[...] the Treasury Board president is demanding an apology from the NDP, which levelled the accusation last week. "Now they've been shown to be a bunch of liars and I want my justice," Clement said Tuesday, moments after being cleared by House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer.
Clement added that "a liar should apologize" and even hinted at legal action should New Democrat MP Charlie Angus refuse to apologize for initiating a "smear campaign full of lies." [...]
The issue arose last week when the NDP noticed that the official transcript, known as Hansard, had been altered to delete Clement's response of "sure" when asked if he would publicly disclose all the applications from municipalities in his riding for a share of the $50-million G8 legacy fund. [...]
Clement told reporters his repeated use of the word "sure" is a verbal tick, a way of hesitating while he formulates his response to questions, much the same way other people use "you know" or "OK." He said he had no intention of agreeing to the NDP request to produce the application forms for funding.
Boulerice said Clement's continued refusal to produce the documents shows the NDP has nothing to learn from Clement "about telling the truth."
Methinks the knave doth protest too much and way too vigorously. The Politburo will be coming along shortly to check Tony's meds, as per Stevie's instructions, to avoid a messy melt-down.
Merci to our friend in car-wreck hilarity, canadian cynic.
Slide show of inspiring placards and slogans. Take note of the inflated planet earth with "scorch" zones, and the chart that explains climate change succinctly in 50 words or less to open minds. I met the scientists who brought these items to the march: they work at a local university, and this was the first political protest they attended.
As Mike Soron said here: It’s extraordinary and inspiring to see the research and scientific community speaking up in this way.
This will be the first time that these five societies have met together, creating a truly international event that spans the fields of ecology and evolution. The meeting will be the premier showcase in 2012 for the presentation and discussion among peers of the latest, leading-edge research in ecology and evolution, and will also be an important forum for outreach and education.
Over 2000 scientists, people working in support of scientific research and graduate students marched to Parliament Hill last Tuesday, bearing a coffin that held scientific evidence the CPC government wants to bury.
Meanwhile, the Harper Regime's decision to slash funding for Parks Canada programs and services but to generously endow one single site, has been trumpeted by none other than Tony *Cashmere* Clement. The tourist attraction is CONveniently located in his riding, of course.
Located in Northwestern Ontario, the Experimental Lakes Area is a series of 58 lakes that have been the site of environmental research for over 40 years. The lakes have served as an invaluable natural laboratory where scientists have been able to study issues such as acid rain, climate change and farm fishing. Scientists at the ELA have been responsible for discoveries that have impacted freshwater systems across the globe.[...]
The loss of this vital facility will be a deep one for Canada. Not only will we lose our place on the world stage as leaders in freshwater ecology science, but we’ll lose our ability to predict how our freshwater will be affected by external factors such as pollution and fish farming — and thus, protect our own water supply.
The closure of the ELA research facility will not only impact the health of lakes and rivers, but for the health of Canadians, as our lakes are our direct source of drinking water.
from virtually the moment the Conservatives took power, scientists in the employ of the government have not been permitted to speak freely to journalists, at least not without the con-sent of media relations officers. This approach, which has much in common with the way cults operate, effectively limits the dissemination, to the public, of the fruits of scientific endeavours. So too does the elimination of the National Science Advisor position, which the Conservatives axed in 2008.
In fact, government control over information, scientific and otherwise, has become so intense that Canada's freedom-of-information ranking has now fallen to 51st out of 89 countries scored by the Halifax-based Centre for Law and Democracy. That places us below such bastions of freedom as Angola, Colombia and Niger.
Yet as totalitarian governments have always learned, evidence has a way of getting out. And when uncomfortable evidence rears its head, the Conservatives have been right there, ready to twist it off. Consider for example, the 2008 Health Canada report on chrysotile asbestos.
After trying, and ultimately failing, to hide the report, Industry Minister Christian Paradis falsely claimed that panel members disagreed about the safe use of chrysotile - a move that prompted the panel's chair to speak out about the "gross misuse and misinterpretation" of the report.
Similarly, after 130 physicians and scientists accused former Health Minister Tony Clement of misrepresenting and suppressing the scientific findings on Vancouver's supervised injection site, Clement proceeded to, well, misrepresent and suppress the findings.
Indeed, Clement convened his own hand-picked panel of experts to assess the site's value, and after the expert panel's report was submitted, two members of the panel lamented that Clement misrepresented their findings. And if that weren't enough, Clement then tried to pass off a poorly writ-ten opinion piece about the site as the equivalent of two dozen published studies - a clear indication of the value Clement places on science.
The NDP is accusing federal Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement of using a controversial, $50-million G8 legacy fund to buy re-election, prompting a heated denial from the government.
Municipal documents obtained by the New Democrats show Clement met with local mayors and councillors in the midst of the 2008 election campaign. They discussed how to identify projects that could be eligible for the legacy funding.
Twelve days after that meeting, a local news outlet reported that Clement had posted video endorsements from "local townspeople, mayors and council members" on his campaign website.
Somebody needs to investigate. In particular, this bit:
The auditor general has also criticized the government for shutting bureaucrats out of the process and for maintaining no paper trail to explain how or why the projects were selected.
However, hundreds of pages of municipal documents obtained by the NDP through provincial freedom of information legislation, show that federal bureaucrats did in fact participate in local meetings about the legacy fund -- including the one held during the 2008 campaign.
The documents also show that municipal officials were told to direct all questions and send funding applications to Clement's constituency office, not the government.
Shame on the people of Muskoka who sold their vote for a bunch of crappers. But the bureaucrats who sold their integrity should be fired and prosecuted.
As for Tony Slush, I'll keep my opinions on his just punishment to myself.
For now.
Image source. The blogger said presciently back in April this year:
Sweet for Tony Clement and the Conservative Party. They’ll probably get re-elected in Clement’s riding given all the tax money which has been spent there.
More than a dozen members of the Saskatoon Chapter of Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament attended a flash rally outside the Radisson Hotel in downtown Saskatoon between 11:30am and Noon today. The group marched back and forth along the sidewalk bringing their message to members of the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce who were attending a luncheon with Minister Tony Clement at the Radisson.
"We want to keep the pressure on until Parliament resumes and the Harper government is held accountable to Canadians and a working democracy," said Mary Jean Hande a participant at today's Flash Rally.
Chants of “Pro-democracy not prorogue,” “You can prorogue but you can’t hide,” and “This is what democracy looks like” echoed through the buildings in Saskatoon’s downtown core. Minister Clement escaped the scrutiny of the demonstrators by slipping in the back door of the hotel and staff at the hotel barred entry to the demonstrators who wished to bring their concerns to the Industry Minister.
"Our group braved -30 Degree wind chills to bring a message to Minister of Industry Tony Clement that the abuse of Canada’s democratic institutions for political reasons is not acceptable," said Flash Rally participant Peter Garden. "We are urging other chapters of Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament and any concerned Canadians to monitor public appearances of the Harper government, Cabinet Ministers and other MPs, and then publicly confront them on the prorogation of parliament and the attacks on democratic institutions."
The flash rally follows the mobilization of more than 25,000 Canadians in over 60 communities, including over 450 people in Saskatoon, on January 23 against what many Canadians see as the erosion of Canada’s democratic institutions under the Harper government. The leaderless, grassroots, national group, Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (CAPP), has vowed to continue the pressure on the Harper government to return to work and be accountable to the Canadian electorate.
There has been a lot of talk in recent days about Industry Minister Tony Clement suggesting that one person, one Canadian complaining about the scrapping of the mandatory long-form census is a enough to convince the government to change policy.
The minister doesn't agree that's what he said.
In fact, just yesterday the minister tried to defend his statement by saying this, "Let me interpret what I said, because the question was more of a general question."
For the record, I was the reporter asking the questions in this case and I thought it might be worthwhile to transcribe the entire exchange and let you decide what the Minister actually said and interpret it for yourself.
The transcript follows, ending with this:
Barton: "Sure, but we don't change public policy for one person do we?"
Clement: "Why not? If they're right."
Barton: "We change public policy for one person?"
Clement: "If they're right."
Seems pretty clear to me.
And for more fun, the bozo from the Beauce, as Montreal Simon styles him is in a spot of bother today too over the census.
As with the cascade of revealing tweets from @Vikileaks30 and #TellVicEverything, people expressed healthy sarcasm to leaven the heavy, lumpen realization that the CONtempt Party lied, cheated and used illegal methods to "win" the last election. We call it rightfully Election Fraud.
When the CPC decided to throw a lowly flunkie under the bus, people were incredulous. A 23 year-old engineered a multi-riding scam all by himself - did he have the savvy, the authority and the budget to do that? C'mon!
So a Twitter game was launched, based on Clue, the board game which has set characters, locations, weapons. The point is to find who committed a murder. It's a game of logic and deduction, quite amusing actually.
The resolution comes when one player, confident that she or he knows the identity of the killer, declares: "It was Colonel Mustard in the study with the pistol."
This trope lent itself to a diverting exploration of "a CON committed a crime; where and how?" Here are some of the best responses I've gathered.
It was the entire CPC in the parlour bludgeoning the truth with a blunt object.
It was a ConBot in the #cdnpoli thread with a load of horseshit.
It was Jason Kenney, in the Library, with a samosa in hand.
It was Pierre Karl Péladeau with the Rupert Murdoch manual on how to create a network that reports fake news.
It was not Bev Oda, not smoking a cigarette, not rolling her eyes every time Poilievre opens his mouth. Not.
It was Vic Toews at the babysitter convention with a copy of Yeats' greatest pick up lines.
It was Bruce Carson in the water treatment plant with a monkey wrench.
It was Stephen Harper at the NAC with a tone-deaf version of "With a Little Help from My Friends".
It was Bernard Généreux in Kamouraska/Rivière-du-Loup with a deforestation project.
It was a call centre, in Montana, with ill-gotten voter lists.
It was James Moore with funding cuts to Canadian Theatres and Festivals.
It was Peter MacKay in the Conservatory joining the Reformers.
It was Leona Aglukkaq, in the restaurant, with 50 pounds of unlabelled Trans Fats.
It was Baird Clement and Flaherty in the kitchen with the Mike Harris cookbook.
It was Rob Nicholson in a brothel with unreported, I repeat UNREPORTED, criminals.
It was Jim Prentice at CIBC with the last laugh.
It was Doug Finley in the Senate with an In-and-Out scheme.
It was Bev Oda in an NGO's Office with a rope tied in NOTS.
It was David Emerson in the cabinet with the Olympic Torch.
It was Dimitri Soudas, at a meal with Port de Mtl board members, with the support of the PMO.
It was Brad Trost and Maurice Vellacott and Stephen Woodworth in the wombs of the nation with a Bible.
It was the National Citizens Coalition in the lobby, with the batshit.
It was Candice Hoeppner at a victims' rally shouting: "in your face!"
It was Stephen Harper, in the bathroom, with a tantrum.
It was Steven Blaney with a 'denied' rubber stamp inside a cone of silence.
It was Rona Ambrose in Copenhagen with a pipe line.
It was Joe Oliver in the #tarsands with a dead duck.
It was Diane Finley, in the retirement home, with a knife in the back to seniors.
It was that fool Preston Manning who opened the way for a more powerful, nastier Harper.
It was "Prof" Tom & "The Honourable" Doug with a $1M insurance policy, in Cadman's office.
It was Harper & McKay holding cement shoes & stuffing Richard Colvin into a big bag of lies.
It was us with apathy in the last election.
It was Stephen Harper in China with a "Canada For Sale" sign.
It was Tony Clement with his $50Million at the G8 in Muskoka.
It was Clement at the shredder with the long-form census & any semblance of evidence-based decisions.
It was Kellie Leitch in the oncology ward with a bag of asbestos.
It was Kenney at a fake citizenship ceremony with a recipe for curry in a hurry.
It was John Duncan in Attawapiskat with a third-party manager.
It was Peter Kent in Durban with a denial.
It was Helena Guergis in the PEI airport with her stiletto boots.
It was Gary Goodyear in the lab without a clue about evolution.
It was Rob Nicholson in Bad Cop Drag with his HardOnCrime bill.
It was Gerry Ritz in the House of Commons with Maple Leaf baloney.
It was Jim Flaherty in a hole with the largest deficit in Canadian history.
It was Peter Mackay in the Search & Rescue chopper using F-35 estimates as bait for fishing trip.
It was Trost in the kitchen with the turkey baster singing Every Sperm is Sacred with Vellacott on violin.
It was the Blogging Tories in their own words.
It was Diane Ablonczy in a Denny's with the unfounded allegations and lies about Jane Stewart.
It was Rob Anders in the House of Commons with a pillow.
It was Stephen Woodworth in the kitchen with the medical dictionary.
It was Julian Fantino in the cargo container with the sand and rocks.
It was Lisa Raitt in the limousine with the isotope.
It was Maxime Bernier in the cleavage with the classified documents.
It was Michael Sona on the grassy knoll with a cell phone reading from an old union handbook.
It was Peter Kent in the main hall with the large crock.
It was Jason Kenney in the vestibule with the unregistered squirt gun.
It was Ezra Levant in the bitumen with the ethical shovel.
Depending on the point of view, it almost reads like a list of reformaTory *accomplishments*.
Stephen Maher in The Vancouver Sun yet takes Tony Slush apart. Title: 'Up Muskoka River without a paddle'.
So Clement's defence is that the mayors made the recommendations, which they didn't, and that Baird made the decision, which he didn't.
We need to know why there was no paperwork for the auditor general, because we are up Muskoka River without a paddle if politicians are able to hide their files from the auditor general, the only official with the power to pierce the veil of secrecy in Ottawa.
Clement's explanations are gibberish, and he does not appear to have the judgment necessary for his current job as president of Treasury Board, the minister in charge of enforcing spending rules.
Whether it's gazebos, the long-form census or the InSite file, Cashmere Tony is an embarrassment.
To everyone but PM SHithead himself, of course.
Prime ministers need loyal servants, so even though Clement's G8 shenanigans show that he is farcically ill-equipped to carry out his job, Harper is unlikely to move him or to force him to fully account for the rule-breaking porkfest in Muskoka.
So, the pork ladelled into Cashmere Tony's riding was supposed to have been to reduce border congestion.
The Canadian Press dropped an incendiary bomb on an otherwise torpid campaign on Monday, reporting that an early draft of Fraser’s report found that “Parliament was misinformed” about some of the spending. It indicated that the government asked Parliament to okay $83 million for a fund to reduce border congestion, while intending to use $50 million of it to spruce up Industry Minister Tony Clement’s Huntsville riding, far from any border.
I'd say it did a dandy job of that. I can personally confirm that there are no big rigs idling on the streets of Huntsville waiting for their turn at US Customs.
No. Wait. That money was intended as a 'thank you' to Muskokans.
Claude Doughty, mayor of Huntsville, the main site of the summit in Ontario’s Muskoka region, defended the program, saying some of the projects were meant more as a “thank you” to area municipalities for being host than as G8-related facilities.
“I don’t think there was ever any intent that some of them would be used by the world leaders,” he said. “You have to appreciate that a lot of people in Muskoka did a lot of work to prepare for the G8, myself included. And for those municipalities that went out of their way to really do those things, this was a bit of a token of saying, ‘Thank you.’ ”
A great big thank you that Muskokans are really really grateful for.
Oh. Wait.
However, some of the “legacy” items are largely unused. The University of Waterloo’s environmental research centre, completed 11 months ago, remains deserted and without signage. The echoing hallways of a summit centre are largely bare save for pieces of community art, while a brand-new seniors centre, banquet hall and drop-in daycare were empty on Monday afternoon.
But. But. Other sites of big events have had thank-you dough thrown at them too.
2.2 - In the past, federal funds have been made available to some regions hosting international or Prime Minister-led events on Canada's behalf. Regions have benefited from several million dollars made available for hosting. For example, in April 2001, Quebec City received about $4.5 million as it hosted the Summit of the Americas, and we noted a $5 million fund attached to the June 2002 G8 Summit in Kananaskis.
I haven't seen anybody note this. Muskoka is worth TEN TIMES Quebec City or Kananaskis?
Even 5 million bucks fraudulently acquired divvied up by a lying (see census) cabinet minister, a small town mayor, and a resort (?????) manager is too much.
But TEN TIMES that?
And leaving aside the corruption, lying, and sheer greed, the whole deal is a GINORMOUS slap in the face to Torontonians, as noted by that left-wing scribbler, Joe Warmington, who, remember, himself got caught up in the police state.
But my favourite expenditure of the dozens to spruce up Industry Minister Tony Clement’s Parry Sound-Muskoka riding is the $274,000 on portable toilets. It may be a crappy business, but not on the day you cash the cheque from the federal government. At least the Muskoka outhouses had doors, unlike the humiliation the wrongfully incarcerated experienced at the Eastern Ave. lockup.
It's sheer WIN for the ReformaTories. Bribe greedy, small-minded yahoos and AT THE SAME TIME boot TO in the nads.
It seems the NDP has just uncovered another discrepancy in his Ministry, a possible misappropriation of funds.
Official Opposition critic for the Treasury Board, Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont--La Petite-Patrie), wrote today to the President of the Treasury Board Tony Clement to ask him to explain the latest example of flawed accounting practices in his department and the possible misappropriation of funds.
New Democrats are asking Clement to explain the error involving the apparent mismanagement of hundreds of millions of dollars by Industry Canada and to take steps to review the estimates for other problems as well as implement a review of internal accounting procedures.
Just business as usual for PMSHithead's Contempt government; whatever happened to transparence and accountability?
It should be entertaining to uncover which of the ReformaTory pigs at the trough were the beneficiaries of Tony's prestidigitational largesse.
Thirty per cent of us are going to get the long-form census to fill out.
Being good Canadians who really haven't minded filling out the long form for bloody decades and who recognize the value of good data to all kinds of projects, a lot of us will do it voluntarily, right?
But then the Cons win. 'See?' they'll say, 'The data is still coming in.'
So, we shouldn't voluntarily fill them out. Just throw 'em in the recycling bin.
But then the Cons win. 'See?' they'll say, 'The silent majority of Canadians hate intrusive government.'
I didn't think I could loathe these ignorant thugs any more thoroughly. Amazingly, this stunt has shifted them even lower in my estimation.
Vancouver's Georgia Straight has a blog called *Blogra* where they've done the heavy lifting that the Globbin'Male won't do.
So it presents everything that you, the elector who didn't vote for the Contempt Party, needs to know about SHitehead's cabinet. For example, my virtual roomie's favourite, Cashmere Tony now President of the Treasury Board.
Globe: “He built a huge profile as the populist industry minister: protecting Canadian firms from multinational takeovers and consumers from excessive Internet bills.”
The unmentionable truth: Clement enraged producers and users of alternative medicine by introducing a bill to amend the Food and Drug Act, which would outlaw up to 60 percent of natural-health products on the market. Let's not even talk about the $50 million that went into his riding before the G8 and G20 summits.
There's more but not enough.
Every single one of Stevie Spiteful's bobble-heads in cabinet needs to have the real facts about his/her incompetence and propensity to do SHitehead's bidding exposed in public view. Peter Kent? Jim Flaherty?
How about MinJKenney? Now, there's a piece of work we've written much about and that a real journalist, if he or she had the backing of their news gathering organization, should investigate. I'd like to know how much tax-payer funded support his buddy Parm Gill received to advance his election campaign.
Wow. The Boston Globe takes note of the census kerfuffle.
Oh. Wait. Their census kerfuffle.
The Republican National Committee’s new attack on the US Census is so nakedly transparent that you almost want to avert your eyes.
The charge is being led by Teabaggers, you know, those intellectual giants who believe that Barack Obama is Muslim and not US-born.
Back here at home, not surprisingly, Canadian marketers are opposed to making the long-form census voluntary.
But somewhat surprisingly, the pres of the Canadian Marketing Association states that the census is less intrusive than other methods of information gathering -- and he'd know about other methods, wouldn't he?
Also, in an open letter written to Minister Clement, whose department is responsible for Statistics Canada, CMA president and ceo John Gustavson pointed out that “With respect to the suggestion that the long form is intrusive, this information enables marketers to reach consumers more effectively and reduce considerably the amount of communication an individual receives.”
“I would therefore respectfully suggest that the long form census does, in fact, limit intrusion into individuals' lives by reducing irrelevant marketing and market surveys that would otherwise be sent to consumers,” said Gustavson.
The article also quotes Jan Kestle of Environics, who notes the damage poor data does to business competitiveness.
“It is ironic that, in these challenging economic times, a decision that is ostensibly being made for the good of Canadians may very well have a severe impact on the competitiveness of Canadian businesses,” Kestle added. “Consumer marketers have invested significant resources during the past 15 years to tailor marketing to smaller and smaller segments; one-to-one marketing is on everyone’s agenda. Consumers expect products and services to be tailored to their needs. This decision will make it harder for businesses to meet the needs of the increasingly complex and discriminating consumer marketplace.”
So, when you're arguing with friends and co-workers or on-line strangers who want to scrap the long-form census, these are a couple of more arrows to your quiver.
Or you could just call them ignorant Canadian Teabaggers.
I think I'm going with the latter from now on.
To wit: Former BC deputy health minister Lawrie McFarlane: The census is torture.
“It's almost like the argument for water boarding: if you water board enough people, they will tell you something,” Mr. McFarlane said.
This is the best the ReformaTories could come up with?
BONUS: (same Globe link) Some Calgary talkshow host named Dave Rutherford was confused:
"I agree with the democratic process in this country ... and because I participate in democracy, I am here,” he said. “But other than that, I don’t know why I am here.”
“My experience with Canadians is that when you ask them to do something for the good of the country, they'll do it voluntarily,” Mr. Flaherty told The Canadian Press over the weekend. The finance minister is the latest member of the Tory cabinet to defend the Conservative government's decision to scrap the long census and replace it with an optional one.
Mr. Flaherty said he thinks census data can be collected voluntarily without being compromised.
He thinks. Without even checking the PMO-supplied cheat sheet that features all the speaking points to date, plus the newly minted prevarications.
Parliament has been a particularly nasty place for years but that was a consequence of minority government, many pundits said. The government was always in danger and so the Conservatives behaved as if they were in a non-stop election campaign. A majority would change that, the pundits said after the election. The Conservatives will calm down, drop the nastiness, and deliver a more statesmanlike government.
But that hasn’t happened. [...]
They are the party of Stephen Harper.
Tom Flanagan recently described the prime minister’s personal interests. “He doesn’t really care much about money,” Flanagan told the Hill Times. “He likes to watch hockey and so on, but he doesn’t have a lot of active interests that he wants to pursue. He doesn’t play golf. He doesn’t play tennis. He doesn’t care much for travel. He doesn’t paint. He doesn’t fish. You know, he loves politics.”
Indeed. Stephen Harper has been obsessing about political power his whole life. It’s what he does. It’s all he does.
The same is true of many of the top people around him. John Baird, Jason Kenney, Tony Clement, Peter Van Loan. They’ve spent their entire lives in politics. It’s all they know.
But Harper is more than a political obsessive. He’s a passionate obsessive. Almost frighteningly so.
As Conservative strategist Rod Love told author Lawrence Martin, Harper and other Reformers seethed — and rightly so — at the way the Chrétien-era Liberals framed them as the lunatic fringe. “Others got over it,” Love observes in Martin’s book Harperland. “Harper? It was just burned in his psyche. So when he came to power it was payback time. This wasn’t just about going after someone in the Commons in the day, then going out for a beer at night. This was about destruction.”
The same description surfaces over and over. Stephen Harper doesn’t want to beat the other side; he wants to destroy them. They’re not opponents; they’re the enemy. As for the depth of his ideological feelings, the prime minister’s colleagues use the word “hatred” to describe his antipathy to liberalism.
When politics is everything, when opponents are enemies, when there’s hatred in your belly, certain things follow. Ruthlessness, for one. Personal attacks. A refusal to accept the legitimacy of different views and to work with those who hold them.
Stephen Harper is only one man, of course, but unlike every Liberal prime minister his dominance of his party is total. He effectively built it from the ground up. It is his party. And its personality mirrors that of its creator and master.
The Conservatives did not behave the way they did in the past because they had a minority of the seats in the House of Commons. They behaved that way because they are the party of Stephen Harper. They still are. And so they still behave that way.
In their lavish and deliberate use of Rovian tactics, Stalinist control and Goebbelsian communication strategies the former Reformatories, as directed by Harper have rebranded themselves by securing the name of a once honourable political party, but they are fundamentally still the cabal of greedy, ideologically-bound carpet-baggers that Preston Manning gathered and released - like a herd of rapacious hyenas.
Today on Twitter, Comets Mum was appalling amusing her followers by tweeting information on the educational attainments of the CONtempt Party's cabinet ministers, taken from the official source.
There are 38 cabinet ministers, including the Trained Economist PM.
There are 12 lawyers: Nicholson, MacKay, Toews, Clement, Fast, Oliver, Valcourt, Bernier, Flaherty, Van Loan, Raitt, and Paradis. Of that gang, Van Loan and Raitt seem to have gone a bit beyond the LLB.
Mr. Van Loan obtained a master of science degree in planning and a master of arts in international relations from the University of Toronto and a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School.
[Raitt] is a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University and holds a master of science degree from the University of Guelph. She earned her law degree from Osgoode Hall at York University.
Master of SCIENCE!!
There are degrees in subjects other than law.
• Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women, has a BA and MA in political science.
• Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, has a BA in administrative studies and MA in business administration.
• Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs, has a BA in 'political studies'. Not quite political science?
• Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, 'is a graduate of the University of Northern British Columbia.' No discipline? OK, then.
• Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, has a BA and MBA and he's an engineer.
• Ashfield, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, 'studied business administration at the University of New Brunswick.' Didn't graduate?
• Duncan, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, has a BSc in forestry. More SCIENCE!
• O'Connor, Minister of State and Chief Government Whip, 'has received degrees from Concordia and York universities.' Real degrees or honorary?
• Ablonczy, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs, 'has degrees in education and law.' Not quite a lawyer, then?
• Fletcher, Minister of State (Transport), has a MBA and BSc in engineering. More SCIENCE!
• Wong, Minister of State (Seniors), has a PhD in 'curriculum and instruction.' Oo, sounds like something one could earn at OISE.
Mostly lawyers, political scientists (sic), and business administrators.
These are short bios and natch, they would be as positive as possible. So let's look at the 11 for whom there is no mention of education at all.
• Aglukkaq, Minister of Health
• Kent, Minister of the Environment
• Ritz, Minister of Agriculture (Bio mentions coaching.)
• Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
• Shea, Minister of National Revenue
• Fantino, Minister of International Cooperation
Six pretty damn big important (?) ministries there. The people in charge of Health, Environment, Transport/Infrastructure, National Revenue and International Cooperation seem to have no higher education worth mentioning.
There are also five more minor players without educational brags: Yelich, Minister of State (Western Economic Diversification) (Farming is mentioned); Menzies, Minister of State (Finance) (Another farmer); Uppal, Minister of State (Democratic Reform) (Another coach); Gosal, Minister of State (Sport); and LeBreton, leader of the Senate. (Actually, if Marjory had any kind of post-secondary education, I'd wanna know which institution and work to get it discredited. Have you ever heard her speak?)
Now to some cases that get special treatment in the education department.
Look what they say about Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) and Evolution-Denying Creationism.
Dr. Goodyear attended the University of Waterloo specializing in kinesiology and psychology before graduating from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College.
Kinesiology is what star athletes 'study' at university usually without getting a degree either. The 'Dr.' is entirely bogus.
On to Penashue, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.
He graduated from Brother Rice High School in St. John’s and pursued studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
And Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism.
Mr. Kenney is a graduate of Notre Dame College. He also studied at the St. Ignatius Institute of the University of San Francisco.
Notre Dame College is 'an international Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory boarding school for students in grades 9 to 12.' High school, not college.
I get a chance to post my fave vid again of how Jason distinguished himself at St. Ignatius.
In 2011, about 53% of Canadians aged 15 and over had trade certificates, college diplomas and university degrees. This was an increase of 20 percentage points since 1990.
That's pretty impressive, isn't it? In fact, Canada has the highest percentage of such graduates of any of the OECD countries.
The Cabinet -- with 25 out of 38 ministers holding degrees of some kind -- fares better than the national average with 65.7%. (That's generously counting Ashfield and O'Connor, not counting Kenney.)
But isn't that to be expected? That people with big jobs, big responsibilities, making the big bucks actually have some edumaction, some exposure to facts and learning and critical thinking and logic and asking questions and looking shit up.
That one-third of them DON'T is scary.
That those WITHOUT are running Health, Environment, Transport/Infrastructure, National Revenue, and International Cooperation is really really scary.
Of the ones who do hold degrees, only 5 of them have anything at all to do with science. And no, I'm not counting chiropractology.
Science is by no means the be-all and end-all of education. But it does require its students to recognize that YOU CAN'T JUST MAKE SHIT UP.
The people in charge of Health, Environment, Agriculture, and Fisheries wouldn't be able to distinguish a CO2 molecule from a petri dish of e.coli.
I am not an edumacational snob, but I find this shocking.
But it explains much doesn't it?
That PM Shithead likes to surround himself with low-information minions, for one thing.
209 -- and counting; the list hasn't been updated since Wednesday and there are a bunch more in the comments -- truthy, sciencey, facty organizations versus these guys:
1. National Citizens Coalition census 2. The Fraser Institute 3. Lorne Gunther and Ezra Levant, National Post 4. Canadian Taxpayers Federation 5. Toronto Sun editorial 6. Terence Corcoran, Columnist National Post
The group representing Canada's lawyers says changes to the census will make it tougher for people who suffer serious personal injuries to get proper compensation.
In a letter to Industry Minister Tony Clement, the Canadian Bar Association calls for the return of the mandatory long-form census, saying lawyers and judges use the information to help determine how much injured clients should claim in court.
I mean, really, could the ReformaTories have chosen a stupider issue to deflect attention from the G8/G20 fiasco? No. Really. Could they?
Linky goodness to other insightful articles + illuminating graphic illustration that compares the housing budget allocated to Attawapiskat and Clement's G8 slush fund.
This is how it starts. A narcissistic sociopath takes control of a political party and proclaims: "We can create a country built on solid Conservative values [...] the kind of country I want to lead." Here are a few more quotes:
"Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed."
"Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs."
"The writer is the engineer of the human soul."
"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas."
"Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party."
"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."
The first pronouncement is from Stephen Joseph Harper. The rest are from Joseph Stalin.
“Do you think it is right that you can threaten your neighbour with jail time if she doesn’t tell you if she has mental issues or not?” he wrote. “Or who does what chores in the house? Or whether she is a Jew or not? Don't you find that one even a little bit chilling?”
What I find chilling is the sustained campaign of propaganda and disinformation Stevie Spiteful's PMO has waged on every issue it has shoved down the throat of the electorate since the ReformaTories formed their first minority government in 2006.
And as the continuing debacle over the G-8/G-20 demontrates, the Cons' electoral promise of transparence and accountability in government is nothing more than a typical Con job.
The only obstacle to a Canada controlled by Harper's steel fist and administered by his cowering cadre of lying bullies is a purposeful response by Canadian voters.
More crumbling away: Who needs to get nasty feedback or pesky facts entered into the public record?
Federal civil servants won't get to fill out a workplace survey this year because the Conservative government has axed it. [...]
A Statistics Canada official broke the news to colleagues last month in an email obtained by The Canadian Press. "I regret to inform you that plans for the 2010 Public Service Employee Survey are cancelled," Geoff Bowlby, head of the agency's labour statistics division, wrote on June 2. "We received notice from Treasury Board secretariat yesterday evening that funding for the project was not approved for this year. [...]
Neither Treasury Board President Stockwell Day nor his department were immediately able to say how much the survey cost. The government solicits voluntary feedback from its workers every three years to improve programs and services. The survey gives a snapshot of workers' demographics, skills, career expectations and concerns.
ADDED by fern hill: A plug for the Facebook group, Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper, which today passed the 5,000 member mark. We've been raising money and placing newspaper ads to raise awareness of just this issue. Totally grassroots, volunteer. Check it out.
Today on Radio-Canada the putative dauphin to the ReformaTory leadership Maxime Bernier mouthed PMO speaking points, 'splaining why the Stats Canada practice of compelling citizens who receive the census long form to fill out the questionnaire is EVIL. (Note: Bernier was Minister of Industry when he first joined Harper's cabinet.)
1. It is a blatant and intrusive invasion of privacy. (The interviewer said that only 3 complaints were filed with the Privacy Commissioner in the last decade. Bernier did not respond to this fact.)
3. There are thousands of people (not just with the long form, though) who have said that their spiritual beliefs are informed by the religion of Star Wars. Heathens!!! Why do they hate Canada?
Bernier churlishly added that critics - municipalities, academics, and other "special interest" groups can damn well pay for the research, studies and data they need.
Opposition to yet another ill-advised and capricious Stevie Spiteful decision, here.
Update. Tony Clement's communiqué - which desperately attempts to justify the abolition of the mandatory long-form census - is, as Hill Queeries observes: "full of half-truths, red herrings, misdirection, scaremongering, and a straw man or two".
As for census data users - a wide range of federal, provincial and territorial governments departments, municipalities, non-profit organizations, community groups, academia, private industry (which includes licensed distributors and the media) - their needs were conveyed to Stats Canada during a scheduled consultative process. There's a report here.
Has anyone suggested this may be a Con attempt to undermine Stats Canada and to privatize data collection? Data users could be forced to pay twice and three times as much as Stats Canada charges now (read BCL on that issue) for less consistent/reliable information from profiteers.
It was almost 2 years ago that a MASSIVE poll was run by KLR Vu Research for an anti-abortion group. Perhaps Stevie and his bullies are cancelling our national, exemplary and internationally respected data collection service for the benefit of push-polling outfits owned by ReformaTory benefactors.
“Harper does not like StatsCan, that’s what we kept hearing,” according to a longtime employee of the agency. “In particular, he does not like the analytical work we’ve done for years.” The Prime Minister thinks of it as fodder for critics.
Sure enough, it’s the analytical work that he has been decimating. Gone, truncated or privatized are surveys that kept track of pensions and benefits at our places of work; the proportion of our incomes going to housing, vacation, medical expenses to see how well or badly we all were doing; the level of inequality among Canadians; the economic integration of immigrants; and how people with physical and mental disabilities were coping.
“When these surveys were being cut back, the concerned federal departments were told not to comment on how that might muck up their work,” said the source. “They were told to shut up. The message had come from the top.”
Will Harper reverse his decision? Will glass be shattered and furniture smashed, will rugs be chewed and holes gouged in the walls, and will the temp help have to coaxed out from underneath the desks again? Stay tuned.
The national body that advises Statistics Canada and the chief statistician called Monday for the restoration of the long-form census, along with the removal of the threat of jail time for not completing it and reform of the planning process for the next census, in 2016.
The National Statistics Council, a 40-member panel of prominent analysts and researchers from across Canada, issued a statement expressing concern about the government's plans to make the mandatory long-form census a voluntary survey, urging a series of reforms and compromises instead.
"We believe that the changes will harm the integrity and quality of the Canadian statistical system," Ian McKinnon, chair of the council, said of the Conservative government's plans. "At the same time, the council recognizes that concerns about intrusiveness and confidentiality should be addressed."
The council believes Canadians "should not be overburdened by intrusive demands for unnecessary information," the statement said, but loss of the mandatory long-form data will leave a "serious gap" in the snapshot of Canadian society and its portrait of change over time. There are just a few weeks left to make changes to either the long-form census or the voluntary National Household Survey proposed to replace it if the census is to go ahead as planned in May 2011, the council said, but discussion of the issue has ground to halt.
"Debate over the future course of the census has become heated without moving toward a resolution that meets both concerns about privacy and intrusiveness, as well as the need to maintain the quality of Canada's statistical system," McKinnon wrote.
The knuckle-draggers and ReformaTory minions who keep popping up in the comments after each news article that brings new facts forward also keep shrieeeking the same points.
"But, but, but, questions about bedrooms!!!" As these thugs, goons and bullies desperately try to Con-vince us that brave, brave HarperCons are protecting the Canadian people against the invasion of their privacy, the National Statistics Council would like to remind us that there are no census questions - and never were - about what folks do in their bedrooms.
From fern hill: I was going to blog on that but deBeauxOs was faster and no doubt more elegant than I would have been.
This census dealie is blowing up real good for the Cons. Now the seniors are miffed and they tend to vote and vote Conservative. (See the CARP poll here or zip to the quite comprehensive results here.)
