The Census Play Was Just Foreshadowing

If you thought that the HarperCon$ had sunk about as low as they could go with the census issue, guess again.

In handing the procedural reigns of government to John Baird, I think you will see a parliament whose level of dysfunction will reach new depths. Baird isn't exactly known as a conciliator or someone capable of negotiating compromise at the best of times. He's far better known as an agitator and destructive force - always ready to turn things back on the opposition.

To hazard a guess, I'd say you will see a much more hardline stance from the HarperCon$ in the next sitting of the house - one that they will need as they attempt to ram through legislation that will be damaging to Canada on all levels. The "get tough on crime" agenda is a load of absolute crap that Canada cannot afford, and in many ways will violate key tenets of our constitution on the way past.

Of course, this will not bother the ever increasing totalitarianism of the HarperCon$. They have already demonstrated a repeated disregard for facts and reality in their approach to governance many times since 2006. The most recent bit to emerge in their overbearing totalitarianism came from the PMO - when they criticized a play based on the case of one of the "Toronto 18".

I'm not going to comment on the play itself - that's almost irrelevant. The issue here is that someone in the PMO saw it as their role to comment on a play from a political stance. We already know that the HarperCon$ have intervened in funding decisions for political reasons before (e.g. the pride parade funding issues that got Diane Ablonczy in trouble earlier) This is deeply troubling because it shows us that this government thinks nothing of intervening in Canada's arts and culture scene when it finds something objectionable. This smacks of McArthyism or for that matter the behaviour of Stalinist USSR, where the government thinks that its role includes the right to dictate the cultural dialogue of the nation.

If our opposition doesn't wake up and start calling this stuff out - loudly - Canada is about to enter one of the darkest periods of its history.

Dear Mr. Baird:

You are an embarrassment to Canada and all that this country represents. Your behaviour at the Bali talks this past week has been two-faced and disgraceful.

On the one hand, after the talks finish, you claim:

But Environment Minister John Baird hailed the talks as a positive first step toward an effective global climate treaty.


"We were naturally disappointed in the language that weakened and watered down the agreement," Baird said.

"But it's better than no agreement."

He said he was disappointed that the deal was almost completely stripped of any reference to numbers and targets that could have been the starting point for the discussion.

However, this doesn't square with your actions throughout the negotiations where it was so damnably obvious that you and Harper were taking your orders from the White House instead of standing for what is right and honorable.

Senior federal officials have confirmed that Mr. Baird did not attend a lengthy negotiating session on Thursday night of the 34 countries that were chosen to resolve the thorniest issues at the Bali conference. Instead, he sent a bureaucrat to speak for Canada.

The officials said Mr. Baird gave instructions to the bureaucrat and was available just a few minutes away if the bureaucrat needed to consult him. Instead of attending the negotiating session, Mr. Baird attended a meeting of a bloc of several industrialized countries that have acted together at the talks, the officials said.

...
Canadian officials have bragged that Mr. Baird is playing an important role in "bridging" the differences between the United States and the European Union at the Bali negotiations. "Minister Baird is directly involved in trying to achieve consensus for a post-2012 agreement," one official said.

"His No. 1 priority from the beginning of this conference has been to achieve a successful outcome. … He is focused on playing a bridge-building role to try and get all parties to agree to start negotiations and put in place the building blocks for a future agreement."

What a disgusting show of sycophancy to the Bush administration. Canada's minister responsible can't be bothered to show up at negotiation sessions so that he can "bridge" with the US? What a complete crock!

Traditionally, Canada is the country at the forefront of creating compromise, not isolating itself to satisfy Washington. What Mr. Baird and Mr. Harper have done this past week is vile in the extreme, and demonstrates still further that what Canada has right now is not a government for Canadians, but a government that is acting as a vassal state to George Bush's henchmen.

Baird's Smoking ...

I'm pretty sure it must be "B.C. Bud", because once again, the Conservatives have unveiled a "do-nothing" policy on climate.

Perhaps most telling about this "policy" statement is this:

The federal plan requires all cars and light trucks built after 2011 to meet new fuel-efficiency standards, which have not yet been set. Eventually vehicles like motorcycles, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles will be regulated too.

The government also wants to create and improve emissions standards for items like dishwashers, dehumidifiers, hot tubs and gas-fired furnaces.

As if to demonstrate the typical non-sequitur of Conservative government policy, we find Baird claiming:

Environment Minister John Baird said despite the inclusion of consumer goods in the plan, it will not take a financial toll on the average Canadian.

"That average middle-class family in Quebec, in British Columbia, in Ontario or out east shouldn't be asked to kick in support to help a polluter," Baird told CBC News after he announced his plan in Toronto.

He's either deluded, stupid or has a diminished understanding of the vaunted market economy that his party has always worshipped. If industry has to change its costs to reduce its emissions, or produce more efficient vehicles, the purchaser is always going to find the costs passed down to them. This is not advanced calculus, it's basic free enterprise economics.

You know it's bad when your own pet news outlet is slamming you...