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Posted by Scott Tribe on August 20, 2010, at 3:29 pm |
I’ve been giving it to the Premier and his Liberal government in Ontario occasionally on this blog recently, over some issues and some tactics of theirs that I disagreed with and thought were not very thought out. But, today instead of darts, I’m passing out laurels to Premier Mcguinty on his statement regarding the Tamil refugees/boat people.
He was asked about it in the context of the controversial remarks Toronto mayor candidate Rob Ford made, and this was his response, in full:
QUESTION: Premier, some comments have been made in the race for mayor that the City of Toronto should close its doors to immigrants because it has enough trouble taking care of the 2.5 million people who live here. Do you think that’s a very Canadian comment?
PREMIER MCGUINTY: Well, let me just say this. There are a group of people who’ve arrived in a boat on the west coast. I think we should ask ourselves what it is that we owe these people. They’re coming here because they despair for their future and the future of their children, in their home country.
And they come here with a sense of hope, because they believe that they might find an opportunity here. I think what we owe them is to receive them with open hearts and open minds. It’s been said that there may be some people there who are dangerous to us, and that may be so. But I don’t think we should approach this with any bias, presumptions, assumptions or prejudices. I think what we owe those people is fairness.
And if there are mischief-makers or dangerous people there, we will find them out and we will deal with them appropriately. But again, I think our mindset when it comes to these kinds of things is to approach those folks in a Canadian way. Just something else that I would ask you to ask yourself and all of us to ask ourselves, is: how far back do we have to go, when we consider our parents, some of us here, our parents, our grandparents, our great-grandparents, who were received in that Canadian way, that is, with open hearts and open minds. Something to add. We are blessed with 120,000 new Canadians every year in this province.
We are the leading receiver of new Canadians, and I am very proud to say that. And, with time and with opportunity, if you take a look at what happens to those families, with time and with opportunity, they are some of our very best students, some of our very best politicians, some of our very best professionals, some of our very best folks in the arts and sports and all the sectors. So let’s understand who we are, and we approach these things with open hearts and open minds.
As a liberal thinker/believer in that philosophy, I applaud this statement being made by the Premier in the face of at least 1 poll showing he is swimming against the current on this. He has taken a moral stance (and the right one, in my view) on this in the best tenets of compassionate social liberalism, rather then shy away from something that may be politically unpopular (which is what we’ve seen some wishy-washy Democratic politicians do when attacked by the right-wing on the proposal to build a Muslim community centre/mosque a couple of blocks from “Ground Zero” in Manhattan).
This is one of the better comments I’ve seen on the Tamils situation from a political leader, much better then Conservative Justice Minister Vic Toews and Prime mInister Harper’s attempts to fearmonger the issue for short-term political gain (Bob Rae’s take on this was pretty decent as well, as an aside).
Well done Premier Mcguinty.. thumbs up from me (and more of this please).
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 20, 2010, at 11:50 am |
Some things on this Friday to catch my eye that aren’t worth a blogpost on their own, but may be of political/reading interest to others.
- Some goofball wrote an opinion piece at Polling Report discussing the latest Ekos poll. Be kind to him.
- The list of groups and organizations (government and NGO) that oppose the mandatory longform census being ditched continues to grow. (EDIT: And the Conservative government/Tony Clement, to absolutely no one’s surprise, refuses to meet with its own statistics advisory board).
- This is a tragic story.
- Chantal Hebert has been on a roll lately going after the Conservative government. That continues today, with the belief that their propensity for ditching independent thinking public servants may come back to bite them.
- Edit: The Star editorial board joins the ranks of those that raise an eyebrow at the claim that the removal of the head of the Firearms Program was not political.
- The mayor of Toronto race doesn’t affect me, and I haven’t particularly paid attention – until Rob Ford caught my attention. Mel Lastmen got elected there, so I suppose I wouldnt be too surprised if he won, but if his actions and words of the last week doesnt spur the progressives in the city to mobilize against him, nothing will (though I admit they havent exactly got a reason yet to do so; the major candidates all appear to be running to the right-wing. Voting for the least rightwing of the bunch isn’t exactly great motivation. Still.. do they want Ford as mayor?)
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 19, 2010, at 4:12 pm |
I got some pictures sent to me from a fan in Ottawa that you might enjoy.
The first is this:
My fan who sent the photo in informs me this sign is in a lakeside park near the person’s cottage in Eastern Ontario, which happens to be in the riding of Scott Reid, Conservative MP for Lanark-Frontenac. According to this person, 2 summers have passed now with no project; the graffiti/political statement on the sign that you see was apparently wrote on the sign in frustration this past year.
The next set of pictures comes from Ottawa:
 
According to my snap-shooter, these pictures of the Action Plan Sign (just to the right of the dog sign – click on the photos for a larger blown-up view) are located in a field in Conservative MP Pierre Poliviere’s Nepean-Carleton riding, and is entering the 2nd summer of no apparent activity. It refers to the future home of the Ottawa Humane Society.
Not a lot of ‘action’ in these 2 instances for Canada’s Action Plan – more surprising when they’re apparently in 2 Conservative MP’s ridings, according to the person who sent them in (shouldn’t be too hard to confirm them though). Regardless of what ridings they’re in, I thought projects were zipping out the door, but not in these 2 cases.
UPDATE on August 20, 2010: It seems my fan has sent me in slightly dated photos of the Ottawa Humane Society construction. Check my comments section for some links to what the place looks like now.. still a long ways from getting done, but more then a field.. so in fairness, building at that site is at least initiated.
UPDATE 2: The person who sent me in those photos has voluntarily identified himself in comments and says his pictures are legitimate.
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 19, 2010, at 11:18 am |
I expected Harper was going to try and change the channel from the Census controversy by doing stuff like he’s shown with the copying of the Liberal Express; go out to some events, (try to) kiss babies, hand out some money here and there, etc.
What I didn’t expect was that his change the channel events would be as highly controversial if not more then the Census; the decision not to renew the Veterans Ombudsman’s term, apparently because of his criticisms of Veteran Affairs, and the highly suspicious decision by the RCMP to shuffle their head of the Firearms decision to French immersion training for a position 9 months after he was hired on the eve of him delivering a report to the Canadian police Chiefs defending the long gun registry and presenting evidence that it indeed works. There are folks in the media besides us Progressive Bloggers who think that move reeks of political interference
Add to this the story in the Globe this AM that rumour is Harper apparently wants to get rid of the current chair and vice-chair of the CRTC and replace them with Conservative-friendly cronies that will swiftly approve Fox News North.. er.. SunTV’s application for a coveted Group A License, and looks like Harper figures he might as well go all in with these changes/axings/firings/replacements and hope that no one is noticing.
I’m not surprised the CRTC is next,if that report is true. It seems pretty brazen, even for Harper, if he attempts this. That said, regardless of what he tries to do with the CRTC, with what has gone on with the Census and now more independent commissioners and civil servants resigning or not being renewed, My position is starting to harden on trying to take the Conservative government down in the Fall session. However, The opposition parties, and Ignatieff in particular, will have to be subtle about how they go about manoeuvring the government into a motion of non-confidence.
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 18, 2010, at 1:40 pm |
First off, I’d like to thank the now outgoing ombudsman for Canada’s Veterans, Colonel Pat Stogran, for not being afraid of standing up for what’s right, and not going quietly into the night, because the Conservative government didn’t like that he was being too independent-minded. I have two grandfathers (still alive) who served in World War II. I thank him for standing up for them and their peers and the “new” veterans we have today from our more recent and current engagements. I hope people will take his call to arms seriously:
To all Canadians, these are your Sons and Daughters, your Brothers and Sisters. The time is now for you to do something about it. Make sure this Government understands that this must stop. Write letters to newspapers and politicians (Members of Parliament & Senators), make posts on the Internet, and …stand up and speak out for our Veterans and their families. They’ve done as much for you
The 2nd person that deserves our thanks for standing up for facts and what he believes is right is Chief Superintendent of the RCMP Marty Cheliak, who was removed from his post as head of the Canadian Firearms Program, on the eve of him about to produce a major report to the Canadian Association of the Chiefs of Police in support of retaining the gun registry.
We see here a continuing pattern of Prime Minister Harper and the Conservatives removing anyone from the public service or commissions/boards that do not toe their ideological line. Dissent and debate, vital to have in a democracy, is being quashed.
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 17, 2010, at 10:07 am |
The Conservative government has decided to try and stall more hearings on the Census until they can round up a few people who support ending the mandatory longform:
The Conservatives are proposing a new tack in the debate over the government’s decision to make Canada’s long form census a voluntary exercise. Faced with a list of groups that so far tilts heavily toward the “bad idea” camp, Tory MPs say they will be calling individuals as committee witnesses to speak out in favour of the government’s plans.
…opposition MPs are trying to revive hearings on the census. They called an emergency meeting Monday afternoon to schedule hearings for later this week, but the Conservatives in the room talked out the clock to prevent a decision. The Tories said the opposition was proposing a timeline that was not realistic. They suggested instead that meetings be called a couple of weeks from now to allow witnesses enough time to prepare what they want to say.
Opposition MPs counter that groups opposed to the government move are chomping at the bit to speak before a committee. All three opposition parties accuse the Tories of stalling because they are struggling to find groups that will speak out in their favour.
I don’t see why the government needs to take 2 extra weeks either; after all, how hard can it be to send out an email to their various Conservative riding associations across the country, asking them to look for some of their local Conservative Party members to volunteer to come to Ottawa to speak out against the “tyrannical census”?
That should take just 2 days, shouldn’t it, or even just 2 hours?
By the way, at the “Keep the Canada Census Long Form” page, there are 9481 mostly ordinary citizens (as of this AM) who oppose the government’s decision. Where do they get to sign up to express their opinion to the Committee? There are also over 15 000 people who’ve signed the petition to keep the same longform mandatory. How about those ordinary folks?
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 16, 2010, at 11:15 am |
A few things that caught my eye today that I didnt think were bloggable on their own, but taken together, might spark some others interest.
- It will be a very sad day in Montreal today.
- More bad news for the Conservatives on the Census – the issue is not losing steam amongst Canadians in the latest poll taken on the topic by Angus-Reid. A majority of Canadians still oppose the mandatory longform being ditched/want the decision reversed/balk at the claims the questions are too “intrusive”. The Harperites lone consolation is that they’ve managed to get a majority of their own supporters (57%) to agree with their decision on this, though this is hardly overwhelming support. Not all Conservative supporters are paranoid Tea Party types or extreme libertarians. (Heck, even God ordered a census, and Christian Churches representing 76% of the population have come out in support of the mandatory longform census.. so maybe those Conservative Party religious-type folks should take that into consideration).
- If this is true, someone in the Conservative Party’s fund raising operations should be in trouble.
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 13, 2010, at 10:19 am |
I presume Tony Clement, Stephen Harper and the rest of the Conservative government were hoping that by lopping off 2 “voluntary questions” on mother tongue from their new voluntary form (formerly the mandatory longform census) and putting it on the still-mandatory short form census would appease the French Language groups who are taking them to court over their census shenanigans. Initially however, their move hasn’t worked:
The concession, however, has not deterred the French group from pursuing its legal action.”We were very pleased that the court saw the urgency of the matter and we are going ahead,” Suzanne Bosse, executive director of the federation, said Thursday. The government did not consult with the group about moving the language questions to the short census and Bosse said she only learned of the change through the media.
Bosse said she had to limit her comments because the legal proceedings are ongoing and wouldn’t say if the government’s move failed to satisfy the group’s demands. The government could ward off the court battle, said Bosse, if it made a proposal to the group on how to resolve the issue. So far, however, there has been very limited response to the group’s requests to meet with government officials as the controversy has unfolded over the summer, she said.
I hope the groups stand firm on this stance. Theirs is the quickest and best chance so far of stalling the Census changes, and the Conservative government knows this.
On another front, the government-appointed National Statistics Council unleashed another attack on the Conservative government in the wake of the French language question insertions:
The government-appointed council that advises Statistics Canada says Industry Minister Tony Clement is wasting $30 million on a new census that will fail to provide worthwhile information needed by governments, communities, social agencies and others. In a stinging statement Thursday, the National Statistics Council said Clement’s latest change in the census on language questions only proves that the government’s plan to make the longer, 40-page census voluntary won’t lead to credible results.
..Commenting on the decision to put language questions on the shorter, mandatory census, the council said, “The new approach to language use recognizes that the voluntary National Household Survey will not meet the requirements” for accurate data. Such reliable data “can only be provided through a mandatory” survey, the council said.
..The council also takes a poke at Clement for suggesting that users of census data should pay for their own surveys if they think the information generated by the voluntary 40-page survey isn’t credible. “The Council rejected recent suggestions that small-area data users such as public health planners, voluntary associations, towns and transportation planners should pay for their own surveys rather than rely on the census—this is not possible,” the advisory body said in a press release. The council said such surveys would be too small to produce usable information.
That’s got to sting; when your own appointed body is critical of your actions. I’ve bolded the last part because I think it’s an important one ; one I think is the main reason the Conservatives are doing this move, and one to keep reiterating. It’s not to save Canadians from the possible tyranny of a jail sentence for not answering a mandatory long form. (no Canadian has ever been thrown in jail over the Census; indeed I’ve read no person has been thrown in jail going back to the census days of New France (now Quebec) in the 1650′s). No, this move is to hobble data so that it is much harder to identify problems or trends, and for government to deal with them accordingly. The Harper government in effect is trying to destroy or hobble the ability of the federal government to do anything related to policy – or at the very least, it would like policy made on the basis of hunches and assertions and ideology, not facts and statistics.
The reason that the Conservatives are seeing a drop in their polling results is not just because this is a “media generated event”, as our Blogging Tory founder acquaintance and current Manning Institute fellow Stephen Taylor would have you believe. Its because Canadians, being informed of this decision by our media, and taking note of all the organizations/provinces/cities/municipalities who object to a key tenet of their decision-making processes crippled or corrupted, don’t like the idea that “good government” is going to be a lot harder to do if this change to the Census remains in effect.
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 12, 2010, at 10:58 am |
My thoughts and prayers with his family and friends and co-workers, as news comes out this AM that Mario Lague was killed in a motorcycle accident this morning (report done before he was identified). Mario Lague was the Communications Director for Michael Ignatieff.
I recall having a conversation once with Mr. Lague (a group conversation). What I remember about that call was that he was passionate about what he believed in, and very honest and frank. I liked him immediately for that, and it’s very sad there wont be future conversations.
RIP, Mario.
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 11, 2010, at 4:34 pm |
It appears the Harper government was pretty scared after the expedited Federal Court ruling victory by the Francophone and Acadian communities yesterday today. They’ve acted much quicker in 1 day over this court ruling then a full month of criticism in order to try and get the court challenge to be dropped:
Stung by francophone anger, the Harper government is adding questions on French and English skills to the obligatory short-form 2011 census to quell this linguistic minority’s fears that scrapping a longer mandatory survey will make it harder to measure their presence in Canada.
These questions were part of the 40-page long-form census that the Conservatives are making voluntary over the objections of a broad range of economists, statisticians, provincial governments and researchers who warn it will undermine the reliability of Statistics Canada’s data.
Clement also announced he was bringing forth legislation to “decriminalize” all other penalties on other mandatory forms, such as the short form census, the agriculture census, and so on; the threat of jail is gone; only a fine remains in place.
If that’s the case, then as others have asked; if the threat of jail time has gone – THE chief claim by this government – what’s the justification for making the long form voluntary now?
UPDATE/EDIT: I got asked if these changes should appease critics. Nope, it shouldn’t. David Eaves tells you why.
UPDATE 2 @ 7:40 pm: Via Impolitical, The Francophone association (FCFA) has for now declined comment on Clement’s statements “out of respect for the legal procedures currently underway”.
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