Canadian Political Watch

[CielOnTap]

B.C. cuts grants to daycares, preschools, playgrounds
By Rob Shaw, Victoria Times Colonist
March 10, 210
VICTORIA — The B.C. government was accused Wednesday of clawing back millions from daycares, preschools and playgrounds, only a day after it justified deep cuts to arts, sports and environment groups by saying the money was needed to protect children's programs.

The government confirmed it had cut gaming grants for preschools, childcare centres and resource centres to $4.6 million this year, from $8.9 million last year.

The reduction was necessary so the government can afford grants for youth-based arts and sports programs, as well as food banks and search and rescue groups, said Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman. Cuts to social service grants

The expected news that the provincial government would cut money to social services and the arts and other areas has come true. But there was money for the biggest sporting event it ever hosted. Is the province due for any money from VANOC?

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Cost to end gender discrimination in Indian Act unknown: Strahl

By Mia Rabson, Winnipeg Free Press
March 11, 2010 4:23 PM

OTTAWA — Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl says he has no idea how much it will cost to end gender discrimination in the Indian Act.

The government moved Thursday to amend the act after a British Columbia court last year ruled it was unconstitutional to treat women and men differently when it comes to registering as status Indians.

The change means the grandchildren of First Nations women who married non-First Nations men will finally be recognized as status Indians under the act. Currently only grandchildren of First Nations men who marry non-First Nations women retain the status recognition. Grandchildren will be eligible

[CielOnTap]

Will Rick Mercer be following next Tuesday's answer session by Harper? Questions, questions.

Pot, Palin and prorogation: Harper gets grilled on YouTube
Fri Mar 12, 6:34 PM
By Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - After being called a "pansy" by a cartoon Sarah Palin, Stephen Harper's experiment with YouTube might yet leave him pining for the parliamentary press gallery.

By late afternoon Friday, the response to the prime minister's pitch this week to hear from Canadians via the popular video website yielded 1,200 questions.

They hit on a wide variety of topics, including many Harper likely won't be eager to address - like legalizing marijuana and 9/11 conspiracy theories. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100312/national/harper_youtube

To access that Youtube channel, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/TalkCanada

[CielOnTap]

Guergis is also dealing with the fallout from husband Rahim Jaffer's careless-driving charge. Jaffer, a former Conservative MP, saw charges of impaired driving and drug possession dropped — a "break" in the words of the judge who heard his case.

"When you're in the press, and you're on the front page of the newspaper for something other than good sound public policy, it's never good," Grey said. "The two of them are just in a dill pickle."

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=23634439

A political duo got the pickle quote. That is how one knows s/he has arrived--there is a sentiment or expression attached to their name.

[CielOnTap]

Summit Survivor
G20 will allow Torontonians all the dignity of airport security without even travelling to Pearson
According to city leaders, the security planners in Ottawa aren’t listening to Toronto’s logistical concerns. Case in point: the summit—which will bring thousands of dignitaries (including Barack Obama), media and protesters to the downtown core—is going to collide head-on with a huge Blue Jays game at the Rogers Centre, one where Roy Halladay faces his old teammates for the first time as a Philly. While no one expects the summit to be cancelled because of a sporting event, we can’t help but be reminded of the city’s push to hold the summit at the Ex to avoid the crushing congestion.

Part of the problem is that Ottawa’s security planning seems to be based more on Google Maps than Google Streetview. Trinity-Spadina Councillor Adam Vaughan told the Post:

I’ve seen one transportation plan that involves walking people from Union Station, down Bay Street, along Lake Shore Boulevard and up Rees Street to the SkyDome… This was suggested by the folks up in Ottawa as being the easiest way to handle a crowd of 50,000 people. We had to explain to them that they would have to build a sidewalk on those streets, that there actually isn’t a sidewalk on Lake Shore Boulevard.
http://www.torontolife.com/daily/informer/summit-survivor/2010/03/20/g20-will-allow-torontonians-all-the-dignity-of-airport-security-without-even-travelling-to-pearson/

Next thing I'll expect to read is that OCTranspo will shuttle people around in Toronto--but wait. The Ottawa public transit company has its own issues with routes and service in Ottawa as it is.

The summit people cannot block off Union Station from the people. They can take over the Convention Centre doors from the Skywalk, but not take over all public spaces which are connected to transportation and amusements in the area. The taxpayers will not be amused to be footing the bill for unreasonable walls of no access. Does the federal government intend to reimburse commuters who cannot access transit? What of accessibility issues? Or giving the City of Toronto money to offset the headaches coming to its turf?

[CielOnTap]

Hydro bill to get even bigger
Energy consulting firm calls $15-a-month increase `tip of an iceberg' that could cost up to $300 a year
Published On Fri Apr 2 2010
JOHN SPEARS
ROBERT BENZIE
STAFF REPORTERS
A forecast increase of $15 a month in electricity costs for householders isn't as high as it sounds, says an energy consulting firm. It's actually higher. Aegent Energy Advisors Inc. says that by 2011, consumers will typically be paying about $25 a month more for electricity than they do today, an increase of $300 a year. That's a 26 per cent increase for a typical Toronto household, which now pays just under $100 a month, says Aegent.

At Queen's Park, Energy and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid disputed the figure, but did not offer one of his own.

"Those numbers don't appear to be anything near to what I've seen," Duguid told the Star. He pointed out that time-of-use pricing allows consumers to shift power use to lower-priced times of the day. http://www.thestar.com/business/article/789274--hydro-bill-to-get-even-bigger?bn=1

There are going to be longer lineups at the food banks when people, who don't get wage hikes beyond the provincial change in minimum wages, have to cut something out of their monthly budget to cover utilities. Has the province communicated to property managers at apartments about extending laundry room hours to allow cheaper electric use of laundry equipment? Best way to to get angry about the increases is to write to the Ontario Energy Board asking for explaination of increases and cc:ing the utility company that is applying for the price increase.


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Ontario to get 18 more seats in House of Commons
Parliament overhaul boosts strength of Ontario, B.C. and Alberta
Published On Thu Apr 1 2010
Susan Delacourt
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has given Ontario two surprise gifts – 18 additional members of Parliament and an admission that the province was badly treated in previous attempts to overhaul the Commons.

Many of the new MPs will likely be in the GTA, particularly in the suburbs, where Conservatives have been keen to form a strong base in Ontario.

In legislation unveiled on Thursday by Steven Fletcher, Minister of State of Democratic Reform, Ontario was given 18 additional seats – nearly double the 10 that were offered the last time the federal government tried to adjust representation in the Commons.

“Canadians living in Ontario were saying they were being treated differently than Canadians in other faster-growing provinces,” Fletcher said. “We reflected on that and it turns out that there was a case to be made.”http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/788873--ontario-to-get-18-more-seats-in-house-of-commons?bn=1

[Smitty]

Obviously you can thank the billions of dollars the B.C. Govt wasted on the Olympics for sure & others will look at the prior waste of money on the same factor.

If India wins the Summer Olympic games one has to wonder how it will obtain the money needed through the year plus of preparing unless it does a lot of swindling & we do know that many people from India do this or are accutome to it over in India.

[CielOnTap]

If you were watching CPAC in the last week, the proposed Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Columbia is not popular with all elected politicians. In fact, one MP said that Columbians have said now is not the time for an agreement, but to return again another time. Same MP mentioned how NAFTA was sold as helping jobs and citizens here but that did not quite work out.

Critics argue the deal mustn’t proceed without a comprehensive, independent review of its potential impact on human rights. Said Hoyos: If Canada, “known for respecting human rights,” goes ahead with the deal, “it will be backing the regime of human rights violators.”

The Uribe government portrays Colombia as a “post-conflict” country (in terms of widespread civil war with leftist guerrillas), apart from the aforementioned war on drugs and terrorism. The death squads no longer exist, goes the mantra.

Kathy Price, Colombia specialist for Amnesty International Canada, says her organization is concerned over “a whitewash of the facts in Colombia ... where death squads continue to operate with impunity.”

Adds Price: “Let no one be under any false impression things are resolved in Colombia.”

A recent Amnesty International study says more than 60 percent of people forced from their homes and land come from areas of mineral, agricultural and other economic importance. “The fighting has provided a useful cover for those seeking to expand and protect economic interests,” says the report. “The civilian population continues to bear the brunt of the violence.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/789443--is-colombia-free-enough-for-free-trade-with-canada

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Ford wants more accountability on how travel dollars are spent.

“There aren’t any rules,” he said. “You can go around the world and put it under your travel expenses, which is a separate expense outside your regular budget. You never have to give any explanation, never have to give a report back to council and you can turn a one-day conference into a 14-day holiday.”

Candidate George Smitherman agreed with Ford, saying council’s spending habits on travel are “as if the money was burning a hole in their pockets.”

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/04/02/13450841.html

Former Ontario Health Minister Smitherman, now in the running for Toronto's mayoral chair, shows himself as defending the taxpayers, but nothing seemed to apply to him when he was at the Ministry of Health and the cost overruns for the Smart Health project, later called e-Health.

Wonder if he is experiencing a familiar feeling at the annual release of the list of public servants with $100K or more in incomes/salaries, as some people working for Health are still being pegged as university or hospital employees instead of consultants/employees for the Health Ministry.

Taxpayers duped on sunshine list, critics charge
Published On Thu Apr 1 2010
Rob Ferguson and Robert Benzie
Queen’s Park Bureau
The Liberal government is on the defensive for continuing to channel salaries for top-earning civil servants through hospitals and other institutions where they are not employed.

Despite a promise from Premier Dalton McGuinty last October that “we’re going to change it,” salaries such as the $511,971 paid to former deputy health minister Ron Sapsford were still listed through hospitals in the government’s annual four-volume “sunshine list” made public Thursday.

The list reveals the earnings of public employees making more than $100,000 annually.

As first revealed by the Star last October, the government has been hiding the salaries of some high-rolling bureaucrats to avoid public scrutiny and skirt civil service pay guidelines, such as the maximum of $220,150 recommended for deputy ministers. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/789132--taxpayers-duped-on-sunshine-list-critics-charge

[CielOnTap]

Hunt may be on for our new GG
Michaelle Jean said to be on the outs with PM

By Amy Husser, Canwest News Service
With files from the Calgary Herald
April 4, 2010

A new viceregal tenant may soon be getting the keys to Rideau Hall -- but just who the country's next governor general will be, and when he or she might move in, remains a mystery. Reports have circulated for months that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is not planning to extend Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean's term.

The Toronto Star reported Saturday that Harper is now "actively seeking her replacement," going so far as to approach Canada's Man in Motion, Rick Hansen, as a possible replacement.

Other names that have surfaced are Inuit leader Mary Simon, the current president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and retired Canadian Forces general John de Chastelain.http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Hunt/2761786/story.html

The position basically now requires a bilingual candidate. There is no way that William Shatner will want to live away from his horse farm in order to represent Canada. He got his fame at the Winter Games, though he lives in the US. Preston Manning? What, are jobs drying up for the former leader? Nothing would say nepotism better than for him to be asked by our PM to be the next Governor General. His French was rusty--think he has kept up his lessons after leaving political leadership?

[CielOnTap]

I have to give Mr. Duceppe credit for his answer to the question about the possibility of Newfoundland seeking its own separation. He said it was up the people of Newfoundland to make that decision. Notice his reply to how people see themselves-Canadians outside of Quebec or Quebeckers inside Quebec. I assume his Quebec answer does not apply to the First Nations people residing in that province.

Last updated at 3:24 PM on 07/04/10
Duceppe says separation should be province’s decision
The Telegram

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe told a group of Memorial University students this afternoon that if Newfoundland wanted to separate from Canada, it would be this province’s decision to make.
When asked by a student whether he thought other provinces like Newfoundland and Alberta might follow Quebec’s lead if it became a sovereign nation, which could lead to a complete breakdown of Canada, Duceppe pointed out what he feels are differences between the two provinces in the east and west.
“I would say that Newfoundland was once a nation … so, it’s different from Alberta, but it’s your decision,” Duceppe said. “I don’t want to talk about what you have to decide. It’s your own decision.”http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=335686&sc=79

Mr. Duceppe will be in Toronto tomorrow http://www.blocquebecois.org/dossiers/tournee-canadienne-2010/ but it seems he will be in private meetings with people from CD Howe Institute, College Boreal, and the Ontario Federation of Labour (Sid Ryan).

[Smitty]

Well all of us realize that our present PM really counts of the GG, like with his minority Govt again of where he needed time to try & sort things out, to also the additional lay-off from House of Commons so they could all attend the Winter Olympics with their free tickets & whatever.

Bet you even money he will try to get the present GG to run for another year or more. YET some of the Vets do not look upon here as the proper person in said position to where some turned their back on her. We have to remember the Gal from China that bought her way into Canada also wasted a maze of money in teravelling all around Cdn, clothes to you name it. She really had a wonderful time.