Helena Guergis: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

And we thought her airport melt down and cocaine in her car, would have been enough for Harper to finally dump her.

But a much more serious scandal, is raising some very serious questions. Helena Guergis's husband, Rahim Jaffer; a long time friend of Jason Kenney and Stockwell Day, has been up to some funny business.

So much for a party pretending to take the moral high ground.

I knew what this little group was about when they first bought the silence of an aide for $ 40,000.00.

Guergis is now sitting as an independent, but that doesn't excuse our government. How did she get away with this and was she acting alone?

Helena Guergis touted a green technology company to Simcoe County officials while her husband Rahim Jaffer and businessman Nazim Gillani were involved in a plan to take the firm public in a $1 billion deal.

Cabinet ministers and MPs are forbidden from using their position to influence a person or organization to benefit their interest or that of relatives or friends, according to the federal Conflict of Interest Act.

And:

NDP MP Libby Davies sent a letter to Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson on Friday formally asking her to investigate Guergis's conduct, saying media reports about Guergis's endorsement of Wright Tech Systems Inc. may have violated the Conflict of Interest Act "and perhaps other applicable statutes."

Shortly after Davies's letter was released, Liberal MP Mark Holland filed a formal request with the lobbying commissioner to back up a complaint filed by his colleague Marlene Jennings earlier this week, based on "additional information that would seem to be relevant" that has since "come to light" about Jaffer's company, Green Power Generation Corp.

Oh, oh! I'll bet there are more than a few Conservatives sweating bullets right now.

Beware of Old Reformers With Ten Foot 'Polls'

So Harper's old mentor, Preston Manning, is at it again.

His 'How to Fool Canadians Into Thinking That Reformers are Not Nuts' Institute, has released another poll; and the media is salivating.

His first on the death penalty apparently 'proved' that the majority of Canadians have suddenly turned evil.

Then he claimed that a poll he conducted showed that we had moved to the centre, where he would like you to believe (ha, ha, ah, ha, ha, ha), our fascist dictator (ha, ha, ah, ha, ha, ha), Stephen Harper (ha, ha, ah, ha, ha, ha), is now governing from. (ha, ha, ah, ha, ha, ha)

Nice try.

I came across a book on Cambridge University's website called 'The Radical Right'. You had to buy the book, but they provided the index, which revealed numerous links to Stephen Harper, Preston Manning, the Reform Party, the Alliance Party and the Conservative Party of Canada; which really are all one and the same.

So if they know at Cambridge University that our government is from the radical right, why aren't Canadians getting it?

Of course these little bogus polls that get a lot of media attention, can often plant a seed. Then when a legitimate pollster calls, we remember the results of Manning's polls, with their convoluted questions, and think .... gee .. most Canadians are now thinking like that old Reformer guy, maybe I should too.

So be aware, that his corporate sponsored 'institute' has just released the results of yet another Manning special. This time on abortion. And you guessed it.

75 per cent of respondents feel abortion is “morally wrong".

Of course my latest poll showed that the majority of Canadians believe that Preston Manning and the rest of his Reformers are completely nuts.

And yet the media refuse to publish those results.

Go figure.

Machine Guns and Out Houses. Welcome to the New Canada

News from the "New Canada" just keeps getting weirder.

Apparently a Harper dictatorship means no questions from reporters, sub-machine guns on Parliament Hill and no bathroom breaks for women unless they can pee behind a tree.

I know all of this means something, but I've given up trying to figure out what Harper is doing.

I mean seriously. If you walked into someones office or their home and saw that every inch of wall space was covered with snapshots of themselves, what would you do?

a. Avert your eyes.

b. Call the doctor.

c. Run for your life.

d. All of the above

Reporters forced to hold it in during PM's visit
Mounties order female reporters out of the loo during Harper announcement

Washroom access at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Wednesday announcement at an Ontario highway maintenance yard was so restricted, female reporters were at one point ordered out of the john while trying to relieve themselves. Later, a larger group of women were held back from the bathrooms until Harper had cleared the immediate vicinity.

And I wouldn't mess with the RCMP. They will no longer just rough you up, but they will now be packing sub-machine guns. You'd better start wearing Depends because seeing an RCMP with one of those guarding the loo, will make you pee in your pants.

The RCMP will give its Parliament Hill detachment officers some extra firepower, after deciding to bring previously purchased submachine guns back into service.

RCMP Sgt. Greg Cox confirmed to CTV.ca that the Mounties intend to bring their Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns back into service as "secondary weapons," ending weapons training for officers. He said the RCMP must also decide on how to store the weapons securely, while also ensuring that they are accessible to officers.

And if you think those stories are strange, we also learned that Stephen Harper personally approved of allowing a terrorist to visit the Rock.

I told you the "New Canada" was weird.

Harper approved planned stopover for Libya's Gadhafi

OTTAWA — A new document shows Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally approved Moammar Gadhafi's planned stopover in Newfoundland last fall. The green light came even as the Harper government was rebuking the Libyan leader for supporting a convicted terrorist.

Gadhafi eventually cancelled his planned Canadian stop in St. John's, Newfoundland, after the Prime Minister's Office said he would be scolded for throwing a party for a man jailed in the Lockerbie bombing. But internal emails obtained by The Canadian Press reveal it was Harper himself who gave Gadhafi's visit the go-ahead.

Gotta' love a dictatorship. I know I'm pretty pumped.

When Canada was a democracy I used to love this song. We didn't know how lucky we were.

Red Tape and Jelly Beans. Just How Safe Are We?

One of Canada's first experiments into neoconservatism, was the Mike Harris government (1995-2002) in Ontario. And it was an experiment that failed and failed badly, on many levels.

But one of the most devastating failures resulted in the deaths of 11 people in a place called Walkerton.

And the cause of their deaths can be attributed in a large part to something called the "Red Tape Commission."

Look Out For Neocons Running With Scissors

When Jim Flaherty, a former Mike Harris cabinet minister, brought down his latest budget; he mentioned that his government was looking to cut down on some of the bureaucracy by establishing a "Red Tape Commission." This was presented as a cost cutting measure, but in fact it has little to do with saving money and even less to do with public interest.

It's just a nice sounding term for deregulation.

And for a government that has already deregulated this country to the point where many Canadians are now just "future victims", we need to start paying attention.

Like Stephen Harper and his free marketeers, Mike Harris and his inner circle believed that the private sector knew more than the bureaucrats and " ... anything that interfered with the private sector - environmental regulations enforced by busy-body inspectors, for example - is nonsense and needs to be dismantled. You don't need public input or so-called "expert" advice to figure that out." (1)

As a result, environmental programs and agencies were attacked with a vengeance and the Ministry of the Environment lost 42% of its budget.

Front-line staff, charged with monitoring, testing, inspection, enforcement, and research, are decimated: 900 of 2,400 front-line staff are laid off. Regional offices are closed. Environmental agencies set up over the years to respond to complex environmental problems are dismantled in days. What remains of the Ministry is in total disarray. Similar cuts hit other ministries, including Natural Resources and Agriculture. A number of industries formerly regulated by the government are told they can now regulate their own environmental performance. (1)

And despite repeated warnings that the cutbacks were compromising the safety of Ontario's drinking water, the priority was business and for Harris it was business as usual.

Until tragedy struck, when a deadly E. coli bacteria found it's way into Walkerton's water, killing eleven people and leaving hundreds more seriously ill.

And in a case of "Deja Vu all over again", the Harper government is also moving toward doing away with environmental assessments.

OTTAWA - Environmental groups and opposition politicians say the federal Conservatives are trying to gut environmental assessment laws by sneaking in new rules in budget legislation."This is a big step backward about 20 years," John Bennett of the Sierra Club said Wednesday.

A big step backward indeed. Right back to the dark days of Mike Harris, that included not only Jim Flaherty, but John Baird, Tony Clement and Peter Van Loan.

Can You Count the Jelly Beans in the Jar Not Laced with PCBs?

In 2007, Stephen Harper met with then U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Montibello, Quebec; to discuss the product standards of the three nations, and how to remove them. That wasn't officially how the meeting was sold to the public, but it was the end result of intense bargaining.

Well not really intense bargaining so much as Bush saying these are our regulations and you two must match them, end of. And since Bush had reduced government regulations to the point where they could fit on the head of pin, this meant that Canada was forced to pretty much dismantle our own safety standards, to meet those of the U.S. President.

So too did Mexico, and many believe that this was the cause of H1N1, now dubbed the "NAFTA Flu."

But while these connivers were inside scheming, a large group of protesters had gathered outside, well aware that Canadian sovereignty was on the line. So to silence the crowd, Harper appeared with his cohorts to put them at ease. Looking a little tipsy (Watch at about 45 seconds and 1:25 of this video .... I'm just saying), he asked the humble masses: “Is the sovereignty of Canada going to fall apart if we standardize the jelly bean?”

'Jelly Bean' must have been some kind of cute word association (wink, wink), for something they called "risk management."

"At the heart of both systems is a reliance on industry reporting and monitoring, rather than independent government testing, and an emphasis on cleaning up the mess (to the environment or human lives) caused by bad products after the fact. They call this “risk management,” an about-face from the “precautionary principle” of better safe than sorry." (2)

On April 1, 2008; the Harper government began putting their new "risk management' plan into place, beginning with meat-processing companies who were no longer required to alert Canada's food safety agency about listeria-tainted meat.

This resulted in the death of 22 Canadians, but Maple Leaf foods kept up their end of the bargain, by launching a series of "Maple Leaf, we care" ads.

See how this works?

And ironically, it is now the U.S., under a different president, who is demanding that Canada cleans up it's act.

But look on the bright side. It gave agricultural minister, Gerry Ritz, a fall back career in stand-up comedy, if the whole politics thing doesn't work out for him.

So please join Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper, and help us get rid of this destructive force. Because jelly beans should only rot your teeth; not take your life.

Sources:

1. Contamination:The Poisonous Legacy of Ontario's Environmental Cutbacks, By Ulli Diemer, Radical Digressions.

2. The Jelly Bean Summit, Council of Canadians, Autumn 2007

Is President Karzai Ready to Call it Quits

With NATO planning a major spring offensive, the largest since the war began eight years ago; it would appear that president Karzai has had enough.

During a visit to Southern Afghanistan he threatened to join the Taliban, if NATO goes ahead with their plans.

When President Obama visited the country recently he warned the Afghan President to clean up the corruption, and I don't think he took to kindly to the remarks.

Karzai was a former member of the Taliban government from 1995-98, before Unicol hired him as an insider to try to clinch an oil pipeline deal.

The Afghan president toured one community where dozens of residents died in an explosion several weeks ago. Local residents said they lived in constant fear and sharply criticized him for not doing enough to stop the violence.

Later, community leaders told Karzai they were worried about NATO's planned spring offensive, when troops are expected to launch the largest operation in the eight-year-old war against the Taliban. But Karzai told the local leaders there wouldn't be an offensive.

I think we should get out of there. What are we fighting for now? Bin Laden's dead and the drug trade is stronger than it ever was.

It's time to stop this nonsense and bring our soldiers home. Harper's lost interest anyway, since Bush is out of the picture.

Enough is enough.

Why We Need a Progressive Coalition NOW!

The Conservatives have tabled legislation to add 30 more seats to the House of Commons, under the guise of democratic reform.

Steven Fletcher has actually been working on this for awhile, and how much do you want to bet that they already have their candidates in place?


According to CTV last September:

Changing the electoral map in such a way may also play in the Conservatives' favour. That's because the party stands a good chance of picking up additional seats in suburban Alberta and B.C., and potentially Ontario as well.

"Some are saying this is the route not only to getting rid of minority governments, but it could be a route to a Tory majority," Clark said. "This might create a new dynasty.

Just what Canada needs. A fascist dynasty. Harper will no longer have to pretend that he gives a damn.

John Ryan has been pushing for a Progressive Coalition, and I think the time has never been more crucial for all progressive leaders to put down their partisanship and work toward getting rid of this destructive government, while we still have any rights as citizens.

As Ryan states:

"Canada's last two elections are proof positive that we have a flawed electoral system. Does it make any sense that it's impossible to get a government that reflects the views of the majority of our population? How is it that a little more than a third of the electorate can determine who forms Canada's government?"

And though Stephen Harper included the Bloc in his coalition; the NDP, Liberals and Green wouldn't have to, especially given the hypocrisy of the Harperites. They wouldn't even have to give up their party platforms or identity.

I think we need to really start pushing for this.

Closure of Human Rights Offices Should Send up a Red Flag

Before Harper's Reformers came to power in 2006, the many extreme right-wing groups that played a role in his success, had one common complaint.

OK. Maybe more than one, if you include gay rights, women's rights, reproductive rights , etc., etc., etc.

But the most common complaint that actually encompassed these other things, were human rights.

They felt that our human rights commissions hampered their ability to launch visceral attacks on Muslims, women and gays, in particular; but they had a list.

I didn't think they had a hope in hell of implementing any part of their agenda, and certainly no chance of breaking down the infrastructure that protects Canadian citizens. All Canadian citizens, not just white male Christians.

I have to be honest, I'm having a bit of trouble talking about current events in this country these days. After studying the Reform Movement for several years, I always assumed that this country would never buy into this stuff.

But those clever Reformers, ripped off the green paper, tied themselves up in a big blue bow and sold their party as "new and improved". And now the destruction of Canada begins.

Harper government closes Human Rights Commission offices

The Public Service Alliance of Canada condemns the Harper government's decision to close Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax. The union maintains that the closure of the three offices will make it substantially harder for individuals from marginalized groups to launch human rights complaints.

The three offices slated for closure received 70 per cent of all signed complaints to the CHRC in 2008. The union, which represents CHRC employees, says this latest attack will have a particular impact on racialized people and recent immigrants. In many cases, the closures will make it much more difficult to challenge both systemic abuses and individual instances of discrimination.

And yet we will soon be forbidden by law from the using the words 'Israel' and 'Apartheid' in the same sentence, despite the fact that we are speaking of a country and it's foreign policy, not a people. I will just start calling it 'Icecream' and 'Apple Pie', because there is no way I'm going along with this nonsense.

I have finally started putting my book together though. I have about a chapter and a half completed, and still have a long way to go. I have also been putting up individual pages that will eventually tie in, or give a bit more information. Like this one.

I just feel that the history of this movement needs to be told, because I think they are going to be around for awhile now, and as ugly as it is, it's part of our heritage, I guess.

I'm just afraid of what my final chapter might be.