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Canadian politics- "to work! We have a government to defeat!"


maarsen

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Sometimes things like this can happen when you say enough is enough and finally choose the devil you don't know!
http://business.financialpost.com/news/energy/oil-execs-say-notley-more-collaborative-than-previous-conservative-government-in-tackling-royalties

(Written out in full because link button isn't working)

Edited for ps - I can't believe that not ready advertising nonsense is actually getting through as a believable key message. I'll direct people to this low budget gem http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/03/liberal-parody-ad-omar-alghabra_n_7506294.html
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Warning: wonky train of thought begun while doing the crossword while tired.

 

I had a random idea about Harper and his support of Israel, which came up in the NYT article linked by FB. His unqualified support of Israeli policies (thinking about the settlers vs Palestinians) has parallels with his unwillingness to acknowledge the hardships of First Nations peoples: same principle, settlers vs colonized. It may be unconscious on his part, but it feels like empathy with the Palestinians/First Nations is a place where he really doesn't want to go. He may have a bunch of those, but that's all I got tonight. Except that the Conservatives were in third place in the most recent poll. 

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Warning: wonky train of thought begun while doing the crossword while tired.
 
I had a random idea about Harper and his support of Israel, which came up in the NYT article linked by FB. His unqualified support of Israeli policies (thinking about the settlers vs Palestinians) has parallels with his unwillingness to acknowledge the hardships of First Nations peoples: same principle, settlers vs colonized. It may be unconscious on his part, but it feels like empathy with the Palestinians/First Nations is a place where he really doesn't want to go. He may have a bunch of those, but that's all I got tonight. Except that the Conservatives were in third place in the most recent poll.


That's a really interesting thought.

What poll was this? The Huffington Post has been saying the most recent poll shows them just above the NDP.


And I've been thinking of all the reasons why they called an early election. Add to the list if you have more ideas:

1. The Cons own polls showed them in a close race, but likely to get a minority government. They could announce the usual 4 year election date, but after 2 years call an election, and the only party with enough money to show well would be them, since the NDP and the Liberals don't raise as much money.

2. Related to the above, they wanted to drain resources of the Opposition, but also start spending money that they will get 50% of back after the election. All the pre-election money they spend is on their own ticket, once the election gets called it's all campaign expense and reimbursable.

3. The Cons really, really expected that the TPP would be signed that weekend, or a few days later. By calling the election, the parties who are going to suffer under the TPP would be blocked from advertising against the Cons.

4. The whole issue in general of shutting up 3rd party advertising.

5. The Duffy trial wouldn't be picked up by 3rd party advertisers, since it's in the election period. Only 3 weeks are scheduled, then there's another break, and by the end of September it will be long gone from the public's memory.
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John Ibbotson, a Globe and Mail reporter and columnist, and a fawning acolyte of PM Harper, has just written a book about him called Stephen Harper. The Globe got Bob Rae to write a review of the book, which appears in today's paper, Saturday, August 15 (I see it's Sunday already). The review can be found here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/review-john-ibbitsons-biography-of-stephen-harper-shows-a-man-prepared-to-go-to-great-lengths-to-hang-on-to-power/article25968043/

I especially enjoyed the closing paragraph of the review.

Harper and his government have had a good deal of analysis and criticism, from Paul Wells to Michael Harris, and Ibbitson’s account adds good value to the mix. One can disagree with his perspective and savour the nuggets of insight. I had not known about Harper’s love of the original Twilight Zone, which I share. One episode comes to mind. A spaceship lands and appears to be led by friendly people who have a book they are sharing called To Serve Man. They encourage the people they are meeting to come on board the spaceship to visit their planet. As the doors of the spaceship close for the voyage, the code to the book is finally broken. It’s a cookbook. I suppose the same might be said about the Conservative election platform. Only time will tell whether Canadians decide to go along for the ride one more time.

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So.... think we can put a close on Harper's government though?

 

Tonight I was with my family on my Mother's side and the subject of politics came up. The comments were a little dumbfounding to be honest. All gave disparaging remarks about the Conservatives and Harper, but their opinions hinged on indecision of the other parties. "Justin Trudeau isn't ready", "The NDP are something we never want in" (I live in BC, and the experience of their time in power turns a lot of people here frosty towards them). For my sister, who has a daughter as a single parent, said that she would tolerate a continued Harper regime because she believed there would be a continued economic "balance". All the while they blame a lack of change of participation of young voters, when it I was observing my Grandmother, my Mother, and two Aunts, seemingly sliding to a apathetic acceptance of the Conservatives. :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:

 

They probably voted for Christy Clark too.

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Warning: wonky train of thought begun while doing the crossword while tired.

 

I had a random idea about Harper and his support of Israel, which came up in the NYT article linked by FB. His unqualified support of Israeli policies (thinking about the settlers vs Palestinians) has parallels with his unwillingness to acknowledge the hardships of First Nations peoples: same principle, settlers vs colonized. It may be unconscious on his part, but it feels like empathy with the Palestinians/First Nations is a place where he really doesn't want to go. He may have a bunch of those, but that's all I got tonight. Except that the Conservatives were in third place in the most recent poll. 

 

You are overthinking it. Harper's support of Israel is easy to understand.

 

Harper is a Republican. He's a bog-standard hardcore conservative in the american (and now, sadly, Canadian) mold. All his rhetoric and actions reflect this.

 

And unquestioning support for Israel is one of the planks of this ideology. It's alot of shit related to religion and "democracy" as an unquestioned good and such. But that's where it comes from.

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You are overthinking it. Harper's support of Israel is easy to understand.

 

Harper is a Republican. He's a bog-standard hardcore conservative in the american (and now, sadly, Canadian) mold. All his rhetoric and actions reflect this.

 

And unquestioning support for Israel is one of the planks of this ideology. It's alot of shit related to religion and "democracy" as an unquestioned good and such. But that's where it comes from.

More like he would be a Republican if he were in the US, but he would have mimicked any other party down south if it was shown to "work". I mean he seems more intent on looking down south for inspiration for policy than any other avenues.

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More like he would be a Republican if he were in the US, but he would have mimicked any other party down south if it was shown to "work". I mean he seems more intent on looking down south for inspiration for policy than any other avenues.

 

Nah, he's a dyed-in-the-wool right-winger. He's not gonna be copying Obama's policies cause he thinks they work.

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Not saying that he isn't, but what I meant to say (which I didn't actually looking back) was that it took both American Republicans and Democrats to build up the system of policies that they follow/followed religiously for decades now. Like building up their massive prison infrastructure, unquestioned support for Israel, etc.

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Not saying that he isn't, but what I meant to say (which I didn't actually looking back) was that it took both American Republicans and Democrats to build up the system of policies that they follow/followed religiously for decades now. Like building up their massive prison infrastructure, unquestioned support for Israel, etc.

 

What does that even mean? I have no idea what you are saying.

 

Re: Harper

 

Again, he is just a standard right-wing conservative in the american mold. You could go down a list of his policies and check every one off on a standard republican party platform. The only difference is he tends to keep this shit more on the downlow because he knows the secret to his success is keeping the Canadian public uninformed and apathetic.

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Not the most articulate person in the world, but here goes.

 

Politically he is as right wing as you can get, and I am certainly not supportive of his stances or his attempt to chameleon himself through politics without showing where he stands on the political spectrum. If he were in the US he just wouldn't be vocal on his stance just like here. So I pretty much agree with your assessment.

 

As to the other bits that I was trying to bring forth, and instead came out like "lkbjfkjadsfbafkljbdafgafads324325asilba", I've lost the thought process i had behind them. So going back to try to explain it will be difficult. Later on when I have collected my thoughts on the subject I'll try again to explain what I meant in what is hopefully a better manner.

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Posting while drunk is always dangerous. :P

I hadn't gotten around to reading last Saturday's Globe until last night, but they had two rather nasty articles in it worth reading. The first is an excerpt from Ibbotson's book on Harper, which I mentioned up thread, which I immediately refused to read but then came back to, like a moth to the flame. The section they chose to highlight discusses Trinity College at the University of Toronto, where all the upper class (Protestant) elites send their kids. Harper, an outsider, loathed the place and dropped out after two weeks. His father then used a contact to find him the classic job in the mailroom of a big company, Imperial Oil in Calgary, where he worked for 3 years before returning to university.

So my belief that Harper never worked at a real job in his life is wrong. Three years in the mailroom, from age 19 to 22. The article goes on to discuss his famous rages and his need to control everything. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/stephen-harper-the-making-of-a-prime-minister/article25809825/

The second article almost made me want to puke. It's about Russ Brown, someone who's name you'll be hearing a lot of for the next 30 years as he tries to re-shape your life. He's the right wing conservative libertarian academic from Alberta with virtually no experience on the bench (2 years) who Harper has appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, without any kind of parliamentary review, something he demanded when he was in opposition. Harper seems to have searched for someone who despises the SCC as much as he does and has as much of a hatred for the Liberal party as he does as well.

On Oct. 21, 2008, with the Liberal Party looking for a new leader after Stéphane Dion stepped down, Justice Brown blogged: “As someone who hopes the Grits just fade away by the next election, I’m cheering for Justin Trudeau or Joe Volpe. Or have I missed a possible candidate who is as unspeakably awful?”

Someone asked in response whether his position was based on a hatred of the nanny state. His reply was that he is “no fan of the nanny state,” but more important is that “I’m no fan of any party that comes to see itself as the embodiment of the nation.”

His sympathies with the Conservatives are clear. On Sept. 8, 2008, responding to a blog post describing Prime Minister Stephen Harper as “scary,” he said: “I don’t see it. Admittedly, I harbour some hope for a hidden agenda, but I doubt it’s going to happen.” (Critics had said Mr. Harper had a “hidden agenda” of conservative policies that would emerge once he had a majority government.)


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/law-school-blog-sheds-light-on-supreme-courts-newest-judge/article25803859/
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Posting while drunk is always dangerous. :P

I hadn't gotten around to reading last Saturday's Globe until last night, but they had two rather nasty articles in it worth reading. The first is an excerpt from Ibbotson's book on Harper, which I mentioned up thread, which I immediately refused to read but then came back to, like a moth to the flame. The section they chose to highlight discusses Trinity College at the University of Toronto, where all the upper class (Protestant) elites send their kids. Harper, an outsider, loathed the place and dropped out after two weeks. His father then used a contact to find him the classic job in the mailroom of a big company, Imperial Oil in Calgary, where he worked for 3 years before returning to university.

So my belief that Harper never worked at a real job in his life is wrong. Three years in the mailroom, from age 19 to 22. The article goes on to discuss his famous rages and his need to control everything. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/stephen-harper-the-making-of-a-prime-minister/article25809825/

The second article almost made me want to puke. It's about Russ Brown, someone who's name you'll be hearing a lot of for the next 30 years as he tries to re-shape your life. He's the right wing conservative libertarian academic from Alberta with virtually no experience on the bench (2 years) who Harper has appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, without any kind of parliamentary review, something he demanded when he was in opposition. Harper seems to have searched for someone who despises the SCC as much as he does and has as much of a hatred for the Liberal party as he does as well.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/law-school-blog-sheds-light-on-supreme-courts-newest-judge/article25803859/

Something about Harper rubbed me the wrong way right from the start.I have been around long enough to recognize the type.He desperately wants to be a member of the elite, but he didn't have the wherewithal (mentally) and is full of resentment at not being recognized as such. 

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I keep seeing people say that Ontario has more debt than the federal government and all the provinces combined. Here is an RBC set of statistics on all the provinces and the federal government, in case you get into a discussion with anyone about finances. http://www.rbc.com/economics/economic-reports/pdf/provincial-forecasts/prov_fiscal.pdf

The federal debt is $616 billion, Ontario debt is $284.1, and all the other provinces combined is $293.6 billion.

The Fraser Institute compared Ontario to California, which has a $150 Billion in debt. But Ontario has a surplus of $5.7 billion in their pension fund and California has $120 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, so, effectively, liabilities of $270 billion. And California has a $2 trillion dollar economy, while Ontario has a GDP of $720 billion. But California can't borrow money, it's fiscally tied up, unable to borrow more than $300,000, in a $2 trillion dollar economy. So it slashes and burns it's services, like schools, universities, health care and social services. And Ontario pays for more services on it's own, services that are split between the federal government and the states in the US. California can't manage it's debt the way Ontario can, and, as a result, California has a very low debt rating and Ontario has very good debt rating.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/21/ontario_is_no_california_when_it_comes_to_debt.html
http://blogs.wsj.com/canadarealtime/2014/03/18/ontario-debt-looks-much-worse-than-californias-at-first-glance/


Just raising this because of attacks on Ontario I've been seeing from the Cons. :P
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Warning: wonky train of thought begun while doing the crossword while tired.

 

I had a random idea about Harper and his support of Israel, which came up in the NYT article linked by FB. His unqualified support of Israeli policies (thinking about the settlers vs Palestinians) has parallels with his unwillingness to acknowledge the hardships of First Nations peoples: same principle, settlers vs colonized. It may be unconscious on his part, but it feels like empathy with the Palestinians/First Nations is a place where he really doesn't want to go. He may have a bunch of those, but that's all I got tonight. Except that the Conservatives were in third place in the most recent poll. 

If Harper starts to acknowledge First Nations treaty rights in a meaningful way, for example, by agreeing to sell federal land back to First Nations, allowing the Kapyong Barracks to be commercially developed and finally doing something about Kenaston Blvd (it's a Winnipeg thing, folks), then his whole economic philosophy will be compromised.  His idea of economic development for Canada heavily depends upon resource extraction, resource extraction on Crown land, which if treaties had any real meaning, would mean that First Nations would share in the profits.  But of course, that could never happen, as the few agreements he does make with First Nations are heavily skewed in favour of the developers, and always are bargained with a gun pointed at First Nations' heads.  So it is basically the settlers vs. colonized dynamic where the settlers have no reason to change from their privileged status, except from his perspective, that privileged status is necessary if Canada is to prosper.  There's no way full treaty recognition will ever come from the likes of him.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

This just came up on my Facebook page, from Meanwhile in Canada:

HOW TO START EACH DAY WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

1.  Create a new file on your computer

2.  Name it "Stephen Harper"

3.  Send it to the Recycle Bin

4.  Empty the Recycle Bin

5.  Your computer will ask you, "Do you really want to get rid of Stephen Harper?"

6.  Firmly click "Yes"

Feel better?

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Actually, I just read the new Report On Business magazine. Nice article on how Harper is really a poor manager of economic policy but great at pretending to be good. I have been talking about this for a bit now but the rest of the country seems to have clued in finally. In terms of actually managing an economy, Paul Martin beats him hands down. Harper is a putz.

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Actually, I just read the new Report On Business magazine. Nice article on how Harper is really a poor manager of economic policy but great at pretending to be good. I have been talking about this for a bit now but the rest of the country seems to have clued in finally. In terms of actually managing an economy, Paul Martin beats him hands down. Harper is a putz.


Apropos of this, I just posted elsewhere about Harper stating in 2008 that no one could have predicted the price of oil would fall so much, and again this year saying the same thing, and that we have no control over international events. The man has a MA in Economics, but I learned in Economics 101 in first year university that resource economies have sharp rises and very sharp drops, yet he doesn't know this. He was a grown man in 1988 when oil fell below $20, down below $10 at one point and stayed there for about a year, and he had been an MP by 1999 when oil fell to $15, yet he had no idea that oil could drop to $40 in 2008 or once again, in 2015. The man is bloody incompetent.
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