From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor's rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own. Carl Schurz

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Criminal In Chief

Despite presiding over the destruction of Torontonians confidence and trust in their police force Chief Blair survives. This after having lied about the scope of the Public Works act and the supposed G20 weapons cache. Meting out the ridiculously insufficient "punishment" of the loss of one to two days pay to his officers who removed their name tags, an act of direct insubordination and a drop in the bucket compared the the overtime pay received. He survives despite leading his troops in the commision of the greatest violation of civil rights Canada has ever seen and despite his almost total lack of contrition for doing so.

Now we hear from Joe Warmington that Blair has now issued an order to every member of the force forbidding them from talking to the Police Services Board.

“As a result, the chief has ordered: that all interaction with the board will be through the office of the chief, that no member of the service will provide information to the board office, except in the form of a board report, submitted through the usual chain of command though the office of the chief.”

 This from Warminton's piece sums it up perfectly in my mind:

 Another former Toronto officer called the order “paranoia” and “something out of the iron curtain,” and suggested the Police Services Board has the power to rescind it. “The board has all kinds of obligations as the employer and in law you just can¹t tell employees not to speak to their employer,” said the former officer. “The chief is not the employer but the manager of the employees and the overseeing board should have unfiltered access to everything.”

 However though I would go a step further and ask the board to demand Blair's resignation post haste. No employer or supervisor would /should accept this level of insubordination, well except Blair of course.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Keep Your Filthy Neo-liberal Hands Off My Union

So I wake this morning to see Hudak's plan to destroy unions in Ontario and of course like clockwork the corporate media chimes in to support the cause. Don't be fooled by talk of union bosses and worker rights they use these terms to mask their true intent. the absolute destruction of unionism in Canada. Firstly there is no such animal as a union boss, democratically elected leaders yes, bosses no. As for standing up for workers rights that is simply laughable.

 First lets look at what they mean when they talk about "right to work" and eliminating the Rand formula. What they propose is that one wouldn't have to join the union in their workplace nor pay dues this despite enjoying all the benefits of belonging to the union including the right to representation. Does this seem fair to you? It certainly doesn't to me nor did it to Justice Rand hence his ruling that ushered in the Rand formula.

So lets look at some of those benefits one accrues from belonging to a union. Since the amount of dues paid varies from union to union I'll use mine for the purposes of this post. I currently pay $12.88 a week, given that on average a union member makes $5.00 an hour more than a non unionized worker, rising to $6.00 for women, I would have to work less than three hours to make up for what I pay in dues, leaving me another 37 hours plus overtime earning that extra $5.00 an hour.

As you can see on that one front alone I am profiting from paying my union dues but it doesn't end there. As a member of a union I am many times more likely to have a pension and just as importantly supplemental health benefits including dental. The former is a wise investment ensuring that I don't have to live out my retirement years in poverty as well as saving the public money as I will be less likely to need income supplements such as OAS. The latter speaks for itself, if I was forced to pay for a similar plan myself I would easily be paying many times the amount I pay in dues.

In addition I get to toil in a workplace that has clearly defined rules to the benefit of both myself and my employer. Should I feel that I have been treated arbitrarily or that my employer has violated one of these agreed upon rules I have a process that allows me to have my grievance adjudicated including access to an arbitrator if needed where I would receive legal representation through my union for that $12.88 a week.

Those are just some of the benefits I receive for a measly $12.88 yet that is what Hudak, Coyne etal wish to see destroyed. If they truly wanted to help the working class in this nation they would be advocating for the expansion of unionism not it's ruin.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Yet Another "Efficiency"

The efficiencies just keep on coming, likely marking McGuinty's omnibus Bill 55 the most "efficient" budget since Mike Harris. The latest Ontarians to be welcomed to the wonderful world of government efficiency are those who need a little short term help staying in their homes thus staving off homelessness.

In January of next year the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit will be axed, in it's place will be a new municipally run program (can you say downloading) with half the budget of the current program. I'm not a psychic but I can predict that a greater share of the funding will now go to administrative costs with each municipality needing their own bureaucracy to administer their programs.

On average each year nearly 200,000 singles and families rely on this program for short term help to either stay in their home , to find a home for themselves or make emergency repairs to their homes. In Toronto in the past year alone more than 37,000 people have accessed the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit that is a ton of potential homelessness averted for a mere $114 million, a drop in the bucket compared to the financial and social costs of dealing with homelessness.

“This is a major service to low-income and vulnerable people and it’s being chopped in half,” said Phil Brown, general manager of Toronto’s shelter, support and housing division.
“We’re very concerned and I think most, if not all, service managers across the province are equally concerned.”

There you have it in the name of efficiency we see environmental regulations weakened, services privatised by decree, this despite the fact that invariably P3's end up providing us with reduced service at higher cost and those most in need get the screws put to them, all the while the corporate neo-liberalist agenda marches on.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

The Other Omnibus Budget Bill #ONpoli

While all eyes are on Ottawa and the fight over Harper's anti democratic omnibus budget bill another battle is being raged here in Ontario against another eerily similar omnibus budget bill (Bill 55), the only substantial difference being unlike Harper McGuinty doesn't have a majority to enable him to ram it through the legislature. In a surprise move the PC's voted in favour of several NDP amendments to the bill (opposing is really all the Torys are capable of ) This of course has set McGuiny on the war path,threatening a snap  election and demanding ,yes demanding that the NDP support the bill in it's entirety without amendment.

Now with McGuinty's party currently in third place in the polls I wouldn't take his election threat too seriously, the PC's on the other hand...,and as for his demands of the NDP perhaps he needs to be reminded that his is a minority government.

“The budget bill must remain intact not only to fulfill our agreements, but more importantly, to provide the tools required to eliminate the deficit, grow the economy and create jobs,” said McGuinty. Sound familiar, it should that is almost exactly what Harper has been saying in defense of his antidemocratic bill.

  Like Harper`s omnibus among many other things McGuinty`s strips environmental regulations, gives cabinet extraordinary powers and seeks to neuter oversight..


That McGuinty and Harper should table remarkably similar legislation is not surprising at all as this is how the neo-liberals have won the day, by co-opting the natural governing parties in as many jurisdictions as possible. Merely switching from Liberal to PC/Conservative governments will not bring about change, we must explore other options.


Saturday, June 16, 2012

Whack-A-Mole

Ssh Big Brother is Listening

 
Ottawa airport wired with microphones as Border Services prepares to record travellers’ conversations  If Canadians are prepared to accept this then we might as well line up to get that RFID chip implanted and stop pretending that as a society we give a fuck about personal privacy.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Pardon?

Not content to make it tougher and more expensive to get a pardon the Harper Conservatives are now intent on forcing the 22,500 applicants still in the queue  from before the changes to abandon their applications plus the fees they have already paid and to re-apply under the new tougher regime.

Julie Carmichael, a spokeswoman for Toews, said the government is exploring giving a partial credit to those who paid the $150 fee but who wish to resubmit their applications under the higher fee.

Applicants under the old structure now have to wait up to 18 months to have their case assigned to a parole officer, while applicants who paid the higher fee have to wait as little as two months. As the Federal Court is authorized intervene if a tribunal has "unreasonably delayed" a process in carrying out its statutory obligations I smell yet another court challenge of the Harper government, surely they must already hold the record for such challenges especially for the number of such cases they have lost.

Not only is this grossly unfair but it is also a blatant attempt to apply the rule changes retroactively.
I'm sure the cons feel they can get away with this as there is generally little support among the public for the victims in this case. What the general public doesn't realise is that when our government plays fast and loose with the laws and conventions of the land we all lose.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Denouncing Harper

In the spirit of the #DenounceHarper campaign started by Brandon over at A Tale of a Boy and his TV Show I thought I'd write a post on my feelings towards Harper and why he deserves denunciation. However it is a beautiful day and I'm feeling lazy so instead I'll let Sandra Harris speak for me,besides she is far more articulate than I could ever hope to be.

Hey Steve


Saturday, June 9, 2012

Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition Is Bonkers

“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.” ― Albert Einstein

That is precisely what the opposition parties have been doing since Harper's ascension to the throne. They wail and moan, take to the airwaves, filibuster, present amendments and yet Harper's agenda merrily goose steps along. They win no concessions nor score any victories and at best they manage to slow this dystopian agenda ever so slightly.

It is time for the opposition to start bending some rules or perhaps even breaking a few themselves, you see playing by the rules when your opponent refuses to do so himself will almost always result in defeat. For a start when the Conservatives unjustifiably take a committee in camera provide us with a transcript of said meeting. While that would be certain cause to controversy it would at least put a greater spotlight on this vile undemocratic practice .

While doing something along those lines would be nice and signal that the opposition is finally prepared to, well you know,  oppose, in the end it will not accomplish much beyond the symbolic. The opposition parties must become even bolder than that if we are to see any real impact in stopping the Conservatives dismantling of Canadian civil society. To that end I propose a couple of options who's time  I believe has come.

Either occupy the chamber refusing to allow business to proceed or boycott the place altogether. Parliament no longer functions as it should, continued participation only lends a legitimacy the place no longer deserves. Yes, yes I know that makes me seem bonkers myself but desperate times do call for desperate measures.




Thursday, June 7, 2012

Rob Ford *Gasp* Makes a Valid Point

“If there was a couple hundred thousand people down in Nathan Phillips Square saying they want plastic bags back, yes, then the councillors will listen,” Ford said. “But if people don’t, like I said, take action and don’t get in the councillors’ faces, it’s not going to happen. It’s up to the taxpayers. They have to be more engaged and they’re just not. It’s frustrating when stuff like this happens.”

While it's silly to suggest that a couple hundred thousand citizens take to the streets over a plastic bag ban, he is bang on re the need for greater citizen engagement. Oh and by the way Rob you better be careful what you wish for

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Damn That Intertoobz Thingy

When are politicians and columnists going to learn that with the advent of the internet everything you say or write is forever. Time and time again they display their ignorance of that simple truth or perhaps they are aware and holding us in low esteem merely feel that we won't notice. Case in point, Diane Francis writing for the Financial Post April 16,2011:

And the reason is, sticking with medical metaphors, that Canada is weak and vulnerable because it has an advanced case of the “Dutch Disease.” This is an affliction caused by a booming resource sector which drives up the currency’s value, which in turn drives out exporters, manufacturing and tourism.

“A severe case of Dutch Disease has dramatically reduced the breadth of the Canadian business sector over the past decade, hollowing out manufactured goods exporters and making the nation increasingly reliant on commodity demand. Canada has often been referred to in jest as the 51st state, due to its historical reliance on the U.S. as a key export market. However, it is becoming more accurate to regard Canada as another Province of China,” writes MRB partner Phillip Colmar.

Now flash forward to June 12,2012 also for FP and it appears that Ms Francis has had a change of heart now that Mulcair had the temerity to agree with her, at least with the old Diane that is, the new Diane now thinks that one must be an idiot to believe in Dutch Disease:

The loss of jobs is due to the economic slowdown since 2008, competition from low labor jurisdictions and lousy productivity levels in Canada where they are 25% lower than the U.S. And, just to set the record straight, countries without commodities have had to import them at dramatically higher prices since 2003 and, despite a drop in their currencies, they suffer from widespread unemployment and no growth.

What’s also missing from Mulcair’s narrative is that Canada’s self-sufficiency and surpluses in oil and commodities have saved the country from a far worse fate. Our booming commodity and energy exports have dramatically buoyed economic activity domestically as the export proceeds and inputs have remained inside Canada’s borders.

The column written by the new Diane is perhaps the most vile attack piece that I have read in a long time, one so rife with shall we say inaccuracies" as to render the entire piece an inaccuracy. If anyone still believes that we have a fair ,impartial and left wing media in Canada this piece should disabuse them of that notion, hell we don't even have what could be called a centrist media.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Efficiencies?

When I think of finding efficiencies I think of finding methods to maintain or improve a service in a more timely and cost effective manner. When our governments do so they think of how to punish those most in need even further than they have already.

The latest such "efficiency" is the McGuinty governments decision to close  the Thistletown Regional Centre, a refuge of last resort for families dealing with loved ones who require complex care for developmental issues. Most of the people served by Thistletown have been through the system bouncing from one program unable to deal with their special needs to another, until that is they were fortunate enough to find a space at Thistletown. Now that the Ontario government is closing down this highly successful program the families it served so well will see their loved ones shunted back into a system that has failed them time and time again. Efficiencies.

“I don’t believe, not for a minute, that behind the closing are ‘good intentions’ to integrate clients into communities. These clients cannot be integrated. They do outings and trips and leisure activities, but they need highly structured and unique environments where they live.’’ 

We saw an efficiency of this type back in the seventies when the Davis government decided to de-insitutiionalize the mentally ill sold in much the same way, re-integrating them back into the community. We now see the population of the mentally ill exploding in our prisons . This is once more a cost saving exercise sold as a caring solution to a complex problem once again punishing those least able to fight back. Efficiencies

Even if a group home were to be found, what happens if they say, ‘It’s not working out’?” she asks. “Where does he go? I can’t take him home. Sometimes he needs four people to hold him when he has an anger outburst.’’

To make matters worse the families have been kept out of the loop having been rebuffed in their request for a general meeting, further exacerbating their levels of confusion and anxiety.
If we continue to find  efficiencies of this type we will  efficiently destroy what is left of civil society and the Canada I love and desire.