Friday, August 31, 2012 

If You Are An Intoxicated Police Officer ... Please Feel Free To Drive On Saskatchewan Roadways

An off-duty Edmonton police officer who was caught driving with alcohol in her blood in Saskatchewan was able to walk out of court without a criminal record. 

Sgt. Cheryl Wallin had open alcohol in her SUV and a blood alcohol level that was twice the legal limit — but she left a Humboldt courtroom with an absolute discharge. The incident took place in July, 2010. While off duty, Wallin was pulled over by RCMP on the highway outside Lanigan, Sask., according to records recently obtained by CBC News. 

Other drivers had reported an SUV swerving across lanes and onto the shoulder near the town, which is about 125 kilometres east of Saskatoon. Wallin, who's spent 23 years on the Edmonton force and has 15 awards and commendations, was charged with impaired driving. 

Last year, she went to court in Humboldt. There, she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of dangerous driving and was given an absolute discharge, which can leave an accused person without a criminal record. 

CBC asked the Saskatchewan Justice Ministry why Wallin was not tried for impaired driving, but did not receive a reply in time for this article. 

Meanwhile, Wallin's actions also resulted in internal discipline under the Alberta Police Act. She pleaded guilty to discreditable conduct under the act and was suspended without pay for two weeks."
CBC.ca

Related:
HUGE Jump in Saskatchewan highway deaths - 120 dead so far in 2012 - CBC

 

Saskatchewan New Democrats Prepare To Launch Leadership Campaign





MEDIA ADVISORY
 

REGINA- 

On Tuesday, September 4th, 2012 at 10:00 am, Deb Higgins, chair of the NDP Leadership Contest Committee and Saskatchewan NDP President Cory Oxelgren, will be holding a news conference to officially launch the leadership race and to announce some details regarding the contest.

The announcement will take place at Tommy Douglas House, 1122 Saskatchewan Drive. 



All media are invited to attend


-30-
For more information call:
Rick Pollard
Director of Communications
(306)-525-1322 ext. 4 or
(306)-539-2732

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

Saskatchewan New Democrats are preparing to launch a campaign to select a new leader of the Provincial Party.  


The Convention will be held on March 9th, 2013. It is expected to be a lively, dynamic campaign. While I will be posting some stories on Leadership 2013 here on Buckdog ... I will also be maintaining a dedicated blogsite at 'Saskatchewan New Democrat Leadership'

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

Wednesday, August 29, 2012 

The Search For Intelligent Life Continues At The Republican National Convention

(Click on graphic to enlarge ....)  

A recent Gallup poll clearly demonstrates the absolute lack of intellect that exists in the American Republican Party. 

Gallup Polls

 

Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Will Have LOWEST Minimum Wage In Canada On September 1

 The following article is co-written by Larry Hubich, President of the Sask Federation of Labour and Erin Weir, Economist and President of Progressive Economic Forum. It appeared in the September August 29th edition of the Regina Leader-Post:

"Recent Saskatchewan government news releases trumpet record numbers for wholesale trade, building permits and exports. But as Labour Day approaches, we should consider that many Saskatchewan workers do not share in the prosperity they create.

In particular, our province soon will have the embarrassing distinction of Canada's lowest minimum wage. On Sept. 1, Alberta's hourly minimum rises to $9.75, leaving us last at $9.50.

Our province should aspire to have Canada's best minimum wage. Specifically, we propose phasing in a minimum wage of $11, which would match Nunavut as the highest of any province or territory. The government should index this to inflation to help protect low-income earners from having their buying power eroded by Saskatchewan's rising cost of living.

Some of the benefits of a fair minimum wage are obvious. It means more much-needed income in the hands of low-paid working people. Increasing the wages of workers at the lowest end of the income spectrum would also add to consumer spending in the province, helping local businesses and other participants in the economy.

More than any other group, low-income earners spend their money in their communities. For example, they're far less likely to make foreign investments or to travel abroad. Increasing Saskatchewan's minimum wage would bolster the provincial economy.

Of course, opponents of a higher minimum wage argue it would reduce employment. Ironically, the same conservative politicians and business lobbyists who characterize employment as being vulnerable to any improvement in the minimum wage often brag about the strength of Saskatchewan's job market and complain about "labour shortages."

Better wages would encourage more people to enter the workforce.

Claims that minimum wages reduce employment have no empirical support. Economics professors from the universities of Massachusetts (Amherst), North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and California (Berkeley) recently compared adjacent U.S. counties in states with different minimum wages. They found "strong earnings effects and no employment effects of minimum wage increases." In other words, boosting the minimum wage succeeded in raising pay without reducing employment, even when neighbouring jurisdictions kept a lower minimum.

We know from our own history there is no contradiction between a strong minimum wage and a strong job market. During Allan Blakeney's premiership, Saskatchewan had Canada's highest minimum wage and lowest unemployment rate.

But even if raising the minimum wage cut employers' demand for labour, it would still benefit employees. The vast majority of minimumwage work is in areas like fast food and retail, which have variable shifts and hours. If employers want less labour, they cut back hours rather than laying off workers.

We propose to phase in a 16-percent increase in Saskatchewan's minimum wage.

In reality, a fast food restaurant likely would require the same amount of labour because it could not substitute robots or other capital equipment for workers.

But for argument's sake, imagine the restaurant responded by cutting paid hours by 16 per cent. Its employees would still earn the same total income as before and gain more free time, with the wage increase offsetting the decrease in hours worked.

Opponents of a higher minimum wage cannot get away with simply suggesting it might somehow slightly reduce demand for labour at the margin. They would have to prove that paid hours would fall by a larger percentage than the increase in wages. And that is not what the evidence indicates.

While bragging about the relative strength of our labour market, the government is letting every other Canadian province and territory surpass our minimum wage. Restoring Saskatchewan to a position of leadership would benefit those who most need a raise and strengthen the wider provincial economy."

Larry Hubich is president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour and Erin Weir is president of the Progressive Economics Forum.

Read more:

Monday, August 27, 2012 

'The Liberal Party Of Canada' - a party about nothing ....


The Liberal Party no longer “stands for anything” and could be “squeezed out” by Canadians who think the political spectrum is strictly left or right, says a high-profile leadership contender.
 

Deborah Coyne, a veteran insider going back to the tumultuous constitutional battles during the 1980s, told The Hill Times last week that she decided to vie for the helm of the once-dominant party because she wants to make the party relevant again. “The main problem is the Liberal Party does not stand for anything,” she said. “That’s why it’s so easy for people right now to ignore it quite apart from the fact it only has 30-odd MPs. It used to stand, and I would like to ensure that it stands again, for the party that represents a strong national government.”
The Hill Times

 

Senate Officials Kept A Liberal Senator Voting For Months After She Was Declared Legally Incompetent By Medical Officials


Our unelected, undemocratic Senate limps along with absolutely no regard for the nation. Here we have a Liberal Senator, who, as a result of Alzheimer’s disease has been declared legally incompetent. Yet for months, Liberal Senate officials ensured that she was in her seat, voting on Canada's federal legislation. 

"OTTAWA—A Liberal senator was still at work four months after a geriatric psychiatrist declared her legally incompetent due to her struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. 

Liberal Senator Joyce Fairbairn, 72, has been receiving round-the-clock care for more than year due to her declining health from dementia and will not return to Ottawa for the time being, according to a letter her niece, Patricia McCullagh, sent to Senate officials. 

The letter, dated Aug. 13, says that a geriatric psychiatrist signed a declaration of incompetence for Fairbairn in February and that McCullagh and Leonard Kuchar, chief of staff to Liberal Senate Leader James Cowan, co-signed a power of care that made them agents that can act on her behalf. Senate attendance records show that Fairbairn attended sittings in the upper chamber regularly until the end of session in June, including when votes were taking place, for four months after she was declared incompetent."
The Star

Postscript:
Liberal spin doctors are trying to portray this story as an attack on Senator Fairburn .. nice try. This story is about some very bad decisions made by Liberal Senate officials - decisions that demonstrate an ongoing decline of the once great Liberal Party of Canada.
.
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ABOLISH THE SENATE (fer gawds sake!
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Former Florida GOP Governor Endorses Obama And SLAMS Republican Party For Extreme Right Wing Direction


"An element of their party has pitched so far to the extreme right on issues important to women, immigrants, seniors and students that they’ve proven incapable of governing for the people." 
Charles Crist 
Former Republican Gov of Florida
Globe & Mail


"People who depend upon the aid of the government via food stamps, unemployment checks and mortgage relief are typically written off as parasites and losers. Meanwhile, corporations that depend upon government largess for bailouts and subsidies are celebrated as paragons of free enterprise"

"But the Republican gimmick of promising prosperity through tax cuts while handing most of the loot to the wealthy can only work for so long."  
Peter S. Goodman
Huffinton Post

Saturday, August 25, 2012 

Right Wing Liberal Shameless In Attacking Jack Layton's Memory

A certain right wing Liberal, (who writes for the Toronto Sun), simply can't stand the fact that Canadians like Jack Layton. If you listen to him, New Democrats must never ... ever, mention the name of 'Jack Layton' again. 

Stuff it you miserable right wing Liberal hack!  You give living proof to the old prairie political axiom .. 'Liberal / Tory.  Same old story'!

Warren Kinsella -Toronto Sun

Friday, August 24, 2012 

Liberal Senator's Wife Arrested At Saskatoon Airport For Creating Disturbance On Flight


SASKATOON — The 23-year-old wife of a Canadian senator appeared disheveled and emotional as she sat in the prisoner’s box of a provincial courtroom in Saskatoon on Friday morning.

Maygan Sensenberger, who married 69-year-old Senator Rod Zimmer of Winnipeg almost one year ago in Ottawa, is charged with causing a public disturbance and endangering the safety of an aircraft by committing an act of violence during a flight.

City police said they were called to Saskatoon’s John G. Diefenbaker Airport around 8 p.m. Thursday night to deal with a passenger on an incoming flight who was causing a disturbance. Officers took Sensenberger into custody once the plane landed and passengers disembarked. No one was injured.

She is accused of threatening to kill her husband and “take down the aircraft,” as well as causing a disturbance by screaming and yelling on the Air Canada flight from Ontario, a Crown prosecutor said during her arraignment Friday.

Sensenberger was remanded in custody for the weekend and is expected to make a second court appearance on Monday — their one-year wedding anniversary.
Ottawa Citizen

Thursday, August 23, 2012 

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall Comes Around To The Notion That Potash Royalties Are Far Too Low


This blog has published a number of posts over the last few years which identify the huge profits that are being purged out of Saskatchewan annually by the Potash industry:

-PotashCorp Starts To Come Clean On Massive Windfall Profits In Saskatchewan - March 2011

-Internationally Renowned Economist Challenges Regina Leader-Post Business Columnist Over Potash Number - Feb 2011
 
 -Royalty Structure Hurting Saskatchewan - March 2011   

-How Brad Wall Shills For Potash Corps - October 2011 

-Corporate Profits By Saskatchewan's Potash Industry Argue For Higher Royalties - July 2012


By receiving a royalty of a few pennies from every dollar of pure corporate profit, the citizens of Saskatchewan are not being reimbursed properly for their natural resource. 

Economist Erin Weir has consistently argued that a fundamental review of the royalty structure is desperately needed

Well ... finally .... a hint of good news .....!!

"Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is musing about adjusting the way the province collects money from companies that extract natural resources. 

Wall says companies should have royalty stability especially after they've spent billions investing in the economy. 

But the premier also says it's important that taxpayers are properly compensated if in 20 years potash production has doubled. 

The current complex system is based on price rather than volume and Wall says it needs to change. However, the premier says it could be years before the discussion gets into any specific detail and there might just be some tweaking rather than any major adjustments."
CTV News

 

Michael D. Higgins, President Of the Republic Of Ireland Takes On American TeaParty Rhetoric And Ideology

 

One of the best political confrontations I've ever heard. Here's the President of Ireland taking on an ultra rightwing American Teaparty radio host ....

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 

You Have To Wonder Why Canada's MSM Is Ignoring The 100,000 People Protesting In The Streets Of Montreal Today ????

Montreal, Canada August 22, 2012

Photo courtesy 'Jason Living Montreal'


UPDATE:
Finally ... a story ... Montreal Gazette

- Facts For Working People has more ...

 

Simply Acknowledging The One Year Anniversary Of Jack Layton's Death Is Threatening To Conservatives And Right Wing Liberals ....

"Oh my God. When does the beatification commence?"
Warren Kinsella
August 22, 2012

However, more progressive Liberals are sharing in the sentiments expressed by most Canadians:

"Jack Layton's memory is cherished across Canada and Arlene and I will be thinking of Olivia, family and friends, and Jack's great legacy."
Bob Rae
August 22, 2012



Tuesday, August 21, 2012 

Stephen And Laureen Harper Tear Up Delicate Yukon Ecosystem On ATV


"Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen rode a couple of ATVs through a delicate ecosystem in Yukon Tuesday, an activity that most people in the territory say must be better regulated.

In a photo-op blazoned across news websites and broadcasts throughout the day, the Harpers can be seen smiling as they ride the sandy dunes of the Carcross Desert, a geological oddity caused by an extinct glacier, south of Whitehorse.

But the territorial government doesn’t have any rules for riding ATVs, or all-terrain vehicles, in the wilderness, a hands-off policy that has left alpine meadows, wetlands and even the tiny Carcross Desert crisscrossed with tread marks." 
 ipolitics.ca

Hill Times has lots more ...

Monday, August 20, 2012 

Jack Layton's Letter - August 20, 2011

  (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011)

August 20, 2011

Toronto, Ontario

Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.

Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.

I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.

I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.

A few additional thoughts:

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.

To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.

To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.

To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,

Jack Layton

Thursday, August 16, 2012 

"The Religious Right Has Destroyed My Party" Says Departing Republican Congressional Staffer


"For 28 years, since Ronald Reagan's first term, Mike Lofgren served as a Republican Congressional staffer on Capitol Hill. He was one of the many people who work behind the scenes on the nitty-gritty of governing while the politicians they work for are out making speeches and raising campaign funds.

But in 2011, after a wave of Tea Party ideologues had stormed the Hill, Lofgren had seen enough. A few months after quitting his job, he wrote that the party he had belonged to for his entire career had become dominated by “lunatics.” The big problem, in Lofgren's view, was the pervasive fundamentalist theology that had gained so much influence in the GOP over the years Lofgren served in Congress. 

Last year, he wrote:

It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th-century Europe.

 alternet.crg

"Having observed politics up close and personal for most of my adult lifetime, I have come to the conclusion that the rise of politicized religious fundamentalism may have been the key ingredient in the transformation of the Republican Party. 

Politicized religion provides a substrate of beliefs that rationalizes—at least in the minds of its followers—all three of the GOP’s main tenets: wealth worship, war worship, and the permanent culture war. Religious cranks ceased to be a minor public nuisance in this country beginning in the 1970s and grew into a major element of the Republican rank and file. 

Pat Robertson’s strong showing in the 1988 Iowa presidential caucus signaled the gradual merger of politics and religion in the party. Unfortunately, at the time I mostly underestimated the implications of what I was seeing. It did strike me as oddly humorous that a fundamentalist staff member in my congressional office was going to take time off to convert the heathen in Greece, a country that had been overwhelmingly Christian for almost two thousand years. 

I recall another point, in the early 1990s, when a different fundamentalist GOP staffer said that dinosaur fossils were a hoax. As a mere legislative mechanic toiling away in what I held to be a civil rather than ecclesiastical calling, I did not yet see that ideological impulses far different from mine were poised to capture the party of Lincoln."
Salon.com

Wednesday, August 15, 2012 

'Conservative Patronage' ... So Much Better Than 'Liberal Patronage' ... Stephen Harper

"Blogger The Sixth Estate has the name, rank and serial number for the 1,135 Conservative donors and sympathizers who have received patronage appointments since 2006. (Versus the 78 Liberals, 4 New Democrats, 1 Bloc Quebecois and 1 Green Party member who have received a federal government appointment since then). 

“Stephen Harper once denounced this system as the Prime Minister rewarding his “buddies,” but while in office has been uninterested in changing the system. Instead he has continued to appoint party insiders and supporters at a frenzied pace, even to the Senate, which he once demanded be fully democratized through elected Senators with term limits. 

Since the May 2011 general election, he has even appointed several losing candidates to the Senate, so that they could have a seat in Parliament anyways after being denied one by the public.

David Akin

Sixth Estate Blog

Sunday, August 12, 2012 

Stephen Harper's Recent Embrace Of 'Science' Is Laughable!


"A Calgary columnist remarked petulantly last week that British Columbians are "suffering from a collective case of anticipatory anxiety." Damn right we are. 

An oil "spill" isn't something that can be cleaned up with a paper towel. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency faced the first ever major spill of diluted bitumen into water (the Kalamazoo River) two years ago. It found that the lighter chemicals in "dilbit," as it's called, evaporated and the bitumen sank to the bottom sediments. Skimmers and oil booms proved useless. 

Cleanup was estimated at 10 times the cost of conventional oil-spill cleanup. 

If there is a supertanker accident off the coast, how does our reduced Coast Guard react? Enbridge's "shoreline protection consultant" says that, though Enbridge's liability ends at the end of the pipe, its spill "management plan" will be "state of the art," whatever that means. 

The Western Canada Marine Response Corp. would likely be called in with the skimmers, booms, pumps and absorbent pads that are in caches along the coast. The company has 22 employees, and would rely on other marine response companies around the globe to help. The company says it would take between six and 72 hours to respond, longer if there's a storm. By then, how much sludge is sinking to smother life on the sea bottom and washing ashore? Skimmers and booms don't do much in heavy seas, anyway. 

We don't need "science" to warn us that we face "significant adverse environmental effects," which Harper may find "justified in the circumstances."
 Victoria Times Colonist

Thursday, August 09, 2012 

Bank of Canada governor Carney MUST blow the whistle on misbehaving, global banks!


OTTAWA - Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says he is willing to blow the whistle on banks that break international norms or don't comply with reforms designed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. 

In a BBC interview broadcast Thursday morning London time, the Canadian central banker said recent scandals have delivered "some hits" to the reputation of the banking system, adding that it is essential that confidence be restored. "

One of the things we're doing as international regulators ... is not just designing rules but we're auditing the countries from the U.K. to Canada to China to see whether they're actually implementing these new rules," he said, speaking in his dual role of head of the Swiss-based Financial Stability Board. "

And if they don't, we're going straight to the top. We're going to the leaders of the G20, and we're going to the media and the general public, and we're letting people know who's on track and who's lagging behind."
 Winnipeg Free Press

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Oh .. speak of the 'devil' .... 'TD Bank staff knew about $1.2B Ponzi scheme': says U.S. judge

Wednesday, August 08, 2012 

Stephen Harper Told One Big LIE When He Said Farmers Sent To Jail By CWB ...


On Aug. 1, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a commitment to pardon some farmers who broke the Customs Act by refusing to present grain export licences to Canada Customs (now Canada Border Services). Several of them went to jail and a gullible and lazy media took their word they were sent there by the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB).

That the prime minister has just repeated this nonsense about the wheat board is contemptible.

The facts are straightforward. No farmer was ever charged under the Canadian Wheat Board Act, which had its own penalty section. The Manitoba "poster-child" for the border-runners was found guilty of breaking section 94.1(f) of the Immigration Act, sections 11, 31, and 153(c) of the Customs Act, and section 145.3 of the Criminal Code all arising out of smuggling grain into the U.S. from Canada. (R. v. McMechan, March 16, 1998)

In Lethbridge, a dozen people were also convicted of violating several sections of the Customs Act for refusing to do what every other exporter of products from Canada does: present an export licence to Canada Customs.

These convictions included: failure to report exporting goods, evading the payment of duties, and illegally removing lawfully seized property. (R. v. Duffy, May 17, 2001 AB Court of Appeal 124)
Rather than pay small fines many of them chose to spend a few hours in jail while loudly proclaiming the wheat board had put them there. In fact, they had put themselves there by wilfully and deliberately violating many Canadian laws, then being convicted in a court of law and being sentenced by a judge. Since the Canadian judicial system is independent, the wheat board had no control over the process.

Export licences are required under the Customs Act and are administered by various agencies which issue licences under the authority of the Customs Act. An Alberta oil producer would get such a licence as would a car manufacturer. For grain, the wheat board normally issued export licences to farmers who used the CWB's no-cost producer direct sales program to export their own grain.

However, Prime Minister Harper has done more than spread misinformation and pardon a few malcontents. Among the many charges this group faced, several included removing their lawfully impounded vehicles from the Canada Customs impound lot. The evidence at trial showed they ignored the unarmed Canada Customs officers as they drove off.

To quote Madam Justice C.L. Kenny's judgment: "The Appellants were properly charged for violating section 114 of the Customs Act. The trial judge found that customs officers, acting in the scope of their duties, did seize the vehicles, and that the Appellants did willfully evade the customs officers attempts to place those vehicles into custody." (Harrison v. Canada, Feb. 1998 ABQB 138). At one border crossing, unarmed Canada Customs officers were intimidated by a group of people who showed up. They were fortunate nobody was injured as a result of their actions.

Those Canada Customs officers who were intimidated and had to get out of the way of those vehicles had husbands and children, wives and families. By pardoning the people who did this, Harper is saying he does not care about the rule of law or those whose job it is to protect us all.
Harper's behaviour reveals he is one who believes the end justifies the means.
Ken Larsen 

Mr. Larsen is an Alberta farmer and a member of the board of directors of the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board.

Regina Leader-Post

 

'Harper's Hand Picked Postal Dispute Arbitrator Must Step Down Due To Political Bias' - Federal Court

"The arbitrator appointed by the government to settle the labour dispute between postal workers and Canada Post should be recused, says a federal court. 

 After the government passed the Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act in June, 2011 – the one that prompted a lengthy filibuster by the new opposition New Democrats – Guy Dufort was appointed as the arbitrator in the disagreement. 

But then Dufort informed both Canada Post and the postal workers afterward that he had been involved with the Conservative party in 2010, as well as having been the prosecutor for Canada Post during a past pay dispute which lasted from 1998 to 2003. 

Given the latter, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) asked that Dufort recuse himself. A federal court has now agreed with them. “In light of the unique context of labour relations and the special Law, the Court concludes that a reasonable and sensible person might worry that the arbitrator is biased because of these two reasons,” the court concluded. 

The court has ordered Dufort to recues himself and for Labour Minister Lisa Raitt to appoint a new arbitrator." ipolitics

Tuesday, August 07, 2012 

Quebec Solidaire Kicks A Beaver In Latest Political TV Ad


Quebec Solidaire's latest election ad, exposes viewers to an animated stick figure gleefully kicking Canada's national symbol — the beaver — right off their television screen.

Friday, August 03, 2012 

Stephen Harper Has Created The Worst Deficit In Canadian History


Harper is not going to be Prime Minister forever. Talk it up over the long weekend.

 

Saskatchewan's So Called 'Fiscal Conservative' Premier Wall Simply Can't Balance The Province's Budget

 
"Since the annual budget, released in March, projected only a razor-thin $14.8 million surplus on a summary financial basis, there can be no doubt that Saskatchewan has a deficit and growing debt. [...] The government’s first quarter financial report shows that Saskatchewan people will now be asked to pay more and get less in order to cover the Sask. Party’s mistakes and expensive spin. 

The unacceptable Sask. Party report showed their budget projections are already short by $113.2 million only three months into the fiscal year. “The Sask. Party already took a swipe at kindergarten classrooms, cut the film industry and took more from the pockets of seniors. Now they’re vowing to take another $55 million from everyday families to cover their mistakes,” said Trent Wotherspoon, NDP finance critic. “It’s mind-boggling that they won’t even be straight with everyday families about where they are making cuts.  

Official Opposition Caucus

Wednesday, August 01, 2012 

'So long, and thanks for all the orange juice!' - Conservative Cabinet Minister Bev Oda

Today was Conservative Party cabinet minister Bev Oda's last day as a Member of Parliament. Good riddance! Let's sincerely hope that the door doesn't hit her in the ass on her way out!! Bloody right wing arrogant twit!

Yahoo.com



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