Category: Government

Gee whiz, I’ll bet nobody saw this one coming. Nope, nobody at all. Right outta the clear blue sky, it came. Absolutely shocking. Never woulda guessed this one in a million years. Utterly inconceiveable. Okay, so the sarcasm’s getting a little thick here, even by my standards. But with “news” like this, which is really news to no one, can you blame me?

I suppose I should get to something resembling a point right about now. Okay, here it is: the Tories’ Federal Accountability Act, one of the Harper government’s cornerstone promises during the last election, is on it’s way to the Senate. That’s right, the Grit-dominated Red Chamber. And all the Librano$ senators are promising to give it a long, rough ride, pick it to death and defang it as much as possible rather than let it pass in it’s current form:

The Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee resumes hearings tomorrow on the Conservatives’ sweeping Federal Accountability Act, a 250-page behemoth aimed at cleaning up government in the wake of the Liberal sponsorship scandal.

Harper, who has declared the act the top priority of his fledgling minority government, wants it through the upper house and enacted by Thanksgiving.

But Senator Joseph Day, the Liberals’ lead critic on the act, predicts there’s no way it will be passed quickly or in its current form.

“I’m fully expecting there will be a significant number of amendments,” Day said.

Golly, what are the odds? Just what, exactly, are the odds that the Senate flunkies of the very Grit party whose malfeasance made the act necessary in the first place would ever want to see this pass? Answer: NONE. They will stall and obstruct to the bitter end ANYTHING that might put a leash on them on that day that they dream of, the day they get their hands on the public till again.

They aren’t fooling anyone, least of all the PM:

“We got this through the House of Commons in the spring because people want to put an end to the old way that the last government did business in Ottawa and they want to do it forever . . . And that’s why the Liberal Senate should stop dragging its feet and should pass the Federal Accountability Act.

But they won’t. They’ll stall, and drag it out as long as they can in the hope that J. Q. Canadian will get distracted by some other issue and forget all about. And keep forgetting. After all, look at how many times has that worked so well for the Grits before.

If this doesn’t kill off arguments against an elected Senate, I don’t know what will.

In denying terrorist sympathiser Abdurahman Khadr a Canadian passport, PM Stephen Harper and his Conservative government have once again dug in their heels on a matter of principle and this time, they’re all but outright daring the courts to try to screw with them on the matter:

It was reported MacKay refused a passport to Khadr even though a Federal Court judge ordered Ottawa to stop denying him his travel document.

The debate, as you can imagine, has already begun. Let’s not fool ourselves though; the Khadr family, often referred to as “Canada’s al-Qaida clan,” have been a blot on this country for far too long. These people, the whole damn lot, should have been stripped of their “citizenship” years ago and stuffed into the first plane / slow boat to Afghanistan, Egypt or wherever; anywhere but here.

Grits are gearing up to make a nice big stink over the fact that apparently 10% of families eligible for the Universal Child Care Benefit aren’t going to be getting it this time around. It seems that the parents of about 100,000 kids in the country aren’t going to be getting any extra baby bonus this time around.

The Librano$, who fought the program tooth and nail, preferring child-care money to be spent on governmental bureaucracy instead of being given to parents, will no doubt barf about that this is proof that the program is a failure, the Tories can’t deliver, kids are going to starve, blahblahblah. One blurb from an article in the Freeps suggests another possible explanation, however:

The majority of families with children under the age of six were automatically eligible for the benefit because they already received or had applied for another program called the Canada Child Tax Benefit.

But primarily wealthier families who hadn’t applied for that benefit — probably knowing they wouldn’t qualify — have to sign up before receiving money.

The emphasis is mine, of course but still; interesting, non? Could it actually be that some families haven’t applied because they figure they don’t need the extra money? OMG!! Are there people running around out there without a hand out for government money!?!? It’ll be the end of Canada as we know it!! EEK!!

Next news item: Scientists Baffled By Sudden Spike In Heart Attack Rate Among Canadian Socialists …Film at 11.

Can anybody really say that they’re surprised at this? It seems that after endless promises to clean up the governmental act, the Ontario Liberals’ much-ballyhooed Transparency in Public Matters Act has been, very quitely, dumped. In typical Grit fashion, this skullduggery, as opposed to their blaring promotion of the act in the first place, was pulled off so quietly and stealthily that it almost slipped past J. Q. Ontarien completely unnoticed.

Caught with their hand yet again in the cookie jar of yet another hollow election promise, Sarnia MPP Caroline Di Cocco (who was spearheading the act, once upon a time) tried the tired old Grit routine of “lie, deny and act surprised:”

…on April 5, Di Cocco was appointed minister of culture by Premier Dalton McGuinty. Her bill was withdrawn a few days later, something that has only recently come to light.

…Di Cocco said yesterday she was unaware when she was appointed minister her bill had to die under the legislature’s rules because ministers can’t push private member’s bills.

“That’s just a rule that’s there,” she said. “I wasn’t aware of it at the time.”

Of course you weren’t, Boopsie. After all, you’re just a girl and can’t be expected to grok all that icky government rules stuff, right? It’s not as if your constituents expected you to be competent when they elected you or anything like that.

Nobody seems fooled, though. Even her own campaign manager quit in disgust:

“I’m very disappointed. That sums it all up,” Robert Swift of Point Edward said yesterday.

“Since she became a part of the government, it’s a waste of time talking to her about these kinds of issues.”

Well, just what do you expect from a Liberal??

Okay, I’m a little behind the herd on this one. In case you haven’t heard all the boo-hooing lately, the crying jag is going full throttle over at SoW on the heels of reports talking about the campaign, kick-started by REAL Women of Canada, to take the axe to the Trudeau-era radical feminist money pit, Status of Women Canada.

Yes, indeed, the very thought that the gravy train might not be pulling in anymore has sent Canada’s shrillest feminazis and their union and Grit flunkies to new heights of apoplexy and hysteria, ranging from the panicky:

This actually turns my blood to ice.
-Halifax communications consultant and blogger Audra Williams

to the downright stupid:

When you look at women in Canada and their human rights compared to international standards, we have a long way to go.
-Monica Lysack (Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada)

As expected, the usual accusations of “misogyny” are being hurled about but they don’t seem to be having the usual effect. I wonder why that is? Could it have anything to do with the fact that REAL Women of Canada is a, er…, women’s group??

Golly, but it’s darned hard to rave about the Oppression o’ The Evil Penis when there’s nary a swingin’ one in the ranks aligned against ya, ain’t it?

And these women aren’t about to take any crap from a bunch of screeching feminists who arrogantly presume that they, and only they, can speak for all women:

Like typical radical feminists, they have decided that they speak for all women, and they only consult those groups and women that agree with their agenda. So it’s a bunch of radical feminist bureaucrats consulting radical feminists to hear what they want to hear to promote more radical feminism on my dime . . . When you question your government, your government will use your own money against you to punish you for daring to speak out.
-Suzanne, on the Big Blue Wave

or excuses, either:

If Status of Women is so effective, why are the statistics for women so ‘bad’? The group has been around for decades, has a generous budget, but their own stats seem to indicate that they’ve not done much good. SOW does NOT represent all women, and therefore shouldn’t use my taxes to lobby for a radical feminist agenda dominated by abortion rights, victimhood, junk science and male bashing.
-Kathy Shaidle on Relapsed Catholic

One wonders what exactly SOW has been doing with its $23 million a year to improve the lot of Canadian women. The only women’s lot who have been improved, it seems, would be those who work for SOW and get grant money from it.
-Loyalist, on Dissonance and Disrespect

Ouch. You go, girls. [Update: I have since been informed that in my haste to get this post up that day, I seem to have overlooked the fact that Loyalist is… well, a dude. And I now look like a horse’s arse. DOH!]

Blogburst links:

• Suzanne at Big Blue Wave
• Hunter at Climbing Out of the Dark
• Kathy Shaidle at Relapsed Catholic
• Kathy Shaidle at Relapsed Catholic again
• Hailey at Every Good and Perfect Gift
• Dianne Wood at Family Matters
• Kate McMillan at Small Dead Animals

That’s been a question on a lot of lips lately. Well, we need wonder no more, since Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has set it clear for us. In an exclusive CBC interview with Nahlah Ayed, Siniora as much as admitted that it is Hezbullshit, NOT the Lebanese government, that runs the country.

I have to admit, I for one am damned surprised that he had the guts to come out and admit it like that.