Monthly Archives: March 2007
Canadian Soldier Charged With Manslaughter
| 3/12/2007 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan |
Master Cpl Robbie Fraser of the PPCLI 2nd Battalion has been charged with one count of manslaughter and one count of negligent performance of duty in the death last August of Master Cpl Jeffrey Walsh, one of 44 Canadians killed in Afghanistan last year.
In civilian life, the death of the young soldier would likely have been ruled accidental and Master Cpl Fraser would have had the guilt to deal with. In the military, the discharge of a firearm is a serious act and the forces do not allow for ‘accidental’. Training in the handling and use of their firearms is intensive.
The investigation of the incident has been comprehensive and painfully slow for the family of Master Cpl Walsh. So much so that Walsh’s father had spoken out over the weekend about their experience and frustration at the lack of information about how their son died coming from the military.
In light of another young Canadian having died in what appears to be a ‘friendly fire’ incident last week, I sure hope that the investigation is as speedy as humanly possible and the family isn’t subjected to months of wondering.
Ontario Gets Gas
| 3/8/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
Imperial Oil reports that their supply of gas has improved as the Nanticoke refinery has been brought back online. The refinery is up to about 75% of normal output and some supplies from outside the province has been brought in.
What hasn’t improved is the price of gas. In my immediate area prices seem to be around $1.02 per litre while Toronto ranges from a low of 98.9 to a high of 109.9. Meanwhile world oil prices have gone down more than up but oil companies don’t just take advantage of situations do they now?
We Will Remember Him
| 3/6/2007 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
In memory of our fallen Canadian:
Cpl Ronald Megeney –Afghanistan Mar. 07, 2007
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
Ontario Ombudsman Moves On Children Feud
| 3/2/2007 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, Canadian Politics |
The Globe & Mail yesterday reported that a tug of war was taking place between provincial and federal officials over the mental health care of children of our soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
The military provides care for the serving soldier but their families are not within their mandate. The province has refused to pay for mental health care for he children claiming “It’s a direct consequence of federal government initiatives,” stated Mary Anne Chambers, Ontario’s Minister of Children and Youth ervices
WHAT!!!? Has this woman got her head up her ass?
Notwithstanding that delivery of health services is the responsibility of the province for which Canadian soldiers pay the health tax like every other resident of this province this woman does realize that she’s alking about the children of men and woman who are serving THIS country?
OK OK .. calm down Patti..
Today the Globe is reporting that the Ontario Ombudsman, Andre Marin has launched a probe into the issue. Thank GOD!
Although I have no doubt in my mind that if the military is not providing health care for the families of soldiers then the province is responsible, I also believe that the military needs to take a hard look at this.
Just as soldiers often need specialized care for physical and mental wounds as the result of serving in a combat zone, their families struggle with a psychological impact that the general population doesn’t. It would be prudent for the DND aka the federal government to work in partnership with the provinces to establish mental health programs which benefit the families as well as the soldier.
Those programs would not happen overnight and in the interim not only does the province have a responsibility to deliver mental health services to the children of this province, all of the children. The province really shouldn’t have an issue with supporting our troops families as part of supporting our troops.
PM’s Lies Riles Liberals and I’d Hope, Canadians
| 3/2/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, Ethics, Harper |
Fresh from his smears at Liberal MP Navdeep Bains over his father-in-law, the boy Harper was emboldened yesterday in his slurs at two Montreal area women MPs. The slurs arose during debate over a move by the government to having political appointees on the panel that makes up the Immigrant and Refugee Board. A move that prompted the resignations of several members of the board this week.
The Liberal government moved away from political appointees during their time in office because of the patronage inherent in the process.
Harper rose in the commons to claim “We are putting in place a new selection system so we do not have what we had before — like the member for Westmount-Ville-Marie (Lucienne Robillard) appointing her former husband as a member of the board, like the husband of the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Lachine (Marlene Jennings) as a member of the board,” He further stated “That is the mess we are cleaning up. That is the Liberal culture of entitlement and we are getting rid of it.”
Were either accusation true they would be serious ethics breaches. Neither accusation was even remotely true as Robillard’s ex-husband was appointed by Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1990 and Jennings husband was on the board in 1996 which was before Jennings was even elected to Parliament.
Harper and his band of bullies have been engaged in smears through fiction with just enough truth attached to make the unaware believe them, but this round, this is blatant lying. This is what wants to have a majority government? Are Canadians really crazy enough to elect the likes of this and give him a majority?
Over at the Woostock Ontario Independent News he comments:
Harper when in need, relies on bullshit fear and propaganda to enforce his view. He fits well into the
historical perspective of other failed leaders that Canada was built on fear, lies and coercion backed up ith violence.
…
Say no to bullying…say no to Harpers’ mindless CONservatives.
enough said.
Harper’s High Road Bites His Ass
| 3/1/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, Ethics, Harper |
Back in the days when the boy Harper was in his best role, as leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition he went on the attack at then Prime Minister Paul Martin for his use of government jets for personal flights. He claimed the cost of these flights were $11,000 per hour while the Prime Minister did reimburse the public purse for his families flight to Morocco for their vacation based on the cost of commercial flights and then almost doubling it which, of course, was no where near the cost Harper claimed.
Martin paid from his own pocket, not from party funds. Much of the figure that Harper came up with is cost that would have to be paid whether the government’s Challenger jet was in the air or not. Now to keep some perspective here, it is a security requirement that the Prime Minister can not fly on commercial flights so it isn’t like this is a subject that can be killed by the PM flying like the rest of the population.
So now, the table has turned. The boy Harper is Prime Minister and he’s the one using the government Challenger. Today’s Toronto Star takes a look at the example he’s setting. The Conservative party is paying for flights Harper takes for personal or partisan reasons. It is the rate at which their paying that is hypocritical.
The article used the example of a flight Harper took on Feb. 10, 2007 for which the military billed the PMO for 3.1 flying hours at $2,139/hour = $6,639 to which the PMO responded that an equivalent flight at commercial rates return would have been $484 per person. The commercial rate was paid for each staffer on board and $3,144 was remitted. Based on the figures the Globe & Mail reported in their story on this, Paul Martin would have been paying a bit less than $6,288 based on the commercial rate x almost 2 which they said Martin paid from his own pocket.
But ah, there is another twist to the compensation story. Seems that in subsequent trips for partisan or personal reasons the PM has been known to manage to schedule some ‘government business’ like a roundtable meeting with Block Parents and thus the public purse pays the whole tab. How convenient.
Jeff at A BCer in Toronto writes:
But let’s use that base figure for our calculations. We know that for the two trips the CPC reimbursed the people of Canada $9624.00. We know that total flight time for the trips was appx. six hours. At the very conservative (small ‘c’) operating cost of $2,233/per hour, that would cost $13,398. Which means Harper shortchanged the taxpayer by at least $3774. More, when you factor in the flight crews, ramp fees and other costs. Or, if Harper was telling the truth in opposition when his MPs would routinely say the true cost was $11,000/hour, then he owes the taxpayers some $56,376.
Cameron over at Cameron’s House of Fun makes the point that really the cost of flights for the PM, any PM shouldn’t be an issue. I do agree with that, I remember at the time that the boy was trying to hammer Martin over it that it was nothing but petty politics and something that would never be an issue for the boy’s hero Bush. Our Prime Minister might not be the head of state but he’s the head of the government, if security dictates that he fly private then we pay.
So what’s the fuss over? I like Cameron’s comment:
As the article notes, Harper attacked the Liberals for using the jet service, in fact he went on about it a fairish amount. It was all part of the “look they are elitist, snobby shits, not like us common folks” offensives. Good politics. Smart politics. Apparently politics that wins elections.
The problem with this kind of politics is that it comes back and bites you on the ass, hence the uproar.
I don’t have a problem with someone taking a principled stand on an issue. Just remember that when you’re in a position to carry through on that stand, be just as principled or honest enough to admit your perspect was wrong. OH, wait, I am talking about Harper admitting error, that would be a frosty Friday in hell.
Having said all the foregoing, if Prince Charles, the future King of this country, can fly commercial as an example of environmental stewardship, how come the PM can’t do likewise and still be provided adequate security?
Travers on Harper and Dion
| 3/1/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
James Travers, political opinion columnist at the Toronto Star, writes a rather interesting and well articulated column today on both Harper and Dion’s approaches to their positions. It isn’t often that I agree with much of anything that Travers writes but I have to give him his due on this column.
He lays out a good argument that both of these leaders are engaged in playing to the sound bites for the evening news. Using a whole lot of fiction wrapped in just enough truth to trap the unwary the two of them are infecting Canadian politics with US tactics:
The scurrilous Conservative suggestion that Liberals are flip-flopping on anti-terrorism to protect extremists combined with Liberal environmental fear-mongering are pushing the quality of debate to new lows.
Blending a little truth with a lot of fiction has defined U.S. politics for a long time. But dismissing what’s happening here as just catching up would be to ignore the obvious pitfall.
Politicians who get too far out in front of reality lose credibility and ultimately support when voters catch up to them after finally catching on. Dion and Harper are making themselves vulnerable to that phenomenon.
Screaming for an apology or ‘consulting legal counsel’ every time Harper jerks the line is not going to show either Dion or his fellow Liberals as competent, pragmatic or a steady hand on the tiller. Harper is sly enough at the game of bully politics that he doesn’t blink or allow himself to be seen as reacting emotionally. Dion is going to need to learn likewise but on a higher level, which with some of the Conservatives behaviour, that wont be too high a step up.
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