Conservatives Move To Keep Canadian Airforce All Gassed Up

You know your government is light on achievements when they're hailing the extension of a maintenance contract. What next: "Conservative Govenment Pledges Lots Of Toilet Paper In HOC Men's Room"?

Prorogation

"'It certainly is more normal than even I was aware of," said [Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound CPoC MP Larry] Miller.

Perhaps more normal than he even thought possible? Clearly, somebody issued Larry Miller the same 5 x 7 card with talking points on it that everyone else got.

Tory MP James Moore Is Hilarious

He really is. Though as a taxpayer, its reassuring to know that he'll have plenty of time to post crap to his videoblog this winter. What's next? Maybe John Baird will take up macrame to while away the long hours.

Thanks For Pointing That Out

From today's Star:

There has been no...apology from Saskatchewan MP Maurice Vellacott for his unflattering depiction of women seeking abortions, which also applauded Saskatoon doctors for restricting access to abortion services.

"Pro-life feminists have ... come to see abortion as part of a male agenda to have women more sexually available," said the controversial MP in an anti-abortion news release sent out Nov. 20.

And another story here from the Calgary Sun. The statements come from a news release posted to Vellacot's website on the 20th, and reported by me on the 21st. Today is the 25th, and it looks like its only being reported because the Oppo parties picked up on it yesterday. C'mon MSM, chop chop! You're supposed to be ahead of the game in these things. I'm not supposed to be doing your job for you! I mean, it's like those girls always used to tell me: BCL this is crazy: I should be paying you.

PS. Anyone looking a nice bit of recent (unremarked) Tory stupidity can look here, wherein Stockwell Day asks who can forget Silken Laumann's Olympic triumph? and proves that he certainly can.

Who Can Forget? Obviously, Stockwell Day Can

Who can forget Silken’s incredible comeback in the heart testing and muscle tearing sport of rowing? Some people had written her off after a training accident which had shattered her leg in crippling fashion. I guess somebody forgot to tell her that her athletic career should have been over. She wasn't prepared to live with that. In a legendary 'agony and ecstasy' journey doctors pieced her leg back together and she pieced her dreams back together with a brutal and oft times painful training regime.

As her challengers in the gold medal round watched in disbelief she gave it all in the race of her life and came through with a medal of gold and a smile of joy that lit up a nation.

And, from Wiki, what really happened:

Arguably the most famous incident in Laumann's life was during her training leading up to the 1992 Summer Olympics. One of the odds-on favourites to capture a gold medal, her shell was involved in a collision with the boat of German coxless pair team Colin von Ettinghausen and Peter Hoeltzenbein on May 15, 1992. Despite serious injuries to her leg...five operations and a total stay in the hospital of approximately three weeks, Laumann was back on the water training by late June. Her efforts paid off with a bronze medal...

I bet she was rowing South at the time, just like the Niagara River.

Tory Election Strategy: Screw The Rest, We'll Take The West

Ottawa is eyeing a climate change plan that would allow Alberta's oil sands to continue growing – and polluting – but would clamp down on industries in the rest of the country, multiple sources have told the Toronto Star.

Yeah that'll work. On a related note, looks like Bourque is off the Tory pay-roll.

PM Calls Northerners Dirty Assholes!

No shit!

Their Timing Is Impeccable

From Stats Canada's The Daily:

Travel from overseas countries declined 7.8% from April as 342,000 trips were taken to Canada. In May, 11 of the top 12 overseas markets recorded decreases, with Japan (-34.6%) recording the largest decline.

These figures are, by the by, from May. Here's some of the detailed breakdown:

The numbers are in the thousands, and they are from before the government's latest change to the visa rules. Tourism from Mexico is already down 26% as of two months ago (17,000 vs 23,000 in May 2008). Of course, I don't imagine any of the tourists are going to Fort Mac, so why would our current federal government even care?

The Harper Tories: taking a bad situation and making it worse.

Gordon Smith Is Not Iggy

Got it! This quote

...it is really important that Canada be on top this because otherwise ... somebody will come up with the idea of creating an entirely new group. A group that would certainly include key countries like China and India, but no particular reason why it would include Canada.

...comes originally from here. Iggy speaks for a bit, then Gordon Smith (Center For Global Studies)takes over and says the words in question. I imagine the e-mail Mr. Dimitri Soudas recieved was a transcript, because that's a picture of Mr. Smith there. Not at all like Iggy.

Remarks in question at about the 3:40 mark.

Has Diane Ablonczy Been Demoted For Being Too Gay Friendly?

Ms. Ablonczy is Canada's Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism). She is also the lady who announced that the Federal government would fund Toronto Pride Week to the tune of $400,000. Now Brad Trost, Conservative Member of Parliament representing the riding of Saskatoon—Humboldt, is saying that this decision has cost her:


Speaking to LifeSiteNews.com from his riding office in Saskatoon today, the 36-year-old Conservative said, "The pro-life and the pro-family community should know and understand that the tourism funding money that went to the gay pride parade in Toronto was not government policy, was not supported by - I think it's safe to say by a large majority - of the MPs. This was a very isolated decision."

Trost also hinted that Minister Diane Ablonczy, who was responsible for the funding, lost the file as a consequence of the embarrassment to the Party. Protesting more than once that there was no "official connection," he said, however, "it should be noted that the file has been reassigned to a different Cabinet Minister since that announcement was made." He added, "The whole tourism program and funding for major tourism events is being reviewed."

Trost claimed that "almost the entire Conservative caucus" including "most of the Prime Minister's Office were taken by surprise at this announcement."


Not sure what "lost the file" means in this context, but the most obvious explanation is that the "Tourism" part of the Small Business and Tourism portfolio has been redistributed to somebody else in what I suppose you might describe as micro-cabinet shuffle.

Also, is "touristic" a word? I think it should be.

PS. Interesting that there is absolutely no mention of this alleged demotion in the MSM. Typically, Lifesite has been used as a kind of Tory back-channel to the SoCon base that they don't really expect anyone else to read. This could well be a load of hooey meant to appease the faithful.

PPS. Ms. O'Malley thinks there might be something to it.

Update: Akin weighs in.

Gary Goodyear: Master Of All Sciency Stuff

Looks like Federal science minister Gary Goodyear has managed, as it were, to put the fear of God into the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC):

In January, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) gave $17,815 to York University in Toronto and Queen's University in Kingston to host a conference 22–25 June entitled 'Israel/Palestine: Mapping models of statehood and prospects for peace.' On 5 June, Goodyear asked the council to conduct a “second peer review” of the grant on the grounds that “several individuals and organizations have expressed their grave concerns that some of the speakers have, in the past, made comments that have been seen to be anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic.” In March, the minister infamously ducked an inquiry about his belief in evolution by saying: “I am a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate.”

Yesterday the funding council took a small step toward mollifying one of its political masters by announcing that it is “looking into the matter in the context of its policies and procedures.” But SSHRC spokesperson Trevor Lynn noted that, 'to my knowledge,” the council has never conducted a second peer review of an approved grant. SSHRC program guidelines state that minor changes to a conference, such as the addition of a topic or replacement of speakers, do not require the agency's approval, whereas organizers are expected to tell the council of any major alterations in the use of the grant, such as “changing the theme or focus of the event.”

Mr. Goodyear's kibitzing has also managed to drive off two of the conference speakers. More details at Prometheus. Dave Bruggeman notes:

My take is that the pressure on the minister is to shut down the event, denying that it could possibly be about reasoned inquiry.

PS. Here's the conference program. Feel free to examine it for signs of anti-semitism.

Flanagan On Human Rights

I didn't intend to write on Tom Flanagan's G&M piece this morning, but Impolitical called me on it. This bit is both the silliest and most cold-hearted part:

In a competitive market, discrimination is costly to the discriminator. An employer who refuses to hire workers because of race, religion or ethnicity restricts his own choices and imposes a disadvantage on his firm. Meanwhile, his competitors gain by being able to hire from a larger pool. The same logic applies to restaurateurs turning away potential customers, or landlords refusing to lease to people of particular categories. (I'll never forget the experience of owning rental property in the recession of the 1980s; I would have rented to Martians if they had showed up with a damage deposit.)

The argument applies no matter how rampant prejudice and discrimination may be. Those who discriminate impose burdens on themselves and confer advantages on their competitors. Competitive markets don't immediately abolish discriminatory practices, but they tend to erode them, not by trying to enlighten bigoted people, but by making discrimination unprofitable.

I should say to start I have lived in a very non-competitive housing market--Toronto in the late 80s, where a land-lord cord charge you $400 a month for a cot next to the furnace--and at the time ran into a mixed race couple, one very pregnant, who could not find a place that would rent to them. I gave them a few phone numbers to try, and wished them luck.

(If I remember correctly, a "balanced" rental market is about 5% vacant. Toronto's current rate is 2.1%, hasn't been competitive in at least 25 years.)

Now, that's just an anecdote, but Flanagan himself is offering nothing but deductions from sterile economic theory. To assume that 1) people make these kinds of decision rationally, or 2) will not routinely make rational or at least calculated decisions on the basis of values other than economic values (religious values, for example,which might entail a disapproval of Martian sexual practices), or 3) can never become wealthy enough to indulge their prejudices... is naive in the extreme.

More generally, this "if we didn't have human rights laws the market would make human rights problems go away" is the same line of nonsense Ezra peddles. I'm surprised Flanagan didn't try to blame it all on the Canadian Jewish Congress.

James Lunney Watch: Update

MSM reaction continues to trickle in over Tory MP (and chiropractor) James Lunney's statement in the HOC that, if Darwin lived today, he might just convert to young Earth creationism. Not nearly as much outrage as when Gary Goodyear stepped in it the previous week, but maybe the good jokes were all used up in that first incident.

Lunney himself, wisely enough, is staying quiet.

History Knocks: Harper In John

Harper's press secretary says that after the working session this morning the Prime Minister was pulled aside by his officials who wanted to update him on the latest draft of the Leaders Communique to be released later this afternoon. The briefing wasn't brief enough, and so Harper was late for the photo op and missed it.

At least that's their story.

BBC TV has a different story. Their economics correspondent is reporting that the Canadian Prime Minister missed the family photo because he was "in the loo".

The PMO says it is sticking to its story, has tracked down the BBC reporter to straighten her out, and expects a correction.


Not only that, when they did the do-over photo session, Silvio Berlusconi went missing. Maybe we can make a deal with the Italians:for historical purposes, they can have the picture with our guy in it, we'll take the one with their guy in it. And both our nations can try to forget.

PS. Can we officially refer to Harper's G20 visit as "gaffe-filled" now?

She Ain't Innocent, But She's Hot (And She Tags Flaherty But Good)

Gritgirl unloads another viral masterpiece. God she's viral. So hot...so hot!

Tory Brain Trust Still Run By Dorks

Ever since Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella made a few questionable remarks about Chinese cuisine, the Tory brain trust has been trying to use the incident as a means of bolstering their support among the Chinese Canadian community. So they sent a couple of MPs to the Yang Sheng restaurant to present the owner with a bogus certificate and, generally, keep the pot stirring (no pun intended) for another news cycle. Here's a picture from the resulting photo-op, along with Ezra's account:

Jason Kenney, the Minister of Multiculturalism, Citizenship and Immigration, and Pierre Poilievre and Alice Wong [...] went for lunch today to the Yang Sheng restaurant [...] And Kenney gave Mr. Feng, the proprietor, a Certificate of Excellence. You can see a picture of Kenney giving the award to a beaming Mr. Feng. I bet it feels nice to be treated with some respect -- even some flattery -- after being dragged through Kinsella's muck for a week.

Good for Kenney and Poilievre (and Wong, not in the frame).

Now, Alice Wong has been the MP driving this particular mini-scandal, yet when the time comes to collect whatever political payoff might be derived from it, the Chinese Canadian MP is literally left out of the picture. Instead, Poilievre and Jason Kenney, whose only connection to the Chinese community appears to be that he has more chins than the Beijing phone book, get all the camera time.

PS. I made my peace with Warren a long time ago, and in "real life" he has provided some very solid advice to me on a number of occasions. Nevertheless I still get a bit of a giggle when he lands up in trouble. Don't know why. In any case, its bizarre that the Tories should build a political strategy around annoying one guy.

PPS. The real issue with Chinese cuisine is not the meat content of its entrees, but its rather sub-standard desserts. Here I think the attention to food texture, which gives such terrific results when applied to main courses, comes up short. A lotta bland, hard jello-type thingies ensue.

Embarassatory Friday: Stockwell Day Slags Haiti

From his Penticton Western column, March 2007:

Dollars from Canada are carefully directed. Shutting down a drug cartel in Haiti means less cocaine or crystal meth imported onto our own streets....

Since then the only piece I've ever seen linking Crystal Meth production to the Republic of Haiti is Stock's . Canada's crystal meth supply, apparently, comes entirely from within our own borders.

Kyoto Dog Blog Deathwatch

An already intensely unfunny blog actually deteriorates in quality! Today's installment is only the third and its author has already run out of stupid canine puns:

Poor Stéphane, he’s been having a rough go of it lately. First, he gets blown off by his own Senators over Senate terms limits. And yesterday afternoon he got booed off the stage by the very unionists for whom he was proclaiming support. Ouch! It’s a good thing he didn’t get onto the topic of how much C-288 would cost their industry. He’d be signing soprano for a week!

I give it a week and then Dog Blog disappears into the ether. Meanwhile, the writer does not include this bit of work experience on his resume.