Gawd. I made a terrible mistake today. I allowed my Dad to drag me off to see the Margaret Thatcher movie The Iron Lady. And all I can say is I’m glad he paid for the tickets, because it was absolutely hideous. Any reasonably aware audience will feel exhausted and discomfited
Continue readingAuthor: Simon
Montreal Simon: Just Another Porky Day in Harperland
First comes the crass incompetence. Human Resources Minister Diane Finley is boosting staff at Service Canada to help reduce a mounting backlog in employment insurance claims that is forcing many jobless Canadians to wait months for their first benefits cheque. The delays have been growing since October, 2010, even as
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Gay Marriage and the Unrepentant Old Hippie
I don’t know why the Unrepentant Old Hippie feels she has the right to dump on progressives, in such a foamy manner, for having the decency to defend the human rights of gays and lesbians. Especially since she regularly accuses progressives who despise Stephen Harper and his foul Cons, of
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Brutal Assault on Gay People
He can try to hide behind big legal words. He can claim he didn’t know. But nobody can deny that this is a brutal assault on gay people. The Harper government is being accused of taking away same-sex rights by “stealth” in light of a surprise government stand that non-resident
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Pope Benny and the Gay Plot to Destroy Humanity
When I heard that Pope Benny had described gay marriage as a threat to humanity at first I was shocked. “This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself,”
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Dr Strangelove and the Oil Pipeline
Well in case anyone didn’t understand why the Harper Cons are calling native people and environmentalists “radicals” and “foreign interests.” Leave it up to Tom “Strangelove” Flanagan to explain Big Oil’s plan for Total World Domination. The branding of opponents as “radicals” is part of a strategy to make sure the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Joe Oliver and the Leaking Pipeline
Oh. My. Oily. Oliver. What bad timing. Canadian pipeline builder Enbridge reported a leak from one of its pipelines on the day public hearings began into the company’s planned Northern Gateway pipeline. And don’t you love this? Enbridge declined to describe how it could be safe to continue operating a
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The NDP Defector and the Headwinds of Change
I notice that some of the trees in Toronto have started sprouting buds, fooled by the unusually warm weather into thinking that Spring has arrived in January. And no doubt feeling like many Liberals are feeling today. But I know an icy wind will soon sweep in and freeze those
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Joe Oliver, the Radicals, and the Foreign Interests
You know….if you needed a cheap and apparently inexhaustible source of natural gas to heat your home, you could do worse than connecting a hose to Joe Oliver’s big mouth and another one to his other vibrating orifice. Environmental and other “radical groups” are trying to block trade and undermine Canada’s
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Great Harper Putin Hockey Match
When I saw the Star headline today I was stunned. Could Stephen Harper and Vladimir Putin really be planning to face off against each other on the ice? Prime Minister Stephen Harper is making plans to play on a Canadian hockey team in two exhibition games against a Russian squad
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Ugly Lockout and the Quiet Revolution.
Golly. I don’t think I’m going to have to consult my horoscope to find out where I’m going to be, and what I’m going to be doing on Saturday the 21st of January. Because I already know. In London, Ontario, supporting these locked out Canadian workers. And why am I
Continue readingMontreal Simon: In Praise of the National Film Board
When I was a young boy living in a Scottish village that didn’t have a movie theatre, one of my teachers used to thrill me and the other kids, by hauling out an ancient projector and playing an educational movie. And many of those movies were made by the National
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper Goes To War Again
He’s always been a nerdly chickenhawk. Posing as a Great Warrior Leader, inflating and deflating like a blimp, depending on the prevailing political winds. He’s never seen a war he didn’t like, from the one in 1812 to the one in Libya, and now Stephen Harper is frantically flapping his stubby
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Con Klown Show
Well there he was today, posing in front of another carefully composed human backdrop, shrugging off the latest grim economic news. Choosing instead to go after environmental groups and native people opposed to the construction of a pipeline. While ignoring the many lobbyists from Big Oil who tell him what to
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Ezra Levant and the Banana Drama
Oh no. I knew Ezra Levant’s obsession with Chiquita Banana would end badly. First he lost control of his senses, now he’s lost control of his bowels mouth. Winding up a 10-minute denunciation of the banana company’s decision to boycott oil from Alberta’s tarsands deposits, Levant signed off his Dec.
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Great Choo Choo Run
Well I see that Great Choo Choo Leader is trying to put some distance between him and the lockout at the Electro-Motive plant in London, Ontario. Even though he once used the factory to shill his corporate tax cuts. “This is a dispute between a private company and the union
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Idiot Tale of Randy Hillier and the Bullies
I realize that the Ontario Con Randy Hillier is a mouth-breathing redneck. I realize he’s not the brightest bulb in the universe. But even I could never imagine that he would make such a jackass of himself by suggesting that anti-bullying programs are bad for bullied kids. Bill 13 is little more than
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Harper Cons and Our Hollowed Out Country
It was -17 degrees in London, Ontario, today, where a foreign company has locked out 400 Canadian workers. To try to slash their wages and benefits by more than fifty percent, and gut their pensions. And in Alma, Quebec, where another foreign company has locked out 700 Canadian workers, and
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Harper Cons and the Race to the Bottom
What would you say if you worked at Caterpillar’s Electro-Motive plant in London, Ontario, and found yourself locked out? Because you wouldn’t agree to have your wages and health benefits cut by more than fifty percent, and your pension eliminated altogether. Even though Caterpillar is making record profits. Its CEO
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Office of Selective Bigotry
Praise the Dark Lord. I see that Stephen Harper has a shiny new present for his religious base. Early in 2012, the Tories will finally flesh out a campaign promise to install the Office of Religious Freedom within the secular confines of the Department of Foreign Affairs – a controversial
Continue reading