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By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: A report tabled in the House of Commons last Friday reveals that the Harper Conservatives nuked more than 15,000 public service jobs last year, 8,000 of them fulltime positions. Strangely, the cuts seem to be waging a war against Canadian women and the future. 7,000 of the gutted positions benefited [...] The post Harper Conservatives Nuked More Than 15,000 Public Service Jobs in 2012 appeared first on The Canadian Progressive. By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: Harper Conservatives attack Justin Trudeau on his first day as Liberal leader. They want us to believe he isn’t cut out to be prime minister. To be all indignant about his famous name. And then they want us to get really mad about that inconsequential thing he [...] The post Harper Conservatives attack Trudeau on his first day as Liberal leader (VIDEO) appeared first on The Canadian Progressive. By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: New Democrat Pat Martin once called the Conservatives “rat faced whores“. In later 2011, he dropped a raw f-word-laden bomb on Twitter after the Harper government voted to nuked the debate on a budget-related bill. Now the Winnipeg Centre NDP MP is calling the Harper Conservatives “dirty, rotten bastards”. Martin accuses [...] The post NDP MP Pat Martin calls Conservatives “dirty, rotten bastards” appeared first on The Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis. Right from when it was first proposed during the May 2011 federal election, the Office of Religious Freedom (ORF?) was met with the accusation that it was an attempt to pander to its base, concerns that it would overstep the boundary of what Canada should be doing in foreign nations, and skepticism that it could be instituted in any kind of way that would be fair and balanced for all religions. As it turns out, it’s becoming not very popular among Evangelicals, either. One of the clearest examples of late is RoadKill Radio’s interview with Jim Hnatiuk, . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Harper’s Theological Crossroads. Well, perhaps it isn’t a coming out per-se, since it’s questionable as to whether they were ever “in.” But RoadKill Radio commentators Kari Simpson and Ron Gray have more or less made their position known on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill during an interview with Christian Heritage Party leader Jim Hnatiuk, who tacitly agreed. The interview highlighted the growing antipathy among Canadian Evangelicals toward Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Office of Religious Freedom, which will be a topic for another post. But here’s what they said (starts at 4:54 in the video): SIMPSON: The Minister responsible for this Office . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Canadian Evangelical audio program comes out in favour of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Sort of. C-279 passed Third Reading, on a vote of 149 – 137. Aaron Wherry gives the early breakdown: “Randall Garrison’s bill was supported by the New Democrats, the majority of Liberals (Judy Sgro and John McKay abstained), the Bloc Quebecois, Bruce Hyer, Elizabeth May and, by my unofficial count, 17 Conservative MPs: Erin O’Toole, Bernard Trottier, Terrence Young, David Wilks, Laurie Hawn, Michael Chong, Chris Alexander, Shelly Glover, Kellie Leitch, Cathy McLeod, Deepak Obhrai, Gerald Keddy, Jim Flaherty, John Baird, James Moore, Lisa Raitt and John Duncan.” Before the Third Reading vote, there were three votes on clusters . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: C-279 Passes Third Reading (Hansard) … aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we still don’t know what Bill C-279 is going to be when it’s voted on at Third Reading. The bill, which proposes to add trans people to human rights legislation, had an hour of debate at report stage. Randall Garrison requested that amendments be added to the bill, and the Speaker decided that they should be debated and voted on by the House, prior to Third Reading. This was the first hour of that, with a second to follow. Consequently, we still didn’t get any yes / no answer on whether those changes would be . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: C-279: To amend or not to amend? With all the bad news coming out of Canadian politics – dysfunctional Parliament, an arrogant, indifferent, and hard-rightwing prime minister – great to have some good news. The people spoke out, and won. On internet surveillance, Toews brought forward draconian, Big Brother style proposals with Bill C-30. Now Conservatives have backed off this after HUGE public backlash. The CONS tried Bush style “you’re either wish us or against us” scare tactics. People didn’t buy it and pushed back. A very real victory against a draconian proposal by Harper CONS, a real victory by and for the Canadian people. You can By Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Feb. 14, 2013: Showing their burgeoning disdain for accountability, transparency, financial oversight and the independence of federal watchdogs, the Harper Conservatives earlier this week nuked a progressive NDP motion on the role of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO). The motion, tabled by the Official Opposition’s Finance critic, Peggy Nash, sought to extend the mandate READ MORE 
 accountability, Canada, Canada Politics, Canadian Democracy, Conservatives, Democratic Institutions, Diamond Jubilee Medal, Featured, federal budget, Federal Watchdogs, Figures, Financial Oversight, Government, Harper Conservatives, Harper government, Harper vs. Canada, kevin page, NDP, NDP Motion, New Democratic Party of Canada, Officer of Parliament, Official Opposition, opinion., Parkdale High Park, Parliamentary Budget Office, PBO, PBO Mandate, Peggy Nash, Petro-state, The Canadian Progressive, The Ugly Canadian, transparency by Canadian Council for Refugees AND Amnesty International Canada: On the eve of the introduction of important changes to Canada’s refugee determination system, the Canadian Council for Refugees and Amnesty International expressed fear that the system will fail some refugees, violate their rights in Canada, and send them back to persecution. “The whole purpose of our READ MORE
Advocacy, Amnesty International, Canada, Canadian Council for Refugees, Citizenship And Immigration, discrimination, Government, Guest Blog, Harper Conservatives, human rights, Immigration, international law, Movements & Organizations, Press release, refugee determination system, Refugee health, rights by Liberal Party of Canada Liberal Leader Bob Rae made the following statement today on the Conservative government’s reported cancellation of the F-35 contract: “The termination of this multi-billion dollar contract has fully exposed the Harper Conservatives’ fiscal incompetence and complete mishandling of the F-35 procurement process. They have spent millions of taxpayer dollars promoting READ MORE Once again, the dictatorship-style tactics of the Harper Conservatives were on display on Parliament Hill yesterday as the government refused to listen to the leaders of Canada’s First Nations. Then, as you can see from the photo, security personnel physically barred the leaders from entering the floor of the House of Commons, where they’d hoped to [...] On Friday, Sun News commentator Brian Lilley interviewed Rob Anders, the Member of Parliament who has drawn condemnation for conflating transsexual and transgender people with sexual predators in a petition he has been circulating on his website, and to at least one church in his riding. In “Children’s bathroom bill reaches Parliament Hill,” both doubled down on conflating trans people with sexual predators, and suggested that granting human rights inclusion will somehow enable and legally absolve predatory acts. Anders claims there is “all sorts of examples of this going on.” Which is news to anybody else. . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: MP’s trans predator fearmongering escalates.
Alberta, Alberta Politics, Bathroom Bill, Brian Lilley, C-279, Canada, Canadian Politics, Dissecting Spin, fearmongering, Gender Diversity, gender expression, gender identity, Harper Conservatives, human rights, LGBT, NotMyShower, politics, potty panic, Rob Anders, spin, Sun News Network, SunTV, Trans, transgender, transphobia, Transsexual, washrooms Normally, I’m not one to promote something if I’m in it. That kind of thing is horribly self-aggrandizing. So I’ll apologize right off for doing that here. But given the recent focus on trans issues due to the comments made by Rob Anders, I thought it would be a good moment to give average Canadians a chance to get to know a little bit about trans people, and why clear human rights inclusion is necessary. This is a documentary that was put together last year, and features people in Calgary and the greater Calgary area. . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: The Mask of Gender Rob Anders is on a mission. Hot on the heels of having to halfway apologize for alleging that NDP leader Thomas Mulcair drove former NDP leader Jack Layton to his grave, Anders is now sending at least one church (possibly more) a letter asking them to petition MPs to oppose Bill C-279, which would (in its current form) extend human rights protections to transsexual and transgender people. You’d almost think he needs an easy deflection, and trans people are the punching bag du jour. It must be important, too. For a Member of Parliament who has . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Rob Anders, the transsexual bogeyman, and the weird phenomenon of MPs petitioning their constituents.
Alberta, Alberta Politics, Bathroom Bill, C-279, C-389, Canada, Canadian Politics, fearmongering, Gender Diversity, gender expression, gender identity, Harper Conservatives, human rights, LGBT, politics, potty panic, Rob Anders, Trans, transgender, transphobia, Transsexual, washrooms As the Canadian Parliament returns for what promises to be another acrimonious session, two opinion polls show that the Harper Conservatives hold a slight lead over Thomas Mulcair’s New Democrats. The Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll pegs Conservative support at 34 per cent, the New Democrats at 27, the Liberals at 24 and the Greens at seven. According to the Huffington Post: “The second poll by Nanos Research also gives the Tories the edge, but with just two per cent on the NDP the Tory lead is within the margin of error.” But the Conservatives’ lead will not last. Another Bill C38-style omnibus . . . → Read More: Canadian Progressive: Bad News: Two Polls Give Harper Conservatives Edge Over News Democrats
Blog, Canada, Canada Politics, Canadian Politics, Canadian Press, conservative party of canada, Federal Election 2015, Greens, Harper Conservatives, Harris Decima, Liberals, Nanos Research, New Democratic Party of Canada, News Democrats, Omnibus bill, Opinion Polls, parliament, Politics News, Polls and Surveys, stephen harper, thomas mulcair The poll by Toronto-based Forum Research Inc is bad news for Tom Mulcair and the NDP. Real bad news for Canadian democracy. According to the National Post: With these voting intentions, an election today would see the Tories take 140 seats for a minority in Parliament while the NDP would grab 114 seats. Just last month, those surveyed would have handed the NDP 128 seats, giving them a minority, while the Conservatives would have gotten 114 seats. Still, there’s the option of a strategic electoral pact with the Liberals (22%). In fact, such a pact could include the NDP’s ideological brethren – the Bloc Quebecois A major part of Harper’s perfidy lies in the way the Northern Gateway is structured with liability cut-outs to let the major players escape liability. IslandTides.com has an eye-opening feature on how coastal B.C. is being hung out to dry. In another column, retired CBC journo Patrick Brown outlines the truly diabolical nature of the diluted bitumen Harper and Enbridge want to bring to British Columbia and our coast. Read these reports. Read how badly we’re being set up. Then explain what kind of government would do this to its own people. Why has Stevie Boy Harper gutted fisheries and marine protection services and staff, leaving the British Columbia coast seriously unprotected, just as he’s pushing through the greatest environmental threat our coast has ever seen? Firing monitoring and research staff, entire departments, at Fisheries and Oceans. Relocating the west coast oil spill emergency centre from, well, the west coast to Quebec? Closing major Coast Guard stations? Why all of this? Why now? There’s only one answer. To Harper, the people who protect our coastal environment and our fisheries are potential snitches who’ll blow the whistle . . . → Read More: The Disaffected Lib: Harper Ditches the Snitches We have lost confidence in government, provincial and federal, to tackle pressing issues. It seems we have finally realized the people who are at the driver’s seat are asleep at the wheel and content to remain that way. “… a new Institute for Research on Public Policy-Nanos Research survey suggests a lack of confidence in the ability of provincial and federal governments to solve some pressing issues. The findings, to be published next week in Policy Options magazine, attempt to connect issues Canadians identified as their top priorities with the confidence they felt in federal and provincial governments’ ability . . . → Read More: The Disaffected Lib: Every Man for Himself – Canadians Losing Faith in Government They are the “numbers that add up to global catastrophe – and that make clear who the real enemy is,” according to Rolling Stone magazine. They bring a frightening reality at a time when, here in Canada, the Conservative Government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is doing everything to suppress scientific knowledge and environmental groups. 2 Degrees Celcius/3.6 Degrees Fahrenheit:Remember the 2009 Copenhagen climate conference? It was a shame. Moreso the Copenhagen Accord, which newly-elected U.S. President Barack Obama helped to craft. The accord formally recognized “the scientific view that the increase in global temperature should be . . . → Read More: Canadian Progressive World: Three Simple Numbers Behind Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math
2 Degrees Celcius, Barack Obama, Blog, carbon emissions, climate change, climate science, coal, Copenhagen Accord, Emission, environment, environmental groups, Fossil Fuels, global, global warming, Harper Conservatives, oil, Policy, Scientific Knowledge, scientists, temperature, U.S. President, World News The just-concluded Parliamentary session witnessed “serious abuses of power by the Harper Conservatives” through the use of two omnibus bills “that are radically changing Canada”: crime Bill C-10 and Budget Bill C-38. Please Go HERE to sign and share the Liberal Party of Canada’s petition against this abuse of power by Harper and the Conservatives. On Wednesday June 6th, Parliament voted to send Private Member’s Bill C-279: An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression) to committee for review as part of its trek toward passage. I had expressed concerns at that time about some possible changes that were being considered, but it remains to be seen in committee stage if that will happen. I do know that if Parliamentary support for the bill drops, those changes will become more likely, while better awareness could help to avert them. 15 Conservative Members of Parliament . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Trans rights bill supporters being targeted. Also, a flag for you. Following up from an earlier report establishing a relationship between low intelligence and racism, prejudice and conservatism, The Huffington Post reports on a new study equating conservative politics with ‘low-effort’ thinking. For those of us who have been following closely the antics of the Harper Conservatives and their supporters, there are few surprises in the report. Recommend this Post The Auditor General has cut the legs out from under the Harper government’s claim that they were misled over the realistic cost of the F-35 light bomber. They knew full well, says Michael Ferguson, and they knew well before the last election and they lied through their teeth to the Canadian public to get Harper his majority. Gordon Campbell and crew lied to the BC public about the harmonized sales tax in the runup to his last election. Campbell resigned in disgrace before he was run out of town but his LINO Libs are facing extinction in the next . . . → Read More: The Disaffected Lib: We Drove Gordon Campbell From Office for this Very Thing |
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