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Prime Minister Harper’s Inaction on Climate Killed the Keystone XL Oilsands Pipeline
With U.S. President Barack Obama expected to deny a permit to the Keystone XLpipeline this fall, Canada’s oil industry is looking for someone to blame.
The National Post’s Claudia Cattaneo wrote last week that “many Canadians … would see Obama’s fatal stab as a betrayal by a close friend and ally” and that others “would see it as the product of failure by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government to come up with a climate change plan.”
The latter is the more logical conclusion. Obama has made his decision-making criteria clear: he won’t approve the pipeline if it exacerbates the problem of carbon pollution.
Even the U.S. State Department’s very conservative analysis states the Keystone XL pipeline would “substantially increase oilsands expansion and related emissions.” The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed.
While Canada’s energy reviews take into account “upstream benefits” — such as jobs created in the oilsands sector as a result of pipelines — they don’t even consider the upstream environmental impacts created by the expansion of the oilsands.
For all the bluster and finger-pointing, there’s no covering up the fact that Canada’s record on climate change is one of broken promises.
Oil and Gas Regulations Promised Since 2006
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised since 2006 that he’ll regulate oil and gas emissions. Those regulations still haven’t materialized nearly a decade later —and there’s only one person to blame for that.
In recent years, Harper has taken the approach that Canada can’t regulate its oil and gas sector unless the U.S. does too. This argument is fundamentally flawed.
First, it presumes that Canada should outsource its climate policy to another country. On issues from health care to acid rain, Canada has moved independently from the U.S. and prospered as a result.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Harper’s Newspeak
Harper’s Newspeak
He loves naming laws with false slogans. (So do fascists.)
Newspeak: ‘An impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.’ Photo source: Stephen Harper Flickr.
In 1995 the Italian writer Umberto Eco, who grew up in Mussolini’s Italy, wrote an essay on the eternal threat of fascism for the New York Review of Books.
Eco explained that fascism, like any totalitarian system, depended on certain features to poison the political landscape.
It could sprout, warned Eco, like an invasive weed in any place where careless citizens let liberty erode.
To Eco the central ingredients of eternal fascism included a cult of heroism; an irrational worship of technology; a faith in action and action plans (politics as permanent warfare); a fear of difference (all fascist governments are racist); leadership that bullies the masses; an obsession over some kind of international plot (such as ISIS taking over the world) and a belief that parliamentary government is rotten to the core.
A fascist government also bent plain language into Newspeakto converse with the people. Whether engineered by socialists, capitalists or dictators, all Newspeak, noted Eco, must make “use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.” In essence, fascism suspends thinking with lies and false language.
George Orwell understood that political chaos danced with the decay of language and that political language “is designed to make lies sound truthful and murders respectable and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Document raises questions about Harper retirement policies
Finance Canada review of Canada’s retirement system says Canada scores poorly among OECD countries
Canada scores poorly among developed countries in providing public pensions to seniors, according to an internal analysis of retirement income by the federal government.
And voluntary tax-free savings accounts or TFSAs, introduced by the Harper Conservatives in 2009, are so far unproven as a retirement solution and are largely geared to the wealthy.
Those are some highlights of a broad review of Canada’s retirement income system ordered by the Privy Council Office and completed in March this year by the Finance Department, with input from several other departments.
The research, compiled in a 30-page presentation deck, was created as the government came under fire from opposition parties, some provinces and retiree groups for declining to improve Canada Pension Plan or CPP payouts through higher mandatory contributions from workers and businesses.
The CPP issue has already become acrimonious in the federal election campaign, with Conservative Leader Stephen Harper saying on Aug. 11 that he is “delighted” to be making it more difficult for Ontario to launch its own version of an improved CPP. The federal Liberals are hoping to use Harper’s clash with Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne over pensions to win seniors’ votes in the province and beyond.
A heavily censored copy of the internal document was obtained by CBC News under the Access to Information Act.
The review acknowledges that Canada trails most developed countries in providing public pensions, and is poised to perform even worse in future.
Low among OECD countries
“In 2010, Canada spent 5.0 per cent of GDP on public pensions (OAS/GIS and C/QPP), which is low compared with the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) of average of 9.4 per cent,” it noted.
“The OECD projects that public expenditure on pensions in Canada will only increase to 6.3 per cent of GDP by 2050 – much lower than the 11.6 per cent of GDP projected for OECD countries on average.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Delusions of David Frum’s Mind
The Delusions of David Frum’s Mind
Stephen Harper make you worried and angry? Chill, says Canada’s prodigal Republican son.
David Frum is not here anymore. That’s apparent from the defence of Stephen Harper he published in The Atlantic yesterday. It’s full of spin and falsehoods evident to those who actually live in Canada and are paying attention.
Born to a famous Canadian family, Frum leftlong ago to toil in the fertile vineyards of right-wing America, landing a White House job selling George W. Bush’s war, and then permanent pundit status.
Now, like an ex-pat come home on vacation but oblivious to all the torn-down landmarks, he argues Canadians have no right to be angry at what Harper has done to their democracy.
Our PM, he writes, is just a misunderstood “cerebral” who runs “a tight ship.”
This in supposed rebuttal to Stephen Marche’s barnburner of a Harper indictment, “The Closing of the Canadian Mind,” last week by the New York Times. Nothing to see here, Frum tells his largely American readers, move along. But his tries at puncturing Marche’s arguments fail either through willful or lazy ignorance.
First he banks on his readers not having read Marche’s piece, nor lived through nine years of Harper rule.
“So what did Stephen Harper actuallydo?” asks the supposedly flummoxed Frum. “How precisely did the Canadian prime minister silence debate, suppress information, and squelch democracy?”
He implies Marche lacks facts, when in fact Marche musters many facts, including the muzzling of scientists, killing of the long-form census, defunding of Arctic research, the robocalls scandal, and more. Frum makes believe none of this is in the piece, nor, one presumes, retrievable via Google. “You’re just supposed to know,” whines the policy wonk. (Okay, let’s help him then, with this piece Tyee list of 70 Harper abuses.)
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Canadian Supreme Court’s top judge dismisses activist label
Canadian Supreme Court’s top judge dismisses activist label
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin brushed off criticism on Thursday that her court, which has clashed with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has been too activist.
McLachlin, the court’s longest-serving chief justice, has presided over numerous decisions that reversed Parliament’s decisions, and made landmark rulings on prostitution and physician-assisted suicide that were opposed by the ruling Conservatives.
In response to a question as to whether her court is improperly activist, she said: “We try to answer the questions put before us in accordance with the constitution and the law. I leave the labels to other people.”
Harper’s Conservative government has also found itself at the losing end of decisions on mandatory minimum sentences and Senate reform. Last year, the court rejected one of Harper’s picks to fill a Supreme Court vacancy.
While Harper’s critics charge that he has been dismissive of the rule of law and the constitution, some social conservatives have argued McLachlin has gone to far in extending constitutional rights.
The National Post ran a headline in May dubbing her “unofficial leader of the opposition.”
Asked by a reporter how she felt about that title, she said: “My feelings are irrelevant, but descriptions of various sorts as to how institutions are perceived or function, one can expect this, so it’s par for the course.”
McLachlin, 71, was speaking at a rare press conference, during a Canadian Bar Association conference. She said she welcomed robust debate on the role of the court, but declared: “I’m not a politician, I’m a judge.”
How Leadnow Will Push Strategic Voting to Defeat Tories
How Leadnow Will Push Strategic Voting to Defeat Tories
To avoid splits, organization asks supporters: ‘Vote with your head, not just your heart.’
On the opening afternoon of the Vancouver Folk Festival, a young woman wearing a purple Leadnow T-shirt approached folkies at the event’s main gate and asked them to sign The Pledge.
As the melancholic voice of folk legend Richard Thompson drifted through Jericho Park from a nearby workshop, Rachel Tetrault invited festival arrivals to join Leadnow’s “Vote Together” campaign to defeat Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.
Leadnow, which is modelled on the American liberal-left activist group MoveOn.org, is promoting the idea of strategic voting to defeat the Tories. Leadnow’s pledge asks people to vote for the local candidate — New Democrat, Liberal, even Green — who has the best chance to defeat the Tory candidate in their riding.
Later that night at Jericho Park, a roar of approval erupted when an emcee suggested that this could be the last Vancouver Folk Festival with Harper as prime minister. About 200 “folkies” signed the Leadnow pledge that late July weekend, joining the approximately 40,000 people who have committed to the group’s strategic voting strategy across Canada.
“I do feel that people we talked to at the festival — traditional NDP’ers and some Liberal supporters — are willing to consider voting for another party if that candidate could beat the Conservatives,” said Tetrault, who was hired by Leadnow to help organize its voting campaign.
The 27-year-old activist said that non-Conservative voters she’s met want to “make their vote count” and are frustrated that division on the liberal-left has handed victory to the Tories over the past three elections.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper’s Warmongering
The Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper’s Warmongering
I have spent a few days reading Yves Engler’s book, The Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper’s Foreign Policy (2012) about the inhumane, cold-hearted and ruthless actions of Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper. This has left me feeling nauseated and ill. Today, sitting in a coffee shop in Vancouver, I looked across the sunny street at Indigo Books and they had a huge banner inscribed with “The world needs more Canada” in their front window. If it’s Harper’s Canada we are talking about, the world certainly does not need more Canada.
Early on before Harper was PM, people warned that if Canadians elected this guy there would be big trouble ahead. He was to be feared. But not enough people really believed that he would unleash the most right-wing agenda ever seen in good old progressive Canada, the big geographical country with lots of resources and billed as a fine place to live. We hike in the mountains and toast our peacekeepers in faraway stormy lands. “It’s all good” as my son might say.
Engler is in his mid-thirties and has established himself as a Chomsky-styled iconoclast. He has punctured holes in Canada’s beloved myths. Canada’s esteemed diplomat and former PM, Lester B. Pearson, doesn’t look too good after Engler takes the myth apart, brick by brick. In Engler’s portrait, Pearson was an ardent cold warrior, supported colonialism and apartheid in South Africa, Zionism and coups in Guatemala, Iran and Brazil. He also supported the US war in Viet Nam and pushed to send Canadian troops to Korea. Engler certainly poked a stick in a hornet’s nest. Really? Couldn’t be so. Not sweet Lester.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Stephen Harper, Serial Abuser of Power: More Evidence
Stephen Harper, Serial Abuser of Power: More Evidence
Canada’s most ethically corrupt government? You be the judge. Second of two.
Today we focus on how Harper has willfully misgoverned — 28 ways the PM and his team have lied, flouted rules and stymied democracy to achieve political and ideological ends.
Please help us out. As you read, if any abuses we’ve forgotten come to mind, either make a note in the comments thread after this piece or send us an email at editor@thetyee.ca, subject line Harper Abuse List. We will fold what we get into a final, single version as a handy reference for the campaign. That runs Monday.
Thanks again to a few friends of The Tyee who researched and helped with this list.
PMO Tied to Senate Hush Money Scandal
An RCMP affidavit reported widespread involvement by PMO staffers in a secret payment to Senator Mike Duffy to try and make a political problem go away. The Senate expenses scandal brought on allegations of a cover-up, a breach of the public trust, and a whitewashing of a Senate report. The PMO was found to have hand in the altering of a damning Deloitte audit.
Harper Found in Contempt of Parliament
For refusing to disclose information on the costing of programs to Parliament, which Parliament was entitled to receive, the Harper government became the first in Canadian history to be foundin contempt of Parliament.
Against Court Order, Refusal to Share Budget Info
Even though it lost a court case and was ordered to comply, the Harper government nevertheless refused to share 170 times reasons and impacts for cuts with Canada’s independent budget watchdog, mocking Parliament’s right to control the public purse.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Stephen Harper, Serial Abuser of Power: The Evidence
Stephen Harper, Serial Abuser of Power: The Evidence
An omnibus of sins, topping 50. Tell us ones we’ve missed, we’ll add to the PM’s rap sheet.
Stephen Harper and his Conservatives have racked up dozens of serious abuses of power since forming government in 2006. From scams to smears, monkey-wrenching opponents to intimidating public servants like an Orwellian gorilla, some offences are criminal, others just offend human decency.
To spare you abuse fatigue, we’ve divided our list into two parts. The second one runs Thursday. Please help us out. As you read, if any abuses we’ve forgotten come to mind, either make a note in the comments thread after this piece or send us an email at editor@thetyee.ca, subject line Harper Abuse List. We will fold what we get into a final version as a handy reference for the campaign.
A thanks, by the way, to a few friends of The Tyee who researched and helped with this list.
ELECTION ABUSES: SCAMS, SLIMES, STINGS AND CROOKED SPENDING
Stephen Harper having called an election, we enter familiar territory. In the Conservative gladiators’ arena just about anything goes — unless and until you are caught, that is. Kicking off The Tyee’s list of Harper abuses of power are 14 times his team violated election laws or ethics:
Conservative Convicted on Robocalls Scam
Tory operative Michael Sona was given jail time for his role in the robocalls scam. The judgeindicated more than one person was likely involved. In another court judgment in a case brought by the Council of Canadians, the ruling said the robocalls operation was widespread, not just limited to the Guelph riding. Donald Segretti who did dirty tricks for the Nixon White House told a Canadian reporter his skullduggery didn’t go so low as to run schemes sending voters to the wrong polling stations.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Unifor Report Slams Harper’s Economic Performance
Unifor Report Slams Harper’s Economic Performance
2008 downturn no excuse for harmful policy, says union economist.
A new report from Canada’s largest private sector union says Stephen Harper and his Conservatives are running the most poorly performing economy the country has seen since the end of the Second World War.
Unifor economists Jim Stanford and Jordan Brennan compared economic data from nine governments of Canada (excluding short terms like Kim Campbell and John Turner) since World War II. They found Harper’s performance is the most dismal, with Brian Mulroney in a distant second.
The report examined 16 indicators of economic progress, including job creation, real GDP growth, export growth, household debt and real personal incomes.
“The Harper government ranked last or second last in 13 of the 16 indicators,” Stanford said.
He said when all the categories are added up to give a cumulative score, Harper grabbed an 8.05 out of nine. Nine is the worst possible score.
Brennan and Stanford included extensive lists of data used for their rankings, so skeptics can see the information for themselves.
Economist Mike Moffatt of Ontario’s Mowat Centre, an independent think tank, reviewed the report and said it holds up to scrutiny.
Moffatt said the figures in the report are accurate, but more context would help explain why the economy has performed poorly.
“They were kind of selective in what they chose to report,” Moffatt said, suggesting the authors could have analyzed more categories favourable towards the government, like household wealth. “That’s a mild issue with it, but overall a lot of the more obvious economic indicators have been rather poor over the last eight or nine years, which this report points out.”
Moffatt added the number crunching and raw data in the report was “fantastic.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
What U.S. Fed chair Janet Yellen doesn’t know: Don Pittis
Continued risks to a U.S. and Canadian economic recovery keep us guessing about interest rates
If everyone is so confident interest rates are going to go up in the autumn, why doesn’t U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen just say they are going to go up in September? The answer is risk.
Before yesterday’s monetary policy statement from the Fed, released on paper without the benefit of an explanatory news conference, there was some speculation she would make that very announcement. But that’snot the way it turned out.
“The Fed effectively did this in 2004” — putting the markets on notice that a move would come soon — “shortly before it last embarked on a rate-increasing cycle,” said the Financial Times in an article anticipating the central bank’s latest pronouncement.
Seeking hints
But instead, the people who read each statement to glean the smallest hints about what the Fed will do next were disappointed about how little information it contained. There was a little optimism and a little pessimism but there was one sentence that summed up the gist of the538-word release.
“The Committee continues to see the risks to the outlook for economic activity,” said the statement unanimously agreed upon by Yellen and her advisors.
As Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the industry he championed discovered, risks are events that seem to come out of nowhere. The oil price plunge, followed by a general collapse in commodities prices, in a matter of months turned Canada from one of the world’s hottest economies into one on the verge of recession.
In the case of the U.S. economy, there are similar events that could change what has been a relatively positive outlook.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks peak as Canada eyes election timing
‘It’s hard to put out a press release during an election, let alone a 21st century trade agreement’
Pity Ed Fast’s campaign manager in Abbotsford, B.C.
While most MPs running for re-election are focused on campaigning, Stephen Harper’s trade minister is in Maui, Hawaii, this week to see if there’s a Trans-Pacific Partnership deal Canada can sign on to.
It’s an agreement, the prime minister said in June, that’s “essential” for Canada, establishing a basis for trade among not only the 12 Pacific Rim countries at the table, but others who could join later — like China, India or the Philippines.
- Supply management in Canada: Why politicians defend farm marketing boards
- Analysis: ‘Shrewd’ Canada playing long game as TPP talks begin in Maui
A bad deal for Canada — or a deal so bad Canada has to walk away — would be another blow to the Conservatives’ election narrative of sound economic management.
Trade Minister Ed Fast joins the talks Tuesday – and might have to interrupt his election campaigning in September if talks drag on. (Daniel Munoz/Reuters)
Fast appeared cool last week, not rising to the bait of Americans launching their position — a dismantling ofCanada’s marketing board regime for dairy, poultry and eggs — loud and clear in the media.
But as ministerial talks begin Tuesday, Fast faces awkward timing.
Newly enabled by fast-track authority from the U.S. Congress, the Americans and Japanese speak of concluding a deal now, and finalizing by the end of the year, before 2016 elections.
The Harper government might want to stretch final bargaining until its own vote is over — to strengthen its mandate and minimize electoral risks from what unfolds.
Timing not up to Canada
One of the trade minister’s former staff said it would be “next to impossible” for Canada to negotiate during the writ period.
Public opinion in the U.S. is divided over the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal – but U.S. President Barack Obama has fast-track authority to get a deal done sooner rather than later. (Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press)
“It’s hard for a minister to put out a press release during an election campaign, let alone a 21st century trade agreement with 40 per cent of the world’s GDP,” said Adam Taylor, now with Ensight Canada’s international trade practice.
“I think people would never expect a democratic country in the middle of an election to come to the table to negotiate in a meaningful way.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Forget politics, here is what the economy needs: Don Pittis
Try seeking a recovery as if Canada weren’t in election mode
If Prime Minister Stephen Harper could wave a magic wand and make the Canadian economy boom, you’d think he would do it now.
It’s well-known that one of the main barriers for an existing government to get re-elected is a sagging economy. And despite Conservative Finance Minister Joe Oliver’s boasts on job creation and growth, there are plenty of signs that Canadians are hurting.
Oil and the loonie are plunging. And while Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz would prefer us not to use the word “recession” because it is “unhelpful,” it seems clear that Canada is in or close to that.
- Recession talk looms over federal election campaign planning
- Bank of Canada’s Poloz calls R-word ‘unhelpful’
The fact that governments cannot snap their fingers and fix the economy is in some ways reassuring. It shows that the conspiracy theorists who think the world is being controlled by powerful cliques in smoke-filled rooms really are just wacky.
Part of the problem is that politics is complicated. Despite his government’s ability to pass practically any legislation, in so many ways, Harper’s hands are tied by external forces and those created by his own party.
That is why an imaginary government that did not have to worry about politics might do things differently.
One of the most obvious things to do when an economy is weakening is to spend. While it may be smart to run surpluses when the economy is booming, you don’t have to be a fanatical Keynesian to think it’s good to spend that surplus when the private sector economy is shrinking.
In this case, Harper is partly restricted by his own ideology. Switching from a balanced-budget, small-government focus to Keynesian largesse would seem like a flip-flop and could alienate a neo-conservative core.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Harper Is Right: This Election Is about Security Versus Risk
Harper Is Right: This Election Is about Security Versus Risk
It’s our nation’s ruthless economic insecurity that Canadians must weigh.
Stephen Harper chose the Calgary Stampede (now Rachel Notley country) to launch the theme of the now full-blown election campaign. Harper proclaimed he was confident that “this October Canadians will choose security over risk.” Let’s hope so. The question is, of course, what kind of security and risk are we talking about? Political language is never simple or straightforward. It is subject to sophisticated manipulation by professional word-smiths and public relations experts. The choice of what language to use is subject to hundreds of hours of deliberation and enormous resources, because if you get it right, you usually win. If you get it wrong, well, it’s a lot harder. Getting it right means no one even suspects you of manipulating them.
Experts in the art of issue framing will tell you that those who frame an issue first have a huge advantage, because they force their opponents to reframe it — in other words get you to take the time to reconsider what the words actually mean. Maybe that is why neither the Liberals nor the NDP have taken the trouble to challenge Harper’s framing of the security issue as exclusively a foreign policy and military issue: security against terrorism.
That’s unfortunate, because not only is Harper vulnerable on his own limited anti-terror grounds, he is extremely vulnerable when it comes to the kind of security that actually affects millions of Canadians. When it comes to economic and social security, the vast majority of Canadians haven’t been this insecure since the Great Depression.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
