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Canadians support their political parties economically as each vote a party receives is worth two dollars. Also in Canada we have a First Past the Post federal electoral system which often favours larger more established parties, so when you throw your vote away voting for a electoral long shot (any other party than the conservatives here in Alberta) then at the very least, the party will receive some financial backing.
“The Chrétien government created the per-vote direct subsidy in 2004, when it banned corporate donations to parties and limited contributions to ridings or candidates to $1,000 per year. Individual donations were capped at $5,000, down from $10,000.
In 2006, the new Harper government dropped the individual limit to $1,000 (adjusted to inflation; it was $1,100 in 2010 and 2011) and imposed a complete ban on donations from corporations, unions and organizations.”
The public funding of parties is a good thing, it (at least on the surface) keeps some of the corporate money out of the electoral process. I look at the recent money = free speech decision by the SCOTUS and shudder as the political corruption Olympics ascend to even a greater level in our neighbour to the South. And of course Steven Harper want to get rid of this nod to democracy:
“Harper, who has long opposed the $2-per-vote subsidy, said political parties enjoy “enormous tax advantages” even without the additional subsidy and taxpayers should not financially support political parties that they don’t support with their votes.
“I’ve wanted to change this. But we were very clear: unless we have a majority government we will never attempt to change it because we know in a minority government you can never move this forward,” Harper said.
Harper tried to scrap the funds in 2008, a move that led to a revolt by all three opposition parties.”
Not particularly surprising given the Conservative’s general contempt of the democratic and parliamentary processes.
Given the polls right now, it looks like we are heading for another minority situation although I am hoping that the numbers support a Coalition of the Liberals and the NDP because we need a change from the reckless, ideological based course we have been frogmarched down these last couple of years.
It is really quite silly. The U.A.E wanted more airplane births here in Canada. Canada said no. The U.A.E has responded with a series of measure that makes entering and doing business in the U.A.E, for Canadians, much more inconvenient. The latest hiccup has been with two Canadian business people:
“Darius Mosun and his business partner, Jonathan Mark, spent more than 15 hours stranded at the Abu Dhabi airport because of confusion over new visa rules imposed on Canadian travellers. Although their visa allowed them to enter the U.A.E. last week, they were blocked from entering that country a second time on Friday after making a side trip to Saudi Arabia. They were told their visas were only valid for a single entry, even though that rule wasn’t written on the document itself.”
I’m not really sure why Harper and his merry men have denied the U.A.E more landing births in Canada, but the result is that Canadians travelling to the U.A.E they are facing trial by red-tape as soon as enter the airport.
“Mosun also said he noticed that Canadians were singled out at the airport for additional screening, something he hadn’t experienced on previous trips. After arriving in Toronto, Mosun, 42, said such “major inconveniences” make it tough for Canadian companies to compete in foreign markets. He said he’ll be contacting officials in Ottawa to urge them to protect Canadians travelling for business who may be affected by the diplomatic spat. The new rules were imposed at the start of the month after Canada refused last fall to grant the U.A.E.’s two major airlines increased landing rights.”
The whole situation just seems a bit childish to be perfectly honest. It is not like we are the US or anything and simply threaten and bully the U.A.E to acquiesce to our demands/rules. We must come to a settlement that benefits both parties, a compromise that benefits both parties poorly. It is the Canadian way after all. :)
Sparsely populated, cold for half the year and a relatively well off population makes Canada a lively hub of Internet activity.
“Canadians spend more time online than users in any of the countries tracked by measurement company comScore, which also said Canada had the highest penetration of internet access. About 68 per cent of the Canadian population is online, comScore estimated in April, compared to 62 per cent in France and the United Kingdom, 60 per cent in Germany, 59 per cent in the United States, 57 per cent in Japan, and 36 per cent in Italy.
Canada was the only country in which users logged an average of more than 2,500 minutes online a month, which is almost 42 hours. Israel was second with an average of around 2,300 minutes, while a few other countries were around the 2,000-minute mark.”
Most Internet couch potatoes! Hurrah notoriety! And we like watching youtube videos with reckless abandon!
“In Canada, YouTube per capita consumption of video is No. 1 in the world. It’s just absolutely crazy in terms of how passionate Canadians are about YouTube,” said Chris O’Neill, Canada’s country director for Google. It’s estimated that about 21 million Canadians visit YouTube each month, compared to 147 million Americans. But considering the U.S. has 10 times Canada’s population, Canadians are way ahead on a per capita basis.”
There is some heartening news though, apparently we reference Wikipedia more than anyone else in the world. Hopefully as a starting, not an endpoint, to data gathering.
“The average Canadian web surfer reads 16 Wikipedia pages a month, which is the most in the world — one more than German users, two more than Polish users and four more than Americans. Canadian users generate about 217,000 edits a month, which ranks 8th among the most productive countries.”
We should really keep this story quiet, as with the “economic recovery”, I’m sure Steven Harper will try to take credit for it.
The wholesale price of gasoline has remained the same. Prices in Canada, however, have been fluctuating a great deal as of late.
“Competition among dealers is bringing volatility to the pumps, which means prices for consumers will take wild swings — both up and down — said Michael Ervin of M.J. Ervin and Associates in Calgary on Friday.
“When we see prices moving up and down, without any change in the underlying wholesale prices or with little wholesale price change, then it’s a reflection of price war activity,” Ervin said in an interview with CBC News.”
Usually when we think price war, it means a lower price for the consumer. As the report indicates that is not always the case.
“Strategically, tactically, dealers move their prices down for a period of time, then back up again and try to do it quickly — so quickly as to get in and get out and grab volume before the big oil companies basically take notice and change their prices,” he said.
“You can’t predict when they start; you can’t predict how they go or how long they will last. It’s localized.”
Basically, as with any purchase, it is buyer beware. Do your homework, wait for the sweet spot if you can.
Wow, if you ever need to get your blood pressure up just look up the abortion tag in wordpress. The amount of anti-woman propaganda that is out there is deeply depressing. Thankfully the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada has a nice mission statement summarizing why abortion is necessary:
Our Mission
Our Mission: To ensure women’s reproductive freedom by protecting and advancing access to abortion and quality reproductive health care.
Our Vision
The ARCC is “pro-choice” and affirms the following:
* To achieve equality, all women must have the right to decide for themselves whether and when they will bear children, and how many. Without control of their fertility, women cannot have autonomy over their lives and cannot play a full and equal role in society.
* Women have a constitutionally-based right to unrestricted, fully-funded abortion, without legal or other barriers or discrimination due to gender, class, ethnicity, race, age, location/region (or area of residence), or any other characteristic, including reasons for choosing an abortion. The rights of pregnant women must not be abridged—a pregnant woman is “one person” under the constitution.
* Women have the right to receive a full range of reproductive healthcare options, services, and information, including (but not limited to) medical and surgical abortion, contraception, family planning services, and comprehensive sexual health education.
* Women have the right to access reproductive healthcare services safely and in a timely manner, in an atmosphere of dignity, privacy, respect, trust, and compassion.
* All abortions are medically required—not “elective”—and fall under the protection of the Canada Health Act (just like all childbirths). The delivery and funding of abortion and other medically required reproductive healthcare services must meet the Act’s five principles.
* Providers of reproductive health care services have the right to deliver such services free of discrimination, harassment, and violence.
Steven Harper is all about the guns. Harper wants to repeal the long gun registry. He is also all about the mandatory minimum sentences for crimes involving guns too. Sound like a conflict of interest, not if you happen to be a conservative politician.
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the federal long-gun registry will someday be scrapped, regardless of what happens to a Tory backbencher’s bill on the issue when Parliament returns next week”
Way to go Steve, your dedication to non-issues is impressive. The LGR is vitally important to Canada’s national interest and well being.
“He again denounced the registry, which was introduced by the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien in 1995, as a “large-scale operation that targeted the wrong people” — including hunters, farmers, outdoorsmen and women, as well as police officers “who understand the reality of these communities.”
“These people will never accept this registry because they know it is ineffective and wasteful, and the party I lead will not rest until the day it is abolished,” Harper said to applause”
Wow. I am surprised his message was not proceeded with a “this speech is for my conservative rural base…”
“Layton also called on Harper to compromise on the registry and work with opposition parties to address the concerns of some rural Canadians over the registry without sacrificing public safety.”
Compromise, in a minority government situation? What exactly is Mr.Layton smoking? Reasonable debate on a contentious issue? Unheard of, at least in this particular instance of Conservative Party minority governance.
Our formal fighting presence is over as of 2011, despite the braying of the addled Liberal party of Canada. I’m glad that Harper runs his government like an uncaring majority, at least on this one issue. The radicalization of dissent in Canada has taken yet another turn as police have arrested a fourth suspect in the Ottawa bomb plot.
“But a police source told CBC News the individual arrested, who was identified as a man, is not likely to be charged. The source told CBC News there does not appear to be enough evidence for a charge and police are unlikely to hold the individual under anti-terrorism legislation.”
It sounds like the forth individual might have only been lightly colluding with the three other suspects in custody. The other three men have been formally charged:
“Authorities have arrested and charged three Ontario men in what the RCMP is calling a conspiracy to commit “a violent terrorism attack.” Earlier Friday, Khurram Sher, 28, of London, Ont., was remanded in custody until Sept. 1 after a brief court appearance. He was charged Thursday with conspiracy to knowingly facilitate a terrorist activity. Two Ottawa men, Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, and Hiva Alizadeh, 30, were arrested on Wednesday. They appeared in an Ottawa courtroom on Thursday facing the same charge.”
Like the 9/11 bombers, these people are mostly all upper middle class well educated citizens. Educated does not necessarily mean smart though.
“During their investigation, Therriault said, police seized more than 50 electronic circuit boards they say were designed specifically to remotely detonate improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.
CBC News has learned that the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team knew about the circuit boards some time ago — for perhaps months or at least many weeks.
The team obtained a warrant to enter Alizadeh’s apartment and surreptitiously removed the boards, replacing them with look-alikes that were duds. Therefore any attack would likely have failed.
Therriault said they also seized a vast quantity of terrorist literature, videos and manuals.”
Full marks for the RCMP and CSIS for actually getting a job done right for once. I’m pretty sure this was because there was no tasering involved with the situation.
“Their profiles are likely to raise concerns about homegrown radicalism, said security expert Eric Margolis, who said the roots of the radicalism are likely triggered by anger over the involvement of Western governments in countries such as Afghanistan.”
Sad, but unsurprising.The damage we wrought in Afghanistan is coming back to bite us. The families we destroyed, intentionally or not, are crying for revenge and retribution by any means necessary. Unfortunately, that usually means when the gun is pointed at us, instead of comfortably at someone else, a terrorist attack. Canada got lucky with these individuals, they were stupid and relied on unencrypted email to plot their actions.
It is a lesson for Canada and the RCMP, but also a lesson for others who will learn from this groups mistakes.
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