Laura Steiner's Blog
Posted by Laura Steiner
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has to become a political gymnast. The transformation is made necessary by the Conservatives' HST implementation legislation. The bill isn't considered a confidence matter, but could kill the HST in British Columbia and Ontario.
Here come the gymnastics. The sitting governments in both B.C. and Ontario are Liberal. B.C- under Gordon Campbell, Ontario under Dalton McGuinty. If Michael Ignatieff and his party vote for the bill, then they risk alienating voters in both provinces; a significant problem because Ontario has over 100 seats in the House of Commons. And if they vote against the bill, they could spark a fight with the B.C., and Ontario Liberals. Ignatieff either way could be a loser on this one.
If I were Michael Ignatieff, I would vote against it. Yes, it could cause a fight; but it would also be a principled stand- isn't that what Ignatieff is about? It could work out to be positive for him; voters would see him, and his party actually 'opposing' for a change, instead of trying constantly to bring down the government.
Voters, and opposition parties in Ontario are ticked off with the McGuinty government. They've wasted money on eHealth, lied about not introducing new taxes (health care premium), and broken a majority of their promises. When election day comes, Ontarians may very well vote for change and elect Tim Hudak. And speaking of Hudak, he may have some gymanstics to do of his own. His stance in the HST directly opposes his federal counterparts. For now though, his party stands against it and is doing everything in their power to stop it, or stall it. Three of his members have been thrown out, and two are staging a sit-in at the legislature; all in the name of public hearings. It's great to see the opposition is alive, and well in Ontario.
Let the political gymnastics begin.
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Posted by Laura Steiner
This past week, two of the most unlikely words were uttered in the same sentence: Torture and Canada. A top diplomat Richard Colvin, currently serving at the Canadian embassy in Washington testified before a House of Common's Committee. He used those words, alleging Canadian troops continued to hand over prisoners to Afghan authorities despite reports they were being tortured in prison.
The federal government of course is discrediting the guy, by saying Colvin's story has holes, and painting him as a liar. To throw a question back at them: Why would somebody risk his enitre career by accusing his own government of covering up torture? He has nothing to gain, and potentially everything to lose with potential jail time for contempt of parliament.
That's why I'm siding with the opposition on this one. Canada has enjoyed an unparlalelled reputation for being a champion of human rights. Canadians have written the UN declaration of Human Rights, and we've served on War Crimes Tribunals. Canadians are known as the ones who ask the hard questions, the ones who uncover these types of scandals. It would be a black mark against us, and our international reputation if it's uncovered the Canadian government is complicit in torture. For that reason alone, at the very least these allegations should be take seriously. The public deserves to know if their government is committing war crimes.
Top government officials: Defence Minister Peter MacKay, his predecessor Gordon O'Connor, and even the Prime Minister himself are being implicated in this matter. Why not have an inquiry and clear these gentlemen? If proven true these allegations have the potential to harm the credibility of the Prime Minister's Office, not to mention the possibility of war crimes charges.
Have the public inquiry, prove yourselves innocent. And give the country back its good name.
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Posted by Laura Steiner
Rumours have surfaced in Ontario the McGuinty government is planning to introduce legislation to implement HST a little earlier than planned. Some media reports say legislation will be introduced as early as this week to make the controversial tax policy law.
The opposition has banded together announcing they plan to use every parliamentary tool at their disposal to stop this from happening. Now, the HST isn't too popular in the Liberal party itself and see if you've got enough numbers including Liberal MPP's to defeat them, and go for a non-confidence motion. This one's a financial bill, and if it is voted down the government will fall. Yes, I'm well aware the Liberals have a majority government, and this is a gamble that has little chance of success. But if there's anything worth taking that gamble it's this.
I hate the idea of the HST. I think it will setback any economic recovery in this province at least a year, perhaps more. With the new HST, essentially prices are raised on most items 13%. Making people pay 13% more on virtually everything, while a lot of us are looking for jobs is unforgiveable. It's time to start a revolution. It's time we talked about it everyday, and did everything in our power whether it's something as simple as writing a letter to physically protesting on the lawn of Queen's Park to get this thing stopped. We have to do this for Ontario's own good. And when the next provincial election comes around we remember this, and every other broken promise and scandal.
Let's show the McGuinty Liberals we're not as apathetic as we appear. Let's add our voices to the opposition and yell about this, loudly and often until somebody hears. Let's start a revolution, and show we care.
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Posted by Laura Steiner
I honestly don't know where to start with this one. $24.7 billion?! The number is shocking. I can understand running a deficit now- the entire world is running a deficit. I grant that they had to bail out the car companies, (around $11 billion there) put extra money into education, and retraining for the unemployed.
So where did the rest come from? Logic dictates there has to have been some mismanagement going on... oh wait there was. $1 billion wasted on eHealth- $75 million on Cancer Care Ontario, and those are just the scandals we know about. And it seems McGuinty has no real plan to help fight it. Or rather he's unwilling to rush it. It does take time to come up with a solid plan that's easily doable. Allow me Mr. Premier, on behalf of the pissed off Ontario voters to offer my suggestions:
1. Premier& Cabinet Pay and perks cut: This might be only a symbolic gesture, but every little bit counts. If you get into cutting out some of the perks, you'll start saving.
2. Public Service Raise adjustment: Ask all Public service unions (including teaching uinons) to take a cut on their raise in exchange for a longer contract. For example say a union signed an agreement for a 6% raise over three years, working out to 2%/ year. Ask them to shave a half percentage point off, in exchange for an extra year added to the agreement. The government gets labour peace, and a little extra money, while the unions still get their raises in the end.
3. Consultants: Cut them all out. Most of what consultants tell you, is what common sense should say. Do the work yourself!! You may find you'll learn something.
4. Rollback or stop the tax harmonization: The thinking is, tax harmonization will raise revenues. And it will in the short-term. But in the longer term people will realize they're paying more tax, and tax on items they didn't before. It'll cause people to stop spending money and set this so-called economic recovery back, maybe even lengthening the recession.
5. Rollback or stop the Implementation of all-day kindergarten: This is the kind of thing, that should be done only if it's done right. It will work I think, only if you've got fully qualified teachers teaching. At a price tag of approximately $1 billion over five years we have to ask ourselves: do we really have that kind of cash with a $24.7 billion deficit hanging over our heads?? The answer should be no.
Whatever happens, healthcare should be left alone. With all this debt hanging over our heads, we at least need that. These are suggestions Mr. Premier, a starting point. Now it's time to get a plan.
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Posted by Laura Steiner
The auditor-general's report is out. And the wastefulness was worse than I thought. It was worse than most of us thought. $1 billion of taxpayer's money was wasted on this thing- and to be honest that boggles my mind. I just imagine how many nurses could be hired for that (a McGuinty promise left unfulfilled so far), or what cures could be researched for that amount of money, or what badly needed equipment could be bought. How many hospital beds could you re-open for $1 billion? How many people could get badly needed treatment for $1 billion... I could go on, but you get the point. $1 billion is much better spent.
And what were these people thinking?? $2700 flights from their homes in Alberta. What are they doing working for the Ontario government- did they just feel like commuting.... sheesh. And being paid to watch television, and discuss it on the subway in Toronto- what a joke!!! All the while, the rest of us work hard, and pay our taxes... if we're lucky enough to have a job. These people are just so out-of-touch with reality. How can they possibly think it is remotely okay to spend taxpayer dollars like that? With no respect for the sweat and hard work that went into earning them? It's absolutely disgusting.
Well, I for one say it's not okay. As of today, I am demanding better. I am demanding my government respect my tax dollars; respect the hard-work it takes to earn them. I vow to remember all the broken promises of Dalton McGuinty a year from now, and when the time finally comes I will mark my "X" beside a party other than Liberal.
Yes, I know such corruption exists despite the governing party. The fact the Auditor'General's report goes back futher than the McGuinty years is proof of that. But we my fellow Ontarians must stand up, and demand better of our elected officials. We must vote out the McGuinty Liberals, and then if or when whomever succeeds them is caught in a similar scandal we'll vote them out too. It's the only way they'll get the point. Because we deserve better- and now is the time to demand it. Who's with me??
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Ontario Health Minister David Caplan Resigns
