Buckdog

"OTTAWA – The first substantial book to peek behind the curtain of Stephen Harper’s government paints a portrait of the prime minister as a control freak largely motivated by hatred for his political opponents.

Harperland: The Politics of Control, by veteran Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin, describes in detail the changes Harper has wrought in the federal government, an incremental and often brutal transformation at the hands of a tough, disciplined leader with a gift for strategy and a ruthlessness that even some of his closest allies find chilling. [...]

Some of the most interesting comments come from former trade minister David Emerson, a Vancouver businessman who served under both Paul Martin and Harper. After Emerson crossed the floor to serve in Harper’s government, he was surprised by the level of hatred among Harper’s team for the Liberals.

They were “viscerally hating their political opposition,” he said. “Sometimes it was just startling to me.”

Former senior aide Keith Beardsley noted the same thing."

Halifax Chronicle Herald

On September 8, 2010, NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter laid out the NDP’s plan to ensure that Saskatchewan people continue to receive the maximum benefit from their potash resource.

Speaking at a press conference in Saskatoon, Lingenfelter said potash is a strategic, global-scale resource that belongs to all the people of our province – not to any government nor any corporation – and that the people of the province have the right to set the terms and conditions under which their resource will be developed, mined and sold.

"Saskatchewan history is replete with momentous decisions made by its citizens and their governments; decisions which have held profound impact for generations to come.

The decision to bring our province together with the introduction of rural electrification in the 1950s; the decision to make health care a right, not a privilege, with the introduction of Medicare in the 1960s; the decision to stand up to the big American potash companies who refused to pay their fair share of taxes, and create the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan in the 1970s.

These were defining moments in Saskatchewan history. Thanks to the foresight and courage of those citizens, today we enjoy great economic opportunity and a quality of life second to none. Now, our generation faces its own defining moment. We must make an historic decision, one which will determine the strength of our economy, and the quality of our lives, for generations to come.

We have gathered here today because the Wall government has failed to show that it understands the importance of this decision or even that it has a plan of action to ensure the right decision will be made for all the people of Saskatchewan. It has now been more than three weeks since an Australian mining giant, BHP Billiton, launched a hostile takeover bid for the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.

In the face of this unprecedented event, what have we seen from the Wall government so far? Weak, indecisive leadership; contradictory positions from day to day; no clear plan; not even a process to collect the views of the owners of this strategic global resource – the people of Saskatchewan.

Now, the Wall government has gone so far as to subcontract responsibility for analysis, advice and action on the future of Saskatchewan potash to a group of economists based in Central Canada!

Let me be clear: Saskatchewan potash belongs to no government; it belongs to no corporation. Saskatchewan potash belongs to the people of Saskatchewan. And the people of Saskatchewan need to be given a voice in these historic decisions about how their resource should be developed, mined and sold in the future. Saskatchewan has more high-quality potash than anywhere else in the world. We have a thousand-year supply of what the world needs to grow more food. The importance of this resource to the province, to Canada, and to the whole world cannot be ignored by any government. This is no ordinary resource. The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, a global leader, is no ordinary company.

And the Harper government in Ottawa needs to be told that this is no ordinary corporate takeover, to be rubber-stamped by free-market politicians and their bureaucrats behind closed doors! The rules are going to be different with respect to any proposed take-over of the world‟s largest potash company, and the people of Saskatchewan are going to help set those rules!

As Leader of the Official Opposition, I propose that Saskatchewan take a much different approach from the weak, indecisive, ad hoc-ery that we‟ve seen so far from the Wall government.

I propose a serious plan to ensure that the people of Saskatchewan enjoy the best possible return on the future development, mining and sale of Saskatchewan potash – no matter who owns the assets of any potash mining companies, including the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.

Here is the NDP Plan for Potash:
First, we call on Premier Wall to join us in our demand that Stephen Harper and his government publicly commit to refuse approval for any potential take-over of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan until the people of Saskatchewan, the owners of the resource, have spoken.

We issued this demand in a letter to Tony Clement on August 26th, and need the Wall government to get on board by securing a public commitment from the Prime Minister to this effect. We often hear about this government‟s „special relationship‟ with Stephen Harper. It‟s time to see if that relationship is anything more than empty words. Ottawa has no right to make decisions about the future of our potash resource before the people of Saskatchewan have been heard.

Next, we demand that the Wall government immediately recall the Saskatchewan Legislature into Special Session, for the express purpose of setting out the terms and conditions under which Saskatchewan potash will be developed, mined and sold in the future.

Section 20 (e) of the Investment Canada Act says that while an investment is being reviewed to determine if it provides a “net benefit to Canada,” the review should take into account the “industrial, economic and cultural policy objectives enunciated by the government or legislature of any province likely to be significantly affected by the investment.”

Saskatchewan will clearly be “significantly affected” by the sale of PCS, and there is no better time than the present for the duly elected representatives of the people of Saskatchewan to give voice to the interests of the resource‟s owners, clearly enunciating those objectives they wish to achieve with respect to the development of their resource. The Wall government has said, “There isn't a more important issue facing the province of Saskatchewan today." We agree.

If there is no more important issue facing the province, then there is no better time and place to make the decisions about that issue than in the Legislative Assembly as soon as possible. To arrive at the appropriate decisions, the Legislature should, as soon as it meets, immediately launch Public Hearings to be held in the Legislative Chamber, with all elected representatives sitting as a Committee of the Whole. The people of Saskatchewan have a right to know exactly where each of their elected representatives stands on these critical decisions.
These Public Hearings would be broadcast live across the Province, giving every citizen who demands it a voice, and giving their fellow citizens a transparent process whereby they can hear and see what is being proposed.

We believe the list of those invited to take part in these historic Public Hearings should include all citizens of the province who wish to be heard, including potash industry workers and their representatives, local governments, community groups and organizations, and First Nations and Métis.

Furthermore, we think the Terms of Reference for the Legislature's Public Hearings should ask the people of the province to comment on a number of potential terms and conditions, including but not limited to:
-Enhanced legislation to require a more significant PCS Head Office presence in Saskatchewan;
-Firm commitments to expand the potash sector in Saskatchewan, and increase the number of Saskatchewan potash mining jobs;
-Guarantees that the potential corporate owners not only accept Saskatchewan‟s current royalty and taxation regime, but also accept the right of the people of Saskatchewan to change royalty and taxation regimes in the future;
-Guarantees that the potential corporate owners accept the need for a highly skilled and trained unionized workforce in the Saskatchewan potash industry;
-A full, transparent review of the potential corporate owners‟ record of corporate social responsibility with respect to environmental stewardship, community contributions, workplace safety and human rights.
-Guarantees from the federal government that it will effectively monitor and enforce the potential corporate owners‟ fulfillment of any conditions they agree to as part of the review process, with meaningful sanctions if the new owners fail to live up to the terms of any deal, or act unilaterally to change them.
Following these Public Hearings, we propose that the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly formulate, discuss, debate and pass a Joint Resolution of the Assembly, setting out the specific terms and conditions under which the people of Saskatchewan wish to see their potash resource developed, mined and sold in the future.

The Joint Resolution will set the terms and conditions that the people of Saskatchewan will instruct the Harper government to require on their behalf from any potential purchaser of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.

Everyone we have consulted with these past few weeks, from average citizens, to industry experts, to potash miners and their unions, to local governments has given us the same basic message: Give us a Voice! Give us a Voice! The potash belongs to all of us. We all need to be involved in these critical decisions.

We call on the Wall government to get on with implementing our plan immediately, so all Saskatchewan people can have that voice in these historic decisions. The time for informed action is long past.
Thank you very much.

The defeat of New Brunswick's Liberal government after only one term in power should be sending some shock waves through the ranks of Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party government.

Sask Party supporters will tell you that there is no way they will be defeated after one term due to the large spread of support between them and the New Democrats.

Oh really? ... Let's take a look at a couple of key facts.

First, in the last Saskatchewan election, held in the fall of 2007, the New Democrats won 20 seats compared to the Sask Party's 38. Sounds like an impressive Sask Party victory at first glance but if you look at the riding by riding results you will note that had the New Dems received another 1066 strategic votes spread over 7 constituencies, the final seat count would have been NDP 27 - Sask Party 31. (PA Carleton 28 votes - MJ North 31 votes - Meadow Lk 17 votes - Regina South 253 votes - Saskatoon Sutherland 270 votes - Saskatoon Greystone 268 votes - Regina Qu'appelle Valley 199 votes)

That means that after 16 years in power, if the NDP had received a further 1066 strategic votes, they were only 3 seats away from winning a fifth term in office.

This should dispel the Saskatchewan Party myth that the gap between the NDP and the Sask Party is so wide, Wall is almost guaranteed a second term in power after the 2011 election.

Bullfeathers!

Second, Wall's broken promises and unfulfilled expectations are starting to add up. The current agricultural disaster has yet to bite the Sask Party in the butt ... just wait! It is anticipated that the record wet summer will take over $3 Billion from the pockets of farmers. Wall's remedy will bring only a couple of hundred million to fill the gap.

Wall has also been making some huge budgetary mistakes and is probably going to have to lower public expectations for the remainder of his term.

Those who hover around Premier Wall, should be feeling nervous.


-'What Do They Want - Highways Or Health Care?' - Saskatchewan Party Gov't House Leader

-Is Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party Trying To Make Off With Millions From The Old Progressive Conservative Trust Fund??

-Sask Premier Wall Sure Picked A Bad Time To Abandon $800 Million in Equalization Payments From Ottawa

-When Brad Wall Tells You That He Has No Money For Floods, etc - Ask Him Why He Abandoned $800 Million Equalization Dollars From Ottawa

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Have Been Compromised by Unidentified Aerial Objects
Reuters Newswire
WASHINGTON

Ex-military men say unknown intruders have monitored and even tampered with American nuclear missiles

Group to call on U.S. Government to reveal the facts

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Witness testimony from more than 120 former or retired military personnel points to an ongoing and alarming intervention by unidentified aerial objects at nuclear weapons sites, as recently as 2003. In some cases, several nuclear missiles simultaneously and inexplicably malfunctioned while a disc-shaped object silently hovered nearby. Six former U.S. Air Force officers and one former enlisted man will break their silence about these events at the National Press Club and urge the government to publicly confirm their reality.

One of them, ICBM launch officer Captain Robert Salas, was on duty during one missile disruption incident at Malmstrom Air Force Base and was ordered to never discuss it. Another participant, retired Col. Charles Halt, observed a disc-shaped object directing beams of light down into the RAF Bentwaters airbase in England and heard on the radio that they landed in the nuclear weapons storage area. Both men will provide stunning details about these events, and reveal how the U.S. military responded.

Captain Salas notes, "The U.S. Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it." Col. Halt adds, "I believe that the security services of both the United States and the United Kingdom have attempted—both then and now—to subvert the significance of what occurred at RAF Bentwaters by the use of well-practiced methods of disinformation."

The group of witnesses and a leading researcher, who has brought them together for the first time, will discuss the national security implications of these and other alarmingly similar incidents and will urge the government to reveal all information about them. This is a public-awareness issue.

Declassified U.S. government documents, to be distributed at the event, now substantiate the reality of UFO activity at nuclear weapons sites extending back to 1948. The press conference will also address present-day concerns about the abuse of government secrecy as well as the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons.

WHO: Dwynne Arneson, USAF Lt. Col. Ret., communications center officer-in-charge

Bruce Fenstermacher, former USAF nuclear missile launch officer

Charles Halt, USAF Col. Ret., former deputy base commander

Robert Hastings, researcher and author

Robert Jamison, former USAF nuclear missile targeting officer

Patrick McDonough, former USAF nuclear missile site geodetic surveyor

Jerome Nelson, former USAF nuclear missile launch officer

Robert Salas, former USAF nuclear missile launch officer
Reuters

Scheduled September 27th News Conference Details


-UPDATE - September 27th

TOP PHOTO: Stephen Harper addressing the United Nations General Assembly today:
BOTTOM PHOTO: Swiss President Doris Leuthard addressing the UN:

The Star

When Canada's Prime Minister, $tephen Harper addressed the UN General Assembly today, there was barely a delegate in the room. The world is NOT listening to $tephen Harper. Bush is gone ... Harper should be gone too.

So much for Harper's rhetoric about making Canada a world player!

Great Leaders work to unify their fellow citizens. Great Leaders work tirelessly to ensure that there is equity in the land. Great leaders ensure that the minority voices gets their say. Great leaders respect the traditions of the Nation. Great leaders bring a future vision and communicate it to the people. Great Leaders make the nation better. Great Leaders do not resort to bland ideological rhetoric.

Stephen Harper IS NOT and NEVER WILL BE a Great Leader of Canada. He is a petty, divisive, hard hearted, manipulative, ignorant, immature excuse for a prime minster.

The day that he is no longer Prime Minster of Canada will be a GREAT DAY for Canada.

Here is the story that Saskatchewan's main stream media WILL NOT cover! Pressure from the Brad Wall government on local editorial boards and news directors seems to keep the REAL STORY off the radar in Saskatchewan:

"No one will say exactly how much money is in the old Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative trust fund, though it’s thought to be in the neighbourhood of $3 million. The revelation of its existence—a mountain of cash taken from God knows who, in exchange for God knows what, and available for any purpose the party might decree—was among the scandals that helped tear the province’s PCs apart in the mid-’90s. But that gold continues to haunt Saskatchewan politics, as a few diehard Tories fight to regain control of it.

The PC brand was mothballed for two elections (1999 and 2003) as part of the 1997 agreement to create the Saskatchewan Party, an informal merger of the province’s PCs and Liberals. The Conservatives ran just enough candidates to stay technically alive as the Saskatchewan Party approached the brink of power. But after a 2006 convention put the PC brand back into competitive politics with ex-MLA Rick Swenson as leader, the revivalists found that the fund’s trustees, including several SP notables, were inclined to be stubborn about access to the cash.

A lawsuit resulted, and in July the provincial court of appeal allowed the Saskatchewan Party to be added as a defendant. In an August statement of defence, however, the SP makes the new argument that neither itself nor the PCs are corporate bodies that have the “capacity to sue or be sued.” The claim may sound surprising, but until recently it was the general Canadian rule that “unincorporated associations” are invisible to litigation. The issue of whether parties can count as legal persons in Saskatchewan adds an interesting wrinkle to an already complex bit of legal origami."
MacLeans.ca

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"The Progressive Conservative party has won a significant battle in its legal fight over the estimated $2.9-million PC Trust Fund -- and now Tory leader Rick Swenson wants to see Premier Brad Wall in court.

A three-member panel of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal on Thursday unanimously denied an application by the Saskatchewan Party to be dropped from the lawsuit brought against it and the trustees of the PC Trust Fund by the Progressive Conservative party.

The party filed suit in 2007 alleging the trustees and the Sask. Party had conspired to deprive the PC party of money from the fund so it would be unable to compete in that year's provincial election."
-Saskatchewan Party Loses Bid To Be Removed From PC Trustfund Lawsuit



-Sask MSM finally breaks silence on PC Trust Fund - April, 2010

"Saskatchewan Premier throws cold water on BHP bid for Potash Corp.
‘As of today, I don't know how we are better off if this takeover or any other subsequent change happens,’ Brad Wall says"
Globe & Mail

Saskatchewan's Right Wing poster boy, Brad Wall, is never shy of invoking tired old ultra free market invectives. 'What's good for business is good for the economy' - blah blah blah! He even worked for the Grant Devine Conservative administration that sold the Potash Crown Corporation for a loss to the Saskatchewan taxpayer!

Now that it is in private hands, I guess he never thought that one day, in his free market paradise, someone would come along from outside the province to try and take over Potash Corp. Now that the Australian conglomerate, BHP wants to buy the company, Wall's hard core ideology has hit a brick wall ... no pun intended ... (well maybe a little bit).

Saskatchewan people got what they voted for. We go to the polls again in just over a year.

After a disastrous strategic attack on Jack Layton, Iggy now wants 'compromise' on the long gun Registry. Unbelievable! What a loser!

Layton has been trying to achieve cooperation on fixing the Registry since last spring, but Ignatieff would have NO part of it .... until now .... when his attacks on Layton have managed to achieve nothing for the Liberals!

"Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to work toward a compromise on improving the federal long-gun registry in the upcoming fall parliamentary session."
CBC.ca

H/T to .. Politics With Erik ...

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed yesterday the Conservative party "will not rest" until the day it abolishes the long-gun registry."
National Post

$tephen Harper generally gives his standard pat line that the long gun registry is a waste of taxpayers dollars .. blah blah blah.

The REAL reason that he has dug his heels in over canceling it is simply this .. the Conservative Party of Canada has taken in literally millions of dollars in financial contributions based on an endless parade of direct mail and other financial appeals to those who don't like the long gun Registry.

For years now, the CPC has been fishing for the name and address of anyone they can find opposed to the Registry in order to hit them up for some cash.

These financial appeals have not been a rare occurrence, they are frequent, shrill and provide an outright PROMISE to end the Registry.

$tephen Harper - Bought and paid for.

"He has a chauffeur! He's beating people up for being elite?" [...] "You wanna know what elite is? It's John Baird in a tuxedo, going to the National Arts Centre with the prime minister's wife on his arm, complaining that the food is not good enough. That's John Baird right there in a nutshell."
Xtra.ca

SACRAMENTO - "California energy commissioners approved the world's largest solar project Wednesday, a 1,000-megawatt complex of parabolic mirrors and heating elements in eastern Riverside County that will produce hundreds of construction jobs.

When finished, the $4 billion Blythe Solar Power Project will generate enough electricity to power 800,000 homes, according to the California Energy Commission. Officials called it a milestone in the state's push to produce one-third of its energy from renewable sources."
-PE.com

"Olson has sent his Old Age Security cheque of $1,169.47 for May, and endorsed it to "The Hon. Stephen Joseph Harper ... for your nexts (sic) election Mr. Prime Minister." He adds: "May I please receive a tax receipt from the Conservative Party of Canada."
In a covering letter he notes cheekily, "If you need some more monies for your next election, please inform me and I will send you a lot more."
Ottawa Sun

Now that the carefully crafted Liberal strategy to box Jack Layton in over the gun Registry has failed, the heat is squarely on Ignatieff.

Firstly, he has declared that each and every Liberal MP will be in the House on the appropriate day to save the Long Gun Registry ... (we'll see). Anything short of a full vote by his full caucus will not be tolerated. Any Liberal abstentions will be duly noted and ridiculed by Progressives nationwide.

Secondly, Ignatieff has pledged that a 'newly elected Liberal government (at some supposed date in the future) will work tirelessly to 'fix' the Registry. Sorry Iggy, that simply doesn't cut it with Canadians.

Liberals have a moral obligation to work with the other Opposition parties and fix the flaws in the Registry during the current term of Parliament. Period.

Anything short of immediate action by the Liberal Caucus will not pass the smell test. It's time for Liberals to put their money (in this case, action) where their mouths have been since they started their attacks on Layton and the New Democrats!

-Liberals Promise They Will ALL Vote For The Registry




-NDP’s Layton a leader in gun-registry debate

-Andrew Coyne

OTTAWA – After consulting with caucus members at their recent Strategy Session in Regina, Jack Layton proposed today specific changes to Canada’s gun laws to address rural, northern and aboriginal concerns while strengthening gun control.

“My message to Stephen Harper is clear: you don’t have the votes to pass the bill, so work with us to fix the registry,” said Layton. “It’s time to make our gun laws work again in this country and put an end to the damaging and divisive political games. What we are proposing are concrete, practical measures that will finally address these longstanding concerns.”

Flanked by MPs Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) and Glenn Thibeault (Sudbury), Layton released additional details on the New Democrat plan to fix the gun registry.

The New Democrat proposals include measures to merge possession and acquisition licenses, address inherited firearms, address mental health issues and introduce mandatory regular audits by the Auditor General of Canada to ensure the system is efficient and provides good value for money.

“These proposals go far past just dealing with the registry itself,” said Angus. “These proposals will solve some longstanding irritants that C-391 didn’t even address. Its time Stephen Harper listen to the real concerns of rural Canada and stop trying to use us as political pawns.”

Angus and Thibeault have both said they will be voting for the NDP plan to fix the gun registry, adding that they are still hopeful Stephen Harper will stop his political games and work with New Democrats on finally solving this ongoing issue.

“I have been really happy with the feedback I’ve gotten on the idea of a bridge-building compromise,” explained Thibeault. “It’s long past time we started using some common sense here and do what needs doing to fix this, instead of just using it as an excuse to beat each other up.”
New Democrat News Release

"We're having a debate on gun control right now in Canada on the long gun registry, a very hot debate. What if the NRA came into Canada with petitions and advertising campaigns, trying to influence Canadian policy and Canadian decisions? People would be outraged."
Kory Teneycke
...on CBC's Power and Politics, Sept 3, 2010 (Time mark : 6:50), comparing the Avaaz petition against a must-carry licence for Teneycke's Fox News North to a 'hypothetical' case of the NRA meddling in Canadian politics.

Here's a big tip of the hat to Dr Dawg

-Kory Tenycke Resigns From Fox News North

-Kady O'Malley: Avaaz Responds to Teneyckes Exit

The following article by David Myers in today's Vancouver Sun is definitely worth your time to read:

"There is a disturbing trend going on amongst Canadian right wing proponents including the Harper government. They are attempting to copy US right-wing methods in Canada in lock-step formation. These methods include trying to establish a national right-wing media like FOX “News” that purports to be an unbiased factual based news media, but is in fact the propaganda tool of a right-wing political movement and its chosen party (the Republicans in the US and the Conservative in Canada).

Now, here in Canada, the Conservative government of Steven Harper is trying to use the power of government to control and manipulate the free flowing distribution of scientific information. (See 'Tightened Muzzle on Scientists Is Orwellian' in the Vancouver Sun, page B2, Monday September 13, 2010).

In the US, established right-wing religion and their political allies (the Republicans and the Tea Party) have been engaging in a powerful campaign of denial of science-based investigations including denial of evolution and of the global climate change threat. Their right-wing fundamentalist-based movement continues to try to convince Americans that evolution is only an unproven opinion, less valid than their own religion based alternative – creationism. They have even demanded equal time in classrooms to teach creationism as an alternative to evolution. During the Bush administration Republicans also attempted to impose control over what government officials and scientists could say to the public about scientific information, requiring prior approval of public statements by government funded scientists by Republican political appointees. Now the Harper government is following suit.

What is becoming obvious is that the fundamentalist fascist right-wing is using exactly the same unethical tactics in both the US and Canada. This looks like a new trend but if you examine a number of other cases in which the vested interests in both the US and Canada has cooperated to achieve their nefarious ends, it becomes all the more obvious and alarming. Two examples come to mind: the US “war on drugs” (particularly marijuana) has been imposed on the US ever since Richard Nixon was president, creating a prison-industrial complex complete with its set of vested interests (including organized crime) which benefit and profit immensely from creating the biggest prison system in the world. Canada has been pressured and threatened by the US during this long, expensive, and unsuccessful war on drugs against legalizing drugs in this country. In addition, the Bush administration’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), conspired with Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to extradite Canadian citizen Mark Emery to face charges in the US, in spite of the fact that he had never been charged with a similar crime in Canada. This is particularly significant when viewed in conjunction with the second example, the RCMP’s cooperation with the US CIA’s efforts to topple the Pearson administration in Canada in 1963. (See “RCMP Report Identifies Coup D’etat as Threat” on the same page of the same issue of the Vancouver Sun – p.B2, Monday, September 13, 2010.) This article documents the efforts of CIA counter-intelligence branch head, James Jesus Angleton to engineer the overthrow of the government of Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, because Angleton believed that Pearson “was an agent for Russian intelligence” because of Pearson’s “independent stands in foreign policy, his grain trades with the Soviet Union, his antiwar positions on Vietnam, and especially his friendly stance on Cuba.” “To get at Pearson, the CIA set its sights first on Canadian diplomat James Watkins, Canada’s ambassador to Russia in the mid-1950’s and a friend of the prime minister. After 27 days of interrogation by the Mounties, the 62-year old Watkins’s troubled heart gave out and he died, apparently without supplying the confession the spymasters hoped could bring down the (Canadian) government.”

Angleton is considered, among conspiracy buffs, as one of the CIA’s suspected conspirators in the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy for, among other things, wanting to end the US involvement in Viet Nam, stating that he was going to “break the CIA into a thousand pieces, and scatter it to the winds”, opening up new overtures to the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba, bringing about a cessation of the cold war with Russia, focusing on a world movement to end pollution of the planet’s environment, and waging a war on organized crime.

It is time for the good citizens of Canada to wake up and look at the disturbing trends of the Canadian Conservative Party under Stephen Harper and his right wing allies in both Canada and the US to subvert science and democracy. We have to stand up for our rights and our democracy or the powerful vested interests will take them away."

Daid Myers
Vancouver Sun

The last Liberal federal government made criminals out of tens of thousands of law abiding, hard working, peaceful Canadian citizens. Until now, they have NEVER admitted that error.

The remaining BIG problem with Lib policy is that they have NO intention of working with anyone right now to FIX the registry. They want you to elect them as government first ... they they might proceed to fix their flawed registry.

Saskatchewan has the highest levels of Multiple Sclerosis in Canada. MS is no stranger to me. I come from a typical Sask family and I have both a cousin on my mother's side of the family and on my father's side with MS.

Call me old fashioned, but I still believe that if the Canadian Medical Association and the MS Society both have serious doubts about clinical trials of an unproven experimental treatment, there is NO room for politicians to practice medicine for purely political gain potential.

Globe & Mail

"NDP Leader Jack Layton says that allowing his party's MPs to vote freely on a bill to scrap the long-gun registry does not contradict his own stance: that the registry must be saved.

"My goal is to fix the registry so that it can work for everybody, and that's what our caucus is working very hard to accomplish," Layton told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

He added that MPs will discuss what to do about the long-gun registry at a caucus strategy meeting in Regina this week.

"I am absolutely not saying, ‘Let's fix it by getting rid of it,'" Layton said.

Parliament is due to vote later this month on Tory MP Candice Hoeppner's private member bill to do away with the long-gun registry, and the New Democrats will decide its fate. The Conservatives support the bill, while the Bloc Quebecois and the Liberals are expected to vote against it.

"What we're doing in our party is what really what needs to happen in the whole country," Layton told CTV's Question Period on Sunday. "That is to build bridges between urban Canada and rural, northern and aboriginal Canada on an important issue."

The New Democrats traditionally allow their MPs to vote however they want on private member's bills. But Layton has been trying hard to convince his caucus to save the gun registry by proposing reforms that would placate angry constituents in rural and northern ridings.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has urged New Democrats to vote against scrapping the registry, saying that "right now they're lined up with Stephen Harper against the police."

The Conservatives have fought to abolish the long-gun registry, despite claims from Canada's police chiefs and the Canadian Police Association that it's a useful tool for law enforcement.

New Democrat MPs have been divided by the issue because many of them hold ridings in northern or rural areas where residents oppose having to register shotguns and rifles.

A dozen of the party's MPs voted in favour of scrapping the registry when Hoeppner's bill came up for second reading last November.

Eight Liberal MPs also voted with the Tories at second reading, but Ignatieff is promising that his caucus will vote against the bill this time. That would mean the Conservatives need NDP votes to do away with the embattled gun registry.

Three New Democrats who voted for the bill in November -- Claude Gravelle, Charlie Angus and Glen Thibeault -- recently said they will vote against it this time.
CTV News

"Actor Kiefer Sutherland was on hand in Weyburn, Sask., Friday for the unveiling of a statue honouring his grandfather, Tommy Douglas.

Douglas, a former premier of Saskatchewan, is credited with introducing universal, publicly funded medical insurance in the province, a precursor to Canada's national health-care system. Sutherland, the son of actors Shirley Douglas and Donald Sutherland, participated as a representative of the family.

Despite a steady drizzle and chilling winds, the unveiling on Riverfront Boardwalk attracted hundreds of people — many eager for a glimpse of Sutherland."

-CBC Saskatchewan

-The Star has more ....


Photos courtesy Saskatchewan New Democratic Party ....

"Justice Minister Don Morgan has been removed as the Minister responsible for Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority after realizing he was in breach of the Alcohol and Gaming Regulation Act. According to the Act, no board members or employees of SLGA can have ownership shares in businesses which sell alcohol or have VLTs. Morgan has a 1.5 per cent ownership share in two Saskatoon hotels with alcohol and VLTs."
Global News

Premier Brad Wall is trying to minimize the resignation of Saskatchewan's Liquor and Gaming Minister for conflict of interest. Mr. Wall wondered out loud to reporters how any process could have caught the fact that the Minister was also a part owner in two hotels that have major liquor and gaming revenues. DUH!? Has Premier Wall no idea of what a 'Cabinet Secretary' is required to do as part of his/her duties? Is there NO vetting of ministerial candidates before they are selected?

I will give Wall credit for having referred the matter of the conflict to an outside province's justice officials for opinion. In this case the matter was referred to Alberta Justice. That was appropriate and kudos to Wall for that.

However, some Sask Party hack working with the Cabinet is drawing a large salary and you have to wonder what that person is doing in light of this fiasco.

The matter should now be referred to Saskatchewan's Conflict of Interest Commissioner for recommendations on how Mr. Wall can fine tune the role of his Cabinet Secretariat in the matter of vetting and investigating possible conflicts of ministerial candidates.

-New Democrats Question Competence of Wall Government

"GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A Florida minister who had created an international furor with his plan to burn the Quran on the ninth anniversary of 9/11 canceled the event under intense pressure Thursday ..."
CBCnews

“Almost weekly Stephen Harper has tried everything possible to self-immolate, but Mr. Ignatieff has taken advantage of none of it.” [...]

"After four years, it's hard to see why Mr. Ignatieff has bothered at all. He appears to stand for nothing except the centre, wherever and whatever that is. There are no grand policy initiatives, and barely any modest ones. There are no insights on the economy, especially the unemployment crisis. There is no sense of how he will bring democracy and accountability back to a country that is watching it deteriorate before their eyes. If he's concerned about growing inequality within Canada he has impressively hidden it.

Gerald Caplin
Globe & Mail

“Mr. Harper wants to lead by ideology. There was once a proud tradition of Progressive Conservatism in Canada, but under Mr. Harper the ‘progressive’ has disappeared. Where did they go? I believe they are still out there with nowhere to go. Eventually they will realize that they belong with us, the Liberal Party of Canada."
Michael Ignatieff
Leader, Liberal Party of Canada

-The Sherbrooke Record

Popularity for the governing provincial Liberals in British Columbia has nose dived with the introduction of a harmonized sales tax. No issue is more controversial in the province at the moment. But despite the best advice his handlers can give him, Michael Ignatieff has come out in support of BC's HST.

There's a vote winner 'eh Libs!!

-Globe & Mail

Without a business plan, economic or environmental impact research, Michael Ignatieff is already walking around announcing billion dollar electoral patronage mega projects .....

NORTH VANCOUVER -- "Canadian naval ships will be built on the North Shore for the first time in decades if the Liberals form the next federal government, according to party leader Michael Ignatieff. Ignatieff made the commitment on his way to a speaking engagement in West Vancouver Sunday. The promise could translate into hundreds of jobs and billions of dollars for a North Vancouver shipyard.
August 24, 2010
Vancouver Sun

... while at the same time he criticises Harper for similar Tory grandiose promises ...

BADDECK, N.S. – "Stephen Harper’s reputation as a competent fiscal manager has been sullied by his billion-dollar spending spree on prisons and military jets, Michael Ignatieff charged Wednesday. The Liberal Leader says the Prime Minister has his economic priorities all mixed up, doling out $16-billion for 65 stealth fighter jets and $9-billion to build new jails. “Is this what Canadians want from their government right now in the middle of a $54-billion deficit?”

Mr. Ignatieff said his Liberals would take another look at the fighter-jet purchase. “We are not convinced the fighter planes are needed,” he told reporters at the wrap-up news conference to his two-day caucus meeting in Cape Breton. "
Globe & Mail



... Liberal/Tory .. same old story ....

One of my favorite bloggers is fellow Saskatchewan Progressive Blogger, the Jurist, who blogs at Accidental Deliberations. He has a great post that I welcome all other progressives (even those few Liberal bloggers who qualify) to read:

"The Libs have long since concluded that they can't afford to allow MPs to think for themselves, and are obviously doing their utmost to impose the same standard on the NDP. But it's funny what one can accomplish by actually working with one's MPs rather than simply eliminating their free will:

Speaking on Tuesday in a panel interview on Power & Politics with Evan Solomon, NDP Justice critic Joe Comartin said he was "hopeful" that enough of his colleagues from rural and northern ridings would vote against Hoeppner's bill if the NDP's proposed legislation failed to pass in time.

"At this point … we're very close to having enough of them say to C-391: 'This is not the way to go,' [to] say to the country, 'There's a way of reaching a compromise here that will be acceptable to the vast majority of Canadians'," Comartin said.

"So, I expect that, in fact, we, ultimately, are going to defeat C-391 — unless we can reach the compromise before we reach that stage."

What's more, at least one of the NDP's MPs who voted for C-391 at second reading has signalled his plans in legendary fashion. And all by thinking for himself rather than taking orders from on high.

Of course, we'll have to see whether Comartin proves to be right, as the national debate over the registry plays out within the only party that trusts its MPs to exercise competent judgment. But yes, that sound you hear is the Libs frantically changing their travel plans - lest what they thought would be a chance to score political points over a whipped vote turn all the more obviously into the Epic Fail Express.

-On Appeals To Conscience

On June 6, 1944 as British, Canadian and American troops launched their invasion of Nazi occupied France at Normandy, Scottish bagpiper Bill Millin marched up and down, back and forth on the beach, dodging bullets and trying to inspire the troops all the while playing his bagpipe as his comrades fell around him on Sword Beach. German snipers claimed they did not shoot him because they thought he was crazy.

He never rose above the rank of private and received no medal or commendation. Years after the war, his bravery was featured in a segment of the movie 'The Longest Day'. He was a living legend. He died on August 17, 2010 with almost no media attention.

RIP Bill!

-Bill Millin Pipes Off - The Scottish Sun

No one doubts that Michael Ignatieff's Liberal Party is firmly situated Right of the Centre in the Canadian political spectrum.

Most Liberals are, in fact, quite comfortable being slightly Right of Centre. Their contempt for organized labour and issues that affect women and working Canadians is the key to their political identification.

In provinces such as British Columbia and Saskatchewan, provincial Liberal iterations are quite far to the Right.

But with $tephen Harper's Conservatives in clear possession of the Canadian Right, Liberals are having a hard time finding breathing room and leakage to the Conservatives since 2006 has been remarkable.

So what do we find Iggy cooking up now? Well .. seems he wants to find some way to move slightly to the Left of his current Right wing placement. He thinks that he will be able to find a home in the Centre of the political spectrum.

However, that will be hard to achieve simply because current Liberal policy and practice is fixed on the Right. Since Harper became the PM in 2006, the Liberal Caucus has voted with the Conservatives over 100 times. Does that sound like the political 'Centre' to you?

Optics and window dressing are part of politics, but if Michael Ignatieff wants people to see a move to the Centre by the Liberal Party of Canada, where are the social and economic policies that will prove the sincerity of such a statement?

Good luck with that one Libs!

-Liberals Target Centre of political spectrum

Liberal Party members seem pretty full of themselves lately. Many are convinced that their leader, Michael Ignatieff has finally started to drop the 'loser' image that has plagued him since he took the party helm.

The summer bus tour photos are quite nice. Iggy flipping hotcakes .. Iggy engaged in various ethnic dances ... Iggy waving ... Iggy smiling. The problem is that most of these activities were conducted with and for carefully crafted 'Liberal only' crowds. Very, very few events involved the general public. We shouldn't be surprised. Outside of certain urban centres, there are very few locations where the public would be interested in going out to see or hear Mr. Ignatieff.

Liberal entitlement is such that any small gain makes them salivate, thinking that winning government once again is on the horizon. If you ask the average Canadian, they will tell you, 'not so much'!

The rehabilitation of the Liberal Party of Canada has a long way to go yet.

The silence coming from Ignatieff's Liberals in the wake of the G20 civil rights abuses is deafening! But when you listen to Iggy and his Liberal policy on 'detention' and 'assassination', we shouldn't be surprised!

"In a letter to Vic Toews dated June 29th Mark Holland, the Liberal public safety critic, raises a series of concerns regarding G20 security – not one of which mentions violations of civil liberties.

To wit: “As Canadians now know, Prime Minister Harper made the decision to hold the G20 in downtown Toronto – a decision that led to exorbitant costs and a nearly impossible security situation for police.”

The largest mass arrest of Canadians in history and the Grits primary concern is that the cops were overwhelmed. It would be as if Martin Luther King in his letters from the Birmingham jail wrote to Police Chief “Bull” Connor complaining about the stress he was putting on his department’s German shepherds.

At a wintry moment in the history of Canadian civil rights, the Liberal Party is AWOL.

The Globe & Mail