Debate on PM's powers

When Parliament resumes, the debate is likely to centre on the Prime Minister's powers. After Stephen Harper proroguing Parliament for no good reason, this is great. No need to let him off the hook. We need to make sure he is responsible for his actions. Politicians need to be held responsible for their decisions. A consequence of the prorogation is the debate about the powers.

OTTAWA — The speech from the throne and the federal budget will be the top two items on Parliament’s agenda when it reconvenes Wednesday after a lengthy and controversial prorogation.

But the biggest political flashpoints in the coming session are likely to come over two other items that have a common denominator: attempts by the House of Commons to put some restrictions on the traditional powers and privileges of the prime minister.

“I think it’s going to be a fairly intense session,” said NDP House Leader Libby Davies. “It’s going to be a difficult working environment.”

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Debate+centre+powers+Parliament+returns/2624395/story.html#ixzz0gt6QMdO8

Cartoon

Even though the Olympics are going on, I'm sure Canadians won't let Harper off the hook. He can't trick us into thinking that everything is all right. His prorogation was wrong and we all know that.

http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/v5/content/cartoon/generated/20100222.html

Another decade of injustice gerrymandering

with the new U.S census coming. Those curvy zing zacky districts of the U.S.A are staying. Although many efforts have been tried to overthrow gerrymandering the bills have not been led into law. Gerrymandering is a technique that is used every 10 years when the districts of the U.S.A are changed because the new census shows which state has too much population for how many districts it has. Gerrymandering is when the party in power uses the knowledge of where there party is too know what district to change its shape so they can win easier. So for example if there was a state that has 4 districts and in total the state is in 50/50 democrats and republican, and they use the knowledge of where the repuvlican and democrats live so they can for example make one district have most of the Republicans in it so it is a safe republican district., and have the other three districts have all the democrats in it , so they get 3 dems and only 1 rep in a state that should give 2 dems and 2 rep

Tory Tantrum

Helena Guergis, the minister of state for the status of women has thrown a tantrum in the middle of an airport. She arrived late for a flight, got caught up in security, then refused to remove her shoes and started yelling at her and Air Canada's staff. It's one thing to yell at people during question period but it's another to yell at airport staff who are just trying to help. This MP should resign out of shame that she disrespected ordinary Canadians.

Helena Guergis, minister of state for the status of women, issued an apology Thursday to Charlottetown airport workers and Air Canada staff for throwing a tantrum last week.

The move comes after an anonymous letter was sent to Liberal MP Wayne Easter earlier Thursday outlining the incident.

According to the letter, Guergis and an aide arrived late at Charlottetown Airport for their flight to Montreal on Feb. 19 and became verbally abusive to staff.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/02/25/guergis-apology025.html 

Hummer's Dead

The huge, gas guzzling, destructive, polluting monster cars are finally going to the scrap-yard. GM is closing the brand because its deal with a Chinese company didn't work out. I say good riddance. These cars should not be on the road. They pollute too much and encourage driving like a crazy person. I've seen tons of Hummers going too fast on the road. Many drivers think they own the road. I'm not saying that all people who drive SUVs are crazy, but Hummers provide drivers with the power needed to have some crazy time. Next up, the super-heavy cars.

Go High Speed Rail, Go

Three new pieces about high speed rail today. A poll was conducted in the U.S. by HNTB which shows that 88% of Americans are open to high speed rail. It doesn't mean that they want to pay for it, but this is at least something. The only thing stopping HSR is a lack of information on the subject and a lack of political will. The next article shows how HSR will help the economy.

But the real benefit of HSR may turn on its ability to expand economic growth, according to a new analysis by my colleagues at the Martin Prosperity Institute.

There are three main mechanisms through which high-speed rail can help expand the economy, according to the MPI study. First, HSR expands the labor pool available to firms, bringing talented workers from nearby centers within commuting distance and thus expanding the quantity and quality of available employees. Second, HSR makes more jobs available to workers without making them have to relocate and move to a new home. Third, HSR extends the benefits of other expensive, productivity-enhancing infrastructure such as airports across broad regions.

The economy is the most important thing as we are still in a downturn. HSR creates construction jobs during the building and enhances the economy once it's built.

Next, Premier Charest has announced another study on HSR to connect with the U.S. He says that if a connection is built, he would pay for the construction through the northern states where it wouldn't be of much interest. The only problem I have with this is the fact that they are studying this once again. I wish the politicians would stop studying and start building. It's like a student who studies extremely hard for a test, but, we doesn't show up for it. Therefore, the test is never done. I wish we could just get on with high speed rail.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Fast+train+York+enticing+proposal/2599646/story.html

http://www.metro-magazine.com/News/Story/2010/02/HNTB-survey-HSR-support-still-strong.aspx

http://correspondents.theatlantic.com/richard_florida/2010/02/how_high-speed_rail_can_help_expand_the_economy.php

Scam, wonderful scam

Even though Parliament has been prorogued, the bill to kill the long-gun registry was not sent to the junkyard. the Conservatives are happy to point that out as they think that this registry is a waste of money. However, the Toronto Star's investigative team was able to obtain some very, very interesting documents.

The release of an annual firearms report last fall was delayed by testy officials in the public safety minister's office who demanded to know, among other things, details about an employee "celebration" of the program's 10th anniversary.

The release of a report was delayed because the government wanted to know about a party. It's not like they were going to be invited to a private party celebrating a gun registry.

Emails obtained by the Star show then-public safety minister Peter Van Loan's office sat on the report for weeks until after a contentious parliamentary vote that saw 12 NDP and eight Liberal MPs succumb to political pressure and support ending the long-gun registry.

Afterwards, Van Loan told reporters he had the report in hand for "several days." He went on to accuse firearms staff of inflating numbers in the report to justify the existence of the gun registry.

Okay, our minister has lied to all Canadians about having the document in hand but was it because of disorganization, or spam?

But it was held until Nov. 6 while Van Loan's staff pored over the statistics within and tried to parse data that showed the firearms registry's use and popularity is on the rise.

There it is. The Tories were trying to figure out a way or a loophole in the facts that the registry is useful. So that's two time trying to hide the truth from us. What's next?

Better Taxis

This spring, Montreal taxis will be one. Every taxi will have to be painted the same colour (in six years) and have the same taxi light mounted on top. That means no more of the assorted taxi companies' lights I've seen on the top. From now on, the light mounted on the roof will read Montreal taxis. They will also be able to put advertisements on the roof. However, the taxi drivers will have to adopt some environmental measures. This is great. Being painted the same colour, taxis will be easier to identify and call to be picked up. Incentives for hybrid vehicles will improve the environment while lessening the driver's gas bill. This is a great move by our government for all.

The universal taxi light

In return for being allowed to reap advertising revenues from the rooftop panels, taxi drivers will have to abide by a number of environmentally friendly measures, such as installing an in-car heater so they can keep the cars warm in winter without idling their engines. (Taxis are exempted during cold months from a city bylaw that forbids idling for more than three minutes). 

A greenhouse gas emission reduction program will be implemented over the next four years that will encourage taxi companies to convert to hybrid vehicles. 

A design contest will be launched by the city to create a uniform taxi stand design.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Montreal+taxis+look/2582862/story.html#ixzz0g6Rq2qpE

Tiger: right words wrong person.

As all of you probably know that Tiger has had an affair, and you all probably know that Tiger has apologized to his family at a private conference with his family. The media was there to tape the apology. I do not know why he wants the world to know how sorry he is because last time I checked he did not cheat on me. Many people may think that he has to apologize because he is a role model to children, and I agree that he has to just apologized for that, but he should not air it on national television on how sorry he is to his family. The only person he really needs to say sorry to is his family, and we as drama seekers should leave him alone, because what if  our family has it's own problems would we want to be investigated by people that of which have no business doing. I say let leave him alone, and i think we should use him as a example on how no matter how famous you may be you can not just do whatever you want.

New Poll

A new Ekos poll puts the Liberals at 29% and the Tories at 31%. While other polls have shown that the Liberals are ahead, this one puts us behind. However, this is also quite good. There was a time in September, October where the Conservatives were eying their majority. Now, it's changed. What will happen, no one knows. But one thing's for sure, the Liberals are regaining their strength. Even though the Tories have more money, we are regaining the support of Canadians and that's what matters.

The two main parties are still statistically tied. The NDP is at 16.5 per cent, followed by the Green Party at 11.8 per cent and the Bloc Quebecois with 8.8 per cent.

And what EKOS’s pollster Frank Graves sees in all of this is the Tories stuck firmly at “a humble 31.” Even a “couple of home-turf gold medals” can’t push a few more votes their way, it seems

Earlier this fall, the Conservatives enjoyed a 10-point lead over the Liberals and were knocking at the door of a majority government. The landscape shifted dramatically after Mr. Harper’s decision to prorogue Parliament.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bureau-blog/tories-and-liberals-mired-in-polling-gridlock/article1472431/

What to do with nuclear waste?

Obama allowed gave the permission for building plans to make more nuclear plants. Now the problem is that with more nuclear plants there will of course be more nuclear waste. the system that is used now is that take out the waste,and put into a pool of water, or above ground in canisters. Now the poblem is that this will not resolve the problem, because what will we do later with the radio active waste. We can not just leave it their because eventualy we will need to expand the places to put the waste, and when some power plant that are do to leave they will have no place to put the waste. I do not like the Idea of using more nuclear power to create energy, because of it's harshe effects on people, the environment and that we will have no place to place the waste after, but we still do need energy so Nuclear is okay, but we should not keep building more of them.

Currently, 70,000 tons of radioactive waste are stored at more than 100 nuclear sites around the country, and 2,000 tons are added every year.

But both supporters and opponents of nuclear power largely agree that storing the material in casks at nuclear plants is no long-term solution.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/16/obama.nuclear.power/index.html

First gold medal

Alex Bilodeau is the first Canadian athlete to win a gold medal on Canadian soil. I am so happy that Canada is "owning the podium" as some would say. I hope that we win more gold medals on the way, and that we get to own the podium all the way throw the olympics.

Olimpiyan dies

a olimpiyan from Georgia ( the country) died at the age of 21. His name is Nodar Kumaritshvili he practiced for for luge. It was unclear how fast he was going, but luge players can go 90 miles an hour. He was praticing and just before the end of the track he ejected out of his sled and into bars, and he then died. Days before he went to the olimpics he died. This is sad for the player and his family. this is a clip of the player I do warn that it may noy be appropriet for some viewers. 


http://www.wbko.com/news/headlines/84279587.html

Four Point Lead!

The Liberals have taken a four point lead on the Conservatives according to a new Environics poll. This is the first poll which has shown the Liberals having a substantial lead over the Conservatives. These numbers do not fall within the margin of error and can be taken as a good sign for us. I've stopped counting now how many polls show the Libs up in percentage. All the other polls show a tie or a Liberal lead. Things are looking good for us. Too bad for Stephen Harper.

Vancouver Olympics

The opening ceremonies are going on as I type this. I wish the best of luck to all of our athletes in the Games. May this be a memorable experience for all!

More snow: global warming

Senator DeMint said, "It'll snow in DC until Al Gore cries uncle." I, of course do not agree with this. Senator DeMint should realize that a record amount of snow has fallen in the DC area, and other records such as the first snowfall in Florida in 30 years. Now, I would like to make one thing claer that global warming does warm up the planet, but it can cause extremes of both hot and cold. That means that these records could have been made by global warming, and we will continue to see this unpredictable weather for years to come So I believe that if we reduce our emissions we will save our planet for the future. Because it turns out that hotter air can hold more moisture, thus creating MORE snow, not less. As pointed out by meteorologist Jeff Masters at Weather Underground, "Record-breaking snowstorms are not an indication that global warming is not occurring. In fact, we can expect there may be more heavy snowstorms in regions where it is cold enough to snow, due to the extra moisture global warming has added to the atmosphere--an extra 4% since 1970."

Canada's Image in Pieces, again

The BBC has conducted a world poll on our reputation. Unsurprisingly, our international reputation is crumbling. Only in four countries did their citizens say that their opinion of Canada has gone up. Apparently, the main reason why their opinion of Canada has gone down is because of environmental issues. It's not only Canadians that know that Stephen Harper is weak on the environment. The whole world knows it.

If Canada wants to improve its influence abroad, Johnson said, it will have to "show a real willingness to move ahead on a variety of actions [relating to climate change] without dithering and waiting for the U.S."

Great. That's exactly what we should do. We should adopt real targets and not just be the copycat on America's policies.  If the US isn't going to move ahead fast enough, that doesn't mean we should wait. Instead, we should be better than they are. Failure on the environment will ultimately ruin us.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/02/11/bbc-poll-influence.html

Fun fact: according to the poll, more Filipinos think that Canada is a good influence than Canadians.

Ont Goverment closing

Premier Dalton McGuinty said he will close the legislature "briefly". The Ontario Legislature will start next week McGuinty said, but he did not say when the break will start or for how long. People suspect that he did this because his newly shuffled cabinet can have more time to catch up on their files. McGuinty, this is not the right to thing to do. First, I am sure you can find time for the new ministers to catch up on what they are suppose to be doing. Second, many people in this country work more than our MPs, MNAs OR MLAs. What Harper did was wrong and if McGuinty goes along with this then it will be wrong too. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/02/09/premier-ontario-legislature961.html?ref=rss&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r4:c0.0683935:b30405996

Harper Obstruction

Finally, the opposition has called for a probe into the release of documents. The Conservative government hasn't been following the law. One censured report was handed over 82 days after the deadline. Talk about being late. Also, memos could have been censured straight from the Conservatives for partisan reasons. This is not the only information the Tories haven’t been providing. During the Afghan detainee issue, the documents were heavily censured and not providing Canadians with reliable information.

The request from both the Liberals and NDP follows news that a top political aide to the Public Works Department's minister overruled bureaucrats and had forbidden the release of a sensitive report to The Canadian Press.

"That’s why the information commissioner must investigate all instances of Conservative interference and order the public release of all politically censored documents," Liberal Treasury Board critic Siobhan Coady said on the party's website on Monday.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/02/09/access-information-layton.html#ixzz0f5REYXtk

Fares Raised

The STM has just decided to raise rates for a CAM on the south shore. Those people will now have to pay $110 per month instead of $70 per month which they used to pay. This decision will only affect 3000 people. Horrible idea. We should be trying to encourage people to use public transit. Price increases will stop users from switching. This all started when Laval complained about their higher rates than Longueil. Instead of raising prices for everyone, the STM should have lowered prices for everyone. This would create a sustainable society while protecting the environment.

370 billion USD

That's the amount which arctic warming will cost us this year. It's calculated on the social cost of carbon: the cost on agriculture, power generation resources, everything. By 2050, arctic warming would have cost us 2.4 trillion USD that year. We all know that for Harper, his numbers in the polls are the most important issue before he gets his majority. So, that means concentrating on the economy. This warming is costing us billions of dollars. So, Harper's "working" on the economy and yet, he doesn't care about the 370 billion USD that is going to be lost this year. It is time that we turn this trend around and start protecting the environment.

The study estimated that melting sea ice and permafrost as well as dwindling snow cover would cost the world between $61 billion and $370 billion US in 2010.

The authors predict that will rise to at least $2.4 trillion by the year 2050.

The study is the first to put an estimated dollar value on global warming resulting from the Arctic's declining ability to act as "air conditioner" of the planet.

It arrived at its number by estimating how much the loss of snow, ice and permafrost would have on warming, expressing that in equivalent tonnes of carbon dioxide and multiplying that increase by what it called the "social cost of carbon." Those include estimates of the cost of climate change on agriculture, energy production, water availability, sea level rise, and flooding.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/02/05/pew-arctic-warming-cost.html#socialcomments#ixzz0etNHV5Id

Obama making intitatives on enviroment

Obama is saying he wants to switch to cleaner and renewable resources. He said that investing in clean energy is the good thing to do for our economy. Which I agree that Green jobs is a resource and that many countries are not taking an advantage of. He stated that moving to biofuels will help them get there energy independence. I think now that i find this not the case because the amount of petrol to make ethol is 1.5 gallons just to make 1 gallon of ethol. Ethol which is made of Biomass (organic matter such as wood, animal waste) , seems to be cleaner but realy the amount of petrol to move the corn and prosses actualy waste more petrol than just using plain petrol for a car. Obama said he will also look into other sources one of which is nuclear now although nuclear does create a lot of energy, it is radioactive. Now even if you do not believe in climate change like I do and do not think that changing to renewable is necessary, but you could agree that oil will not last forever and when it is gone in 40 years our economy will be in one of the worst shape of it's life. All the oil companies will be completely destroyed and only the countries who find a way to live the most without oil will be able to survive the best. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35217880/ns/us_news-environment//

Tories are switching their tune

After Harper prorogued parliament he said it will not be a big issue to Canadians. Now industry minster Tony Clement said, "I know it's a big issue with the Ottawa media elite and some of the elites in our country." Now the Conservatives say they are working hard, and that they want to take the spring brake for parliament eliminated. Harper should know that you can work just as hard or even more in Parliament. The Tories want to get rid of the spring vacation.Now, I am all in favor of making our politicians work more but this a planed vacation which means it was in the calendar a long time now, and instead of getting rid of this vacation you could just simply not have prorogued Parliament.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/national/100204/n020471A.html

Vacations cancelled

Stephen Harper has decided to cancel two spring breaks of Parliament. He says that there is "lots of work to do." That's a bit rich from the guy who decided to prorogue Parliament until March. If there's a lot of work to do, then Harper should cancel the prorogation and get back to work now. Instead, he's seen his numbers in the polls and is trying to regain favor with us by cancelling some breaks. That might be good in the economic crisis we're in, but the opposition has been hard at work since January. After all that, don't they deserve a break? Well, the Conservatives haven't been hard at work and one of them actually took a vacation and traveled during the prorogation. If Harper wants to try to regain favor, let him. But it won't help him at all.

Sports vs. Abortion

If you have not heard yet. CBS has said that they will broadcast an anti Abortion ad( during the super bowl) about a story of Tim Tebow and how his mom was sick when she was pregnant with him. The doctor told her to have an abortion she denied it ,and then he was born. The problem is now that many pro choice advocates are demanding CBS to not air the ad. Now here is a what i would like to say first the ad has not been aired yet so how can we say if it is really all that controversial. My thinking is that organisation are aloud the freedom to air their belives wether you believe in it or not. It is freedom of speech. I think the real question is: will you change your mind just because of a 30 second ad. I think maybe. but i do say to those pro choice groups you can still put out your argument on tv too. One last note i do think that we should spend less time talking about something that you may or may not agree with during the super bowl more time on just enjoying the super bowl.

Quebec not doing well on the environment

according to our great environment minister. Jim Prentice says that Quebec should have a plan which is like the US and Canada: a weak plan which lets polluters keep polluting. He especially criticized the new tax on gas-guzzling vehicles that will come into play in 2017. Prentice thinks that because 75% of cars do not meet the standards, Quebecers will go to other provinces to buy automobiles. Nevertheless, he ignores that automakers have seven years to come up with more fuel efficient cars. When companies have an opportunity to make a profit, they will innovate like never before. Quebec's plan is great, and we can only hope that others will follow.

Quebec and California are members of the Western Climate Initiative, composed of seven states and four provinces. They hope to press their respective federal governments to take a tougher stance on climate change.

In his speech, Prentice said Canada should align its greenhouse-gas cuts with the United States, indirectly criticizing Quebec's ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent in 2020, from 1990 levels.

"One of the most glaring examples of the folly of attempting to go it alone in an integrated North American economy is the new, and unique, vehicle regulations introduced by Quebec," he said.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Prentice+raps+Quebec+emissions/2511420/story.html

New Poll

The new Harris-Decima poll shows that the Liberals are tied. This is the third poll which states the Liberal revival in popularity. Good news for us. The just reaffirms the truth that Canadians believe in democracy. What Stephen Harper did was wrong and we know it. I'm proud of Canada for speaking out against Harper. One thing is sure though, the Liberals and the Conservatives are almost tied and if Stephen Harper decides to go for his majority in April, he's dead meat.

http://www.harrisdecima.ca/sites/default/files/releases/2010/02/01/hd-2010-02-01-en461.pdf