Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minister of international co-operation, Bev Oda, officially retires today. A sigh of relief! What a financial burden to the Canadian taxpayer the Conservative MP for the Ontario riding of Durham has been. Oda earned the dubious honor of poster girl for misspending by Tory ministers: $1,000
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Blast Furnace Canada Blog: Why won’t McGuinty stop health care (and card) fraud?
Last week, I was shocked to hear on the news, as were a lot of people in Ontario, that there are still 3.5 million of the old red strip, no expiry date Ontario Health Cards. And that the government is doing nothing about it. The green photo cards should have
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Queen Elizabeth II, Canada’s “Bond Girl” Shines At The 2012 London Olympics
That’s right, our absentee head of state is the newest Bond girl. The Queen made her acting debut in the spectacular and humorous Bond sequence during the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games. I think the Queen should take up acting. Here are my three reasons: First, the 86-year old
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s Official White Supremacist Portrait: PHOTO
Our Ford, the (Lord) Mayor of Toronto is rabidly right-wing. No doubt about that. After all, he recently proposed exiling Toronto’s convicted criminals, most of whom tend to be persons of color. Fellow Conservative and immigrant-bashing minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Jason Kenney, endorsed the idea. Still, I would never
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay Said Canada Should Bring Omar Khadr Home
Surely this has got to be the ultimate Tale of Two Nazanins. Better still, Of Denial And The Tale of Two Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKays. The brand new wife of Conservative Defence Minister Peter MacKay is fuming. She accuses a journalist baiting her to criticize the Harper Government on the Omar
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Statistics Canada: Crime rate reached its lowest level in 40 years in 2011
The evidence on the crime rate in Canada is out! Statistics Canada reported yesterday that rate of crimes reported to Canadian police forces across the country reached its lowest level last year. The incidents of serious crimes also dropped. By six per cent. That’s for most offences, including attempted murders,
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: "Coddling thugs"? Hardly
I just love it when people like PMS and Robert Ford say that getting tough on the causes of crime is tantamount to “coddling thugs.” I’ll be brief on this one. Nothwithstanding the uptake in gun violence recently, and my feeling that mandatory minimums for an unlawful discharge of a
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Guest post: [Belated] Reflections on Canada Day
Once again I am pleased to offer my space for a guest post and once again by Jared Milne. This time Jared addresses the very real issue of Central and Eastern alienation now that “The West Wants In” has become reality. ***** This past Canada Day, I was reflecting on
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Harper Conservatives Lose Robocalls Fraud Court Challenge
The Federal Court has nuked the Conservatives effort to stop the courts from hearing a legal challenge to some of the results of the 2011 federal election. With the support of The Council of Canadians, individuals in seven of the more than 40 affected ridings legally challenged the results under
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Harper: Going after Guergis to punish Jaffer?
Of all the arguments I’ve heard from the Conservative Party regarding the Helena Guergis lawsuit where she is claiming PMS and Co defamed her and dismissed her as a Cabinet minister without cause, this one has to take the cake; that the party can’t be sued because it is an
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: When WalMart meets GO Transit
A little while back I wrote about how there are dozens of bridges in the Hamilton megacity (read: consolidated city-county), most of them in a horrible state of disrepair; and how with many of them no one seems to know who actually owns them. Well, there is one that we
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: B.C. Premier Condemns Enbridge Inc For Michigan Pipeline Spill
Finally, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark has taken a public position on the Northern Gateway pipeline! Enbridge, the company behind the condemned pipeline through her province “has some pretty important questions to answer” following revelations of its inept handling of a July 2010 spill in Michigan. The spill dumped more than
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Canadians Mourn The Untimely “Death of Evidence”
“The Harper government is the most environmentally hostile one we have ever had in Canada.” – Maude Barlow, Chair of the Council of Canadians About 1,500 scientists, lawyers, students and activists from across Canada gathered on Parliament Hill yesterday and held a mock funeral to mourn the death of Canadian
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: NDP: Harper Created Worst Deficit in Canadian History (VIDEO)
Apparently, the Official Opposition will not allow Stephen Harper‘s appetite for character-assassinating attack ads and propaganda to go unchallenged. The NDP has responded to the Conservatives’ recent attack ad targeting its leader, Thomas Mulcair. The ad, dubbed “Stephen Harper’s Solutions,” focuses on the prime minister’s economic record. It lambasts the Conservative
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Jason Kenney: Thank Me For Cutting Refugee Health Benefits
Canada’s federal immigration minister is way out of line here. The Calgary South East MP has posted a petition on his website – jasonkenney.ca – asking Canadians to thank him for a job well done. The petition’s exact words: “We, the undersigned, thank Jason Kenney for his efforts to streamline benefits afforded to
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Liberal Party Petition: No More Omnibus Bills, Harper
The just-concluded Parliamentary session witnessed “serious abuses of power by the Harper Conservatives” through the use of two omnibus bills “that are radically changing Canada”: crime Bill C-10 and Budget Bill C-38. Please Go HERE to sign and share the Liberal Party of Canada’s petition against this abuse of power by
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Enbridge executive’s company awarded first crime Bill C-10 $38.5-million prison project
Executive and company have strong and lucrative ties with the Canadian military and Harper government. Opponents of the Conservative government’s crime Bill C-10 were justified to argue that private companies would profiteer from the new jail system the legislation proposed for Canada. On Tuesday, the Canadian Press reported that a
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: In Quebec City, A Protester Confronts Stephen Harper
The CBC News reports that a lone protester interrupted a speech by Prime Minister Stephen Harper as he addressed an international conference on the French language in Quebec City today. The protester “began shouting and approaching the stage” before he was “grabbed by two security guards and hustled out of
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: On Canada’s Independence Day, #DenounceHarper & #HappyCanadaDay
This is Canadian political dissent like never seen before. For two reasons. First and especially, the dissent is taking place on Canada’s Independence Day. Second, it’s directed against a prime minister supposedly elected with a majority just over a year ago, on May 2. Once again, Canadians are using the
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Canada’s Worst Senator Patrick Brazeau Disappears From Twitter
No comment yet from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who appointed Brazeau to the Senate in 2008. On Wednesday, I blogged about the Conservative Senator, who called Canadian Press reporter Jennifer Ditchburn a “bitch” on Twitter. Senator Brazeau was mad that the reporter had highlighted his poor performance record in Canada’s appointed
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