Hacks & Wonks

These are strange days, indeed. Mayor Miller raised the Rainbow flag to kick off Gay Pride week in Toronto on Monday. It used to be that politicians would back the fight against men who behead teachers and keep their distance from a celebration themed "Men Enjoying Nudity." No longer it seems.

[Link To The Article About Mayor Miller Being A Bonehead]

Except to CTV.ca. Is that Regina? Halifax?

Spend time around Canadian parliamentarians, and one characteristic becomes immediately apparent. Too many of them have little or no international experience. Further exposure to the world is something to be welcomed and encouraged, rather than categorized as junketeering.

 

He's bang on in this analysis.  Saying "So-and-So is wasting taxpayers' money by flying to Bora-Bora or Timbucktu!" might play well in Gladstone, Pipestone or even Charleswood, however demonizing travel does not serve the country as well as people may think it does.

Simpson can't completely help himself though, so I disagree with this particular section:

And it shows. By playing domestic politics and letting moralistic nostrums drive decisions, Canada has irritated key countries such as China and Turkey, and disappointed others such as Japan.

 

Not sure what Simpson is referencing with the Japan mention, however unlike the Globe & Mail writer, I have no problem with a foreign policy that acknowledges the Armenian Genocide (Turkey) and calls out China on human rights violations such as organ harvesting from fulan gong participants .  (Not the least to mention, the abundance of Chinese spies in Canada.)

 

That being stated, Simpson still makes valid points.  The cost of MP travel is minuscule compared to the overall budget and getting Canadian out in the world is often just as important as bringing the world to Canada - if not more so.

 

 

 

Link:

In addition, the story should have included information from the Home Office that supports Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's assertion that the number of overall offences involving firearms has increased in Britain each year since handguns were banned in 1997.

I'm generally in favour of more free votes and looser caucus whips.  (Which means, yes, I'm also disappointed with the track record of the current government on that front.)

That being said, the budget is not the same as any ole other legislation.  It is the financial blueprint of the government and sets its direction for the year.  You cannot be a member of the government party and vote against its budget.  Bill Casey was correct to vote against the budget if he truly believes it harms his constituency, however the party was absolutely correct to boot him from caucus for doing so. 

It's just the way the budget vote works.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Refresh my memory...Has Bill Casey announced he isn't running again?  This is not a totally relevant question, however it would be just a little facetious to make the play if you're not planning to stay.

 

Since I just heard Peter Van Loan on CBC radio pitching senate reform, I figure it is a good time to mention my senate stance:

I'm....

 

.....Strongly in favour of senate reform.

 

.....Strongly in favour of term limits.

 

.....Strongly against appointment by the Prime Minister.

 

.....Strongly against elected senators.


WHAA?????!

Yep.  I'm not on the Triple E or even Partial E bandwagons.  After looking at the issue for several years, I cannot logically foresee any possible way that electing senators will not make the body function worse rather than better.

Back in university, we learned about the German system where the equivalent of provinces do the appointments.  That sounds pretty solid to me.  Unlike the German system where the appointments are very short lived - often to deal with only a specific issue in front of the Bundesrat - I would appoint senators for a six-year term, once renewable.   This way the Senate would reflect the political differences amongst the provinces, with a bunch of Liberals, a bunch of Tories and a handful of NDP and/or Parti Quebecois senators.  As provincial governments change, some changes would occur in the senate.

Make the body accountable to the provinces, the way it was always supposed to be, and keep the profile of senators the same.  

 

To me that makes the most sense.

PS: Oh yeah, and lose about half the numbers.

OTTAWA — The Green Party is calling for gasoline costs to rise by 12 cents a litre, but it is also urging cuts to income and payroll taxes so that consumers can afford to make smart environmental choices.

 

[Link]

 

Providing ALL new revenue was moved towards tax cuts with impact, I can support raising the gas tax.  However, I'm still trying to figure out how to minimize the economic impact of rural Canada where highway driving is a way of life.  Once I figure that out, I'll really get behind the cause.

It's a shame, however my Sens' are finished now.  Needed to head back to California tied 2-2.  Any games won now are gravy.

Oh well.  It was a fun run while it lasted.

I was packing for the cottage on Friday afternoon and I heard this Canadian Press report during the CJOB news:

The federal Conservative government has rejected Ontario's call for a ban on handguns. ... [Stockwell] Day argued that other countries where handguns have been banned have seen the numbers of gun crimes increase.  "In jurisdictions that have eliminated or tried to eliminate, to ban handguns – the United Kingdom, Ireland, other jurisdictions – in fact crime with guns has unfortunately gone up," Day said.  Day's statements, however, don't appear to match with the facts.  There was a 16 per cent drop in the number of firearms offences in the United Kingdom in 2006 compared with the previous year, according to figures from Britain's Home Office.

I remember thinking to myself, "Elementary logic suggests that you compared years after the ban and years prior to the ban in order to reach any meaningful comparison.  Wonder how CP could so badly botch that?" *

Turns out, there was more to it.  Bob Tarantino - one of my favorites - absolutely guts the CP on the usage of that stat to call Minister Day a liar or an incompetent.

Here is the UK Home Office page from which the Canadian Press seems to be getting their statistics.  And here is what it says:

In the year ending 31 March 2005 provisional figures show a:

• 16% reduction in the use of handguns

If you go to that website, and look three lines down from the piece I quoted, you will see the following:

Despite these figures, the number of overall offences involving firearms has been increasing each year since 1997/98.

Go read the rest.  Tarantino got on a roll because I'm not sure if you noticed it, but the CP report compared 2005 numbers with 2006, yet that stat Bob found came from only the first quarter of 2005, least of all 2006.

 

* - I must admit I also wondered if Day might have been playing fast and loose with the facts, because frankly, I'm having difficulty buying many of the arguments coming from the federal government lately.  That being said, I think Day's been a solid cabinet performer and that he was probably correct on this one as the increase in handgun violence had been pretty well established in the past.

Okay, maybe that would be harsh actions taken towards those who see no problem with Iran acquiring true nuclear weapon status, however they are certainly ignorant towards the real threat of such an event occuring.

How many Canadians badly want to believe that Iran will be responsible with nuke capabilities?  How many Canucks believe that the U.S. opposed that on the simple grounds of keeping the nuke family private?

This is why I think it is ridiculous to accept Iran and their leadership at face value:

Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday said the world would witness the destruction of Israel soon, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

 

 

Ever since last Monday, I have been unable to access my wireless network at home.  My computer tells me that I am connected to the network and that the signal is usually "good" or "very good", however when I click on Internet Explorer, it won't even bring up my homepage.  I'm not very techie, but it appears to me that my computer is "sending out" information, but is not "receiving" any.

Any suggestions for me?  I'm pretty well pooched for writing longer posts without home access.