This week in neocon nonsense

Just this week :

In a pre-emptive election strike, Bill C-484, Con MP Ken Epps' trial balloon bill for recriminalizing abortion, is shot down by Justice Minister Bob Nicholson, who voted for it. Twice.
Nicholson says the Cons will instead table a bill to "punish criminals who commit violence against pregnant women, but do so in a way that leaves no room for the introduction of fetal rights." Which is exactly the same thing they said about C-484.


The whistle blower who was fired for revealing that the Cons' deregulation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency allows "industry to implement food safety control programs" is threatened with legal action by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
Meanwhile the president of the CFIA inspectors union states : "the agency is so short-staffed that food inspections and follow-up audits simply aren't taking place".
With 12 dead of listeriosis so far, Maple Leaf Foods waits four days to inform the public their sliced meat is contaminated. So much for self-regulation.



Canada First? Not so much.
The Cons have "quietly scuttled the navy's $2.9-billion project to replace its aging supply ships" and "cancelled a tender call for the purchase of 12 mid-shore patrol ships for the Coast Guard".
So why is Harper going up to the Arctic again this week to talk about Arctic sovereignty and Operation Nanook, a military-led Arctic sovereignty exercise?
"As part of the Harper government's plans to expand Canada's presence in the North, MacKay is expected to announce on Thursday several million in funding over five years for the Junior Canadian Rangers, the youth wing of the part-time reserve force that patrols the Arctic."


Sports! -it's the new arts and culture , featuring branding without the swears!
Besides, with sports you can "invest $20-million toward the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in order to ensure that the event adequately reflects the priorities of the Government and helps to achieve its domestic and international branding goals."


Pierre Poilievre, parliamentary secretary, on the refusal of 26 Cons to obey summons to appear before the Ethics committee to answer questions about the in and out scheme in which the Cons exceeded their 2006 election spending limit by $1.1 mil­lion by transferring money into the campaign bank ac­counts of 67 selected local candidates and then immediately transferring the money back out again : "No one takes Ethics Committee summons seriously"
Without ever once actually using the phrase "executive privilege", Harper keeps threatening an election, presumably at least in part to bring about an end to the questions. Oh, the "dysfunction"!


Harper's statement on civilian deaths in Afghanistan : see below.


Just. this. week.