I have to admit that I have always disliked Pierre Poilievre. Something about him rubs me the wrong way.He's abrasive, he's yappy, he's arrogant. He looks and acts like a weird old young guy trapped in the Cold War era. And his recent comment that the "root cause of terrorism is terrorism" only reinforced my belief that he is a brutish right-wing ideologue.As well as an absolute idiot.Read more »
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You might think that Jim Flaherty would be satisfied with ramming through his latest Trojan Horse budget.His ghastly swollen beast stuffed to the gills with toxic waste.But no. Now he's going after seniors and the Canada Pension Plan. Read more » Richard Hughes-Political Blogger The BC Liberal attack on seniors through their wrong headed policy of forcing Seniors to take computer driving tests and or road tests in unfamiliar vehicles on unfamiliar Victoria streets has finally been corrected. Bill Routley and his Constituency Office staff rolled up their sleeves after countless seniors contacted them regarding the very stressful so called DriveABLE approach the Clark government had taken. Bill Routley Cowichan NDP MLA- Fought BC Liberals over attack on seniors! Well thanks to Mr. Routley, progress has been made. Still obstacles remain but you can bet on Routley. He is all over this one . . . → Read More: Cowichan Conversations: Cowichan NDP MLA Bill Routley Stood Up For Cowichan Seniors And Won! Seniors who lead active lives like playing cards and generally hanging out with friends feel healthier and are healthier than there less social peers. Friends make things fun and keep you fit! Dr. Nicole Anderson is a clinical neuropsychologist at Baycrest Health Sciences in Toronto, where she’s leading a research project called BRAVO. It looks at the effects of volunteering among adults aged 55 and older from physical, cognitive and social functioning perspectives. “Engaging in more social activities was related to better self-reported health and less loneliness and more life satisfaction,” Anderson said of the Statistics Canada research. “But that . . . → Read More: Things Are Good: Seniors Who Are Social Are Healthier Recently, I received an email requesting a guest blogger spot on the subject of caregiving for people suffering from Mesothelioma, a type of cancer often caused by exposure to asbestos. This got me thinking that perhaps we should do a mini-series based on caring for various cancers. Perhaps a series devoted to caring that is specific to different conditions generally. What do you think? Here is the first instalment of a series of posts that will appear from time to time devoted to the type of care specific to various conditions. What is Mesothelioma? Mesothelioma is rare type of . . . → Read More: THE CAREGIVERS’ LIVING ROOM – A Blog by Donna Thomson: Caring for the Cancer Patient – Today: Mesothelioma So, the Supreme Court in the US has ruled…and Obamacare, such as it is, is ‘safe’ for now… This decision means, practically, nothing regarding a tax, since if one reads the bill, carefully, there are no penalties for not buying in…Medicaid is still in place, as is Medicare, provided, (and here is where it gets interesting) that within a certain time frame, the States opt in to the program, with big Federal subsidies coming their way…if they don’t, they will be financing these programs on their own…and I think it’s a great start, but no, not nearly the same as . . . → Read More: Left Over: Only in Canada? Pity….. Friday, April 27 saw another day of relatively non-contentious debate on the main bill up for discussion in the House of Commons. But there was plenty of reason to question why the focus would be as narrow as it was. The Big Issue That main bill was the Cons’ elder abuse legislation, intended to add a new factor in criminal sentencing where the victim was vulnerable due to age. And both of the opposition parties fully endorsed the bill in substance. But once again, the Cons’ focus on sentencing raised larger issues as to why they wouldn’t put more . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – April 27, 2012 Assorted content to end your week. - No, there was never any doubt that any statement which could possibly be interpreted as insufficiently jingoistic in favour of the oil industry was going to give rise to a backlash from the Cons’ oilpatch base. But it’s well worth noting that Thomas Mulcair has had little trouble defending his argument that the cost of environmental damage needs to be priced into all industries – and the “polluter pay” principle looks to be one which can stand up to even the most well-orchestrated spokespuppet attack. - Which stands in stark contrast to the . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links Here’s good ol’ boy Flaherty warning Canadians that EI will be changed to reflect Alberta and Saskatchewan’s need for labour…as if the government was financing EI in the first place.. They aren’t – it’s financed by employers and labour…not that this has stopped any government from tinkering with the program to bolster their philosophy… “That means we are going to have to encourage more persons with disabilities to work, more seniors to work, more aboriginal people to work, including young people. We need to get rid of disincentives in the employment insurance system to people joining the workforce.” Flaherty . . . → Read More: Left Over: Plenty of Jobs in Alberta (Alberta!!!) says Emperor Steve’s Puppet, Flaherty I haven’t spent much time discussing the spate of recent polls showing the NDP with a modest lead on the Cons, as those top-line results can easily enough be considered an expected consequence of a tired government trying to force through controversial legislation against a popular new leader. But CARP’s latest member polling demands some comment – as it reflects that the NDP isn’t merely holding roughly the level and type of support it had around the time of the 2011 election, but instead adding a potentially decisive new set of voters to its camp. By way of comparison, even . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: On tectonic shifts Having taken a bit of a hiatus during and after the NDP’s leadership campaign, I’ll resume looking back at what’s happened in the House of Commons starting with the election of Thomas Mulcair. (I’ll plan to return to the previous sitting later on.) Monday, March 26 saw Mulcair’s introduction as the new Leader of the Official Opposition. But there was plenty worth pointing out beyond the first few questions from Mulcair and associated headlines… The Big Issue The main topic of debate was the Cons’ anti-refugee legislation – with the opposition parties particularly taking aim at the concept of . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: March 26, 2012 When I was in university I used to volunteer once a week at a nursing home in Montreal’s East End. Sébastien used to play the piano and sing French songs, I would play the guitar, my lab Kerouac would lick them all to death. And we all had a hoot. Except for one woman who would just sit there on her plastic chair looking sad, never said a word, and couldn’t be reached by anyone. It bothered me a lot. Because if loneliness hurts when you’re young, when you’re old it must be devastating. And if you can’t reach . . . → Read More: Montreal Simon: The Lonely Old Man and his Music Instead of raising the retirement age and distressing seniors with low-income the government should have prevented wealthier Canadians from receiving Old Age Security; not only would this have been fairer but would have saved hundereds of millions of dollars more. It makes sense that Canadians who are 65 and older and who make over a million dollars don’t receive an Old Age Security Pension; they certainly don’t need it. But what doesn’t make sense is that under the current reforms made by this Conservative government, a 67 year old senior who will make $100,000 will still receive OAS while a . . . → Read More: The Scott Ross: How Old Age Security Should Have Been Reformed At the 1:30 mark and onwards, Flaherty gives an answer on his OAS age eligibility increase that is receiving some attention tonight. Two callers to the CPAC call-in show that ended at 10:00 p.m. EST remarked on Flaherty’s comment being rude. In tone, the way he emphasized the word “poor” may have drawn attention to what he was saying. Basically, he said that those who would still need OAS at 65 will have to go on provincial assistance, i.e., welfare. He said it so matter of factly and without any sensitivity. The kicker is this: The . . . → Read More: Impolitical: Flaherty to seniors on #OAS An election campaign is upon us and that means that each day will be filled with announcements, attacks, ideas, stunts and mistakes. It makes for an interesting time as Albertans spend 4 weeks discussing a wide variety of public policy issues (in theory). With so little surprise as to the day the campaign would start each party had a good opportunity to plan for it and ensure that they started with their best foot forward. For me, the strategies and the tactics are the most compelling thing to watch. There were no flubs, but which party and which happening was (Read more…) John Stapleton has an opinion piece out on Prime Minister Harper’s proposed changes to Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). I find the following quote from Stapleton to be particularly troubling: By providing OAS and GIS at age 65, Canada has greatly reduced the incidence of poverty among seniors. By moving the age of eligibility for OAS to 67, absent any other measures, the Conservative government will place a whole new age cohort into risk of poverty. My own estimate is that almost 50,000 social assistance recipients, most of them persons with disabilities, would be forced Oh.My.Gnome. I see that little Jimbo Flaherty has been totally HUMILIATED. Again. Just the other day he was telling Canadians don’t worry about your pensions if you’re over fifty-seven. But then the sinister operatives in the PMO heard what he said. And they were not pleased. A government spokesman quickly discouraged that kind of math. The official stressed that the comment was simply an effort by Mr. Flaherty to signal that no changes are imminent. Because they know their Dark Lord is in a hurry to kill government before his bloody majority coagulates. He considers benefits, employment . . . → Read More: Montreal Simon: The Scary Humiliation of Jimbo Flaherty Well even by Jimbo Flaherty’s ghastly standards it was a bizarre and ugly sight. There he was late this afternoon, looking like he wanted to hide under a chair, or in his case a small stool. Sweating profusely, talking in a hoarse whisper, and promising you don’t have to worry about your pension or your Old Age Security if you’re older than fifty-seven. “This is not for tomorrow morning,” Flaherty said in Oshawa, Ont., at an event with Conservative MP Colin Carrie.”This is for 2020, 2025, so that people who are middle-aged and younger today, like Colin and . . . → Read More: Montreal Simon: Jimbo Flaherty and the Con Pension Scam On a work day that was already quite stressful, I also had to spend quite a bit of time reassuring some poor seniors, that the Cons were not about to take away their Old Age Assistance. So when I read that Stephen Harper’s grotesque water boy Peter Van Loan was claiming it was all a misunderstanding. The Harper government moved Monday to assure seniors that it is not going after their Old Age Security. Rather, the government is eyeing reforming the program for the medium and long-term, says Government House Leader Peter Van Loan. I just about exploded . . . → Read More: Montreal Simon: The Real Reason the Cons are Scaring Seniors Canada’s population, we are frequently told, is rapidly aging. The big baby boomer cohort is headed out of the workforce, meaning that we face a future of very slow labour force growth and even possible shortages of workers. CIBC Economics has just gone so far as to argue that the Bank of Canada can afford to be more relaxed about unemployment due to demographic changes which will lower the demand for jobs. Canada’s rate of labour force growth will indeed be slowing. Everybody gets one year older with every year that passes, and the large baby boom generation will indeed . . . → Read More: The Progressive Economics Forum: When Will The Baby Boomers Retire? Friday, October 28 saw another day largely dedicated to debate on the gun registry, with plenty more key points by the opposition met with the Cons’ usual wall of refusal to consider anything other than total annihilation. The Big IssueThe line of the day goes to Rosane Dore Lefebvre, questioning Maxime Bernier on the Cons’ determination to make the gun registry as much of a waste as possibile by torching the underlying data: The Conservatives are saying that the data must be destroyed simply because it must be destroyed. When we ask them why, we encounter a black . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Parliament In Review: October 28, 2011 Wednesday, October 26 saw a rare opportunity for the opposition parties to set the agenda. And as a result, the big issue was one which the Cons prefer to discuss as little as possible – even if it’s far more relevant to more Canadians than most of the Harper government’s distraction tactics. The Big Issue And that issue is…transit, which was dealt with in a second-reading debate on Olivia Chow’s private member’s bill. Chow in particular pointed out that municipalities themselves aren’t the least bit interested in having the federal government wash its hands of the issue: Hazel McCallion . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Parliament In Review: October 26, 2011 Assorted content to end your week.- Frances Woolley points out just how much more efficient public-sector health services are compared to private-sector alternatives by contrasting the cost of surgery on people with the far higher rates charged to priv… . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links Monday, October 3 saw another day dedicated largely to debate of the Cons’ anti-refugee bill. The Big IssueAs might be expected after several days of debate, the Cons’ single set of poorly-reasoned talking points was beginning to get stale. And Kevin L… . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Parliament In Review: October 3, 2011 Assorted content for your Sunday reading.- Jim Stanford rightly says that it’s long past time for the Occupy movement to refocus our economy in the wake of a free-market-induced crash and stagnation:In the 1930s, the last time capitalism failed so dest… . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links |
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