Thanks for the education, Steve. Now can you look into some drinking water?

The First Nations peoples just got a gift from the government of Canada.  Beginning in 2016 they will receive some $2 billion spread out over 5 years for education.  Great news... thanks Mr. Harper.

Mind you the improved education will probably disproportionally benefit reserves in the south.  In the north, the problem is not primarily education.  IT IS CLEAN WATER!

There are about 75 reserves living with water problems in 2014; some of the advisories are decades old.

This means that thousands of Canadians do not have access to potable water.  So what do we give them?  Education so that they can move off the reserve?

It is also estimated that 60% of water operators are not even certified.  How about education for them?

The problems of First Nations are many.  Chief Atleo is allowing the government to cherry pick which problem they want to address.  And what are they choosing?

The problems that will win them the most votes, of course.

When you are a Con you can argue that a tax is not a tax... and actually believe it.

The Harper Government removed special tariff rates for countries such as China and Brazil.  This raised the rates up.  It is the importers that pay the tariff, so they, the importers, raised their prices to distributors to cover their higher costs and the distributors, in turn, raised prices to consumers.   (And don't forget that the higher prices means more GST for the government.)

So where do the increased tariffs paid by the importers go? 
It goes in to the pockets of the Harper government, of course.  To the tune of $335 million per year.

When the Canadian government collects more money from Canadians, in any form, it is a tax.  To call it anything else or deny that it exists is dishonest.

Bicycles, tricycles and wagons; children's toys; cancer-victim's wigs... almost 1,300 products from 72 countries; these are not luxury items afforded by the rich.  These are all-class items purchased by Canadians.

It is a pretty sad day for Canadians.

This government is a joke!!!

So the MPs come back to work for a few days and Harper welcomes his caucus with a speech that outlines his priorities for this session.  Law and order... no surprise.  Fiscal prudence... par for the course.  And few minor things.

But what was most important was what was missing from his priority list.  There was no mention, even casually, of aboriginal issues!!!!

The Idle No More movement is ignored.  The blockades and AFN leaders statements are ignored.  Even the commitments made to Chief Atleo are ignored.  After all, thinks Harper, he is just a little man in a funny hat?

The whole of the First Nations issues are swept out of sight!

Shameful!!

Canada's First Nations Shame

Chief Theresa Spence from Attawapiskat has been on a hunger strike for 4 weeks.  She ends it today.  What did she want and what did she achieve?

What she wanted was decency for her people and for all First Nations Peoples.  She wanted to meet with the Prime Minister (Remember him?  He is the one that meets with foreign dignitaries and goes to hockey games in New York but can't spare a day for his fellow country-persons!) and the Governor General... the representative of the Queen of Canada.

Why did she want to meet with the GG?  The answer is in Treaty Number 9 (the James Bay Treaty) that was signed in 1906.  It was an agreement between the First Nations of the region and... wait for it... His Most Gracious Majesty the King of Great Britain and Ireland - The King of the colony of Canada.

The opening paragraph of the Treaty reads as follows:

ARTICLES OF A TREATY made and concluded at the several dates mentioned therein, in the year of Our Lord one thousand and nine hundred and five, between His Most Gracious Majesty the King of Great Britain and Ireland, by His Commissioners, Duncan Campbell Scott, of Ottawa, Ontario, Esquire, and Samuel Stewart, of Ottawa, Ontario, Esquire; and Daniel George MacMartin, of Perth, Ontario, Esquire, representing the province of Ontario, of the one part; and the Ojibeway, Cree and other Indians, inhabitants of the territory within the limits hereinafter defined and described, by their chiefs, and headmen hereunto subscribed, of the other part: --

And paragraph seven states:

To have and to hold the same to His Majesty the King and His successors for ever.

I think that it is clear that she had a right to ask for the meeting with the GG, as the representation of a successor to the King) as well as the PM.

She got neither, so what did she achieve?

The first thing she achieved was that she got the attention of the government.  The Cabinet Minister as well as the PM were sleeping with their heads on the First Nations file until Spence woke them up.

The second achievement was that she shook up the AFN who were sitting around waiting for the government to notice them rather than advocating for their members.

The third achievement was to galvanize the First Nations People to set up the Idle No More movement.  Whether or not the movement continues is irrelevant to the fact that they woke up Canadians to the continuing issues of First Nations.

 Theresa Spence is Canada's Nelson Mandella.  Warts and all.

Betting on the F35 and Harper

A couple of friends and I have a running bet.  The bet has three parts.  I have won the first part.

The bet is:
1) when the Cons will back away from the F35;
2) when Harper will leave politics; and
3) when the Cons will announce that, after "extensive and unbiased" analysis of needs and capabilities, Canada, not the Cons, will buy the F35?

For the record my timing is as follows:
1) before end of year 2012 (I won);
2) in October 2013; and
3) three minutes to midnight on the Friday of a long weekend in September 2013.

So far my winnings amount to an "Atta boy".  If I win the second part, I am upgraded to "You da' man!"

If I get all three, I win the ultimate prize - Benevolent Dictator of Canada for four years; during which I can make all the decisions and implement all the policies I ever cared about, without regard for either Canadians or the Constitution... just like Harper does!

You note that there is no bet on when Elmer McKay's little boy gets the bump from Cabinet... that would have been too easy.

Stay tuned.

Historica? All the history the government wants you to know?

 Historica-dominion Institute is the self-proclaimed preeminent Canadian history organization that has told Mysteriesofcanada.com, on any number of occasions, that we are like a flea on their back and other than the occasional itch, they do not even care if we exist.  I always wondered if their arrogance had some sort of underlying feature - and now it comes out.

Seems that the official-charity-case-known-as-Historica (Historica for short) also has an number of connections to the Harper government, which by the way provides it with $7.8 million (equivalent to 780 FTE civil service jobs) in subsidies each year.

Connection number one is the privately-owned telephone fundraising company they use,  The company, Responsive Marketing Group (RMG), not only is the company used by Harper to raise funds, but it also uses that Conservatives own fundraising database, developed by the party at taxpayers expense.  You may remember RMG was in the news in March of this year in connection to the Robocall Scandal Misunderstanding.

How deep is Historica into the pocket of RMG?  Seems that Historica raised $1.2 million and for that paid $600,000.  You think that is a good rate for a charity?

Connection number two is Micheal Levine, a senior executive at Historica, who also happens to be the lawyer who is negotiating for publishing rites, including big advance payments, for his client, Stephen Harper, who wrote a book about hockey.

Seems that Historica has a bit of a history itself when it comes to conservative fundraising.  In addition to RMG, they have also used Target Outreach, a US based company that raises money for conservative causes and the Republican Party.

Just have to wonder if Historica can claim to be an independent interpreter of Canada's past.

I am tired of the manipulation!

There is an old story about a woman who goes to see her son marching in a parade at the local airbase.  It was quite obvious that when they said right step, he put out his left.  The mother, proud of her son, turned to another mother and stated, "Seems that my son is the only one in step."

Well that is the way I am starting to feel.

Am I the only person who sees that the government of Canada has decided to play the divide and conquer card on old folks in this country?

I see this as the latest cynical ploy to take the heat of one issue by placing it on another issue.  The polarization of the debate results in Canadians losing sight of real problems for supposed ones. What am I talking about? Let me draw you a picture.

You do not have to remember too far back when PM Harper told Canadians that Canada's economy was strong and there was not chance of a recession in this fair country.  Shortly thereafter the shit hit the fan and Harper was forced to eat his words; which, of course, he could never do.  So rather than explaining his failure, he changed the discussion channel - he started to talk about stimulus programs... oops, I mean economic action plans.  As the action plans percolated across Canada, up went Canada's debt and deficit.  And it was just in time, because it took the heat of the fact that the government had already driven the country from surplus to deficit before the recession and now they has a bogey man to blame.  Classic misdirection.

But as the deficit grew, Harper needed a new bogey man, so up comes the F35 procurement plan.  We can not afford to maintain our infrastructure across Canada, so let's spend on bloody jets instead.  Then up pops McKay and the helicopter taxi service to take the heat off jets, and on it goes until now.  Now it is the turn for seniors to take the heat and get the attention.

Now I am going to tell you that some changes to the pension system are needed, but I will scream from the highest mountain that the Old Age Security is not the way to fix it.  Here is a few facts to bear in mind as we go through this diversion from reality.  The Baby-Boom generation, of which I am one, is said to cover the period from 1945 to 1957 or so.  A quick calculation tells us that every Boomer will be 65 or over by 2022.  Another quick calculation suggests that 13 years thereafter (average age for Boomers is 78), the majority of them will be dead. The crisis will be over.

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I focus on the consequences of action, not just the action.

Unless the government finds a way to fight rampant age discrimination that exists in the work force in Canada, there is no way that a 60+ year old can find a meaningful job in Canada.  By 60 you are either too old, too frail, over-qualified or not youthful looking enough for most companies.  They don't want to hire and train someone that they know will either retire soon or fall over dead on the assembly line.  They want the young guns who have the dedication of a tsetse fly to their employers.

This whole degenerative piece-of-crap policy frosts my balls!

Please check your facts, Mr. Harper

The PM and his minions at the PMO may be good communicators but maybe they should be better fact checkers also.  In his year end rah-rah interviews, Harper tells us that he is not worried about the problems with the Keystone XL pipeline project, designed to carry raw bitumen from Alberta to Texas, because he will sell the stock to China instead.  Fine idea but just one problem.

The North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) has a clause that maybe he should read again.

The clause is referred to as Proportionality.  In essence it states that Canada cannot reduce the percentage of oil and gas we now export to the United States even in times of domestic shortages.  That clause applies a percentage of our overall production that we must send to the US.  What does it mean when part of our production goes to China?  Does that mean that Canadians have to use less than we do now?  You can't take it from the allotment to the US so it has to come from somewhere.

In a report on Proportionality, co-author Gordon Laxer, a political economist at the University of Alberta, stated this: “The Canadian government must realize it is the only country in the world that has jeopardized the energy needs of its people in this way, and move quickly to exit the proportionality provisions of NAFTA.”

Maybe it is a problem, Steve?

Unintended consequences

The Harper government has recently made two forees into the labour world at Air Canada to squash the rights of employees.  By arguing that potential strikes at Air Canada would be bad for the economy, they have set themselves up to a declaration that Air Canada is an essential service.  They are saying that under no circumstances can Air Canada stop flying cause it will hurt the economy of Canada.

I do not agree with that assertion but, hey, they are a majority government and can do whatever they want.

But there is a serious downside to this declaration of essential service status and it reared its head in the recent declaration at Transport Canada to threaten the license at Porter Airlines for contravention to the Safety Management System, which "regulated" safety of airlines in Canada.  The SMS, to which it is referred, was the Harper government stab at deregulation of airlines by making safety solely the airlines' responsibility.  As long as the airline filed the right papers on time, the government was happy.  Miss a reporting deadline and, poof, Porter Airline.  Under the SMS, the actual safety "inspections" were the responsibility of the airlines.

But what would happen if Air Canada contravened the SMS to the point that Transport Canada threatened to pull their license?  Would the Government of Canada have to jump in to stop the Government of Canada?  Does this give Air Canada carte blanche to run an airline rife with safety violations?  Think it can't happen?  Remember the Gimli Glider?

Maybe someone should ask PM Harper or Minster Raitt that question?