It's No Accident...

...that this bill is the last one to be passed prior to the fall election. It's a good one. Voters will have this one still in mind come the election this fall:

Tory senators take unusual steps to force vote on controversial union bill

"Bill C-377 is a private member’s bill from Conservative MP Russ Hiebert that would force unions to publicly disclose a wide range of financial information including salaries and expenses.

Supporters say it addresses concerns from union members who say they face intimidation if they ask for too much information from their leadership.

Unions strongly oppose the law and argue that only union members should be able to view such information. Critics of the bill warn it will place unions at an unfair disadvantage during collective bargaining because management will have new insight into the financial situation of unions.

The bill was previously blocked by the Senate two years ago and had not received much attention since."

Tories upend Speaker over labour bill

"Segal predicted that the bill will eventually be struck down by the courts as unconstitutional. But in the meantime, he said it could do real political damage to the Conservatives in this fall's election."

All the more reason to open up the constitution and amend it.

Conservatives move to push anti-labour bill through Senate

"The legislation would require unions to publicly disclose details of all expenses over $5,000 and remuneration to anyone totalling over $100,000.

Unions have complained that the measure, backed strongly by a B.C. lobby group that advises companies on how to de-certify unions, is a veiled attempt to tie unions up in costly red tape.

“It’s a bill that’s essentially about attacking unions because Conservatives don’t like unions, they don’t like the equality we bring,” B.C. Federation of Labour President Irene Lanzinger told The Vancouver Sun Friday."

More:

Conservative senators overrule Senate Speaker on union transparency bill

"The bill, which seven provinces, including Ontario, have argued is unconstitutional and would interfere with their jurisdiction over labour relations, is now likely to become the law of the land by Tuesday."

Hallelujah, there is a God!

Government invalidating passports of Canadians who joined extremist groups

I'll sleep easier tonight.

Wouser!!

First, there was the discovery of Franklin's ship, some discoveries of ancient ruins underneath Stonehenge, ancient Jewish artifacts in Israel, and now this: a 232.08 carat white diamond. Next thing you know, they'll finally find Harper's hidden agenda.

Bit By Bit...

...It's not the way I prefer, but at least it's happening. Long over due, too, but they are trying to catch up:

CBC cutting back evening news, in-house production

CBC to cut back supper-hour news, in-house productions

"Corporation will have up to 1,500 fewer employees by 2020"

[---]

"The CBC is shifting its priorities from television and radio to digital and mobile services, a move that will reduce staff, and supper-hour news broadcasts and programs produced in-house, says CBC president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix.

“We used to lead with television and radio. Web came and then mobility came. We are reversing, we are inverting the priorities that we have,” Lacroix said, referring to the broadcaster’s 2020 strategy. “We’re going to lead now with mobility, we’re going to lead with whatever widget you use.

"You’re going to see an investment in mobility that’s going to rise as the investment in perhaps television ... is reduced.”"

[---]

"In April, Lacroix announced that funding shortfalls and revenue losses had forced the broadcaster to cut $130 million from its budget this year, a move that the CBC said will eliminate 657 jobs over the next two years and take the network out of competing for the rights to broadcast professional sports."

CBC’s leaders bring it to the brink of an existential crisis: Burman

"If there was any doubt that Canada’s public broadcaster is confronting an unprecedented existential crisis, it vanished Thursday. CBC President Hubert Lacroix unveiled the corporation’s latest five-year plan at a “town hall” meeting of staff in a performance that was as disingenuous as it was depressing.

The CBC’s enemies are not only circling their prey from the outside, including the Conservative government with its unrelenting budget cuts. Its enemies are also working from within. The CBC has a compliant board of directors overwhelmingly stacked with Conservative party donors and a president, also conservative, who appears ready to implement any budget cut in virtual silence."

Says Tony Burman, who used to work for the corpse.

"Let us not be fooled. In the dead of night across this country, cut by cut, in small towns and large cities, in newsrooms and documentary edit suites, Canada’s public broadcaster is being destroyed."

And you're point is???

Lefties are apoplectic: Massive CBC cuts anger Canadian Media Guild and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting

Interesting graph on that website. CBC has faced an annual budget cut for years and years, with the biggest drop occurring during Chretien's administration.

CBC: “The reality is, as things stand, we are not sustainable”, but while the shift to digital happens, the transmitters will stay on

Harper Makes Life...

...difficult for Putin.

Stephen Harper says Russia’s Vladimir Putin sees himself as a ‘rival of the Western world’

Putin should be dumped from G8: Harper

Reporters Just Don't Get It! Duh!!

Harper to reporter: Ask some different questions about the Middle East

"Stephen Harper and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu essentially teamed up to say that, when it comes to politics in the Middle East, reporters just don't get it."

[---]

"...after spending a good chunk of his historic 2,400-word speech to the Knesset on Monday explaining that there was no way he was going to single out Israel for criticism in any public forum, Harper must have been wondering why the heck reporters continued to try to get him to do just that.

So he turned the tables.

'Yesterday in the Palestinian Authority, no one asked me there to single out the Palestinian Authority for any criticism in terms of governance or human rights or anything else," Harper said, speaking about the press conference he'd held Monday in Ramallah side-by-side with P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas. "When I'm in Israel, I'm asked to single out Israel. When I'm in Palestinian Authority I'm asked to single out Israel and in half the other places around the world you ask me to single out Israel.'"

[---]

"...Harper makes a reasonable point.

Since August, 2005, 16,000 rockets have been fired into Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza. The Palestinians have forever — long before Jewish settlements in the West Bank started going up — rejected Israel's right to exist.

Why didn't we ask what Abbas was doing to improve governance in his territory? What about the accountability of Abbas and the Palestinians? Canadian reporters had two chances to ask Abbas a question — in Ramallah, of all places — and instead of asking him why the Palestinians will not acknowledge Israel's right to exist, we wanted Harper to explain why the Jewish settlements were illegal.

Netanyahu spent a remarkable 10 minutes explaining to us why Harper was right, why those were the wrong questions.

"The core of the conflict is not settlements. The core of the conflict is not the absence of a Palestinian state. The core of the conflict is the persistent refusal to reconcile to an independent nation state of the Jewish people. That's what this conflict is about," Netanyahu said.

And in an any event, the major issue in the Middle East today is no longer Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu explained. Journalists were missing the big picture.

"I think it's important for commentators in the Middle East to adopt their commentary on Canada-Israel relations to the new Middle East," he said. What are the concerns of many of the world's leading Arab countries these days?

"The first is the arming of Iran with nuclear weapons. And the second is the spread of the Muslim Brotherhood. And in meeting those twin challenges, these (leading Arab) countries do not see Israel as their enemy but as being on the same side of a difficult conflict.""

Indeed!

Related. Hypocrisy on display here.

"Mr. Chrétien was basking in plaudits on Tuesday in Toronto, where scores of variously partisan worthies gathered to sing his praises on the occasion of his 80th birthday. In light of Mr. Harper’s divisive trip, it might also be a good time to reflect on Mr. Chrétien’s own visit to Israel in 2000 — back in the glory days of Canadian diplomacy.

Day One: Mr. Chrétien meets with Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak in West Jerusalem, but doesn’t visit Arab East Jerusalem.

Day Two: With Mr. Barak jetting off to Washington to talk peace with President Clinton, Mr. Chrétien goes off-script at a joint news conference with Yasser Arafat and says Canada might support a unilateral declaration of independence by the Palestinians. “I believe, personally, it is better to keep it as a pressure point for the negotiations and that is the position of Canada,” he says.

Nonplussed Israeli officials respond that Mr. Chrétien is welcome to his “inaccurate” opinion, even though such an idea would jeopardize the peace process. At some point, Mr. Chrétien realizes his position is spectacularly misguided in light of Quebec’s sovereignty movement and his government’s soon-to-be-passed Clarity Act. His communications director is eventually reduced to explaining to reporters that whatever Mr. Chrétien said, that was not what he meant.

Day Three: At a news conference in Nazareth with Shimon Peres, Mr. Chrétien endorses Israel’s claim to the Sea of Galilee — a sticking point in peace negotiations between Israel and Syria, where Mr. Chrétien was due to travel on the same trip. His statesmanlike reasoning follows: “Apparently there was a border that was occupied a long time ago and there was war and so on. For a Canadian, we have 30 million lakes so we don’t see it in the same perspective but I can understand the need for Israel to keep the only lake they got.”

Day Four: Reports say Mr. Chrétien, in conversation with Mr. Barak, has offered to resettle as many as 15,000 Palestinian refugees in Canada. Jaws drop, as Canada had been officially neutral on refugee issues such as the right of return. Liberal staffers frantically try to spin the conversation out of existence, while the PLO politely tells Mr. Chrétien where he can stick his offer.

Day Five: Having managed to anger the Palestinians somewhat more than the Israelis, Mr. Chrétien is accused by a Syrian cabinet minister and a Lebanese newspaper of — of all things — abandoning Canada’s “honest broker” tradition. Nevertheless, his visit to Damascus goes ahead as planned.

In short, Mr. Chrétien’s trip was a thoroughgoing disaster in which he came off as a poorly briefed bumpkin. “If we needed further evidence that Mr. Chrétien’s self-image as le petit gars from Shawinigan excludes even the appearance of worldliness and the discipline of thinking ahead, this trip is providing it,” the Globe wrote in a scathing editorial. (“You can’t take Jean Chrétien anywhere,” was the lede.)"

Well Ain't That Interesting

Eons ago, I signed up to receive Angus Reid surveys. I got one today and one of the questions had to do with whether or not I watch or listen to the CBC. Of course, none of these surveys ever state who commissioned the survey, but who wants to know that, and why? It remains my fervent hope that Harper et al, will pull the privatization rabbit out of the hat either as an election campaign promise or as a coming-down-the-home-stretch goodie to ensure themselves another term. One can always hope. I can hear the lefties howling now.

Tough Shit!

UPDATE:  Forgive me for being female, but that Mexican President is really good looking:

But he's way too young. And I'm sure the drug cartels will get to him.

 ==========Original Post Starts Here==========

 Mexico 'Really Mad' At Canada

"The Mexican ambassador to Canada says his country is "really mad" at the Harper government for the continued imposition of a visa on its travellers here. Ambassador Francisco Suarez told The Canadian Press in an exclusive interview that Mexico is so upset that if the issue isn't resolved by next year, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto might have to postpone a planned visit to Canada."

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

And Speaking of...

...scandal:

Stephen Harper is going through a bit of a rough patch. Of course, all previous Liberal scandals are conveniently forgotten, and a week in politics is a lifetime.

Democracy is so much better than all those other kinds.

Democracy is so much better than all those other kinds.

Democracy is so much better than all those other kinds.

Democracy is so much better than all those other kinds.

Democracy is so much better than all those other kinds.

Repeat until you actually believe it. At least we can throw the bums out if we want to, but who in hell's bells wants the Libs or Dipsticks in charge??? I think the trip to the ballot box next election will be one of those "holding your nose" or "close your eyes and mark your X wherever the pencil falls" occasions.

Of Course...

...we have to have our spring blizzard, don't we?

Just when you thought the interminable winter was almost over.

AAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Good One, Harper!

Harper on terror arrests: Not a time for 'sociology'

God, I hate linking to the CBC.

Well, At Long Last

I'd never thought we'd see the day when China is actually cited as a major spewer of CO2, but here it is:

Feeling the heat of global warming

"China, the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide, is directly feeling the man-made heat of global warming, Canadian and Chinese scientists conclude in the first study to link the burning of fossil fuels to one country's rise in its daily temperature spikes.

China emits more of the greenhouse gas than the next two biggest carbon polluters - the United States and India - combined. And its emissions keep soaring by about 10 per cent per year."

[---]

"Those spikes, which often occur in late afternoon and the early morning, are what scientists say most affect people's health, plants and animals. People don't notice changes in averages, but they feel it when the daily high is hotter or when it doesn't cool off at night to let them recover from a sweltering day.

The study by Chinese and Canadian researchers found that just because of greenhouse gases, daytime highs rose 0.9 degree C in the 46 years up to 2007. At night it was even worse: Because of greenhouse gases, the daily lows went up about 1.7 degrees C."

I wonder how Beijing lets them get away with that? Maybe because the research was done in Canada:

"'It is way above what you would expect from normal fluctuations of climate," study author Xuebin Zhang, a research scientist with Environment Canada. "It is quite clear and can be attributed to greenhouse gases.'"

Cue leftards now. This has got to be part of "Harper's Hidden Agenda".

I hope Mr Xuebin Zhang has no relatives in China.

Hmmmmmm.

Don't know what to make of this, but it sounds to me like the Harper government has detected another UN scam and is, once again, showing leadership:

Canada only UN member to pull out of droughts and deserts convention

And maybe, just maybe, they are signalling their intentions about the UN in general and their beliefs about the whole climate hysteria propagated by leftards and greenies. (Oh, I forgot. Leftards and greenies? That's the same thing.)

(More about the Sahel region.)

In the meantime, we're bracing for another big one.

"Four Saskatchewan cabinet ministers are going to oversee the province's preparations for and response to any spring flooding.

Government Relations Minister Jim Reiter, who is also responsible for the disaster assistance program, will chair the committee.

Reiter says preparations to deal with the spring melt and potential flooding problems are well underway.

The Ministry of Highways already has emergency flood trailers, signs, barricades and other equipment on standby.

The Water Security Agency also announced that it is releasing more water from the Boundary, Rafferty and Alameda reservoirs to make more space for spring runoff.

The agency has warned of above-normal or well-above-normal spring runoff in almost all of the southern half of the province and very high runoff in areas between Indian Head and Moose Jaw and between Saskatoon and Prince Albert."[Emphasis mine.]

There's nothing 'global' about this.

Isn't This Interesting...

...and scary:

India will get Canadian uranium — again

"Canadian uranium will once again be used to power Indian nuclear reactors, leaders of the two countries announced here Tuesday.

Canada had banned sales of uranium and nuclear technology to India after India used Canadian nuclear know-how to build its atomic bomb in 1974.

The revelation that Canadian technology helped give India the bomb prompted Canada to suspend all nuclear programs with India, including a ban on uranium sales. India's nuclear betrayal also chilled broader Canada-India relations for decades.

But for Canada, all is now forgiven."

[---]

"A key sticking point for Canada was ensuring that it would be able to keep track of any uranium shipped to India. Canada does not want its uranium or technology ending up, for example, in the hands of Iran via India.

Canada will rely on audits by the International Atomic Energy Agency to be certain India is using Canadian materials and technology safely."

Especially in the light of this:

Is Pakistan's Paranoia Pushing it Into a Nuclear War with India?

"The possibility of a nuclear war between Pakistan and India grows every day. If the Pakistanis do not bring under control the terrorist groups in the country and resolve the conflicts with India, it is not a matter of if it will happen, but when.

There have been few achievements to celebrate in the sixty-five year history of Pakistan and that has made the success of the nuclear program central to the national identity. This is especially true for the military that receives a quarter of the budget and is the only strong national institution.

Development of the weapons started in January of 1972 by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, when he was the Minister for Fuel, Power and Natural Resources. The decision to go nuclear came after a disastrous military defeat in 1971 by India. Bangladesh with Indian assistance separated from Pakistan.

Without its eastern territory, Pakistan was facing an enemy six times larger. The only way to deal with such a threat was to acquire an equalizer."

[---]

"India joined the nuclear club in 1974. Pakistan followed in 1998 and became the only Moslem nuclear power with what became known as the “Islamic Bomb;” and that made it a leader in the Islamic world community.

The Pakistan high command believed that the U.S. does not want a Moslem country to possess nuclear weapons and will at some time in the future attempt to seize or destroy its arsenal. Since September of 2001, much of the American military action has been directed towards Moslem states. As the sole nuclear Islamic country, that convinces the Pakistanis that they too will be targeted.

Washington worries that Pakistan with a number of terrorist organizations supported by the Inter-Service Intelligence is the one place where terrorists would be the most likely to acquire a nuclear weapon or nuclear materials."

[---]

"Should there be another deadly attack by a Pakistan based terrorist organization, especially if it involves a stolen nuclear warhead, the Indians will not hesitate to retaliate. This time, the Indian army will encounter nuclear weapons in the field. Then, Delhi that has no tactical nuclear weapons will have to decide if a strategic response is to be used. The survival of South Asia and far beyond will be depending on that decision."

(Long, but highly worth reading.)

Harper has been focusing a lot of his government's attention on sub-continental Asian countries, and although the issue of oil sales to these emerging tigers has been front and centre, I've also thought there may be one of Harper's famous "hidden" agendas at play, too - namely, shuffling the diplomatic deck so as to isolate Iran, and I suppose, Pakistan, too.

Then there's this.

You Go Harper!!

Trade to top Canada-Germany leaders' meeting

"Canada's efforts to wean itself off its largest trading partner -- the US -- will move ahead next month when German Chancellor Angela Merkel makes her first bilateral visit here.

International Trade Minister Ed Fast said when Merkel meets Prime Minister Stephen Harper Aug. 15-16, they will discuss the "most ambitious trade agenda Canada has ever had."

"Canada's direct investment in Germany increased 8.9% last year; German investment in Canada increased 15.6%," Fast said."

Screw you, Obama!!

More Good News...

...from the Hitler Harper government:

Canadians who won’t work shouldn’t get EI

"...if a government program has become part of the problem, it’s incumbent upon the government to fix it."

Hear! Hear!

Har, har!!

We're winning.

(Reproduced from the Wall Street Journal)

Canada Beats America

"Not too many years ago, Americans could get away with cracking jokes about spendthrift Canada, its weak dollar and the long wait for MRIs. These days, the joke is on Americans, as Canada's government has cleaned up its fiscal mess and focused on private economic growth.

The governing Conservative Party took another step forward last week with a pledge to balance the budget by 2015 without raising taxes. That's a year later than Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged on the stump in 2011, but it sure beats America's four consecutive years of deficits of $1.3 trillion. Canada's federal debt as a share of GDP is forecast to fall to 28.5% in 2016–17 from 33.8%. Add in state debt and that number is closer to 66%, but the trend is in the right direction, while America's is heading toward 70% and rising."

RTWT

Also in the news, Canada is laying off 1000 border guards, (who of course are whining and complaining and projecting all sorts of grave consequences) paving the way for disgruntled Americans to flock north to America's hat, where the brains are. Sorry, though, Canada seems determined to remain cold.  Learn to dress warm and learn to skate, ski and snowmobile, especially the last.  It could raise the temperature.

What a Novel Idea!!

Thanks to the recently tabled budget, CBC has taken another hit and has responded:

"CBC announced it will be cutting up to 650 jobs, while slashing a number of services few Canadians actually use."

Followed to its logical conclusion then, CBC should actually disappear all together.

Anyway, good for the Harper government. Looks like they were listening to us. I wonder what else they have hidden.

Hmmmm

Inneresting.

Tories trim CBC budget

"The CBC will cost taxpayers $55 million less, if the federal government follows through with budget plans laid out Thursday.

That's a trim of about 5% of the state broadcaster's core funding spread out over three years."

...which brings us right up to the next election.

Could it be the big cut (ie. privatization) is scheduled to be a part of the Tory's election promises? I'm sure they've heard loud and clear what the citizenry think of our Grandmother's Corpse.

I Didn't Know...

...this was in the works, but what a great idea!!

"It's a move that would change the game board for players in Canada's labour movement.

Bill C-377, a private member's bill put forward by Conservative MP Russ Hiebert, has passed second reading in the House of Commons and appears destined to eventually become law -- a rare feat for private member's legislation.

It would compel labour unions, and their associated groups, to disclose how and where they spend money, exposing their political spending to scrutiny."(Emphasis mine)

There will be howling and screaming from leftards, especially those of the Dipper persuasion. Mark my word.