Tag: thomas mulcair

Pushed to the Left and Loving It: Mulcair’s Environmental Record #2: Minister of Hog Development


Recently Morris W. Dorosh had a piece published in the Financial post:  Tom Mulcair’s incoherent farm policy.

In it he questions Mulcair’s logic and math, when discussing agriculture and supply management.

Incoherence is the expected thing from Mulcair. His arithmetic seems a bit off. Supply management nationally provided 16.9 per cent of farm-gate cash revenue in 2014 and 17.0 per cent the prior year, so Mulcair must have been referring only to Quebec. In that case gross revenue from milk, egg and poultry sales in Quebec was 2.55 per cent of Canadian farm cash income. Employment allegedly created by the system can be almost any number depending on how creatively it is defined.

Conflicting views and just making stuff up when he can’t answer a question, is actually a trademark of Mulcair’s, and was long before he hijacked the NDP.

Environmentalist and water expert, Mario Desrosiers, said in 2005, after yet another deceit of Mulcair’s when he tried to deny that he had fired the Environmental watchdog:

How can we give credibility to the words of a minister when his statements are different from one newspaper to another or from a television program to another or simply false.(1)  

Mulcair dismissed that and the hundreds of other concerns, by claiming that they “stem from emotional reactions” 

Since the media is content to go along with his view of his record as environment minister in Quebec, I’m running a series of articles, that reveal what actually occurred.  There was no principle, no commitment and certainly no logic.

Instead, what we see is a systematic attempt to privatize and deregulate, and just like Stephen Harper, much was done under the cloak of secrecy.  He, along with other members of the Quebec Liberal government, were actually sued, and part of the Plaintiffs’ case dealt with the difficulty to access information.  (2)

The defence presented, was that they might expose things that shouldn’t be exposed.  Not unlike the Harper government calling everything a “cabinet secret”.  In one incident, Mulcair held off a group seeking an audience for a full year.

Mulcair’s  Pig in a Poke

When in the Quebec government, Thomas Mulcair would often mention the fact that he helped to draft the terms of NAFTA.  In his promotion of bulk water sales, he suggested that  “the environmental laws protecting water are considered barriers to trade.” (3)

Also a barrier to trade was a moratorium on hog farming, imposed by the Parti Quebecois, to keep the mega barn, multinational corporations, from over farming and contaminating the water supply.

When the pubic first became aware of Mulcair’s intent to lift the moratorium, there was a great deal of opposition.  In 2003, he promised that a full environmental assessment would be done.  It was, concluding that the ban should not be repealed.  Mulcair lifted it anyway, favouring corporate interests over public safety.

“By authorizing new hog barns, the government is giving municipal officials and citizens a fait accompli. It is preparing for the worst crises than previous ones, since people feel cheated. The BAPE gave them hope and yet nothing changes, “says Gilles Tardif of the Citizen Coalition. 
“The Environment Minister Thomas Mulcair, seems to have turned into the minister of pig development,” adds Tim Yeatman … citizens have just elected candidates who campaigned against hog farms projects.  

 The groups are outraged that the government ignored the recommendations of the BAPE in regard to the protection of the environment and risks to the health of people drinking from artesian wells. “Despite clear evidence to the effect that the spreading of pig manure, slurry is not adequately controlled to prevent the pollution of watercourses, the Liberal government seems to be unconscious,” says Martine Ouellet Vice President of the Coalition Eau Secours.  (4)

The major issue in Quebec is the ever-expanding hog industry, and its impact upon the environment and rural communities. In the fall of 2003 The Quebec government released its report on a public consultation process which recommended fundamental changes to hog production in order to make it sustainable in Quebec. A moratorium on hog production expansion followed, installed until new regulations and policies could be implemented, but was lifted prematurely in December 2004. Since then, grassroots community groups have been calling on the province to heed the Canadian Medical Association’s resolution to ban the expansion of the hog industry until the inherent risks of industrial hog farming are understood and the appropriate solutions. 

So while Thomas Mulcair is travelling the country, attacking Stephen Harper for not protecting our waterways, he himself clearly has no concern.  He will do just what Harper does.  Deregulate his way to more corporate profits.

In fact, one man actually had to go on a public hunger strike, lasting 18 days, just to get Mulcair to address a water pollution concern in his community.(5)

To honour NAFTA, he dishonoured the people he was supposed to protect, by not ensuring that they would enjoy a safe environment and clean drinking water.

The NDP are calling for change, but with Mulcair as prime minister, I’m afraid it would just be more of the same.

Sources:

1. Mulcair is Irresponsible and Insults People, By Mario Desrosiers , Chairman of the Citizens Committee Presquîle – Lanaudière (CCPL), October 11, 2005

2. CANADA, PROVINCE OF QUEBEC, DISTRICT MONTREAL, Citizens Committee of the peninsula-Lanaudière c. Quebec (Attorney General), 2006 QCCS 4861, SUPERIOR COURT; No: 500-17-023251-047, August 24, 2006

3. Mulcair is Pleased to Have a New Debate, The Press, Charles Cote and Mario Clouthier, June 16, 2004

4. End of moratorium on hog production, The Liberal government threatens the social climate in rural Quebec, Creek, December 12, 2005

5. Philipsburg cottager ends 18-day hunger strike Encouraged by minister’s response to algae problem – by Debbie Parkes, The Gazette, August 14, 2003

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Pushed to the Left and Loving It: Ignorance and Belly Badges: Learning to Deal With the Doltish


Recently the media and political opponents made merry with a comment that Justin Trudeau made on the economy.

“We’re proposing a strong and real plan one that invests in the middle class so that we can grow the economy, not from the top down the way Mr. Harper wants to, but from the heart outwards, that is what Canada has always done well with.”

For anyone who got past grade two, they know that the “heart” is also used to reference the core, or centre. So what Justin Trudeau was saying is that rather than give money to the wealthiest, and wait for it to trickle down, let’s give it to the centre and grow the economy outward.  

For this he is now seen as a fluffy Care Bear.  How ridiculous.

Of course the orange Grumpy Bear weighed in with a snide “unique perspective”.  If ignorance were truly bliss this man would be a much happier person.

However, Blue Hide Me bear was still on the run ducking questions about Mike Duffy, so had no comment, and Green Aware Bear just rolled her eyes and refused to engage in such silliness.

Can you imagine if Martin Luther King was Canadian and around today?

“There goes Marty, dreaming again.  Another tax grab no doubt.  He’s sounding just like Chatty Cathy”.  Twitter would be abuzz with everyone trying to out stupid each other.

Columnist Stephen Marche recently wrote a scathing piece on the Canadian political climate, for the New York Times:  The Closing of the Canadian Mind.

Americans have traditionally looked to Canada as a liberal haven, with gun control, universal health care and good public education.

But the nine and half years of Mr. Harper’s tenure have seen the slow-motion erosion of that reputation for open, responsible government. His stance has been a know-nothing conservatism, applied broadly and effectively. He has consistently limited the capacity of the public to understand what its government is doing, cloaking himself and his Conservative Party in an entitled secrecy, and the country in ignorance.

This could not have been accomplished without a media and a politico determined to take everything down to it’s lowest common denominator.  As a result, we are now seen as a country of uninformed bumpkins, quite happy to wander about aimlessly, waiting for the next sound bite and resulting media spin.


Let’s hope Marche doesn’t read about this.  I’m so embarrassed.

Learning to Speak Dummy for Dummies

Since we can no longer engage in intelligent discourse, when discussing political topics, maybe we need to re-frame our goals, or at least what they should be.

You don’t have to live in the Kingdom of Caring to know that Canada has lost its way.

In the CTV Care Bear story, Richard Madan attempts to throw in a bit of balanced reporting.

Neither the Conservatives, Liberals, or NDP have released a fully costed platform or have explained how they would pay for big ticket spending promises should government revenues decline.

Have the Conservatives told us how they would pay for their “big ticket” spending, like bombs for Iraq, a continuation of the corporate welfare system and over the top partisan advertising?

In Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko, he asks a British politician about the affordability of their public healthcare.  He suggested that if a government can find money for war, they can find money for that.

In 1982, Ontario premier Bill Davis created the Assisted Devices Program, which initially covered 75% of the cost of equipment needed by children with disabilities.  This was later expanded to include adults.

For low income families, other programs pick up the additional 25%.

This not only made an enormous difference in the lives of those struggling for inclusion in society, and the families of children with special needs; but also created an industry.

There were always manufacturers and distributors of wheelchairs, etc., but most equipment was out of reach for many, and they had to depend on charity.

Since the implementation of the ADP, and other programs like it across the country, we now have mobility stores, that employ thousands of people.  We have occupational therapists, in good paying jobs, who make sure that the right equipment is provided to the right clients.

More disabled adults can engage in meaningful employment and special needs children can attend school and enjoy the privileges of their peers.

This is not “big spending”, but smart spending.

Canada needs a national housing  strategy,  but in today’s dummied down political climate, how do we get this on the agenda?

There is a lot of talk about infrastructure spending as a way to create jobs.  This is true, but a national housing strategy would not only create jobs, but would create permanent, good paying jobs; not only in the building trades, but in administration and social services.

Many of Canada’s homeless, also struggle for inclusion in society.  People like Katrina Blanchford-Gervais, who never dreamed that she would ever be the poster child for homelessness.  No one aspires to that.

She was given a hand up by a local Hamilton group, Housing First.  These organizations are excellent, but without adequate funding they cannot possibly do everything that is needed to be done.

With a housing strategy, we can help to grow the economy from the heart outwards.

Sorry dummies.  CORE! CORE!
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Pushed to the Left and Loving It: Canada’s Domestic False Flag War Has Many Fronts


“Why of course the people don’t want war … But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship … Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy.  All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked,  and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.” — Hermann Goering, Nazi leader, at the Nuremberg Trials

There is no doubt that the attack on Parliament Hill last October, by a lone wolf gunman, became Stephen Harper’s false flag war; as the government, with the help of the media, painted it as an attack perpetrated by ISIS.

In the wake of 9/11, the fear on that day was real, as no one knew how many gunmen were involved, and how organized the attack. We now know that it was just one mentally unbalanced homeless man, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who had no ties to any terrorist organization.

Since then, the Conservatives have used this false flag war as an excuse to further erode our civil liberties, in the name of terror. On the campaign trail, Harper is emphasizing the need for security, while suggesting that only he can keep us safe. The politics of fear.

“Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death.” — Adolf Hitler

Not Canada’s Only False Flag War

The term “false flag” originated in the days of wooden ships, when one ship would hang the flag of its enemy, before attacking another ship in its own navy. This would then be used as excuse to go to the war. After all, didn’t they have the right to defend themselves?

However, “false flag” does not have to refer to fact manipulation, in order to promote a military engagement, but can also be used as a tactic to undermine political opponents. There is little doubt that Justin Trudeau was set up to take the fall for Bill C-51, the Harper government’s egregious, so-called anti-terrorist bill.

If all is fair in love and politics, the NDP’s political exploitation of the situation, could be called “fair” or at least a clever tactic against Trudeau and the Liberal party, leading into the election campaign.  It certainly hurt the Liberals, at least temporarily.

What surprised me however, was the media’s complicity in this.  If it is a journalist’s job to inform the public, while recording history; what will future historians think of the reporting and recording, of the events following the passage of Bill C-51?

They might initially believe that it was Justin Trudeau’s bill, until realizing that he wasn’t the prime minister. He wasn’t even the leader of the official opposition and did not head a coup. How could he possibly be responsible?

It would be easy for them to see through the actions of the NDP, but might be understandably puzzled by the direction taken by “journalists”.

Not that the media hasn’t helped to fan the flames of war, but why did they see it as their responsibility, to attack a political party with biased reporting, to help the prospects of another political party or parties?

However, while the NDP might, seemingly, have been the beneficiaries of this engagement, in the end, by giving Harper a free pass on the bill, they could also be the fallen soldiers.  They chose the wrong allies.  The Conservative army takes no prisoners.

The NDP’s False Flag War Claims Many Victims

With the distraction of the orange dog and pony show, there was important information that the Canadian public was not privy to. Bill C-51, was not just an anti-terrorism bill, but an omnibus bill, with many critical elements that should have been examined and made election issues. According to Vice:

.. this national debate about surveillance is also a distraction from the fact that Stephen Harper is once again using a monstrous bill to simultaneously change dozens of pieces of legislation while severely limiting Parliament’s ability to have a meaningful debate about these issues. Bill C-51 is an omnibus bill, meaning that it is creating two laws but also amending roughly a dozen others from the Department of Fisheries Act to the Criminal Code to the Income Tax Act.

This Means that we have lost the opportunity to debate these things, that are rarely mentioned by the media, too wrapped up in the Justin Trudeau nonsense.

There is now a series of memes being passed around, that make many of the things that Stephen Harper does in his politics of fear, pale by comparison. Showing a protest group and the idea that stopping protests, is the real reason for the bill, is not only a false flag, but entirely false.

Originally there was a clause that allowed “lawful” protest. However, when concern was raised that “lawful” could be left to interpretation, the word was removed. This means that the bill does not stop protests

“The first amendment would clarify that any protest or dissent would not fall under C-51. .. University of Ottawa law professor Craig Forcese, along with fellow academic Kent Roach, has conducted an in-depth analysis of the bill. Forcese said that dropping the word “lawful” from C-51 to ensure it doesn’t target civil disobedience activities may allay some concerns on the part of environmental and aboriginal groups.

So why are these people trying to suggest that protests will no longer be allowed in Canada?

This bill is flawed for so many reasons, and in the wrong hands could certainly be used for a lot of things. However, we have seen human rights abuses in this country, long before Bill C-51.

These images are designed to create fear where there should be no fear, while hiding the things we should be afraid of.

This kind of hyperbole can actually have a different affect than expected. Over the top fear tactics often turn people off, but more importantly, they might do irreparable harm to future protest actions.

If people are frightened that engaging in such things, could get them arrested or painted as terrorists, they might think twice before taking part.

The politics of fear, whether coming from the Conservatives or NDP, are still the politics of fear.

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