Justin Trudeau Wins

104,552 votes, yes just over 80% of the people who registered for the Liberal party of Canada leadership election ended up voting. A statement that was said quite often that night was that in this election more votes were cast than in any other leadership election. This is well...... true if we are talking about federal political parties.

In 2003 the Conservative leadership election
97,397 votes were cast
In 2012 the NDP leadership election
65,108 votes were cast

Although if we include provincial leadership elections the Liberal leadership election just held yesterday would only place second. The party that has obtained the most votes when it comes to electing a leader in Canada goes to the PQ (Parti Quebecois) in 2005. Yes in 2005 105,259 members of PQ voted to elect André Boisclair as leader of the PQ in Quebec.

Justin Trudeau first test as leader will be coming in the following month. That test will be the By-election in Labrador (which the Liberals are looking very likely as the winners). Justin Trudeau will most likely as all new leaders start to spike in the polls the important thing to watch here is how high will Justin Trudeau go. If Justin Trudeau ties with Harper or will Justin Trudeau lead and if so how much. All this is very important, because from the spike we can usually expect the true solid support to be anywhere 5-10% below.

What will also be interesting to watch is when will the new Conservative attack ads come, but right now it's the honeymoon. The Liberals are trying now to sell the new leader bit as much as they can to fund raise as much as possible, and the high poll numbers and media will help Liberal fortune's in the short run. The real show begins in the Fall session of next year, where Harper will have to start directing his attacks at either Mulcair or Trudeau.

A Doctor, A Rabbi and A Nobel Laureate Walk Into... (Part 1)

The Conservative cuts to refugee Health Care have sparked some controversy. And now doctors all around Canada as well as a Toronto Rabbi group from Toronto and even Elie Wisel a Nobel Laureate are joining together against these cuts.

The "reform" the Harper Government is proposing will designate which countries Canada considers safe and which Canada considers not safe. The people who come from the countries that Canada considers safe will receive no benefits what so ever. The safe country list and the not safe country list will be presented soon, but it is expected that Hungary will be on the safe list.

The Problem is that Canada main source of Asylum seekers are from Hungary and many of which are roma. A group that has been treated very badly especially in the last few years by the society in Hungary. The reforms will also effect countries that are not on the safe list no longer are able to get many services including:

payments for prescription drugs, vision care and dental coverage. They are entitled to medical health coverage only if it is of “an urgent or essential nature.”

This "reform" will take away help from legitimate refugee's and will again tarnish Canada's record on the world stage.

The top country of origin for refugee claimants in Canada is Hungary, and the majority of those refugees are Roma, a group that has had a strong bond with the Jews dating back to the Second World War.

As a former refugee, together with the Toronto Board of Rabbis, I feel morally compelled to remain on the side of other uprooted men and women everywhere,” said Mr. Wiesel, who was a keynote speaker two years ago at a conference on anti-Semitism in Ottawa that was organized with the help of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, the minister behind the refugee reforms. “Today, as yesterday, a nation is judged by its attitude towards refugees,” Mr. Wiesel wrote.

Read More here

Harper Meet Keedle. Your Black!

I an surprise of events Harper told Canada that the War on Drugs have failed. Now when I heard this I was on the verge of an aneurysm. Harper a Prime Minister who in the time of lowest crime rates in Canadian history put in place minimum sentencing and continued a U.S style War on Drugs crusade is now admitting that the war on drugs is over. But don't hold your breath the 10 billion dollars (or one accounting error) are still going to be built.

"What I think everybody believes," Harper said, "is that the current approach is not working. But it is not clear what we should do."

So Harper doesn't support the War on Drugs, but his crime bill says otherwise. Harper can't have it both ways. He can't say he doesn't support the War on Drugs then pass bills in the House of Commons that continues the same reckless crime policy that even the U.S is moving away from. Unless Harper chucks his crime bills and puts money into rehabilitation this statement makes him a hypocrite.

Drugs, he said, "are illegal because they quickly and totally — with many of the drugs — destroy people's lives." 

 The Liberal Party of Canada has had a clear stance on this. Stop the Americanization of our Prison system and end the support of drug cartels and legalizing pot!

Read more here

Harper: Not My Problem!

Harper may have a majority in the Canadian house of commons, but in the provincial legislatures (or National assembly in Quebec) people elected different people in government. Yet Harper is going to push down 137 million dollars in cost down the provinces budget for parole and persecution. While the Federal government would only have to pay an extra 9.7 million in parole and persecution. If Harper wants to waste money he can do that, but the provinces shouldn't be forced to pay money that they legislature of the province don't agree with. Harper likes control and he is trying to control our provinces!

The PBO attempts to calculate how government costs would be different if the measure was in place for the 2008-09 fiscal year. It concludes Ottawa would be on the hook for $7.9-million more in prosecution and parole review costs, while the provinces would face $137-million for higher prosecution, court, prison and parole review costs.

This is only part of the bill other parts of the bill will force our provinces to waste million more on prisons. Just because Harper doesn't want to spend money on this wasteful piece of legislation doesn't mean he should have the right to take control of the priority of the provinces budget. 

However the PBO report cautions this analysis only covers one aspect of one part of Bill C-10 and does not include potential capital costs such as building new prisons. Bill C-10, the “Safe Streets and Communities Act,” is an omnibus bill that brings together nine previously separate pieces of legislation that had been introduced but not passed before the last election.

 Read More here

Election Tampering! MAYBE!

Elections can get ugly and in the last election it was apparently especially ugly. With constant amount of evidence showing that people in many ridings were called to lie about a polling station change. If it can be proven that enough people were disenfranchised from voting in a riding there can be by-election. Now I can't say that all the allegations are true, because I always maintain the "innocent till proven guilty" approach, but I think that if it can be proven and if enough By elections are held it can be possible that the Conservatives will lose seats.

there are enough ridings that it could be possible (important word possible) that the Conservatives if by-elections are called could lose the 12 or more seats which would mean Harper would lose his majority. Now this is very out there and I won't hold my breath for this to happen, but even with the odds very low I still think it is entirely possible that Harper could lose some seats. 

What A Surprise!!

The Conservatives never seem to stop amazing me on how much hypocrisy is in their government. When the gun registry was being battled in the house of commons one of the main arguments was that the gun registry was inefficient and was a waste of money. Considering the gun registry only cost 2 million dollars (about the same amount of money as that fake lake) this argument doesn't hold water. But Vic Toes is proposing 80 million dollars of money to go towards surveying what we do on the internet.

C-30, a bill to update Canadian law when it comes to crimes committed online, will cost $20 million a year for the first four years and $6.7 million a year after that, Public Safety Canada told the CBC's Hannah Thibedeau on Wednesday.

So let me get this straight a gun registry which police have said helps them against crime that cost 2 million is wasteful, but a 80 million dollar program with a 6.7 million dollar running cost to spy on us is just fine. The Conservatives are continuing to show that they aren't smart on crime!

Legalizing Drugs! Liberals are Here!

Mexico is going to try and convince Canada and the U.S to rethink the war on drug policy. This is a few decades over due. The war on drugs in the U.S have costed billions of dollars, and has helped result in the fact that America has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Harper who created minimum sentences that have proved only to increase crime in the U.S.

Prime Minister who has stiffened drug laws at home, imposing mandatory minimum sentences for the possession of six marijuana plants, for example. 

Mexico is the extreme example of the war on drug policy going bad. With drug cartels still practically controlling parts of Mexico, and even though the U.S has provided 1 billion to Latin America to deal with it the problem continues. Obama and Harper are coming very reluctant to do anything. Only if us Liberals were in charge would maybe something get done.

The Liberal party of Canada has endorsed in 2012 the full legalization of Marijuana. It seems Mexico will be the first country to endorse this plan. And since Obama and Romney are both against legalization that gives Canada time till 2015 to be second in the three country relationship to join the "smart on crime" plan.

 Mr. Perez wrote in a recent op-ed in the Observer newspaper: “We have to find new solutions to Latin America’s drugs nightmare. Drug consumption is a public-health issue that, awkwardly, has been transformed into a criminal-justice problem.”

 Guatemala now has one of the highest homicide rates in the world: 60 per cent of its territory is in the control of drug cartels. In Mexico, 50,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon began a military offensive against the organized criminal groups in charge of the drug trade in 2006. 

Read more here

Harper: Let's Give It To The Provinces

A new report shows exactly want Harper is intending to do with the Health care plan he has for Canada. This report came from a watch dog group that showed that the Harper's plan for health care will only help Ottawa.

Parliament's budget watchdog says the new health-care funding formula will slowly reduce Ottawa's support for medicare, but it will also put the federal government on a solid fiscal footing for the future.

 The trouble is the provinces will have to shoulder a growing health-care burden over the long run and they can't afford to do that without cutting spending elsewhere or raising taxes.

That means Ottawa's share of provincial health-care funding will fall to an average of about 18.6 per cent for the coming two decades from about 20.4 per cent today. It will continue to slide significantly after 2035 if the policy persists.

Harper's plan will only help Ottawa cut spending, and might help create long term fiscal improvements, but at the extend of forcing the provinces to take all the burden. Harper wants Ottawa to be the one that doesn't increase any taxes, and wants the provinces to look like they are the one's increasing the taxes and cutting spending. This plan is dangerous, and if used for to long will allow people on the right to say that universal health care is unaffordable. The truth is this plan makes health care unaffordable, by doing nothing to try and slow the rate of demand for health care. This won't require a huge overhaul, and can be very budget friendly.

First invest in prevention. in the U.S one third of Medicare spending can be saved if the U.S invest in prevention techniques that will stop people from becoming obese, having lung cancer etc.... Two tax fast food chains and soda pop. Use that money to pay for the prevention spending and also for the third part of the plan which is to modernizing hospital equipment.

These are only some of the policies that could be enacted to save money and improve health care. We don't need to force the provinces into bankruptcy just to save money on the federal end. We can reduce the increase from 6%, but only and only if we do the policy above which will help reduce the need for enormous amount of Health care spending.

Opposition to Harper: Nonexistant

Who will rise this year to challenge Stephen Harper, to oppose him credibly? There might be many credible attacks on the Conservatives in 2012, but the no one will be listening. There was a reason the Tories received a majority government in May: so that Canadians would not have to hear about politics for another four years.

Besides that, the Liberals are too busy rebuilding to oppose him for a good while and the New Democrats still have a couple of months before they choose their leader. Unless the Tories make a huge mistake, the political landscape should stay as is: calm and placid.

Who will emerge to provide tough, credible opposition to Stephen Harper in 2012? 

Harper enters the year with a majority in the House of Commons, a majority on the Supreme Court of Canada and an even greater majority in the Senate, with Friday’s appointment of seven more loyal Conservatives pledging fealty to the leader.

Read more at the Toronto Star.

Harper's Secret Taxes!

After Harper said he would like the provinces to pay half for his new (billion dollar) Prison system in which he intends to increase crime and reduce justice, Ontario and Quebec are screaming all the way to the parliament building saying NO! Harper doesn't care for his budget it's in deficit and there isn't much so far that has been announced that will make it go to surplus, but in Quebec and Ontario the primers are trying to balance the budget. something that is standing in the way is a billion dollar price tag for prisons they don't even want. If Harper get's his way our provinces will have to make deeper cuts or increase taxes to pay for the cost of the prisons that will only add more cost in the long run. So this is Harper's secret tax. Make the primers look like the bad guys increasing taxes and reducing services and Harper who doesn't care for fiscal responsibility do nothing. (probably blame the Liberals for not giving him 30 billion dollar surpluses)

I think the only fair way Harper can expect the provinces to agree to fork up the bill is if they get a say on the bill, but Harper doesn't want to. He wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to make a crime bill and force the provinces to pay for half of it, and the provinces don't get much influence on the matter what so ever.

Noting that it is “virtually impossible” to project actual increases, the document pegs the total cost of changes to legislation on young offenders at $717-million over a five-year period. It adds that the federal government would likely end up paying half of the price tag.

 Quebec’s Ministry of Public Security has estimated that Bill C-10 will cost the province an extra $294-million to $545-million to expand the province’s prisons and $40-million to $74-million every year to service the additional inmates.

 “Our position remains the same,” David Couturier, a spokesman for Mr. Fournier said when contacted by The Globe and Mail on Wednesday. “It’s their legislation … it’s up to them to pay the bills.”

 Ontario has also called on the federal government to cover the entire cost of the bill.

Harper and Kyoto a Bad History.

Harper since 2006 promised us that if he was prime minister he would scrap the Kyoto accord. He first just allowed Kyoto to stay alive, and just completely ignore it by creating "Made in Canada targets." Bow the Harper government has made it official we are out of Kyoto. The Environment minister even lied that extending the accord would cost 14 billion dollars. That statement was completely debunked by the Green party leader Elisabeth May.

It's completely untrue that we would risk a dime," May said.

And even if it was true 14 billion dollars should be no issue to Harper considering Harper has no issue spending 30 billion on fighter jets. Just shows that given the choice between the health of the world and building up our military Harper would chose the military hands down.

Stephen Harper seems like he is more interested in making sure that the Oils sands can expand then care about the health care of the planet. Extending Kyoto and making real cost will help us in the future weather the environmental and economic changes. The planet is moving away from fossil fuels. More money last year was invested in clean renewable energy versus fossil fuel. The planet is moving, and Canada is staying behind with Stephen Harper. 5 years already wasted, and hopefully no more than 5 years more to go!

"The message to the rest of the world is pretty clear: Canada doesn't give a damn," she said. (Elisabeth May)

"The Harper government has imposed a death sentence on many of the world's most vulnerable populations by pulling out of Kyoto," Greenpeace Canada campaigner Mike Hudema said.

High Speed Rail.... Study!

In Canada we are lagging behind when it comes to high speed rail. Europe has high speed rail and they have seen it to be very beneficial to the environment and the economy. High speed rail in Canada is profitable, and it is almost silly that we have to keep talking about it! It should be done and done now! We are one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn't have it. The Liberals support High speed rail, but with Harper Canada is moving backwards.

Thank you again Rick Mercer

Quebec Gun registry

If Harper kills the Gun registry then I would fully support a Quebec version of the gun registry. In fact if you calculate it 2 million for all of Canada about a quarter of that if not less would equal $500,000. Which is almost nothing on the provincial budget. The only problem is that our Conservative government will destroy all records to make sure that they make it the hardest possible to try and slow violence. Another problem Quebec will face is guns purchased in Ontario or other provinces. I think Dalton Mcguinty would make a Gun registry for his province, add the NDP premiers of Nova Scotia and Manitoba and probably BC you have practically a nation wide gun registry. With the exception of Saskatchewan and Alberta.  I guess this sort of Primer cooperation  will really put a punch in the Conservatives stomach. But with no old records we have to start the registry from scratch which makes it more expensive, because of start up cost of this program. No help from Harper again! I guess the Harper ideology stays true. Let the provinces deal with it!

The Conservative "Target"

The Conservatives like giving out baseless targets when it comes to almost anything. They like to tell us things like the budget will be balanced by 2015 even though the PMO budget office says that it ain't going to happen. Then put on top of that billions more to corporate tax cuts and billions more in prison spending. When it comes to the environment the Conservatives make there baseless targets a joke. In 2006 they had one target that wasn't even close to Kyoto or anything else that countries were committing, then he changed that target and made it worse. And then changed it again and made it even worse. The sad fact is that the Conservatives under there current policy will not reach there lousy target and of course must reduce there target again. Now our Conservative government is setting out a target that by 2020 90% of Canadian electricity will come from non polluting resources. Environment Canada says that they won't even reach that target by 2030.  Can't wait to see how they are going to blame the Liberals on this one. Another one of there baseless target is that they will phase out coal plants in 45 years. Germany is phasing them out in the next decade, and they have less renewable spaces then us and more people. We our like the lazy child in school who continues to do nothing while everyone else does something.

Environmental groups said at a press conference Thursday the proposed regulations are too "weak" and will do very little to move Canada towards its greenhouse gas emissions targets.

 "The government has committed to having 90 per cent of electricity from non-emitting sources by 2020. But Environment Canada shows the government won't reach that even by 2030 with these regulations," said Dale Marshall from the David Suzuki Foundation.

 Bennett says the vast majority of comments urge the government to completely phase out coal fired plants in Canada within the next 15 years. The proposed regulations say that coal plants won't be phased out for another 45 years.

Harper support unequal provinces.

Because Harper promised that Qubec's will not be under represented in the house of commons other provinces are going to suffer. Ontario instead of getting 18 new seats will only get 13 seats. Meaning that Ontario will have in total 119 seats, but that is less than the 124 it was going to get. BC and Alberta will still get the same seats they were expected to get. Interesting why Does Harper still give the same amount of seats to Alberta and BC, but not Ontario. Well if you do the math any new Alberta seat are going to be tory strongholds, and in BC the Conservatives have a good chance of winning new seats there. While in Ontario Harper might suspect that over the long run new Alberta and BC seats are going to have a good chance going blue while new Ontario seats (a bunch in Toronto) might not be so prone in the future to vote Conservative. Which is why Ontario is going to be hit in a new revised deal. In fact with these new seats Ontario will be the most underrepresented province in Canada. BC and Alberta would be almost completely represented for the time being and Quebec would practically be dead on.

So while Qubecers get fair representation Ontario, and in the long run still BC and Alberta will be under represented. How is that Fair? Harper isn't trying to make the provinces completely fair. I understand it's very had to open the constitutions and take away seats from smaller provinces, but the fact is why promise Quebec to have fair representation and Make Ontario pay for it. It isn't fair. I am a quebecer and I say it is un fair that we get o be properly represented and Ontario doesn't.

Quebec to be Represented in Parliament?

Representation by Population Brown's idea way back to even before confederation. In Canada we are not quite there at total representation. In Canada some Provinces are massively over represented while others aren't. Harper is going to give 30 new seats to the fastest growing provinces of Canada to make things more fair. The only problem is what will happen to the representation of the other provinces. Well Ontario, Alberta and BC will go up. While all the other provinces will go down. meaning that the Atlantic used to hold about 10% of the seats and about 7% of the population. With now 30 new seats the Atlantic will hold about 9.5% of the seats. Still over represented! The parries will also have less influence. They have about 9% of the seats and have 6.7% of the population with this new deal they will have about 8% of the seats. Again over represented!
What about Quebec though? Well under this deal we would get 22.2% of the seats and have 23% of the population. Harper might though give La belle province a few seats like he promised in his platform.

So Is Ontario, BC and Alberta really getting a good deal here? Ontario will have 18 more seats giving it 124 seats now. Ontario holds about 38.5% of the population and would get under this new deal 36.7% of the seats. BC holds about 13% of the population and under this deal it would get 13.0% of the seats.  In Alberta they have 10.4% of the population and would get 9.8% of the seats . Alberta, Ontario would still be under represented under this deal and if Quebec got more seats so would BC. So is this deal really helping out the provinces be more represented not even close! It is a little repair, but the way the demographics are going Alberta, BC and Ontario are going to need more soon. Our system isn't completely Rep by Pop and I don't think Quebec should get more seats if Alberta and Ontario and even BC are going to suffer for it.

What Cuts?

The Conservatives are planning to find 4 billion in permanent cuts to try and balance the budget. The Only problem is do we see these cuts in the deficit? No the way this government works with finances the deficit isn't going to get better. First the Corporate tax cuts that they are reducing again is going to cost billions more than 4 billion. Add that with the Billions the Harper government is giving Quebec (even though we really need a bridge) this government isn't at all fiscally responsible for cutting spending. Because like the Republicans in the U.S yes cuts do help cutting the deficit, but the right is fixated on cutting taxes and assume that it is free. If you cut 1$ in taxes and cut 1$ in spending guess what the deficit ain't changing. What would have been fiscally responsible of the Conservatives would be to cut more than they reduce in corporate taxes and maybe not cut corporate taxes! considering they are already low enough. We can save 10 billion in catastrophe spendign not passing Harper's stupid "on crime bill." The Conservatives are bad with money and they always disproportionally put the deficit on the poor. 4 years from now the Conservatives will be saying the reason there is a deficit is, because of too much money on social programs. Even though this government is cutting social programs left and right, and will be for the next 4 years. If this is all Harper has planned to balance the budget there will be a deficit in 4 years and it will be, because of reckless spending on useless prisons, fighter jets and Corporate tax cuts. So the question I have for Harper is what cuts are you really making to the deficit?

The Jewish Vote!

Jews have at least traditionally voted liberal or left leaning when it comes to politics at least in N.A. In Canada they tend to vote Liberal or NDP more than Conservative. But now the Jewish vote has been moving to the right. Although Liberals and Conservatives strongly support Israel which has been seen as the biggest issue for many Jewish communities. Harper has made the case he is the only one who support's Israel. Even though this has no basis the Liberals have also supported Israel, by making sure that terrorist organization like Hezbollah didn't get any money from Canada, but Harper has been good at getting the Jewish votes for the past few years. 

and now in Montreal the ridings with a lot of Jewish votes gave Harper a chance to get a seat on the island. In Mont Royal where the biggest religion is Jewish and considered one of the most Liberal riding's for years gave the Liberals 41% And the Conservatives got 36% in of the vote (in 2011) compared to winning this riding by at lest 9% to as high as 80% for the past 70 years over the next contender . This was the closest the Conservatives have ever gotten into winning this riding since 1958 when Diefenbaker got 54% of the vote nationally and still lost this riding by 1%. In other more Jewish populated ridings Thorn-hill they helped Harper crack Toronto by voting for him in 2008 and especially in 2011. In the U.S Obama got major support from the Jews in 2008, but with Obama being considered to hard on Israel will the Jews go to the Republicans? Well ever since exit polls were taken Jews have voted with the Democrat (even in 1980 they voted for Carter over Reagan), but Antony Wiener's old district that has a lot of Jews helped him won in 2010 with 60% just went to the Republicans by 53%-47% last week. Now we won't know for sure in the U.S whether this shift is real until the exit polls of 2012 come out.

"Royal" Military made the New York Times!

Harper has added "royal" to both the sea forces and the air force of the Canadian Forces. There is absolutely no point in changing the name. It's a waste of money and not many Canadians really care about it.

But, in the end, it's a name change and I do not really care what our military is named. As long as it exists and protects us, I'm happy. It's the money that I care about. Stephen Harper won his majority caring about the economy and Canadians trusted him to keep financial stability as we move into the future. Wasting money on rebranding Canadian military shows a lack of judgement. It's the economy that matters.

TORONTO (AP) — Canadians were thrilled when Prince William and Kate traveled across the country on their first official trip as a married couple. They barely noticed when their pro-monarchy Conservative prime minister appointed Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's husband, an honorary admiral on his 90th birthday. 

But Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to restore the royal name to the Canadian armed forces and other recent moves to embrace the monarchy have raised hackles in this former British colony that has largely been indifferent to the fact that the queen remains the titular head of state.

Read more at the New York Times.

Replace the Champlain Bridge.

The Champlain Bridge is crumbling down. We need to replace the structure now! Before something bad happens. Because of problems with the bridge the city will lose productivity amounting 2 billion dollars. The Conservative party is moving slowly and not planning to do much.

 So far, federal Transport Minister Denis Lebel has only said the government is studying all options.

 Among the options are a new bridge — with a $1.3-billion price-tag — or a $1.9-billion tunnel.

20 billion in trade crosses the busiest bridge in Canada every day, and yes 1.3 billion is a lot of money, but not doing anything like the Conservatives isn't safe and make the city lose more money and jobs. We need to replace the bridge if we don't soon even if the bridge doesn't collapse the economy of Montreal will be in danger of collapsing. This bridge problem get's bigger every day. the longer we try to ignore it or place small band aids on it the more money we lose and the more problems we will face.

"The Champlain Bridge is really a key piece in the economic engine of the greater Montreal area," said Mai.

 Read more here