'Narchy in Canada

Here's some pictures of the weapons seized by police. 

"The items, which were laid out on several tables in the lobby of Toronto Police headquarters, include gas masks, cans of spray paint, a replica gun, crowbars, saws, pocket knives, a staple gun, a drill, a baseball bat, a slingshot, chains, bear spray, dog repellent, handcuffs, chain-link body armour and bows and arrows. Some of the arrows had their pointy ends covered with fabric, which officers said were designed to be dipped in a flammable liquid and lit ablaze."

I'm all for peaceful protests, which the police certainly allowed.  But even peaceful protesters know they're going to be meddled in with "thugs" such as the 'Black Bloc' and other anarchists who only know how to destroy and not build. So I fail to see the logic in a person not wanting to get the h-e-double hockey stick out of there when the streets go awry and be associated and mixed up with this mess. And when things went out of whack, you'd certainly expect people to get arrested...because for many, THEY WANT TO BE ARRESTED to try and prove their so-called point that we apparently do not live in a democracy.  But we also live in a society with law and order and a pretty liberal justice system.

People are wondering why Toronto was picked. I believe the main reason for having the G20 in Toronto was due to an increase in international media attention, which was granted.  And if you can't hold a big international meeting in the centre of the universe, where can you have it? Are you going to let the big bad black bloc prevent you? Of course not.

People legitimately wonder why we have a G20/G8, when it's not a democratic body unto itself, but a gathering of leaders. That said, anything agreed upon is also non-binding. And the case in point is where Prime Minister Harper flat-out told European countries to nevermind about their global bank tax idea. You'd think that would make people happy in not having other countries breach our sovereignty?

But it's a contradiction for whiny pinko protesting socialists to on one-hand say that people do not have a voice at these international meetings and don't think they should happen yet when everyone's getting together in Copenhagen to come up with a global plan to fight global warming, oh then, it's okay.

But nevermind anarchy, let's look at another 'narchy'... the dignified and traditional monarchy of course...

HRH Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Canada is "home".  

I'm a big supporter of our constitutional monarchy. Why?  It's a simple understanding that our representative democracy can be very fragile at times. And knowing that if the democracy fails, there's a backup system always there if needed to get things back on track.

Don't think it can happen?  Have a look at what happened in the Turks and Caicos Islands as recently as last year.  The Premier and his crew were so corrupt and stole money from the government that the Queen ended up giving an order to appoint a temporary governor to stabilize the governance.  I was recently there on holidays and talked to a lot of people about it.  After reading and hearing what happened, most of the people there were glad the British government and Queen stepped in.   They will soon have a general election to restore their democratic institutions.

BBC: Why we all want to be Canadian

With the G20/G8 going on in the T Dot Fortress, Brits have continued to look upon their best colony with great economic envy.  Read here.

h/t: Dr. Roy

Baby beluga dies at Vancouver Aquarium - Canada - Canoe.ca

Baby beluga dies at Vancouver Aquarium - Canada - Canoe.ca

A penny. One useless, worthless penny.

Ever since my snorkeling trip to Turks and Caicos, I've become a huge marine life animal lover. To hear of this senseless (pun intended) act by a single penny, does this not make you want the Canadian Mint to discontinue penny production? I mean, most stores already have the penny dish and they round up or down. Australia discontinued pennies a long time ago and with Canada moving to plastic bills next year, it is also time to say goodbye to the Canadian penny, otherwise, this poor beluga will have died in vain.

Harper on Libby Davies anti-Israeli Comments

Here's another reason why I strongly support Prime Minister Harper...

Even Paul Martin thinks the global bank tax is a non-starter

Without out-right agreeing with current Prime Minister Stephen Harper strong stance against it, former Prime Minister Paul Martin expressed is opinion on the proposed global bank tax.

"And so it makes absolutely no sense, it simply doesn't reflect the banking world as it is," he said.

Paul Martin's legacy recently has been making waves in Britain and Europe, on how in the 90's, he tackled the deficit and implemented new financial policies.  But his notable legacy was as finance minister, not as prime minister.  He admits that being in a majority situation enabled the Liberal government to enshrine these policies.  At the time, having an opposition party such as the fiscally-minded Reform Party, certainly helped frame the issue of government finances as a top priority.  However, many forget that cuts to government services was primarily achieved by unloading the burden of health care spending onto the provinces--a strain we continue to see to this day, they also increased the tax burden upon middle class families up to $3500 per year.  So I believe that Euro-praise may go a little too far.

But nevermind my old feelings of Paul Martin, here is my new one.  When common sense prevails in politics, even across party lines, I think we as citizens should take notice of this more often.  We tend to solely focus on differences in ideology and approach, yet the point of a democracy is for our representatives to find the common ground between them for the common good.  Of course, you likely won't find them praising the other side, but it's certainly better than back and forth partisan bickering, spin, and cry-wolf opposition.

DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE

As a frequent traveller to the glorious and majestic Jasper National Park, this just makes me furious.

When friends in my car say, "Oh, look, a bear! Let's go take a picture!", I slow down a bit (in case the bear decides to make a run for it), say, "Sure!" then continue on.

"Hey, why didn't you stop?" my friends would ask.

I reply, "Because you're not supposed to.  The more cars that stop, the more tolerant the bears are near the road. And the more bears are near the highway, the more cars that will hit and kill them.  Get it?"

And not only should you NEVER stop at the side of the road to take your crappy pictures of elk, moose, caribou, and bears, you especially should never ever ever feed them, for the same reason.  You are actually KILLING them.

It's apparent that many people are totally ignorant of this fact.

Parks Canada should simply put up some road signs that say:

"FEEDING WILDLIFE WILL RESULT IN A $1000 FINE AND BANISHMENT FROM THE PARK."

And the coalition talk continues...

It's great, isn't it? That this coalition talk has had the legs it does?

I've theorized that it's been Bob Rae in the background who's been keeping this flame alive.  Why?  Well, with Michael Ignatieff's low poll numbers, and the penchant for Liberals to continually drool at gaining power again, they'll do anything to get there.  Including supposed high-level full-out merger talks.

Was this coalition banter propped by Liberals and Dippers who point out that recently in Britain, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government, so why can't it work here with Liberals and Dippers?

Ah, but there's the difference ... UK Conservatives WON, where the Lib-Dip coalition of losers, as our Prime Minister so pointed out, did not.  The UK Conservatives had the most seats and it should be their choice who they want to form a coalition with, if any.

In Canada, Harper's Conservatives WON the last election with the most seats.  They've just chosen not to form a coalition with any of the other caucuses.  And with the way these parties have fumbled in opposition, and how unprepared they are to fight an election, why would you?

Polls are out showing that a Liberal-Democrat coalition/merger, under certain leaders, yadda yadda, would beat the Conservatives.

Yet I'm also reading online how there's no way in Marx that Dippers would join with Liberals and how Blue Liberals are very uncomfortable with some of these hard-line socialists.  Maybe they'll move to the Conservatives.  But who the hell REALLY knows at this point.  It's all speculation.

So that said, I'd like to point out that the Libs and Dips have ALREADY formed coalitions in the past. And no, I'm not talking about the Lib-NDP working relationship in the 60's and early 70's that brought us health care, the new flag, and Petro Canada. I'm talking about the last federal election--specifically in Edmonton, and more specifically, the ridings of Centre and Strathcona.

We recall in Edmonton Strathcona where NDP Linda Duncan beat out then Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer, where he had enjoyed the split vote on the left for several elections.  In 2008, the Liberal candidate's campaign was very weak, yet there were a plethora of Liberals helping out the better of the "progressive" candidates in Duncan's campaign.

Same can be said in Edmonton Centre where Liberals have continually enjoyed support from Dippers who migrate over to the better campaign to beat the evil Reform/Alliance/Conservative.  Would "Landslide Annie" McLellan have ever won in 1993, 1997, and 2000 with a strong NDP campaign competing with her?  I doubt it.  So why do the NDP continually put forth a weak candidate in that riding, yet a strong one in Strathcona, where the Liberals do the opposite? 

After she finally lost to Laurie Hawn in 2004, a campaign team I was very proud to be a part of, in 2008, Liberal Andy Hladyshyvsky's campaign was also formidable, but didn't have the traction to win over as many lefties who saw the likely win of Hawn's superior campaign machine and the fact that he's a darn good MP.

So what I'm saying is that for many years Liberals and Dippers have already formed local coalitions.  Are local-level Liberals and Dippers getting together over veggie omelettes to plan this out?  I'm wondering if this has been intentional, because in Edmonton, it sure as hell seems that way. 

Which is why it doesn't surprise me that supposed "high-level" omelette talks between Liberals and Dippers are occurring at a federal level to merge both parties, let alone a working electoral coalition.

While I believe this is Bob Rae's sneaky attempt to quietly discredit Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, its also the primary method for him to become leader of a united Lib-Dem party and the only possible way he'll ever get the keys to 24 Sussex.

And do you think perhaps ol' PowerCorp, where Bob Rae AND Jean Chretien used to be on the board, is behind this merger/coalition talk?

Which is why I also think it just might happen.

Then the question becomes, should Conservatives be worried? 

Gov't introduces bill to cut benefits for inmates

The federal government is introducing a bill to cut off Old Age Security and the Federal Income Supplement for inmates that were eligible for these benefits at age 65.  They learned this when it was discovered that one of the most brutal murderers in North American history, Clifford Olson, was collecting about $1100 each month while incarcerated.  This will save the government about $10 million a year, which could probably be used for victim programs instead.

I'd say this is bill is WAY overdue and should pass.  Unless there are some real bleeding-heart pinko MPs in the opposition.  Yeah, I know, don't hold your breath.