Along with the HST coming into effect in July 1st, more Eco fees came into effect covering a wide range of products. The Eco fees are supposed to be fees charged to manufactures based on the amount of products or packaging they put into the market place.  Stewardship Ontario which receives these fees claims not to be government yet they were setup by the provincial government.

If they are not government, then someone or some group is getting the money we are all being forced to pay. The manufactures are allowed to pass along the fees they are charged to the consumer in any manner they choose. At this point, the fees are appearing on our sales receipts as an added fee one which we pay — you guessed it — HST. But it’s not a tax you see, you just have to pay tax on it.

There appears to be no established standard as to how the fees are assessed and as such the consumer has zero protection from the manufacturers taking whatever they want as the cost of passing on the fee. Since it isn’t attached to the product at the point of the consumer making their selection, we don’t even have buying power to limit the fees to a minimum. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m becoming more than a bit weary of the Liberals spending so much time on infighting and jostling than they are on being the Official Opposition. Lately I see a lot more in the news reports about the mechanics of the party and speculation about the makeup than I do anything else. I suspect I’m not the only Canadian feeling this way.

It is becoming rather apparent that Bob Rae is  playing games towards trying to push Ignatieff out as leader. Should that happen and Rae takes the helm, this Liberal will abandon ship. There’s also been talk about forming some sort of either pre or post-election coalition with the NDP. Forget that people, you really think I’d be a Liberal if I wanted anything to do with Layton?

So, what exactly do I want to see?

I want to see the Liberal party take a stand and stick to it. They don’t really need to hunt too far to differentiate themselves from the Conservatives. As for the NDP and the Greens, adopt what is good in their platform and show the rest for the tripe it is. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

On Sunday I read through Angelo Persichilli’s political column in the Toronto Star. I usually give his column a scan but rarely put a lot of stock into it. More of a gut response to his writing than any true sense that he plays pretty loose with the truth in his perspective.

In his latest column he claims that a full blown revolt is happening in the Liberal party, led by Bob Rae, and apparently deep into planning through a group of MPs who sat down to have nightcaps together after a party. The brass of them, they decided to plot this coup in a very public venue. Persichilli doesn’t identify who his source is, one would wonder if it was speculation or if he truly had a mic on the table.

He claimed that it would be pretty difficult for Ignatieff to survive as leader until the end of this year, a scant 3 weeks away. The reality is, short of executing the guy, it would be pretty much impossible to remove him either before the end of the year or conceivably the end of next year. That would require a convention and leadership review. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I was having lunch with a friend and briefly the subject of politics came up.  I expressed some of my views on Ignatieff to which she responded that I should write him a letter about my views. My response was, I would but it would not likely get anywhere near him. I thought about that and decided that be damn if it gets anywhere near him, I’ll write my letter here on my blog. So here goes:

I joined the Liberal Party of Canada in July of this year. While I’ve spent a lifetime reading and thinking about politics and how our leaders (or lack), shapes my country, I’ve never before made the decision to commit myself to a political party.

I’ve always leaned towards liberalism, largely because I have a deep-seated belief that one of the great strengths of this country is our social safety net which provides a level of support for those at the lower socioeconomic levels of our society. That sense of social responsiblity balanced with fiscal responsibility has always come from the Liberal Party of Canada.

So, why did I join in July? After a few years of what appeared to me as utter chaos within the party due to their infighting and weak leadership, there appeared to be a leader with some integrity and vision. I still think you have the integrity, but to be frank, I’m having a lot of trouble with discerning your vision.

Where’s the vision?

You seem to be spending a lot of energy and air time reacting to Harper. Canadians know what Harper is, the problem is they don’t yet see a viable alternative to him.  True there are aspects of Harper the Canadian people don’t fully realize or appreciate how wrong he is, but they still don’t see a viable alternative. Why do you think Canadians haven’t yet given him a majority government? Read the rest of this entry »

After months of railing against the ‘separatists’ and ‘socialists’ bringing this country to rack and ruin by aligning with the Liberals to defeat the Conservatives, Harper is being saved from a non-confidence vote by those very same separatists & socialists. The NDP in particular (those dangerous socialists) have had a pretty easy ride in the last couple of governments by being able to vote against the government with impunity knowing the Liberals would likely end up giving grudging support to the government.

Ignatieff turned those tables around with his declaration that the Liberals would no longer support the government and in fact would bring the government down at the first opportunity. The declaration placed the Liberals back where they belonged, opposing the government instead of running scared while trying to look tough. Now Layton and/or Duceppe has to either step to the plate or we head into an election. That is the way it should be. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember back in 2006 when Stephen Harper ran on a platform of transparency and accountability in government? When the Liberals tried to paint him as having a hidden agenda to which he countered the Liberal dominated courts and the Senate would keep him in check? What a pipe dream that was for those who voted for him.

To date, he has run one of the most secretive governments in history and things don’t look to be getting better any time soon. In light of the stunning lack of transparency and accountability that Harper has brought to the House, is it any wonder the Opposition parties are not about to support a spending estimates bill that contains provisions for a $3billion dollar fund which can be spent without accountability until after the fact?

Harper in an not unexpected return to the arrogance of trying to govern as though he has a majority has said the bill will be a confidence motion and failure of the Opposition to support it will provoke an election. Either Harper has decided he doesn’t want to govern any longer and is looking to get his butt kicked out or he’s hoping the coalition will raise its head again and he can divert attention away from his attempt to create a Conservative slush fund. Read the rest of this entry »

After weeks of there being just a bit of a semblance that maybe the boys and girls on Parliament Hill were capable of playing nice and getting the business of government done — someone let the other Harper out of his cage. Mayhem threatens, again.

Is Harper completely clueless or does he just prefer to negotiate with a baseball bat? He gained the conditional support of the Liberals to get his budget through the House, a support that can be pulled at just about any time. One would think he’d move to show some respect for the Opposition and them doing their jobs by trying to reach out to get other things through.

He managed to do so when his government hung by a thread…. oh wait, first he ran to the Governor General to prorogue Parliament. The signs have been there in the last 2-3 weeks when his pet bulldog Flaherty was making demands of the Opposition to pass measures immediately, without further debate. The ‘tude showed up in all it’s glory yesterday when Harper demanded that MPs pass an interim supply bill which includes a $3billion fund to be passed out by departments as ‘stimulous’ projects and bypass the usual approval process. Read the rest of this entry »