Conservative Campaign Against Ontario & On the Economy:

Jim Flaherty, is bad!

Conservative Campaign Against Ontario

Almost since taking office, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper has courted controversy with the government and people of Ontario on a number of fronts.

Peter Van Loan, Conservative House Leader (Source: pm.gc.ca)

On Democratic representation:
The Conservative government’s Bill C-22, introduced in November of 2007, seeks to reallocate the number of seats representing each province in Parliament. The bill allocates ten new seats to Ontario, just half of what a fair redistribution would deliver based on that province’s population growth relative the rest of the country. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty protested the bill and, for his concern, was accused of being the “small man of Confederation”[1] by Ontario Conservative Member of Parliament and Federal Government House Leader Peter Van Loan.

On Funding for Cities:
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities represents hundreds of communities large and small. Dozens of them are in Ontario, including Toronto, Windsor, Hamilton and Ottawa. On November 20th, 2007 the FCM released a report outlining its analysis of the amount of funding required to bring the infrastructure of Canada’s cities and communities – roads, sewers, water systems – up to modern standards. Their total: $123 billion.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty countered that the Conservative government was not in the “pothole business” and labelled municipal leaders “whiners.” [2]

Jim

Flaherty, Minister of Finance

On the Economy:
The Ontario economy has been hit hard of late. The major impact has been on the province’s manufacturing sector, which has lost 100,000 jobs since January 2006. Statistics Canada reported, in July, 2008, the Canadian economy lost 55,000, the most in 17 years, including 95,000 private sector jobs. The manufacturing sector in Ontario alone lost 41,000 jobs [3].

The Conservatives have claimed that their preferred response is to cut taxes, rather than “picking corporate winners and losers”[4] through public investments in private sector industries. Numerous observers however have pointed out that ths cclaim isn’t consistent with the government’s actions, which have included the funnelling of more than half a billion dollars for “long-term development” in communities in Quebec.[5]

With regard to the tax-cutting strategy, the single largest tax cut implemented by the Conservative government has been to the GST. Critics point out that the GST cut (down from seven per cent to five per cent) costs the treasury between $11 billion and $12 billion dollars annually and, as economists say in near-universal agreement, provides little economic stimulus (a high cost for a low return).

But perhaps most controversial in Ontario were the remarks made by the Finance inister Flaherty in a Toronto speech in which he accusedPremier McGuinty of undercutting the Ontario economy by keeping business taxes too high: “If you’re going to make a new business investment in Canada, and you’re concerned about taxes, the last place you will go is the province of Ontario.”[6]

References
[1]] Hansard, November 11, 2007
[2] Calgary mayr tells Flaherty he's got a shovel and hard hat for him Canada NewsWire, November 22, 2007
[3] CANSIM 282-0088, Statistics Canada, February 2008
[4] It's politics as uual for Flaherty; Federal minister's fud with McGuinty no surprise, but carries some obvious risks, Toronto Star, March 10, 2008
5] Toryy ridings in Quebec get more funding; Province enjoys disproportionate amount of economic development money, Ottawa Citizen, March 10, 208; Toryy ridings in Quebec get more aid: analysis; Minister denies any bias involved in regional development, National Post, March 10, 2008
[6] Flaherty calls Ont. ``last place'' to invest due to tax regime; calls for rate cut, Canadian Press, February 29, 2008

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Top 10 lesbian happenings

http://www.blogger.com/profile/11165763078527207948

Be the most informed lesbian on your block. Read my top 10 awesome lesbian things list now!

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I wish somtimes!!

cute pic no???

Good news for the NDP maybe?

Health Care, Economy, Environment and Poverty Will Define Next Federal Election …Governing Conservatives seen as more capable of handling the economy, but Liberals hold the upper hand on the environment. Many Canadians claim that four issues will be very important as they ponder their choices in the next federal election, a new Toronto Star/Angus Reid poll has found. In the online survey across Canada, 79 percent of you cited health care as a "very important" issue when you decide which party to vote for in the next federal election. The economy was second on the list with 75 percent, followed by the environment with 61 percent, and poverty with 53 percent. Five other issues did not reach the 50 percent mark in the "very important" category: the War in Afghanistan (39%), the fiscal imbalance (37%), funding and infrastructure for cities (35%), child care (32%) and Canada-U.S. relations (30%). Click here to read more.

Canadians Tend to Support Insite, Believe in Harm Reduction …Some misconceptions about facility remain: 19% of members mistakenly believe that Insite provides drugs to users. Roughly two-in-five Canadians support the operations of the first legal supervised injection site in North America and believe in the concept of "harm reduction", an Angus Reid Strategies poll has found. Our results showed that 38 percent of ARF members support Insite—a facility that has operated in Vancouver since 2003—while 23 percent oppose it and 39 percent are undecided. In British Columbia and Alberta, more than 50 percent express support for Insite. In all other regions, at least 40 percent are not sure. Click here to read more.

BC Residents Divided on the Actual Effect of the Carbon Tax ...Respondents split on their willingness to pay higher taxes on fossil fuels if they also get an income tax cut. Adults in British Columbia are divided in their assessment of the way the provincial government’s carbon tax has affected their household finances. In the online survey, 49 percent of our members say the carbon tax has severely (18%) or moderately (31%) affected their household finances, while 51 percent report only a slight problem (27%) or no trouble at all (24%). Members continue to hold mixed views on the new tax. A majority (54%) claims that putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions is a good idea, but only 38 percent believe the carbon tax will ultimately lead people to be more mindful of their carbon consumption and change their behaviour. Click here to read more.

Stephen Harper will not be on The Hour

Stephen Harper is not going to be on with George Stroumboulopoulos.
What the hell is Stephen Harper thinking this is not good PR at all.!

Power Readers in Politics: Canada thank you Google

Explore news sites read by the party leaders and political journalists.
See shared articles on prominent people and issues in Canada's 2008 federal election.

http://www.google.ca/googlereader/powerreaders/index.html

Google was late to the party but there here now.

Google is 10 Wow

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/ten-years-and-counting.html

http://www.google.ca/tenthbirthday/

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/we-knew-web-was-big.html

A few points of history.

Happy birthday Google & thank you!

It is a good progam

It is a good progam so he needs to leve it be!!
http://www.scandalpedia.ca/Scandals/InSite_en.html


Clement and Insite



In September 2003, the former Liberal government granted the Vancouver Costal Health Authority (VCHA) an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to launch a supervised injection site pilot research project known as Insite. It also provided $1.5 million to support the evaluation of the three-year pilot project.
Tony Clement, Tony Clement, Minister of Health (Source: pm.gc.ca)

After one year of operation, on September 28, 2004, an initial assessment on the impact of Insite was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The data revealed that:

* no fatalities had occurred in the facility,
* a large number of referrals were made to addiction counseling and withdrawal services by site counselors; and,
* the facility had been well managed and the staff was highly rated by the clients.

Since then, more research has shown Insite has decreased the incidence of drug paraphernalia on public streets, decreased the practice of sharing dirty needles, helping prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C among drug users, and increased the rate of addicts seeking rehabilitation and counseling services [1].

In the weeks leading up to the December 31st 2006 deadline to renew the funding and conditions to keep the site open, Conservative Health Minister Tony Clement stated that there had been no evidence to suggest that the site did in fact serve its intended purpose [2].

There was an immediate backlash against these remarks from the City of Vancouver and advocates of the program from across the country. Minister Clement responded by announcing on September 1, 2006 that he would defer the closure of the site until December 31, 2007 (in spite of recommendations from Health Canada bureaucrats that Insite receive a three-and-a-half year extension.) As well, the Minister provided no additional funding to assist the operation of the site.

In October 2007, the Conservative government announced a $63.8-million National Anti-Drug Strategy over two years which focused on enforcement, treatment and prevention, and had no harm-reduction measures to help limit the spread of infectious disease.

The Conservative view of Insite faced another challenge when, on May 27th, 2008, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that federal laws making possession of illegal drugs in a safe injection site an offence were unconstitutional under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court ordered the federal government to rewrite the laws so that secure injection facilities such as Insite were exempt. On May 29th, 2008, Minister Clement told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, “I can inform you today that I will be asking my colleague Rob Nicholson, the Minister of Justice, to appeal Justice Pitfield's decision at the earliest possible opportunity.”



At the 2008 AIDS Conference in Mexico, Minister Clement referred to harm reduction programs as “harm addition” [3]. During a scrum at the same conference, Mr. Clement was videotaped during a scrum in which he called Insite “an abomination.”

In a speech to the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) general council meeting in Montreal in August 2008, Mr. Clement attacked the CMA for supporting Insite, Canada’s only safe injection site. Mr. Clement questioned the ethics of doctors and nurses, “Is it unethical for health-care professionals to support the administration of drugs that are of unknown substance or purity or potency, drugs that cannot otherwise be legally prescribed?” [4]
Stephen Harper Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

Dr. Brian Day, president of the Canadian Medical Association, responded to Mr. Clement by saying 79 per cent of members agree that the injection sites work because they advocate harm reduction. Dr. Gabor Mate said “The repugnant aspect is his attack on the morality and ethics of human beings who are trying to work with a very difficult population." and “Where does he appoint himself as a moral judge of professionals who he doesn't understand and knows nothing about?” [5]

The Conservatives have made no secret about favouring a “get tough on crime” approach over on harm reduction strategies. Stephen Harper campaigned on a promise to shut down Insite in order to divert more funds to law enforcement and jail services. As he said on the campaign trail: "We as a government will not use taxpayers' money to fund drug use…That is not the strategy we will pursue." [6]






References
[1] http://www.communityinsite.ca/science.html
[2] Harper must start rethinking his anti-drug policy: SAFE-INJECTION SITE: PM's correct choice is to OK facility's ongoing operation, The Province, August 6, 2006
[3] Ottawa Reoffends at AIDS Summit, Toronto Star, August 9, 2008
[4] Doctors denounce Clement for assailing B.C.'s safe-injection site, Canwest News Service, Monday, August 18, 2008; www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/minist/speeches-discours/2008_08_18-eng.php
[5] B.C. doctor calls Clement's Insite comments 'repugnant', The Globe and Mail. August 20, 2008 ; Speech, CMA general council meeting, August 18, 2008
[6] Victoria needs a little Insite: Harper's hardline approach to drugs threatens to kill safe-injection site in Vancouver, Times Colonist (Victoria), February 17, 2006