Federal Politics – Page 194

Premiers aid tar sands trip to the sea.

January 29, 2013 by Peter Lowry

Where is the least resistance? Wherever it might be, Canada’s pipelines people will find it. Their objective is to get that damn tar sands bitumen to a seaport, onto ocean tankers and off to where they can get world crude oil prices. Their latest allies in this quest are Canada’s provincial premiers. The premiers weighed in on the subject at their annual roast of the federal government on the weekend. It seems they want to have their own national energy strategy.

This is not to say there was universal agreement with the idea among the provinces. Premier Christy Clark from British Columbia told the other premiers to butt out of her game with the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline across her province to a shipping point at Kitimat. Premier Alison Redford of Alberta said they should all keep their hands off Alberta’s oil revenues.

Many oil people are betting on U.S. President Barack Obama giving the nod to Trans Canada’s XL pipeline down to the Texas coast. Most Americans think that is to make use of the Texas refineries but reality is that the Americans do not need the oil from bitumen and it would most likely be shipped from Texas to markets in Europe and the Far East.

The same holds true for the proposed eastern routes to Portland, Maine or Saint John, New Brunswick. Both Portland and Saint John have the refinery capacity to handle the refining of the bitumen slurry but, again, it is the shipping capabilities that interest our Canadian tar sands people.

Premier David Alward of New Brunswick thinks there is a pot of gold at the end of that eastern pipeline to Saint John. All he needs is one spill of bitumen slurry in his province and his citizens will change his mind for him. When that tar seeps into ground water, the neighbouring potato farmers will be on welfare for the rest of their lives.

What is the most surprising is that the Idle No More movement among Canada’s indigenous population has not realized their ability to use pipelines to their advantage. If they ever wanted to bargain effectively for proper schools and assistance for remote living, as well as control of their reserves’ resources, now is the time.

The National Energy Board (NEB) has already approved the initial stages of reversing older pipelines such as Line 9 between Sarnia and Westover, Ontario. The next phases in Ontario and Quebec will open up the route to Portland, Maine. Ontario’s Liberal Premier-elect has been too busy to pay attention and Quebec Premier Pauline Marois has a different agenda.

The NEB approved Line 9 because it is not a new pipeline. It is just a new use for an old pipeline. The problem is that bitumen slurry requires higher temperatures and higher pressures to move it through an older line. The approval can be a death notice for the land it passes through.

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A liberal review of the Vancouver debate.

January 21, 2013 by Peter Lowry

This should have been written last night after watching the debate but you would not want to read a diatribe. Do these people have any idea of the etymology of the word “debate”? On a scale of one to ten, this event got a minus-two.

And the persons running the sound system should leave Vancouver tarred, feathered and tied to a pole. Not only was the system echoing the voices but the translations were running at almost the same levels as the original sound and it was extremely difficult to sort them. Seniors trying to listen would have been the first to leave in disgust. Now this was the CBC feed we are talking about. Was any other feed better?

The people in the audience in Vancouver looked very crowded and uncomfortable. It would have been appreciated if viewers could have seen as well as we could only vaguely hear their reactions. And it would have been better if their questions had had some helpful editing.

And do not even ask about the camera work! Where those camera people last-minute volunteers from the audience?

What we really need is for each of these debates is for the audience to vote one of the candidates off the stage at each event. That way, in April, we will be down to a reasonable number and we will have saved some very foolish people from wasting a lot of money. Yesterday would have been a toss-up between lawyers David Bertschi and George Takach being the dumpee. Mind you, the fact that either is in the race shows the breadth of tolerance of liberalism in this country.

Karen McCrimmon could also have served her country better by staying in the military. She seems weary from the trials of this campaign already. Maybe next time, she will give us a better reason for her being in the race.

Deborah Coyne reminds us of when Prime Minister Jean Chrétien first came to Ottawa. He did not speak English then and was much more likeable. Maybe Coyne should never have tried to learn French.

Let’s try to keep Martha Hall Findlay in the race for a while. She adds a certain element to the race. It is called sex appeal. Just do not try to understand her platform.

But Martin Cauchon is no Maurice Chevalier. We can dump him anytime.

While Marc Garneau is still hung up on being an astronaut, he did have more to say for himself than we have heard before. He is probably too right wing but that problem affects most of the field.

Justin Trudeau is sure no Pierre. And his remark about left wingers not being fiscally responsible is going to come back and bite him in the rear one day. The kid needs more practice at this debate business.

He missed it completely when Joyce Murray tried to bring up her stand on legalizing cannabis but it did not seem to go over with the audience either. She obviously had supporters there for her stand on cooperation with the NDP but her opponents were of closed minds. The disappointment with the Vancouver Quadra MP was that the translators were having trouble figuring out what she was saying in French. She has little time left to fix that.

Oh well, there is more to come on these people.

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Indians are also Canadians.

January 12, 2013 by Peter Lowry

The continuing embarrassment of how Canada treats its aboriginal population seems to have hit a Conservative wall. As luck would have it for our Indians, Prime Minister Harper wants something. The chiefs have a chance in the next while to pull off the deal of a lifetime. It will probably enrage those who think fairness should run both ways but Harper has no time to do things properly.

And Harper will make sure that all the blame for the outrageous settlements involved will rest at the doorstep of the current crop of chiefs. And the Indians will play right into his game. This “Idle No More” movement, for example, is the latest in a long line of aboriginal based movements that think they can get the attention they want by inconveniencing and pissing off other Canadians. What they fail to realize is that it might produce steps to stop their antics but will never get anyone to address the very real problems among our indigenous population.

The main problem is that the tribal chiefs and the elected leaders among the aboriginal groups make it a power game wherein they can squabble over their shares of the Indian Affairs pie. Many of these people are actually well meaning but the system is designed to defeat the altruistic.

It is like the carefully leaked audit reports of Deloitte & Touche. Who would be under the impression that Chief Spence of Attawapiskat has a chartered accountant at her right hand to make sure that all transactions meet Canadian accounting standards? They do not and she will not and nothing will be resolved until all sides deal in the real world.

But Harper realizes that at both ends of the country, he needs to deal with Indians to get pipelines pumping tar sands bitumen to ports for foreign markets. Luckily he has the resources of Canadian taxpayers to buy some Indian cooperation and he will not be shy to make the commitments.

But, just to confuse an already confused scenario, the federal courts have finally ruled that non-status Indians and Metis also have status—probably doubling the numbers that Harper has to buy off.

Meanwhile Harper and friends are making a shambles of proper negotiation with our indigenous peoples by disrespecting Shawn Atleo the elected chief of of the Assembly of First Nations. By doing that the government is helping create more “Idle No More” movements and making resolutions of Indian problems even harder to reach.

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You also need to listen Martha.

December 30, 2012 by Peter Lowry

There is no question but that Tom Clark’s West Block on Global Television is the best short glimpse each week of what is going on in Canadian politics. It is an opportunity for aspiring politicians to observe, to listen and to learn. When invited on the show, you should listen carefully to your host. Guest, Liberal Martha Hall Findlay was so eager to make her points this week, she managed to talk over the attempts of Tom Clark to manage his show. And that is bad form.

Martha needs humility. She also needs lessons on handling television interviewers. There are interviewers whom you never want to appear with again and there are those who can do you some good. Tom Clark is one of the good ones. Continuously talking over him is a recipe for never being invited back.

What she really needed to listen to was the series of questions that Tom intends to ask each of the competitors for the federal Liberal leadership. This was an opportunity to gain ground and, in this contest, Martha has a long way to go.

The only question for which Martha had a ready answer was the one about whether British Columbia should be compensated for oil pipelines across that province. She came right back with Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s answer that they can have anything they want as long as it came from the private sector and not from Alberta’s cut of the pie. Martha gave the same answer and then embellished it while saying the same thing again.

What these politicians do not seem to understand is that the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline across Northern B.C. to Kitimat is really a two way pipeline. It is designed to pump light crude oil to Alberta to mix with tar sands bitumen which then enables a larger pipeline to pump the resulting slurry back to Kitimat. What a smart politician would do with that question would be to redirect it to the very serious environmental concerns.

With MP Joyce Murray overshadowing her in the west, Hall Findlay has less and less going for her in the federal leadership. It might be time to cut her losses.

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F-35, the gift that keeps on gifting.

December 29, 2012 by Peter Lowry

The news media in Ottawa never really appreciated Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’s weird sense of humour. They probably thought you needed to be from Chicoutimi to understand it. This is not true. He merely left traps for his successor. He thought it was Paul Martin on whom he had pulled the jokes. It turned out to be Stephen Harper. That was fair as far as Chrétien was concerned. He disliked them both.

The Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter program was one of those booby traps. Lucky for Paul Martin, he had barely warmed his chair in the Prime Minister’s Office before the voters gave a squeaker to Stephen Harper. Martin left office not knowing what Jean Chrétien had left for him.

It fell on the Conservatives to mismanage the F-35 file. And mismanage it they did. Defence Minister Peter MacKay made a complete ass of himself enjoying all the photo ops that a new fighter aircraft affords the photogenic. He was totally out of his depth.

When Stephen Harper realized that his Defence Minister was inadequate to handle the file, he gave it to an ex-cop who knew as much about Canada’s requirements for military aircraft as the Prime Minister’s kids. The cop did his job though and dragged the Conservatives further out on a limb. They were determined that Canada was going to get this miraculous fighter aircraft.

But what Chrétien must have realized from day one was that the challenge to Lockheed Martin was impossible. You simply cannot include Canada’s fighter aircraft needs with the strategic needs of the U.S.’s four military services. Canada does not take aircraft to war aboard aircraft carriers. It has no country to attack with a stealth aircraft. Canada has long and rugged coasts to protect and maintain its sovereignty. It does not have the convenience of having lots of places along those coasts to pop down and gas up. It needs a two-engine aircraft for long distances.

What the Canadian military must have been thinking throughout this fiasco remains to be determined. As usual, they just hunkered down and did what they were told.

It is probably for the best that Jean Chrétien will never be blamed for this foolishness. He is retired and can chortle quietly as he tees up for his next round of golf.

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A successful jubilee for the world’s best soap.

December 27, 2012 by Peter Lowry

Nobody beats the Brits at pageantry and soap operas and the British monarchy just had a banner year. It was so successful that they arrogantly broadcast the Queen’s annual message to the Commonwealth in three dimension, high definition television. That must have really pleased a hundredth of one per cent of the audience who could view the Queen in three dimensions. Why they would want that is an interesting question.

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second is a very one dimension type of person. She has no interesting side. Her stoicism in making it through her jubilee year was something of a wonder for a person of her age. She runs her extended family with strength and a dry wit that continues to dumbfound her loyal subjects.

The true highlight of her jubilee was that wet and dreary day when anything that could float was pressed into service on the Thames for a royal float past. Even though it endangered the health of the old Duke, he stood steadfast by her side throughout the fiasco. Viewers of the event were never told how many of those scows sank to the bottom of the Thames.

Her royal grandsons continue to be the apple of her royal eye. It is hard to say which is favourite after the eldest and second in line for the throne managed to knock up his anorexic appearing wife. Royal watchers are all a-twitter at that news. It was more than a twitter when the younger Harry got caught starkers with a young lady in Las Vegas. His only excuse was that the Special Branch blokes who were supposed to be watching had their own hookers. His kindly grandma advised him that whatever happens in Las Vegas should stay in Las Vegas.

The world looked in when Her Majesty supposedly arrived to help open the Olympics by parachute. It was, without a doubt, the best pageant to open an Olympic Games ever produced. Later we were treated to the worst pageant to end an Olympics ever produced. London and Her Majesty survived the games but Londoners will never forgive nor forget the traffic jams.

In Canada, Her Majesty’s loyal subjects received Jubilee Medals. The criteria to receive a medal appeared to be being liked by your local Conservative Member of Parliament. This kept the number of medals to be pressed nicely under control.

Some day Canada will put an end to the silliness of its colonial past and have a head of state of its own. That time is long overdue.

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The Hair’s Christmas message.

December 23, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It was perfect. The controlled studio environment for the interview and the controlled interviewer kept everything in harmony. It was the traditional annual Christmas interview with the Prime Minister of Canada. Dawna Friesen, national news anchor for Global television, was quietly toned down to suit the occasion. The hair has never looked better.

Safe from the gales of outdoors, the hair has been gently teased and softly sprayed for the event. Stephen sat forward in his chair, aggressively controlling in his new glasses. His back slightly stooped from the weighing of time, the Prime Minister was like a corporate sales manager, commenting on the successes of his fiscal year.

The kindly Prime Minister spoke proudly of his efforts to create high quality jobs for Canadians. He explained that he can bring in foreign workers to work for less in the meantime. He is sure though that the provincial premiers are getting the message and arranging proper training for their citizens, so they can also work for less.

In answer to a question about the sale of corporate energy giant Nexen to a Chinese state-owned company, the economist Prime Minister cum sales manager explained that there is a great diversity of trade markets in the world. Mind you, he does not believe that state ownership of market dominating companies is a model for Canada to use.

His major concern for Canadians is that they are building up too much household debt. He thinks that interest rates have been seriously low for too long and this has encouraged Canadians to increase their debt, particularly in the housing market. He expects they will get their comeuppance when mortgage interest rates return to more normal levels.

While every effort had been made to make it easy for the Prime Minister, he seemed to be more rigid than ever—never once sitting back in his chair or appearing relaxed for Dawna Friesen’s slow-ball lobs. He must have been worried about the hair.

But the hair was fine. It never moved a millimetre. The hairpiece is still a bit darker but the hairdresser to the Prime Minister has added a brownish rinse to provide a stronger background for the color of his eyes. All in all, it was another successful production for PMO Promotions Inc.

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Liberal-NDP merger a must for Canada’s future.

December 21, 2012 by Peter Lowry

You look at the current crop of leadership candidates for both the federal and Ontario Liberal parties and wonder if there is a leader among them. In Ontario, there has been nothing suggested that could stop the provincial Liberals from sliding into third place in an election, that could be forced before mid 2013. Federally, there is only one candidate who has been toe-testing the waters to see if there is hope to stop a further slide. The rest deny the need for the party to merge with the New Democrats. Their goal must be to lead the party to oblivion.

The most vociferous arguments against a merger are from the extreme right of the Liberal party in the person of Martha Hall Findlay. The former MP who lost one of the safest Liberal seats in Toronto to the Conservatives in the last federal election is now running as a leadership candidate from the west. She wrote a paper against a merger back in October of 2011. Her basic assumption is that people are adding the Liberal and NDP voting numbers and using the figures to argue for joining the parties. She, quite rightly, points out that two and two do not make four, in this case.

But the problem facing us at the moment is that the consolidated Conservative vote is running ahead of the Liberal or NDP vote. And as long as the progressive vote is split between two parties, the Conservatives can gain the upper hand. There is no question but that some of the right-wing Liberals will go home to their Conservative roots if the Liberal and NDP come together as a single party. Those people have been dragging their feet for too long anyway. There are also die-hard socialists in the NDP who believe in the collective and will reject the protection of individual rights as promoted by the Liberals

But that is the balance that will give us honest elections. Hall Findlay thinks that some average Canadians want a smaller, cheaper government that is needed to provide services and social safety nets that allow for a minimum quality of life for all Canadians. That is nothing but sleazy conservative cant for the gullible.

You will be hard-pressed to find Canadians who will settle for a ‘minimum’ quality of life when what they really want is opportunity. With the strong social conscience of the NDP combined with the Liberal belief in the rights of the individual, you have a formula for success across Canada.

Surely, MP Joyce Murray is not the only Liberal politician in Canada who recognizes where the future is for the progressive parties?

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Mr. Harper has his apologists.

December 15, 2012 by Peter Lowry

You tend to forget that some professional writers take pride in that someone can write a headline for them and they can write a story to support the headline. The issue is not what you believe in as much as that the client is willing to pay for the work. It is part of making a living. You just need to be careful about who signs it.

This comes to mind in relation to an op-ed by Carol Goar of the Toronto Star the other day. It was headlined Harper got it right on the Nexen deal. Writers in the Toronto Star rarely write their own headlines and, in this case, it is also hard to attribute some of the statements in the article to such an excellent and experienced writer such as Ms. Goar.

She starts the article by saying how easy it is to forget what a fine mind Stephen Harper has. She sure grabbed our attention with that line. You expect her to follow up with a discussion of his possible narcissistic traits.

But no. Ms. Goar credits the Prime Minister with every so often coming up with a smart solution to a problem. We suppose he has to—when he creates the problem in the first place, such as with the Nexen deal. Traveling around the world on his military A310 Airbus as Canada’s super salesman, Harper is probably making many promises that Canadians should know more about. They are often the kinds of deals that need to be reviewed under the Investment Canada Act which Harper finds so inconvenient.

Carol Goar seems unaware that Mr. Harper delivered a huge net benefit in capital gains to Nexen shareholders. That was the really vulgar aspect of the deal. The Chinese were so eager to buy the world-wide resources of Nexen that they paid far more than the company was worth in today’s dollars or in dollars decades from now. The Chinese have been had for $15.1 billion. And that nice Stephen Harper ran the shell game on them.

Nexen is, by the way, not a big time player in the oil sands. It gives the Chinese a foothold. If Harper actually makes good on his suggestion that it might be a “this far but no further” deal, the Chinese are going to be really unhappy customers.

Carol Goar might believe this deal is complete but the one thing Mr. Harper still has to deliver is the Enbridge pipeline across British Columbia to take oil sands’ bitumen to ocean tankers at Kitimat. That could be Emperor Harper’s Waterloo.

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Can Tories be tried for sleaze?

December 10, 2012 by Peter Lowry

Back in the days when Canadians could sell their vote for $5 or a mickey of Rye, the argument was often whether the Conservatives or the Liberals were more corrupt. As late as the 1960s, we had impromptu fistfights between the gangs that used to put up your signs during the day and take the competitions’ down at night. What we are seeing today is that too much money is the corrupting factor. And the changing technologies are tempting those with the deep pockets to ensure their winning.

Nothing makes this point better than the robocall scandal. Our federal courts are hearing the first case this week against the Conservatives for using automated telephone calls to suppress non-Conservative voting in the 2011 election. This was cheating on a wide scale. It is also a criminal act.

The only problem is that it has taken almost two years to get to court. During this time, the Conservatives have been in power. One of the first things they did when they had a majority in the House was to stop public money from going to the other parties. They wanted to make sure there was no longer a level playing field in Canadian politics.

Not that the Liberals or New Democrats are more law abiding. They have little choice. When you have no money to spare, you concentrate on spending it effectively. Poverty promotes piety.

The Conservatives, on the other hand, have more money from the rich and business friends than they can legally spend. It is like the Conservative MP from Babel. He rented a bus for the duration of the campaign. It was decked out with signs and party identification. It was driven here and there in the electoral district (an urban area) and parked wherever they thought they needed a presence. (When they tried to park it at polling places, they were told to move.) The point is that for any other party to rent that bus (with driver) would have cost at least $3000 for the campaign period. An experienced campaign manager could never find where that figure is included in his campaign expense reports.

The Conservative Party is guilty of too many “Oops” these days. It is not that the Liberals or New Democrats or any other party obeys the law any more precisely. They just cannot afford to be arrogant about it.

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