Monthly Archives: December 2019

Do not pity poor Andrew Scheer.

What happens to a man whose entire working career has been that of a Canadian politician?

 He has stepped down as leader of the opposition which means he loses his free house, free car and chauffeur, chef and household manager.  He also has now to pay for his childrens’ private schooling and to cap it all off he takes a $100,000.00 pay cut!  Wow.  I guess the question is does he get to keep all those goodies until a new leader is elected?  Probably.

 I guess that is what happens when someone relies on the Canadian people for his livelihood. On the other hand. he can remain as a lifelong member of the House of Commons as he belongs to a party which is so well established in his home province that he is not in jeopardy of losing his conservative seat no matter how irrelevant he may be. By the time he finally retires his tax-free monthly pension will be the equivalent of a working man/woman’s annual wage.  Of course, as a US citizen, he could always go south and run for the senate there!

 There was some sort of joke that he would try again to be Speaker of the House, and that indeed would be a cruel joke as he was perhaps the most partisan and weak Speaker in Canadian History as his actions in the Brad Butt affair clearly showed.   To have him return in that position would indeed be an apt judgment on the value the elected representatives have in the so-called peoples’ House.

 Perhaps if he had been paying attention to the mood of Canadians rather than personally attacking his opponent, he would have been PM but he choose instead to be a fool. That should be a lesson to any would-be PM.  The people do have a say in who governs them, or should I say represents the corporate lobbyists to us all, and should be paid attention to.

 

His resignation has caused some speculation about who will take his place, which leads to:

                                            New Leader for the Conservatives?

 Well sure if they want to get anywhere other than opposition, they do need a leader with charisma and pizzazz and that doesn’t mean a constant anaemic smile. But look who the CBC in their never-ending speculating instead of reporting news is presenting as possible replacements.

 Peter MacKay. The man that betrayed his promise and written agreement to David Orchard who for the good of the party was willing to step aside for MacKay to be the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. The deal was that Stephen Harper would not be given the conservative name.  Well, we all know how that worked out, and how no matter what he did wrong – and he did plenty –  MacKay would always have a cabinet seat in any Harper government.

 Stephen Harper himself….Seems he retired only to promote himself as the world’s greatest conservative in case he got the chance to mess up Canada again.  His destruction of the working process of the Canadian Parliament is well documented and here is just one sample. (John Baird claiming the right he would not grant Ms.May as a duly elected Member of Parliament)

 Christy Clark, the ultra-conservative, libertarian who disguised herself as a BC Liberal and couldn’t name a corporate entity in BC which does not love her and gave her oodles of money in her failed bid to remain Dictatress of BC. Now openly supporting any conservative she knows and heaping praise on Brian Mulroney and Harper claiming they were saviours of Canada. Listening to her talk on the Power and Politics Premiers Panel on CBC is, to one from BC, sickening

 John Baird.  Perhaps single-handedly managed to get the CIA anti- Libyan mercenaries to keep fighting so he could arrange to bomb civilians, hospitals, universities, schools and water supply pipelines (and the factories to make more pipes) without any threat of air interference.  Perhaps his greatest asset was that he could escort Loraine Harper to functions when Stephen was out gadding around feathering his private nest al la Mulroney.

 Pierre Poilievre.  The architect of the unfair elections act, designed to stop First Nations and the homeless from voting, and pulling the teeth of Elections Canada to enforce a democratic election system in Canada.  Since being part of the opposition, he has attacked the PM personally too many times to count which is against parliamentary rules but he simply doesn’t care.  No thanks, Pierre.

 Surely there must be some real person of integrity and personality somewhere in the conservative ranks who can appeal to all Canadians of conservative ilk and they don’t need to exhume these people, except Pierre of course.

 But all in all, a very good day for Canada and a very bad day for Andrew Scheer.

Election 2019 musings

Written in early November and I forgot to post it…..

 

We are told over and over by those who should know better that Canada is a democracy. And yet we have just been shown again that democracy is a word that does not apply to Canada, and indeed the way Canada was formed did not have democracy in mind at all.

The Magna Carta, signed by King John on 15th June 1215, was the start of and the basis for Westminster styled parliaments since that day.  It laid out among other things, rights and privileges designed to curb the Royal power of a king, corrupt or not, and to give power to some of the people – Lords, Dukes Earls etc., and indeed the first parliament was made up of just those people. Rich and influential. But it was a start.

Canada, being a colony of England, was designated a Westminster style parliamentary system as were all the colonies of the old “Empire” now known as the Commonwealth of Nations.  Based as it was on the English system there were but two parties, neither of which had the ability to be democratic as the very nature of this system falls apart under the dictates of party lines.  Ideally, the purpose of our parliament would be to the betterment of all the people of Canada and Canada itself, however, today that concept is as alien as love thy neighbour.

That being said this just past election was as uninspiring as it was dirty. Fearmongering and smears outnumbered even the wildest promises and unsubstantiated claims were flowing freely. The outcome, a minority government, was predicted amid wild accusations of coalitions and one suggestion by Scheer that the looser of the minority race should immediately resign as party leader. How did that work out for you Andrew?

What we got was three parties showing an increase in seats and two showing losses. The Greens increased to 3 members, the Bloq (a party which puts Quebec first within Canada) regained party status; why did the conservatives describe them as separatists when their base in Alberta and Saskatchewan are openly calling for Wexit and the conservatives completely took over that belligerent western section of the country.  The NDP and Liberals both lost seats, but the saving grace for the liberals was probably the inherent distrust of Andrew Scheer who finally owned up to American citizenship (and all that would entail in dealing with half of himself!)  the threat of austerity and an increase in belligerence and bigotry as seen in both Ontario and Alberta. By the way, how did a party which was so critical of Mulcair having dual citizenship with France manage to have a US citizen as its head?

A split and dissatisfied country. A country which made climate change an issue; a country struggling with dissatisfaction with the way politics is conducted and yet not willing to go backwards; a country with a general population scared of adventurous voting, wanting change but not willing to bring it about; a country divided into haters and bigots and religious extremists, and those who want a better world; a country with an indigenous population still suffering genocidal conditions in spite of many words claiming otherwise; a country of huge potential being held back by red tape and bureaucracy, jealousies and fear of the different.

In other words, a paradise in the making if we do this right, or a hell just around the corner if we do not.

 

Jeremy

Halifax International Security Forum 2019

I tuned into part of this conference almost by mistake and if what I saw and heard was a reflection of the rest of the conference then I have to question why it took place.

 What I saw was a one on one chat with Richard O’Brien, and undersecretary to another secretary of something or another from the US administration. As it appears, he is as really a propaganda humanoid whose grasp of reality seems tenuous at best.

 Let me give an example or two.

According to O’Brien, Chavez and his socialism completely destroyed Venezuela, and socialism is to blame wherever it is practised for the collapse of countries economics.   Clearly, the US administrations do not believe that people should in any way benefit from the tax dollars they contribute to their governments as that should all go to make the wealthy individuals and corporations more wealthy.  Corporate welfare is alive and well in the USA and all is well in the land of the brave and free in spite of the crushing poverty amongst its citizens.   The truth about Venezuela is that Chavez wanted to free his country from the yoke of using the Petrodollar for the Venezuelan oil and instead use the Euro.  That was simply not acceptable to the US which believes it has the “god-given” right to control the world for their own benefit, and sanction after sanction was levied against that country, causing great hardship naturally. However just as they have done in the past and are still doing now meddling in the affairs of other countries causing leadership changes so friendly puppets can be installed who will bow low to the District of Columbia and give what they are told to give, mostly oil of course.   Now after they have crippled the economy of Venezuela they are saying that socialism is to blame and a rightfully and duly elected president must give way to an unelected CIA backed upstart.   Question for O’Brien – if this unlawful change takes place will the US sanctions be lifted the same day?

 So then it becomes ironic that O’Brien claims the USA is the country which answers the international 911 calls when in fact almost all those calls are made as a result of US actions.  Meddling in Ukraine, causing a coup and installing a friendly president on Russia’s border, creating the ability for the Crimea to vote for and then rejoin Russia, and making support subject to Trump’s personal political gain is hardly answering a 911 call. The list of countries destroyed by US political interference carried out by the CIA in the name of democracy rather than personal and corporate profit is a trait that Columbus must have brought with him when his boat eventually landed on the east coast. It has not changed and will not as long as the American people allow themselves to be herded like cattle to pay their taxes and do what they are told.  O’Brien talked about the generosity of the US abroad through their cost of defence which is really the cost of constant wars without which the military-industrial complex would go broke, and that would mean the end of the American economy. He also mentioned how he valued the young people who fought and died for the protection of their country, somehow ignoring the fact that most of them signed up for a paycheque as they couldn’t find work with their BAs and MAs etc. and if they survived they might even get lucky and get a pension. Survival, not nationalism O’Brien.

 Then there was a question about Africa, earnestly answered by saying that the US stands with Africans, wants to help them get free of despicable conditions, despots, civil wars and such, yet the president of the USA calls these countries “shit holes” and asks why he should help them at all.

 Am I alone in wondering how many sides of how many mouths were speaking for the US at this Forum?

 PS.  Naturally I saw and heard Peter MacKay there – perhaps getting ready to make a bid for the Conservative movement his lies and treachery helped to create for one Stephen Harper and certainly not for the people of Canada.