Glen Thoughts

Yesterday the Conservative Government announced their budget, and boy what an interesting one that was. In my various political rants, I think that I have made my opinions/biases to be perfectly clear. I am on the left side of things, and as a result I tend to disagree with just about everything that the ruling party does, yesterday was no exception.

Before I get too critical, I need to say that there are some things about this budget that I do like. The first being the tax break for hybrid cars and the tax hike for fuel inefficient vehicles. Although one must be cynical as to why pickup trucks are immune to this…funny from a party that draws a lot of support from rural voters. I do also like the $1 million set aside for heritage sports, one of those nice little things that can do a bit to help our culture and our health. And I do like increase in scholarships for graduate students.

There I was positive, can I move on now?

While the “green levy” is a great step it is not nearly enough. In recent months Harper has talked a really good game about the environment, but once again he showed his true colours on the issue and they certainly are not green.

There was $4 billion promised for environmental issues including ethanol production. That sounds all well and good, but the government also got rid of a tax break for ethanol that was costing them $2 billion. Sounds like a lot more Harper smoke and mirrors.

Most importantly there is no targets for reducing green house gases. I don’t know if any of you know this, but that is kind of a big deal right now. There really was no “massive scale-up” as called for by Johanne Gelinas (the former environmental commissioner who was fired without a real reason by the Conservatives a few months ago). This both scares and saddens me. As a world leader we have a huge chance to set the stage and at least keep pace with our European Allies if not set the standard, but alas here we are.

I still don’t like this cash in hand for anyone with a kid business. I would much rather see the money go towards a nationalized day care program. Why you ask? Because I worry about the bad parents out there. While I do not doubt that the vast majority of parents out there will spent this money on their children in some capacity, whether it is feeding them, clothing them, hiring a babysitter, or even sending them to day care, but there are those out there that will not. Bad parents will more than likely spend that money on themselves, leaving their children alone. In the case of drug addicted parents, this extra money can fuel their addiction even more and in fact make the lives of their children even worse.

I know, I know, that is only a small minority and many of you are probably saying “Why should good parents suffer for the bad ones?”, well if you have worked with enough children of bad parents like I have than you will understand that answer to that one.

A full comprehensive and effective day care strategy is the best answer. Sure it is not perfect, sure there is a lot of work that needs to be done, including a proper training program, but it is what is needed.

My last major concern with the budget is the Aboriginal Issue. The Conservative Government has MASSIVELY failed the Aboriginal Community. One of Paul Martin’s last acts as PM was to pledge $5 billion to relieving Native poverty, something that hasn’t quite fit into the Conservative vision of the country.

They have set out a “new approach” to help the Aboriginal Population. That is to encourage them to get out of poverty by offering job training and providing financial incentives for home ownership. I have a real problem with this. For starters, to “encourage” people to get out of poverty makes it sound like people choose to be poor, I don’t know if I can even comment on that one without going off on a serious rant so I will bite my tongue (or is it hold my fingers?). Secondly, home ownership doesn’t really work on reserves. Remember in many native ideologies the people do not own the land. It is all collective property of the reserves stemming from the ancient beliefs that people can not own land, it belong to everyone. So how exactly is this going to work?

We Canadians need to realize something. We are one of the richest countries in the world and yet a sizable portion of our population lives in third world conditions. We need to do something about it, soon. This is not the answer, it is not nearly enough. It is a huge black eye for all Canadians but is constantly swept under the rug and just plain accepted. Shame on all of us for allowing it to get to this stage.

But anyway, despite the problems that the Liberals and NDP have with this budget it will still pass. The Conservatives also changed the equalization formula which will really hurt Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, the two poorest provinces in Confederation. But they managed to find an extra $9 billion for Quebec. Funny that they need the support of the Bloc to avoid an election…and they call the Liberals crooked.

Until next time,

G

Well in my last post, I talked about the Conservatives attack against Stephane Dion’s environmental record. Well the Liberals have responded, although far less blatantly. They have released a letter that Mr. Harper sent to supporters in 2002 when he was leader of the now defunct Canadian Alliance.

A lot of news sources have been putting out excerpts of the article. But typically quotes get taken out of context and made to look much worse than they actually are (i.e. the Conservative attack ads). So I decided to post the entire letter right here. Enjoy!!!

Dear Friend,

We’re on a roll, folks!

The Canadian Alliance is once again setting the agenda in the House of Commons. Look at what happened in less than two months since Parliament reopened:

— We bagged another Liberal cabinet minister when we drove the hapless Lawrence MacAulay to resign for violating the ethics guidelines.

— We broke Jean Chrétien’s chokehold on the House of Commons by getting the election of committee chairs and votes on all private members’ bills.

— We finally (!) got the Liberals to agree to set up a national registry for sex offenders.

But we can’t just relax and declare victory. We’re gearing up for the biggest struggle our party has faced since you entrusted me with the leadership. I’m talking about the “battle of Kyoto” — our campaign to block the job-killing, economy-destroying Kyoto Accord.

It would take more than one letter to explain what’s wrong with Kyoto, but here are a few facts about this so-called “Accord”:

— It’s based on tentative and contradictory scientific evidence about climate trends.

— It focuses on carbon dioxide, which is essential to life, rather than upon pollutants.

— Canada is the only country in the world required to make significant cuts in emissions. Third World countries are exempt, the Europeans get credit for shutting down inefficient Soviet-era industries, and no country in the Western hemisphere except Canada is signing.

— Implementing Kyoto will cripple the oil and gas industry, which is essential to the economies of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

— As the effects trickle through other industries, workers and consumers everywhere in Canada will lose. THERE ARE NO CANADIAN WINNERS UNDER THE KYOTO ACCORD.

— The only winners will be countries such as Russia, India, and China, from which Canada will have to buy “emissions credits.” Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations.

— On top of all this, Kyoto will not even reduce greenhouse gases. By encouraging transfer of industrial production to Third World countries where emissions standards are more relaxed, it will almost certainly increase emissions on a global scale.

For a long time, the Canadian Alliance stood virtually alone in opposing the Kyoto Accord, as Bob Mills, our senior environment critic, waged a valiant battle against it. Now, however, allies are stepping forward — eight of 10 provincial governments, and a broad coalition of businesses across Canada — to help us fight the “battle of Kyoto.”

Jean Chrétien says he will introduce a resolution to ratify Kyoto into Parliament and get it passed before Christmas. We will do everything we can to stop him there, but he might get it passed with the help of the socialists in the NDP and the separatists in the BQ.

But the “battle of Kyoto” is just beginning. Ratification is merely symbolic; Kyoto will not take effect unless and until it is implemented by legislation. We will go to the wall to stop that legislation and at that point we will be on much stronger procedural ground than in trying to block a mere resolution.

The Reform Party defeated the Charlottetown Accord in an epic struggle in the fall of 1992. Now the Canadian Alliance is leading the battle against the Kyoto Accord!

But we can’t do it alone. It will take an army of Canadians to beat Kyoto, just as it did to beat Charlottetown.

We can’t stop Kyoto just in Parliament. We need your help at all levels. We need you to inform yourself about Kyoto, to discuss it with your friends and neighbours, and to write protest letters to newspapers and the government.

And, yes, we need your gifts of money. The “battle of Kyoto” is going to lead directly into the next election. We need your contribution of $500, or $250, or $100, or whatever you can afford, to help us drive the Liberals from power.

Yours truly,

Stephen Harper, MP

Leader of the Opposition

PS: The “battle of Kyoto” shows why the Canadian Alliance is so important to you and to Canada. All the other federal parties are supporting Kyoto (Liberals, NDP, BQ) or speaking out of both sides of their mouth (Tories). Only the Canadian Alliance is strong and fearless enough to block dangerous and destructive schemes like the Charlottetown Accord and the Kyoto Accord.

My favourite part is the quote “It focuses on carbon dioxide, which is essential to life, rather than upon pollutants”, clearly we are led by a man of science and reason…

Alrightie I figure this is enough right there, you all know my opinion on Harper and on Global Warming. No point in repeating myself here. Just wanted to let you all see something really important.

Until next time,

G