Who Benefits?

All evidence suggests Canada is wasting lives and money but achieving nothing for the people of Afghanistan, by having our troops in their country. Our Conservative government's Department of National Defence is about to spend $9-16 billion on 65 "modern" aircraft - like the ones used by the Americans, who also build them!

May we hope that these planes will be more accurate in their aim, so that fewer Afghan civilians will be killed or injured?

Bad Examples

Ottawa's Parliamentary Question Period is a total disgrace. Shrieking, applauding, thumping desks, stabbing the air with bony index fingers and nodding their silly heads in support of their party monologues.  In addition, the so-called pundits, political experts, seem to have followed suit, now diminished to shouting, interrupting one another and showing not a smidgen of courtesy, good taste - or class.

John Baird's recent violent attack on Siobhan Coady in the Government Operations Committee was nothing less than bullying.  Luckily she gave him as good, or better, than he did to her. His award as 'Parliamentarian of the year' will stand in infamy! The award was, of course, made by the extreme right-wing magazine Macleans.What can one say about the whole negative mess? As for me, I will be sure not to subscribe to Macleans and definitely will not vote for any party that allows a thug like John Baird in it.

Little wonder that our children scream at, fight with, and bully each other. They are being trained by our "best".

Where D'it Go?

"Stiff hike in EI premiums looming, minister says" (April 17, 2010)
In 2008, Canada had surplus Employment Insurance of 57 billion dollars! Paul Martin was largely reponsible for that. A surplus never lies around for long! Hard to tell how, but today the surplus has diminished? disappeared? been spent? and the account is deeply overdrawn. The government is warning, i.e. preparing, us that the premiums will soon be going UP!
$57 billion! That is 57 with nine zeros after it. A lot of money. ($3,800 per Canadian, every man, woman and child.) It is now, "deeply overdrawn." Where d'it go? Can every cent be accounted for by the last two year's unemployment figures? We will never know. We all paid into it, whether or not we were unfortunate enough to be unemployed. If the government ever wrote to me asking what I would like them to do with my money, I never received the letter. Come to think of it, nor did I receive an IOU. Who's the Minister of Finance - David Copperfield? Okay, now make it reappear!
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Stiff+hike+premiums+looming+minister+says/2917700/story.htm

Pros and Cons

Prorogation at least relieved us, temporarily, from The Ottawa Circus every weekday afternoon! It's a pretty poor circus, as circuses go - no lions but lots of clowns.

The Ontario ex-Tory who was stopped by a police officer last September and charged with: careless driving, cocaine possession, above legal blood-alcohol level and driving 43 KPH above the speed limit was sentenced to a $500 fine for...careless driving! The other three charges were dropped. His luck held out since his spouse is a minister of Stephen Harper's government. "Good luck!" I say to him. However, if everything was above-board and no hocus-pocus was involved, the Ontario police and legislators must be doing a frightfully poor job.