This Week In Politics (according to me)

My friends, in my 29 years on this earth and this country the stupidity that goes on in government has never ceased to amaze me. Political intrigue in Canada? Please, all we have in Canada is political bickering.

Take for example of yesterday: The federal Liberals we finally able to say that they were over the sponsorship scandal because they had retaken the lead in polls in Quebec for the first time since 2004. On the tail of that announcement the PQ announced that they had discovered a new “sponsorship scandal” at the provincial level claiming that the provincial Liberals had used funds that were supposed to be distributed in the Saguenay for economic development and funneled it down to companies in Montreal owned by Liberal party members. This isn’t even a political game or an attempt at character assassination, this is just good detective work by the PQ and a big let down by the Charest government.

If the PQ is indeed right, this would be devastating for Jean Charest and his federalist party. If the PQ is right, it might be exactly what the separatists have been waiting for to be able to tip the scales in their favor. Even if it’s only 8million dollars and it basically means nothing on a provincial budgetary level, it’s 8million TAXPAYER dollars that weren’t allocated where they should have been... and that ladies and gentlemen will be enough to sink the Liberals.

On a federal level, the Conservatives are saying that Canada has measures in place to counter the possible pandemic of swine flu. This is the same government that told us late last year (when the whole world was panicking about money) that the economy was fine and would be fine for a long time. Sure, now they’ve revised their stance and have taken action, but as with the economy, I fear that we are going to have to wait until imminent infection is upon us before the government revises its “everything will be okay, trust us okay?” stance that they’ve so far taken.

Then there's crazy Elizabeth May, whom I used to be a fan of, but now is more like a soap box carrying crazy cat-lady (no offense to cat-ladies) who preaches to whomever is willing to hear it that Harper is trying to buy votes in Quebec.

And what about "Jumping" Jack Layton? Where has my favorite sandal wearing MP been recently? I haven’t seen him on the news or read about him or his party in a long long time. Maybe he’s taking time off to grow a goatee or buy new sandals? If anyone knows I’d love to hear it.

Forget Iggy and Jack and Steve and Lizzy, I’ve got bigger fish to fry... I’m still trying to figure out what I can do to have the utterly racist book “Anglaid” removed from the shelves and banned from sales anywhere in Canada. If a book like this had been written about any other race or culture the entire country would be up in arms about it. But since it’s only about English folks in Quebec no one seems to give a damn.

Muchacho Enfermo

The Government?!

So I was looking at my stats today, as I usually do every few days and I noticed that this is the 3rd or 4th time that I get a hit from gc.ca about this post... If it really and truly is the Government of Canada, I'd love some comments on this post from them!

Muchacho Enfermo

Could NHL coach lead us out of recession?

Last week the Montreal Canadiens, the winningest franchise in all of pro sports, was in a slump having lost game after game, nothing was going right. The goaltending was dodgy at best, the scoring was abysmal and the defense was virtually invisible. Then the coach, Guy "Carbo" Carbonneau, decides that he's forcing his big star Alexei Kovalev to take a few days off to rest and reflect on his poor play. Since Kovalev's return from his "time off" Carbo has reunited his old top line, placed the number two goaltender in net and GM Bob Gainey has added a veteran defenseman to the lineup. And up until tonight, the Canadiens had been unstoppable.

Which leads me to my question: could we do the same thing with our government? And would it work? Seriously... think about it.

Ask Harper (playing the role of Kovalev) to take a few days off to contemplate how he's screwing the country with his slush fund and his pompous attitude. Then ask Ignatieff what he would do differently (he'd play the role of backup goaltender) and ask him how he would stop the hemorrhage. Then, just to add a veteran to the mix, bring on an oldie like Tobin or Jean Chretien to advise on how to handle the crisis.

I'm not saying this is the ultimate answer, but the slush fund seems to be something that is foolish at best. The opposition seem, for the most part, to be against it and right now, the opposition represents the majority of Canadians. And an old warhorse should be brought in to advise both the current leadership and the opposition leadership. To bridge the gap in policy and to prevent the now imminent fighting that will ensue after the Tories start their attack adds.

In my opinion, a government that seems to put a lot more planning into attacking the opposition than it does in planning a 3 billion dollar emergency fund should take a serious step back, take a long hard look at themselves and say: what is our priority in leading this country? Is it staying in power through slander or through earning the trust and respect of Canadians.

Kovalev did just that. He looked at himself in the mirror and decided that he would step up and play the way he should. He admitted that this was the best thing for him even if, at first, he was unhappy with it.

Maybe if the Conservatives did the same, they'd come to similar conclusions.

Muchacho Enfermo

Ottawa is delaying our right to access information

A tiny little article appeared in today's Globe and Mail, it was an article that talked about how "The Harper Conservatives now routinely delay requests for government documents – a right of Canadians under the law – well beyond the 30 days that the Access to Information Act requires." (a quote from the article)

I find this story somewhat alarming, as Canadians we have a right to hold our government accountable, we have a right to see what decisions are made on our behalf and we have a right to obtain this information within 30 days of having sent a request through registered mail.

Why aren't we obtaining our information and why people aren't speaking up about it just boggles my mind... I knew the previous Liberal government wasn't the greatest in this department, but they weren't staling, ignoring or delaying any requests beyond a reasonable period.

According to our Information Commissioner Robert Marleau speaking of a report he presented to parliament “I do believe that its results provide a grim picture of the federal government's access to information regime.”

Is this a sign of more to come under the current leadership?

Muchacho Enfermo

Why don't we bail out Nortel?

When Stephen Harper and Dalton McGuinty announced they would follow suit with the US and hand over a 4 billion dollar bailout package to the big 3, a large portion of the population was supportive of the move.

Checking the website of the CAW (Canadian Auto Workers union) it clearly shows that 13% of their 250,000 members work directly for major auto companies. That means 32,500 people are employed by ALL major automakers that have plants in Canada, not just the big three. In addition the two of the big three have posted tremendous loses in the last 4 years. GM has lost 73 billion dollars since 2004 and Ford lost 12.7 billion dollars in 2006 alone.

That just goes to show a serious lack in the management of these companies even in times of economic boom. But we still gave them 4 billion of our tax dollars.

Nortel on the other hand still employs about 32,500 people (only about 6500 in Canada though) and compared to Ford and GM Nortel actually made money in 2006.

I'm not saying Nortel is an amazing company with and excellent business model but I'm saying that people are quick to judge and remember how much money Nortel cost a lot of in the stock market. A poll in the Globe and Mailshowed that 88% of respondents didn't think that Ottawa should bail out Nortel.

If the government wants to give money to companies with ailing business strategies that are years past their prime like GM and Ford why not give at least a little money to Nortel? The deserve it just as much as those wonderful people in the big 3. Maybe if the employees of Nortel had a huge union behind them it would be a little different who knows?

I just know that thousands of Canadians will lose their job and that a government that was so quick to help the auto-industry seems to want nothing to do with the tech sector.

Muchacho Enfermo

Brazeau picks the Senate

It was reported in the Globe and Mail that Patrick Brazeau has picked his recently offered senator job over his previous job as National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginals People.

Originally he had planned to hold down both jobs, each job had a salary of over 100,000$ per year. Many people both on the Native side and on the non-Native side thought that he would be in clear conflict of interest. On one side he would be expected to lobby for Native issues to the government, on the other side he would be part of the very government he would be lobbying to.

Mr Brazeau is currently facing sexual harassment charges filed by former employees. A few people within the Congress of Aboriginals People are also calling for him to step down from his senate job because of these allegations.

In the end the 34 year old chose the job with the better salary and where he has the endorsement of Stephen Harper.
Wouldn't you?

For more on this issue please read a more in depth analysis on The Nexus of Assholery.

Muchacho Enfermo