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Mr. Iffy proudly plans how to increase the deficit

Posted by Joanne on 8 February 2010, 9:01 am

I’m just going to point out a few recent events  here, and let’s see if you can spot a worrying pattern.

(1) Dalton McGuinty introduces full-day Kindergarten. (And the ETFO loves it!!!)

(2) Michael Ignatieff marvels at Dalton’s sheer courage and audacity to bring such an expensive program in at a time when the economy is in fragile recovery-mode and Ontario is a Have-Not Province.   In fact, he exclaims with unabashed hero-worship:

“When I see a Dalton McGuinty get up in the teeth of a recession, in the teeth of a deficit, and commit to full-day kindergarten, I am proud to be a Liberal,” he told the crowd.

(3) Mr. Iffy announces big National Childcare program – “I’m not going to allow the deficit discussion to shut down discussion in this country about social justice.” Oh my, how very Daltonesque of you!

(4) Expert predicts costs for daycare will rise as a direct result of Full-day kindergarten.

Mmmm….

So is Mr. Iffy taking a page from Dalton’s book? Or worse, is he planning an Ontario bail-out if he becomes PM?

Monte Solberg suggests it wouldn’t take much to twist Dalton’s arm on this one (H/T Liz J):

…Sure the provinces will roll over if the Liberals throw enough money at them. They certainly did last time. But the government doesn’t have any money, except what it squeezes from taxpayers who can’t afford to pay more. And still there’s that deficit that could choke a horse.

But let’s say for argument’s sake that we agree to spend billions to box up little Timmy and mail him off every morning to the Gradgrind Educational Institution.

How then do we afford Iggy’s other important social justice imperative — providing a year’s worth of Employment Insurance benefits for only eight weeks of work? Geez I guess Iggy’s view is that you enter state care when you’re eight months old, and you never really leave it…

What a team.

Dalton and Mr. Iffy —>  Looking after Ontarians and Big Public Unions on the backs of taxpayers and their offspring from wealthier provinces.

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Filed under Dalton McGuinty, Iffy, Lemmings love taxes, Liberal Party of Donolo, Liberal arrogance, Liberal entitlement, Liberal machine, Michael Ignatieff, Nanny State, Only one tax-payer, Ontario government, Ours to Recover, Socialism, Your tax-dollars.
35 Comments

Answers to prorogation questions

Posted by Joanne on 6 February 2010, 9:20 am

Stephen Woodworth (Conservative MP for Kitchener Centre) has an excellent article in today’s Waterloo Region Record responding to the top four questions that he’s encountered regarding prorogation.

Woodworth’s piece is well organized and articulate.   I absolutely love what he says about our Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he answers the question, “If Prime Minister Stephen Harper didn’t do this for partisan advantage, why did he do this?”:

...Another good question. Harper is well known as a leader who carefully considers his decisions. You can be sure that he realized prorogation would create partisan criticism and not any significant partisan benefit. So why did he do it?

I find our prime minister to be exceptionally bright, forward-thinking with clear principles — which balance rights with obligations; which try to find the balance between care and cost. Here is my opinion…I trust him; I have found him to be honourable and I work well with him. He is a serious guy, and these are serious times. Imagine the challenges associated with running a minority parliament, the onset of a world-wide recession, American protectionism and global economic melt-downs – it is unprecedented and I am glad we have him at the helm. I find our prime minister handles all of this with great grace.

Late in 2008 an economic crisis that no one predicted occurred. The resulting recession was the worst since the great depression. So our Government introduced Canada’s Economic Action Plan — one of the most comprehensive stimulus packages in the industrialized world.

While the delivery of our economic action plan remains a top priority, the economic landscape is fundamentally different today. It is now time to consult with Canadians again. Based on these consultations we will set new priorities. The new agenda and priorities will be introduced in a Speech from the Throne and new budget in early March.

The prime minister has said he wants to “re-calibrate Parliament”. I believe it just makes good sense to take stock, catch your breath and create the next component of the plan that includes provisions for deficit reduction. You have every right to expect the government to treat your money with respect. If that involves more time for planning, then the time must be used intelligently…

He then goes on to talk about the Senate and committee composition etc. The whole column is a keeper.

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Sidenote to Stephen Woodworth: I enjoyed the vanilla-marble Canadian Flag cake at this New Year’s Levee, but last year’s offering was unbeatable from a taste perspective.  I still have dreams about that cake.  I think some of my readers do too although they had to experience vicariously.  Maybe next year?  Please?

steven-woodworth_levee355-x-266

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Boring Technical Note:

The previous post Michael, you didn’t get it done ended up on the Blogging Tories aggregator under the heading of Harper Accomplishments rather than Blue Like You. Hopefully that was a one-off. We’ll see what happens when I publish this one.

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Update

A few inconvenient facts about those so-called ‘non-partisan’ anti-prorogation rallies – H/T Shrug.

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Sunday Update

Some federal Conservatives now jumpy about prorogation backlash - Persichilli, Hill Times:

...Furthermore, the Liberals have already tried to bring the government down last fall, but their action failed miserably because the other two opposition parties didn’t bite and supported the government. To go to the polls, the Liberals need something more consistent in electoral support, and if they get it, it will not come from the Conservatives, but most likely from the Bloc Québécois in Quebec and the NDP in the rest of the country.

If that happens, I’m not sure that the other two parties are eager to switch from a Harper minority government to one led by Ignatieff, the same guy who killed the coalition of 2008 between the three opposition parties.

It would be politically wise for the Liberals to work hard to rebuild the party, the policies and the leader, before gambling on their future and that of the country.

Unfortunately, they have tried once and they could try again. For some in the Liberal Party going back to power is everything and, it also might be that losing again to another minority Conservative government will give them the opportunity to get rid of Ignatieff which would be seen by some Liberals as a victory in itself.

Filed under Canadian Government, Canadian Parliament, Canadian economy, Harper best PM ever, Harper smartest PM ever, Stephen Harper.
87 Comments

Michael, you didn’t get it done

Posted by Joanne on 5 February 2010, 6:20 pm

‘Too little, too late’ says Mr. Iffy in response to the settlement of the Buy American dispute.  And yet he takes part of the credit:

“As well, he says he brought up the issue when he met with President Barack Obama last February in Ottawa.”

Well gee. Maybe if he had tried a little harder…

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Related

Liberals Can’t Handle “Good News” For Canada – Canadian Sense

John Ivison: Give Harper some credit for getting it done – National Post (H/T Jen).   And look how nicely our headlines dovetail.

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Sunday Update

While he’s at it, maybe Ignatieff could bring back that carbon tax idea – Randall Denley

Liberal mudslinging - Toronto Star!!!

Grit daycare plan a daydream – Greg Weston, Sun

Filed under Canada-U.S. Relations, Canadian economy, Iffy, Iggyssiah, Liberal arrogance, Michael Ignatieff, U.S. politics, Uncategorized.
36 Comments

The Asbestos Enablers

Posted by Joanne on 5 February 2010, 7:58 am

Even though Jean Charest and the Federal Conservative government frequently find themselves at odds on environmental issues, they appear to be co-conspirators regarding the export of asbestos as Jeffrey Simpson points out this morning:

…But Mr. Charest said it was up to India to act if it felt asbestos led to health problems. He was accompanied by a representative of an asbestos lobby group that receives money from both the federal and provincial governments; his group, he said, gives information to asbestos users about its possible risks. In other words, caveat emptor! Meantime, it’s business as usual for Quebec’s asbestos exports…

Or is it just the environment that Jean Charest cares about? Not the health of people in developing countries?

And to the Conservative government, how about showing some backbone on this issue? You really don’t have much more to lose in Quebec anyway.

And to Mr. Iffy – Have you finally figured out where you stand?

Hypocrites the lot of you!

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Charest faces questions about export of asbestos during visit to India – Record

UN climate guru on skeptics: “hope that they apply it (asbestos) to their faces every day” - B.C Blue

Charest: Asbestos “is politically part of our history” – B.C. Blue

Filed under Canadian Government, Flicking politicians, Follow the money, Iffy, Iggo Waffles, Michael Ignatieff, Quebec politics, Voter cynicism, economy, health, hypocrisy.
28 Comments

Abortion – Just another method of contraception

Posted by Joanne on 4 February 2010, 1:42 pm

As B.C. Blue points out, Mr. Iffy’s really stuck his foot in it this time.

The National Post editorial board writes in Planned Propaganda:

…Mr. Ignatieff is staking out an absolutist pro-abortion ideology beyond any taken previously by his party. Even most pro-choice advocates stop short of casually lumping abortion in as just another uncontroversial “contraceptive method,” as Mr. Ignatieff appears to have done.

What’s worse, Mr. Ignatieff insists that the government hard-wire this view into its foreign aid initiatives, such as Mr. Harper’s recent proposal for G8 countries to increase support for health programs for women and children in the poorest countries. Would an Ignatieff government cancel aid to those countries which, for religious or cultural reasons, are opposed to abortion? Will Canadian social assistance to Afghanistan or Gaza be withheld until women there can prove they’ve adopted fashionable Liberal attitudes on the question of when life begins?

Even one of his own caucus members seems astounded (from Kevin Libin’s column):

…Keith Martin, a Liberal MP, physician, and opposition critic for health promotion, points out that in some countries, abortion isn’t tolerated, legally or culturally. About 80,000 women die every year worldwide from unsafe abortions, he said, while hundreds of thousands die every year during childbirth, and 10 times that many sustain permanent injuries and disabilities after unsafe deliveries. There are many simple and cheap ways, Dr. Martin said, to help mothers worldwide, from iron supplements to providing power that allows refrigerated medicines. “It would be a shame if the debate about abortion hijacks the larger issue of what we can do very simply to enable pregnant women to be able to deliver [babies] safely.”

Well if the debate is hijacked, you can blame your arrogant leader for that, Mr. Martin.

Or should we blame Peter Donolo?

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Related

Common ground on abortion – Theo Caldwell, Post:

…Meanwhile in this country, a recent Angus Reid poll finds that only one in five Canadians is aware that our abortion law (or lack thereof) permits a woman to have unrestricted access to abortion at any time during her pregnancy. Contrary to the received wisdom about Canadians’ social attitudes, the poll found that “respondents are almost evenly divided on whether the health care system should fund abortions whenever they are requested.”

Group Launches Petition in Support of “Censored” Canadian Pro-Life Ad – Lifesite

WARNING – This is a very upsetting video but I felt you needed the opportunity to see it since Global TV apparently doesn’t seem to think you should.

Facebook group here.

Petition here.

Very powerful ad. Should it be on television?  I certainly think it would force us out of our collective comfort zone and that is probably what worries them.

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And in other Opposition news

Seat projections raise spectre of Liberal-NDP coalition – Globe

If we had a Liberal government - Alberta Ardvark

Liberal Leader Ignatieff Responds to Firestorm of Criticism over Abortion Remarks – Lifesite

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Saturday Update

Abortion fight? Give us a break – Lorrie Goldstein

Ignatieff’s abortion plan ‘pathetic’: bishop – National Post

Yup.  Good way to woo the Catholic vote, Mr. Iffy.

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Sunday Update

Persichilli: Don’t blame the Bloc for minority governments – Star:

…The problem for the Liberals is lack of leadership. The leader is the icon of a political organization, and Canadians didn’t like what they saw in Paul Martin and Stéphane Dion – and by now they also know that Michael Ignatieff is like his two predecessors: an empty shell. The Liberals again are trying to draw a line between themselves and the Conservatives by proposing a child-care program, without saying how they would pay for it, and by rehashing old debates, such as about abortion, which the Conservatives have accepted in Canada. Now the Liberals want Harper also to commit to paying for abortions for women in Uganda…

Filed under Abortion, Arrogance, Coalition of the swilling, Goldstein, Iffy, Iggo Waffles, Incompetence, Liberal Party of Donolo, Michael Ignatieff, Peter Principle.
37 Comments

Stephen Taylor flags an improvement

Posted by Joanne on 4 February 2010, 8:45 am

Once again Stephen Taylor has come up with a novel idea for Blogging Tories (does this guy ever sleep?).

Now when you check out the Blogging Tories website, you’ll see provincial flags under each blogger’s entry. This is great for the BT community of both writers and readers because you can click on the flags to find all the latest posts from a particular province.  And from there we have a breakdown by key words according to province just to the right beside the bar graph.

And for those of us not able to readily identify provincial flags, just place your cursor over the flag and read the location at the bottom left of your screen.

Bonus – You can figure out which province your favourite Conservative blogger is located, if you didn’t already know.

Stephen Taylor – Always one step ahead of the pack in providing cutting-edge technological support for Blogging Tories as well as  an easy search format for Canadian Conservative supporters (and anyone else.)

And don’t forget – the Blogging Tories feed is also available on Twitter and ROFT.

I have even been known to put out the odd tweet myself, but I’m still in the learning stages.  (So they are very ‘odd’ tweets.)

Filed under Blogging, Twitter.
17 Comments

Were you really expecting anything else?

Posted by Joanne on 3 February 2010, 4:05 pm

The Crown has withdrawn charges against OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino (Tobi Cohen, Sun):

…The move by the Crown brought renewed calls from the Opposition for Premier Dalton McGuinty to appoint a prosecutor from another province to review the evidence.

“Bring in an outside prosecutor so people know there’s objectivity,” said Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

Attorney General Chris Bentley said the matter was dealt with in the “appropriate manner.”

Only in Ontario.

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Related:

Crown drops charges against top cop Fantino – Spectator

Crown withdraws charge against Fantino – Globe:

...Mr. McHale also reiterated his demand that an independent prosecutor be brought in to assess the merits of the charge.

In a brief interview, Tory justice critic Ted Chudleigh echoed that.

“We’ve always had the opinion that this should have had an outside prosecutor,” Mr. Chudleigh said.

“If the government influenced the Crown to drop the charge – that’s a big if – then that’s a huge concern.”

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Background:

OPP chief’s pursuit of activist laid bare in e-mails – Christie Blatchford, Globe

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Thursday Update

The ‘Fantino matter - Adam Radwanski:

To my slight surprise, this press release just landed in my inbox:

CHUDLEIGH CALLS FOR MCGUINTY TO EXPLAIN FANTINO MATTER

(Queen’s Park) – Today Ted Chudleigh, MPP (Halton) and PC Critic to the Attorney General, questioning how the Crown handled the charge against OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino and noting the failure of the Attorney General to assign an independent Crown Attorney, called on Dalton McGuinty to explain to Ontarians why the charge against Fantino was withdrawn.

Chudleigh would not comment on the allegations against Fantino; however, he noted, “The PC Party called on the Attorney General to assign a Crown Attorney from outside the Province to this case. This would have been consistent with the Attorney General’s decision with Michael Bryant’s file. It would have helped to ensure public trust in our justice system.”

With allegations concerning a conflict of interest within the Ministry of the Attorney General and in light of the Crown’s handling of this matter public confidence in, and respect for, our justice system has been threatened…

Check out the whole thing and Radwanski’s comments at the end. Some of you will feel vindicated regarding your criticism about the Progressive Conservatives on this file.

Fantino’s dropped charge raises ire – Sun:

A decision by an Ontario Crown attorney to withdraw a charge against OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino is being questioned after the province ignored requests for an out-of-province prosecutor.

PC Leader Tim Hudak said the province’s Crowns first argued that the charge should not be laid, and when contradicted by a judge, took over the prosecution and then dropped the charge.

An independent prosecutor from outside Ontario should have been brought in to go over the case, he said.
“Otherwise, quite frankly, we’re going to wonder why he’s had Crown attorneys arguing on both sides of this case,” Hudak said. “We need objectivity.”

Filed under Caledonia, Dalton McGuinty, OPP, Ours to Recover, Premier Hudak in 2011, Two-tiered justice.
12 Comments

Mr. Iffy’s Big Irresponsible Ideas

Posted by Joanne on 3 February 2010, 8:57 am

Michael Ignatieff wants Canadian taxpayers to fund public childcare at home and abortions in third world countries.

Well I suppose the latter could be seen to be part of their environmental policy as well as ’social justice’ and thereby kill two birds with one stone as it were, but where is the money going to come from?

And when even your media cheerleaders seem skeptical, you know at the very least that your messaging is faulty.

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Related:

Canadians ok with more spending this year but want taps turned back after: poll – CP:

...The survey results appear to mesh with the Harper government’s plan for the March 4 budget, which will implement the second year of the Conservatives’ economic stimulus plan even as it launches a spending review aimed at reining in costs the following year.

However, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff might be bucking public sentiment with his promise to pour money into child care and early-childhood education, no matter how deep the deficit, should he become prime minister…

How long will it take Mr.  Iffy to waffle on this one?

And did he advise the Liberal caucus about his big ideas? Apparently not.  Joan Bryden gives us the details in  “Ignatieff urges Harper not to exclude abortion, contraception from G8 health initiative”:

...The release went on to list a series of anti-abortion comments from various Conservative MPs, dating as far back as 1990. Most of the quotes were unrelated to Canada’s foreign aid policy.

The latter tactic was risky in so far as a good number of Liberal MPs hold equally strong views against abortion, including Toronto MP John McKay, who co-chaired Tuesday’s roundtable discussions.

Late Tuesday, Liberal MP Paul Szabo said he was caught off guard by the announcement and claims Ignatieff doesn’t have a consensus for the stand among Liberals.

“I am a pro-life MP and there are many of my colleagues in the Liberal caucus who will protect the unborn in their decisions as Parliamentarians, and should matters come before the House they will continue to act accordingly,” Szabo told the anti-abortion website, LifeSiteNews...

Oops!

If you click on the Lifesite link you’ll see that Szabo even calls the move ‘opportunistic’.

Good work Peter. Keep it up.

Ignatieff pokes abortion issue in search for a few votes – National Post

Michael Ignatieff: Yesterday’s Man, Today’s Fear-Monger – Alex G Tsakumis. (H/T Bourque)

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Thursday Update

‘They’re prepared to take aggressive position’ – Kevin Libin, Post:

“Of all the issues that you could possibly raise about women’s health, why would you start with abortion?” Mr. Flanagan says. “What kind of mindset is that that you have to start killing unborn babies in order to help people? It seems to be based on the now discredited theory that poverty in the Third World is based on overpopulation. I don’t think any serious scholar believes that anymore.”

Ah yes but perhaps Mr. Iffy sees it as a carbon offset type of policy.

Filed under Canadian economy, Iffy, Iggo Waffles, Iggyssiah, Liberal Party of Donolo, Michael Ignatieff, Peter Principle, The LPC is dysfunctional, hypocrisy.
56 Comments

Elections Canada – The Posterboy for non-partisanship

Posted by Joanne on 2 February 2010, 10:27 am

… and good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

Oh if only that were true:

…The Conservatives tend to sound paranoid when they talk about the “Liberal bureaucracy” but that doesn’t mean the bureaucrats at Elections Canada aren’t out to get them. Mr. Mayrand seems to be taking the case personally and it is fully expected he will now appeal the Federal Court decision.

The “in and out” scheme is, in fact, the second court case the elections agency has lost to the Conservatives in recent months. In an entirely separate spat, a judge ruled that Elections Canada is obliged to accept a cheque for nearly $600,000 from the Tories – money the party said should be paid back to taxpayers because it received too big a rebate from the 2004 and 2006 general elections.

The complicated case revolved around the Conservative contention that it was being subsidized twice – once by Elections Canada, in the form of a rebate for its election campaign expenses, and a second time by Revenue Canada because the party is a non-profit organization. Mr. Mayrand argued that changing the way political parties count their election expenses would compromise the “level playing field” he is trying to create. It could also require the Liberals to pay back an estimated $750,000 – money the party can ill-afford right now.

Incredibly, not only did the Chief Electoral Officer refuse to save taxpayers’ money by accepting the cash in the first place, he’s now appealing the decision – costing yet more public money in legal fees.

The Conservatives think Mr. Mayrand’s plan may be to wait them out – spending taxpayers dollars to continue what they say is “blatant harassment”.

At the same time, the Conservatives point out that six Liberal MPs who ran for the party leadership in 2006 have missed deadlines to repay loans made to their campaigns, apparently without any sanction from Mr. Mayrand...

- John Ivison, National Post

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Related

Another good reason to rethink election financing – Gazette:

…We still don’t see why taxpayers should have to pay anything to political parties. Nor do we see how complex spending rules, difficult to enforce and even to understand, really accomplish very much. Some new thinking is needed in this whole area.

Exactly.

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Wednesday Update

Dion, five leadership candidates get extensions on campaign debts – Ottawa Citizen:

…They also claimed that the instability of the minority government and the 2008 general election made fund-raising more difficult…

I have a solution!    Conservative majority!! – Just to help them out of course.

Liberal supporters should do their party a favour and vote conservative in the next election.

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Friday Update:

Elections Canada’s uneven playing field – Lorne Gunter

Filed under Elections Canada, Your tax-dollars.
67 Comments

Dalton’s Mommy need not worry

Posted by Joanne on 2 February 2010, 8:26 am

I’m starting to wonder if Dalton McGuinty’s mother is part of his close advisory circle.  At the very least he appears to be obsessed with her opinion regarding his political decisions  – whether or not he ends up following her advice.

Previously he’s made references to her reaction on all sorts of issues including the Flick-Off campaign and the Lord’s Prayer debacle.

Dalton’s latest revelation from his mother is that she  is  “now aware of what a prorogation is and she thinks prorogations are bad”, probably because the Media told her so.  Well actually Mrs. McGuinty, it’s only Conservative prorogations that are bad. Your son will get a free ride by MSM if he decides to prorogue.

The irony here is that as CFRA’s Rob Snow pointed out at the end of this audio clip, Dalton McGuinty has shut down the Ontario Legislature for 67 days as it is – longer than the current Federal prorogation (H/T Ed)

And where is the outrage concerning that affront to democracy?

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Friday Update:

McGuinty rejects call to reduce blended tax – Star:

…The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses had urged the government to reduce the blended tax by one percentage point earlier this week at a prebudget consultation hearing.

Federation president Catherine Swift said she wasn’t “shocked” to hear that McGuinty was not following their advice but she called the move unfortunate. “For them to rule it out is foolish,” she said.

One of the reasons they proposed a lower, combined rate was because when New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland harmonized their sales taxes, the new levy was reduced by several points, she said.

“That was a pretty darn seamless transition,” Swift said. The harmonized sales tax in those provinces now sits at 13 per cent.

Personal income tax rate cuts in Ontario were a “long time coming,” she said, adding people won’t make the connection between that and the looming HST. “A lower, combined rate would resonate much more positively with your average consumer out there.”

Byelection loss points to problem for Tories: expert – CTV:

…Both Horwath and Hudak accused the Liberal government of buying votes by investing in Grace, with Horwath calling it a “completely cynical move.”

Premier Dalton McGuinty rejected those accusations, saying his government has increased funding in Ontario hospitals by more than 40 per cent over the last six years.

“We have been investing dramatically in all our hospitals right across the province,” he said…

Well, I guess that would depend on the riding. Ask the good people of Cambridge about that one.

Filed under Canadian Parliament, Dalton McGuinty, Flicking politicians, HST, Just trust Dalton, Ontario Politics, Your tax-dollars, hypocrisy.
14 Comments
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