Monday, November 30, 2009

You Have To Wonder.......

...how many unions hold WalMart stock in their pension fund investment portfolio?

Collective Madness

Union thugs want to ensure potential employer, Wal-Mart, will never open another store within the borders of Quebec, again...

The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the right of Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, to shut down stores after workers unionized at one of its outlets in Jonquière, Que.

In a 6-3 decision, Justice Ian Binnie, citing previous case law, noted there is no legislation in Quebec that obliges any employer to remain in business, even if it closes for “socially reprehensible” reasons.

The store closure, which followed one of the first unionizations of Wal-Mart employees in North America, drew continent-wide attention and the high-stakes appeal has been closely watched by labour and business.

Laid-off workers at the store in Jonquière argued Wal-Mart violated Quebec labour laws and the workers’ constitutional rights by shutting its store during negotiations for an inaugural collective agreement in 2005.

A majority of the Supreme Court judges rejected their appeal. They ruled that under the specific section of the Quebec Labour Code that formed the basis of the workers complaints, the workers cannot seek remedy if their former place of employment no longer exists.

Had the workers brought forward their case under a separate section of the Labour Code, namely sections 12 to 14, then the question of whether Wal-Mart closed the store as part of an anti-union strategy might have been put in play.

[..]

“This is not a substantive victory for employers in any way whatsoever,” said Dominique Monet, leader of the labour, employment and human rights practice at law firm Fasken Martineau in Montreal. “[The judges] have certainly shown them the right exit to take on the highway next time.”

If Wal-Mart is smart, they'll make sure there is no next time.

GUILTY But......


...the definition and level of "guilt" is directly related to the purpose of the blog.

Are you making these 10 blogging mistakes ?

After 12,388 Posts And 433,091 Comments

According to the experts, I "post too much". Posted by Kate

I Know Who Stompin' Tom Is And I Have Even Heard Of Ben Kerr......

...But who is Donovan Woods?

Toronto folksinger takes on Stompin' Tom Connors - football style

I guess I need to get out more........

A Whistleblower Of Convenience?

Pattern of memos shows so-called whistleblower seized his cause late in the game

CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD

Blatchford makes herself useful
Donham: In the PMO War Room, columnist Christie Blatchford must have seemed an inspired choice. She can turn a purple phrase with the best of them. She stands foursquare for troops, widows, and orphans. MORE...

Red Cross rebukes diplomat over Afghan torture allegations
A senior Red Cross official has criticized a Canadian diplomat for publicly alleging the organization believed Canada handed detainees over to Afghan authorities knowing they would likely be tortured. MORE...

Attack on senior diplomat signals demise of independent public service: experts
The Harper government’s attack on a senior diplomat could be the final blow in the unravelling of Canada’s once-sacred tradition of an independent, non-partisan public service, warn experts.

Put This On McGuinty's Doorstep

Canada

Caledonia: The fires are out but much fury remains

The land is desolate, the dispute simmers and the locals fear things will never be resolved

Greeners Have A Hering Problem

Why dismiss dissent?

Curiously, on the day the Globe and Mail ran a story about polls showing 75% of Canadians were "embarrassed" that Canada hasn't been more active in the climate change issue, the paper also ran another article about how scientific skeptics on global warming were ignored or maligned.

Climate scientists: Dog ate homework

By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN

In the latest shocking development in climategate, scientists at the world's leading research facility studying climate change have admitted they threw out much of the raw temperature data on which they built their theory of man-made global warming.

Climategate: 'Scientific establishment hopelessly compromised'...

Professors in U-turn, will publish all data...

BBC: Inquiry into stolen climate e-mails...

This Is Sad.......

Where 'nobody hears you'

In a recent series, the Sun found that Ontario is failing to address the needs of human-trafficking victims, many of whom are exploited through the sex trade. During a conference hosted by Light Patrol at the Yonge Street Mission on Friday, 130 people gathered to discuss the issues. Here are some of their stories.

Stray?


There have been numerous reports of "stray" bullets endangering "innocent people" and you have to wonder if the "shooter's" accuracy would be better if Comrade Miller hadn't shutdown gun clubs and ranges?
Stray gunfire hits apartment, TTC bus

Sunday, November 29, 2009

It Is So Predictable It Is Embarassing

Listen To The Other Side

Kelly McParland: We need sharp cuts in greenhouse gas activist emissions

Conrad Black: A teeming rain forest of irrelevant climate claims

Lawrence Solomon: Google’s climate ‘scholars’

'Botch after botch after botch'



If It Is The Right Thing To Hold A Referendum Or Call An Election!

"From time to time we are called upon to do things in positions of leadership, which are not necessarily easy, but in our heart of hearts we know that they are the right kinds of things to do," he said.

Analysis: HST issue toxic — handle with utmost care

November 28, 2009

Robert Benzie

Blending federal and provincial sales taxes is perhaps the most toxic issue in Canadian politics, one with the potential to derail both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Conversely, the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax – improbably supported by Bay Street, food banks, neo-conservatives and left-wing economists – also dogs federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and provincial Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

Harper and McGuinty negotiated the deal last winter that will see Ottawa transfer $4.3 billion to Ontario in exchange for melding the 8 per cent provincial sales tax with the 5 per cent federal GST as of July 1.

Most of that money – $4 billion – will go toward rebate cheques of up to $1,000 for low- and middle-income people to offset higher levies on heating fuels, gasoline and hundreds of other goods and services.

In exchange, the federal government, which is also blending the GST with British Columbia's 7 per cent sales tax, moves a giant leap closer to the long-held dream of a national value-added tax.

Until this week, Harper's Tories were happy to leave McGuinty as the face of the HST in Ontario and the premier has obliged.

"A harmonized sales tax together with our package of tax reforms is going to lead to 600,000 more jobs over the course of the next 10 years," he said Friday in Ottawa.

McGuinty's cheerleading of the HST, however, has cost his Liberals support in public opinion polls.

The major beneficiary has been Hudak, who broke with Harper's Conservatives on the tax for political reasons rather than any ideological opposition. (Both federal and provincial NDP leaders Jack Layton and Andrea Horwath oppose harmonization, which they see as a sop to corporate Canada.)

In the past, the PC leader, who has a master's degree in economics from the University of Washington, argued in favour of blending the taxes. Now, he dismisses the business-friendly measure as "a greedy tax grab" and ignores it was the brainchild of federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, whom Hudak supported for the provincial Tory leadership in 2002 and 2004.

That Hudak's positioning helps his poll numbers cannot be lost on Ignatieff, whose support for the HST has always been lukewarm.

Indeed, in a 30-minute speech to a Bay Street audience on Sept. 21, the federal Liberal leader never once mentioned the looming tax change.

Only when questioned by reporters afterward did he say he would not scrap the tax agreements with Ontario and B.C.

"It's just not responsible for a party of government to say, `well, we'll tear it up and go back to ground zero,'" said Ignatieff.

Of course, that was then and this is now. Ignatieff's office is now run by some of the same strategists who advised former prime minister Jean Chrétien.

Chrétien artfully exploited the public perception he would kill the GST in 1993, though he never actually promised to do that. He easily won that contest – and was re-elected in 1997 and 2000 – and the GST haunts taxpayers still.

The Liberals were scrambling Friday to avoid staking out a position on legislation on the tax to be introduced next week by the government.

McGuinty finds such dodging and weaving to be tiresome.

"The people of Ontario aren't so much interested in the interplay between the various parties on Parliament Hill, they're interested in their future," the premier said.

"From time to time we are called upon to do things in positions of leadership, which are not necessarily easy, but in our heart of hearts we know that they are the right kinds of things to do," he said.

"I'm counting on all members of the House of Commons ... to understand how important this is to the people of Ontario."

Canada's Membership In Commonwealth Being QUESTIONED


Genocide memorial site guardian, Danielle Nyirabazungu (pictured in 2004)
Genocide memorial site guardian, Danielle Nyirabazungu (pictured in 2004)
Some 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda's genocide in 1994

Rwanda becomes a member of the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth has admitted Rwanda as its 54th member.

It Started With The Whitewashing Of Cabbagetown......

Sherbourne: Toronto's 'city in one street'

Sun Nov 29 2009

The condominium has not yet emerged from the ground, its cement and iron footings being formed to hold 17 storeys of polished glass and aluminum with suites selling for less than $300,000. In 18 months, "The Modern" promises to be a landscaped playpen for young downtowners.

Ho Hum! Another Revenue Source....

Billboard tax a sign of times

Ron Hutchinson, senior v-p of Astral Media, says all players in Toronto's outdoor sign industry will be happy when it is "cleaned up."

Just The Facts Maam.......

'Botch after botch after botch'

Leaked 'climategate' documents show huge flaws in the backbone of climate change science

Worshipping at church of climate 'science'

Climate change as a result of the natural cycle of warming and cooling of the Earth has occurred throughout history.

For Better Or For Worse?








I agree that comrade miller and his cadre of leftwingnuts, clown council,waterfront condo owners, island squatters, unions, panhandlers, social in-activists, environuts, et al deserve to be recognized.......

Decade of T.O. game changers

No one transformed city like much-maligned Miller

New faces and old ones have emerged in the first decade of this century, but is there one person who transformed Toronto more than anyone else?

Picking the Torontonian of the decade is no easy feat. We've discussed it here in the newsroom and the choice can go in many directions.

Is it Jane Creba? We never heard her voice. Tragically, she never had the chance to make her own story as an adult, but the 15-year-old's death may have changed this city forever.

When an innocent teenager out shopping on Yonge St. on Boxing Day in 2005 never comes homes because of a gun fight on the city's most famous street in the downtown core, perhaps that's the day our city changed forever.

It definitely marked yet another day when Toronto's innocence was lost.

Or, you could look to Audette Shephard. She co-founded UMOVE, United Mothers Opposing Violence Everywhere, in response to the unsolved drive-by shooting of her son Justin, 19, in 2001, on a pedestrian bridge near Rosedale.

Shephard and the other bereaved mothers in the group are determined to make a difference so more mothers don't find themselves in the same situation -- grieving the loss of a child. Pretty impressive.

From a different perspective, there are some businessmen who've had a major impact in Toronto.

How about Bob Deluce? He brought a new airline -- Porter -- to Toronto in a time of economic crisis for the industry, while energizing a depreciating asset on the waterfront -- all while spitting in the face of Mayor David Miller, who fought hard to keep him out.

Now, Torontonians can fly from downtown in Toronto-made planes, without making the trek out to Pearson.

Then there's Larry Tanenbaum. The chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Tanenbaum has overseen the city's most profitable and beloved sports franchises, while bringing the newest and hottest kid on the block, Toronto FC, to town.

MLSE imported the Marlies (although there's few at the rink to notice), helped seal the deal to get BMO Field built, and played a part in getting the Leafs new four-pad practice rink in Etobicoke off the ground -- the first new public arenas in Toronto in 25 years.

DUNKS AND DOCS

MLSE has also been a corporate partner with the city, refreshing a number of outdoor ice rinks. He'd be a slam dunk (MLSE also owns the Raptors) if any of his teams actually won something.

In the health field, Mount Sinai Hospital's Drs. Donald Low and Allison McGeer have to get a big mention.

They are world leaders in the control of infectious diseases and Toronto's had a busy decade in that regard. We battled against SARS, an infection that scared the world away from us. McGeer even fell victim to the syndrome, but recovered. We, like the entire planet, also fought the H1N1 virus and Low and McGeer have been at the front of both those battles.

In politics, Premier Dalton McGuinty merits a mention. Premier since 2003, he's built his own new tax fiefdom, while investing billions in Toronto's infrastructure.

"Premier Dad" has also instituted rules against everything from smoking and talking while in a car, to banning pitbulls. He's presided over massive scandals in the lottery corporation and eHealth, as taxpayer dollars flew out the doors and is imposing a 13% HST on July 1 to join his previous health care "premium" in the "screw the Ontarian" category. Has he impacted on Torontonians? You bet.

Despite all these valid candidates, however, the Torontonian of the decade has to be Mayor David Miller. Toronto has fundamentally changed, forever, since his 2003 election.

We have a raft of new taxes, fees and charges residents have never faced before. Toronto has been pushed to be a more transit-friendly city, thanks to billions of dollars invested and about to be invested in rapid (some may argue not-so-rapid) transit.

Miller's also tried to make Toronto greener through everything from a plastic bag tax to mandatory green roofs.

"Having studied Toronto's history over its 175 years, I can't recall having come across any chief magistrate who has alienated so many citizens, while at the same time dividing his council into opposing and mean-spirited opponents," said Toronto historian and Sun columnist Mike Filey, who would cast his vote for Miller. "Simply put, for most of the first decade of the 21st century, Toronto stopped working. And the STOP sign was in the hands of David Miller."

In fairness, Miller's full legacy won't be known for another decade, after Transit City is well underway. By then, we'll know if he was a flop, a disaster or a visionary.

ROB.GRANATSTEIN@SUNMEDIA.CA

Congrats Mark!

Bono's all fired up

The Purolator truck pulled into the yard about two weeks ago, signalling the arrival of The Box.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

MSM Salivating......

Take Two Aspirins Call Me......

Come On Kathy More Grist For The Blogger Mill

Al Jazeera comes to Canada -- thanks to Obama's favorite union thugs

My latest post at David Horowitz's NewsReal blog:

...the government agency that approves new broadcasters gave Al Jazeera English permission to start beaming its messages throughout the Great White North (where honor killings, lawfare and plots to behead the Prime Minister are now part of our colo(u)rful multicultural mosaic!)

And guess who helped make that possible?

# Kathy Shaidle

Add Climate Change Skeptics To List

We all know about religious fanatics and the damage they can cause. If you disagree with them they declare you a disbeliever, your views as heresy, and you an infidel. They may even kill people.

Now a new kind of fanaticism is cropping up. They call themselves evolutionists and if you disagree with them on any issue they go ballistic. I do not see much difference between the two types. Evolution must be your new religion or else.
A self-proclaimed scientist/scholar/intellectual (some crap like that) commented on my blog:

'...oh, and by the way: "survivial (sic)of the fittest" was something Darwin never wrote..'

Oh Yeah! Really! Here is a quote from none other than Darwin himself:

"In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals

...
Read More | Discuss

Hmmm!

Securing America’s northern front

Washington’s War on Terror is disrupting sleepy communities on the Canadian border, where some can’t buy gasoline without a passport.

More Than You Might Want To Know......

War in Afghanistan

Opinion: Obama has a hard sell on Afghanistan troop increase

Will Obama's vow to "finish the job" ring as hollow as "mission accomplished" did in Iraq? C.M. Sennott explores the perilous terrain of counterinsurgency based on his reporting in Afghanistan for the Special Report "Life, Death and the Taliban."

Life, death and the Taliban: Blowback
Life, death and the Taliban: War of ideas
Life, death and the Taliban: Counterinsurgency
Life, death and the Taliban: Funding the Taliban
Are US taxpayers funding the Taliban?
Are Pentagon contracts funding the Taliban?
Obama's war

Janet's Nipple, Adams Antics Overshadow Events.......

Adam Lambert furor spreads to gay community...

HST Going To Ottawa

  • Liberals 'skating' on HST stand
    When the going gets tough in politics, the tough start skating. That was Bob Rae's candid admission on Friday, while struggling to tell reporters how Liberals would be dealing with the troublesome issue of the HST and a looming vote next week in the Commons.

Toronto Terrorist Preparedness.....


Toronto submits to fear of the wild
Posted: November 27, 2009, 2:40 PM by NP Editor
Filed under: Full Comment,Kelly McParland

It's well know that Torontonians are easily alarmed.

A large snowfall sends them into extremes of angst. Even a heavy rain can bring the city to a standstill. Now there's a new source of urban alarm: wildlife.

In case you missed it, central Toronto all but seized up this week when a young deer somehow wandered into it.

As reported by senior urban wildlife reporter Peter Kuitenbrouwer:

What does it take in Toronto to capture a deer that is sitting still?

Start with a dozen police constables. Add another dozen police from the Emergency Task Force in grey jumpsuits and bulletproof vests -- armed with dart guns, Tasers and a big sort of fishing net -- plus two vans from Animal Services and a senior veterinarian from the Toronto Zoo. Give them four hours: they will get the job done.

A busy street near Toronto City Hall bristled with these armed men this morning -- all focused on a tiny plot of grass, trees and hedges next to a 15-storey building of medical labs, optometrists and dentists.

There sat a doe, two to three years old, about 90 kilograms. She turned her head from side to side, her pointed dark brown ears filled with the roar of the city. Around the deer fluttered yellow crime scene tape, tied from stop signs to bicycle locking rings. Ten photographers and TV cameramen trained their lenses on her.

The deer crisis follows months of alarm over the city's burgeoning coyote population. This month Toronto police issued a coyote alert after a woman got a scare while walking in a park. The National Post, recognizing our mandate to alert and educate readers on vital issues, provided tips on coyote protocol (never invite them to dinner). One particularly mischievous coyote eluded extensive (and expensive) efforts to trap it after it gave the stink-eye to a pet dog earlier this year.

As if deers and coyotes weren't enough, Toronto's zoo workers issued dire warnings of the havoc thaty would have ensued if Samson, an 11-year-old, 1,000-pound male grizzly, had succeeded in his alleged plan to break out of the grizzly enclosure at Toronto's zoo.

Zoo management claim Sampson wasn't trying to bust out, and was just trying to get back together with another grizzly that had been moved earlier in the day. But Tony Meuleman, the senior zookeeper, maintained Sampson was just an hour from freedom when his escape was foiled. I knew it -- a cover-up!

National Post

Toronto submits to fear of the wild
Posted: November 27, 2009, 2:40 PM by NP Editor
Filed under: Full Comment,Kelly McParland

It's well know that Torontonians are easily alarmed.

A large snowfall sends them into extremes of angst. Even a heavy rain can bring the city to a standstill. Now there's a new source of urban alarm: wildlife.

In case you missed it, central Toronto all but seized up this week when a young deer somehow wandered into it.

As reported by senior urban wildlife reporter Peter Kuitenbrouwer:

What does it take in Toronto to capture a deer that is sitting still?

Start with a dozen police constables. Add another dozen police from the Emergency Task Force in grey jumpsuits and bulletproof vests -- armed with dart guns, Tasers and a big sort of fishing net -- plus two vans from Animal Services and a senior veterinarian from the Toronto Zoo. Give them four hours: they will get the job done.

A busy street near Toronto City Hall bristled with these armed men this morning -- all focused on a tiny plot of grass, trees and hedges next to a 15-storey building of medical labs, optometrists and dentists.

There sat a doe, two to three years old, about 90 kilograms. She turned her head from side to side, her pointed dark brown ears filled with the roar of the city. Around the deer fluttered yellow crime scene tape, tied from stop signs to bicycle locking rings. Ten photographers and TV cameramen trained their lenses on her.

The deer crisis follows months of alarm over the city's burgeoning coyote population. This month Toronto police issued a coyote alert after a woman got a scare while walking in a park. The National Post, recognizing our mandate to alert and educate readers on vital issues, provided tips on coyote protocol (never invite them to dinner). One particularly mischievous coyote eluded extensive (and expensive) efforts to trap it after it gave the stink-eye to a pet dog earlier this year.

As if deers and coyotes weren't enough, Toronto's zoo workers issued dire warnings of the havoc thaty would have ensued if Samson, an 11-year-old, 1,000-pound male grizzly, had succeeded in his alleged plan to break out of the grizzly enclosure at Toronto's zoo.

Zoo management claim Sampson wasn't trying to bust out, and was just trying to get back together with another grizzly that had been moved earlier in the day. But Tony Meuleman, the senior zookeeper, maintained Sampson was just an hour from freedom when his escape was foiled. I knew it -- a cover-up!

National Post


Toronto submits to fear of the wild
Posted: November 27, 2009, 2:40 PM by NP Editor
Filed under: Full Comment,Kelly McParland

It's well know that Torontonians are easily alarmed.

A large snowfall sends them into extremes of angst. Even a heavy rain can bring the city to a standstill. Now there's a new source of urban alarm: wildlife.

In case you missed it, central Toronto all but seized up this week when a young deer somehow wandered into it.

As reported by senior urban wildlife reporter Peter Kuitenbrouwer:

What does it take in Toronto to capture a deer that is sitting still?

Start with a dozen police constables. Add another dozen police from the Emergency Task Force in grey jumpsuits and bulletproof vests -- armed with dart guns, Tasers and a big sort of fishing net -- plus two vans from Animal Services and a senior veterinarian from the Toronto Zoo. Give them four hours: they will get the job done.

A busy street near Toronto City Hall bristled with these armed men this morning -- all focused on a tiny plot of grass, trees and hedges next to a 15-storey building of medical labs, optometrists and dentists.

There sat a doe, two to three years old, about 90 kilograms. She turned her head from side to side, her pointed dark brown ears filled with the roar of the city. Around the deer fluttered yellow crime scene tape, tied from stop signs to bicycle locking rings. Ten photographers and TV cameramen trained their lenses on her.

The deer crisis follows months of alarm over the city's burgeoning coyote population. This month Toronto police issued a coyote alert after a woman got a scare while walking in a park. The National Post, recognizing our mandate to alert and educate readers on vital issues, provided tips on coyote protocol (never invite them to dinner). One particularly mischievous coyote eluded extensive (and expensive) efforts to trap it after it gave the stink-eye to a pet dog earlier this year.

As if deers and coyotes weren't enough, Toronto's zoo workers issued dire warnings of the havoc thaty would have ensued if Samson, an 11-year-old, 1,000-pound male grizzly, had succeeded in his alleged plan to break out of the grizzly enclosure at Toronto's zoo.

Zoo management claim Sampson wasn't trying to bust out, and was just trying to get back together with another grizzly that had been moved earlier in the day. But Tony Meuleman, the senior zookeeper, maintained Sampson was just an hour from freedom when his escape was foiled. I knew it -- a cover-up!

National Post

Photo: Toronto police and a Toronto zoo official manage to subdue a young deer that wandered into the downtown area on Tuesday. (Brett Gundlock/National Post)

Toronto submits to fear of the wild
Posted: November 27, 2009, 2:40 PM by NP Editor
Filed under: Full Comment,Kelly McParland

It's well know that Torontonians are easily alarmed.

A large snowfall sends them into extremes of angst. Even a heavy rain can bring the city to a standstill. Now there's a new source of urban alarm: wildlife.

In case you missed it, central Toronto all but seized up this week when a young deer somehow wandered into it.

As reported by senior urban wildlife reporter Peter Kuitenbrouwer:

What does it take in Toronto to capture a deer that is sitting still?

Start with a dozen police constables. Add another dozen police from the Emergency Task Force in grey jumpsuits and bulletproof vests -- armed with dart guns, Tasers and a big sort of fishing net -- plus two vans from Animal Services and a senior veterinarian from the Toronto Zoo. Give them four hours: they will get the job done.

A busy street near Toronto City Hall bristled with these armed men this morning -- all focused on a tiny plot of grass, trees and hedges next to a 15-storey building of medical labs, optometrists and dentists.

There sat a doe, two to three years old, about 90 kilograms. She turned her head from side to side, her pointed dark brown ears filled with the roar of the city. Around the deer fluttered yellow crime scene tape, tied from stop signs to bicycle locking rings. Ten photographers and TV cameramen trained their lenses on her.

The deer crisis follows months of alarm over the city's burgeoning coyote population. This month Toronto police issued a coyote alert after a woman got a scare while walking in a park. The National Post, recognizing our mandate to alert and educate readers on vital issues, provided tips on coyote protocol (never invite them to dinner). One particularly mischievous coyote eluded extensive (and expensive) efforts to trap it after it gave the stink-eye to a pet dog earlier this year.

As if deers and coyotes weren't enough, Toronto's zoo workers issued dire warnings of the havoc thaty would have ensued if Samson, an 11-year-old, 1,000-pound male grizzly, had succeeded in his alleged plan to break out of the grizzly enclosure at Toronto's zoo.

Zoo management claim Sampson wasn't trying to bust out, and was just trying to get back together with another grizzly that had been moved earlier in the day. But Tony Meuleman, the senior zookeeper, maintained Sampson was just an hour from freedom when his escape was foiled. I knew it -- a cover-up!

National Post

Photo: Toronto police and a Toronto zoo official manage to subdue a young deer that wandered into the downtown area on Tuesday. (Brett Gundlock/National Post)

Two Tier Justice

National Post editorial board: Abusing Canada's flag in the name of political correctness
Posted: November 27, 2009, 5:01 PM by NP Editor
Filed under: Editorial board

Nothing symbolizes the pathetic gutlessness of Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario government, or that of the provincial police force that is nominally sworn to protect the province’s residents, than the saga now playing out in a Hamilton, Ont., courtroom. The fate of a lawless Ontario enclave, it seems, now rests not with the province’s politicians or its police, but with a pair of scrappy Caledonia, Ont. litigants who have the guts to take a stand.

What has become glaringly obvious in their civil suit against the Ontario government and Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is that within that province there are two tiers of justice, a preferential one for aboriginals and another, lower tier for non-natives. This unequal treatment throws the justice system into disrepute. The dangerous message it sends is that, in some cases, whites seeking justice against aboriginals have no choice but to take the law into their own hands.

Lighting up the law

Ivison: Authorities turn a blind eye to the illegal sale of tobacco on native reserves. Canada is a land where everyone is equal before the law, a mari usque ad mare -- or at least, so we like to think. Last month, the government passed new.. MORE...

Clement"s Wrapup

We Will Survive.....How Long Since The Leafs Won A Stanley Cup.....

....and what noble deeds is Travers talking about. Is Kosovo one?

Travers: Country known for its noble deeds now bears a stain on its reputation

By James Travers

t's been a long march into twilight. A country that gave the world Lester Pearson's peacekeeping and Brian Mulroney's stand against apartheid is now struggling with Stephen Harper's apparent blindness to compelling evidence of Afghanistan prisoner abuse.

Adrian MacNair: Fighting terrorism, politely
Posted: November 27, 2009, 12:40 PM by NP Editor

We encourage the United States military in its pursuit of terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. But harming a hair on the beards of those who would plot mass murder and beheadings is not in keeping with the image of ourselves in the West as a morally superior society. After all, capturing terrorists should be as simple as flicking on a light switch. Just ask three elite members of the Navy SEALs who allegedly harmed the beard of a notorious terrorist in Fallujah, and are now facing criminal charges:

The Fish Always Stinks From The Head Downward....

Giambrone, Mihevic....

James: Wheels falling off the TTC

November 28, 2009

Royson James

One is never sure who most deserves our pity: the TTC, transit workers or commuters relying on a system that moves about a million trips a day.

But after a most disastrous month for transit, there is not much sympathy on the buses and trains and streetcars for a system that too often fails to anticipate the most elementary foul-ups and address them with dexterity and minimum fuss.

In fact, commuters have grown increasingly edgy, with cause. Management and political leadership just seem to be perpetually a step behind. Like the Dallas Cowboys' cornerback Terence Newman, the TTC has the speed, provides good coverage but somehow manages to mistime a jump, slip and fall, and fail at critical times.

Much of the negative news on the transit agenda today is probably unavoidable – bad luck, bad social conditions in the city, reduced funding from the province.

It is not the TTC's fault that a worker, not from the TTC, punctures the concrete casing around its subway tunnel, shutting down homebound trains for an evening.

But must it be so inept in informing riders – and so callous in not accounting for refunding of fares when people were allowed to go into the station, drop fares, only to find there was no service?

For years, TTC officials refused to release statistics on suicides from people jumping in front of trains. The Star doesn't report on suicides, except in unusual circumstances. Such reports may encourage those considering an attempt.

Still, in the midst of all its problems this week, the TTC was forced to release suicide statistics showing an average of one episode per month. There were 22 jumpers in 2007, with 13 deaths.

Meanwhile, bus passengers are being shot by stray bullets, as are transit operators.

The TTC can't be blamed for the bad men in our city. But it surely is harmed by the effects of their deeds. Already, there are transit cops on the subway.

In fact, the presence of transit security hasn't been a welcome sight for many commuters, again caught up in another TTC surprise – crowd control measures that have disrupted commuting routes at the Bloor station and infuriated many.

Toss in the irritatingly high fare hike, starting Jan. 3, and the embarrassing screw-up over the ban on token sales to prevent hoarding and the reintroduction of paper tickets, and the anger mounts.

The TTC is well-practised at raising fares. Yet they bungled this one, too. We expected fares to go up in 2009, but the mayor decided not to – a bad move that has forced a much higher than normal increase for 2010. If fares had been hiked 10 cents in 2009, you would need only 10 cents, maybe 15 cents more in 2010.

With that kind of small, incremental increase, few commuters hoard tokens, as they started doing with a 25-cent hike pending.

Transit officials know about hoarding. It's happened before. They should have anticipated it this time, especially with tokens being the only single-fare medium.

Instead, we have chaos at the turnstiles, huge lineups, no tokens, no tickets and angry riders.

Into this milieu, TTC chair Adam Giambrone launched a television show this month, On the Rocket. It seemed like a great idea.

Planning to run for mayor, Giambrone was getting free air time to practise the art of political stumping, and sell his attributes.

Now it's blowing up in his face. Overheard on the subway: "Before that Giambrone guy tries to run the city, he should learn how to run the transit system."

Ouch!

The Real Villian!

Irresponsible animal owners.........

Attacking the THS stinks of a witchhunt

Friday, November 27, 2009

Another Broken Liberal Promise....

...and tories aren't doing any better.

Wouldn't Peer Counseling Make More Sense......

Volunteers cut adrift by mental health charity

November 27, 2009

Carol Goar

In late spring, they were told to turn in their keys. The alarm was going off too often at the Oakville office of the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Over the summer, they were informed that volunteers would no longer be needed to lead onsite social and recreational programs. But positions still were available on the board of directors, on the consumers' advisory committee and in the office, assisting with clerical work.

MORE

Queens Park Babble

What you hear not always what you get

November 27, 2009

Jim Coyle

Friday, 200 or so high school students will visit Queen's Park as part of Local Democracy Week. If all goes well, this will be one of the most formative experiences of their young lives.

To make the most of the visit, we offer the following advice. In addition, of course, to suggesting they be very careful during that game of "political speed dating" that's on the agenda.

First, "parliament" is derived from the word "talk." Words are the currency here. They have enormous power. Pay them great heed.

So important is every word uttered on the precincts, so carefully are they chosen, that we always encourage novice reporters to get up to speed by reviewing Hansard transcripts starting from Confederation.

(The bright ones usually don't get much farther than World War I before the penny drops.)

Second, on no account be fooled during your visit by any snores emanating from press gallery offices.

Therein dwell hyper-alert specialists expert in the business of analyzing and interpreting the millions of words that pass yearly across their consciousness. To be sure, no Cold War Kremlinologist was more expert at piercing the facade of calculated misdirection and concealment.

Let's take a recent example – the proposed harmonization of Ontario's retail sales tax with the federal GST.

But for heaven's sakes, kids, don't try this at home. Not everyone is qualified to follow this debate. What seems clear to the untutored can turn out to be a cruel mirage.

For instance, here's Premier Dalton McGuinty in recent months and years on the matter of harmonizing the federal and provincial taxes:

"I'm not going to be harmonizing our taxes."

"My concern about harmonization is we would have to add PST to so many consumer items that are presently exempt."

"Harmonization of those two taxes would lead to a net increase in taxes for the province of Ontario and for Ontarians."

To ever get his support, harmonization would have to be revenue neutral not just from a government perspective but "from an Ontario consumer perspective."

Nothing could be clearer, you might say.

Now, let's consider PC Leader Tim Hudak's view on the same matter:

"There's little sense in allowing two separate governments to apply two separate taxes and policies and collect two separate groups of sales taxes."

"We understand how that (harmonization) can help the economy."

And, for the sake of further clarification, former interim PC leader Bob Runciman:

"Our party is supportive of harmonization."

"We think it's something that should occur."

At least as clear a stand as the premier's.

As to the value of holding public hearings on matters of public importance, McGuinty had chosen his words carefully there, too.

"Public hearings: those words go together nicely if you believe in true democracy."

So, as anyone can see, it's clear that Dalton McGuinty opposes the HST, Tim Hudak supports it, and the premier is insisting on public hearings into it.

And that's where you separate the amateurs from the trained professionals.

The learned know that, in fact, McGuinty is committed to the HST, Hudak's against it, and the premier is refusing public hearings.

Which brings us to the last thing the students should know.

No one is really equipped to cover politics without first having read Lewis Carroll's, Through the Looking Glass.

"When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean," said Humpty Dumpty. "Neither more, nor less."

And that, kids, is why most political journalists have IQs of genius level and make upwards of $2 million a year. Because, around this place, you just can't believe everything you hear.

It Is Obvious Sesame Street Not On.......

...if it was decision making might be a little more logical.

City Hall blows $150,000 a year on cable TV

Fri Nov 27 2009 Comment Icon Bubble (0)

Just about anyone is watching TV at City Hall, where an audit estimates that Toronto could save more than $150,000 a year on its cable bill.

How Many Al Jazeera Corresponents Have Been Kidnapped And.......

CRTC approves Al-Jazeera's broadcasting licence


The Canadian Press

Updated: Thu. Nov. 26 2009 9:48 PM ET

OTTAWA — Al Jazeera's English-language news network will be coming soon to the cable and satellite dial, after winning the approval of Canada's broadcast regulator.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved the Qatar-based network's application to be offered by digital cable and satellite service providers.

In the past, the regulator had hesitated to allow non-Canadian channels that competed with domestic services, but said its decision was in keeping with a policy of promoting a diversity of editorial points of view.

It also did not impose the kind of surveillance of the network's content that it did on Al Jazeera's Arabic service in 2004.

Al Jazeera English is broadcast in 100 countries on television and via the Internet, and employs roughly 1,200 journalists, some of them Canadian. Managing director Tony Burman was former editor-in-chief at CBC News, and helped drum up support in Canada for the application.

Such figures as the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Conservative Senator Hugh Segal backed the bid for a licence.

Groups such as the Canadian Jewish Congress and B'nai Brith Canada did not oppose the licence, but said they would remain vigilant to the content being broadcast.

But one commissioner, Marc Patrone, provided a dissenting view on the licence application. He argued that the commission should have taken into account the record of Al Jazeera's arabic service, which had been scrutinized for offensive content.

He expressed doubts that the two networks are wholly independent.

"It's also a missed opportunity to send a message internationally about levels of journalistic standards and codes that we consider important enough to demand from all news broadcasters who wish to operate in this country," wrote Patrone.

"Adding diversity is necessary, but not at any price."

The Canadian Association of Journalists is pleased with the CRTC decision.

"We're pleased that the CRTC has chosen to strengthen the diversity of news choices available to Canadians, enabling them to become better informed about the world," said CAJ president Mary Agnes Welch in a statement released Thursday.

"Allowing Al Jazeera English to broadcast on our airwaves is a big step toward serving our diverse population with news from parts of the world that just don't get covered in Canada today."

Iggy Moment

Kelly McParland: Michael Ignatieff unveils his big climate plan
Posted: November 26, 2009, 2:00 PM by NP Editor

Here are some extracts from Michael Ignatieff's big speech at Laval University today.

The speech was billed as an unveiling of the Liberal party's position on global warming and the environment.

I'd offer an analysis, but it's hard to analyze mush. You try to get a firm grasp on it and it just oozes away between your fingers.

The Liberal position as described by Mr. Ignatieff is like that. It could mean anything. There are some semi-promises -- for example, we'd get a cap-and-trade system in place of the carbon tax favoured by Stephane Dion --but no real specifics. Fort example, here are several criteria set out by the Liberal leader for the cap-and-trade system:

Racism And Discrimination Encouraged

Jonathan Kay on the government's new Indian ethnic test: You say you're aboriginal? Prove it!
Posted: November 26, 2009, 2:46 PM by Jonathan Kay

Looking for work? Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, a federal government agency, is recruiting a research assistant at their Saint-Hyacinthe, Qu. location. Salary is listed as $52,225 to $63,538, and French is essential. If you're interested, submit your application by December 3.

And when you do, make sure you get your ethnicity straight. That's because, like all government agencies, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada "is committed to achieving a skilled, diversified workforce that reflects the diversity of the Canadian population. We encourage members of the following employment equity groups to apply and self-identify: women (especially in non-traditional occupational groups), members of a visible minority group, aboriginal people, and persons with a disability."

"Self-identify" is, of course, a euphemism for "Don't forget to cash in on your DNA." Decades after traditional forms of discrimination were banned from Canadian workplaces, our own government continues to boast that it judges people by the colour of their skin and the nature of their sex organs.

Let's Not Lose Sight Of Reality......

...it was during this same period that the "whitewashing" of Cabbagetown started and depleted the stock of affordable and transient housing in the downtown area.

Council should learn from the past on Seaton Hall redevelopment

John Sewell
27 November 2009 12:34

City Hall can learn, can’t it? Forty years ago, a developer wanted to tear down two dozen 19th-century houses on Sherbourne Street south of Gerrard Street, and replace them with two 30-storey towers. It took some citizen muscle, but in 1973 city council said no to that approach.
Instead, council bought the site, agreed to save all but one of the houses, and built a seven-storey apartment building behind the houses along the rear laneway.

Presto: The heritage structures were saved (including the 1845 home of Enoch Taylor, who sponsored the first public school in the city) and there were as many housing units in this redevelopment as there would have been in the two apartment towers. City council proved that to intensify you didn’t need to demolish and build highrise. You could reuse the past to accommodate the present.

That redevelopment on Sherbourne was the beginning of a whole new way of bringing change to a city — build onto the past, don’t try to totally replace it.

Now the city faces the same kind of opportunity two blocks to the west, on George Street south of Gerrard. A developer is proposing to redevelop Seaton House, the city’s largest shelter for men, and a city committee has agreed in principle to the proposal, which calls for clearing the site and starting over. The eight heritage houses on the site won’t be saved, nor will the large 19th-century schoolhouse, nor any part of the Seaton House, built in the 1950s.

That’s a mistake. The lesson is that we need to build onto the past, not wipe it out and hope we can do better. The city is more interesting, developments more imaginative, and neighbourhoods more resilient when architects and developers work with the past and restore the dignity of existing structures.

There’s no good reason why the redevelopment of Seaton House can’t be based on these good lessons. It’s not too late to get it right.

City councillors can learn from the past, can’t they?

John Sewell is a former mayor of Toronto; torontoletters@metronews.ca.

How Much Will It Cost Us To Make China And India Green.....

....and where will those $$$ come from? Look around your neighborhood at the abandoned factories because jobs went to China, India, etc. How much of our tax $$$ are going to payoff loans from places like China.

Racism Is Colour Blind And Is A Cottage Industry

Dialogue needed to fight racism and radicalism

Christine Williams
27 November 2009 05:08

With news of the Fort Hood rampage in Texas and the revamped Canadian citizenship guide warning newcomers that “barbaric cultural practices” will not be tolerated, conflicting debates about terrorism and our expectations in the West are once again active and will continue to be until we collectively confront the two menacing forces of radicalism and racism.

Both of these variables are alive and well and should invoke a deep horror. Yet those who persistently deny the reality of any one of these insidious evils do so to the peril of our society as a whole.

So let’s start with racism. Labelling and stigmatizing people leads to deep divisions within a society and facilitate a hostile environment not conducive to the positive growth of an increasingly diverse civilization.

Many Muslims have been on the receiving end of stigmatization. We need to be clear that the vast majority of Muslims in the West are peace loving. Muslims who regularly attend mosque and read the Qur’an should not automatically translate into our minds as enemies of our democracy. Although there are Qur’anic texts that call for jihad by the sword, most Muslims in our society do not adhere to this strict, literal interpretation.

In fact, moderate Muslims are referred to as apostates by radical groups and they understand the threat of extremist zeal even more than non-Muslims. The Muslim Canadian Congress has frequently stood up in defence of our democratic values, while renouncing all attempts to conceal the nature of extremism. It continues to do so even in the face of death threats. So we need to think twice before exercising discrimination on all people of the Muslim faith.

It is those Muslims who embrace a militant and extreme ideology rooted in Salafism that we need to be concerned about. Salafism is often used interchangeably with Wahabbism and, in its most extreme form, calls for jihad by the sword against all perceived enemies of Islam — particularly the West — and includes the subjugation of women, sometimes brutal.

We cannot afford to import this irrational zeal, which is accepted and encouraged in many parts of the world. We have every right to challenge such ideologies.

It is time for us to make clear distinctions between peace-loving Muslims from those who are radicals. Suppressing open discussion and dialogue only serves to drive the evils of racism and radicalism underground where both can flourish to the detriment of all us all.

Ontario Voters Threatened By McGoonty Stooge

Ontario ups HST rebate pressure

November 27, 2009

There will be no rebate cheques of up to $1,000 to offset the new harmonized sales tax without Ottawa’s stamp of approval, warns Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

Tories will challenge Ignatieff on HST

'Final' legislation forces Liberals to choose: support a harmonized tax and risk voters' wrath; defeat it and lose traction in Ontario and B.C.

Is It Procedure For Police To Notify Media BEFORE A Raid

Humane Society raided
President and staffers facing charges, including for animal cruelty

This Has Already Been Put In Pespective.....

...blame the Suits Not The Soldiers. The military take orders from those suits irregardless of whether those suits were blue or red. We would take to the streets with our beer and hockey sticks if Afgans tried to impose their values on our criminal justice system

Release Colvin's e-mails

Let's see the e-mails. All of them, unredacted. Post them on a website. Then we'll know who's lying and who isn't.

Don Martin: The quiet ambassador brings calm to Colvin saga
Posted: November 26, 2009, 6:01 PM by NP Editor
Filed under: Full Comment,Don Martin,Canadian politics

Thursday's episode of the Richard Colvin saga featured a diplomatic effort to put softer edges around the government's campaign to discredit the whistleblower diplomat on his Afghan detainee torture allegations.

David Mulroney, Canada's ambassador to China and the former top diplomat in Afghanistan, filed only respectful disagreement and denials that Canada had ever knowingly transferred detainees into custody to endure torture from their Afghan guardians.

About Me

My photo
I lean to the right but I still have a heart and if I have a mission it is to respond to attacks on people not available to protect themselves and to point out the hypocrisy of the left at every opportunity.MY MAJOR GOAL IS HIGHLIGHT THE HYPOCRISY AND STUPIDITY OF THE LEFTISTS ON TORONTO CITY COUNCIL. Last word: In the final analysis this blog is a relief valve for my rants/raves.

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