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Post by Skilly on May 18, 2011 19:20:09 GMT -5
Ok, who had 16 days in the pool .... that's how long it took for Harper to slap the face of the Canadian voters and shun the parliamentary process once more ... ... a PM who promised an elected Senate, a more democratic Senate, appoints 3 people who were defeated in the general election, one who quit the Senate to run. Basically telling the voters they were wrong ... ... it will never be proven, but if the PM promised Fabian Manning that if he was defeated he would get his Senate seat back, then that is illegal. "I had a choice. I could have stayed in the Senate and gone on with a lifestyle that wouldn't necessarily have me up every day working on behalf the people. I chose not to," said Manning, when he announced he was leaving the Senate on March 28.It was an easy choice, if the PM laid the grandest of social safety nets at your feet ... and it is nice to see you now chose to continue not working on behalf of the people  I should keep a thread to record all the undemocratic practices the Grand Pooba performs now that he has nothing to keep him in check ... |
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Post by CentreHice on May 18, 2011 20:02:19 GMT -5
Not only that, Skilly, but Manning was first appointed to the Senate after being defeated in the 2008 election! That's makes twice a loser....twice a winner. Larry Smith had also quit the Senate this year to run as a Conservative candidate.....also lost...and was also reappointed. The other loser/winner, Josee Verner, was a former Tory cabinet minister. Harper calls them "outstanding Canadians". He's right to a point...all 3 were left out standing in the dark on May 2. But not for long. National PostI think you could be right, Skilly, re: it's only the beginning. We shall see. |
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Post by franko on May 18, 2011 20:18:24 GMT -5
*shakes head* what was the guy thinking?
I think HA, BC, and CO [the letter guys] should have been appointed.
trying to find something positive out of this: OK, Mr. Harper, you have four years to use this Senate to do what you said you'd do. you've stacked the Senate, now change it!
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Post by CentreHice on May 18, 2011 20:41:02 GMT -5
It's gonna be 4 years. So let's keep tabs on all the good, bad, and ugly things that occur. First off, we have the post from Skilly that I've moved here....along with mine and franko's. Don't forget to mention all the good stuff, too.  |
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Post by Skilly on May 18, 2011 21:34:55 GMT -5
Not only that, Skilly, but Manning was first appointed to the Senate after being defeated in the 2008 election! That's makes twice a loser....twice a winner. Larry Smith had also quit the Senate this year to run as a Conservative candidate.....also lost...and was also reappointed. The other loser/winner, Josee Verner, was a former Tory cabinet minister. Harper calls them "outstanding Canadians". He's right to a point...all 3 were left out standing in the dark on May 2. But not for long. National PostI think you could be right, Skilly, re: it's only the beginning. We shall see. And let's not forget re-appointing Bernier to the cabinet .... I hope CSIS is keeping tabs on his girlfriends this time. |
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Post by franko on May 19, 2011 5:56:01 GMT -5
I hope he keeps tabs on his girlfriends this time . . . and that he doesn't let his little head do his thinking for him again.
oh, and CH: it's more likely to be 6-8 years. can't see the Liberals making an immediate strong resurgence, and I can't see the NDP doing as well in Quebec next time. then again, Harper does have four years to alienate more people. starting strong, no?
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Post by Cranky on May 19, 2011 10:51:58 GMT -5
I called my friends at the Conservative party and they in turn called CSIS. Don't be surprised if some of you get a knock on your door in the middle of the night! That's right, my middle name is Judas.  BTW...in the middle of the waterboarding session, do NOT lie to them. If they ask if you wear briefs or boxers, for God's sake, answer the truth because they have ways of finding out. |
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Post by Skilly on May 19, 2011 18:48:02 GMT -5
I called my friends at the Conservative party and they in turn called CSIS. Don't be surprised if some of you get a knock on your door in the middle of the night! That's right, my middle name is Judas. BTW...in the middle of the waterboarding session, do NOT lie to them. If they ask if you wear briefs or boxers, for God's sake, answer the truth because they have ways of finding out. As long as they don't eat my babies ..  |
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Post by Skilly on May 30, 2011 6:37:17 GMT -5
This is just too funny/sad/foolish (pick your adjective) not to post ....
PC candidate's privates appear on Twitter
Rookie PC candidate George Lepp says he’s embarrassed that a photo of his family jewels was posted on his campaign Twitter account for about 20 minutes before it was quickly unzipped.
Alan Sakach, communications director for the Ontario Conservatives, said the photo was inadvertently taken by Lepp’s BlackBerry when it was in his front pocket. The photo was posted after someone took it from the candidate for the riding of Niagara Falls, according to Sakach.
“He is pretty upset and embarrassed,” Sakach said of a photo that was posted on Lepp’s account Sunday. “It was removed as soon as it came to his attention.”
The Toronto Sun obtained grainy copies of the Twitter page images before they were removed.
The pictures — too graphic to reproduce in the newspaper — are of a man naked from the waist down, showing a close up of his penis and his crossed legs. Sakach said the device was operating on camera mode in his front pant pocket when it went missing. He added that Lepp suspects it was taken as he was jostled by protesters outside the Dixon Rd. convention centre where the Tories met for the party’s weekend convention.
Sakach said he didn’t know if police were called about the stolen BlackBerry.
“It was an unfortunate circumstance,” Sakach said on Sunday. “This is pretty low and juvenile and we don’t believe it is politically motivated.”
Lepp, a Niagara-on-the-Lake farmer and businessman, put the boots last November to Sandy Annunziata, a former Fort Erie town councillor and Canadian Football League all-star, in a battle to become the Tory candidate in the provincial riding of Niagara Falls for October’s election. His website credits him for organizing successful fundraisers for John Tory and Tim Hudak.
Sakach said the image was first noticed by Lepp’s son, who administers the
Twitter account, and was immediately removed. Lepp, who couldn’t be reached for comment, had been filing daily dispatches from the Tory convention to his more than 80 Twitter followers.
On Friday, he told followers “1500 people meeting in Toronto to support
Ontario working families to stop McGuintys tax and spend policy that is
killing Ontario Jobs.”
Lepp graduated from the University of Guelph in Agriculture Economics, and was responsible for more than 200 employees while serving as vice-president of the Vineland Growers’ Cooperative, the largest shipper of tender fruit in Ontario. Lepp is credited with helping to restructure the sales and marketing of Ontario’s grape and tender fruit industry to provide a more stable livelihood for farmers.
The photo of a penis on Lepp’s Twitter account surfaced as Ontario Conservatives vowed in Toronto to force high-risk sex offenders and other dangerous criminals to wear GPS monitoring bracelets.
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Post by Skilly on May 30, 2011 6:38:44 GMT -5
Transparent photo-taking pants .... man, technology. Ain't it grand; what will they think of next. |
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Post by franko on May 30, 2011 6:56:48 GMT -5
think that falls under the category of "ugly"
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Post by CentreHice on May 30, 2011 8:54:03 GMT -5
At least it proves one Conservative is "human" after all. "Is that a Blackberry in your pocket....or are you just glad to see me...."This spin is a complete joke. |
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Post by Skilly on May 30, 2011 8:56:26 GMT -5
think that falls under the category of "ugly" I've put my cell in my pocket many times and discovered when I removed it that it is on camera mode ... even video mode sometimes. But you know something? Cell phones don't go snapping pictures unless you press the button AFTER it goes into picture mode ... or shooting video unless you press record AFTER it goes into video mode. Add to this the fact that cameras can't take pictures through pants ... and that the person who stole his cell phone just happened to know Lepp's Twitter login and password (I assume you can't just go posting pics on anyone's Twitter account - I don't have one) .... ... I am filing this one under "ugly" too franko ... and another example of Cons (and yes most politicians regardless of stripes) thinking that lying to the Canadian public is the way to go. Be interesting to see what Harper does to him. |
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Post by CentreHice on May 30, 2011 9:12:38 GMT -5
Be interesting to see what Harper does to him. Yes, it will. Harper's Religious LeaningsI didn't know Preston Manning was an evangelical radio preacher. |
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Post by franko on May 30, 2011 10:54:52 GMT -5
Be interesting to see what Harper does to him. Yes, it will. Harper's Religious LeaningsI didn't know Preston Manning was an evangelical radio preacher. I'd be totally shocked if Harper does anything at all -- Lepp is running in the October provincial election. This probably be in a thread of its own. |
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Post by Cranky on May 30, 2011 12:20:06 GMT -5
I'd be totally shocked if Harper does anything at all -- Lepp is running in the October provincial election. This probably be in a thread of its own. You know the old story......Harper did it. As for the Mr. Private Parts. I have camera in every car, in a motorcycle, on cell phones and bunch of high end cameras and amazingly, none have ever taken a picture of my private parts. |
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Post by CentreHice on May 30, 2011 13:20:52 GMT -5
Yes, since this is an Ontario matter, it shouldn't be in this thread.
But, regardless of the party involved, the federal branch should respond/make recommendations in a matter like this one.
If I was Harper, I'd be telling Tim Hudak to send My Ding-a-ling packing.
WRT to the upcoming Ontario election, I've been reading that the Conservatives are looking to the feds for the winning strategy. I think McGuinty has spent the last several years taking care of that! ;D
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Post by Skilly on May 30, 2011 20:28:59 GMT -5
I'd be totally shocked if Harper does anything at all -- Lepp is running in the October provincial election. This probably be in a thread of its own. I apologize ... I thought he was a federal candidate as well ... |
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Post by CentreHice on May 31, 2011 16:53:46 GMT -5
Ontario Conservative leader, Tim Hudak, told George Lepp that he should resign.
Lepp said, "But I'd like to stick it out."
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Post by franko on May 31, 2011 20:49:25 GMT -5
ballsy move
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Post by Skilly on Jun 8, 2011 8:54:57 GMT -5
I am filing this under ugly ... for my family at least. Harper lies again.
Harper's promise during the election "we won't cut federal jobs to balance the books, it can be accomplished through attrition"
The Canadian Coast Guard Rescue Center is now being relocated from St. John's to Halifax, cutting 12 jobs in the process.
Saving money means more to the Conservative Party of Canada than saving lives ... Newfoundland has the most distress calls in the whole country. An island, living off the sea, oil, geographically closer to the ocean/incidents... imagine that, who'd a thunk it. It only makes sense to locate the center here in Newfoundland.
Harper has mandated that DFO in Newfoundland cut $56 million ..... my wife is on pins and needles.
You tell me how this guy is good for the country? You watch, he won't touch the west, but the next four years are not going to be rosey for the rest of us .... the old guys said it best "Tory times are hard times"
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Post by CentreHice on Jun 8, 2011 9:39:20 GMT -5
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has six administrative regions: Pacific, Central and Arctic, Quebec, Maritimes, Gulf, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Each of the regional websites contains contacts and information on DFO services and activities in that area.LinkAre the other 5 regions included in the $56 million in cutbacks....or it is only NL?
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Post by Skilly on Jun 8, 2011 10:15:59 GMT -5
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has six administrative regions: Pacific, Central and Arctic, Quebec, Maritimes, Gulf, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Each of the regional websites contains contacts and information on DFO services and activities in that area.LinkAre the other 5 regions included in the $56 million in cutbacks....or it is only NL? That a bit fuzzy CH ... the Conservative Government isnt revealing anything. Here are two articles posted today. ***************************************************************** St. John's Maritime Rescue centre to close CBC News has learned that the federal government is closing the Maritime Rescue centre in St. John's.
The centre, which answers hundreds of calls for help annually, operates out of the Coast Guard station.
The rescue centre's closure is part of $56 million in Department of Fisheries and Oceans cuts to Newfoundland and Labrador, promised in this week's federal budget.
The centre's role will be moved to the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centres in Halifax, and Trenton, Ont.
As many as 12 jobs will be cut with the closure.
According to the Coast Guard's web site, the Newfoundland and Labrador Region has the highest proportion of distress incidents in Canada.
The site says the St. John's rescue centre responds in an average year to approximately 500 incidents involving 2,900 people.
The Coast Guard says 28 per cent of those incidents are classified as distress calls, in which 600 lives are saved and 18 lives are lost, on average. The centre is responsible for 900,000 square kilometres of ocean and 28,956 kilometres of coastline
*************************************************************** DFO plans to eliminate 275 positions From thechronicleherald.ca OTTAWA — Fisheries and Oceans Canada expects to get rid of 275 positions as a result of cuts announced in the budget tabled Monday, a spokesman for the minister said Tuesday.
The department, which reported 11,030 employees in its 2009-10 annual report, ought to be able to handle the cuts — 2.5 per cent of its payroll — through attrition, which is expected to be four to six per cent annually until 2013-14, when most of the savings are projected to be realized.
"The thesis is that attrition will be able to look after any impact on employment," said Erin Filliter, director of communications for Keith Ashfield, the new minister of fisheries.
The government announced cuts of $57 million to Fisheries and Oceans when Budget 2011 was first tabled in March, but it explained the cuts in vague bureaucratic language, promising, for instance, to find $14.7 million in savings by aligning "program activities with core mandate."
In spite of repeated requests for details, the government declined until Tuesday to explain how it would save the money.
The department still won’t explain the cuts in detail, in part because it has yet to communicate the plan to Fisheries and Oceans employees, but Filliter provided some information.
The government will seek to cut $17 million by "moving towards a multi-year fish-management plan, where stocks are stable."
That means the department will spend less money counting fish where it believes stocks are healthy, and stop making annual changes to the total allowable catches for some species, although Filliter could not immediately say which stocks might be affected.
Former fisheries minister Geoff Regan, the Liberal MP for Halifax West, said cutting fisheries research is risky.
"Advances in technology have made it easier and easier to capture more fish more quickly," he said. "The lesson of the ’80s and early ’90s was you need to have science to tell you what’s happening."
Without new information, the government risks repeating the overfishing that led to the disastrous collapse of the cod stocks on the Grand Banks, he said.
"Can you imagine how much worse our groundfish fishery would have been if that had been the case in the early ’90s?" he said. "Let’s say they waited five more years before they closed the fishery."
The department will also seek to save money by cutting processes where there is overlap with other departments, said Filliter.
"For environmental assessments, for example, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, which is part of Environment Canada, does environmental studies, which can often be duplicative to what is done by (Fisheries and Oceans)," she said.
The government can save money by terminating the Loran-C signal, a radio-based navigation system that has been rendered obsolete by the spread of the GPS.
The department plans to consolidate coast guard dispatch in Halifax, moving positions from Quebec City and St. John’s, N.L.
"We have technology that allows for us to have a dispatch service in one location," she said.
The cuts announced in Budget 2011 are just the first stage of the Conservatives’ plan to return the federal budget to balance by 2014. A cabinet committee is seeking ways to slash spending by $4 billion a year.
The opposition is warning that the Conservatives’ cuts will hurt.
"Until the Conservative government outlines where it plans on saving that $4 billion, the fishermen of Newfoundland and Labrador, the fishermen of Eastern Canada, will all be on pins and needles, waiting for the axe to drop," said new Newfoundland NDP MP Ryan Cleary in budget debate on Tuesday.
Filliter said the government can find savings.
"The prime minister said anybody who thinks you can’t find a billion dollars to save in Ottawa should give their head a shake, and he’s absolutely right," she said.
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Post by CentreHice on Jun 8, 2011 14:35:16 GMT -5
It would appear the $57 million is the total for all 6 regions....and that attrition will take care of it by 2014. I presume some areas will feel it more than others.
We shall see. Keep us informed.
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Post by Cranky on Jun 8, 2011 15:28:35 GMT -5
My wife use to work in a hospital and she was always under threat of cuts. After a while, she just took it in stride. Then she got hired by some a-hole boss who worked her to the bone and never paid her.  |
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Post by Skilly on Jun 8, 2011 20:52:47 GMT -5
My wife use to work in a hospital and she was always under threat of cuts. After a while, she just took it in stride. Then she got hired by some a-hole boss who worked her to the bone and never paid her. Betcha his name was Steven ... ;D (i know, you meant you, but couldnt resist) |
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Post by Skilly on Aug 19, 2011 9:46:44 GMT -5
3 things to add to the list.
On the Good Side
Harper kept his promise to give NF/NS a loan guarantee for the Muskrat Falls Project.
There is alot of debate here now whether the project is another Upper Churchill giveaway. Nalcor insists that without Muskrat Falls NLs power rates will increase substanially more than with it ... and that's something alot of people can not wrap their heads around, why the power rates will go up and then we turn around and sell it to NS and the market for less than it is here. Liberals and NDP are totally against it, and the PCs are hanging their hats on this enough to make it an election (this October) issue.
On the Bad/Ugly Side
Harper defends Canada's asbestos exports .. and then blocks the UN from putting it on the dangerous chemicals list.
OK, so there are governments and companies all throughout Canada getting sued for the usage of asbestos; schools across the country are getting asbestos removed; Transport Minister Chuck Strahl's cancer has been directly attributable to asbestos exposure; AND asbestos is being removed from the House of Commons and even 24 Sussex Dr., where the Prime Minister resides with his wife and two children. But you don't want to list it as a dangerous chemical because some back-ass countries still consider it a legal substance? I see now why they removed the Progressive from the party name.
On the Bad/Ugly Side
Harper's Government writes a threatening letter to an asbestos widow
Michaela Keyserlingk lost her husband in 2009 to cancer related to asbestos exposure. So her solution, was to create an online banner (that links to her website) that reads "Canada is the only western country that still exports deadly asbestos!" The problem? On the left hand side of the banner is the word Danger, and on the right hand side is the Conservative party logo. So the Conservative wrote her a letter, in which part of it states
"It has come to our attention that your organization is currently using a trademark of the Conservative Party of Canada in your advertising material. This usage is unauthorized and must cease immediately. Failure to do so may result in further action. Please govern yourself accordingly."
That's all well and good ... the only problem, as i see it, is that trademark infringement is not based on usage, it is based on profiting from the usage. Is the Harper Government now trying to restrict citizens freedom of expression? Copyright infringement ... sure ... but who gave the shoddy legal advice to the letter writer?
This is the same Government that used the same logo on all Government funding announcements not too long ago, and told its employees to change the name of the Government to the Harper Government on all its letterheads.
So Harper is all for having that nice logo out in the open for the good things .... but he isn't so crazy about having it associated with asbestos, a material he endorses internationally.
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Post by franko on Aug 19, 2011 10:22:22 GMT -5
there is one reason and one reason only that the Harper Government [do we TM this?] continues to be in favour of asbestos sales: Quebec votes. which did him a lot of good last election, didn't it?
I understand the death of a town, etc . . . but how about the deaths of the miners? I'll tell you, it is an horrific way to die [not as bad as ALS, but still pretty awful] -- I watched a friend last few years. He worked with asbestos as a 19 year old; when he was 59 he moved the wrong way or coughed or something [the strands just sit around in your lungs for years until one day they decide to adhese to those lungs and there is nothing -- NOTHING -- that can be done about it once it starts. 2-5 painful years is it . . . and the possible operations are not cures but small life extensions only.
Harper is wrong wrong WRONG on this one.
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Post by Skilly on Aug 19, 2011 12:32:41 GMT -5
I totally forgot about this one ...
On the Bad side
CJFE gives Harper government failing grade on access to information
A failing grade? Canada received an F minus. That's a grade below failing, failing would have been a step upwards.
When it comes to access to information, Canada has received an F minus and is positioned last among five leading democracies, says Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) in a new report that is making headlines in the country.
For the second year running, CJFE gave Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government a failing grade, saying it has taken longer than ever to access information under his leadership and that information received is far more incomplete.
"The governing party was ruled in contempt of Parliament for failing to produce information about major spending programmes," the report states, which "may explain why journalists seem to be using the access system less often than in the past."
According to CJFE, "More than half of the federal institutions surveyed for their performance on access to information ranked below average and five failed outright." Forty-four percent of federal access to information requests aren't met within the required 30-day limit, while it takes an average of 395 days to resolve an access to information complaint.
The review also gives a failing grade to security forces and the federal government for calling last summer's G20 Summit in Toronto an "unmitigated success." CJFE considered the event where thousands were detained the "most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history."
Repeated refusals to recognise the credentials of journalists, and multiple incidents of journalist harassment and detention, made up the "long list of violations" of freedom of expression, said CJFE. "It was not a success but an abject failure."
The government's record on access to information and the G20 are enough evidence that "protecting freedom of expression right here in Canada requires constant vigilance," said CJFE.
Despite the bleak overall showing, CJFE is hoping the stability of the recently elected Conservative majority government will cause Prime Minister Stephen Harper to make some positive changes to access to information and freedom of expression issues.
"We hope that now, with this majority, the Prime Minister will finally act to fulfil all of his 2006 election promises to reform free access to information and once again make Canada a world-class, open, transparent country," said CJFE.
The report card is part of CJFE's annual review, which also celebrates 30 years of CJFE and includes a summary of all major legal cases on free expression throughout 2010-11, a positive spin on the WikiLeaks dump, and more.
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Post by Cranky on Aug 19, 2011 12:56:43 GMT -5
CJFE is s professional whiners club that whines about Conservatives not providing access to information at a snap of a finger, but amazingly, are not so whinny about the CBC doing the same thing. Actually the CBC is the WORSE at it and it can't claim any safety and security issues. Worse still, they haven't been able to make a living digging up dirt on Harper and Co that means they have to drink the cheaper wines.
Why?
Arnold Amber, President
Arnold Amber is a former executive producer at CBC, and the current Director of CWA-SCA Canada, the parent body of the Canadian Media Guild and 25 other smaller union locals that represent employees in the newspaper industry.
Arnold’s dedication to CJFE is based on his drive to protect the right to free expression both on the national and international stage. During Arnold's time as president of the board, he has witnessed CJFE grow from a handful of journalists passionate about the right to freedom of expression, to a rapidly expanding organization taking its rightful place alongside its international partners.
Which makes them totally and utterly biased whose passion is.......to selectively target.
They should put that F on their own foreheads.
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