Sixteen professors at the University of Regina have written a letter protesting their institutions involvement in Project Hero. This scholarship program provides children of fallen Canadian soldiers with free tuition for their post-secondary education. Several post-secondary institutions across the country are taking part in the program.

The 16 profs in question believe the University of Regina should withdraw from the program. They denounce the program as “a glorification of Canadian imperialism in Afghanistan and elsewhere.” and “support for Project Hero represents a dangerous cultural turn. It associates heroism with the act of military intervention. It erases the space for critical discussion of military policy and practices“.

Are these people so far up on their ivory towers they don’t know how to find their way to a simple dictionary? I managed to find one and discovered that one of the meanings of ‘imperialism’ is: the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies.
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Ann Coulter, a self-proclaimed Conservative bigot, ran from her speaking engagement at the University of Ottawa on Tuesday evening. She didn’t physically run, she just threw in the metaphorical white towel.

While initial reports claimed the police and the University were the cause of the event being cancelled, it is looking more and more like Coulter’s own people threw in the towel.

I’m saying she’s ‘self-proclaimed’ as  Conservative mainly because I can’t imagine any true conservative with a brain in their head wanting her held up as an example of conservative thinking on either side of the border. If she truly is an example of conservative thinking, I am understanding more and more why Canadians wont allow Harper a majority government.

The more I’ve read about this incident the more I believe this whole thing is a publicity stunt for a two bit red-neck hack who brings new meaning to ‘dumb blonde’.  Prior to her scheduled visit to the University she received an email from the vice-president of the university cautioning her to be aware of Canadian hate laws which differ from laws in the USA. Read the rest of this entry »

Every now and again it becomes necessary for those elected to conduct the business of our democracy to be reminded of who they are supposed to represent. The people elect a Parliament who then forms a government and an official opposition based on which party received the most seats.

This seems like a pretty basic principle to know and to understand. The Prime Minister is subject to the will of Parliament, who is subject to the will of the people. When the Opposition parties voted on a motion back in December ordering the government to produce unredacted documents pertaining to the detainee issue, the response should have been pretty straightforward in adherence with the basic principle of Parliament.

The government has tried to throw a blanket claim of ‘national security’ around the affair and are refusing to release the documents. They didn’t even bother trying to go through the motions of trying to reach an agreement with the majority vote, they just stonewalled and then Harper prorogued the House.

Eventually the birds have to come home to roost and Parliament had to reconvene. Harper seemed to think that the December motion would be ignored, the Opposition rendered unable or unwilling to act. He’s wrong. Last Thursday the Liberals, followed by the NDP and the Bloc, rose to call on the Speaker of the House to rule on the motion. They have motions of their own which could lead to the Government being found in contempt of Parliament. Read the rest of this entry »

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 Darren James Fitzpatrick — Afghanistan March 20, 2010

Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated

Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays

On Tuesday Parliament passed a motion which would ban the practise of MPs sending ’10 percenters” into ridings of other MPs. The motion was initiated by the Liberals and solidly opposed by the Conservatives. The final call on the motion will be made by the Board of Internal Economy, the secretive committee charged with controlling the spending on the Hill.

The government’s response to the motion is that they consider it to be ‘non-binding’. Excuse me? Is Parliament supposed to reflect the will of the people or doesn’t it? Who the blazes is paying those clowns than the people?

Parliament has spoken, therefore neither the government nor the internal board of economy should have any option but to comply. Read the rest of this entry »

Back in December the majority of Parliament ordered the government to produce in their entirety the documents related to the Afghan detainee issue. Harper made clear he was going to defy that order and went so far as to prorogue Parliament in order to try to squash the issue.

He claimed the prorogue was to recalibrate the government’s direction and agenda. Having since seen that ‘recalibration’ via the Throne Speech and the budget, I don’t think anyone really truly believes the government did anything but stall and enjoy the Olympics.

So, parliament returns and in order to further flip the bird at the supremacy of parliament Harper, through his minion Rob Nicholson (Minister of Justice), is stalling by appointing respected jurist Frank Iacobucci to review the documents and rule if the documents are able to be released or not.  Read the rest of this entry »

The optics on the Rahmm Jaffer decision yesterday is just plain bad.

A former Conservative federal member of parliament, married to a current Conservative Cabinet minister is charged last fall with impaired driving and possession of cocaine. He comes before a judge who was appointed by the current federal Finance Minister when he was the provincial Attorney General. He gets off with what amounts to a slap on the wrist by pleading guilty to a dangerous driving charge and receiving a $500 fine.

The Crown gave no explanation for the deal they struck other than saying they had no reasonable chance of conviction. For just about any other, average Canadian, blowing over on the breathalyser would result in a conviction. These days even blowing .05 results in an immediate license suspension which doesn’t even get you a day in court.

As for the cocaine possession charge, if he wasn’t in the possession of cocaine then why didn’t the Crown just exonerate him and admit the police’s error? Maybe because that would be just out and out lying instead of just deception. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I’ve read through the Throne Speech which was delivered yesterday. I’ve read some of the commentary which has appeared this morning in reaction to it. For the most part, they are echoing my thoughts as I read through the speech, where exactly is the recalibration? There was very little real focus or meat.

I had the sense that the speech came about from a brainstorming session around the Cabinet table on how many buttons could they find to press in a bid to make Canadians believe this government has a real sense of need and direction. The point form results was then handed over to speech writers to form into what was delivered yesterday.

I know the devil is in the details and Throne Speeches are not where one would expect to see details. Some will emerge today as the Budget is delivered. For the most part, speech repeated previous announcements and claims from the government.

Public Wage Freezes

It does say there will be a freeze on not only public service budgets but the wages of the Cabinet, Senators and MPs. That is really sharing in the hardship that 1.5million Canadians are going through, not to mention the millions of Canadians who find themselves under-employed as the result of jobs lost through business failures and jobs moved offshore. Read the rest of this entry »