Asbestos Redux

Canada continues to be an outlier amongst Western nations as the sole exporter of death, aka asbestos, a topic that I have written about many times on this blog. The federal government continues to perpetuate the lie that the highly carcinogenic substance is safe if handled properly, despite the fact that the Harper regime vetoed an international proposal last year that would have made labeling and safety instructions mandatory.

Now, aided and abetted by that criminally negligence federal stance, Quebec's Premier Jean Charest has given a $58 million lifeline to continue mining this lethal export.

The Star has a good editorial today excoriating this measure. I hope you will read it and keep the issue alive this summer should you encounter your Tory M.P. lurking about the constituency.

More on The Harper Betrayal of All of Us

I wrote a recent brief post on the Trans Pacific Partnership that Canada recently signed onto, the price of admission being the surrender of much of our sovereignty over the environment, working conditions, etc.

A new article published in The Nation paints a grim portrayal indeed of the future we face as a nation when this pact is finalized, going well beyond the compromises made in NAFTA.

I urge you to read it, and consider what each of us can do, given the fact that we, our children and our grandchildren will all be the poorer for this absolute betrayal by the Harper government.

H/t to Kev.

Harper Refuses To Release Taxpayer-Funded Study On Pensions

The conclusion the cynic would draw (that's me) is that the report suggests no need for the changes Harper has made in the OAS.

H/t Brandon Laraby

The Source of Young Tim Hudak's Inspiration

I recently wrote a brief post on young Mr. Hudak's simple-minded and dysfunctional 'vision' for returning Ontario to its former industrial glory: gut the unions, a policy which, if ever enacted, would be disastrous for the men and women who currently enjoy workplace benefits, decent wages, and protection from arbitrary dismissal thanks to their unions.

In today's Globe, economist Jim Stanford offers some insights into the source of inspiration for the lad who would be premier, inspiration which sharply diverges from the traditional values held by Ontario's Progressive Conservatives before the advent of Hudak's hero and mentor, Mike Harris.

On Austerity and Hippos

I often think that governments, especially our current federal one, hold the people they 'serve' in absolute contempt, regarding us as little more than Pavlovian creatures who will respond in a predictable and desired way if we are given just the right stimulus. Tell us the economic apocalypse is fast approaching, invoke the example of Greece as our future UNLESS we all submit to the discipline of austerity measures, and we are all expected to fall in line, nodding grimly but compliantly at the harsh measures needed 'to ensure our future.'

Government propaganda has worked countless times in the past. Why should now be any different?

Well, maybe it will work as usual, but in times past we have not had the kind of unbridled access to information that the Internet has made possible. If we are gullible once more, then it has to be by choosing to remain woefully ignorant.

One of the best sources of information that doesn't merely mirror the Harper party line is The Toronto Star. In today's edition, Linda McQuaig provides some much-needed perspective on the current hyperbole peddled by the Prime Minister and his enablers.

Enjoy the read as her insights and views on the economic situation offer us the opportunity to be something more than subjects in one of Harper's many lab experiments.

On Harper Ideology and Young Hudak's 'Vision'

Two reading recommendations for Monday morning:

The Star has a good editorial suggesting that the Harper government's efforts to find a buyer for the Experimental Lakes Area in Kenora is just a sham, an empty public relations exercise. As the editorial points out, the reseach facility has been making key contributions to the study of freshwater lake ecologies for 50 years but saw its funding eliminated in the omnibus budget bill, in all likelihood because it advances scientific knowledge about water management and restoration that runs counter to the Harper agenda of almost unfettered exploitation of our resources, no matter the environmental price to be paid.

My other recommendation is a letter from Salmon Lee, Mississauga, who points out the flaws in young Tim Hudak's grand scheme to destroy unions in Ontario.

As always, the Star provides ample insights into the ideologies that masquerade as informed and careful deliberations by our political 'leaders'.

My Name Is Tim - Hear Me Roar

To what I suspect is the surprise of few, young Tim Hudak, to whom I have made the occasional reference in this blog, continues to underwhelm as the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. His latest 'policy', perhaps hatched at the supper table with wife Deborah, to make Ontario more 'attractive' to employers by breaking unions, is the kind of preposterous pandering to the extreme right that one would expect from an alumnus of the despotic Mike Harris era, when he served in the latter's cabinet.

Treat yourself this Canada Day by enjoying Martin Regg-Cohn's dissection of young Tim's fatuous thinking in a column entitled Tim Hudak’s Tory vision for a low-union, low-wage Ontario.