It Is Not The $$$ But The Principle

Bussin At The Public Trough

Politicians use tax dollars to sponsor teams

By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA

Toronto city councillors are allowed to sponsor amateur sports teams with taxpayers' money up to $500 per team. So far this year, councillors have spent more than $2,000 sponsoring teams, including "Bussin Blizzard," and "Bussin Blue Jays."

Last year, city staff recommended councillors not use taxpayers' money to sponsor local amateur sports teams because it could be perceived as favouritism towards those who receive the money, there is no process to verify that the organizations are legit, and the public perception that the donations will curry favour with voters at election time.

Council ignored that advice, and in July allowed their $53,100 office budgets to cover sports teams sponsorships.

Will L-girl be going back to Obamaland To Escape Canadian Fascists

A couple of chartered buses will accomodate L-girl and her merry band of deserters/cowards.

annual spring nyc/nj visit, one month late

One month later than usual, I am off to visit family and friends in the old country. Allan, Cody and Tala will be here watching baseball and hanging out in the backyard.New York City usually brings out at least one blog post while I'm gone. Other than that, I'll be back Thursday. With any luck Jason Kenney and his merry band of fascists will let me back in. Have a good week, everyone. Posted by L-girl

Right Up There With Suicide Bomber With Child

Wal-Mart baby trial to begin in Saskatchewan

Updated Mon. May. 4 2009 6:30 AM ET

The Canadian Press

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. -- The lawyer for a Saskatchewan woman accused of abandoning her newborn in a toilet in a Wal-Mart says she is anxious to begin her trial today.Ajay Krishan says the woman is ready to tell her side of the story.April Dawn Halkett has pleaded not guilty to one count of child abandonment.She allegedly gave birth in the washroom of the department store in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in May 2007.A shopper alerted staff, who found a baby boy head-first in a toilet and performed C-P-R until paramedics arrived. The child survived.Halkett contacted police within days.

Pandemic Isn't All Doom And Gloom

The Tortise And The Tortise

LIBS & NDP IN RACE TO INHERIT TAMIL TIGER LEGACY

They Also Promised 4000 New Nurses

Ontario to provide $100-million to keep top scientists from departing for U.S.

Reality Check

Polling numbers show no 'white knight' on political horizon
The Grits are on a public opinion polling high right now, but Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is still an unknown and Prime Minister Stephen Harper is holding onto his core Conservative vote...


Liberals prep for June election
The federal Liberals are going to be ready to plunge the country into an election by June if Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government doesn't make it much easier for jobless Canadians to get employment insurance benefits. MORE...

Election timing a high-stakes call for Ignatieff Hebert: Michael Ignatieff emerged from a seamless party convention this weekend with his foot slightly off the election brake. A day after being officially confirmed as leader by his party, he used his wrap-up news conference yesterday to draw a new.. MORE...

Appearances Are Important

Liberals split on election question181

Caucus unites behind leader, but appears divided over key question of when to push for vote

Michael Ignatieff and his (mythical) learning society

Sunday, May 03, 2009 at 06:22 PM

Comments: 16

Michael Ignatieff has finally won the Liberal Party leadership campaign!Ok, that's not saying much, but technically, it's true.With his win, Michael Ignatieff is starting to chart his vision for Canada. He wants to transform Canada into something called a "learning society".What the heck is that?

Read on and...well...learn.

Click the title to read the whole story...

Will Iggy Make A right Hand Turn

Kelly McParland: Liberals have a leader, now they just need a plan

Posted: May 03, 2009

In the treacly video that preceded Michael Ignatieff's victory speech at the Liberal Party's weekend convention, there were five shots of Mr. Ignatieff with President Barack Obama, one with Mr. Obama's plane, one with Bob Rae, one with Rick Mercer, and none of Mr. Ignatieff with any previous Liberal leader.

This tells us something about the Liberal claims to unity, which permeated the Liberal leader's weekend coronation. Mr. Ignatieff, along with many Liberals, doesn't want any more fighting within the party. He may be granted his hoped-for peace, largely thanks to the retirement of all the previous rivals. For now, at least, Mr. Ignatieff is the unchallenged leader, with a mandate to revive his battered party.

Canadians who tuned in to the convention, however, remain largely in the dark as to how he intends to do that. To quote a rival newspaper, rarely have so many members of a federal party come together to do so little. Mr. Ignatieff's acceptance speech, intended as the emotional peak of the weekend, was wooden and platitudinous. Canadians “are more than the sum of our parts.” Getting ahead should be about “what you know not who you know.” The road to prosperity “may be long but we know which way to get there – the Canadian way.”

Click here to read more...

Liberal convention survey

Check out my extremely scientific poll on on the Liberal Party convention.

Posted by Gerry Nicholls

Smart Move Dullton

Harmonized tax to cost homebuyers $800M

GTA to take biggest hit because of high number of homes over $400,000, analysis warns May 4, 2009

Robert Benzie Susan Delacourt

QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF

Premier Dalton McGuinty's scheme to harmonize sales taxes threatens 21,200 construction jobs and will cost buyers of new homes at least $800 million, a housing industry analysis warns.

Few And Far Between

Stats Not Much Protection

'A surge of violence'

By IAN ROBERTSON, SUN MEDIA

With ongoing shootings and two recent murders, a west-end gang war has the "undivided attention" of Toronto Police, Chief Bill Blair said yesterday.

Teen's mother remembers murdered son

The mother of a gunned down teen remembers her son as a quiet and caring boy that was free of enemies

This Is ONLY For The 1St Quarter

Councillors on a spree

By DON PEAT AND IAN ROBERTSON, SUN MEDIA

City councillors used their taxpayer-funded office budgets to unleash a little stimulus package of their own during the first quarter of the year.

Ambulance-chasers, all the way to El Salvador

By DON PEAT AND IAN ROBERTSON

Taxpayers picked up the tab for one city councillor to fly to El Salvador, another not to fly to Nigeria.

Will Canada Be Far Behind?

Becoming Garbage Transfer Statin Managers...

....and we pay (property taxes) for the privilege

in which i learn that my recycling efforts are not as good as i thought

Freedom Of Speech?

Canadian hypocrisy

Alberta has just amended its human rights legislation but left in place its hate speech provisions:"Despite all the rhetoric about the need to protect freedom of speech, the Alberta government is doing precisely nothing about it. In a profoundly disappointing decision, the Alberta government's legislation to amend the Act has left in place the section dealing with matters of speech.
That decision is briefly explained here (PDF):
- Section 3 of Alberta’s human rights legislation already states that “nothing shall be deemed to interfere with the free expression of opinion on any subject.”- Government found that removing “publications” from the Act could have serious consequences. Ultimately, Albertans need a balance between freedom of speech and responsibility.

Source

So they pretend that their Act already protects free speech, completely ignoring that it does not -- as shown by the fact that Pastor Boissoin was successfully prosecuted for hate speech under it.

Posted by jonjayray at 12:26 AM

Point/Counterpoint

Israel at 61: Denial of Catastrophe is at the root of the 'conflict'

Some facts about Israel and the Arabs

The 1844 census of Jerusalem found 7120 Jews…5760 Muslims…3390 Christians.
In 1869, Mark Twain wrote of the emptiness of the land, of traveling all day without seeing a human being on the roads or in the countryside.
Mark Twain wrote of Arab sloth and filth and flies.
In the 1880s, Americans forced Indians from their land to resettle Indian land with whites. Many Indians had to be killed.
In the 1880s, Australians forced Aborigines from their land to resettle Aborigine land with whites. Many Aborigines had to be killed.
In the 1880s, white New Zealanders forced Maoris from their land to resettle Maori land with whites. Many Maoris had to be killed.
In the 1880s, European Jews bought idle land in what is now Israel, joining Mizrahi Jews continuously there since Abraham.
Beginning in 1882, forty Jewish families settled at Rishon L’Tzion. Four hundred Arab families settled around them. Some of the Arab families were Bedouin. Some came from Egypt.
A British official reported Arabs sought employment, clean drinking water, better health care, and lower infant mortality. The official reported this pattern was repeated across areas where Jews settled.
In the 1890s, Belgians cut off the hands of Africans who did not gather enough rubber.
In the 1890s, Arabs flocked to Jewish areas of Palestine for jobs created by Jewish investment and enterprise.
After WWI, Britain tried to set up a Palestinian governing body of twelve…eight Arabs…two Christians…two Jews. Arabs said two Jews were too many. A cynic might say Arabs knew then two Jews outnumbered eight Arabs.
In 1917, the British Balfour Agreement promised a national home for Jews in Palestine. The British did not mean it.
Arabs turned down two-state solutions in 1917, 1937, 1948, and 2000.
After a Nazi supported Arab revolt in 1936-1939, British-backed Arab religious leader Husseini fled to Germany. Husseini is revered throughout Islam today.
In 1939, A British White Paper severely restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine.
After WWII, European Jews sought refuge in what is now Israel. The Arabist British did all they could to keep Jews out of Palestine. Under United Nations mandate, Jews established the State of Israel despite Arab objections and Britain perfidy.
In the United Nations document authorizing the formation of the state of Israel, an Arab/British/African clause weighted population numbers in favor of Arabs. In 1948, the Arab population was still largely transient. This clause identified any Arab who had been in Palestine for two years as a permanent resident.
Do we give casual Mexican labor citizenship after two years in the United States?
In 1948, Arab countries attacked the infant Jewish nation. Jewish citizen soldiers decisively defeated combined professional armies of five Arab nations.
In 1948, 850,000 Arab residents of Israel fled and/or were expelled. There is evidence Arabs residents were encouraged by Arab invaders to flee to give Arab invaders a freer hand.
Only Jordan offered refugees citizenship. In all other Muslim countries, Palestinian refugees remain in camps sixty years later…anti-Israeli propaganda pawns.
In the months following the 1948 war, 850,000 Sephardic/Mizrahi Jews fled or were expelled to Israel from the Arab countries who lost the war. We do not know how many Jews fled to other nations. We do not know how many Jews were killed. Arab nations claim no knowledge of this flight/expulsion.
Sephardic Jews had been in the Middle East since 1492, Mizrahi Jews since Abraham.
If Palestinians wanted their own country, Palestinians would call a constitutional convention…write a governing document…declare a nation. There is precedent.
Romans called the province Palestine to insult rebellious Jews. Ottomans kept the name.
If Palestinians had lived in peace beside Jews in democratic Israel, Palestinians would own Israel. With the differential in birth rates, Palestinians could have taken democratic Israel with the vote.
The story of modern Israel & Palestine is not what you have been told. Palestinian leader Musa Alami said in 1948, “The people are in great need of a myth to fill their consciousness and imagination.”
The King of Jordan also denied the displacement of Arabs by Jewish settlements. The king said, “The Arabs are as prodigal in selling their land as they are in…weeping [about it].
The popular history of Palestine is myth.

SOURCE

Reality Check For Unhyphenated Canadians

Those May Be Your People, But These Are My People
* Posted in canada Tagged: highway of heroes, Tamil Demonstrators
Unambiguously Ambidextrous

"While Europe Slept" Warned Us.......

Nice review of Bruce Bawer's new book....
His new book, Surrender, is out later this month, and I urge everybody to buy a copy.... A couple of years ago Bawer published a book on a related topic, "While Europe Slept," a warning about the increasing Islamization of Europe (Bawer, a U.S. native, lives in Oslo, Norway). That book was roundly (though wrongly) vilified as being racist, and likely because of that perception the National Book
GayandRight |

Read The Comments At SDA

The First American Prime Minister In Waiting
Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose! Only name on the ballot, May 2, 2009 - "Ignatieff won 97 per cent of the votes of the 2000-odd delegates at the party's three-day convention. " Only name on the...
small dead animals |

Like Seinfeld Iggy Is About Nothing

Civitas vs the Seinfeld convention
I spent another day at Civitas in Toronto. I chatted with a lot of old friends heard and discussed a lot of interesting ideas and even chatted with HM PM Stephen Harper on hrcs. I wasn't paying too much attention to the Seinfeld convention , but I got home and discovered the statist grits want a carbon tax and want to increase the powers of the thought police. I had been fairly certain the grits....
Dr Roy's Thoughts

Hmmmm!

Why Israel is a good country in a bad neighbourhood

HARVEY MEIROVICH Globe and Mail April 28, 2009 at 12:00 AM EDT

Mature love is to love in the face of imperfection. After years of living together, facing ups and downs, partners will invariably gaze at one another and realize that, notwithstanding the blemishes each sees in the other, so much of the original "chemistry" remains between them, making it worthwhile to continue their adventure.Twenty years of living in Israel has transformed me into this kind of mature lover. In Israel's Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers of the Jewish state acquiesced wholeheartedly to the elevated ethical bar set by the Hebrew prophets: God demands higher, not lower, standards of goodness from Israel; the higher the privilege, the graver the responsibility. Sixty-one years after its establishment, Israeli society wrestles continuously with these Herculean expectations. MORE....

Perspective......

The real pandemic is economic, with no vaccine From Friday's Globe and Mail

May 1, 2009 at 12:00 AM EDT

I got a chuckle from Margaret Wente's saying yesterday that the pandemic story exploded in the mass (or mass hysteria) media because it was time to change the subject from the economy. Then I gasped: OMG - what if it shifted not from tedium but paralysis? Right now, there's far more reason to panic about the economy than over a new flu. This recession emerged from a recent strain that's mutating, contagious and has no known cure. What if EGD (economic globalization disease) is the real pandemic? MORE.....

Dropping g..... w...... From Lexicon

'WE ARE OFF TO A GOOD START. BUT IT IS JUST A START'...

Common Sense

Thomas Axworthy: Liberals need to offer solutions, not just criticism

Posted: May 02, 2009, 9:00 AM by NP Editor

Taking His Own Advice

David Frum: Would Obama run risks with American lives?

Posted: May 02, 2009, 12:01 PM by NP Editor

At his press conference Wednesday, President Barack Obama accused his own country of practicing torture: “Water-boarding violates our ideals and our values. I do believe that it is torture.”

These words are no mere expression of opinion. They have important legal and political consequences. Just one example: On Thursday, ABC News reported the names (and revealed the faces) of two contractors who had advised the CIA on its water-boarding program. During the Valerie Plame case, it was thought to be a very big deal that Bush administration officials had divulged the name of a former undercover CIA agent. ABC sourced their news leak to government officials, too.

Did Obama’s words embolden these officials to name names — and possibly endanger the lives of two men who acted to defend the nation?

Click here to read more...

Liberal Rest.....

Ignatieff yet to deliver substance

Chantal Hébert
By the standards set by Stéphane Dion's meandering farewell address Friday night, Michael Ignatieff passed the test of his...

Election? It doesn't add up

Angelo Persichilli
There is no doubt that the opportunity to get rid of Stéphane Dion six months ahead of schedule was a godsend for the Liberals. But adopting a...

Triggering an election will be harder than winning it
L. IAN MACDONALD: NDP and the Bloc have no interest in bringing down the Conservatives. As the Liberals board flights home from the coronation of Michael Ignatieff in Vancouver, visions of an imminent restoration to power will be dancing in their heads. MORE...

Ctv: Ignatieff aiming to change 'culture' of the party ...

Gaz: Iggy has to show us what he's made of

Some Comments From The Cheap Seats
RCR

Reminds me of when they crowned Paul Martin. Boy that turned out well. Why is this party afraid to hold a normal convention and choose a leader. Oh I forgot they tried that with Mr. Dion. Boy that turned out well too. This party is a disaster.If it wasn't for Toronto this party would have ceased to exist long ago.Maybe they want to come back and steal more money like they did with Adscam and EI surplus.

---

Samual

Micheal will make all Canadians proud when he becomes Prime Minister.

---

Larry from Vancouver

A Liberal is a Liberal is a Liberal. How quickly the media covered up Ignatieff's comment about the need to raise taxes! I just don't trust this guy!

---

Marg

It will be hard for Ignatieff & Co, to control the "right" when they have so many former NDP members and left wingers in the party. I guess he will tell Canadians what he thinks they want to hear, then if he becomes PM in the future, all will revert back to the usual Liberal behavior. Let's not be fooled. And NO, I am NOT a conservative "hack", but someone who can think for herself, and someone who knows what several years of Liberalism has done to our country. Do we want more taxes and continued scandals?? Hopefully not!!!!

---

David

The New Liberal Party, much like what was once the New Conservative Party, will benefit greatly from his intelligence and experienced-in-the-ways-of-the-world views. Canada is lucky that he came home after his travels abroad. Home is where you grew up, went to school and, in Iggy's case, University. Like so many Canadians, he then tasted the world and now he's home again. How sweet it is for Canada!

---

G. Gomery. B

So now starts the objective and challenge of converting the new leader so that he can get his Liberal Party Leader leather jacket and become a full patch wearing Liberal thieving and crook.

---

jim from wpg.

this guy spend 30 years outside of canada, payed no tax, so bring on the election iggy we will decide your fate.

---

Margaret / Calgary

It's a real shame that Canadians are becoming, have become so ignorant. I mean ignorant as in hillbilly ignorant. Most of the Reformer loyalists just repeat and repeat the same old cliches. None of them know how to think for themselves at all -- although they like to say they do. They watch TV, and read columnists, and then repeat the cliches. I saw very quickly what potential Ignatieff has to turn Canada around; so that we can look forward to a future of optimism, instead of the dreary, Americanized path Harper is leading us down. Harper is concerned only with Harper's power - he will do *anything* for a vote. There's a name for that. This insistence from the mentally hobbled that Ignatieff is American -- he made his name in broadcasting and freelance journalism in LONDON, England - not in the US. If you're so afraid of Americans, how is it that you accept Harper's adoration of the American Republicans? He's been very cozy with influential Republicans, and the American side of the Alliance Church - and George Bush -- for ever since he left Toronto and ended up at U of C. He's hired American spin doctors, at our cost -- without explaining anything about what he's doing!! He's refused to meet Canadian media on his big CNN/Fox tour - while sucking up to the Americans. It's pathetic. It's pathetic how ignorant Canadians have become about their own country, and how little they think. Really they should be a feature on the Leno show. More than worrying about any politicians, I worry about that ignorance and lack of education in basic Civics - the low level that our schools have fallen to, and the product that's out there working and voting today.

---

DB

Don't Liberals need the approval of the Duma or the politburo or at least Stalin's ghost before appointment of the "Dear Leader"?

---

Scott MacKay, Alberta

You Don't Trust this Guy? At least this man is liked and has some sort of personality. Steve has nothing compared to this guy.

---

George in Calgary

I agree with Larry. One cannot trust this man from the States. He seems to cozy up to the American president and we all know that that little honeymoon will crash sooner than later. No Harper is just fine thank you very much and he and his team will bring Canada out of this recession just fine without cratering every program we have.

---

Randy

Oh for Cripes sakes will you give it up already with 'this guy from the States' 'Iggy the American' Ignatieff is a Canadian Born and raised here totally loyal to his country and it citizens. If this is the best the Conservative supporters can do for discrediting Iggy you are a sorry lot. Watch over the next year for him to quickly overtake Harper in the 'Who is best to run the country' polls.

---

Pittsky

Iggy was "crowned"? I guess that makes him King of Toronto and Montreal because thats where liberal support begins and ends. If Iggy want to make headway outside of major city centres he should back away from gun bans of any kind. The liberals haven't been in power ever since Martin made a hand gun ban part of his platform.

---

Kevin in Alberta

want higher tax's vote Liberal!

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cantuc

If the biggest reason they have to annoint Ignatief is that he speaks English better than Stephane Dion that doesn't put Ignatief any higher on the short list that 32,500,000 other Canadians . The carbon tax was Ignatiefs idea which Dion bought , hook , line and sinker . Ignatief will distance himself from that because he won't get elected running on it . It was nice of Dion to test drive it for him though . Theres one born every minute . He'll distance himself until after he's elected , if ever, then hang onto your wallets folks .

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Albert

A Lie-beral convention reminds me of a similar convention in the 20's and 30's when all the Mob bosses would congregate to divvy up the country.

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Maggie

For someone that used to vote liberal. I'm still not happy with their choice!I would very much prefer someone that's paid taxes here. However, I'll keep voting conservative, still the best choice!!!!!!!

---

PrairieDog-prairies
To watch this "crowning" without an election of the tens of thousands of members, is scary. The Liberal elite simply chose who will be leader. No race, no options, no one to challenge. If anyone tried they'd be ousted from the party. Sounds just like a dictatorship to me. The Liberals said for years that Harper had a hidden agenda. Well, we now see who has the hidden agenda. These clowns actually want to go back to Kyoto. It isn't even working. Europe has countrys trying to get out of it. Then, of course, the taxes will follow. More talks of a carbon tax at the convention. This is like recycling all the "elders" of the party. Iggy isn't even the leader. His strings are being pulled by the "elite", and the Canadian public is going to see right through this "wanna be Canadian". First Dion (duel citizenship with France), now Iggy, who lived most of his life OUTSIDE of Canada. Is this really the best the Liberals can come up with as a viable option for Canadians??
MORE

Priorities, Priorities....+

They Don't Have Enough On Their Plate??

Like a deer in the headlights
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN
I can hardly wait until the Canadian, Ontario and U.S. governments have seats on the boards of Chrysler and, in all probability, GM, in return for investing billions of taxpayers' dollars in the financially troubled companies.

Car Hating Council

Shrinking downtown corridor

By SUE-ANN LEVY

On Tuesday afternoon councillors on the city's public works committee will consider an inane proposal to narrow heavily trafficked Jarvis Street from five lanes to four.

An Insight

Play it again, Stephen

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

Stephen Harper is generally recognized as a composed leader, a confident conductor of state affairs.

Miller Con Job

No provincial cash for TTC cars

By BRYN WEESE AND ANTONELLA ARTUSO, SUN MEDIA

Mayor David Miller knew he wasn't getting provincial help when Toronto announced plans to buy $1.2 billion in new Bombardier streetcars, provincial sources told the Sunday Sun.

No Arrests?? Would Things Have Been Different If They Parked Illegally

High times at Queen's Park

By BRIAN GRAY, SUN MEDIA

High times but no misdemeanours.

Coronation

Tired From Making Out Tax Returns......

What you need to know about May Day
May 1, 2009| ByLeo Panitch|

For more than 100 years, May Day has symbolized the common struggles of workers around the globe. Why is it largely ignored in North America?

• 
  

Says Volumes About Attitude

PeaNUT Alert

Galloway plans to sue Jason Kenney...
I can't see him actually moving forward with this...but then again, the guy is nuts...British antiwar MP George Galloway, who was denied entry into Canada in March, announced Friday he plans to sue Immigration Minister Jason Kenney over suggestions he supports terrorism.The defamation notice, the first step in commencing a defamation action, was also served on senior members of two Jewish organization...
GayandRight

SDA

You Don't Pull The Mask Off The Old Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with SDA....
small dead animals

The Tolerant Left
small dead animals

"Judge should decide whether veils allowed in court"
When the concept of multiculturalism was introduced to Canadians, most assumed it meant "more pavilions at Folkfest"... h/t Revnant Dream...
small dead animals

THE Convention

conventionwatch: Jean Chretien mentioned every Liberal leader from the past 35-years in his speech. Except Paul Martin. It continues. #roft #van09 (Sat, 02 May 2009 03:27:05 +0000 GMT)

A Convention About Nothing, or a Convention About Money?
When I first heard that Michael Ignatieff was taking control of the Liberal Party, I was happy. Not because I thought Iggy gave the Tories the best chance of winning, but because I shudder to imagine what horror Bob Rae would reap upon Canada if elected Prime Minister. Even if Ignatieff was the more electable candidate, to me he was the lesser of two evils. When I heard that the Liberal Conven
The Iceman |

All hail the Puffin King
Yeah, sure he does... for his successor... -- VANCOUVER -- Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is urging Liberal members to change the way the party picks its leaders by adopting a one-member, one-vote selection process.*
halls of macadamia

Liberals gather to fete Dion, skewer Harper It was vintage Chrétien on Friday night. Unfortunately, it was also vintage Dion. MORE...

• Ignatieff takes hit for tax remarks
  Canadians are ranking the Liberals ahead of the Conservatives but favour the Tories' Stephen Harper over Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff as the best prime minister, a new poll shows.
• 
  

• Grits lead Tories, but Harper tops Ignatieff: Poll

Democracy In Action?

Money talks, and in Ottawa it's saying: No election this year

Posted: May 01, 2009,

If further proof was needed that the improving fortunes of the Liberals is a nightmare for the New Democratic Party, the latest figures on party fundraising provide it.

According to Pundits Guide, the Conservatives took in $4,361,540.04 in the first quarter of 2009, down almost $600,000, or about 10%, from last year. But NDP donations are down 50%, to just $595,611.

The Liberals, with a new executive director and increased focus on fixing their ailing fundraising efforts, increased their take by $1 million in the first quarter, roughly equivalent to the amount lost by the other two parties.

You can't run a national election campaign on the kind of money the NDP is bringinging in -- at least not the big-spending kind of campaign Jack Layton bragged of last year -- especially when the same donors are being asked to finance a provincial election in B.C.

So don't expect to see Mr. Layton in any big hurry to bring down Stephen Harper.

National Post

Comrade Miller Has Competition For Island Squatter Votes

Successes and failures of island airport TheStar.com - Opinion - Successes and failures of island airport

May 02, 2009

Re: Island airport success, Editorial, April 28

Your editorial touted what has succeeded at the island airport. Allow me to complete the accounting by listing some of the failures. These failures are a blight on the waterfront and by no means should they be celebrated.

Curfew violations. Porter planes have landed after the 11 p.m. airport curfew, without penalties being levied by the Toronto Port Authority.

Excessive noise has been an ongoing problem for residents living along the waterfront and elsewhere in the city. The Toronto Port Authority has acknowledged this through the creation of a noise management committee tasked with mitigation strategies, yet has gone ahead with airport expansion prior to the results of this committee being tabled.

Taxi queueing issues. Despite assurances that many passengers would travel by bus or streetcar to reach the airport, most Porter travellers seem to travel by taxi. This has resulted in major problems with taxis taking over the neighbourhood, often racing down area streets and idling as they wait for fares, immediately next to a park, community centre and school.

The noise, the pollution and the behaviour and impact of airport traffic are having a horrendous impact on the communities I represent.

Adam Vaughan, City Councillor, Ward 20 - Trinity Spadina

Porter Airlines announcement of its $45 million expansion at Toronto City Centre Airport is terrific news. Not only will it create hundreds of direct construction and airline jobs but it will also help to sustain jobs at Bombardier's Toronto facility, which manufactures the DASH 8 Q400. The additional 10 aircraft order comes at a time when Canada's aerospace sector is beginning to feel the painful effects of the global recession. Recently, more than 400 Bombardier workers in Toronto received layoff notices. It's opportunities like this that will help the country emerge from this global financial meltdown.

Roland Kiehne, President, CAW Local 112, Toronto

I was stunned to see the editorial supporting the expansion of the island airport. More pollution, more noise and doubling the risk of a plane crashing into a waterfront condo makes no sense for people who claim to care about the quality of life on the waterfront and the Islands. I thought the plan was to make a green, people-friendly waterfront for all Torontonians; turning Queen's Quay into a treed strolling area with people activities, not turn it into an airport runway. Once again private greed has won out over the public good. The Star's support of corporate greed over the public good to me exemplifies what has gone wrong with newspapers.

Jim Purdie, Toronto

Bottom Line....It Will Be The Seniors Themselves

Wanted: national strategy for aging

May 02, 2009
Who is going to care for Canada's rapidly aging population?

Slum Landlord Solution

Ignore their problems, you're fired

by Joe Fiorito

May 2, 2009

Here's what I would do on Day One if I were the new head of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. First, I'd get rid of Derek Ballantyne's chair...

We Need A Strong Opposition...

...that will work for the voters not their personal gain.
Why power is so elusive for Liberals

by James Travers

Liberals gather to fete Dion, skewer Harper It was vintage Chrétien on Friday night. Unfortunately, it was also vintage Dion. MORE...

• Ignatieff takes hit for tax remarks
  Canadians are ranking the Liberals ahead of the Conservatives but favour the Tories' Stephen Harper over Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff as the best prime minister, a new poll shows.
• 
  

• Grits lead Tories, but Harper tops Ignatieff: Poll

No One Expects Anything Else From Turner

Bleat the clock

By MICHAEL COREN

Poor old Stephen Harper. If it's not a column or broadcast claiming that he's sold out it's a book by a one-time colleague.

Shake Your Head Decision

Court green-lights TTC signal contract

By IAN ROBERTSON, SUN MEDIA

The TTC yesterday announced it cleared a court challenge hurdle and awarded a multi-million-dollar contract for new subway signals to the U.S. subsidiary of a conglomerate based in France.

Like A fly On The Wall

Overheard in the Liberal War Room...

Ignatieff: But surely as anyone with a PhD in advanced economic theory realizes, the only way to eliminate the deficit is to raise taxes. It was common knowledge among us faculty at Harvard. Indeed, I remember attending a striking lecture on the subject ...

Consultant: Excuse me, professor Brainiac, but we have been through this a hundred times. Let me repeat, politics is not like Harvard. Didn't you read the Liberal campaign manual I sent you?

Had this particular consultant been Warren Kinsella, surely the sound of sizzling catmeat would have been heard in the background.

Wonder Woman

An Interesting Read But....

..I would suggest that it requires some vetting.

Israel at 61: Denial of Catastrophe is at the root of the 'conflict'
April 30, 2009
By Lia Tarachansky|

As we celebrate the sixty-first anniversary of the creation Israel, it is time for us to recognize what has happened, and continues to happen in our name.

Let's Not Forget McGinty's Broken Promises On Autism,,,,

Support Bill C360, a PMB for Autism Services
While I fully support the Private Members Bill introduced recently on April 3rd, 2009 by NDP MP Glenn Thibeault (Sudbury), I do so on a non-partisan basis. I say that because I have read comments at a number of autism-oriented websites that simply use the opportunity to criticize the Harper Conservative government. And, that serves no [...]
Crux of the Matter

Memories.........

Intersections: Clinton and Henderson

Paul Terefenko

Only a few steps south of the cologne-and Dior-adoring army of wealthy patio-hoppers on College, two regular joes get out of their pickup and walk into San Francesco’s on the east side of Clinton south of Henderson.

More

He Wasn't Charged For The Beaver Tails And He Shows His Graitude By.....

OBAMA KICKS CANADA

And Behind Door No. 2........

• Dion to be feted at low-key tribute as Liberals gather in Vancouver
  
• 
  
• According to some Liberals, the former leader didn't even want a tribute

• 
  
• Delegates will be asked to help ill-fated Dion shed $150,000 debt

Liberals 15 Minutes In The Spotlight

Revisionism, courtesy of Michael Ignatieff

Michael Ignatieff provides us with an alternate account of how he came to be Liberal Party leader without having to actual campaign for it. See, it was all just an accident. Click the title to read the whole story...

Professor Ignatieff learns a Liberal lesson

Check out this column I wrote in today's Toronto Sun -- it examines the drawbacks the Liberals face in having an egghead leader.

Posted by Gerry Nicholls

Another big thinker, but don't compare him to Trudeau

• Comparisons to Pierre Trudeau are an inevitable part of life for anyone who takes on the leadership of the Liberal Party. But if you're Michael Ignatieff, the similarities slice a little close to the bone.

Ignatieff must unite Liberals to be PM, experts say Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff must restore the party's presence "in every part of Canada," experts say, if he is to convince Canadians that he can be the country's next prime minister.

Gritty debate building Ignatieff, Turner at odds over noms. Michael Ignatieff urged Liberals to rebuild the party from the ground up yesterday, but wouldn't rule out unilaterally appointing individual candidates, a practice some call undemocratic.

• Chretien counsels early election
• Why are Liberals on the rise? It's Harper, Ignatieff declares
• Liberals reject call to scuttle trade deal

One More Innocent Child?

Jonathan Kay: New levels of evil, and apathy, when Mommy's a suicide bomber

Posted: April 30, 2009

On April 17, 1986, a pregnant Irish chambermaid named Anne Mary Murphy presented herself at London’s Heathrow Airport, an El Al plane ticket to Tel Aviv in hand. Her ultimate destination was Jordan, where she planned to meet the family of her fiancé, a journalist named Nezar Hindawi.

Murphy never made it on the plane. El Al security agents searching her luggage found disguised Semtex explosives connected to a calculator that Hindawi had fashioned into a bomb trigger. If his plot had succeeded, more than 360 people would have died — including his (unwitting) girlfriend and unborn baby. A judge later described the Syrian-backed crime — for which Hindawi is serving a 45-year jail sentence — as “about as foul and as horrible a crime as could possibly be imagined.”

Which goes to show how little imagination we infidels had back then. Here is the lead paragraph of an article from last Friday’s New York Times: “BAGHDAD — At least 80 people died … in three bombings, one by a female suicide bomber in Baghdad who, Iraqi officials said, held a young child’s hand as she set off her explosives among a group of women and children receiving emergency food aid.”

Click here to read more...

Election Fever In The Air

John Ivison: Mr. Harper's unholy alliance

Don Martin: Liberals should avoid election fever

An unholy alliance or an attempt to deal with current problems?

Bloc leader pitches alliance
Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe is opening the door to negotiations with the Conservatives -- a move that could prop up the government and fend off another federal election. MORE...

What Is Embarrassing About It?

David Akin: How to embarrass a prime minister

Posted: April 30, 2009

Prime Minister Stephen Harper turned 50 today and his staff marked the occasion by planting a flock of pink flamingos on the lawn at 24 Sussex Drive. The staff organized a press pool to mark the event. The reporter assigned to the pool was the talented Canadian Press photographer Alex Panetta. Here is his report:

Click here to read more...

Growing p

Chris Selley: High-speed train to nowhere

Posted: April 30, 2009

I’m all about high-speed rail. Real high-speed rail, I mean—electric trains cruising on dedicated track at 300 km/h, not some kind of watered down diesel chug-a-lugs that slow down at level crossings. I don’t want the Sheppard Subway of high-speed rail; I’d rather fly Porter and wait until this country grows up to get the real thing. There’s a lot of wide-open space between here and Ottawa, and between Ottawa and Montreal, and the benefits of a TGV-style service couldn’t really be any more obvious. Never mind greenhouse gases, can you imagine a two-and-a-quarter hour trip from downtown Toronto to downtown Montreal? Edible food, on-board wi-fi, private compartments for business meetings, no security checks? My heart palpitates at the thought. On those routes, the airlines would instantly be reduced to the status of Greyhound.

Click here to read more...

Farting In The Wind Is A Good Descriptive

Wanted: An issue to define Miller era TheStar.com - Opinion - Wanted: An issue to define Miller era

May 01, 2009 Carol Goar

It is just a business story now. It's hard to believe that, six years ago, the fate of Toronto Island Airport polarized the city, dominated the municipal election and propelled David Miller into the mayor's office.

This week, Porter Airlines announced a $45 million expansion of the 70-year-old airport, which once symbolized the choice between planes and people, the clash between commercial development and a green waterfront.

Today it's an example of shrewd entrepreneurship.

The "sleepy commuter airport" Miller vowed to preserve in 2003 has become a busy regional hub, serving 1,500 passengers a day with flights to seven (soon eight) cities. Its traffic will double next spring when Porter completes its expansion. A few protesters voiced their disapproval. The mayor was conspicuously absent. The city has moved on.

But if saving the waterfront from noise, traffic and pollution is no longer the centrepiece of Miller's vision, what is?

There's his "New Deal for Cities," which gives Toronto more autonomy and more taxing authority than any municipality in Ontario.

But most citizens don't pay attention to intergovernmental power shifts. They don't relish the prospect of paying new municipal taxes. They don't see a link between Miller's enlarged mandate and their quality of life.

There is his green agenda: an aggressive drive to increase waste diversion, a plan to retrofit heat-leaking highrises, an overdue expansion of public transit, a neighbourhood beautification campaign and incentives for everything from eco-roofs to low-flush toilets – all worthy initiatives, but not bold like the downtown congestion tax introduced by former London mayor Ken Livingstone in 2003 and not groundbreaking like the scheme to air-condition downtown buildings using lake water spearheaded by former Toronto councillor (now national NDP Leader) Jack Layton in the late 1990s.

While supportive of Miller's efforts, most residents don't see him as an environmental trailblazer.

There is his new "new broom." Miller did sweep out the culture of backroom deal-making that had developed at city hall. And he has run a relatively scandal-free administration. But that is competent management, not forward-looking leadership.

There is his community safety plan, designed to turn around 13 struggling neighbourhoods. It is a welcome counterpoint to Ottawa's focus on tougher laws and stricter enforcement.

But the real architect of the strong neighbourhoods strategy is Frances Lankin, president of the United Way. And, so far, it consists of more announcements than results.

There is his commitment to tackle Toronto's affordable housing crisis. The number of people using the city's emergency shelters has fallen. And Regent Park, North America's oldest social housing complex, is undergoing an ambitious makeover.

But very little affordable housing has been built on Miller's watch. There are still 68,000 households on the waiting list for subsidized housing.

There is his vigorous promotion of the arts. Miller has raised public awareness about the breadth and dynamism of the city's cultural sector.

Much as Torontonians like having a vibrant arts scene and a mayor who showcases it, they aren't willing to stake the city's economic future on its "creative class" (despite the teachings of urban guru Richard Florida) and aren't content to watch from the sidelines.

There is his campaign for a Canada-wide ban on handguns. It certainly reflects the values of most Torontonians. But he has made no headway in Ottawa.

Miller is personable, energetic and highly visible. He has chalked up a respectable list of accomplishments.

What is missing is an issue that galvanizes the city and defines the Miller era.

He once seemed to personify a waterfront for the people. Now it's hard to find an image that fits.

Carol Goar's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Slum Landlord?

Odour unbearable in city-owned apartment

by Joe Fiorito

May 1, 2009

Linda warned me about the smell. She said it came from her neighbour's apartment, and it was sickening, and it filled the corridor of the ninth floor...

Don't Hold Your Breath..........

The comrade's support comes from south of Bloor Street, waterfront condo owners and island squatters (remember the bridge), city unions, social in-activists, environuts, etc.

Park wins out over pools

By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA

Toronto city council made it clear yesterday it won't get its feet wet to help save school pools that are drowning in red ink.

• Full Story
• Price of Willowdale home 'obscene'
• Mayor's policy could cost him votes: Group