Young Tim's 'Transparency'

In a political landscape littered at all levels with lies, deception and expedience, it is hardly surprising that young Tim Hudak, the beleaguered 'leader' of Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party, has hung former Finance critic Peter Shurman out to dry.

Those who follow Ontario politics will likely be aware that Shurman, who represents the riding of Thornhill, lives in Niagara-on-the-Lake and maintains an apartment at taxpayer expense in Toronto, since his principal residence is more than 50 km from Toronto. This was done, according to Shurman, with the full knowledge and approval of Hudak, knowledge and approval which the Tory leader now steadfastly denies.

As a consequence of Shurman's expense claims coming to light, along with his refusal to pay back the money, young Tim, apparently in a futile effort to display 'decisive leadership,' fired Shurman from his finance critic's post:

“He did follow the technical rules but I need to enforce a higher standard,” said Hudak. “I think we need to change this rule.”

Which may be all well and good except for two things: Hudak's prior approval of the arrangement, if Shurman is to be believed, and this interesting tidbit in today's Star:

Embattled Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman wanted to run in Niagara Falls in the 2011 election, but Tory Leader Tim Hudak urged him to remain in Thornhill to save that seat ...

... four senior Conservative sources said the leader was worried the Liberals would win Thornhill without Shurman and pleaded with the popular incumbent to remain there, even though Hudak knew he was living in the Niagara region by then.

While young Tim is trying to use this situation to show that he is capable of strong leadership, some would say it is an example of something far less flattering: personal betrayal.

How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up, Winston?

O'Brien held up his left hand, its back toward Winston, with the
thumb hidden and the four fingers extended.
"How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?"
"Four."
"And if the Party says that it is not four but five -- then how many?"
"Four."
The word ended in a gasp of pain.
-- George Orwell 1984

As a resident of Harperland, there are indeed days when I feel like Winston Smith, the beleaguered protagonist of Orwell's prescient novel, 1984. Like Smith, I live in a land of lies perpetrated by a government that claims to represent its citizens, claims that are as far from truth as most of us are from sainthood. It is a land where civic engagement is discouraged, genuine concerns derisively dismissed, and the most passionate often find themselves on government enemies' lists. It is a land of cruel delusion.

My friend Steve yesterday alerted me to yet one more instance of the kind of Harper propaganda and subterfuge that bears little relation to truth.

Most of us assume that when we fly, we are protected by stringent government oversight, and that when we purchase a ticket from a Canadian airline, we are purchasing the services of both a Canadian plane and crew. That is not necessarily true.

There is a term in the airline industry called wet leasing, a practice that allows Canadian companies to lease not just a foreign aircraft but also its crew, maintenance and other essential elements.

While there is nothing illegal about the practice, it does open the door to potential threats to safety.

Take, for example, an incident that occurred on July 16, 2012, when two Canadian CF-18 Hornet fighter jets scrambled to intercept a Sunwing Airlines flight near Quebec City, after the Toronto-bound aircraft lost contact with air traffic control for more than an hour. The plane and crew, leased from Portugal, placed everyone in danger of being shot down as a terrorist threat for one simple reason: the pilot forgot to change radio frequncies when he entered a new flight zone, a standard requirement that even the most unseasoned of domestic pilots are well-aware of.

Yet in Harperland, we are told not to worry. Last week, six months after CTV News reported the near-death experience of the Sunwing passengers, Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt announced the government will limit wet-leasing by imposing a cap of “20 per cent of a Canadian carrier’s fleet that can be wet-leased from a foreign company for periods of more than 30 days.”

In addition to this wholly inadequate and belated response, Minister Raitt had the audacity (or is it just the usual contempt for the intelligence of Canadians?) to issue the following statement:

“Our government is working to make sure that Canadians are first in line for Canadian jobs, to open new markets for Canadian companies and to give more options to Canadian consumers”.

Message to Ms. Raitt and the other apparatchiks of Harplandia:

You are holding up four fingers.

On Tasers And Tim

As usual, Star readers offer their penetrating commentary on recent events and the benighted Tim Hudak. Enjoy!



80-year-old woman tasered a day after rules changed, Sept. 4

I find it extremely disturbing that Peel Region police officers called to Thomas St. and Erin Mills Parkway on Aug. 28 around 3:30 a.m. were unable to “talk down” an obviously anguished 80-year-old woman. According to the article, the woman was “walking along the road,” which is not at all busy with traffic at that time of the morning. Surely, even if they could not get her off the road of her own volition for safety reasons, they could have easily overpowered this senior citizen.

Instead, they tasered an 80-year-old, causing her to fall, at which time it seems that she fractured her hip, as well as incurring other injuries. In view of all of the unfavourable publicity regarding how police appear to rush to use force above all other methods, this does not bode well for our citizenry, young and old.

Grace A. Taylor, Streetsville

Really? Tasering an 80-year-old woman? Did Peel Regional Police feel so threatened by her that they felt their only option was to use a Taser?

Mary Smart, Kingston



Collision course for Hudak, labour, Column Sept. 5

The Conservative party in Ontario is ready to self-destruct and one big reason is that Tim Hudak, Randy Hillier and other dinosaurs in the party want to “deunionize to reindustrialize,” medievalize not modernize labour in Ontario. This backward vision whereby the province transforms itself into Mississippi or Arkansas in order to attract exploitive employers who treat their employees like dirt instead of paying living wages and providing fair benefits is a non-starter with the Ontario public. It is one of the main reasons the Tories are tanking in the polls.

We don’t need political leaders who take us backward. We deserve leadership that moves us forward, by following successful examples like Germany. Attacking unions might throw some red meat to the dinosaurs in the Conservative party, but the quicker they become extinct, the brighter Ontario’s future will be.

David Lundy, Merrickville

Re: Proposed bill would help building firm, hurt unions, August 31

Bill 74, a private members bill introduced by London-area Tory MPP Monte McNaughton, to overturn a Labour Relations Board decision re: the use of unionized workers caught my attention. This strikes me as another “race to the bottom” for Canadian workers.

The Labour Relations board gave the giant construction company, EllisDon, whose head office is also in London, two years to lobby Queen’s Park for a change.

A couple of questions: Did EllisDon become a giant company without the help of Canadian education/training programs/Canadian infrastructure/benefits and resources? Benefits that support the growth and success of Canadian companies are also due to Canadians.

If companies from other countries can bid for jobs here with complete freedom to hire non-union workers, isn’t that a sure sign that Canada and Canadians have been sold out by our governments?

If I were the head of EllisDon, I would exert pressure on the federal government to establish a level playing field, rather than try to undermine the workers who have made EllisDon profits possible.

If Canadian companies lost their right to a level playing field due to the free trade sell out, why should the most vulnerable workers be bullied and sacrificed?

Donna Chevrier, Mississauga

A True Gateway Drug

For those who believe in the virtues of unfettered capitalism, you might want to read up on how teens and pre-teens are now ingesting nicotine, many for the first time, thanks to the diabolical marketing of e-cigarettes to them. Available in flavours that include bubblegum, cherry and strawberry, the lure is proving irresistible to more and more youngsters, many of whom 'graduate' to 'real' cigarettes once they are hooked on the nicotine:



Evil seems to be a wholly inadequate word to describe what is going on here.

Feet Of Clay?

This from the folks at prima facie. Enjoy:

Told You The Right Hates Rachel Maddow

Listen to this for confirmation:

The Power Of Pictures

'Nuff said.

Another Union-Busting Eatery I Will Not Patronize

Several days ago I commented on a story from The Star about the unsavory labour practices of Richtree Market, a Toronto restaurant that 'closed' its business, terminated all of its unionized staff, only to reopen this coming Monday a few doors down from its prior location. None of the old staff was rehired, and all who currently staff the 'new' operation are non-union, a clear violation of Ontario labour law.

In this morning's edition, The Toronto Star reports that the same tactic has been used by the Lai Wah Heen restaurant, housed within the exclusive Metropolitan Hotel in Toronto:

For 17 years, Ricky Chu served the lauded dim sum at Lai Wah Heen restaurant with a smile. The unionized job at the Metropolitan Hotel eatery fed his kids, after all.

When a new owner took over the hotel in January, the high-end restaurant was shut down. Chu lost his job. But he considered it salt in the wound when Lai Wah Heen reopened in March — without him or ten other servers who were laid off. In their place was a non-unionized staff.

The Metropolitan Hotel changed hands this year, being purchased by Bayview Hospitality Group. This fact, according to its president, Al Gulamani, gives it every legal right to treat over 100 of the hotel's former workers like disposable commodities.

Unite Here Local 75, the union representing them, disagrees, arguing that the owner has violated labour law and their collective bargaining agreement by shutting down certain departments only to subcontract them out.

Employment lawyer Howard Levitt says new ownership can’t break a union agreement, especially if the nature of the business hasn’t changed.

“It doesn’t matter if the ownership changes, there’s something called successor rights in the Labour Relations Act. Employers who think that just by changing ownership they can escape the union are unfortunately deluded.”

Meanwhile, employees in other departments of the Metropolitan live in daily fear that they will be next. One of those is Rahman Aliheidari, 49, pictured above, who fears the room service department at the Metropolitan Hotel, where he works, will next:

“I have a 4-year-old daughter. When I work, I have fear. When I sleep, I have fear. You call this a stable job?”

Indeed.

He's Everywhere!

Disclaimer: Despite the fact that this is my third recent posting about him, there is no 'bromance' budding between me and Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt. It's just that I am fascinated by him, given his seemingly ubiquitous media presence, one that belies both his profound, quite peculiar stupidity and smug self-righteousness.

As reported in The Raw Story, Klingenschmitt recently appeared on The Ed Show to try to explain the unholiness of Obamacare.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Your Morning Jolt

Most people get their morning jolt from their breakfast cup(s) of coffee. As I wrote earlier this week, an 80-year-old woman, now identified as Iole Pasquale and suffering from dementia, got her jolts at 3:30 a.m. from two police taserings while walking along a road in Mississauga with a bread knife.

Described in the original report as frail, police sources say Pasquale was out of control and refused to follow police orders to put down the weapon before she was Tasered.

As a consequence of the tasering, she fell down and broke her hip. Any degree of independent living is no longer an option. Paquale's daughter Angela could be described as a tad upset.

A crime wave of unprecedented proportions seems to be under way; given the cases of Sammy Yatim wielding a pen knife on a deserted streetcar, a crime for which he paid with his life, and Steve Mesic, the emotionally disturbed unarmed Hamilton man whose disrespectful turning of his back on police apparently warranted death, given that his dorsal area was the recipient of the bullets that killed him, few would dispute the dangers police confront on a daily basis.

What is to be done for our brave men and women in blue? Surely the public second-guessing that follows such highly-publicized events is deeply demoralizing to those who protect and serve us.

But undoubtedly, relief is forthcoming for our centurions. The SIU is currently investigating the Pasquale rampage and, if past practices are any indication, full exoneration of the subject officers is all but assured. The Sammy Yatim case is the likely exception. The citizen video of that killing has been widely circulated, offering a view of events that would challenge even the most elaborate and obdurate of police 'narratives.'

Nonetheless, citizens have been warned. Obey authority. Offer no resistance. Question nothing. Your well-being, even your life, may very well depend on complete compliance and passivity.

Syria: Iraq Redux

Rachel Maddow is hated by the right and all who peddle propaganda as truth. The following video illustrates why:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Political Spin: This Story Isn't True, But It Is Gratifying

My friend Gary sent me this yesterday, an apocryphal story that nonetheless offers certain pleasures. Enjoy!

Remus Rudd

Stephen Harper's great-great uncle.



Remus Rudd

No matter what side of the political fence you're on, THIS is FUNNY and
VERY telling! It just all depends on how you look at the same things.

Judy Harper an amateur genealogy researcher in Northern Ontario, was
doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's great-great uncle, Remus Rudd, was
hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Winnipeg in 1889. Both
Judy and Stephen Harper share this common ancestor.

The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows at
The Manitoba Provincial Jail.

On the back of the picture Judy obtained during her research is thisharper
inscription:

'Remus Rudd horse thief, sent to Stony Mountain Jail 1885, escaped
1887, robbed the CP AND CN trains six times.

Caught by Mounted Police Force, convicted and hanged in 1889.'

So Judy recently e-mailed Prime Minister Harper for information about
their great-great uncle, Remus Rudd.

Believe it or not, Harper's staff sent back the following biographical
sketch for her genealogy research:

"Remus Rudd was famous in Ontario during the mid to late 1800s. His
business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian
assets and intimate dealings with the CP and CN Railways..

Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to government
service, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroads.

In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the Mounted
Police Force. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic
function held in his honour when the platform upon which he was standing
collapsed."

NOW That's how it's done, Folks!

Now that's a real POLITICAL SPIN!

Another Example Of Idiocy That Gives A Bad Name To Religion

Were I still a teacher, I would certainly use the following as a prime example of a reasoning fallacy and sheer idiocy:

A Christian Speaks In Defense Of Gay Marriage

Calm, eloquent and convincing, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offers his reasons for supporting gay marriage. Rarely have I heard a politician articulate and defend his position so well. He puts the unhinged and zealous hate mongers who claim to be Christian to the shame they richly deserve.

So Many Stories, So Little Time

Most days that I post a blog entry, I choose my topic based on my reaction to news stories. Today, two disparate pieces seem particularly noteworthy, one that confirms what all but the profoundly naive know about government, the other about yet again another police incident that, thanks to the blanket of secrecy that encases our security forces, seems incomprehensible.

First, the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, under the troubled 'leadership' of young Tim Hudak, confirms that that they are the party of business interests. As reported in The Toronto Star, Conservative MPP Randy Hillier, admittedly no fan of his leader, has revealed his concerns about a private member's bill introduced by fellow MPP Monte McNaughton that would release construction giant EllisDon from a closed-shop working agreement dating to 1958, that locks the company into using unionized workers.

According to Hillier, he and his colleagues were told “explicitly” by senior party officials behind closed doors that pushing [the] legislation ... would boost financial donations to the Tories.

“In caucus, it was stated quite explicitly that following a successful EllisDon fundraiser for (Tory leader) Tim (Hudak), our party would continue to benefit financially with the advancement of this legislation,” he said in the email.

And it gets worse:

Two PC sources confided it was Hudak’s office that pushed the matter in a bid to curry favour with a company that has been a generous political donor for years, especially to the Liberals.

Predictably, a veil of secrecy in response to the allegations has been drawn:

Ian Robertson, Hudak’s chief of staff, said in an email internal caucus deliberations were not for public consumption.

Seems like those ads during the last election weren't so far-fetched after all.

Seguing from the secrecy embraced by political parties to that worshiped by the police, a disturbing story reported in The Globe reveals that an 80-year-old woman was tasered by police around 3:30 a.m. last Wednesday as she was walking along a road in Mississauga. She fell and broke her hip.

Predictably, details about the circumstances surrounding this seemingly unnatural act are being withheld from the public pending an investigation by the perennially impotent Special Investigation Unit, always obstructed by the fact that subject police officers do not even have to talk to them.

Secrecy, secrecy, and more secrecy. Not exactly what one would expect from an open and democratic society, is it?

More From The Religiously Unhinged

Oh, he's back at it again. The perpetually aggrieved and unhinged 'Reverend' Gordon Klingenschmitt is still grappling with that old demonic spirit of tyranny and persecution, as the following video makes clear. One can only hope that the poor tormented soul will someday find peace by concentrating on God's love rather than his own issues with homophobia.

An Immutable Truth

This, from Howard Zinn:

A Restaurant To Avoid: Richtree Produces Bitter Fruit*

Were I a Toronto resident, Richtree Market, a restaurant located in the Eaton Centre, is a business I would refuse to patronize. Its union-busting tactics should appall anyone who cares in the least about workers' rights.

As reported in The Toronto Star, Richtree Market began its dark anti-union journey in January, when it terminated all of its employees and closed the business. For Nazrul Islam, their chef for 25 years, it was a devastating blow:

“It was my first job in Canada and it had good benefits,” said the 57-year-old man who came from Bangladesh. “I was king of the kitchen.”

However, Islam's shock was compounded upon discovering Richtree is reopening at the Eaton Centre on Sept. 9, metres away from its previous spot, without him or any of the other 49 workers who were laid off.

According to the union representing the employees, Unite Here 75, this is a major violation of Canadian labour law.

“They are opening at the same location, same concept, same company, same owner, but we don’t get our jobs back,” said Islam, who’s had no luck finding a new job. “I have five family members to feed. How can we survive? I cannot afford next month’s rent.”

Richtree, for its part, claims that it has done nothing wrong:

“In January, Richtree was no longer in operation and successfully completed the process of collective bargaining with Local 75,” said a company representative, who agreed to read a statement but not be named. “The severance packages were greater than the minimum and each associate accepted those packages. Each and every one of them.”

The problem with the severance packages is that the employees had no knowledge that the restaurant was planning to reopen later in the year. They were, in fact, lied to:

It’s legal to shut down a business to avoid unionization, said labour lawyer Sunira Chaudhri but only if the closure is genuine and final.

“What’s illegal is superficially shutting down and severing ties (to the union), just to do business next door,” said Chaudhri. “Clearly that’s what Richtree seems to be doing, which likely wouldn’t be in line with the current labour law landscape.”

Boycotting this upscale eatery may not get Narzul Islam or the 49 other workers their jobs back, but it will send a strong message that Canadians of conscience reject such reprehensible behaviour and will do nothing to reward it.

P.S. I notice that Richtree's website states, It's always good to hear from you. If you are so inclined, you can send your thoughts on their practices by clicking here.

* Many thanks to LeDaro for his excellent suggestion of an amended title to this post.

The Problem With The Police Starts At The Top

Leadership is a word that evokes many associations; strength, vision, determination and resolve are a few of the positive ones. Selfishness, careerism, expediency and cowardice are but a few of many negative associations. In my own working life, I had perhaps three administrators I looked up to, the ones who put the good of education above personal ambition, pettiness and self-centreness. They were people I would have done anything for.

The rest I merely endured because I had no choice.

As I have often written in this blog, I see Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair as a failed leader, one who must bear a large portion of the responsibility for the democratic debacle of the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto and its aftermath, which saw virtually no consequences for the massive and widespread police abuse of charter rights. In my view, Blair should have been fired afterwards. Sadly, the effects of his failed leadership, like poison dropped in a reservoir, continues to ripple outward, affecting those he 'commands'.

An exceptionally well-crafted letter in today's Toronto Star by Rick Owens of Toronto explains why:

Re: SIU head blasts Toronto police chief for co-operation failures, Aug. 29

That Toronto police Chief Bill Blair is not directly accountable to the SIU is clear in law. But that is not the issue. What is at issue here is whether the chief ought to have the courtesy to respond directly to a legally mandated body that investigates matters involving the consequences of the use of force by his staff. Courtesy or rather the problem with discourtesy is the issue here.

I can recall no time in the last 40 years when regard for the police in Toronto was this low and widespread. Whether it’s the G20 fiasco, the series of charges and allegations about dishonesty in court or outrageous misjudgments such as the Sammy Yatim shooting, some police in Toronto have done much to undermine the credibility of and trust in the Toronto Police Service. And it is the sort of defiance and fundamental discourtesy that the chief demonstrated in this matter that seem to be the common theme across the past decade.

That Blair feels no need to be even remotely courteous to Ian Scott is akin to the disregard by some police to the rights of citizens or their own responsibility to abide by the law. One recent example of this disregard is the officer who parked his personal car illegally while on a paid duty assignment. All he had to do was put a police vest on his dash and he was exempt from paying the fees that every other private vehicle is required to pay. That was his expectation; it’s not the law. This is at best a discourtesy to those of us who abide by the law and pay the penalties when we don’t. At its worst, it is quite simply corruption. But why should that officer think he’s accountable to the rest of us if his chief doesn’t think he is?

The chief sets both the tone and example for the thousands of women and men in his (our) employ, and his response to Scott was most certainly the wrong one. The police service has a lot of work ahead of it in repairing its image and relationships with the people it serves and to whom it is accountable. This was a step back. It is my (admittedly distant) hope that the Police Services Board will hold him to account on this matter.

A 'Sign' Of Our Debased Democracy

If you are under the impression that our Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows for freedom of expression, please be aware there are apparently severe restrictions on that freedom should you try to express yourself on public property in the vicinity of Prime Minister's residence; perhaps Mr. Harper invoked the notwithstanding clause?


Women told they need a permit for their sign



H/t Occupy Canada

A Stinging Indictment Of Joe Oliver And The Harper Mentality

It would seem that Chad Beharriell of Windsor has Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver's number:

Make transition to a green economy

Like a dinosaur that can see the comet coming, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is now reaching for the public relations panic button as he sees growing resistance across the globe to unchecked fossil fuel development.

Oliver, a former investment banker who leads the Conservative charge to monetize everything in the ground regardless of environmental and health costs, realizes that Canadians, North Americans and the world-at-large are waking up to the very real effects of climate change and global warming brought on by continued fossil fuel consumption.

The world’s atmosphere now contains 400 parts-per-million of carbon dioxide — the last time carbon dioxide was in such high amounts was approximately four million years ago when the planet was very different and humans did not exist. Humans are recreating a climate that normally wouldn’t exist within the natural cycles of the planet.

The current Canadian government and Oliver are lazy. Rather than take on the adventure to transition to clean energy and a green economy that will create thousands of jobs during that transition, Oliver and company wilfully damage the atmosphere and life-sources of water to squeeze black money from the tar sands.

Oliver recently said that Canadians, in terms of expanded fossil fuel development, must act quickly to “decide whether to take that opportunity or let it pass us by.” Oliver, your time has passed; the coming generations want a different planet.

What Do Mark Twain And Charles Darwin Have In Common?

If you thought their commonality lay in their capacity for observation, thought, and contribution to the general good, guess again.

First, Mr. Twain's shocking 'truth':



Next, the real story about the depraved Mr. Darwin:




I'm certainly glad that he didn't resort to any hyperbole in his litany of their 'sins,' but sadly, doesn't Pastor Swanson make everyone with any kind of religious belief look a tad dim?

Ignorance Is Bliss (For Some)

George Carlin left us far too soon.

Watch as he offers his trenchant views on what the corporate agenda wants and demands from us.

WARNING: SOME PROFANITY AHEAD:

This Is The Best They've Got?

Many Ontario residents of a certain age will be aware of the fact that the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party ruled the province for forty-two years, from 1943 to 1985, a time during which the term 'progressive conservative' did not constitute an oxymoron.

That was then. This is now. A headline in today's Star reads: Tim Hudak best leader for Ontario PC party, poll shows.

How the mighty have fallen.

The Struggle For Dignity

All of us have a right to respect and dignity. Many of us do not receive it. Having been 'educated' in the Catholic system at a time when the application of both verbal and physical abuse was regarded as proper corrective methodology, I experienced many times in my younger life situations where respect and dignity were denied. I suspect it was one of those foundational experiences that has made me so acutely aware of various forms of injustice as an adult.

Countless people around the world are denied dignity, many of them within North America, the most prosperous part of our planet. Particularly vulnerable to debasement are minimum wage workers, many of whom toil in the fast food industry about which I have written previous posts.

Yesterday, thousands of fast-food workers in nearly 60 cities across the United States staged strikes to protest poor wages as they call for a doubling of the minimum wage from an average of $7.25 to $15 per hour.

Organizers of the action, Low Pay Is Not Ok, are also calling for the right to unionize without fear of retalaiation; one of the obstacles to unionization is the fact that many work in 'right-to-work-states' that make it optional to join unions and pay dues, even in unionized environments. It is a law that Ontario's would-be premier, the young Tim Hudak, salivates over and promises for those foolish enough to consider voting for him.

I encourage people to educate themselves on this issue, striking as it does at the very heart of respect, dignity, and the capacity to live a life at the very least slightly above the poverty line. Perhaps statistics put into perspective the denialism that is the reflexive reaction of the corporate world whenever there is any discussion of improving the wages of those who make possible their massive profits:

Workers want their hourly pay more than doubled from the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to a more livable $15 an hour. Organizers of the rally say the top eight fast-food chains — McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Papa John’s — made $7.35 billion in profit last year, yet most of their employees didn’t make more than $11,200.

Seems doable to me and I imagine just about everyone else who believes in a little justice and equity for humanity.


* On a personal note, we are taking our Cuban friends to see Niagara Falls today, after which we will visit my sister-in-law in Niagara-On-The-Lake. If you post comments here, they will not appear until later today, when I have computer access at her place. I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend.

More Lies From Harper Inc.

By now, most Canadians are probably aware that truth and the Harper regime are total strangers. Whether talking about the cost estimates of F-35 jets, knowledge about the Wright-Duffy-Wallin Senate scandal, reasons for taking rides from military helicopters to return from the cottage, spending $50 million on gazebos, everything the government says is suspect. People become used to such dishonesty, deceit and contempt, but I hope they never become inured to these egregious signs of overweening pride and arrogance from the people who 'serve' us.

Recent claims of revisions to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program that would ensure employers offer jobs to Canadians first appear to be yet just another lie issued by the government to quell widespread discontent. A story in today's Edmonton Journal reports the following:

Hundreds of Alberta employers are being allowed to bring temporary foreign workers into the province at minimum wage despite a federal government requirement they be paid at or near market rates.

Internal documents reveal officials at Human Resources and Skill Development Canada are letting businesses like big restaurant chains and large nurseries pay imported employees as little as $9.75 an hour.

The Alberta Federation of Labour, which gained the truth through a federal access to information request, says of the foreign workers,

“They’re being used as pawns by employers who don’t want to respond to the market signals that are telling them they need to raise wages”.

And the implication of this deceitful practice has implications far beyond the temporary workers directly affected:

Don Drummond, a former chief economist with TD Bank and deputy minister with the federal finance department, worries the documents show the TFW program is being used to artificially suppress wages in the province’s labour market despite a robust economy.

“If this program is creating a substantial number of positions at minimum wage,” said Drummond, “it’s dragging down wages throughout the province’s entire economy.”

Predictably, Dr. Kellie Leitch, the federal labour minister, did not respond to written questions about why this is being allowed.

Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865 with the 13th Amendment to the Consitution. Apparently it continues under another name in our own country today.

Oh I Can Think Of So Many Ways This Is Relevant

About Upper-Class Twits and Peter MacKay

Yesterday, over at Northern Reflections, Owen had a trenchant post on Justice Minister Peter MacKay, a man who has always struck me as one of the most profoundly incompetent members of the Harper cabinet. After reading the post, I couldn't help but think of one of the classic skits by Monty Python, The Upper-Class Twit of the Year.

Enjoy:

A Reminder Of Our Place

As our Cuban friends' visit continues, we are trying to give them a sampling of life in Canada. Yesterday we went to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto; the first exhibition hall we entered there was the one devoted to Canada's aboriginal peoples, where we came upon a work by Norval Morriseau entitled Migration, depicted above.

As the human race continues its ruthless and relentless exploitation of earth's resources to the point of exhaustion, as our heedless behaviour warms the earth to the point of profound and probably irreversible, disastrous change, Migration offers us a succinct reminder of how everyone and everything is interconnected and interdependent.

It is a simple and profound truth, the implications of which far too many choose to be willfully ignorant.

Will He Or Won't He?

2015 is not very far away. It may be the year of liberation, the year Canada reclaims its collective soul, or it may be the year in which Canadians elect to continue their enslavement to the neo-conservative agenda. (Please forgive the rather overblown rhetoric in the previous sentence, but in my heart it sums up what lies before us.)

The question of whether Stephen Harper will run in the next election is on many people's minds. Some are entirely convinced that he will, while I am of the view the public opinion surveys and their consistency will be a heavy influence on his decision. If they suggest that he is held in wide and consistent public odium, I suspect he will choose to forgo another election. Like Brian Mulroney before him, and the detested former Ontario premier Mike Harris, whose massive egos didn't blind them to the likelihood of defeat at the polls, I suspect Harper will decide to cut and run (the contemptuous term Harper always used to when anyone suggested we get out of Afghanistan) rather than confront the truth about himself: that despite his delusions, he is a leader who has failed abysmally in inspiring anything but division, rancour and selfishness within the country he was elected to serve.

A letter in today's Star offers this view:

Re: Harper resignation no longer a far-fetched notion, Aug. 25

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not risk the humiliation of losing the next election as the momentum is building against him across the country. Harper will not run in the 2015 election.

He may be able to prorogue Parliament to avoid a confrontation in the House of Commons and the intense questioning over Senators Pamela Wallin, Mac Harb, Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau. But he cannot prorogue the fact of his alienating Quebec.

He is unable to prorogue the 2015 election and will not want to preside over the break-up of the country.

Robert G. Sheehan-Gauthier, Ottawa

Of course, my political instincts are not what they once were, and I could be completely wrong. For a more nuanced and detailed analysis of the factors that will influence Harper's decision, take a look at the CBC's Greg Weston's piece here.

The Anti-Harper

I'd like to make it clear at the start of this post that I have by no means been converted to the belief that Justin Trudeau would be an appropriate choice to lead the country, for reasons that I will conclude the post with. However, I simply want to make a few observations about the striking contrast he presents to Stephen Harper.

By now, everyone that follows such things is likely aware of the stark and tight control Harper tries to extend over his entire regime. Parliamentary secretaries, M.P.s and others who speak publicly on the government's behalf are given very strict speaking points from which they cannot deviate. A recent Power and Politics panel on Trudeau's admissions about pot-smoking vividly attested to that fact whenever Conservative M.P. Blake Richards spoke, as do numerous past public discussions on other matters. Journalists, as we were reminded the other day, are limited to five questions of the Prime Minister on those rare occasions when he deigns to allow them access to him. Any attempt at deviation from that regimen is met with severe consequences, as was evident to the world when Chinese reporter Li Xuejiang was roughed up and ejected by Harper's staff and the RCMP when he tried to ask a question:

Everything about Harper bespeaks an overweening control of the message, disdain for the truth, and contempt for the electorate.

Trudeau, by contrast, projects the image of an honest and transparent politician. In today's Toronto Star, columnist Tim Harper makes some interesting observations about the nature of what he sees as Trudeau's strategy:

Since entering federal politics, the Liberal leader has taken a series of risks.

They’ve all been calculated risks, but risks nonetheless.

He’s surviving, even flourishing, with a combination of charisma, favourable treatment from a national press pack desperate [emphasis mine] for a little colour in a drab political landscape, mastery of social media — and a little luck.

Tim Harper characterizes Trudeau as a risk-taker:

He has taken mock pratfalls down a flight of stairs for the television cameras, he did a faux striptease in front of the cameras at a charity fundraiser, he stepped into the boxing ring against a then-Conservative senator.

He took a risk in coming clean to an Ottawa reporter about his personal wealth and the money he earned on the speaking tour...

Harper then turns his attention to Trudeau's recent admission, saying it is hardly news that someone has smoked a bit of of pot over the years. He says the real risk for him is the unsolicited details he provided:

Trudeau could have acknowledged he had fired up a joint, five or six times, as he did, but he took the risk in volunteering that he has smoked a joint since becoming an MP, an MP who was clearly thinking of federal leadership, and an MP who voted in favour of tougher marijuana possession penalties.

In a country tired of the mean-spirited, controlling and spiteful nature of its Prime Minister, this is likely a refreshing change. But columnist Harper makes a crucial observation toward the end of his piece which addresses the same deep reservations I have about Trudeau's leadership capacities.

But I’m not sure I have any idea where Trudeau stands on prorogation, the latest twist in the Senate spending fiasco, or the potential of a giant American player entering the Canadian wireless market.

It is all well and good to project an image of openness and honesty, but without any articulation of policy, Trudeau runs the real risk of reinforcing the other image he has as a political and intellectual lightweight, something that even a country desperate for change will not and cannot support.

On Sporadic Blogging And Willful Ignorance

We are hosting our dear friends from Cuba for about the next week, so depending on our sight-seeing schedule, my blogging may not be quite as regular as usual. But then again, I am an early riser, so perhaps nothing will change. Here is something I prepared the other day to save for this fine Sunday:

If there is information that you could know and you should know but somehow manage not to know, the law deems that you are willfully blind, that you have chosen not to know. - Margaret Heffernan

This video applies to all of us, whether government, company, or individual. It is well-worth the less than 15 minutes it takes to view.

Your Saturday Smile

This morning in her column contrasting Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper, The Star's Heather Mallick offers this hilarious observation:

I am only now recovering from the photo of Harper posing in a red hoodie with Inuit rangers who look normal, even attractive, in a red hoodie, but Harper is playing with what appears to be a duck puppet. Spot the white guy.

'Nuff said.

As We go Into The Weekend ...

With thanks to Karen, I am reposting a poem that she left in the comment section of an earlier post. Karen writes,

On Facebook I follow the goings on of a bear sanctuary in Ontario, and this morning they posted the following with a peaceful photo of two bears sitting together:

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

Another Guest Commentary From The Salamander

In response to a post I wrote yesterday, The Salamander left one of his trenchant and masterful commentaries on the myriad deficiencies of the Harper regime. So that it has a wider readership than a comment would usually garner, I am featuring it as a guest post. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did, replete as it is with excoriating allusion, simile, and metaphor:

.. always good to hear from Peter MacKay on matters that have somehow seeped or leaked through his stolid or squalid dura mater .. I'm certainly not the brightest knife in the drawer, so surely most of Canada is noticing that MacKay is about as useful as a paperweight made of dried fake canada goose snot.

Unfortunately, his snotworthy 'legacy' is blowing in the downdraft of imaginary helicopters, churned by stealth snow MacVehicles and about as blustery and bogus as that of Treasury Tony Clement and the late lamented zombified other Peter.. Petered out Kent .. our dear and caring environmentalist

Why everyone is piling on poor Pammy Wallin or Mikey Duffy.. when they are simply ornamental and plump red Alliance herring with wings and double chins is beyond me.. In the field of opportunity, the really plump turkeys are out there gobbling & strutting in plain sight..

Fantino would be a fantastic feast.. and his lovely mysterious PMO compadre Stephen Lecce too.. plus the red goatee robo dude from Alberta

Keith Ashfield is a complete documented disaster waiting for a journalist or Frankie James to fricassee

Kenney rhymes with and lives with Mummy .. enuff said

Baird is getting a free pass for being gay .. Policy wise he's a glib asshat bullyboy
with the ethics, courage, morality and usefulness of a leaky septic tank located near a lake

That leaves us with petro circus barker, stock broker, lawyer, millionaire energy pimp Joe Oliver, Flaherty.. and strutting master Stephen Harper, his zombie trolls in the PMO and, the electoral dataminers and lesser quislings and remoras that like Peter MacKay.. thrive on eating Stevie's easterner shite .. along with the dung beetle Flanagans, Jenni Byrne's, Arthur Hamilton's and REAL Women et al .. those paramours and pretenders of Canadian Western Values that stand up for a political party that is a holding tank for swimming mutating unsentient creatures that define political animal evolution in swine excrement excellence..

Deary me.. I hope I haven't been too hard on Peter Mackay..
but swapping this pimply arsed entitled poser off from Defense of the land and China, to Justice left me gasping at the poetic brilliance of Stephen and Ray Novak..
So why not shuffle Fantino to pro-China Environment too ? He's an expert at 'containment' after all

And .. how did American Tom Flanagan fall so far he never made it to Great White Ottawa Chief of Indian Affairs and related treaty exterminator/fumigator ??

My goodness .. !! We haven't even gotten to the closets at Sussex Drive..
Who's clothes are those.. in the Royal Harper walk in closets ? Incroyable !!

How all these so called Canadians line up against Canada and Canadians and defend the toxic tainted deceits of Torontonian Stephen Harper simply blows me away.. I really have yet to comprehend how a sniff or whiff of power makes creating, then eating .. shite, acceptable.. or leads to appearances on the front page of magazines

Hee Hee Hee

Despite the misspelling in the caption, I rather like this cartoon, probably for obvious reasons.



As well, you may enjoy these letters from Star readers who have an even less flattering view of Mr. Harper as it pertains to his northern junket, escaping the heat via prorogation, and his ongoing senate 'problems.'

My Second Surprise Today

Earlier today., I posted a brief piece on how, despite my reservations about Justin Trudeau's leadership capacity, I found his openness and honesty refreshing when it came to pot.

The second surprise I got today was the fact that he spoke quite candidly about his opposition to Quebec's proposed ban on religious symbols and clothing in public buildings.

As you will see see if you read the readers' comments following the first link, people are beginning to discern a difference amongst the three major party leaders, with Trudeau's assertiveness offering a sharp contrast to Thomas Mulcair's refusal to 'comment on something that has not yet been tabled' to the Harper regime's gutless 'it's a provincial matter' evasion of anything remotely representing a real stand.

A Friday Evening Thought

I came upon this excerpt of a much longer poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning on Owen's blog this morning in his Daily Literary Quote section.

... Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
...

Imagine the world if we treated it with the reverence it deserves.

UPDATED: Let The Hysteria Begin

While I have real doubts about Justin Trudeau's leadership qualities, I have to give him credit for a degree of openness almost non-existent in politicians. While surely well-aware of the political consequences, he has admitted to smoking pot since he became an M.P. He said that he made this admission for the purposes of full transparency.

The response from the Harperites has been both swift and predictable, at a time when even the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (see video below) are advocating handing out tickets for pot possession:

Justice Minister Peter MacKay said that smoking pot as an MP demonstrated "a profound lack of judgment" on Trudeau's part.

"By flouting the laws of Canada while holding elected office, he shows he is a poor example for all Canadians, particularly young ones. Justin Trudeau is simply not the kind of leader our country needs," MacKay said in a statement.

Meanwhile, you might like to read this AlterNet article that gives 10 frightening examples of why the 'war on drugs' is far too costly.

UPDATE: Many thanks to LeDaro for alerting me to this video, a discussion on Power and Politics about Trudeau's revelation. I couldn't help but note the short leash the party put Conservative M.P. Blake Richards on as he evades questions and only repeats points.

Constable Stefanie Trudeau

Given Sammy Yatim's tragic execution by police for swearing at them and holding a penknife, and the shooting in the back of the unarmed Steve Mesic in Hamilton, I suppose the 'mouthy' young man depicted in the following video was 'lucky' to be merely pepper-sprayed for his 'impertinence.' Nonetheless, the justice sytem in Quebec, after an internal police investigation, has ruled that there was insufficient context in the video evidence to charge the officer, Constable Stephanie Trudeau:

Quebec’s directorate of public prosecutions said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that 27 witnesses had been interviewed in the course of the probe into Trudeau’s actions that evening and they had concluded, given the “aggressive and violent nature of the protests,” that the officer had not used unnecessary force as defined in the Criminal Code.

“As a result, no criminal offence has been committed by the officer who was the subject of this investigation,” the agency said.

From my perspective, the video seems to offer a pretty full context, but hey, I'm a mere civilian with a bias in favour of free speech:



If you would like to see another video featuring Constable Trudeau's aggressive proclivities, click here.

Canada, Doesn't This Sound Familiar?

On Bad Days And Defiance

Yesterday was not a good day for me. First, I awoke to read about the government raid on the Guardian office resulting in the destruction of computers containing some of the material leaked by Edward Snowden on illegal state surveillance. Eerily reminiscent of the U.S. Department of Justice raid on the Associated Press back in May, there is little doubt in my mind that these are actions designed to cast a deep chill, not only on journalists themselves, but also on their sources, many of whom demand an anonymity that can no longer be guaranteed.

The second blow to my day was learning that Elmore Leonard, a peerless master of crime fiction, a writer of prodigious output, had died at the age of 87. If you have never read one of his post-western novels, give one a try. If, like me, you have an affinity for things slightly off-kilter, you will appreciate Leonards's slightly bent characters and impeccable ear for language and dialogue. Even though he enjoyed a long life, I am saddened that I will never again read a new work by him.

While nothing can stop the tide of time and mortality, much can be done to stand together against the tyranny of the state. The basis of that stand has to be access to information that allows us to decide for ourselves where truth lies, not where the state and the corporate-driven media wants us to believe it lies. And the basis for that information must be unfettered journalism, not journalism cowed and confined by intimidation tactics. In today's Star, Heather Mallick writes passionately about the issue.

Entitled Like food, we need good reporting to survive, Mallick, reflecting on the outrage at the Guardian, observes that there is a

... common attitude floating in the ether: that secret information must not be reported. Citizens — including in Canada, a most secretive country — must not know about who governs us, how they behave and how they keep us under surveillance so that we may be quickly pulled in on a hook.

She goes on to make two assertions that seem irrefutable to me:

Opposing reporting is like opposing food. We need food the same way we need information about where and how we live, globally, nationally and locally. Those intolerant of lactose and gluten may not like traditional milk or bread. But we still need and like food.

And:

Without reporting, we fail as a democracy.

Creeping state interference with our ability to know, understand and assess information and activities does not bode well for our way of life. People who think otherwise, embracing and/or promoting willful ignorance instead of enlightenment, are doing great harm to each of us.

They are the real enemy we should all be on guard against.

A Tuesday Night Thought

From one of my favourite writers, speakers, thinkers and bloggers, Alex Himelfarb.

Harper's Tricks Are Getting A Tad Tiresome

Sure, I could write reams on what the old trickster is up to in proroguing Parliament yet again. I think the following, though, brought to you by our friends at Citizens Rallying To Unseat Stephen Harper, sums everything up nicely:

Chalk Up Another One For Orwell

Or, to update the metaphor, computers being destroyed by the govenment:

The message is clear: citizens do not have the right to material that would allow them to decide for themselves whether the overarching and illegal domestic spying being carried out by western 'democracies' is justified.

Following revelations of the baseless detainment of Glenn Greenwald's partner at Heathrow Airport on Sunday for nine hours, along with the confiscation of his computer equipment, we are now learning that Britains's GCHQ raided the offices of The Guardian to destroy computers containing data leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, said “shadowy Whitehall figures” had ordered the destruction after his paper refused to hand over files on American mass surveillance programmes sent to it by Mr Snowden.

Mr Rusbridger said the computers were turned into “mangled bits of metal” after the incident and warned that the “pointless” vandalism represented part of an increasingly “formidable” effort to curb freedom of the press.

Both the detention of Miranda and the destruction of the computers are clearly intimidation tactics, the message of which is clear: You are nothing, you are powerless before the state, you continue to exist only at our sufferance.

Hyperbole? An overreaction on my part? Would it were so.

Click here to read the reaction of Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger to this bald flexing of state power.

As well, Glenn Greenwald's reaction to the state's mistreatment of his partner is one of defiance and contempt:

Even the Mafia had ethical rules against targeting the family members of people they felt threatened by. But the UK puppets and their owners in the US national security state obviously are unconstrained by even those minimal scruples.

If the UK and US governments believe that tactics like this are going to deter or intimidate us in any way from continuing to report aggressively on what these documents reveal, they are beyond deluded. If anything, it will have only the opposite effect: to embolden us even further. Beyond that, every time the US and UK governments show their true character to the world - when they prevent the Bolivian President's plane from flying safely home, when they threaten journalists with prosecution, when they engage in behavior like what they did today - all they do is helpfully underscore why it's so dangerous to allow them to exercise vast, unchecked spying power in the dark.

You can read Greenwald's entire piece here.

Not Again!

I just got back into town and heard the news. I have a simple message for our gutless 'Prime Minister':

We Now Pause For This Announcement

I'm out of town today, so let me offer you this inspirational graphic that I 'borrowed' from Richard at Cowichan Conversations.

Freedoms? What Freedoms?

For anyone still under the illusion that our rights and freedoms are sacred trusts protected by our democracies, you might want to read this little item, the beginning of what I suspect will be a very long period of payback for Glenn Greenwald's act of bringing Edward Snowden's inconvenient truths to the world's attention.

H/t Min Reyes