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.

Steve and Kory and Fucking Young People

Yes. After whipping their base up into a regular santorum over funding for swears and lefties and rock stars, the government program that supported "Young People Fucking" is still intact, but $40M of moneys to promote Canadian arts and culture has been transferred to fund 2010 Five Ring Circus sports events like the $24.5 million torch relay.

Well you couldn't really see Steve cutting a ribbon to open YPF, could you?

Kudos to Kady and Jennifer at Runesmith for their excellent research.

G&M : Ottawa aims to put its stamp on 2010 Games

Memo from David Emerson to Canadian Heritage, Feb 5 :

"The Minister has recently confirmed with VANOC in writing that the Department of Canadian Heritage intends to 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."

Ensure...priorities of the Government?

Domestic and international branding goals?

Talk about painting the town blue.

For an insider's take on this : Beijing York

Harper's war on culture

Harper's box of hammers - the Con remix version :

1) Military historian and acclaimed film maker Gwynne Dyer is asked by Harper's government to go to Cuba in 2007 to give a lecture for $3000 in airfare and hotel expenses.

2) Unbeknownst to Dyer, DFAIT pays for his expenses out of ProMart funding.

3) When the Cons decide to axe ProMart, they publicly use Dyer as an example of what is wrong with the program, referring to him as :

"a left-wing columnist and author who has plenty of money to travel on his own," and

"not exactly the foot that most Canadians would want to see put forward."

Here is Gwynne Dyer's response :

"When the Canadian government announced it was shutting down the PromArt cultural diplomacy program, it named me as one of the free-loaders who abuse the grant system - in my case, by going off to Cuba to misrepresent true Canadian values. The Conservative talking points said I am "a left-wing columnist and author who has plenty of money to travel on his own," and your editorial The Arts Belong In Foreign Policy (Aug. 11) said "those grants never should have been approved, and the criteria should be tightened to prevent such abuses."
But, in fact, I was asked to go to Cuba in early 2007 by the Department of Foreign Affairs."
continued...

Care to rewrite your bullshit editorial now, NaPo?

Jennifer at Runesmith has great background on the ProMart program.
Accidental Deliberations points out that the Cons appear to see all public resources as slush funds.

Update : HA HA HA HA
Meanwhile the crack(ed) editorial team at Western Standard stakes out the high moral ground for the Cons, just in case, you know, they had misplaced it :

Conservatives abandon White Man’s Burden and end funding for cultural imperialism
"Artificially injecting our culture into another nation like an imperial poison? No way.
Using millions of dirty petro-dollars taken from Alberta to displace the indigenous culture of a struggling developing nation? No way.
That’s not Canada. That’s Amerika.
Didn’t our Prime Minister just apologise to Canada’s aboriginal community for an earlier version of a White Man’s Burden program called Residential Schools?"

stop...stop...I can't stand it...must breathe...oh noes, there's more...

"In my judgment, these programs come dangerously close to promoting cultural imperialism.
It's a good thing the Conservatives canceled these programs before Canada’s international reputation was tarnished.
PMO staffer Kory Teneycke, a brilliant and principled newish addition to Harper’s team..."

.....make..it..stop...oh no.....too..late........I'm...melting.....

Steve and Kory and a box of hammers

G&M : "Administered by the Department of Heritage, Trade Routes, valued at about $9-million annually, helps cultural groups such as Hot Docs and the Canadian Independent Record Production Association export and sell products abroad."

The Cons have axed it, thus saving every taxpayer less than .30¢!

Woo woo. The Con base must be just ecstatic.

Let's have a quick look at the comments under that G&M article to see how they're doing ....

Bluer than You from Canada : "Exactly, we need a majority to re-educate these sinners. Just wait until the CPC has a majority and then we'll see some real fundamental changes...."

Bluer than You from Canada again : "We are embarking upon a new age....

A new crusade led by great men like George Bush and Stephen Harper. They share the same values and ideas with the majority of Canadians."

Bluer than You from Canada again again ! : "It's about time! I urge all readers to save yourselves and follow the real Conservative values, learn what you must do and thank S.Harper.

I urge you to view our site which has the support of many CPC politicians including S.Harper.

Hopefully he will begin funding our efforts as promised by the CPC.

http://www.familyaction.org/index.htm "

Family Action Coalition ? Our site? Oh. Wow. I. mean. just. lol.

Note to Bluer than You : Actually, Harper is kinda trying to keep any association with anti-choice anti-gay religious nutbar groups on the qt, otherwise he'll never get a shot at that moral majority of yours. Just sayin'.

'Course maybe Blue is just a troll and foolin with us. Who else we got over there?

Green Konstantin from Canada : "When you lefty parasites scream and moan like this, it proves we're doing the right thing. Go soothe yourself with a nice round of gay sex with a piece of furniture or whatever you're into."

Tom Robinson from Not from muslim Toronto : "Real Canadians hate Toronto... How do you know that Native Canadians were not immmigrants at one time in this country. No-one knows for sure, so I could be right. How many muslims, asians, pakistanis, indians, or any other Torontonians serve in the military?"

Yup. There they are - Steve's box of hammers crowd.

Not exactly "happy as..." though, are they?

CBC quotes Bill Siksay, the NDP's culture and heritage critic :

"It really does seem to play to the most right-wing part of the Conservative Party."

and serves no other purpose, he did not add.