More Conservative Lies

Usually, when you're marginally qualified and abysmally incompetent at doing something, you don't go around publicizing it. For instance, Paris Hilton has appeared in B-movies such as House of Wax and Bottoms Up, but even she would scarcely call herself an actress. That's why it is amazing to me that Stephen Harper continues to refer to himself as an "economist". The man has been absolutely and unequivocally WRONG about every single opinion he's delivered on the state of the Canadian economy since last fall. So it was no big surprise today to find out that his January economic forecast was...wait for it...WRONG.

Canada's federal budget watchdog warned MPs yesterday that the worsening recession has rendered the Harper government's January economic forecasts obsolete, predicting Ottawa will slide $10-billion deeper into deficit over the next 24 months with near-record levels of red ink ahead.

Ouch. And that's coming from the guy who the Conservatives appointed to be the Parliamentary Budget Officer! The response was typically idiotic.

Conservative MP Mike Wallace said Mr. Page shouldn't have jumped to that conclusion and urged more focus on good news. “I believe part of the issue facing Canada and the world is we need some of the positive stuff.[...]I myself purchased two cars these past two weeks. I am doing my share."

What the fuck? How totally out of touch is this whackjob? Hey Mike, I'm sure your out-of-work pensionless constituents in Burlington will be plum fucking thrilled to hear that you just bought two new cars, you brainless douchebag. Hell, that kind of news alone might just fix our whole economy, dontcha think?

BONUS TRACK: MORE CONSERVATIVE "ACCOUNTABILITY"

On Wednesday [Page] told MPs that he's also having difficulty getting the federal Finance Department to provide him the raw financial data he needs for his analysis and forecasting.
Tory MPs defended withholding some documents, saying they've obtained a legal opinion that the confidentiality of Harper cabinet deliberations could be compromised by giving them to the office.

Harpama

"They really, at a basic level, have quite a bit in common," Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke told The Canadian Press, pointing out that both come from "outside the political establishment."

Obama is a young, charismatic, energetic and genuine young leader who has captured the imagination of his country and the world by embodying the virtues of reason, intellect and bipartisanship.

Harper is a fat, dorky, boring political opportunist who has failed to win a majority government despite non-existent opposition, stood in the way of international climate change initiatives, denied economic problems as late as last November, and displayed a hyper-partisan streak so pathological it nearly sank his own government.

Yeah, Kory, they're virtually twins.

And They're Back

After a remarkably short and relatively conciliatory Throne Speech, Deficit Steve laid down a prelude to tomorrow's budget announcement. The same ship of fools who in October were forecasting 5 years of surpluses (because who could possibly have predicted a looming recession?) are now confirming a big deficit. Although the Conservatives have been doing their very best to leak their entire budget before budget day, the devil will be in the details, and the details will be out tomorrow.

Iggy and Duceppe have indicated that they will wait until they see the fine print of the budget before deciding on whether or not it merits their support. If the tone of today's Throne Speech is any indicator, the budget will likely contain enough elements to placate Ignatieff. Personally, I think this is a smart move. The Conservatives will never offer a more conciliatory budget, the Liberals need time to heal and regrow the party, and if a deficit is inevitable, let Harper wear it himself.

And in a curious nod to his own political irrelevance, Jack Layton has already announced that he and the NDP will be voting against a budget they have not yet seen. Bravo.

After the downright "regal" inauguration of Obama, it was a little disheartening to see our parliament resume with Deficit Steve and his cadre of grossly incompetent ministers. But hey, at least they're working again.

Their Guy, Our Guy

'Nuff said.

That's "Senator" Partisan Hack To You

Congratulations to Jabba the Duff on finally coming out of the closet. It was always rather a poorly kept secret that Duffy was a Conservative hack in journalists' clothing, but at least now he'll be guaranteed an income till age 75 and a cushy pension thereafter.

But quite aside from Senator Duffy wallowing in pork that was heretofore utilized merely as a topping for his ample servings of poutine, there remains the blatantly obvious flip-floppery of der Führer Stephen Harper stuffing the Senate with 18 patronage appointments after staking a part of his political career on vowing to institute an elected upper chamber. I'm sure we'll hear all the usual Conservative propaganda about how you have to break it in order to fix it, or fix it in order to break it, or something like that. Some see Harper as a "pragmatist". I see him as a man so crazed by the prospect of losing power, that he will throw anyone and anything (including his own ideals) under the bus when the going gets tough. Like atheists, it would seem that there are no Reformers in a foxhole.

CPC Spin & Public Ignorance: The Chicken Or The Egg?

A few days ago, Steve V over at Far and Wide posted about the reality of seemingly overwhelming public disapproval of the coalition. In general, I agreed with most of what he had to say. But I couldn't escape the nagging feeling that public views on matters of government are largely shaped by knowledge about the way government is supposed to work. Today, some numbers have come out which confirm that, in general, Canadians are rather poorly informed about our system of government.

For example, results of the Ipsos Reid survey show 75 per cent of Canadians asked believe the prime minister, or the Governor General, is head of state.

It's a telling statistic, and I have to wonder how a misperception of our PM being the head of state may have influenced public acceptance of the legitimacy of the coalition.

All of which brings me to the point of my post. The Conservatives have been busy in recent weeks denouncing the coalition as "illegitimate" and "undemocratic". Harper himself has said:

"The opposition does not have the democratic right (to replace the Conservative government)...without your say, without your consent and without your vote"

This is of course a falsehood in our constitutional monarchy. So by repeating a lie, is Harper creating ignorance, or simply feeding off it?

In either case, I think a strong case can be made for mandatory civics classes in our elementary and secondary schools. As citizens of a democratic nation, we owe it to ourselves and to future generations to take our obligations as electors seriously. As Marc Chalifoux (president of the Dominion Institute) said:

"Canadians certainly were interested by what was going on in Ottawa, but lacked in many cases the basic knowledge to form informed opinions"

We Need Breathing Room!

And he got it.

Had the GG denied King Steve his prorogation, she would likely have angered many wingnuts, some of whom already see her position as a relic of the monarchy and wish to do away with it. And although her decision to continue with tradition and rubber-stamp the PM's request will assuage their fears, it actually lends some creedence to their views in a roundabout sort of way. Our system of government has operated with the implicit assumption that no Prime Minister would put the GG in the difficult position of having to rigorously interpret the constitution and actually utilize her royal prerogative in a meaningful way. Of course, Harper is a dick, and had no problem testing the will of the GG in order to save his own job. By acquiescing, Michaelle Jean has kept with tradition, but has unwittingly become complicit in Harper's political gamesmanship. And if the GG does not intervene at a time when the Prime Minister is attempting to misuse the constitution for his own political gain, then truly what function does she serve? In my opinion, her decision has set a dangerous precedent. Only time will tell.

Run For Your Lives, It's A Coup d'État!!

Sigh. Once again, the inveterate howler monkeys otherwise known as the Blogging Tories have managed to get their panties in a knot over the latest threat to democracy as we know it. A "coup d'état", they're calling it. A veritable overthrow of the Harper government by an opposition that has suddenly discovered its testicles.

Over at Crotch of the Matter, Sandy resurrects the moldy corpse of the sponsorship scandal, blames the mainstream media, and looks up the wikipedia definition of "coup d'état":

A coup d’état (pronounced /kuːdeɪˈtɑː/ AHD: [ko͞o"dā tä]), often simply called a coup, is the sudden unconstitutional overthrow of a government by a part — usually small — of the state establishment — usually the military — to replace the branch of the stricken government, either with another civil government or with a military government.

Pity that poor Sandy fails to read the definition that she herself posts, in particular the bit about a coup being "unconstitutional". Ah but there's that pesky Canadian constitution, which permits the opposition parties to do precisely what they are doing. Nevermind...the constitution is clearly Liberal-biased.

And then there's our old dependable hapless Dr. Roy. He who blogs without benefit of reason, original thought, or even a basic spell-checker. He who rants about ethics and crime, while proudly displaying his support for convicted criminal and fraudster Conrad Black.


It's hard to know what exactly Roy would have the Opposition parties do. On the one hand, he mocks the Liberals for their inaction during the last parliament. On the other, he cries "coup d'état" as soon as they oppose King Harper, and refers to them as "enemies" of the Conservatives. A real head-scratcher, that one.

The BT's concerned about an impending 'crisis' would do well to remember that this was entirely Harper's doing. As Howard Elliot wrote in the Spectator:

This country is facing recession. While we're in better shape than many jurisdictions, we can't escape the global slowdown. It's here, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. Harper acknowledged this general sentiment as recently as last weekend and said a deficit might be essential in the name of economic stimulation. But when he had a choice between responsible governance and partisan warfare, he chose the latter. That's a betrayal of public trust, plain and simple.

Harper "Appears" On Countdown With Keith Olbermann!

Funny little video of Keith Olbermann noticing that not all Junior Nitwits Tories are "standing up" for Canada.

Harper's "Ordinary" Canadians

Who are these people anyway? According to Harper, "ordinary" Canadians don't really care about arts and culture.

Harper dismissed mounting criticism of the cuts by calling it a "niche" issue that doesn't resonate with "ordinary" Canadians.

In his strongest statements to date over the cuts, Harper said regular Canadians see a "bunch of people, you know, at a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren't high enough, when they know those subsidies have actually gone up."

In a response, Justin Trudeau pointed out that the average salary in the arts industry is $23,000. Rich gala elites indeed.

"Ordinary" Canadians do want 14 year olds jailed for life and meaningless restrictions on house arrest sentencing. For critics of the latter, Harpo had this to say:

“That's who we're listening to, not people who work in ivory towers but people who actually work on the street and deal with crime on a day-to-day basis.”

Of course, those same people who "work on the street" also support the gun registry and the InSite clean needle program. But those folks are probably just closet ivory tower millionaires, so fuck them.

Stephen Harper: getting things done for Canadians, one culture war at a time.

Pushin' Out The Ritz

Here's the new Liberal attack ad, harshly criticizing |Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and the Conservative response to the listeriosis outbreak.

I can't say I'm a big fan of this particular spot. I've never liked negative advertising, although I suppose I understand the reason behind it in this particular case. There's been a lot made of Minister Ritz's insensitive remarks and off-colour joke about Wayne Easter, including a new video game. His comments were flat out stupid, no question. But in and of themselves, they were merely emblematic of a larger problem within the Harper government - that of a fundamental shift towards deregulation.

It's really the inevitable endpoint of continual tax cuts, which must be paid for in some manner. The Harper government has chosen to balance the books by axing, amongst other things, federal regulatory programs, betting that a shift of responsibility to the private sector (in the form of industry self-regulation) would go unnoticed by the public. We've seen this movie before, in Walkerton Ontario under the Harris government, and just recently south of the border. There is a heavy price to be paid for deregulation.

A recent editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) blasted the Conservative government for failing to adequately ensure the integrity of public health.

Harper has called an "independent investigation" into the listeriosis epidemic that has killed at 16 people. But the editors said that under the terms of reference:

• The investigator will not have the power to subpoena witnesses or documents.
• The investigation will not be public.
• There is no commitment to publishing the findings or reporting to Parliament.

Such flaws will make the investigation inferior compared to those that probed Canada's tainted blood scandal, the Walkerton tainted water crisis and the SARS epidemic. Those inquiries made governance and medical recommendations to better protect Canadians, the editorial said.

The Harper government's insistence on allowing private industries to regulate themselves is puzzling, to say the least. Conservatives will argue that industry has an inherent interest in promoting public safety. Crises such as the listeriosis outbreak, they say, will impact public confidence in Maple Leaf Foods and in turn lower profits. As Thomas Walkom points out:

Now, government inspectors in many areas – including meat – do little or no real inspecting. Instead, they rely on companies to monitor themselves and spend most of their time analyzing industry-compiled data.

It's what Harper calls a "joint effort."

The theory behind this is that firms have a long-term incentive to make consumers believe their food is safe.

Which, perhaps, they do. But they also have a powerful incentive to make short-term profits for their shareholders. At times, the two incentives can collide. What Gerry Ritz doesn't seem to understand is that when this happens, the results aren't funny.

It's 3am. The Phone Rings. It's Jason Kenney.

Well now that the campaign is on, the Conservatives have started continued doing what they've been doing all along - smearing the opposition with attack ads. Only today, they started early - 6am to be exact. The attempt, of course, was to "control" the media agenda by beating the other parties to the punch. Unfortunately for the CPC, the strategy backfired.

But Monday morning's unveiling of a new series of campaign ads attacking Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion received no live coverage on any of the major national television networks.

Instead, CBC Newsworld cut to the question-and-answer session after the announcement, when Conservative MPs Jason Kenney and Lawrence Cannon faced a series of tough questions.

The pair made no substantive policy announcements, choosing instead to target Mr. Dion and the main plank of his campaign platform, The Green Shift.

I find it more than a little odd that a party so rich and so adept at spin doctoring is also so catastrophically inept at organizing press conferences (anyone remember the infamous fire-escape exit after the RCMP raid?).

Meanwhile, Sweater-Vest Man was out here in Richmond, campaigning in someone's backyard. When asked by a reporter if he would stop in & out financing pending the investigation, he said something to the effect of "we will continue to follow election financing laws as they are currently interpreted and as they have been interpreted in the past". In other words "I'll keep breaking the law until someone's throws my ample ass in jail".

Finally, there's been some discussion over at Red Tory's about Dion's announcement today that, if elected, he would implement a full ban on all assault weapons. While I agree that this is hardly a susbstantive initiative one way or the other, and that Dion runs the risk of re-opening the Gun Registry debate, I would suggest that the real motive behind this announcement is to play into his ongoing attempt to frame this election as a choice between Harper's right wing agenda, and Dion's "kinder, gentler Canada". Forcing gun control onto the agenda will likely widen the urban-rural split, but will help to paint Harper as a Bush-ian extremist (as Dion has already been alluding to). Anyways, it's merely the opening salvo in what promises to be a long campaign on all sides.

Harper's "Fixed" Election

So now it's all but done. Prime Minister Tubby Lardass will take his smarmy, shit-eating grin to the Governor General this weekend and break his own fixed election date law, a fitting end to his miserable lie-filled governance.

Rex Murphy had to this to say about Harper's latest charade:

It's one thing to take politicians promises with a grain of salt. Mr. Harper is proposing a much sturdier challenge: how to believe them when they take a promise and make it the law of the land, and then ignore it, nullify it, bury that law, just because it suits them.

So the Conservatives will be taking us into another election, running on a record of broken promises, indifference to climate change, stewardship of a declining economy, and possible violations of election financing laws. And, according to the latest polls, this may be good enough to win. Hooray for Canada!

Tories Kill Unborn Private Member's Bill

Fetus fetishists have to be doubly disappointed today. Not only did Dear Leader turn his back on the cause of fetal rights, he did so by aborting a defenseless unborn private member's bill.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced Monday that the government will draft a new bill to replace Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Act, so that it closes the debate about fetal rights and focuses instead on penalizing criminals who harm pregnant women.

So the door is closed on fetal rights. But what about the rights of unborn bills? Who speaks for them? C-484 was well into its 3rd trimester (having passed second reading this spring), which would technically make this a late term abortion. Only a ruthless hypocrite like Stephen Harper could so mercilessly trample on his 'base' by simultaneously robbing fetuses and unborn bills of their God-given right to life. For shame.

Maybe Zimbabwe Can Monitor Our Next Elections?

According to Emperor Harper, things are just so rotten with Elections Canada, that our own government was today unable to support a motion expressing confidence in the institution. In case it needs clarifying, the Conservatives are rapidly becoming a daily joke.
Nevermind the fact that a motion in support of a Canadian federal institution was initiated by the separatist Bloc Quebecois - bizarre in and of itself. What does it say about the petty vindictiveness and arrogance of the CPC when they declare they don't have confidence in the very body that certified their own election to government?

Ignatieff noted other parties have had their share of disputes with Elections Canada over the years and acknowledged that the agency is "not infallible." Nevertheless, he said it deserves to be respected and supported and he called the Conservatives' refusal to do so "shameful" and "dangerous."
"They are the anchor of our democracy," Ignatieff said. Harper responded by saying his party has "followed all the laws" and guidelines "that have been used for years, allowed by Elections Canada, and used by every single party."

Uh huh. So, let me get this straight. The Conservatives have no confidence in Elections Canada. In fact, they're taking them to court. Yet their defense for the In & Out scandal is that they did nothing wrong, because they followed all of the rules used by Elections Canada - the institution in which they have no confidence. I'm sure it all makes perfect sense in the magical mystery world of Stephen Harper, the Patron Saint of Perpetual Victimization.

Update: Today's Dr. Roy-ism is - wait for it - "Coonfidence", a term likely to offend everyone from English professors to Jesse Jackson.

Harper Wants Make-Up Sex With Senators

Regardless what you think of Liberal Dan McTeague's private member's bill and its financial implications, you have to love the delicious irony of watching Stephen Harper and his merry band of bombastic anti-Senate buffoons now grovelling before that very same chamber.

After years of griping endlessly about the Senate blocking bills, Harpo is beseeching that group of 'obstructionist, unaccountable, partisan hacks' to....BLOCK McTEAGUE'S BILL!

If the humor of the situation is lost on the CPC rank & file (and given their general stupidity, I think it's safe to assume it is), it is abundantly clear to Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette:

“I'm waiting for the dozen roses and a little word of apology for not appreciating the good work that's being done”

The Harper Conservatives: Enemies of Science

An editorial in the international journal Nature has called the Harper Conservatives "dismal" when it comes to recognizing the role of science in Canada.

Reprinted from Nature 451, 866:21 February 2008

Concerns can only be enhanced by the government's manifest disregard for science. Since prime minister Stephen Harper came to power, his government has been sceptical of the science on climate change and has backed away from Canada's Kyoto commitment. In January, it muzzled Environment Canada's scientists, ordering them to route all media enquires through Ottawa to control the agency's media message. Last week, the prime minister and members of the cabinet failed to attend a ceremony to honour the Canadian scientists who contributed to the international climate-change report that won a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Harper sees himself as the leader of a 'global energy powerhouse' and is committing Canada to a fossil-fuel economy. More than 40 companies have a stake in mining and upgrading the bitumen from the oil sands
in Alberta and churning out 1.2 million barrels a day. This activity generates three times as much greenhouse gas as conventional oil drilling. Emissions from Canada's oil and gas industry have risen by 42% since 1990.

Confirmation of CPC disregard for science was reinforced earlier this week in a Lancet article published by B.C. physician Dr. Julio Montaner and his colleagues. In it, Health Minister Tony Clement was lambasted for ignoring nearly 2 dozen peer-reviewed scientific articles on the efficacy of the INSITE safe injection program for intravenous drug addicts in favour of a single critique in an online journal funded by a lobby group (Drug Free America Foundation) and the RCMP. Over at Liberal Arts & Minds, KNB has written a terrific blog about this, and I encourage you to surf on over and have a read.

In any case, none of this should come as a surprise to Canadians. But it should be a profound embarassment to the Conservative Party, which has chosen to populate itself with a bunch of regressive ideologues, some of whom believe that man and dinosaur once co-existed like the Flintstones. Willllmaaaaaaa!!!!

Revolving Doors

At this stage of the game, it should hardly come as a surprise that the Harper government is talking a big game about "changing the way things are done in Ottawa", but actually doing nothing of the sort. The latest insult to our collective intelligence comes in the form of Kory Teneycke, a former industrial lobbyist who has just been hired by the Conservative caucus.


Directly from the CPC website:

I guess check-mark #4 is more CPC bullshit in action. As noted by the Harper Index, the revolving door between lobbyists and the Conservative Party continues to spin wildly. According to an article in the Star:

Kory Teneycke, the former executive director of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, was hired this fall to lead the Conservative research bureau, which prepares talking points for Tory MPs and digs up dirt on the opposition.
...The latest in a long list of examples includes a senior member of Environment Minister John Baird's staff and a member of Public Works Minister Michael Fortier's staff, who both recently left to work as lobbyists in Ottawa.
...Teneycke contributed $1,000 each to five different Tory candidates – all successful – in the final week of the 2006 election campaign, according to Elections Canada records. Among the recipients was MP Gerry Ritz, now the federal agriculture minister and the man responsible for fostering Canada's biofuels industry.

Oh, and apparently he's a "pal" of Stephen Taylor's. Anyways, I don't particularly give a rat's ass about Teneycke himself. After all, as I'm sure the BT's will be quick to point out...but, but, but, the Liberals did it too!!! Boo, hoo, hoo, hooooo....
The point, however, is that when Harper goes through the trouble of making a fancy little check mark on his party website and traipses around crowing about cleaning up lobbyist/politician relationships, he might reasonably be expected to do as he says. Or not.

Weekend Musings

I know it's been done to death on countless Liblogs, but I feel I would be remiss not to mention my delight at watching Harpo twist and turn and eventually call an "independent review" on his old buddy Lyin' Brian Mulroney. Pressure from the opposition? An attempt to deflect attention away from Dion's poverty plan? Worry about his own name being linked to Karlheinz Schreiber and his sordid dealings? Who knows. But it's funny that an exercise that was just last week dismissed as "dangerous" is now crucial to "protect the office of the Prime Minister". When the spineless turn on the shameless, it's always good for a few laughs.

And does anyone actually believe the latest steaming pile of crap to come out of the Perv's mouth? According to an article in the G&M, "Pakistan Will End Emergency Rule In One Month". Uh huh. And if you buy that, I have a bridge in New York I'd like to sell you. The tinpot Pakistani dictator-in-chief suspended all pretense of democracy (which has never actually existed) in his country last week on the grounds that he wanted to round up Islamic terrorists. So far, the only people he's tossed in jail have been Supreme Court justices, lawyers, political opponents and human rights activists. And yet, the US taps continue to flow to the tune of billions of dollars a year. Spreading democracy, one brutal dictatorship at a time.

UPDATE: Anyone still interested in that bridge in New York? The Perv has confirmed that martial law will not end in one month, as announced yesterday. Apparently, the poor man found himself between a rock and a "hard surface".

Of Jellybeans and Statesmanship

So I succumbed and decided to watch the closing comments of the leaders at the Montebello Summit. And, as I knew he would, Stephen Harper didn't fail to disappoint. If anything, he's consistent.

When all three leaders were asked by a reporter at Fox News to address the concerns of SPP critics about a progressive loss of sovereignty, George W. Bush and Felipe Calderon spoke at length in vague generalities and empty platitudes about the benefits of partnerships and strategic alliances. You know, the usual leader-speak.

But our own Dear Leader took the opportunity to deride the Opposition in public, and he did so in both English and in French. Apparently, the CEO of a jellybean manufacturer complained to him that regulations for the production of jellybeans differed in Canada, the USA an Mexico. Asked Harper, "Does the standardization of jellybeans pose a threat to our sovereignty? Maybe Mr. Dion thinks so...".

That the increasingly rotund Harper would choose junk food as the launching point for his partisan attack was mildly amusing. But watching our portly PM conduct himself in this manner, I wondered why he has such a strong affinity for the low road. The airing of domestic political squabbles on an international stage is an embarassing act of petty vindictiveness. Harper should be ashamed of himself. But he won't be.