America adopted its “Land of Dreams”

You may have seen the series of ads on TV recently that feature a soothing folk music and clips of diverse gatherings, beautiful landscapes and a sense of opportunity and hope. These ads are part of the American bid to adopt what was once the Canadian dream – a dream that has been under dismantling since Harper took office in 2006.

After 11 years of war mongering and fear, US President Barack Obama attempts to rebrand the United States as Liberal, Compassionate and Diverse – all the things Canada used to pride.

However, in the peak of George Bush’s US Presidency, Canada took a hard turn right in 2006, bringing in a Conservative government whose sole aim was to rebuild the Canadian identity as a militaristic, overbearing and arrogant nation – much like what the United States used to be.

Every interaction on the international scene has been a failure for Harper as foreign leaders question his motives and tell him to get out of their affairs. On the portfolio of the Environment, not only is Canada the outcast, it is the hated.

Canada is now more militarily involved and ruthless towards immigrants. A woman was separated from her ailing son and the Canadian government has relentlessly attacked her presence. Canada now has a black mark for human rights. Not only was the charter ignored, a UN inspector found aboriginal communities living in third world conditions.

Canada’s deteriorating reputation started with Harper and follows the lead of former US President George W Bush and his Republican ran government. In 2011, Harper labeled an internationally known scholar, Michael Ignatieff as a glorified opportunist with ambitions to instill American principles. Last I checked, the man ran on the same principles the Obama administration is using as their new vision for America – one that was distinctly Canadian. Not only did Harper brand Ignatieff as an American, he used this attack to hide the fact that the Americanization of Canada was strictly led by Harper himself.

In the ad, we can see what we used to be. From the shores out east to the big cities in Ontario and Quebec to the farmlands out west. We can see a united people, happy and diverse – a hallmark that Canada once mastered. Now, all we see is a nation – the second largest in land mass in the world – “mired by thick black tar” (UK’s The Guardian during the Copenhagen summit) and imposing economic views on European nations who gladly gave Harper the directions back home.

However, below the fancy ad is a grim reality in the United States that will take a good while to repair. A shattered reputation and a treasury emptied by reckless spending on the war on terrorism – one that would have plunged Canada into the heart of Iraq had Harper been Prime Minister instead of Jean Chretien. However, what the ad shows is a firm mandate for American renewal and a call for a new American dream. What we see is Obama’s bid to integrate the features in which Canada had pride into an ailing nation scared internationally for its military might and its wasteful conduct. It is a symbol of Obama’s fundamental shift in American policy towards a more Liberal society, the first that can be seen in quite a long time.

If there is anything more striking than Obama’s transformation of the US identity, it is the complete reversal of roles on the world stage with Canada. Canada’s share of tourism is on decline – guess where they’re going. If there is one thing that is clear from the ad, it is that the United States has adopted Canada’s vision of a model society while Canadians have effectively thrown it away.

To all the Canadians reading this post, do you miss Canada? Let us know: Facebook,Twitter, Google+.

Harper guided by evangelical Alliance Church

There is a detail about Prime Minister Stephen Harper that is very mum in Canada. It is a detail that may and will explain every decision he has made to date and every decision he will make in the future.

Stephen Harper has refused to answer questions about his beliefs and which groups inform him. However, if he were to answer such questions, he would reveal his membership to the Alliance Church which is dominant in Alberta and represents less than 10% of Canadian beliefs.

This same church has declared war on the environment, believes the Earth is 6,000 years old – like former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day does – and believes that the scientists and environmentalists are preaching a fraud to destroy the economy.

The kind of people backing Harper come from the Cornwall Alliance, which is a right-wing coalition of scholars, economists and evangelicals who instill doubt on mainstream science and climate change, view environmentalists as a “native evil,” and supports libertarian economics.

His church teaches the “truths” of the bible which he takes very dear to himself. There are 4 fundamental beliefs, as cited by a 2007 article in the Vancouver Sun, which Harper adheres to.

According to Professor Philip Geoff from the Indiana State Purdue University religious studies:

"The Alliance Church places an intense focus on the need for personal salvation, emphasizes the importance of leading a 'holy' life and encourages spiritual healing, says Goff.

"The denomination also stresses that Jesus Christ's return to Earth is imminent, says the evangelical specialist, who was raised in the Alliance Church.

"Alliance Church rules, like those of other evangelical denominations, strongly oppose homosexual relationships, describing them as the 'basest form of sinful conduct.'

"The Alliance Church is also tough on divorce and holds that Christians who have been adulterous do not have a right to remarry.

"The denomination's leaders, in addition, oppose abortion, stem-cell research, euthanasia, the use of marijuana and ordained female clergy…"

These are the same beliefs that justify his creation of the Office of Religious Freedoms at the expense of Environment Canada, the internal Conservative fight to reopen the abortion debate and the Conservative cravings to get into people’s lives – both online and through their bedrooms.

Everything that has been stated thus far would allow Canadians to anticipate Harper’s contradictory view about reopening the abortion debate, his government’s decision to appeal a BC court’s decision to grant a patient euthanasia, and his clear disdain for human rights and freedoms.

From his government’s obsession with getting into people’s personal lives to dictate what they can and cannot do online and with a woman’s body to his complete dismissal for scientists, it is clear that his actions can all be justified and predicted knowing his relationship with the Alliance Church of Canada and the Cornwall Alliance.

The Harper government abolished Kyoto and is cutting programs geared towards land preservation. They are cutting the regulations that would make oil extraction in Alberta a much safer task to workers and to the environment. However, his guidance doesn’t dictate this at all. In fact, the Cornwall Alliance that is backing him want to see the death of green policy and all those who promote it.

The Alliance believes that "there is no convincing scientific evidence that human contribution to greenhouse gases is causing dangerous global warming." They also believe that any attempt to reduce greenhouse emissions would "greatly increase the price of energy and harm economies."

The Alliance also believes that environmental regulation goes against god’s will. "We aspire to a world in which liberty as a condition of moral action is preferred over government-initiated management of the environment as a means to common goals."

The Alliance published a book called Resisting the Green Dragon: Dominion not Death which labels environmental groups as "one of the greatest threats to society and the church today."

They go further to declare that "The Green Dragon must die... [There] is no excuse to become befuddled by the noxious Green odors and doctrines emanating from the foul beast..."

This would explain why the Conservatives have labeled environmentalists and activists as radicals and extremists in their bid to destroy them.

To make matters even clearer – and which will really explain the Conservative rush for oil in Alberta and Shale gas in eastern parts of the country, the Alliance believes that renewable forms of energy are for the poor or rural people until nuclear and fossil fuel plants "meet the needs of large, sustained economic development."

If Canadians would have known this detail about Stephen Harper, Bill C30, Bill C38, his war on the environment and his war on freedoms would not have been a surprise. Knowing this one detail about Stephen Harper is enough to allow people to predict his future moves as he flirts with the tenets that have dominated the Republican Party in the United States in recent years.

The Common Tenets between Evangelists, the Republican Party of the United States and the Conservative Party of Canada

1. Disdain for the environmental movement
2. Distrust of mainstream science in general
3. Distrust of the mainstream media
4. Loyalty to the party
5. Libertarian economics as God's will (God is opposed to government regulation or taxation)
6. Misunderstanding of divine sovereignty (God won't allow us to ruin creation)
7. Unreconstructed Dominion theology (God calls on humans to subdue and rule creation)

Source: The Tyee

You may or may not agree with the evangelists and Cornwall but if you don’t, they will see you as “lost.”

With this knowledge, the Conservative actions become explainable and predictable and their agenda is far from over. From the cuts to services to fund federal bureaucrats to the divisive and cunning attacks toward opposition and scientists – who are recently mourning the death of science in Canada after being muzzled as an “established practice,” this one hidden detail about Stephen Harper is enough to explain everything and it isn’t a pretty sight.

How do you feel about Stephen Harper’s religious ties? Why would Harper be mum over his religious beliefs if they weren’t the truth? Let us know: Facebook, Twitter, Google+.

NDP and Conservatives Exchange Fire

It was only a matter of time before the Conservatives would try to paint NDP leader Thomas Mulcair as an environmental radical but in an unexpected turn, the NDP have struck back, hitting the Conservatives where it really hurts.

If you have been reading this blog for a while now – archives are always available – you will know that the Conservative economic record is non-existent and frankly a contradiction to everything they supposedly stand for.

NDP leader Mulcair made a blunder trying to label the Alberta Oil Sands as the cause for a high dollar that has been hurting other industries across Canada – which wasn’t the case and still isn’t. Without surprise, his Dutch disease comments came back to bite him when the Conservatives asked if we could afford “risky” policies from the NDP.

In response, the NDP have been clever enough to do what the Liberals, to their peril, couldn’t do. So Michael Ignatieff had a half-hour program on a Sunday morning on Global at a time when no one paid attention, but they couldn’t afford to fire back and defend his integrity when he was attacked? Decent Canadians know that a record outside of Canada is not opportunist, it is an achievement and brings a higher perspective. But the Liberal organizers really blundered bad. Instead of effective Liberal spots to counter the Conservative ads, they came with a 30 minute Liberal program which anyone who is channel surfing won’t bother to watch – but a political guy like me (we are a minority). As a result, the Conservative narrative, an effective one, took the campaign by storm: “he didn’t come back for you.”

So the NDP learned well, and they learned how to properly manage their funds to create an ad to prevent history from repeating itself. And this ad is effective. Who can disagree with their claim? During a recession, Harper attacks pensions and employment insurance, what kind of plan is that? “What is his solution?”

The NDP spot is available in French and English and can relate to anyone. The ad isn’t a left or right wing ad, it is an ad that asks why Harper is attacking those without jobs when there are no jobs available. It’s an ad that speaks to common sense and uses the same final touches that have made previous Conservative ads so effective. The unflattering look, the ominous voice, the gloomy music, and the quick thinking. “You will pay the price.”

The Conservatives have no economic record, they are just fortunate that the previous Liberal government was good with finances and left them a $13 billion surplus to squander. Otherwise, the record deficits, the job losses, and the record growth in government size and entitlement would only just be the tip of the iceberg.

The Conservatives took some jabs at the NDP and thus far, their site and ad haven’t been effective. The NDP are climbing in the polls – not at the expense of the Liberals but at the expense of the Conservatives. This NDP ad strikes because it hits home. We will have to see how their messaging evolves and if their messaging will translate into policy. If they start with tax hikes, then we can easily say that the Conservatives will have won with their own “you’ll pay the price” ad.

But if the NDP address the issues of the day and present sound solutions based on common sense, they may not only be poised to make electoral gains, they may also be poise to form the first national NDP government in history and wouldn’t it be a slap to Harper’s face if they won a majority on their first ever try?

Time will tell how this will play out, but one thing is certain: the attack ad was not only necessary, it had to be done right and the NDP nailed it – something the Liberals couldn’t do. The NDP saw what happened to Dion, Ignatieff and Rae and they cleverly changed the course of history for themselves. Whether you agree with their policies or not, the ad was clever and tailored to give the Conservatives a taste of their own medicine.

But now for the Conservatives, it may be time to turn up the heat. Recent attacks have been weak and ineffective and they are the only reason they have lasted this long – especially on the fake and inflating bubble that they put the Economy in. Perception is everything.

Who do you think won the first round of the ad war? The NDP or the Conservatives? Let us know: Facebook, Twitter, Google+.

Bureaucrats get $6bn gift during austerity

It appears that you don’t necessarily have to be a bureaucrat who’s losing a job to get a severance package. While the Conservatives are cutting Canadian services, they are giving their friends in the bureaucracy a $6 billion in bonus and a pay raises.

The bureaucrats that didn’t get the letter notifying them that they will be laid off will be laughing their way to the bank to cash checks worth up to $150,000 in severance, along with a pay raise. These thousands of public employees didn’t even change jobs!

Government officials say that the average payout was $20,000 but higher paid executives and military officials got their hands on $150,000 severance checks.

The Conservatives are so quick to give checks to well off bureaucrats who should be first in line with pay cuts and losses in entitlements but the same money that they handed out to thousands could have been given to homeless people who would have had more use with the money than bureaucrats who believe in entitlements.

Thousands of soldiers who aren’t even entitled to severance will be getting their gifts anyway and by the end of this year, up to $2 billion will have been distributed.

The Conservatives pulled this move in an attempt to mull over those who may be infuriated with the fact that they are abolishing a long standing entitlement that gave federal workers severance – even when they quit or retire.

The Treasury Board says that while $6 billion may be a large upfront sum, tax payers will be saving $500 million per year. In other words, it will take 12 years to pay off this nice $6 billion sum.

"The savings for Canadian taxpayers are significant," Treasury Board Minister Tony Clement said in a written statement to CBC News. "The government is no longer liable for future accumulation of voluntary severance payouts that would continue to climb.

"This benefit does not exist in the private sector and there is a reason. It is costly and to perpetuate it would be unfair."

But while it may look great on the outside – on the 13th year we see savings! The reality is that much of the $500 million per year savings will be eaten up by the 0.75% salary increases – which weren’t at all justified.

"To spend billions of dollars in severance package for people that are not losing their jobs,” said Dan Kelly, head of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, “people that have the best form of job security in the country, that have gold-plated pensions to leave to, just seems nuts.

"This should be taken away from civil servants.… But to trade it off for higher wage increments, I think will not pass the smell test for average Canadians."

However, the union representing these bureaucrats differs in opinion and welcomes the payouts.

"The present government decided to end the accumulation of severance and negotiated a compensation package with some federal government workers," said Robyn Benson, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

"At the same time, PSAC negotiated stronger provisions for severance upon layoff so the thousands of federal workers this government is recklessly cutting have a better chance of continuing to pay their mortgages and contributing to the economy."

Barry Ferguson represents a large number of bureaucratic customers as a Toronto financial consultant.

"The payouts that we've seen that we're talking about are somewhere in the $40,000 to $80,000 range. So, you know, these are not life-altering amounts of money, but they can certainly be life-enhancing amounts of money."

While these bureaucrats are getting a gift from Harper, the 19,000 that Harper decided to fire will only be getting $900 million in severance.

Truth is, Harper is right for abolishing the perk but the severance giveaway and pay raises were an absurd replacement. It appears that Harper wants to look like he's doing the right thing, while at the same time trying to defend his friends in the bureaucracy who really should be getting the boot and should be losing their benefits – not getting replacements for them.

Want to start with austerity Mr. Harper? Start with the entitlements that public sector workers and MPs get. Scrap the golden pensions and benefits and then come back to the Canadian people and preach austerity.

Do you think it’s justified that you will have to wait 2 years more for your pension when these people literally got checks in the mail for no good reason? Let us know: Facebook, Twitter, Google+.

Poll: 95% of Canadians don’t trust politicians

Pessimism and distain in Canadian politics is as notable as the voter turnout and the apathy related to the outrageous scandals that surface. A new  Ipsos-Reid poll reveals that my cynicism of politicians isn’t rare and goes on to confirm other polls showing disappointment for all politicians.

The online survey for Postmedia News found that 95% of respondents felt that politicians were disconnected from the aspirations of the average people. At the same time, the poll found that a strong majority didn’t trust politicians – especially those in federal and provincial jurisdiction. The last point found that Canadians felt that we pay taxes that are much higher than they should be and that we don’t get value for them in return.

If this wasn’t enough of an indicator, at a French Language summit in Quebec City, Stephen Harper was interrupted by an angry protestor who walked in the room and yelled, "Stop Harper, stop Jean Charest.''

The protestor continues.

"Citizens rise up. We need you, everybody."

The over 1,500 attendees, mostly youth, applauded him while he was being taken out of the conference by security.

The poll sounds about right: we pay much higher taxes than their worth, none of the current political options federally and provincially are viable options to form a good government and politicians appear to be too engaged in personal gain to care about the lives of average Canadians.

It’s even come to the point where some pundits have pointed to the formation of a new political party but as we can see, the bad reputation of politics isn’t immune to anybody.

What do you think? Do you trust politicians or do you think we are overcharged and overruled? Is it time to demand a refund and ask the government to get out of people’s lives? Let us know: Facebook, Twitter, Google+.

Bev Oda calls it quits

International Development Minister Bev Oda has announced on her website that she will be resigning as MP for Durham on July 31. After the misspending that came out of her department, it is hard to see how Canada will miss her.

She told the Prime Minister that she would resign two weeks ago.

In her public statement she said:

“For over eight years, it has been an honor and privilege to have served the constituents in Clarington, Scugog and Uxbridge. As the Minister for International Cooperation, I have had the opportunity to witness the hardships of the world’s most vulnerable peoples and have witnessed the great compassion of Canadians for those in need. I am grateful for the support of my staff and colleagues in the House of Commons and Senate. I wish to express my appreciation to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet for their outstanding leadership.”

She gave this statement, yet she failed to apologize for the limousine costs, the fancy hotel and $16 orange juice and she failed to recognize that she was wrong.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who should have had the integrity and principle to fire her a long time ago for betraying taxpayer trust, is congratulating her for her “dedication in representing” her constituents, and her “many accomplishments in the ministry.”

“Under Bev’s guidance, Canada has led a significant initiative to save the lives of mothers, children and newborns in the developing world. Bev has also promoted accountability and effectiveness for Canada’s aid programs and has championed high-profile efforts to respond to humanitarian tragedies in Haiti, Pakistan and the Horn of Africa,” Harper said. “On behalf of, and together with her friends and colleagues, Laureen and I offer our best wishes to Bev as she leaves Parliament to move on to other challenges and opportunities.”

If I would have been Harper, I would have fired her a long time ago. It’s her scandals along with the disastrous budget that may very well spell the downfall of the Harper government in 2015 – if not sooner. It is actions like those initiated by Bev Oda that has attracted criticism and scrutiny over Conservative management abilities and Mr. Harper, you sure didn’t do yourself any good keeping her and some others for this long. What ever happened to principle? Does that no longer exist in politics? Let us know: Facebook, Twitter, Google+.

To those who missed it, here are Bev Oda’s accomplishments:

• Adding a ‘not’ to a Kairos funding paper causing confusion and the first ever Motion of Contempt.
• Spending $1,000 per day for limo service, upgrading her hotel and charging tax payers for $16 orange juice.
• Deciding to be secretive over her misuse of money that was allotted to her department.