JimBobby clued me into Bill C-292, An Act to implement the Kelowna Accord a couple of days ago. Introduced by former PM Paul Martin, the bill resembles C-288 (Kyoto Implementation) in that it tells the government that it must honor previous agreements, in this case the agreements made at the First Ministers Meeting on Aboriginal issues, held in Kelowna in November, 2005.
At 2nd reading the Bill passed 159-129, with unanimous opposition support and maybe a couple of dissident Tories along for the ride. Pushing this bill, in addition to being the right thing to do, looks to be a political slam-dunk for the opposition. I doubt anyone can defend the CPoC position without slipping into overt racism, which might be instructive if we are indeed teetering on the edge of an election call. In fact, Today Quebec Premier Jean Charest took a rare shot at Harper in regards to the Kelowna Accord:
PIKOGAN, Que. - Quebec Premier Jean Charest called Saturday on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to honour the Kelowna accord, saying the money the federal government had pledged would make a big difference in the lives of Quebec's First Nations.
"I thought the Kelowna meeting was significant and that we should pursue what was done in Kelowna," Charest told reporters. "I would like them to honour it."
So keep an eye on this one as it comes up for 3rd reading. Lets see if Harper has it in him to act with Honor.
And remember, if JimBobby's behind it, it's gotta be good, because this fella never lies (and the boy can sing too).
Whooee! Thankee kindly fer the link-up an' the nod t' my screechin' caterwaulin' singin' -- 'specially, after I rapped yer knuckles in the last post. ;)
ReplyDeleteThis C-292 thing has me a little confuddled. When the issue was Kyoto an' the remembers o' parliment told Harpoon t' live up t' Canada's committment, it was all over the news. With Kelowna, it's flyin' under the radar an' it's tough t' find a single news story about it.
I reckon when the House o' Comments over-rules the gummint Conmen, it oughta make the news. First Nations news don't seem t' make headlines 'cept when there's a standoff like in Caledonia or Ipperwash or Oka. No wonder the Natives resort t' desperate tactics.
JB
It will make news when it comes up for 3rd reading. C-288 was off the radar screen until about 10 days before the vote. Then it was everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThankee fer that, BCL. I'll be sure enuff keepin' my eyeballs peeled fer news.
ReplyDeleteJB
Cool . . a money Bill, so Harper has to make it a Confidence vote. Just what he has been looking for with the polls in his favour and the big mo working its voter magic
ReplyDeleteThis makes it toooooooo easy for him to engineer his own defeat. Gift platter from the Liberal brain trust.
Thank you Liberals . . . lets go to the polls
Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteIf you think that Mr. Harper wants his government to be defeated by voting against a Bill that calls for him to honour an agreement with Canadian aboriginals, I would invite you to become a political stategist for the Conservative Party.
If the Conservatives are forced to vote against this before the budget then it could spell trouble for them. Expect the Conservatives to put up every delaying tactic they can muster to keep this bill in committee as long as possible.
i don't know ottlib, anon may have a point. the fact is many canajuns (damn you jimbobby ;-) aren't very concerned about first nations issues...it isn't a real vote-getter. nevertheless, it will be interesting no matter how it plays out. hopefully that fucking asshole rod bruinooge will get his dogma driven over by my karma come the next election.
ReplyDeletecanuck:
ReplyDeleteWhen governments engineer their own defeat it is on a feel good issue, such as an election budget.
The Kelowna Accord is not a feel good issue and having the government fall on it could effect its support. Whether that would have a impact when the ballots were counted is an open question.
Regardless, I still say that Canadians can expect the Conservatives to attempt to delay the committee studying this bill until after the budget.
Throwing more money at native issues is not the answer. The Kelowna Accord has zero accountability requirements. It's basically a blank cheque. I was against it when Martin announced it, and I'm against it now. Of course politics being what it is, we'll take a big ole swing at Harper and feel good in bringing him down. I weep for the days when our Party stood for something other than making the other guy look bad. We are playing into the CPC hands. My own family, long, long, long-time Liberals are now have dinner-table conversations around whether we support the Greens in the next election or just stay at home. What a weak shell this grand old Party has become.
ReplyDeletejimbobby, better get back to your sister and your kids, they're still waiting to see what you ran over with the truck for supper.
ReplyDeleteWhat a novel idea! Throw money at the 'Indian problem'! We just haven't thrown ENOUGH of it yet, that's why the solution hasn't worked, it's that the DOSE has been too low.
So you think Rod Bruinooge is a farging icehole? Is that because he's metis, a westerner, young, urban, conservative? You sound as bitter as that royal prick that Rod tossed out. You know, Regal Cock.
Two points. Firstly, this bill is not a confidence vote - not only is it thoroughly impossible for a private member's bill to be an automatic confidence vote(unless it is specifically a motion saying that the House has no confidence in the government). For that matter, the bill is actually skirting the edges of outright unconstitutionality - the Kelowna Accord is nothing but a gigantic cheque, and passing a private member's bill forcing the government to write that cheque violates the principles of responsible government and lacks a royal reccomendation, which is required for everything the government spends. It isn't blatantly unconstitutional, because it is not explicitly a money bill(it phrases things in terms of "the Kelowna Accord", as opposed to "Martin's Whomping Big Cheque #8472"), but the Speaker could still rule it out of order without any difficulty whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, while I can't say I know all the details of the CPC position on native affairs, I can quite easily oppose Kelowna without "slipping into overt racism". Put simply, the problem with natives is welfare dependancy and a legal structure that actively destroys accountability, suppresses entrepeneurship, and makes it virtually impossible for reserves to be anything other than broken wastelands of humanity no matter how much money we throw at them. It's an inevitable result of making it more profitable for people to sit around and do nothing on the reserve than to go get a job and earn their own living in the real world - any time you put a society in that circumstance, the inevitable result is idleness, rampant substance abuse, and, over the long term, a complete breakdown of society. That's true whether the people involved are white, black, native, or Martian - excessive welfare doesn't help people, it just produces feel-good hellholes.
The solution is band accountability, individual property rights, a real education system, and an actual opportunity for reserves to exist in the real world instead of some bullshit primitivist utopia locked in the 18th century. Writing a bigger cheque is just more of the same, and it won't help anyone except the wallets of the corrupt and the consciences of the stupid.
"primitivist utopia locked in the 18th century."
ReplyDeleteStone Age, more accurately.