Linda launches Conservatives into high orbit

I recall that when the oilsands projects were first approved the environmental assessment ascertained that there was an upper limit of crude production that was both economically sustainable and environmentally sustainable. Construction of the two plants at the time went to that limit. People sort of forget that people, Canadians of First Nations heritage, lived and hunted in that area for countless generations.
... And along comes Linda McQuaig present NDP hopeful for the riding of Toronto Centre in the upper coming federal election. Please endure this elongated campaign. Lots of these little missives are bound to send Conservatives into faux high orbit. They are a desperate lot. McQuaig will never be any part of any government. They are grasping onto straws. Of course a lot of people don't realize that there is a greater chance of an Ice Age next year, than there is of McQuaig winning that particular riding. Is her candidacy a good one. Yes, in every other riding other than Toronto Centre.
... The whole vomiting scandal stems from a comment she made at a panel on power and politics. She pointed out the patently obvious. In order for Canada to meet its global warming targets they may have to close off some oilsand's production. That comment fails to measure out as a mystery. Nor unexpected. It is an option. Marvel that, the world still has options.
... Since the beginnings of the resource extraction the continuing production of oilsands crude exceeded the original limits of those first environmental assessments. Frankly here we are. Canadians discussing at each other angrily in an election to determine the productive capacity of a resource that is constitutionally totally within the provincial power. Alberta determines the oilsands production not Ottawa.
... The dilemma totally falls into the lap of the Alberta government. It aggressively promoted expanded oilsands production past the safe limit predetermined by the original environmental reports. It did this in the face of declining revenues as the easy to reach oil and gas reserves became depleted.
... This woman, only a candidate, not an elected MP, is expressing a concern for the global environment which is in itself perfectly legitimate. There are Conservatives, once good members of the present day manifestation of the Conservative Party who share this deep concern for the global climate effects of fossil extraction and burning.
... Had the Alberta government(s) adhered to the original production limits, this whole discussion would be moot. I remember when Peter Lougheed introduced the Heritage Fund with the goal of creating economic diversity and a hedge fund for the future. That noble legacy has obviously been squandered. The rest of the globe, the rest of Canada, should not suffer for this degree of resource mismanagement.
... Regardless of who comes to power federally or provincially whether right wing or left wing, the reality is that the oilsands production must be reassessed as to its real environmental sustainability. Even after the inevitable banning of the burning fossil fuels, oil as a resource will be of great value, especially those with established infrastructure and distribution channels. To hinge a whole party's policy upon the words of a single unelectable candidate.
... Why unelectable? Why prominent? She's running in Toronto Centre. Even Mulcair's written that one off. Besides, Mulcair wouldn't want her as part of the caucus. She's super intelligent, perceptive and prone to ask awkward questions. So into the rearview mirror, luv ya Linda

Waiting for the Bus

Well. So much for Mulcair. To the Canadian electorate, the term "Coalition" is right up there with "kissing rattlesnakes."
... Being thrown under a bus is one thing. Jumping selfie under that bus presents another dynamic.
... Mulcair mentioned this idea, probably in passing. Throwing out the old trial balloon. Any politician, shouldn't muse. I read Machievelli. Trial balloons didn't appear in, "The Prince." Understanding Nicky Mack though, he would probably freak. Always look decisive even if one is not. Never muse on ideas beyond the capacity of your electorate to understand those musing. The idea rebounds from the good bouncing right into the bad.

... Trudeau won't bite on this one.

... The problem is this. Canadian are politically stupid. Go from there.

... In other legislatures and parliaments forming coalitions is a totally sound legitimate formation of government. Not in Canada. You can't expect people who only pay attention to politics six weeks out of the usual election cycle of 208 weeks to be exactly knowledgeable about the operations of a democratic government. For 202 weeks, the vast majority of Canadians don't want to hear about politics or any other global topic other than hockey.

... Harper put a scare into the voters last election when he simply mentioned the word "Coalition." He's a lousy leader, but he understands fear. Canadians are easily scared when it comes to anything outside of the home and workplace. Okay, include their cars. Any perception of threat to that world and the Canadian voter will turn their vote. They are so easily scared.

... And now Mulcair walks into the trap. Immediately after the election, in the waning lines of bull shit, then a minority government might seek partners whether public or secret. Canadian's back away, run away, from any political leader that even mentions Coalition. That statement was a serious mistake. The Conservatives are going to run that idea into the ground based less on merit than instilling fear.

Decline of the Canadian righteous

In the time of plenty, Canadians show a peculiar quirk. Last night, I had the extreme displeasure of witnessing the magnificent arrogant pomposity of a leading light of one of the New Democratic Party(NDP). Gerald Caplan hung his spiel on the program of a supreme media pompous ass, Steve Paikin.

Caplan flogged his book on Africa, the name of which I will not mention. Caplan waxed fondly on his magnificent contributions of caring. Paikin tossed the lob ball questions in a rehearsed sympathy. Smothered in hyperbole caring, Paikin seduced the book's regurgitating major themes about Africa. All the information contained therein is commonly known for the last 100 years. Caplan killed a lot of trees barfing up his whining data about the problems of Africa.

Yet this headlight of the party which claims to be the guardian of the vulnerable and depressed, walks draped in his own righteousness without failing to observe the abysmal failure of his own political stripe. For the last thirty five years the NDP remains kidnapped by a small clique of elite intellectuals with no grasp of the lower grades of society. Unions slowly abandon this small group of no good, do-gooders.

When formed the NDP was created by the group of gritty socialists and disinfected Liberals. They ate meat. They had fought in wars. They supported the military. They drank and drove. They hunted animals. They fished. They ate meat. They ate processed foods. They earned money working with their hands, not their mouths. They wanted universal health care. They sought safer workplaces. They believed that everyone should be housed. They wanted people to have viable and affordable access to justice. They worked to see that everyone could share in the wealth of Canada. They only bought Canadian made goods. They wanted jobs for all those who wanted to work. They wanted adequate support for those who weren't able to work. They cared about fellow Canadians without any tinge of whiny hypocrisy. They listened. How much changed the NDP now is.

Not meaning to portray the “Good Old Days”, rather to essay the divorce of political aims and the failure of NDP policy distancing its place from the common good. The Jack-off Layton portrays a righteousness arrogance that makes Stephen Harper look good. Worse, if you actually met him, you would know that and he still won the party leadership.

How-weird Hampton, of the Ontario provincial party cannot grasp the concept that he is not a good political leader. He makes McGuinty look good. How bad must one be to do that.

You see one cannot be mad at the Conservatives or Liberals. Inside the party meetings, they know that they are compromised jerks, they act like compromised jerks, and all their political acts proves that they are compromised jerks.

Today's NDP excel beyond jerk status. Caplan's great performance proved this. While he lines up for the poor of Africa, the poor of Canada are cast into deeper poverty. Two downtown food banks are closing before this summer during a period of time when fuel prices are literally driving food prices up beyond the level of affordable. He and his fellow NDP'ers wax fondly in academic arguments on Health Care. Increasingly the medical community with the assistance of the provincial government bureaucracy works to decrease and marginalize the health care that the poor have access to.

While transsexuals have gained funding for sex change operations, the Ontario provincial government and the responsible minister George Smitherman have reduced funding for families on welfare. They eliminated the Winter Clothing Allowance and a monthly grant to each child. They claim a federal tax credit will mostly cover this withdrawal of funds. Ironically the mean federal Conservatives came up with an idea to actually boost the income of the poorest families, and the provincial Liberals clawed this back.

Smitherman still brags about the withdrawal of the Special Diet funding for thousands who need it. He considers a feather in his political cap. Ask him.

And the bad news still pours in as the City Council of Toronto led by that champion of the poor, Mayor David Miller, fixes its new pay scale at least 25% higher refuse to add funds to social action. Due to his leadership, one quarter of the Regent Park residents lost their homes. Their homes were seized to provide low cost housing for middle income supporters of the NDP and the city government. They are literally destroyed a community because it housed poor people not worthy of belonging to the city of Toronto and its image.

Everyday people are loosing their homes in Toronto. The city and provincial have reduced funding resulting in closing half of the homeless shelter spaces in the downtown area of Toronto during the last twelve months. The first act of the Miller regime was to bar homeless people from gathering in Nathan Phillips Square. Miller claims a political affinity with the NDP. Some affinity. Such a friendship leads to the conclusion that the NDP is the new enemy of the Canadian poor, the Canadian worker.

A new high water mark will be achieved this summer in Toronto. While people yell that the Toronto Transit is an essential service, the Meals-on Wheels program is ceasing operations since the cost of fuel exceeded any funding given to it. The aged, shut-ins and poor who trapped in homes will face certain malnutrition perhaps even starvation. Yet this is considered less essential because it serves the poor. All this occurring under the seats while hypocritical pompous people like Miller, Caplan, and Paikin twaddle about Africa on the other side of the planet.