So Much For Those Tax Cuts

According the CBC and the CTF, even with the record EI surplus, EI premiums have gone up, and when combined with CPP deductions, we're going to see the biggest rise in payroll taxes, $188, in 7 years.

I guess members of the Canada Employment Insurance Commission went to the deficit Jim School of Economics.

Monday Morning 2'fer

With all the fun everybody is having over Harper’s Senate appointments today, here’s another bit of Harpocrisy to point out.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has officially named Thomas Cromwell of Nova Scotia to the Supreme Court of Canada, forgoing a public hearing that had been promised into his appointment.

He’s going to need to call another election soon cause he’s running out of promises, let alone Conservative policies to break.

On a related note, Preston Manning heating bills have gone down now that he is using the steam coming out of his ears to heat his house.

Dymaxion mentions in his blog that Iggy’s poll numbers aren’t as good as Dion’s.

Those numbers are definitely food for though, but to get a better idea of what they mean, I think it is important to compare them to a poll taken before their selection.

The first article quoted shows that the Liberals gained 9% after Iggy took over. A quick search netted me two polls, the first one
said Dion's election only gave the Liberals a 5.4% boost. The other one was from a bit earlier, Aug 06, gave Dion a 7 point bounce.

So looking at the before and after we see that
Iggy +9%
Dion +6-7%

This show to me that Iggy is actually out performing Dion post-selection.

One final thing I’d like mention is that the circumstances regarding the selection and the general political atmosphere right now with the strong feelings about the coalition and prorogation will skew the results somewhat, so we aren’t exactly comparing apples to apples here.

Absoutely Disgusting

Unfortunately is officer's like this that give the police in general such a bad name. I hope the Ottawa police force comes down hard, though I have a feeling the police union will keep appropriate punishment from being handed out

An Open Letter Regarding Our Party’s Leadership

We are in a time of great political flux, both outside the Liberal Party and in. It seems apparent that we all agree that something needs to be done and soon. The Constitution states currently states how the leadership must be chosen, via delegates and a convention, but we must all realize that we are in odd times and sometimes the rules can and should be bent to accommodate them.

We cannot trust that Mr. Harper will for once honour his word and try to work with the opposition parties for the betterment of Canada. So we must be ready for an election any time after Parliament resumes on January 27th. I feel we cannot go into the Parliament with an interim leader, because if an election is called, I don’t believe an interim leader will be able to garner the support that a permanent leader would. Voter’s want to know the direction in which the party is going, and if the leadership campaign is still ongoing, that questions won’t be answered, which might make some otherwise Liberal voters stay home, or worse yet, vote for another party.

That being said, we should not short-circuit the process too much because I feel there are valuable things to be learned along the way. The debates between candidates are important because give the opportunity for different viewpoints to be aired publically which gives the membership the chance to gain insight from different viewpoints and produce good starting points for discussions to better the party by the all the membership. Not only that, but it would invite interest from outside the party, possibly attracting new members.

This is why I support an open fast-tracked process in which all the candidates release full platforms as soon as possible and the party executive schedule debates in major cities across the country leading to an “One Member, One Vote” online/phone vote sometime in mid to late January.

In the end, whatever process is decided on, we cannot continue to be seen as a closed door party whose primary concern is fighting for the leadership. We need to come together and unite, and while the options we are faced with might not be palatable to us in one way or another, we have to do what is best for the party, and by extension the country, in a way that Mr. Harper seems incapable of, by coming together, cooperating and compromising in an open, inviting way.

Tory, Not Bloc, Veto

Harper is saying that the Bloc have a veto over the budgets, which is wrong. The Tories, if they really did care about making Parliament work, could support the Budget, assuming it was good for Canada which is a reasonable assumption, eliminating any Bloc influence.

To me, by saying the Bloc has a veto is basically saying that under no circumstances would the Tory's, even a few, would support a Budget that would be good for Canada which goes to show what is really important to them, power, not the interests of Canada

On a different, non-partisan note

I think this is something I think all of us, Tory, Liberal, NDP, whatever, can be proud of.

Honestly brings a tear to my eye and pride to my heart watching this.

Things Just Got a Whole Lot More Real

No longer are we voting for somebody that may eventually become PM, we are voting for the next Prime Minister of Canada

Hypocrisy At Its Best

We've all heard the Tory talking points about how the Liberals and NDP are trying to back door their way into government. Are they right? Well, one thing is for certain, they are experts in the field.

There's been tons of talk in the blogosphere about the letter Harper et al wrote to the Govenor-General back in 2004

Lets not forget this was but the latest in a long line of backrooming deal that Harper and his Conservatives have been a part off. Back in 2003 we had not one but TWO backroom deals, the second of which went totally against the first one I might add, that lead to the formation of the Conservative Party as we know it and put Harper in power.

I look forward to watching Mr. Harper finally get a dose of his own medicine.

Make Parliament Work

Make Parliament Work Rally

As you can see, plans are underway to beat the Conservatives to the punch to show the support that the proposed Liberal-NDP Coalition has.

As the Grumpy Voter said, "Canadians aren't generally known for taking to the streets unless there's drunken young women baring their breasts and the Calgary Flames are Stanley Cup bound, but like the saying goes, there's no better time time then right now to start

Tell Me If You've Heard This One Before

I'll give them credit, the Tory Propaganda machine is quick.






Which is just another reason that we can't let up. If you can, call in to these show, contact your MP's, hell, contact other people's MP's, sign the petition, just get the word out.

You're All Invited

To Steven Harper's House Cooling Party!

Where: 24 Sussex
When: Sometime after Dec 8

So long Steve. Don't let the door hit ya on the way out!

Is Business About To Pick Up?

Who said politics was boring?

The federal Liberals plan to bring down the Conservative government in a confidence motion on Monday, saying they have a viable alternative, the Canadian Press reported Friday.

"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."

If reports are true, Dion won't go down as the second Liberal leader to not be PM. Supposedly the parties have agreed he would be PM.

Will they or Won't they?

I'm confused

"Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the government will “stay on track” and leave the cuts to political party subsidies in the financial package to be introduced in Parliament next week."

The Fight Isn’t Over Yet

The Opposition might have won the battle over public funding, but it can’t stop there. The fact is that there are still a number of provisions in yesterday’s Economic Statement that are still intolerable. First of all, the lack of any kind of real stimulus package for the economy is unconscionable. Our economy can’t wait till Budget is brought done. By then it could very well be too late to save the auto and forestry sectors, amongst others.

Then there is the removal of the right to strike of civil servants, the removal of the ability for women to fight for their rights and these imaginary asset sales to “balance the budget”. Thanks, but no thanks Mr. Harper. As an Ontarian I’ve been there before, and ya know what, I never wanna go back.

Thank You Mr. Harper

Everybody outside the Conservative Party and its supporters are deriding the move my the Finance Minister to slash public funding of the parties. While I’m against this move, I think we all owe Mr. Harper a big loud, boisterous THANKS!

Not only has this move helped to mobilize the members of the party to financially support the party, a support which is desperately needed, but it has served as a rallying cry for members of all the opposition parties that enough is enough and its time for a change, building REAL momentum for a coalition government that would finally see Mr. Harper and his neo-con ideologues thrown out of the government.

So once again, thank you Mr. Harper, thank you very much.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Today there is news that the Ignatieff camp sent out an email asking for donations to his campaign to “Save Canadian Democracy”. Regardless of the leadership candidate I support, this smells rotten to me and it should to you too. This is NOT a time for partisan leadership politics. We need to come together and support the Liberal Party as a whole.

So I say forgot the leadership race for the time being, there will be plenty of time for that later. Be it via a one time donation or signing up for the Victory Fund or Laurier Club, donate to the party and show that while we might disagree on who we believe to be the best candidate for the leadership, in the end, we stand together as a party united.

What a Day To Get On the Road.

Mr. Harper has a funny idea of being less aggressive and playing nice it seems. Not even two weeks into the new session of Parliament ant he’s making one of the worst partisan attacks in memory.

I’ve heard and read a lot form people who support this, and you know what, I can understand why they do, and can even see find myself agreeing with some of their points. But the rightness or wrongness of the subsidy isn’t the prime issue to me. My main problem with this is that the method and timing of the cut is wrong and unfair. It has come out of the blue with no consultation and obvious disagreement from the opposition parties, opposition parties who all agreed to this new plan back in 2003.

Today there have been calls to vote this down to bring us to another election, which I feel is wrong. The average voter who is worried about their job won’t see this for what it is, a fight for fairness, they will perceive it as greedy political parties not willing to take a hit, which would, in my opinion, lead to more Conservative seats, probably even a majority which to many of us would be hell on Earth. I personally like the idea of the 3 parties in Opposition agreeing to form the government, but realistically, I doubt the Bloc would ever go for this, and if for some reason they would, it would end up costing more then I think we should give them. So what should we do? I wish I could come up with a suggestion for Mr. Dion, I really do, but I don’t. I’ll leave that up to smarter, more political savvy people to decide.

What I DO know we can do help is to donate to the party (https://www.liberal.ca/donate_e.aspx), because whether or not this goes through, the party needs as much financial help as it can get from us to win the war against Harper and his neo-con ideologists.

We Can’t Know Where We Are Going Until We Know Where We’ve Been

So I figured I’d do a little introduction so we can all get acquainted. I was born and raised in a single-parent (my father died of cancer when I was quite young) middle class family in the 905, well, the 416 for the first 16 years (I’ll let you guys do the math on my age ;) ). I spent the next 7 years in London getting my degree in Engineering at Western and, scary as it was, entering the work force. Over the course of my career, I’ve also spent time in Barrie and a few years ago moved back to the 416.

Like all of you, I’ve faced many hardships along the way, many of which I’ll probably bring up over the course of time, which have shaped my view of the world. I’ve realized that political ideology can be a good guide, but we have to be pragmatic in many of our decisions. We might not like the choices we have infront of us, but sometimes we have to pick and even support something that might go against our idiocy because in that moment in time, it is the right thing to do.

I’ve associated myself with the Liberal Party and their idea’s for as long as I can remember. Though from time to time, I’ll admit, I found myself agreeing with the Tories (the red one’s at least) and have voted for other, smaller, parties I felt deserved my support during the times when a Liberal majority was assured.

Ever since the Dark (Blue) Ages set in, I’ve found myself coming back home and have recently begun being more active in the political process.

Now that you’ve got a little idea about where I’ve come from, I hope you come back to see where my thoughts go, hopefully giving you some insight from a POV you previously hadn’t considered, and maybe even an occasional chuckle.