Stephen Harper tells Canadians not to worry we may only be in a “technical recession” and then he resurrects the ghost of Trudeau economics consistent with his usual hiding the facts and resorting to rhetoric.
Nobody is talking about a Trudeau-esque economic model for the 21st century – except of course old-school thinking Steve Harper. He promotes fear and angst and his political tactics promote his penchant for living in the past.
Only a conniving economist could politically parse data to declare there is a “technical recession” and that it really does not mean anything. Why? According to our economist Prime Minister “Even if it is true, I don’t think it is a real recession. There are job losses, but overall employment is pretty stable.” Boy that is a reassuring confidence building bit of analysis that should warm the hearts of Canadians who know we are living on an economic knife-edge.
Here are some Statistics Canada “real recession facts” conveniently ignored by our so-call economist Prime Minister ignores as he misdirects our attention about a “real recession.”
1 Canada ran a deficit in the first Quarter this year. This is because the economy is slowing. The Harper tax cuts at the top end and tax hike at the bottom end have reduced revenues so Harper can justify axing more programs and public sector jobs. Thatcher and Reagan economics are the threat facing Canadians under a Harper government.
2 Canada’ second Quarter wasn’t much better with a GDP “growth” of 0.1% and foreign markets for our goods and services declines for the FOURTH CONSECUTIVE QUARTER (emphasis added).
3 The United States economy is tanking and Canada is faring much better – or so we are being told by the Harper government. Not true according to Stats Canada Quarter report released today. The real numbers based on the Second Quarter results shows the Canadian economy growing 0.3% per year while the Americans are on track for a sound 3.3% annual growth rate.
Harper once again chooses “truthiness” and misdirection to elude dealing with the economic facts. Instead of alluding to the truth about the economic facts and their consequences he denies we are getting in trouble and consistently shifts any share of the blame away from himself and his “government.”
Denial, Deceit and Diversion are his core political values. He must not win the next election whenever it happens.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Re: An Election! Harper is Entitled to His Own Opinion But Not His Own Facts.
Mr. Harper is still posturing for his own political purposes. First he shuns the Chinese by not attending the Olympics and now he is trying to tell the Governor General she can’t attend the Paralympics to represent Canada because he might want to resign.
Then he fakes us along even further by saying he is trying to set up phony crisis meetings with other party leaders, some of whom he thinks are not leaders anyway and spends hundreds of thousands of donor money on TV ads to say so.
He brags about how well he has done achieving his five point mandate while leading one of the longest, if not the longest, serving minority government in Canadian history. Now he tells us Parliament is dysfunctional, won’t support his agenda (which he has hidden so far) and therefore we need an election. Parliament is not even sitting. How can it be dysfunctional? What is his agenda for governing or is that a secret he will spring on us after the next election?
He fears a shift in sentiment in Canada emerging out of the November U.S. Presidential elections if Obama wins so he wants to go now. He wants to avoid embarrassing and damaging findings from his own In-Out Advertising manipulations so he wants to go now. He want to avoid the continued personal linking to his mentor, former PM Brian Mulroney as the public inquiry over Mulroney/Schreiber lobbying cash while an elected Member of Parliament.
Harper is bad news anyway you want to look at him. His reputed strong management skills have proven to be bluster and bullying. His great strategic mind is only aimed at serving his personal purposes not his duty to serve the public interest while sitting in the highest office in the land. He is devoid of qualities of statesmanship and scoffs at the responsibility to provide good governance. He is all about power and politics and pettiness.
Harper is apparently prepared to cancel the four by-elections, three of them happening September 8th. Instead Harper wants to go for a full scale national election now and uselessly spend over $300,000,000 of taxpayer’s money. This “strategy” is instead of governing and as our Prime Minister, having the courage and character to meet the Canadian Parliament scheduled to open on September 15th.
Why on these tactics? Because he will do poorly in those by-elections in part because he has been the government and by-election results are always a means to send the government of the day a message. Harper sees himself as the Emperor of Canada. He doesn’t need a bunch of ticked off by-election voter sending him any kind of message – particularly one that may be critical of his divine right to rule.
Want more? Just look at his Orwellian explanation as to why he is prepared to go to the polls. He claims he has been trying to meet with Dion for “several weeks” even if by telephone, when in fact the idea of a meeting was floated eight days ago. Dion offered to meet Harper August 26 but his office declined. The PMO realized it was dishonest to claim any urgency to meet and then refuse to do so. They then changed their minds and tried to accept the Dion offer but other commitments were already made by Dion’s office. Now this is all Dion’s fault.
Harper is looking like a dufus with all this pomposity and posturing. He is a man in fear. His bullying has not worked nor has it served him well to improve his image as a leader worthy of our consent to govern us…all of us – not just his friends. He has reverted to Bush-like dishonesty to hide his true motives behind a “need” for an election. He is now making false claims about the facts as he tries to engineer a sense of crisis in the land that simply does not exist. Harper is turning into his own weapon of political mass destruction as a result.
I don’t think an election now will clear the air or decide much of anything because there has not been enough time for any thoughtful attention to be paid by Canadians to the alternatives they would be offered. Canadians have not warmed to Harper and don’t trust him in two and an half years. His best before date has long since expired.
They don’t know Dion yet and therefore they still don’t trust that he is different from the old-style Liberal presumptiveness. The NDP are a spent force and the Greens are just that – too green to govern…experience wise not ecologically. They should be rewarded with some seats next election, in October 2009, when it should happen by law, so they can get some serious seasoning.
The only thing Harper has going for him is people are still pretty allergic to politics and may not show up to vote. That only serves his purposes of personal power and not the best interests of the country or its citizens. I blame Chretien and Martin and their long time warring factions within the Liberal Party for most of this mess today. Their long standing personal and internal squabbles created a Canadian version of the Weimer Republic and the Adscam to fraudulently pander to Quebec to insultingly buy them off to move away from separation was the last straw for federalist in Quebec and the moderate majority of the rest of Canada.
We had sent them a message in the form of a Martin minority government but not enough changed and with the ugly truth of Adscam we’d finally had enough of them and decided to throw them out in January 2006. We choose Harper in what we thought would be the lesser of two evils but did not really trust him with absolute power; hence a minority Conservative government emerged on Election Day. So far Harper’s leadership has proven him to be “lesser” for sure in terms of his governing ability, vision for the country and his leadership capacity. But he has also shown us he is no less evil than the worst aspects of the former Liberal Party.
So the moral of the story is always, we get the kind of government we deserve in a democracy. If there is going to be an unnecessary election Canadians better wake up and take it seriously. To stay asleep and ignore the power of the ballot will only hurt your family and your future.
Then he fakes us along even further by saying he is trying to set up phony crisis meetings with other party leaders, some of whom he thinks are not leaders anyway and spends hundreds of thousands of donor money on TV ads to say so.
He brags about how well he has done achieving his five point mandate while leading one of the longest, if not the longest, serving minority government in Canadian history. Now he tells us Parliament is dysfunctional, won’t support his agenda (which he has hidden so far) and therefore we need an election. Parliament is not even sitting. How can it be dysfunctional? What is his agenda for governing or is that a secret he will spring on us after the next election?
He fears a shift in sentiment in Canada emerging out of the November U.S. Presidential elections if Obama wins so he wants to go now. He wants to avoid embarrassing and damaging findings from his own In-Out Advertising manipulations so he wants to go now. He want to avoid the continued personal linking to his mentor, former PM Brian Mulroney as the public inquiry over Mulroney/Schreiber lobbying cash while an elected Member of Parliament.
Harper is bad news anyway you want to look at him. His reputed strong management skills have proven to be bluster and bullying. His great strategic mind is only aimed at serving his personal purposes not his duty to serve the public interest while sitting in the highest office in the land. He is devoid of qualities of statesmanship and scoffs at the responsibility to provide good governance. He is all about power and politics and pettiness.
Harper is apparently prepared to cancel the four by-elections, three of them happening September 8th. Instead Harper wants to go for a full scale national election now and uselessly spend over $300,000,000 of taxpayer’s money. This “strategy” is instead of governing and as our Prime Minister, having the courage and character to meet the Canadian Parliament scheduled to open on September 15th.
Why on these tactics? Because he will do poorly in those by-elections in part because he has been the government and by-election results are always a means to send the government of the day a message. Harper sees himself as the Emperor of Canada. He doesn’t need a bunch of ticked off by-election voter sending him any kind of message – particularly one that may be critical of his divine right to rule.
Want more? Just look at his Orwellian explanation as to why he is prepared to go to the polls. He claims he has been trying to meet with Dion for “several weeks” even if by telephone, when in fact the idea of a meeting was floated eight days ago. Dion offered to meet Harper August 26 but his office declined. The PMO realized it was dishonest to claim any urgency to meet and then refuse to do so. They then changed their minds and tried to accept the Dion offer but other commitments were already made by Dion’s office. Now this is all Dion’s fault.
Harper is looking like a dufus with all this pomposity and posturing. He is a man in fear. His bullying has not worked nor has it served him well to improve his image as a leader worthy of our consent to govern us…all of us – not just his friends. He has reverted to Bush-like dishonesty to hide his true motives behind a “need” for an election. He is now making false claims about the facts as he tries to engineer a sense of crisis in the land that simply does not exist. Harper is turning into his own weapon of political mass destruction as a result.
I don’t think an election now will clear the air or decide much of anything because there has not been enough time for any thoughtful attention to be paid by Canadians to the alternatives they would be offered. Canadians have not warmed to Harper and don’t trust him in two and an half years. His best before date has long since expired.
They don’t know Dion yet and therefore they still don’t trust that he is different from the old-style Liberal presumptiveness. The NDP are a spent force and the Greens are just that – too green to govern…experience wise not ecologically. They should be rewarded with some seats next election, in October 2009, when it should happen by law, so they can get some serious seasoning.
The only thing Harper has going for him is people are still pretty allergic to politics and may not show up to vote. That only serves his purposes of personal power and not the best interests of the country or its citizens. I blame Chretien and Martin and their long time warring factions within the Liberal Party for most of this mess today. Their long standing personal and internal squabbles created a Canadian version of the Weimer Republic and the Adscam to fraudulently pander to Quebec to insultingly buy them off to move away from separation was the last straw for federalist in Quebec and the moderate majority of the rest of Canada.
We had sent them a message in the form of a Martin minority government but not enough changed and with the ugly truth of Adscam we’d finally had enough of them and decided to throw them out in January 2006. We choose Harper in what we thought would be the lesser of two evils but did not really trust him with absolute power; hence a minority Conservative government emerged on Election Day. So far Harper’s leadership has proven him to be “lesser” for sure in terms of his governing ability, vision for the country and his leadership capacity. But he has also shown us he is no less evil than the worst aspects of the former Liberal Party.
So the moral of the story is always, we get the kind of government we deserve in a democracy. If there is going to be an unnecessary election Canadians better wake up and take it seriously. To stay asleep and ignore the power of the ballot will only hurt your family and your future.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Imagine the Power of the SuperNet in Your Home - From Your Phone Line
The technological changes around broadband are becoming very interesting and exciting. Telcos and cable companies are trying to play in each other’s markets as they move to compete in both television and telephone services. This competition ought to be good for consumers in terms of service and cost - but will it?
It gets more exciting in Alberta with the additional intrigue of the publically owned and privately operated fibreoptic network known as the SuperNet. There is an enormous range of new possibilities for individual citizens and enterprises in every community in Alberta, once they have access to this fabulous 21st century SuperNet infrastructure.
The SuperNet fibre optics network cost Alberta taxpayers about $700m to install. Local connections – the so-called “last mile” (known as the “first mile” if you are in rural Alberta) was to be provided by local private Internet Service Providers (ISPs). If an ISP did not step up to serve a community then Bell would provide the last/first mile connection.
The last mile solution so far has been wireless radios and satellites. But something new is in the wind. Something old has become new again. And it can also provide another even more competitive connection option for the first/last mile challenge. That old thing that is suddenly new again is SuperNet connectivity using plain old copper telephone wire.
Hardwired telephones are already everywhere in the province. This copper telephone wire is reliable, robust, resilient and resistant to interference from weather conditions. It is also regulated by the CRTC and likely to be priced very competitively compared to the Big Three Telco’s wireless oligopoly.
This plain old copper wire is also capable of providing full motion high definition video conferencing to and from your home or business anywhere in Alberta. The current practice of limiting Internet uploads and downloads by the big ISPs is not a problem once you have access to the SuperNet. It is an enormous data pipe and publically owned and controlled to serve the public interest not just for private gain like the Telcos. Nothing against the free open and competitive marketplace but one has to wonder if that really exists in the cell phone and wireless business world in Canada these days.
Actually using copper wire for Internet access is not new. It was the norm in Alberta before DSL lines came in. By the looks of it copper wire is coming back as a “new normal.” Yesterday’s Globe and Mail ran a story on BCE who says they going to be using its copper telephone wire to provide broadband to homes in Ontario and Quebec. They are only providing the excessively expensive fibre optic cable to a limited number of new apartment and condos which must have at least 100 units to justify the cost. What is more the fibre stops at the building basement and the signal into the individual units will be via the good old copper telephone wire.
That is exactly what needs to happen in Alberta. We need to get individual home and business copper wire access to the SuperNet just as Bell is doing in Ontario and Quebec. The only difference is in Alberta the telephone lines are owned by Telus - not Bell. Bell recently said they did not see the “business case” for them to use copper wire access to Alberta’s SuperNet. Strange isn’t it that there is a business case for copper wire internet access by Bell in Ontario and Quebec. Could it be because Bell owns the copper wires in Ontario and Quebec - but not in Alberta? Remember, Telus owns the wires in Alberta.
Telus has not been playing much of a part in the Alberta SuperNet project. They lost the bid to build it originally to Bell. They have recently been negotiating with the government of Alberta on the copper wire access issue but they seem reluctant to agree. This reluctance is impeding individual Albertans from expanded and enhanced internet and other SuperNet capacity services including full motion video conferencing capacity in and from your home or business.
I will talk in later Blog posts what that could mean for Albertans economically, ecologically and socially. Yes sir – exciting times indeed, especially when you consider is was only 15 years ago the Alberta Research Council enabled the commercial Internet in this province. Lot has happened since the Internet became an everyday part of our lives. With SuperNet access pending using copper telephone wire, even more exciting times and opportunities are coming.
It gets more exciting in Alberta with the additional intrigue of the publically owned and privately operated fibreoptic network known as the SuperNet. There is an enormous range of new possibilities for individual citizens and enterprises in every community in Alberta, once they have access to this fabulous 21st century SuperNet infrastructure.
The SuperNet fibre optics network cost Alberta taxpayers about $700m to install. Local connections – the so-called “last mile” (known as the “first mile” if you are in rural Alberta) was to be provided by local private Internet Service Providers (ISPs). If an ISP did not step up to serve a community then Bell would provide the last/first mile connection.
The last mile solution so far has been wireless radios and satellites. But something new is in the wind. Something old has become new again. And it can also provide another even more competitive connection option for the first/last mile challenge. That old thing that is suddenly new again is SuperNet connectivity using plain old copper telephone wire.
Hardwired telephones are already everywhere in the province. This copper telephone wire is reliable, robust, resilient and resistant to interference from weather conditions. It is also regulated by the CRTC and likely to be priced very competitively compared to the Big Three Telco’s wireless oligopoly.
This plain old copper wire is also capable of providing full motion high definition video conferencing to and from your home or business anywhere in Alberta. The current practice of limiting Internet uploads and downloads by the big ISPs is not a problem once you have access to the SuperNet. It is an enormous data pipe and publically owned and controlled to serve the public interest not just for private gain like the Telcos. Nothing against the free open and competitive marketplace but one has to wonder if that really exists in the cell phone and wireless business world in Canada these days.
Actually using copper wire for Internet access is not new. It was the norm in Alberta before DSL lines came in. By the looks of it copper wire is coming back as a “new normal.” Yesterday’s Globe and Mail ran a story on BCE who says they going to be using its copper telephone wire to provide broadband to homes in Ontario and Quebec. They are only providing the excessively expensive fibre optic cable to a limited number of new apartment and condos which must have at least 100 units to justify the cost. What is more the fibre stops at the building basement and the signal into the individual units will be via the good old copper telephone wire.
That is exactly what needs to happen in Alberta. We need to get individual home and business copper wire access to the SuperNet just as Bell is doing in Ontario and Quebec. The only difference is in Alberta the telephone lines are owned by Telus - not Bell. Bell recently said they did not see the “business case” for them to use copper wire access to Alberta’s SuperNet. Strange isn’t it that there is a business case for copper wire internet access by Bell in Ontario and Quebec. Could it be because Bell owns the copper wires in Ontario and Quebec - but not in Alberta? Remember, Telus owns the wires in Alberta.
Telus has not been playing much of a part in the Alberta SuperNet project. They lost the bid to build it originally to Bell. They have recently been negotiating with the government of Alberta on the copper wire access issue but they seem reluctant to agree. This reluctance is impeding individual Albertans from expanded and enhanced internet and other SuperNet capacity services including full motion video conferencing capacity in and from your home or business.
I will talk in later Blog posts what that could mean for Albertans economically, ecologically and socially. Yes sir – exciting times indeed, especially when you consider is was only 15 years ago the Alberta Research Council enabled the commercial Internet in this province. Lot has happened since the Internet became an everyday part of our lives. With SuperNet access pending using copper telephone wire, even more exciting times and opportunities are coming.
Pressure on Wireless Business is Mounting
The negative reaction to the big brother controllers of the wireless business is mounting. Look at this aggressive and political approach by CREDO mobile in the States. They are using Karl Rove as a hook to move customers away from providers like AT&T and Verison. Go to CREDO to see what I mean.
Even the business types at the Canadian Association of Income Trust Investors are taking a poke at Bell Canada Enterprises on their website. They point out the privatization of BCE (2/3 of it now owned by a private US equity investor) so far has cut $1B in dividends to investors, axed 2500 jobs, wiped away another $1B in bondholder value, and paying $800m a year less in taxes. Ouch!
I love the marketplace - when it knows its place. The marketplace especially cool when consumers take back control by word and deed. The Internet is such a terrific way to take back control as shown by the examples above. No wonder China and big ISPs what to control what consumers and citizens see and do on the Internet. Don't let it happen - get serious about Net Neutrality.
Even the business types at the Canadian Association of Income Trust Investors are taking a poke at Bell Canada Enterprises on their website. They point out the privatization of BCE (2/3 of it now owned by a private US equity investor) so far has cut $1B in dividends to investors, axed 2500 jobs, wiped away another $1B in bondholder value, and paying $800m a year less in taxes. Ouch!
I love the marketplace - when it knows its place. The marketplace especially cool when consumers take back control by word and deed. The Internet is such a terrific way to take back control as shown by the examples above. No wonder China and big ISPs what to control what consumers and citizens see and do on the Internet. Don't let it happen - get serious about Net Neutrality.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Harper's Base Turns On Him - and For Good Reason
CAITI-On Line is a Blog I follow that speaks for those thousands of folks who invested in Income Trusts and are disgruntled to put it mildly.
They likely voted for Harper last time. But it will not happen this time since Harper reneged on a promise not to reverse the Income Trust policy in the last election.
These people make up much of the hard core fiscal conservative base for the Harper Cons. They are not happy and have turned into engaged citizens and activist voters...the kind of people I admire.
Look at their take on why Harper wants an early election. It is all about manipulative politics, something fixed elections dates were supposed to cure. An election now is all about HIM and his passion for PERSONAL POWER. That come across clearly when you look at this list.
They likely voted for Harper last time. But it will not happen this time since Harper reneged on a promise not to reverse the Income Trust policy in the last election.
These people make up much of the hard core fiscal conservative base for the Harper Cons. They are not happy and have turned into engaged citizens and activist voters...the kind of people I admire.
Look at their take on why Harper wants an early election. It is all about manipulative politics, something fixed elections dates were supposed to cure. An election now is all about HIM and his passion for PERSONAL POWER. That come across clearly when you look at this list.
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