Jack's Newswatch

Finally, people are coming forward and telling the truth about what really happened regarding Afghan detainee treatment before the Conservative government came to power in January, 2006.

And, miracles of miracles, it is the CBC who is letting the cat out of the bag — that between 2002 and 2005 during both the Jean Chretien and Paul Martin Liberal governments, there were reports expresssing major concerns about possible Afghan detainee abuse once they were tranferred to the Afghan authorities.

For example, an anonymous source has apparently told the CBC that the Martin Liberal government feared an Abu-Ghraib type of scandal, yet did nothing — I repeat, did nothing. Read that story here. 

Not only that, we also learn that Eileen Olexiuk, the second-in-command at the Canadian embassy in Kabul between 2002 and 2005 submitted three reports outlining the allegations of detainee abuse. Yet, even when she raised the possibility of torture in 2005, the Martin Liberal government did nothing. “I don’t think anybody really cared, quite frankly,” she said.

Continued at Crux of the Matter.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Update 2, Friday March 12th:  Even though I am taking a bit of breather during March break, visitors can expect an update following the PM’s question and answer response on Tuesday, March 16th at 7pm ET.

Please note that as of 5:10pm today, 97,727 votes have been received for 1187 questions from 3488 people. However, a quick edit of the questions shows that very few people followed instructions. Questions were supposed to relate to either the stimulus Action Plan or the Budget — not the legalization of a banned substances or other totally unrelated topics. So, my guess is that those who submit a sensible, budget or economic related question will get picked — and no I am leaving that task to others.

 Update 1, Thursday March 11th: I listened to the PM’s speech as it was live streamed and it was certainly very upbeat with what seemed like a full house on the Conservative side. Not so with Mr. Ignatieff’s response where the seats around him were barely full. The PM talked about the country-wide patriotism as a result of the Olympics and the hopeful state of the economy. Whereas, the Liberal leader was totally negative, frequently referring to himself or his family members as in “Vimy Day.” In other words, the PM reflected hope for the future, Mr. Ignatieff just more of the same negative esoteric messaging.

Original Posting: The PM will be bypassing the mainstream media and reaching Internet savvy Canadians tomorrow on YouTube – which will be live streaming the Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s response to the debate directly from the House of Commons. The precise time of that speech will be Thursday morning, March 11, 2010 at 10:45am.

Moreover, the PM will follow up that speech by answering selected questions previously submitted by and voted on by Canadians — that relate directly to the stimulus “Action Plan” or the budget itself.

Questions will need to be submitted by Sunday, March 14th, 2010 at 1pm for a response by the PM on Tuesday evening, March 16th, 2010 at 7pm — all Eastern Time.  

Check out  http://www.youtube.com/TalkCanada, as well as this Globe and Mail source.

(h/t Jack, Stephen Taylor and Blue Blogging Soapbox.) Revised Friday, March 12, 2010.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Sometimes I could swear Ontario has disappeared down the rabbit hole given all the magical thinking coming out of Queen’s Park. You can almost hear Premier McGuinty walking down the hall of the legislature, head down, muttering under his breath:

“I’m late / I’m late / For a very important date. / No time to say “Hello.” / Goodbye. / I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.”

Or, in answer to any question about the state of Ontario’s finances, the Premier says something like:  ”you can always take more than nothing.” Well, they are not only spending more than nothing, they are spending more than they have, much more than they have, such as:

• Millions wasted on E-health,
• Millions, if not billions, on wind energy that doesn’t work, 
• At least $1.5 billion on a full-day kindergarten program with both early childhood educators and qualified teachers for the whole day when each for half a day would make more sense, and 
• Potentially very expensive vote buying accusations in the Nepean by-election (to help Nortel pensioners).  

Taken individually, apart from what it is going to cost taxpayers for wind energy, the expenses are perhaps worthwhile. However, this is the real world. No wonder, in her Toronto Sun column today, Christina Blizzard compares (h/t Jack) the Premier and his caucus to the goings on in Wonderland and how things in Ontario are getting curiouser and curiouser. But, for Ontario’s citizens, getting out of this mess will be no tea party! 

Yet, the Wonderland thinking continues as the McGuinty Liberal government’s Throne speech yesterday proved — which was apparently “promise rich.” As Alice says:

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”

Well, my fellow Ontarians, is that the kind of magical thinking government – with an ever climbing deficit and debt – you want to leave to your children and grandchildren? If not, think about voting PC in October 2011.

c/p Crux of the Matter.

Popularity: 1% [?]

A short time ago I wrote about the wind turbine proposal for the Lake St. Clair/Lake Erie area near Leamington and Pelee Island. If approved, that long-term project would involve the construction of some 700 wind turbines just off the shores of the two lakes — directly in the path of one of North America’s main bird migration routes.

Today a reader to that thread pointed me to a related article in the Financial Post, by Michael Trebilcock, a professor of law and economics at the University of Toronto (h/t MA). For example, here are just a few sections from Trebilcock’s column:

“First, as to the cost of wind-generated electricity, the feed-in tariff for on-shore wind turbines in Ontario provided for under the Green Energy Act is 13.5¢ per kWh (and higher for smaller projects). This is more than twice the prevailing rates for electricity on the spot market in Ontario (less than ¢6 per KWh).”

“Adam White, President of the Association of Major Power Consumers of Ontario, states:  ‘The situation is not sustainable because it will leave companies paying higher rates than competitors in other jurisdictions.’”

Continued at Crux of the Matter.

Popularity: 3% [?]

My friend and fellow blogger Joanne at Blue Like You has been covering the anti-global warming/climate change issue extremely well as we can see with her latest post. As her links seem to suggest, we are finally beginning to hear the skeptics side of this new secular religion. 

However, my concerns now are not whether AGW is a fraud or not, it seems pretty clear that it is. No, my concerns are with Blogging Tories and other Conservative government supporters who are threatening to remove their support and vote in the next federal election unless Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Environment Minister Jim Prentice, don’t refute everything about AGW now.

Of course, we are all entitled to voice our outrage and our opinions. I mean we live in a free country.  So, yes, by all mean, people should e-mail their concerns to the media, their MP’s, Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Prime Minister Harper. But, surely we should also temper our demands with knowledge and few of us are in a position to know all the ins and outs of governing a country the size of Canada – particularly in a minority parliament where the opposition and parliamentary press bureau are seizing on every small “gotcha.”

Continued at Crux of the Matter.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Seriously stupid! Why are so many entrepreneurs and levels of government (both in Canada and the U.S.) ready to waste both tax payers money and private investment income on wind turbine technology that they surely have to know has NEVER worked very well in cold climates?

I mean, there is a saying that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. So, why is Ontario’s Liberal government so eager to repeat it? Because they can. Because the McGuinty majority recently passed the “Green Energy Act” – an anti-democratic piece of legislation that is meant to impede or negate citizen requested environmental assessments.  

Case in point. Today we learn that “South Point Wind,” a Leamington, Ontario company is proposing to begin constructing 13 wind farms with up to 55 wind turbines on each farm – totalling over 700 turbines in all – to be situated 2.5 kilometers off shore in Lakes Erie St. Clair near the communities of Amherstburg, Colchester and Kingsville, as well as Leamington itself.

[More at Crux of the Matter...]

Popularity: 5% [?]

As Canadian conservatives, we can anticipate the anti-Conservative media and opposition coverage following the release of the March 4th, 2010 Harper government budget – particularly if there are any program or service cuts or tax increases (such as a possible air security tax) (h/t Jack’s Newswatch).

As such, I thought I would provide a bit of reality (as opposed to magical thinking) before that happens, particularly since Canada now has a $50 billion dollar deficit because of the Liberal, NDP, Bloc coalition demands in December, 2008.

In the U. S., for example, with a federal deficit of $1.6 trillion and state tax revenues declining, tax increases and service cuts have become the norm. In fact, there are proposals on the table right now for horrendous cuts, including those that hurt school funding and such vulnerable people as the elderly and disabled.

And, make no mistake about it, if those hardships are hitting the U.S., they are going to have some kind of negative effect on the Canadian economy as well, as  the Globe and Mail’s Lawrence Martin suggests today.

Continued at Crux of the Matter.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Canada and the United States will announce Friday that the year-long dispute over protectionist Buy American provisions has finally been resolved, The Canadian Press has learned.

A source familiar with the negotiations suggested that Canada would be granted a Buy American exemption involving any contracts funded from what remains of the US$787-billion economic stimulus package passed by Congress last year.

The White House will make it clear to states and municipalities that Buy American requirements don’t need to apply to Canadian companies, the source said. That would leave states and municipalities free to exempt Canadian manufacturers if they want to.

In return, Canadian provinces and municipalities will give the green light to American firms bidding on projects north of the border.

More…

Note:  Free trade, or any trade for that matter should be a two-way street. So, this could be very good news for Canadian manufacturers. I remember hearing President Obama saying in his ”State of the Union Address” last week that he wanted to triple exports. I wondered then how he would be able to do that while keeping Canadian companies out of state stimulus projects. Well, looks like the U.S. Senate has finally “started” to even the playing field. I say “started” because there seems to be an awful lot of holes or loose ends in this agreement. (Sandy)

Related/Background:

• Wall Street Journal: How “Buy American” can hurt U.S. firms (Link)
• Ottawa Citizen: Obama says cooler heads should prevail (Link) 

Thursday Links:

• Canadian Press (Link)
• CBC (Link)
• City TV (Link)
• Financial Post (Link)
• Bloomberg.com (Link)
• Canadian Business (Link)
• Sympatico.news (Link)

 Friday Updates:

• Vancouver Sun (Link)
• Globe and Mail (Link)
• CBC Update (Link)
• National Post — Day say’s Canada “making headway” (Link)
• Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters say this agreement is a step forward, but the “fight must go on.”  (Link)

 

Popularity: 3% [?]

The spin and excuses for the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) has started in Ontario in earnest — although it has been going on for some time now in B.C. Soon to come to both provinces on July 1st, 2010, both governments are working overtime to convince us that the pros of an HST definitely outweigh the cons.    

Here, for example, is a Canadian Press article from CTV’s website, announcing that the Ontario Liberal government will introduce legislation today, that when passed, will make the HST a reality whether Ontarians like it or not.

Regardless, no matter which province, the assumptions are the same, that once implemented, the HST:

1. Will create many thousands of jobs over the next decade because the tax cuts that businesses will get will allow them to be more competitive;
2. Will not adversely affect consumers because they will pay less for products and services – because businesses will pass on some of their tax savings; and
3. Will mean that, in Ontario at least, taxpayers will pay the lowest rates of income tax in Canada, as well as a variety of tax grants and tax rebates. (No doubt that is also happening in B.C. as well.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11% [?]

The Washington Post this afternoon reported “President Obama delivers remarks on Ft. Hood shooting at end of tribal leaders conference.” The transcript begins:

SPEAKER: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA[*] OBAMA: Please, everybody, have a seat. Let me first of all just thank Ken and the entire Department of the Interior staff for organizing just an extraordinary conference.

I want to thank my Cabinet members and senior administration officials who participated today. I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow (ph) was around, and so I want to give a shout out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It’s good to see you.

Ah, the dangers of giving shout outs without a teleprompter.  Crow is not a Medal of Honor recipient.  As noted by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society:

The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. Generally presented to its recipient by the President of the United States of America in the name of Congress, it is often called the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Crow’s name is not included on the Society’s Medal of Honor recipient list.  He was, however, awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in August.

Obama, often described as “cerebral” by the mainstream media, should know the difference between the Medal of Honor and the Medal of Freedom, especially since he personally awarded the latter to Crow.  Don’t expect his blunder to receive wide coverage.  It’s not something he can blame George Bush for.

[Source]

Popularity: 7% [?]

Let’s review. Canadians are in the midst of the second wave of the H1N1 pandemic and what have the oppostion Liberal members of Parliament been doing during this difficult time?

(1) Well, earlier this week we read that Liberal Party of Canada President Alfred Apps sent out a fundraising letter to party members trying to raise money on the H1N1 issue — condemning the Conservative government on all fronts. In fact, in that letter Mr. Apps tries to compare the current vaccine shortage as Prime Minister Harper’s “Katrina.” Helpful? Hardly. As Toronto Sun columnist Lorrie Goldstein writes today, Mr. Apps was “an idiot” for using such a metaphor.

(2) Yesterday, in response to Liberal MP Dr. Carolyn Bennett’s constant complaining about the H1N1 vaccine rollout (how much and how fast), I had this post up exposing what she said only two months ago on August 31, 2009. What she implied then was that she was expecting there would be an oversupply of the H1N1 vaccine, which should be shared with developing countries. She also said she only expected the vaccine to be available to the general Canadian population “by Christmas.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 22% [?]