the Harper Conservatives over the plan for restructuring the auto industry.

Federal insiders said yesterday the Conservative government never really saw eye-to-eye with Arnett on what needed to be done, and Ottawa has no immediate plans to look for a successor.

That sounds pretty bad. This sounds even worse:

Instead, Ottawa will rely on internal advice on how GM, Chrysler and Ford can be made more competitive.

Fantastic. Hopefully, these advisors will be as productive and credible as other giants of Conservative "internal advice":

Wajid Khan: Harper's former special advisor on mid-east affairs. Khan's report on the middle east was so top-secret it was never released to the public, and so influential that Stephen Harper was single-handedly able to use it to bring lasting peace to Arabs and Jews. Khan worked all of these miracles while possibly only violating Elections Canada spending laws to the tune of $30, 000, which most Canadians considered a bargain.

Jim Prentice, Lisa Raitt, John Baird: Together, these three intellectual superstars comprise Harper's environment & energy committee. Just like Obama's energy czar Steven Chu (who won a Nobel Prize in Physics and is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), this team's scientific credentials speak for themselves. Prentice is a lawyer who specializes in physical property rights and served as director of the Calgary Winter Club. Raitt is a lawyer who was the former CEO of the Toronto Port Authority. And Baird has a Bachelor of Arts from Queen's and has been a vegetarian since 1997. Toss in Rona Ambrose, and you have a true scientific powerhouse that has helped to make Canada the envy of the world when it comes to action on the environment.

With internal advisors like this, I have no doubt that Canada's New Government can guarantee the automakers a rosy future, just as Jim Flaherty projected bugdet surpluses for the next five years. And we all know how that turned out.

Al Gore Denounces Baird's Enviro-Sham

Well, Al Gore has (once again) declared that the Conservatives are blowing a lot of hot air when it comes to the environment. At a screening of An Inconvenient Truth, he called Baird's plan a "fraud". You can read about it here. Wonder how Baird will try to misrepresent Gore's comments this time around.


On a related matter, noted environmental expert and climatologist Glenn Beck is promoting his own retort to the whole climate change debate, a piece called "Exposed: The Climate of Fear" to be aired on May 2nd on Headline Prime.

For the uninitiated, Beck is a conservative American radio and television personality - a species related to Nancy Grace, Rush Limbaugh etc.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm all for serious, rational scientific debate on any issue. But Beck has a track record of being neither serious nor rational nor scientific. Want some examples?

Here's Beck's comment on Al Gore and his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, aired on his national radio programme on June 7, 2006:

"See, when you take a little bit of truth and then you mix it with untruth, or your theory, that's where you get people to believe. You know? It's like Hitler. Hitler said a little bit of truth, and then he mixed in "and it's the Jews' fault." "

Want some more? On June 14/06 Beck provided his analysis of Gore's assertion that global warming could cause Shanghai to become submerged:

"This is what would happen to Shanghai. Does anybody really care? I mean, come on. Shanghai is under water. Oh, no! Who's gonna make those little umbrellas for those tropical drinks?"

I suppose this puts Minister Baird in a bit of a pickle. I mean if Al Gore is like Hitler, should Baird be disappointed or pleased that Gore thinks his plan is a "fraud"?

Baird Doubles Personal CO2 Emissions Trying to Defend Enviro-Plan

1. As expected, the Conservative environmental plan has come under heavy attack from virtually all corners. Well, all except for big industry. John Baird found himself at odds with David Suzuki, Dalton McGuinty and others at an event designed to promote the "plan".

Some reactions:

"This plan is a terrible disappointment to me. No, I would say it's more than that. It's a sham..."

-David Suzuki

"It falls short of Canadian expectations."

-Dalton McGuinty

"They should go back and take the pulse of public opinion a little more carefully and come back with a better plan"

-Julia Langer, World Wildlife Fund Canada

After playing the blame game and passing the buck for a few minutes, Minister Baird 'turned the corner' and disappeared.

2. Can anyone in the Conservative government give a straight answer regarding the status of detainees in Afghanistan?? Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor was muzzled yesterday, and didn't even bother to show up to question period today. Just as well...he hasn't been able to string 2 sentences together lately without contradicting himself. Meanwhile, Stockboy Day has been floundering along and accusing opposition MPs of questioning the integrity of our troops and sympathizing with the Taliban. Disgusting behaviour from a group of colossal incompetents.

3. On a lighter note, the Raptors lost badly to the New Jersey Carters tonight. Watching Vince play like he actually cared was a novelty, and a bit tough to take. Anyways, this thing isn't over by a longshot, but the next game is kind of a 'must-win' for the boys, who can't afford to come back home down 3-1. Go Raps Go!