Do we want more of Pierre Trudeau's Liberal Socialism in Canada? It has brought us high taxes, wasteful social programs. Multiculturalism and political correctness are destroying Canadian values and destroying Christian values. Liberal Socialism just isn't working. I am also including my favourite articles about the US, because I see them heading in the same direction.Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Friday, July 20, 2007
Canada hates free speach
Canada's Human Rights Commission Used to Target Conservative Website With "Hate Speech"
Free Dominion website not yet given any details
By Peter J. Smith
OTTAWA, July 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Free Dominion, Canadian conservative web forum, has been targeted via the Canada's Human Rights Commission (HRC) over allegations the conservative site promotes "hate speech."
"We have been waiting for six and a half years and the day has finally arrived, somebody is going to try to silence Free Dominion using the Canadian Human Rights Commission," Mark Fourier quipped in posting the letter. "Somebody has likely decided that because they can't defeat some argument presented by someone at Free Dominion they will instead try to silence the whole site. It isn't going to work."
A redacted copy of the letter sent by the HRC has been posted on the Free Dominion website (freedominion.ca) informing the conservative site of the complaint and that it has the option to settle before the investigation proceeds further. http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=84457
While the right of citizens to exercise free speech used to be a hallmark of free democracies, Canada's Human Rights Commissions have taken to determining what ideas Canadian citizens may communicate with each other or with whom Canadians may freely associate.
Connie Wilkins of Free Dominion spoke with LifeSiteNews.com about the human rights complaint filed with the HRC by a certain"Ms. Gentes" accusing the site of promoting "hate speech" although the HRC has refused to say what protected groups are offended.
Wilkins told LifeSiteNews.com that the HRC claimed it sent the full complaint via Canada Post on June 9 with signature required. However, Free Dominion had received no word of this complaint until yesterday evening, when they received a second letter from the HRC telling them to respond to the complaint of "Ms. Gentes" by July 18, the very day they were required to respond.
After explaining the situation to an HRC official, Wilkins was told only that Free Dominion was accused of "hate speech" under Sec. 13 of the Human Rights Act and that they would resend the original complaint. While the officer said there were specifics in the complaint, he refused to mention them and said they would be found in the original complaint which they should receive Monday.
"It's frightening," Wilkins said commenting on the way the HRC has used allegations of "hate speech" to shut down the viewpoints of conservatives and Christians, such as Christian printer Scott Brockie and other individuals with smaller resources to defend themselves than Free Dominion. http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/apr/04041604.html
Wilkins explained that Free Dominion (freedominion.ca) is "an online meeting place for conservatives across the country to get together, strategise, plan, and do everything."
"They prefer it when conservatives are isolated from one another and can't talk and organise" to oppose the leftist agenda, Wilkins continued. One Free Dominion project was helping organise Canadians to vote to abolish abortion as the number one wish for the CBC's Great Canadian Wish Contest done in cooperation with Facebook. http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07070305.html
"I think the most significant thing about this is how much in the dark we are being kept," said Wilkins. "I mean you would think that if you're being charged with something and there is an allegation against, the first thing that they would do is tell you."
"There have been a lot of people rallying around us already," said Wilkins. "I think that it will be good if people start reporting this and show what the [Human Rights Commissions] do. A lot of Canadians don't realise this. They hear hate crimes laws and think that's a really good thing. They don't understand it's used as a club."
Wilkins said Free Dominion will fight the complaint all the way.
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
"Abolish Abortion in Canada" is the Top Canadian Wish, CBC Announces
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07070305.html
Scott Brockie Loses Decision at Court of Appeals, On the Hook for $40,000
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/apr/04041604.html
Free Dominion website not yet given any details
By Peter J. Smith
OTTAWA, July 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Free Dominion, Canadian conservative web forum, has been targeted via the Canada's Human Rights Commission (HRC) over allegations the conservative site promotes "hate speech."
"We have been waiting for six and a half years and the day has finally arrived, somebody is going to try to silence Free Dominion using the Canadian Human Rights Commission," Mark Fourier quipped in posting the letter. "Somebody has likely decided that because they can't defeat some argument presented by someone at Free Dominion they will instead try to silence the whole site. It isn't going to work."
A redacted copy of the letter sent by the HRC has been posted on the Free Dominion website (freedominion.ca) informing the conservative site of the complaint and that it has the option to settle before the investigation proceeds further. http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=84457
While the right of citizens to exercise free speech used to be a hallmark of free democracies, Canada's Human Rights Commissions have taken to determining what ideas Canadian citizens may communicate with each other or with whom Canadians may freely associate.
Connie Wilkins of Free Dominion spoke with LifeSiteNews.com about the human rights complaint filed with the HRC by a certain"Ms. Gentes" accusing the site of promoting "hate speech" although the HRC has refused to say what protected groups are offended.
Wilkins told LifeSiteNews.com that the HRC claimed it sent the full complaint via Canada Post on June 9 with signature required. However, Free Dominion had received no word of this complaint until yesterday evening, when they received a second letter from the HRC telling them to respond to the complaint of "Ms. Gentes" by July 18, the very day they were required to respond.
After explaining the situation to an HRC official, Wilkins was told only that Free Dominion was accused of "hate speech" under Sec. 13 of the Human Rights Act and that they would resend the original complaint. While the officer said there were specifics in the complaint, he refused to mention them and said they would be found in the original complaint which they should receive Monday.
"It's frightening," Wilkins said commenting on the way the HRC has used allegations of "hate speech" to shut down the viewpoints of conservatives and Christians, such as Christian printer Scott Brockie and other individuals with smaller resources to defend themselves than Free Dominion. http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/apr/04041604.html
Wilkins explained that Free Dominion (freedominion.ca) is "an online meeting place for conservatives across the country to get together, strategise, plan, and do everything."
"They prefer it when conservatives are isolated from one another and can't talk and organise" to oppose the leftist agenda, Wilkins continued. One Free Dominion project was helping organise Canadians to vote to abolish abortion as the number one wish for the CBC's Great Canadian Wish Contest done in cooperation with Facebook. http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07070305.html
"I think the most significant thing about this is how much in the dark we are being kept," said Wilkins. "I mean you would think that if you're being charged with something and there is an allegation against, the first thing that they would do is tell you."
"There have been a lot of people rallying around us already," said Wilkins. "I think that it will be good if people start reporting this and show what the [Human Rights Commissions] do. A lot of Canadians don't realise this. They hear hate crimes laws and think that's a really good thing. They don't understand it's used as a club."
Wilkins said Free Dominion will fight the complaint all the way.
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
"Abolish Abortion in Canada" is the Top Canadian Wish, CBC Announces
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07070305.html
Scott Brockie Loses Decision at Court of Appeals, On the Hook for $40,000
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/apr/04041604.html
Friday, May 18, 2007
Globe & Mail Endorses Commie Trudeau
Another Great Literary Piece By Peter O'Donnell
The sociopath who is truly loyal to the beef marinade will neither admit nor deny artichoke hors d'ouevres
Opinion
Justin Trudeau -- better than nothing
The Mop & Pail is pleased to announce that Wellington Boote-Daley, for many years an occasional correspondent and chief columnist of the Brandon Swill and Fornicator, will now take up the duties of chief mouthpiece for Canadianism at the nation's leading journal of official thought and an approved substitute for logic. Today, Wellington Boote-Daley explains why Canadians must succumb to Trudeaumania one more time before all critical brain functions cease.
Wellington Boote-Daley, 58, is a certified practitioner of Global Warming Containment Therapy, a licensed breeder of bull, and a collector of pictures of the break-up of civilization.
Today, I celebrate the fact that the Mop & Pail have turned to me for sage advice and timely prevarication, by suggesting to the nation that they abandon all critical brain functions and embrace a second round of Trudeaumania.
I know that female voters have missed the opportunity to achieve a mild form of orgasm just thinking about the man they are giving a big fat X, a sort of political game of Xs and Os that many thought would replace conventional marriage in the 1970s.
Since the death or at least repulsive aging of Pierre Trudeau, Canadian women and gay male voters, as well as really stupid men without working brain functions, have had only such role models as Jean Chretien and Paul Martin to vote for. Now, these men were as incompetent and dangerous as P.E.T., but arguably lacked his charisma and sexual prowess with women voters.
Thus it was that Canadians turned, reluctantly, to Stephen Harper, who claimed to be a conservative, something that many Canadians had read about in books and their weekend newspapers, without necessarily understanding what it meant.
But now there is another Trudeau on the scene, and man, is he relevant.
He is hip to the jive of global warming, a sort of Gore with More, and very much in tune with the recycling wave, something he probably learned from papa who often recycled his inner circle of friends.
He is as good looking as he is intelligent, and a sensitive man of the modern age, which happens to be a decade without a name, so to speak.
He has swept the public opinion polls and is favoured by 52% to replace Stephane Dion whenever the current leader happens to walk past a dark alley in Montreal. It is no coincidence that 52% of Canadian voters are women. But there are women who probably won't vote for Justin, not because they aren't in a high state of sexual arousal just thinking about how easily he will screw Canada, but because they are grown ups, so their places have to be taken by adoring male voters, like, to be frank, myself, an easily led sort who is just looking for a new political messiah to put the west in their place (poverty, basically).
Here in Ontario, where I breed bulls and prance about like a ballet dancer on drugs, we are frankly sick and tired of the west always whining about how they want to have a democracy and free enterprise, all those American things that Mop and Pail readers know are dangerous for Canadianism here in Canadia where Canadians live and vote.
Stephen Harper threatened to change the very foundation of our nation, until he was told by some friend of Brian Mulroney to fughedaboudit, but who cares, he isn't the sort of Canadian that Canadians could Canadianize in their Canadianess.
For all of those reasons, if you don't mind me using the word reason in this context, you should surrender your will to Justin Trudeau. Just because he's an immature commie twerp doesn't mean he won't lead this country into a new era of Canadian Canadianess that will out-Canadian even what his Canadian canoe-paddling father Canadianized in the halcyon days of pre-modern Canadiana.
A maple leaf just floated down and hit me on the head. Seems kind of fitting somehow, I plan to roll a big doobie and think of how wonderful communism has been since Trudeau brought it in and called it the just society.
Just society my ass, but that's just the sort of little secret that we don't share with the robots here at the Mop & Pail.
The sociopath who is truly loyal to the beef marinade will neither admit nor deny artichoke hors d'ouevres
Opinion
Justin Trudeau -- better than nothing
The Mop & Pail is pleased to announce that Wellington Boote-Daley, for many years an occasional correspondent and chief columnist of the Brandon Swill and Fornicator, will now take up the duties of chief mouthpiece for Canadianism at the nation's leading journal of official thought and an approved substitute for logic. Today, Wellington Boote-Daley explains why Canadians must succumb to Trudeaumania one more time before all critical brain functions cease.
Wellington Boote-Daley, 58, is a certified practitioner of Global Warming Containment Therapy, a licensed breeder of bull, and a collector of pictures of the break-up of civilization.
Today, I celebrate the fact that the Mop & Pail have turned to me for sage advice and timely prevarication, by suggesting to the nation that they abandon all critical brain functions and embrace a second round of Trudeaumania.
I know that female voters have missed the opportunity to achieve a mild form of orgasm just thinking about the man they are giving a big fat X, a sort of political game of Xs and Os that many thought would replace conventional marriage in the 1970s.
Since the death or at least repulsive aging of Pierre Trudeau, Canadian women and gay male voters, as well as really stupid men without working brain functions, have had only such role models as Jean Chretien and Paul Martin to vote for. Now, these men were as incompetent and dangerous as P.E.T., but arguably lacked his charisma and sexual prowess with women voters.
Thus it was that Canadians turned, reluctantly, to Stephen Harper, who claimed to be a conservative, something that many Canadians had read about in books and their weekend newspapers, without necessarily understanding what it meant.
But now there is another Trudeau on the scene, and man, is he relevant.
He is hip to the jive of global warming, a sort of Gore with More, and very much in tune with the recycling wave, something he probably learned from papa who often recycled his inner circle of friends.
He is as good looking as he is intelligent, and a sensitive man of the modern age, which happens to be a decade without a name, so to speak.
He has swept the public opinion polls and is favoured by 52% to replace Stephane Dion whenever the current leader happens to walk past a dark alley in Montreal. It is no coincidence that 52% of Canadian voters are women. But there are women who probably won't vote for Justin, not because they aren't in a high state of sexual arousal just thinking about how easily he will screw Canada, but because they are grown ups, so their places have to be taken by adoring male voters, like, to be frank, myself, an easily led sort who is just looking for a new political messiah to put the west in their place (poverty, basically).
Here in Ontario, where I breed bulls and prance about like a ballet dancer on drugs, we are frankly sick and tired of the west always whining about how they want to have a democracy and free enterprise, all those American things that Mop and Pail readers know are dangerous for Canadianism here in Canadia where Canadians live and vote.
Stephen Harper threatened to change the very foundation of our nation, until he was told by some friend of Brian Mulroney to fughedaboudit, but who cares, he isn't the sort of Canadian that Canadians could Canadianize in their Canadianess.
For all of those reasons, if you don't mind me using the word reason in this context, you should surrender your will to Justin Trudeau. Just because he's an immature commie twerp doesn't mean he won't lead this country into a new era of Canadian Canadianess that will out-Canadian even what his Canadian canoe-paddling father Canadianized in the halcyon days of pre-modern Canadiana.
A maple leaf just floated down and hit me on the head. Seems kind of fitting somehow, I plan to roll a big doobie and think of how wonderful communism has been since Trudeau brought it in and called it the just society.
Just society my ass, but that's just the sort of little secret that we don't share with the robots here at the Mop & Pail.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Fresh Off The Presses, Liberals Are Still Thieve
From The Western Standard
CAUGHT RED-HANDED
A new generation of Liberals is proving itself no better than the last
IT’S NOT QUITE WATERGATE, BUT THE LIBERAL theft of Conservative files is serious business— a violation of privacy laws and the Criminal Code (see cover story, page 26).
It’s less serious than Watergate in that the Liberal party did not actively break and enter into their opponents’ locked offices. Instead, when the Liberals swapped offices with the Conservatives after losing the election last year, Liberal staff took 30 boxes of files the Conservatives had packed for Parliament’s movers. It’s still theft, but it wasn’t particularly premeditated.
In other ways, though, it’s more serious than Watergate. To this day, the Liberal party has no compunction about what it did. Liberal operatives brag about how they spent a year going through the documents—including 174 personnel files of Conservative staff. The Liberals held a press conference to describe their "research" and made a video of the whole affair, brazenly posted to the official Liberal website. The video highlights various confidential personnel files, revealing the names of some of the staff who had their most private matters inspected for political grist. Perhaps a secretary was having problems at work because she was going through a divorce; perhaps a clerk asked for help in dealing with a substance abuse problem. Whatever private details were contained in those human resources files were read by voyeuristic Liberal "researchers" looking for dirt. That’s not called being Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. That’s called being a Peeping Tom.
The Liberals chose 32-year-old MP Mark Holland as their point man for the press conference and the star of the video. That’s because Holland has consistently shown poor judgment as an MP, and doesn’t demur from dirty politics. Western Standard readers will remember Holland as the one who threatened Alberta oil companies if they didn’t obey his particular environmental plans. Less well known is that, on the eve of Holland’s showboating tour to the oilsands, someone leaked a report by the House of Commons’ natural resources committee, breaching parliamentary confidentiality. Every MP on that committee was asked to swear an oath that they were not the one who broke the rules; Holland and one other refused to swear that oath.
"Holland’s legal threat is an important part of this story:
when the Liberals are caught doing something wrong,
their instinct is to bully their opponents"
That rough touch was what the Liberals needed and Holland complied, telling reporters that he felt "absolutely" no obligation to return the files.
As I write, the Speaker of the House is considering a complaint against Holland by Scott Reid, a Conservative MP whose files were amongst those rifled by the Liberals. But Holland isn’t the root of the problem, he’s just a branch; it was the Liberal leader’s staff who worked through the files for a year.
You would think that the party of Adscam would have found a new moral compass by now. That a young Liberal MP thinks the best way to get ahead is through unethical behaviour suggests the new generation of Liberals is no better than the last.
When I wrote a column about Holland in the Calgary Sun and Toronto Sun, he threatened them and the Western Standard with a defamation lawsuit, though his chief quibble was that he didn’t personally rifle through all the stolen files—Liberal staff did and then briefed him on their findings. That’s hardly an excuse. Imagine a corporate CEO blaming his underlings that way. But Holland’s legal threat is an important part of this story: when the Liberals are caught doing something wrong, their instinct is to bully their opponents. Which brings us to Holland’s threatened suit against this magazine.
The Western Standard didn’t cower before much scarier Liberals like Alfonso Gagliano and Jean Chrétien when we published our cover story in 2005 about the Libranos. And we didn’t go wobbly in 2006 when Muslim radicals threatened to murder anyone who reprinted the Danish cartoons of Mohammed.We’re still fighting against two "human rights" complaints in the cartoon kerfuffle, thanks to our readers’ support for our legal fund.
When an MP brags about 30 boxes of stolen documents, our readers can expect a news story about it. And if that MP tries to censor us with a lawsuit, well that just makes the story a little bit more interesting.
With your appetite now hopefully whetted,
follow the links to the full story as well as Holland's
brazenly arrogant: threatened us with a lawsuit
CAUGHT RED-HANDED
A new generation of Liberals is proving itself no better than the last
IT’S NOT QUITE WATERGATE, BUT THE LIBERAL theft of Conservative files is serious business— a violation of privacy laws and the Criminal Code (see cover story, page 26).
It’s less serious than Watergate in that the Liberal party did not actively break and enter into their opponents’ locked offices. Instead, when the Liberals swapped offices with the Conservatives after losing the election last year, Liberal staff took 30 boxes of files the Conservatives had packed for Parliament’s movers. It’s still theft, but it wasn’t particularly premeditated.
In other ways, though, it’s more serious than Watergate. To this day, the Liberal party has no compunction about what it did. Liberal operatives brag about how they spent a year going through the documents—including 174 personnel files of Conservative staff. The Liberals held a press conference to describe their "research" and made a video of the whole affair, brazenly posted to the official Liberal website. The video highlights various confidential personnel files, revealing the names of some of the staff who had their most private matters inspected for political grist. Perhaps a secretary was having problems at work because she was going through a divorce; perhaps a clerk asked for help in dealing with a substance abuse problem. Whatever private details were contained in those human resources files were read by voyeuristic Liberal "researchers" looking for dirt. That’s not called being Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. That’s called being a Peeping Tom.
The Liberals chose 32-year-old MP Mark Holland as their point man for the press conference and the star of the video. That’s because Holland has consistently shown poor judgment as an MP, and doesn’t demur from dirty politics. Western Standard readers will remember Holland as the one who threatened Alberta oil companies if they didn’t obey his particular environmental plans. Less well known is that, on the eve of Holland’s showboating tour to the oilsands, someone leaked a report by the House of Commons’ natural resources committee, breaching parliamentary confidentiality. Every MP on that committee was asked to swear an oath that they were not the one who broke the rules; Holland and one other refused to swear that oath.
"Holland’s legal threat is an important part of this story:
when the Liberals are caught doing something wrong,
their instinct is to bully their opponents"
That rough touch was what the Liberals needed and Holland complied, telling reporters that he felt "absolutely" no obligation to return the files.
As I write, the Speaker of the House is considering a complaint against Holland by Scott Reid, a Conservative MP whose files were amongst those rifled by the Liberals. But Holland isn’t the root of the problem, he’s just a branch; it was the Liberal leader’s staff who worked through the files for a year.
You would think that the party of Adscam would have found a new moral compass by now. That a young Liberal MP thinks the best way to get ahead is through unethical behaviour suggests the new generation of Liberals is no better than the last.
When I wrote a column about Holland in the Calgary Sun and Toronto Sun, he threatened them and the Western Standard with a defamation lawsuit, though his chief quibble was that he didn’t personally rifle through all the stolen files—Liberal staff did and then briefed him on their findings. That’s hardly an excuse. Imagine a corporate CEO blaming his underlings that way. But Holland’s legal threat is an important part of this story: when the Liberals are caught doing something wrong, their instinct is to bully their opponents. Which brings us to Holland’s threatened suit against this magazine.
The Western Standard didn’t cower before much scarier Liberals like Alfonso Gagliano and Jean Chrétien when we published our cover story in 2005 about the Libranos. And we didn’t go wobbly in 2006 when Muslim radicals threatened to murder anyone who reprinted the Danish cartoons of Mohammed.We’re still fighting against two "human rights" complaints in the cartoon kerfuffle, thanks to our readers’ support for our legal fund.
When an MP brags about 30 boxes of stolen documents, our readers can expect a news story about it. And if that MP tries to censor us with a lawsuit, well that just makes the story a little bit more interesting.
With your appetite now hopefully whetted,
follow the links to the full story as well as Holland's
brazenly arrogant: threatened us with a lawsuit
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Pay Attention.
The Liberals want to ban handguns. Next it will be Long guns. Soon Canada will be reduced to the state of Nazi Germany under the Liberals.
Here is the law from 1938 Germany
PAY ATTENTION ONE TIME
Regulations Against Jews' Possession of Weapons 11 November 1938 With a basis in §31 of the Weapons Law of 18 March 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p.265), Article III of the Law on the Reunification of Austria with Germany of 13 March 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 237), and §9 of the Führer and Chancellor's decree on the administration of the Sudeten-German districts of 1 October 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p 1331) are the following ordered: §1 Jews (§5 of the First Regulations of the German Citizenship Law of 14 November 1935, Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 1333) are prohibited from acquiring, possessing, and carrying firearms and ammunition, as well as truncheons or stabbing weapons. Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local police authority. §2 Firearms and ammunition found in a Jew's possession will be forfeited to the government without compensation. §3 The Minister of the Interior may make exceptions to the Prohibition in §1 for Jews who are foreign nationals. He can entrust other authorities with this power. §4 Whoever willfully or negligently violates the provisions of §1 will be punished with imprisonment and a fine. In especially severe cases of deliberate violations, the punishment is imprisonment in a penitentiary for up to five years. §5 For the implementation of this regulation, the Minister of the Interior waives the necessary legal and administrative provisions. §6 This regulation is valid in the state of Austria and in the Sudeten-German districts. Berlin, 11 November 1938 Minister of the Interior Frick
Here is the law from 1938 Germany
PAY ATTENTION ONE TIME
Regulations Against Jews' Possession of Weapons 11 November 1938 With a basis in §31 of the Weapons Law of 18 March 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p.265), Article III of the Law on the Reunification of Austria with Germany of 13 March 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 237), and §9 of the Führer and Chancellor's decree on the administration of the Sudeten-German districts of 1 October 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p 1331) are the following ordered: §1 Jews (§5 of the First Regulations of the German Citizenship Law of 14 November 1935, Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 1333) are prohibited from acquiring, possessing, and carrying firearms and ammunition, as well as truncheons or stabbing weapons. Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local police authority. §2 Firearms and ammunition found in a Jew's possession will be forfeited to the government without compensation. §3 The Minister of the Interior may make exceptions to the Prohibition in §1 for Jews who are foreign nationals. He can entrust other authorities with this power. §4 Whoever willfully or negligently violates the provisions of §1 will be punished with imprisonment and a fine. In especially severe cases of deliberate violations, the punishment is imprisonment in a penitentiary for up to five years. §5 For the implementation of this regulation, the Minister of the Interior waives the necessary legal and administrative provisions. §6 This regulation is valid in the state of Austria and in the Sudeten-German districts. Berlin, 11 November 1938 Minister of the Interior Frick
Monday, November 28, 2005
"Liberal Values"
You want Liberal support to be softened? Email this to every parent + grandparent you know...
“Our most important commitment to the Canadian people was our pledge to protect and defend the values that define us. Liberal values. Canadian values.” Paul Martin: March 4, 2005
“Liberal values”
Liberal values include the Age of Consent that endorses 14 year olds (junior high school children) having sex with 50 year olds. The Liberals and NDP opposed every effort to date by the Conservative Party of Canada to raise the Age of Consent from 14 years to at least 16 years. They are leaving children unprotected by law from sexual predation by adults. ·
Liberal values mean women have the right to become a prostitute. To stand on any street corner in front of children, while cars circle and John’s harass innocent young girls waiting for the bus. The Liberal Party of Canada’s last policy convention adopted a resolution calling for the decriminalization of prostitution. Is this the career option you want for your children and grandchildren? ·
Liberal values support the Young Offenders Act that allows convicted 17-year-old rapists and gang members to walk the streets anonymously.
Liberals opposed Conservative efforts to amend the Young Offenders Act, which provides 17 year-old repeat violent offenders absolute anonymity on our nation’s streets. ·
Liberal values allow women to drink and take drugs while pregnant. Thousands of children are born with physical and mental defects. [Of individuals with FAE between the ages of 12 and 51, ·
95% will have mental health problems; ·
68% will experience trouble with the law; ·
55% will be confined in prison, drug or alcohol treatment centre or mental institution; ·
52% will exhibit inappropriate sexual behaviour
http://www.fasworld.com/facts
Conservative values are my values!
“Our most important commitment to the Canadian people was our pledge to protect and defend the values that define us. Liberal values. Canadian values.” Paul Martin: March 4, 2005
“Liberal values”
Liberal values include the Age of Consent that endorses 14 year olds (junior high school children) having sex with 50 year olds. The Liberals and NDP opposed every effort to date by the Conservative Party of Canada to raise the Age of Consent from 14 years to at least 16 years. They are leaving children unprotected by law from sexual predation by adults. ·
Liberal values mean women have the right to become a prostitute. To stand on any street corner in front of children, while cars circle and John’s harass innocent young girls waiting for the bus. The Liberal Party of Canada’s last policy convention adopted a resolution calling for the decriminalization of prostitution. Is this the career option you want for your children and grandchildren? ·
Liberal values support the Young Offenders Act that allows convicted 17-year-old rapists and gang members to walk the streets anonymously.
Liberals opposed Conservative efforts to amend the Young Offenders Act, which provides 17 year-old repeat violent offenders absolute anonymity on our nation’s streets. ·
Liberal values allow women to drink and take drugs while pregnant. Thousands of children are born with physical and mental defects. [Of individuals with FAE between the ages of 12 and 51, ·
95% will have mental health problems; ·
68% will experience trouble with the law; ·
55% will be confined in prison, drug or alcohol treatment centre or mental institution; ·
52% will exhibit inappropriate sexual behaviour
http://www.fasworld.com/facts
Conservative values are my values!
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
199 Reasons NOT to Vote Liberal
Posted from and Linked to The Blue Blogging Soapbox
1. Cancelling the Sea King replacement
2. Sponsorship scandal
3. Gun Registry
4. HRDC boondoggle
5. Problems with Transition Job Funds program
6. Tainted blood
7. Radwanski Spending Affair
8. Pearson Airport
9. GST Flip Flop
10. Airbus Investigation
11. Voting against Red Book promise of independent Ethics Commissioner
12. Irving fishing lodge stays/travel on Irving jets for cabinet ministers
13. Martin traveling on private corporate jets as Finance Minister
14. Don Boudria’s stay at Boulay owned chalet
15. Denis Coderre staying with Boulay
16. Alfonso Gagliano being appointed Ambassador to Denmark
17. Shawinigate
18. Claude Gauthier (PM’s friend)’s Transelec getting CIDA grant that was questioned by the Auditor General and even CIDA.
19. Liberal fundraiser Pierre Corbeil charged with fraud by RCMP after he approached several Quebec companies seeking federal job training grants and asking for payments to Liberal Party, having gotten the names from senior Quebec Liberal Minister, Marcel Massé.
20. Michel Dupuy, Heritage Minister, lobbying the CRTC.
21. Tom Wappel refusing to help blind veteran
22. Gagliano’s son benefiting from contracts from his father’s department
23. Gagliano’s former speechwriter, Michèle Tremblay was on a $5,000 a month retainer with the Canada Lands Company to provide speeches for the Minister. Former President John Grant let her go saying “we got nothing in return.” Grant claimed that all Crown Corporations reporting to Mr. Gagliano were told to put Ms. Tremblay on a monthly retainer.
24. Iltis replacement
25. Purchase of new Challenger jets for the Prime Minister and cabinet
26. NATO Flying Training program contract
27. Liberal friends appointed as IRB judges being investigated by RCMP
28. Hedy Fry’s imaginary burning crosses
29. Maria Minna’s improper municipal vote
30. Minna giving contracts to two former campaign staffers for public relations work for a conference that had already been held
31. Lawrence MacAulay and contracts directed to Holland College
32. Lawrence MacAulay and Tim Banks
33. Lawrence MacAulay hired his official agent, Everett Roche, for $70K, but Roche never did any work for it. (Oct 2002)
34. Art Eggleton and contracts to his ex-girlfriend
35. Copps’ aide Boyer’s spending habits
36. Collenette resigns for breach of ethical guidelines involving a letter he wrote to the Immigration and Refugee Board
37. APEC Inquiry
38. Andy Scott's 1998 resignation that came eight weeks too late, after a media circus wore him down for indiscreetly shooting his mouth off on an airplane.
39. Anti-American comments by Liberal MPs, officials, and the former Minister of Natural Resources.
40. Rock and the Apotex/Cipro affair
41. Rock giving Health Canada contract to car cleaning company.
42. Manley lobbying CIBC on behalf of Rod Bryden
43. Manley’s fundraiser suggesting donors to his leadership write it off as a business expense.
44. Manley using his pre-budget consultations as Minister of Finance to solicit support for his leadership bid.
45. Coderre’s relationship with Group Everest
46. Martin’s fundraiser/employee of Finance Jim Palmer
47. Martin’s “blind trust” and his relationship with CSL.
48. Gerry Byrne requesting fundraising money be sent to his home address, with no records kept.
49. Gerry Byrne pouring bulk of ACOA money into his own riding.
50. Virginia Fontaine Addictions Foundation
51. Prime Minister’s former assistant, Denise Tremblay’s huge travel expenses on Veterans Review and Appeal Board as Minister pleaded poverty to veterans’ widows.
52. Chrétien appointing Hon. Roger Simmons (former Trudeau minister convicted of income tax evasion) as Consul-General in Seattle
53. Chrétien trying to bring hit-and-run driver Carignan back into caucus.
54. The RCMP is investigating possible fraud and bribery within Industry Canada, involving possible "overpayments" to recipients of federal business grants. The probe centres on the National Research Council, which hands out federal grants to small- and medium-sized businesses.
55. More than half a dozen bureaucrats have been "removed" from their jobs at a Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) in Toronto following a police investigation into projects funded under one of the department's grants and contributions programs
56. Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan called in the RCMP and ordered a sweeping security review after four tax department computers were stolen containing confidential personal information on more than 120,000 Canadians.
57. More than $7 billion stashed in Foundations by Finance Minister Paul Martin with little or no accountability
58. Dhaliwal overseing Richmond-airport-Vancouver transit line while being owner of the airport limousine service
59. Tom Rosser, former Dhaliwal advisor lobbying Natural Resources department and minister on environmental issues only months after leaving government.
60. $5.3 million GG northern travel
61. GG budget doubles in 5 years
62. Robert Thibault giving a grant as ACOA minister to a wharf and boatyard where his brother-in-law has a monopoly.
63. Royal LePage contract, which the government was forced to cancel in the wake of serious concerns being raised.
64. Shutting down the Somalia Inquiry
65. Home heating rebate, which was sent to prisoners and deceased.
66. Martin firing Bernard Dussault, Chief Actuary of CPP
67. Ethel Blondin-Andrew buys fur coat on government credit card
68. Chrétien’s imaginary homeless friend.
69. Liberal MP Rick Laliberte’s extensive travel budget
70. Liberal Senator Thompson living in Mexico
71. Vendetta against former BDC President François Beaudoin
72. The flag give-away – which estimates suggest might now have cost $45 million instead of the promised $6 million, and reportedly involved fake invoices.
73. Gagliano’s two week trip, at taxpayers’ expense, for a two day event with the head of the Royal Canadian Mint and Maurizio Caruso.
74. Secretary of State for multiculturalism and status of women Sheila Finestone using government car (which junior ministers are only allowed to use for government business) to drive home to Montreal, which even Sheila Copps criticized. (Ottawa Citizen, May 22, 1994)
75. Liberal MP Jag Bhaduria’s hate mail to his former employers, wishing that they had been shot by killer Marc Lepine
76. Liberal MP Jag Bhaduria making false claims about his academic qualifications.
77. Paul Martin and Maria Minna attending fundraising dinner for group linked to Tamil Tigers in May 2000 (National Post, Sept. 8th, 2001).
78. David Anderson, as National Revenue Minister, suing the government for lost wages after being removed as IRB appointee by Conservative government seeking $454,000 from a deficit-ravaged federal treasury. (Vancouver Sun, July 24, 2004). Anderson eventually agreed to drop the suit.
79. David Anderson suggesting that the BC doesn’t need extra House of Commons seats, because they wouldn't be worth much given the poor quality of most West Coast MPs. (Vancouver Sun, July 24, 2004)
80. A consultant on an executive interchange program persuaded Natural Resources to undertake a $700-million reorganization of its research facilities for which no business case had been made. The program was fast-tracked because he had developed a social relationship with the deputy minister. He was eventually charged with diverting $525,000 to a numbered company he controlled. (Globe and Mail, May 30, 2005)
And the list continues under Prime Minister Martin:
81. Raid on reporter Juliet O’Neill’s home by RCMP
82. Permanent Resident Cards
83. Judy Sgro going on vacation as cards became mandatory and landed immigrants were left stranded
84. Minister Frulla’s renovations
85. Pay raises for chiefs-of-staff in ministers offices, while spending is frozen for public service.
86. The government’s changing numbers on how much money has gone to CSL
87. Lobbyists in Paul Martin’s transition team being allowed to return to lobbying immediately, after being involved in process of picking new cabinet and senior staff.
88. Minister Comuzzi’s anti-Quebec comments
89. Martin government using closure after only six days in the House of Commons, followed by using time allocation in the Senate.
90. Problems with DND’s contracts with Compaq Computers that may have cost taxpayers up to $159 million for work not performed.
91. Martin using government jets to tour the country campaigning before election, spending up to $1 million for air travel alone.
92. Martin’s relationship with Earnscliffe
93. Questionable contracts to Earnscliffe
94. The appointment of former Liberal MLA Howard Sapers as the Correctional Investigator of Canada
95. Pierre Pettigrew’s flip flopping on health care
96. David Dingwall’s expenses as head of Royal Canadian Mint
97. Liberals planning to give David Dingwall a severance package after he resigned
98. The secret National Unity Fund reserve
99. Calling an early election after earlier promising first to get to the bottom of the sponsorship scandal
100. Martin suggesting changes to legislation and introducing bill that benefited CSL, despite concerns from his own Deputy Minister that he was in a conflict-of-interest (Ottawa Citizen, May 26, 2004)
101. $99 million Public Works contract that went to company overseen by Liberal fundraiser and future Senator Paul Massicotte (Montreal Gazette, June 26, 2004)
102. Parliamentary Secretary Dan McTeague’s 3-person, $224 trip to a Pizzeria
103. Immigration Minister Judy Sgro’s staff being allowed to stay on “extended travel” benefits, letting them bill taxpayers’ for thousands of dollars in hotel rooms and meals, because they didn’t want to move from Toronto to Ottawa until after the election.
104. Correctional Service of Canada Commissioner Lucie McClung’s travel expenses
105. Contracting irregularities on more than two dozen projects at DND worth tens of millions of dollars, showing over-billing, profit excesses, unauthorized additional work, lack of accounting records, spiralling cost overruns, etc. (Globe and Mail, July 14, 2004).
106. ACOA Minister Joe McGuire canceling ACOA loan and grant to ABL Industries Inc. because it would compete with company in his riding. (Fredericton Daily Gleaner, July 17, 2004).
107. Andy Mitchell’s chief of staff’s $22,000 in expenses to commute to Ottawa (Toronto Star, August 2, 2004).
108. André Ouellet’s travel and hospitality expenses at Canada Post.
109. Government delaying release of audit on Ouellet until after the election (Globe and Mail, July 31, 2004).
110. Martin’s principle secretary Francis Fox’s sister getting untendered contracts (The Province, July 27, 2004).
111. Continuing problems in advertising files at Public Works (Ottawa Sun, July 26, 2004).
112. A Liberal Party of Canada fundraising letter signed by Paul Martin, asking potential contributors to offer $7,000, $7,100 or $7,200 in contributions – far in excess of donation limits passed by the very same Liberal government
113. Liberal Senator Raymond Lavigne violating municipal bylaws. Municipality pursuing legal action against him. (Ottawa Citizen, August 19, 2004).
114. Spa Days for inmates approved by the Correctional Service of Canada, which on Aug. 21 invited inmates at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., to dabble with manicures, pedicures and aromatherapy, not to mention cups of tea served in fine china, all accompanied by a harp serenade. (National Post, September 9, 2004).
115. Five employees in the ''overwhelmed'' immigration section of Canada's embassy in Iran have been fired over the past year after they each were caught breaching federal ethics rules (National Post, September 13, 2004).
116. Questionable contracts and spending from the Canada Investment and Savings group set up by Martin in 1996 (Globe and Mail, September 13, 2004)
117. Questionable contracting practices at Canada Information Office (The Hill Times, September 13, 2004).
118. A top Canadian diplomat based in China has resigned amid reports he is being investigated for allegedly taking bribes to help Chinese nationals enter Canada illegally. (Vancouver Sun, September 22, 2004).
119. Abuse of government credit cards by staff at Fisheries Department (CP Wire, September 24, 2004).
120. Canada’s questionable hiring of the niece of Syria's foreign affairs minister to work at the embassy in Damascus (Globe and Mail, October 5, 2004)
121. Hélène Scherrer using Challenger to fly to Banff during election to give partisan speech
122. Abuse of Challengers by Paul Martin and various ministers (eg. Andy Mitchell, Claudette Bradshaw)
123. Abuse of Challenger jets for political business instead of government business (Le Devoir, October 4, 2005)
124. Paul Martin taking Challenger jets to Liberal fundraisers
125. Challenger food bill of $508 per flight
126. Expenses during election filed by aide to Ralph Goodale
127. Questionable expenses during election filed by aides to Judy Sgro
128. Ongoing problems and safety concerns with the submarine program
129. Various federal departments reported in excess of $1.1 million in theft of computers in 2003, but the information is potentially more valuable than the hardware (Vancouver Sun, October 14, 2004).
130. According to the latest public-accounts-of-Canada reports for the period March 2004 and March 2005, over 700 laptops, desktops and central processing units went missing from 35 federal government agencies -- worth $6 million. (The Province, October 19, 2005)
131. Federal government has lost track of $587 million a year in EI overpayments and underpayments at the Department of Human Resources. (Ottawa Citizen, October 12, 2004). However, the government defends itself by stating that in fact it has only lost track of $25 million a year and collects the other overpayments. (Ottawa Citizen, October 13, 2004)
132. $133,000 grant to a Toronto film company that used classified ads to search for the "perfect" penis. (National Post, October 14, 2004).
133. Man convicted of fraud against government hired to teach ethics course to public servants (National Post, October 20, 2004).
134. Public Works selling confiscated grow-op equipment to drug traffickers. (National Post, October 21, 2004).
135. Pressure by Liberal MPs and ministers on ACOA to make funding decisions based on politics (New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, October 25, 2004).
136. Paul Martin’s Director of Communications Scott Reid insulting Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador (Toronto Star, October 28, 2004)
137. The Martin government spent $127,223 on a poll last February testing ways to diffuse negative reaction to the bombshell auditor-general's report -- which included the finding the Liberals ignored their own rules prohibiting the use of tax dollars on partisan polls (Vancouver Sun, November 8, 2004).
138. Judy Sgro’s campaign volunteer (a stripper) getting ministerial permit
139. Sgro’s senior policy advisor going to strip club to meet with owner to discuss bringing more strippers into Canada. (National Post, November 25, 2004). Subsequent revelations indicate that he went to at least one other strip club to conduct similar meetings (Toronto Sun, December 7, 2004)
140. Sgro giving out details of private immigration files, violating Privacy Act
141. Allegations that Sgro broke the elections law in failing to properly identify the source of a campaign contribution. (Toronto Star, December 8, 2004).
142. Revelations that the program to bring in foreign exotic dancers was created under pressure from organized crime (National Post, December 18, 2004)
143. Irwin Cotler appointing his former chief-of-staff to federal court (National Post, November 23, 2004).
144. Heritage Minister Liza Frulla giving grant to magazine that put her on the cover and made her honourary president (Ottawa Citizen, November 25, 2004)
145. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing Liberal MP John Harvard as Lt-Governor of Manitoba, in order to get him to step aside for “star” candidate Glen Murray.
146. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing Liberal MP Yvon Charbonneau to UNESCO, in order to get him to step aside for Martin crony Pablo Rodriguez.
147. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing former Liberal MP Karen Kraft-Sloan as Ambassador for the Environment. (Department of Foreign Affairs Press Release, February 16, 2005).
148. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing defeated Liberal candidate Dave Haggard as the chair of a newly created Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship. (OIC 2005-0001)
149. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointed his friend Dennis Dawson to the Senate
150. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointed his former Principal Secretary Francis Fox to the Senate
151. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointed disgraced former cabinet minister Art Eggleton to the Senate
152. Martin and his wife complaining about having to live in 24 Sussex (Edmonton Journal, November 17, 2004)
153. Millennium Bureau spending done with same lack of controls and oversight of sponsorship program
154. The RCMP has charged a senior Immigration Canada manager and four accomplices in an alleged bribes-for-status scheme in which Arab immigrants paid up to $25,000 to have their claims fast-tracked and approved (National Post, December 17, 2004)
155. Making widows of RCMP officers killed in the line of duty pay for their husbands’ funerals (Under pressure from the Conservative Party, the government reversed this policy)
156. Martin patronage-appointee Jim Walsh breaking ethics guidelines and attending Liberal Christmas Party (St. John’s Telegram, January 20, 2005).
157. Port authority losing more than $60,000 in public funds on the stock market. When Central Cape Breton Community Ventures took over the port in Iona in 2000, the private agency deposited only $5,000 of the $245,000 it received from Transport Canada into a designated bank account. The federal funding was meant to cover the port's maintenance, insurance and professional services costs (Chronicle-Herald, January 31, 2005).
158. Canadian flag lapel pins being made in China. Only under pressure, Scott Brison flip flops and agrees to have them made in Canada again.
159. Questionable dealings around the privatization of the Digby Wharf, which even Liberal MP Robert Thibault wants the RCMP to investigate (Chronicle-Herald, February 10, 2005).
160. Adrienne Clarkson spending $17,500 to evaluate cleaning at Rideau Hall (Ottawa Sun, February 19, 2005)
161. Martin patronage appointee Glen Murray breaking ethics guidelines and attending Liberal Convention as delegate
162. Martin ignoring parliamentary committee and appointing Glen Murray as chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
163. Marlene Jennings, the Parliamentary Secretary for Canada-U.S. relations, making anti-American remarks
164. Government knowing about details of torture and murder of Zahra Kazemi back in November and still sending ambassador back to Iran
165. Government knowing about details of torture and murder of Zahra Kazemi back in November but doing nothing
166. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent on questionable acquisitions at CFB Borden (Ottawa Sun, April 18, 2005).
167. Joe Volpe keeping stripper visa program operating, despite having promised to shut it down (CTV.ca, March 5, 2005)
168. Jean Lapierre acting as lobbyist without registering
169. Joe Volpe trying to intimidating Sikh community
170. In the spring of 2003, the RCMP investigated allegations that Liberal MP Gurbax Malhi had requested favours and financial support for Paul Martin's 2003 leadership campaign in exchange for helping Indian nationals get these temporary resident permits (Globe and Mail, March 10, 2005).
171. Liberals spending $443,237 to change the name Passport Office to Passport Canada (Montreal Gazette, April 21, 2005).
172. Ken Dryden’s chief of staff charged with careless driving (Ottawa Citizen, March 22, 2005)
173. Liberals trying to buy off Conservative MPs with offers of patronage positions
174. Liberals handling of the submarine program
175. Public Service Integrity Officer’s travel expenses (Ottawa Sun, May 4, 2005)
176. Liberal Senator Michel Biron going to hearing to support killer Karla Homolka (CTV News, June 9, 2005)
177. Public Works contract watchdog Consulting and Audit Canada violating contracting rules (Toronto Star, July 4, 2005)
178. Technology Partnerships Canada rules being violated to pay lobbyists (Globe and Mail, June 24, 2005)
179. Former Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Robert Nault is working as a paid lobbyist for Nelson House First Nation in what some allege is an apparent violation of a federal code of conduct. Among the federal departments Nault is lobbying is the Indian and Northern Affairs department he headed until December 2003, according to a lobbying report Nault filed with the federal government. Nault registered as a lobbyist for Nelson House, now known as Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, on July 18, 2005 -- one year and seven months after leaving his cabinet post. Under the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders, Nault is barred from working for any entity with which his department had "direct and significant official dealings" for two years after leaving office. He is also barred for two years from lobbying his former department or any of his former cabinet colleagues (Winnipeg Free Press, September 14, 2005)
180. According to documents obtained by the Globe and Mail, Pierre Pettigrew billed Canadian taxpayers for $10,000 for trips for his driver in 2001 and 2002. Pettigrew took his driver to South America and Europe, even though the driver didn’t do any driving on the trips. (Globe and Mail, September 14, 2005)
181. Joe Volpe’s questionable hospitality expenses (Globe and Mail, September 21, 2005)
182. According to media reports, Industry Canada has frozen federal financing for research projects by an Ontario biotechnology firm pending the outcome of an investigation into the company's agreement to pay $350,000 in lobbying “success” fees to former Liberal cabinet minister David Dingwall. Such contingency fee payments violate Technology Partnership Canada rules. (Globe and Mail, September 23, 2005)
183. Expenses of chairman of the Royal Canadian Mint Emmanuel Triassi, who also approved David Dingwall’s expenses (Globe and Mail, October 4, 2005)
184. Last week, Public Works was also silent on details of another case involving forensic accounting. Government accounts published on Thursday showed a department employee had embezzled $3.45 million from Public Works office in Koblenz, Germany. Even though the employee was convicted and jailed in Germany, Public Works will not name him or give any details of the crime (Ottawa Citizen, October 4, 2005)
185. The federal government inadvertently revealed yesterday that it is conducting a large-scale forensic accounting probe into "possibly criminal matters" when it published details of a contract intended for a Quebec accounting firm. The notice awarding a $2-million contract for forensic accounting services was published on the government's tendering website, MERX. It gave notice that Consulting and Audit Canada was planning to award the sole-source contract to Leclerc Juricomptable, a Quebec City firm specializing in forensic work and litigation support. The contract award notice said the work had to be sole-sourced to Leclerc because it is "not in the public interest to jeopardize the current investment in the investigation or to significantly increase the risk to a successful completion of the investigation into possibly criminal matters." A spokesman for the Department of PublicWorks and Government Services said yesterday that the notice was published "prematurely" and would be withdrawn last night. He could not say, however, what is under investigation, but said the contract was not tied to another scandal that has kept Quebec forensic accountants busy over the past years. "It's not related to sponsorship or Gomery, that I can tell you," said spokesman Pierre Teotonio (Ottawa Citizen, October 4, 2005). It was subsequently revealed that the department involved was CIDA (CP Wire, October 4, 2005)
186. Questions about campaign funds from Raymond Chan’s campaign going to his companies (Vancouver Sun, October 7, 2005)
187. Questions about a possible conflict-of-interest between Chan’s activities as minister on behalf of possible business associates (Vancouver Sun, October 7, 2005)
188. Questions about the report that Chan filed with the Ethics Commissioner (Vancouver Sun, October 7, 2005)
189. Government giving out contract that specifies no paper trail to be left in government offices (Vancouver Province, October 11, 2005)
190. Questionable travel expenses at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (CP, October 16, 2005)
191. Two employees at DFO fired for making fraudulent travel claims (CP, The Province, October 18, 2005).
192. Lobbyist registrar Michael Nelson has launched investigations of four people for eight possible breaches of the ethics guidelines for lobbyists, the first such investigations ever launched under the code. (Globe and Mail, October 18, 2005)
193. According to media reports, the federal government has terminated two contracts with a consulting firm that used to be run by Liberal MP David Smith and now run by his wife, following a forensic audit of the contracting practices at a federal agency (Globe and Mail, October 19, 2005)
194. ATI requests by prisoners for information on prison system and guards, when information is actually disclosed
195. Liberal candidate Richard Mahoney lobbying for satellite radio company for a month before registering (Ottawa Citizen, October 19, 2005)
196. Delays and ballooning costs mean a giant software project at National Defence will eclipse its original budget and won't meet its goals until 2011 -- if at all. An internal audit obtained by Canadian Press raises red flags about a new system designed to streamline computer tracking of military inventory and purchases. MASIS -- or Materiel Acquisition Support Information System -- started in 1997 as a $147-million undertaking. What began as a focused effort to cover a single equipment category in each of the navy, army and air force soon mushroomed. By 2003, Defence officials estimated MASIS would be in place by 2006 at a cost of $325 million, more than twice its forecast budget. A full introduction of the complex software has now been extended to 2011. The heavily censored May 2005 internal audit, released under the Access to Information Act, catalogues a litany of "revised planned milestones.'' "The prime contract has been amended six times, each time increasing amounts for professional service fees,'' it says. (CP, The Record, October 24, 2005)
197. Hospitality and travel expenses of executives at CMHC (Journal de Montréal, October 24, 2005)
198. Questions about Squamish land deal lease (The Province, October 26, 2005)
199. Liberals handling of tainted water at Kashechewan First Nation
If you find something missing from the list, please feel free to add it to the comments.
1. Cancelling the Sea King replacement
2. Sponsorship scandal
3. Gun Registry
4. HRDC boondoggle
5. Problems with Transition Job Funds program
6. Tainted blood
7. Radwanski Spending Affair
8. Pearson Airport
9. GST Flip Flop
10. Airbus Investigation
11. Voting against Red Book promise of independent Ethics Commissioner
12. Irving fishing lodge stays/travel on Irving jets for cabinet ministers
13. Martin traveling on private corporate jets as Finance Minister
14. Don Boudria’s stay at Boulay owned chalet
15. Denis Coderre staying with Boulay
16. Alfonso Gagliano being appointed Ambassador to Denmark
17. Shawinigate
18. Claude Gauthier (PM’s friend)’s Transelec getting CIDA grant that was questioned by the Auditor General and even CIDA.
19. Liberal fundraiser Pierre Corbeil charged with fraud by RCMP after he approached several Quebec companies seeking federal job training grants and asking for payments to Liberal Party, having gotten the names from senior Quebec Liberal Minister, Marcel Massé.
20. Michel Dupuy, Heritage Minister, lobbying the CRTC.
21. Tom Wappel refusing to help blind veteran
22. Gagliano’s son benefiting from contracts from his father’s department
23. Gagliano’s former speechwriter, Michèle Tremblay was on a $5,000 a month retainer with the Canada Lands Company to provide speeches for the Minister. Former President John Grant let her go saying “we got nothing in return.” Grant claimed that all Crown Corporations reporting to Mr. Gagliano were told to put Ms. Tremblay on a monthly retainer.
24. Iltis replacement
25. Purchase of new Challenger jets for the Prime Minister and cabinet
26. NATO Flying Training program contract
27. Liberal friends appointed as IRB judges being investigated by RCMP
28. Hedy Fry’s imaginary burning crosses
29. Maria Minna’s improper municipal vote
30. Minna giving contracts to two former campaign staffers for public relations work for a conference that had already been held
31. Lawrence MacAulay and contracts directed to Holland College
32. Lawrence MacAulay and Tim Banks
33. Lawrence MacAulay hired his official agent, Everett Roche, for $70K, but Roche never did any work for it. (Oct 2002)
34. Art Eggleton and contracts to his ex-girlfriend
35. Copps’ aide Boyer’s spending habits
36. Collenette resigns for breach of ethical guidelines involving a letter he wrote to the Immigration and Refugee Board
37. APEC Inquiry
38. Andy Scott's 1998 resignation that came eight weeks too late, after a media circus wore him down for indiscreetly shooting his mouth off on an airplane.
39. Anti-American comments by Liberal MPs, officials, and the former Minister of Natural Resources.
40. Rock and the Apotex/Cipro affair
41. Rock giving Health Canada contract to car cleaning company.
42. Manley lobbying CIBC on behalf of Rod Bryden
43. Manley’s fundraiser suggesting donors to his leadership write it off as a business expense.
44. Manley using his pre-budget consultations as Minister of Finance to solicit support for his leadership bid.
45. Coderre’s relationship with Group Everest
46. Martin’s fundraiser/employee of Finance Jim Palmer
47. Martin’s “blind trust” and his relationship with CSL.
48. Gerry Byrne requesting fundraising money be sent to his home address, with no records kept.
49. Gerry Byrne pouring bulk of ACOA money into his own riding.
50. Virginia Fontaine Addictions Foundation
51. Prime Minister’s former assistant, Denise Tremblay’s huge travel expenses on Veterans Review and Appeal Board as Minister pleaded poverty to veterans’ widows.
52. Chrétien appointing Hon. Roger Simmons (former Trudeau minister convicted of income tax evasion) as Consul-General in Seattle
53. Chrétien trying to bring hit-and-run driver Carignan back into caucus.
54. The RCMP is investigating possible fraud and bribery within Industry Canada, involving possible "overpayments" to recipients of federal business grants. The probe centres on the National Research Council, which hands out federal grants to small- and medium-sized businesses.
55. More than half a dozen bureaucrats have been "removed" from their jobs at a Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) in Toronto following a police investigation into projects funded under one of the department's grants and contributions programs
56. Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan called in the RCMP and ordered a sweeping security review after four tax department computers were stolen containing confidential personal information on more than 120,000 Canadians.
57. More than $7 billion stashed in Foundations by Finance Minister Paul Martin with little or no accountability
58. Dhaliwal overseing Richmond-airport-Vancouver transit line while being owner of the airport limousine service
59. Tom Rosser, former Dhaliwal advisor lobbying Natural Resources department and minister on environmental issues only months after leaving government.
60. $5.3 million GG northern travel
61. GG budget doubles in 5 years
62. Robert Thibault giving a grant as ACOA minister to a wharf and boatyard where his brother-in-law has a monopoly.
63. Royal LePage contract, which the government was forced to cancel in the wake of serious concerns being raised.
64. Shutting down the Somalia Inquiry
65. Home heating rebate, which was sent to prisoners and deceased.
66. Martin firing Bernard Dussault, Chief Actuary of CPP
67. Ethel Blondin-Andrew buys fur coat on government credit card
68. Chrétien’s imaginary homeless friend.
69. Liberal MP Rick Laliberte’s extensive travel budget
70. Liberal Senator Thompson living in Mexico
71. Vendetta against former BDC President François Beaudoin
72. The flag give-away – which estimates suggest might now have cost $45 million instead of the promised $6 million, and reportedly involved fake invoices.
73. Gagliano’s two week trip, at taxpayers’ expense, for a two day event with the head of the Royal Canadian Mint and Maurizio Caruso.
74. Secretary of State for multiculturalism and status of women Sheila Finestone using government car (which junior ministers are only allowed to use for government business) to drive home to Montreal, which even Sheila Copps criticized. (Ottawa Citizen, May 22, 1994)
75. Liberal MP Jag Bhaduria’s hate mail to his former employers, wishing that they had been shot by killer Marc Lepine
76. Liberal MP Jag Bhaduria making false claims about his academic qualifications.
77. Paul Martin and Maria Minna attending fundraising dinner for group linked to Tamil Tigers in May 2000 (National Post, Sept. 8th, 2001).
78. David Anderson, as National Revenue Minister, suing the government for lost wages after being removed as IRB appointee by Conservative government seeking $454,000 from a deficit-ravaged federal treasury. (Vancouver Sun, July 24, 2004). Anderson eventually agreed to drop the suit.
79. David Anderson suggesting that the BC doesn’t need extra House of Commons seats, because they wouldn't be worth much given the poor quality of most West Coast MPs. (Vancouver Sun, July 24, 2004)
80. A consultant on an executive interchange program persuaded Natural Resources to undertake a $700-million reorganization of its research facilities for which no business case had been made. The program was fast-tracked because he had developed a social relationship with the deputy minister. He was eventually charged with diverting $525,000 to a numbered company he controlled. (Globe and Mail, May 30, 2005)
And the list continues under Prime Minister Martin:
81. Raid on reporter Juliet O’Neill’s home by RCMP
82. Permanent Resident Cards
83. Judy Sgro going on vacation as cards became mandatory and landed immigrants were left stranded
84. Minister Frulla’s renovations
85. Pay raises for chiefs-of-staff in ministers offices, while spending is frozen for public service.
86. The government’s changing numbers on how much money has gone to CSL
87. Lobbyists in Paul Martin’s transition team being allowed to return to lobbying immediately, after being involved in process of picking new cabinet and senior staff.
88. Minister Comuzzi’s anti-Quebec comments
89. Martin government using closure after only six days in the House of Commons, followed by using time allocation in the Senate.
90. Problems with DND’s contracts with Compaq Computers that may have cost taxpayers up to $159 million for work not performed.
91. Martin using government jets to tour the country campaigning before election, spending up to $1 million for air travel alone.
92. Martin’s relationship with Earnscliffe
93. Questionable contracts to Earnscliffe
94. The appointment of former Liberal MLA Howard Sapers as the Correctional Investigator of Canada
95. Pierre Pettigrew’s flip flopping on health care
96. David Dingwall’s expenses as head of Royal Canadian Mint
97. Liberals planning to give David Dingwall a severance package after he resigned
98. The secret National Unity Fund reserve
99. Calling an early election after earlier promising first to get to the bottom of the sponsorship scandal
100. Martin suggesting changes to legislation and introducing bill that benefited CSL, despite concerns from his own Deputy Minister that he was in a conflict-of-interest (Ottawa Citizen, May 26, 2004)
101. $99 million Public Works contract that went to company overseen by Liberal fundraiser and future Senator Paul Massicotte (Montreal Gazette, June 26, 2004)
102. Parliamentary Secretary Dan McTeague’s 3-person, $224 trip to a Pizzeria
103. Immigration Minister Judy Sgro’s staff being allowed to stay on “extended travel” benefits, letting them bill taxpayers’ for thousands of dollars in hotel rooms and meals, because they didn’t want to move from Toronto to Ottawa until after the election.
104. Correctional Service of Canada Commissioner Lucie McClung’s travel expenses
105. Contracting irregularities on more than two dozen projects at DND worth tens of millions of dollars, showing over-billing, profit excesses, unauthorized additional work, lack of accounting records, spiralling cost overruns, etc. (Globe and Mail, July 14, 2004).
106. ACOA Minister Joe McGuire canceling ACOA loan and grant to ABL Industries Inc. because it would compete with company in his riding. (Fredericton Daily Gleaner, July 17, 2004).
107. Andy Mitchell’s chief of staff’s $22,000 in expenses to commute to Ottawa (Toronto Star, August 2, 2004).
108. André Ouellet’s travel and hospitality expenses at Canada Post.
109. Government delaying release of audit on Ouellet until after the election (Globe and Mail, July 31, 2004).
110. Martin’s principle secretary Francis Fox’s sister getting untendered contracts (The Province, July 27, 2004).
111. Continuing problems in advertising files at Public Works (Ottawa Sun, July 26, 2004).
112. A Liberal Party of Canada fundraising letter signed by Paul Martin, asking potential contributors to offer $7,000, $7,100 or $7,200 in contributions – far in excess of donation limits passed by the very same Liberal government
113. Liberal Senator Raymond Lavigne violating municipal bylaws. Municipality pursuing legal action against him. (Ottawa Citizen, August 19, 2004).
114. Spa Days for inmates approved by the Correctional Service of Canada, which on Aug. 21 invited inmates at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., to dabble with manicures, pedicures and aromatherapy, not to mention cups of tea served in fine china, all accompanied by a harp serenade. (National Post, September 9, 2004).
115. Five employees in the ''overwhelmed'' immigration section of Canada's embassy in Iran have been fired over the past year after they each were caught breaching federal ethics rules (National Post, September 13, 2004).
116. Questionable contracts and spending from the Canada Investment and Savings group set up by Martin in 1996 (Globe and Mail, September 13, 2004)
117. Questionable contracting practices at Canada Information Office (The Hill Times, September 13, 2004).
118. A top Canadian diplomat based in China has resigned amid reports he is being investigated for allegedly taking bribes to help Chinese nationals enter Canada illegally. (Vancouver Sun, September 22, 2004).
119. Abuse of government credit cards by staff at Fisheries Department (CP Wire, September 24, 2004).
120. Canada’s questionable hiring of the niece of Syria's foreign affairs minister to work at the embassy in Damascus (Globe and Mail, October 5, 2004)
121. Hélène Scherrer using Challenger to fly to Banff during election to give partisan speech
122. Abuse of Challengers by Paul Martin and various ministers (eg. Andy Mitchell, Claudette Bradshaw)
123. Abuse of Challenger jets for political business instead of government business (Le Devoir, October 4, 2005)
124. Paul Martin taking Challenger jets to Liberal fundraisers
125. Challenger food bill of $508 per flight
126. Expenses during election filed by aide to Ralph Goodale
127. Questionable expenses during election filed by aides to Judy Sgro
128. Ongoing problems and safety concerns with the submarine program
129. Various federal departments reported in excess of $1.1 million in theft of computers in 2003, but the information is potentially more valuable than the hardware (Vancouver Sun, October 14, 2004).
130. According to the latest public-accounts-of-Canada reports for the period March 2004 and March 2005, over 700 laptops, desktops and central processing units went missing from 35 federal government agencies -- worth $6 million. (The Province, October 19, 2005)
131. Federal government has lost track of $587 million a year in EI overpayments and underpayments at the Department of Human Resources. (Ottawa Citizen, October 12, 2004). However, the government defends itself by stating that in fact it has only lost track of $25 million a year and collects the other overpayments. (Ottawa Citizen, October 13, 2004)
132. $133,000 grant to a Toronto film company that used classified ads to search for the "perfect" penis. (National Post, October 14, 2004).
133. Man convicted of fraud against government hired to teach ethics course to public servants (National Post, October 20, 2004).
134. Public Works selling confiscated grow-op equipment to drug traffickers. (National Post, October 21, 2004).
135. Pressure by Liberal MPs and ministers on ACOA to make funding decisions based on politics (New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, October 25, 2004).
136. Paul Martin’s Director of Communications Scott Reid insulting Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador (Toronto Star, October 28, 2004)
137. The Martin government spent $127,223 on a poll last February testing ways to diffuse negative reaction to the bombshell auditor-general's report -- which included the finding the Liberals ignored their own rules prohibiting the use of tax dollars on partisan polls (Vancouver Sun, November 8, 2004).
138. Judy Sgro’s campaign volunteer (a stripper) getting ministerial permit
139. Sgro’s senior policy advisor going to strip club to meet with owner to discuss bringing more strippers into Canada. (National Post, November 25, 2004). Subsequent revelations indicate that he went to at least one other strip club to conduct similar meetings (Toronto Sun, December 7, 2004)
140. Sgro giving out details of private immigration files, violating Privacy Act
141. Allegations that Sgro broke the elections law in failing to properly identify the source of a campaign contribution. (Toronto Star, December 8, 2004).
142. Revelations that the program to bring in foreign exotic dancers was created under pressure from organized crime (National Post, December 18, 2004)
143. Irwin Cotler appointing his former chief-of-staff to federal court (National Post, November 23, 2004).
144. Heritage Minister Liza Frulla giving grant to magazine that put her on the cover and made her honourary president (Ottawa Citizen, November 25, 2004)
145. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing Liberal MP John Harvard as Lt-Governor of Manitoba, in order to get him to step aside for “star” candidate Glen Murray.
146. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing Liberal MP Yvon Charbonneau to UNESCO, in order to get him to step aside for Martin crony Pablo Rodriguez.
147. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing former Liberal MP Karen Kraft-Sloan as Ambassador for the Environment. (Department of Foreign Affairs Press Release, February 16, 2005).
148. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing defeated Liberal candidate Dave Haggard as the chair of a newly created Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship. (OIC 2005-0001)
149. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointed his friend Dennis Dawson to the Senate
150. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointed his former Principal Secretary Francis Fox to the Senate
151. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointed disgraced former cabinet minister Art Eggleton to the Senate
152. Martin and his wife complaining about having to live in 24 Sussex (Edmonton Journal, November 17, 2004)
153. Millennium Bureau spending done with same lack of controls and oversight of sponsorship program
154. The RCMP has charged a senior Immigration Canada manager and four accomplices in an alleged bribes-for-status scheme in which Arab immigrants paid up to $25,000 to have their claims fast-tracked and approved (National Post, December 17, 2004)
155. Making widows of RCMP officers killed in the line of duty pay for their husbands’ funerals (Under pressure from the Conservative Party, the government reversed this policy)
156. Martin patronage-appointee Jim Walsh breaking ethics guidelines and attending Liberal Christmas Party (St. John’s Telegram, January 20, 2005).
157. Port authority losing more than $60,000 in public funds on the stock market. When Central Cape Breton Community Ventures took over the port in Iona in 2000, the private agency deposited only $5,000 of the $245,000 it received from Transport Canada into a designated bank account. The federal funding was meant to cover the port's maintenance, insurance and professional services costs (Chronicle-Herald, January 31, 2005).
158. Canadian flag lapel pins being made in China. Only under pressure, Scott Brison flip flops and agrees to have them made in Canada again.
159. Questionable dealings around the privatization of the Digby Wharf, which even Liberal MP Robert Thibault wants the RCMP to investigate (Chronicle-Herald, February 10, 2005).
160. Adrienne Clarkson spending $17,500 to evaluate cleaning at Rideau Hall (Ottawa Sun, February 19, 2005)
161. Martin patronage appointee Glen Murray breaking ethics guidelines and attending Liberal Convention as delegate
162. Martin ignoring parliamentary committee and appointing Glen Murray as chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
163. Marlene Jennings, the Parliamentary Secretary for Canada-U.S. relations, making anti-American remarks
164. Government knowing about details of torture and murder of Zahra Kazemi back in November and still sending ambassador back to Iran
165. Government knowing about details of torture and murder of Zahra Kazemi back in November but doing nothing
166. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent on questionable acquisitions at CFB Borden (Ottawa Sun, April 18, 2005).
167. Joe Volpe keeping stripper visa program operating, despite having promised to shut it down (CTV.ca, March 5, 2005)
168. Jean Lapierre acting as lobbyist without registering
169. Joe Volpe trying to intimidating Sikh community
170. In the spring of 2003, the RCMP investigated allegations that Liberal MP Gurbax Malhi had requested favours and financial support for Paul Martin's 2003 leadership campaign in exchange for helping Indian nationals get these temporary resident permits (Globe and Mail, March 10, 2005).
171. Liberals spending $443,237 to change the name Passport Office to Passport Canada (Montreal Gazette, April 21, 2005).
172. Ken Dryden’s chief of staff charged with careless driving (Ottawa Citizen, March 22, 2005)
173. Liberals trying to buy off Conservative MPs with offers of patronage positions
174. Liberals handling of the submarine program
175. Public Service Integrity Officer’s travel expenses (Ottawa Sun, May 4, 2005)
176. Liberal Senator Michel Biron going to hearing to support killer Karla Homolka (CTV News, June 9, 2005)
177. Public Works contract watchdog Consulting and Audit Canada violating contracting rules (Toronto Star, July 4, 2005)
178. Technology Partnerships Canada rules being violated to pay lobbyists (Globe and Mail, June 24, 2005)
179. Former Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Robert Nault is working as a paid lobbyist for Nelson House First Nation in what some allege is an apparent violation of a federal code of conduct. Among the federal departments Nault is lobbying is the Indian and Northern Affairs department he headed until December 2003, according to a lobbying report Nault filed with the federal government. Nault registered as a lobbyist for Nelson House, now known as Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, on July 18, 2005 -- one year and seven months after leaving his cabinet post. Under the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders, Nault is barred from working for any entity with which his department had "direct and significant official dealings" for two years after leaving office. He is also barred for two years from lobbying his former department or any of his former cabinet colleagues (Winnipeg Free Press, September 14, 2005)
180. According to documents obtained by the Globe and Mail, Pierre Pettigrew billed Canadian taxpayers for $10,000 for trips for his driver in 2001 and 2002. Pettigrew took his driver to South America and Europe, even though the driver didn’t do any driving on the trips. (Globe and Mail, September 14, 2005)
181. Joe Volpe’s questionable hospitality expenses (Globe and Mail, September 21, 2005)
182. According to media reports, Industry Canada has frozen federal financing for research projects by an Ontario biotechnology firm pending the outcome of an investigation into the company's agreement to pay $350,000 in lobbying “success” fees to former Liberal cabinet minister David Dingwall. Such contingency fee payments violate Technology Partnership Canada rules. (Globe and Mail, September 23, 2005)
183. Expenses of chairman of the Royal Canadian Mint Emmanuel Triassi, who also approved David Dingwall’s expenses (Globe and Mail, October 4, 2005)
184. Last week, Public Works was also silent on details of another case involving forensic accounting. Government accounts published on Thursday showed a department employee had embezzled $3.45 million from Public Works office in Koblenz, Germany. Even though the employee was convicted and jailed in Germany, Public Works will not name him or give any details of the crime (Ottawa Citizen, October 4, 2005)
185. The federal government inadvertently revealed yesterday that it is conducting a large-scale forensic accounting probe into "possibly criminal matters" when it published details of a contract intended for a Quebec accounting firm. The notice awarding a $2-million contract for forensic accounting services was published on the government's tendering website, MERX. It gave notice that Consulting and Audit Canada was planning to award the sole-source contract to Leclerc Juricomptable, a Quebec City firm specializing in forensic work and litigation support. The contract award notice said the work had to be sole-sourced to Leclerc because it is "not in the public interest to jeopardize the current investment in the investigation or to significantly increase the risk to a successful completion of the investigation into possibly criminal matters." A spokesman for the Department of PublicWorks and Government Services said yesterday that the notice was published "prematurely" and would be withdrawn last night. He could not say, however, what is under investigation, but said the contract was not tied to another scandal that has kept Quebec forensic accountants busy over the past years. "It's not related to sponsorship or Gomery, that I can tell you," said spokesman Pierre Teotonio (Ottawa Citizen, October 4, 2005). It was subsequently revealed that the department involved was CIDA (CP Wire, October 4, 2005)
186. Questions about campaign funds from Raymond Chan’s campaign going to his companies (Vancouver Sun, October 7, 2005)
187. Questions about a possible conflict-of-interest between Chan’s activities as minister on behalf of possible business associates (Vancouver Sun, October 7, 2005)
188. Questions about the report that Chan filed with the Ethics Commissioner (Vancouver Sun, October 7, 2005)
189. Government giving out contract that specifies no paper trail to be left in government offices (Vancouver Province, October 11, 2005)
190. Questionable travel expenses at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (CP, October 16, 2005)
191. Two employees at DFO fired for making fraudulent travel claims (CP, The Province, October 18, 2005).
192. Lobbyist registrar Michael Nelson has launched investigations of four people for eight possible breaches of the ethics guidelines for lobbyists, the first such investigations ever launched under the code. (Globe and Mail, October 18, 2005)
193. According to media reports, the federal government has terminated two contracts with a consulting firm that used to be run by Liberal MP David Smith and now run by his wife, following a forensic audit of the contracting practices at a federal agency (Globe and Mail, October 19, 2005)
194. ATI requests by prisoners for information on prison system and guards, when information is actually disclosed
195. Liberal candidate Richard Mahoney lobbying for satellite radio company for a month before registering (Ottawa Citizen, October 19, 2005)
196. Delays and ballooning costs mean a giant software project at National Defence will eclipse its original budget and won't meet its goals until 2011 -- if at all. An internal audit obtained by Canadian Press raises red flags about a new system designed to streamline computer tracking of military inventory and purchases. MASIS -- or Materiel Acquisition Support Information System -- started in 1997 as a $147-million undertaking. What began as a focused effort to cover a single equipment category in each of the navy, army and air force soon mushroomed. By 2003, Defence officials estimated MASIS would be in place by 2006 at a cost of $325 million, more than twice its forecast budget. A full introduction of the complex software has now been extended to 2011. The heavily censored May 2005 internal audit, released under the Access to Information Act, catalogues a litany of "revised planned milestones.'' "The prime contract has been amended six times, each time increasing amounts for professional service fees,'' it says. (CP, The Record, October 24, 2005)
197. Hospitality and travel expenses of executives at CMHC (Journal de Montréal, October 24, 2005)
198. Questions about Squamish land deal lease (The Province, October 26, 2005)
199. Liberals handling of tainted water at Kashechewan First Nation
If you find something missing from the list, please feel free to add it to the comments.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Know your enemy.
This was posted by concan at free dominion
How true it is...
carfix2000ca............
Know your enemy.
This is the FACE OF THE LIBERAL PARTY
LIBERALS STAND FOR:
PROMOTION OF GAY SEX
PROMOTION OF SEX WITH CHILDREN
PROMOTION OF LAWLESSNESS
PROMOTION OF DRUG CONSUMPTION
HATRED OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
HATRED OF CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH VALUES
HATRED OF ANYTHING MORAL
DISREGARD OF HUMAN LIFE
DISREGARD OF RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES
DISREGARD OF PUBLIC TRUST
Now you know what the Liberal Party stands for.
Make sure your friends and family know the Liberal Party for what they really are.
Expose the Liberal Party. Expose the liberal mindset to Canadians.
Liberals are the apologists and followers of fringe culture. They should not be the governing party of any decent country.
How true it is...
carfix2000ca............
Know your enemy.
This is the FACE OF THE LIBERAL PARTY
LIBERALS STAND FOR:
PROMOTION OF GAY SEX
PROMOTION OF SEX WITH CHILDREN
PROMOTION OF LAWLESSNESS
PROMOTION OF DRUG CONSUMPTION
HATRED OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
HATRED OF CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH VALUES
HATRED OF ANYTHING MORAL
DISREGARD OF HUMAN LIFE
DISREGARD OF RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES
DISREGARD OF PUBLIC TRUST
Now you know what the Liberal Party stands for.
Make sure your friends and family know the Liberal Party for what they really are.
Expose the Liberal Party. Expose the liberal mindset to Canadians.
Liberals are the apologists and followers of fringe culture. They should not be the governing party of any decent country.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
MPs vote against raising age of sexual consent
Liberals and NDP hate families and are doing everything possible to destroy the very foundations of Canada and the Canadian family.......
When are Canadians going to wake up?
carfix2000ca.......
CTV News Online Poll
A Conservative MP wants to raise the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16 ... Which age do you think is appropriate?
14 607 votes (20 %)
16 2488 votes (80 %)
Total Votes: 3095
MPs vote against raising age of sexual consent
CTV.ca News Staff
A Conservative MP's attempt to raise the age of consent has failed, with a resounding defeat in the House of Commons.
When Conservative MP Rick Casson's bill was put to a vote Wednesday night, 99 parliamentarians voted in favour of increasing the minimum age for sex by two years, to 16.
A total of 167 MPs voted against the bill.
Under existing law, 14-year-olds can legally have sex in Canada. Casson wanted the minimum age raised to 16, in the hope increasing the scope of the law would protect children from sexual predators.
The Lethbridge, Alberta MP had the support of his fellow Conservatives, as well as several members of the Liberal Party.
"I support it basically on the important principle that people need to be protected," Liberal MP Maurizo Bevilacqua told CTV News ahead of the vote.
And Liberal MP Dan McTeague agreed, criticizing the existing law for doing little to protect young teenagers from sexual exploitation.
"If two young people are engaged, that's fine, but my concern is when a 40-year-old and a 14-year-old is involved," McTeague said.
But in the end, their support was not enough to carry the bill.
Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler was among the proposed law's most outspoken critics. He says Casson's legislation -- if it became the law of the land -- would not only do little to stop predators, it would also criminalize so-called "puppy love."
And that's a step he was not prepared to take.
"We don't want to criminalize innocent sexual behaviour among teenagers and young people," Cotler said.
Casson had hoped that hurdle could be overcome by close-in-age exemptions for young people born within three or four years of each other.
According to the Attorney General, however, the Criminal Code and the pending Bill C-2 already before Parliament offers adequate protection for children.
When are Canadians going to wake up?
carfix2000ca.......
CTV News Online Poll
A Conservative MP wants to raise the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16 ... Which age do you think is appropriate?
14 607 votes (20 %)
16 2488 votes (80 %)
Total Votes: 3095
MPs vote against raising age of sexual consent
CTV.ca News Staff
A Conservative MP's attempt to raise the age of consent has failed, with a resounding defeat in the House of Commons.
When Conservative MP Rick Casson's bill was put to a vote Wednesday night, 99 parliamentarians voted in favour of increasing the minimum age for sex by two years, to 16.
A total of 167 MPs voted against the bill.
Under existing law, 14-year-olds can legally have sex in Canada. Casson wanted the minimum age raised to 16, in the hope increasing the scope of the law would protect children from sexual predators.
The Lethbridge, Alberta MP had the support of his fellow Conservatives, as well as several members of the Liberal Party.
"I support it basically on the important principle that people need to be protected," Liberal MP Maurizo Bevilacqua told CTV News ahead of the vote.
And Liberal MP Dan McTeague agreed, criticizing the existing law for doing little to protect young teenagers from sexual exploitation.
"If two young people are engaged, that's fine, but my concern is when a 40-year-old and a 14-year-old is involved," McTeague said.
But in the end, their support was not enough to carry the bill.
Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler was among the proposed law's most outspoken critics. He says Casson's legislation -- if it became the law of the land -- would not only do little to stop predators, it would also criminalize so-called "puppy love."
And that's a step he was not prepared to take.
"We don't want to criminalize innocent sexual behaviour among teenagers and young people," Cotler said.
Casson had hoped that hurdle could be overcome by close-in-age exemptions for young people born within three or four years of each other.
According to the Attorney General, however, the Criminal Code and the pending Bill C-2 already before Parliament offers adequate protection for children.
Amendments to Canadian Law to Prevent Pederasty Likely to be Defeated by MPs Wednesday
The "gay" lobby hates the thought of raising the age of consent. EGALE is pushing for a lower age of consent for homosexual sex. Svend Robinson former NDP MP and a known homosexual has pushed for a lowering of the age.
One slogan for NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association) says "Sex before eight or it's too late"
CANADIAN LIBERALS AND THE NDP SUPPORT THESE PEOPLE AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS A PLATINUM SPONSOR OF EGALE !!!!!!
carfix2000ca.........
Pro-Family groups will note individual MP votes on 2 items raising age of consent for sex
OTTAWA, September 27, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canada is notorious for having one of the lowest ages of consent for sexual activity in the world at age 14, while the international standard is minimally 16 and 18 in many nations. Despite Canada's growing reputation as a haven for pedophiles two separate measures seeking to raise the age of consent, scheduled for a vote tomorrow, are likely to be rejected.
Bill C-313 (http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/b... ) submitted by Alberta Conservative MP Rick Casson will be voted on second reading tomorrow. Presenting his bill in May, Casson explained, "The Criminal Code of Canada, as exists today, provides tacit approval for sexual relations between adults and adolescents as young as 14 as long as the sexual relations are consensual and the adult is not in a position of authority or trust over the minor. The same Criminal Code also excuses adults who have sexual relations with children as young as 12 years of age as long as the adult involved was under the impression that the minor was at least 14 years of age, the sexual relation was consensual and there was no abuse of position of authority or trust."
Also tomorrow, Motion M-221, a Private Members Motion from Nina Grewal, Conservative MP from British Columbia, asks Parliament to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 years old.
If the bill passes second reading it will be sent to committee and eventually come for a final vote. The motion would show the will of the House to amend the law, which would be followed by legislation.
International human rights activists are keeping a close eye on tomorrow's vote but don't expect any progress as Canada's ruling elite is known to be lax, at best, on child protection. Gregory Carlin of the Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition told LifeSiteNews.com, "'The age of consent issue has to be internationalized. The contempt for the rights of the child shown by the government of Canada has to be condemned."
The likelihood that C-313 will fail is shocking particularly considering the bill seeks only to stop adults from sexually preying on children as it contains an exception for minors engaging in sex together - what Casson calls a "close-in-age exception". Nonetheless, homosexual activist groups such as EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) are against raising the age of consent, and in fact are demanding that the age of consent for anal sex be lowered from 18. (see the EGALE submission to government on the subject http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=E&menu=37&a
Even "pro-gay" feminists have called on gay groups to distance themselves from efforts to lower the age of consent. Writing in the UK Guardian newspaper in 2001, Julie Blindel points out, "If gay men are going to, on the one hand, campaign for sexual access to younger and younger boys, but bleat about public perceptions of them as a league of child abusers, is it any wonder that the whole thing is such a mess?" Blindel concludes, "If gay men are serious about distancing themselves from child sexual abuse, then it's up to them to make some real efforts to join forces against this gross violation." (see Blindel's piece here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
The IATC's Carlin concurs, "If gays are going to campaign (by way of zero change), for sexual access to young boys, they may lose the right in the eyes of many people to complain about the perceptions associated with their choice".
Despite the gravity of the lack of protection from sexual exploitation for Canadian children, political experts are predicting most MPs will vote against the proposals. However, political activist groups will be watching the votes closely to note which MPs are concerned with stopping sexual abuse of children by adults and which are not.
Campaign Life Coalition National President Jim Hughes told LifeSiteNews.com, "We will be using these votes in the voting records of MPs in our upcoming report cards of MPs." The report cards demonstrate how MPs voted on key issues related to life and family issues. Hughes and other pro-family leaders maintain that Wednesday's votes will provide a straightforward assessment of an MP's integrity and worthiness to hold public office.
A poll conducted in 2002 found that 80% of Canadians believe that the federal government should raise the age of consent from 14 years to at least 16 years
jhw
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05092705.html
One slogan for NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association) says "Sex before eight or it's too late"
CANADIAN LIBERALS AND THE NDP SUPPORT THESE PEOPLE AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS A PLATINUM SPONSOR OF EGALE !!!!!!
carfix2000ca.........
Pro-Family groups will note individual MP votes on 2 items raising age of consent for sex
OTTAWA, September 27, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canada is notorious for having one of the lowest ages of consent for sexual activity in the world at age 14, while the international standard is minimally 16 and 18 in many nations. Despite Canada's growing reputation as a haven for pedophiles two separate measures seeking to raise the age of consent, scheduled for a vote tomorrow, are likely to be rejected.
Bill C-313 (http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/b... ) submitted by Alberta Conservative MP Rick Casson will be voted on second reading tomorrow. Presenting his bill in May, Casson explained, "The Criminal Code of Canada, as exists today, provides tacit approval for sexual relations between adults and adolescents as young as 14 as long as the sexual relations are consensual and the adult is not in a position of authority or trust over the minor. The same Criminal Code also excuses adults who have sexual relations with children as young as 12 years of age as long as the adult involved was under the impression that the minor was at least 14 years of age, the sexual relation was consensual and there was no abuse of position of authority or trust."
Also tomorrow, Motion M-221, a Private Members Motion from Nina Grewal, Conservative MP from British Columbia, asks Parliament to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 years old.
If the bill passes second reading it will be sent to committee and eventually come for a final vote. The motion would show the will of the House to amend the law, which would be followed by legislation.
International human rights activists are keeping a close eye on tomorrow's vote but don't expect any progress as Canada's ruling elite is known to be lax, at best, on child protection. Gregory Carlin of the Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition told LifeSiteNews.com, "'The age of consent issue has to be internationalized. The contempt for the rights of the child shown by the government of Canada has to be condemned."
The likelihood that C-313 will fail is shocking particularly considering the bill seeks only to stop adults from sexually preying on children as it contains an exception for minors engaging in sex together - what Casson calls a "close-in-age exception". Nonetheless, homosexual activist groups such as EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) are against raising the age of consent, and in fact are demanding that the age of consent for anal sex be lowered from 18. (see the EGALE submission to government on the subject http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=E&menu=37&a
Even "pro-gay" feminists have called on gay groups to distance themselves from efforts to lower the age of consent. Writing in the UK Guardian newspaper in 2001, Julie Blindel points out, "If gay men are going to, on the one hand, campaign for sexual access to younger and younger boys, but bleat about public perceptions of them as a league of child abusers, is it any wonder that the whole thing is such a mess?" Blindel concludes, "If gay men are serious about distancing themselves from child sexual abuse, then it's up to them to make some real efforts to join forces against this gross violation." (see Blindel's piece here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
The IATC's Carlin concurs, "If gays are going to campaign (by way of zero change), for sexual access to young boys, they may lose the right in the eyes of many people to complain about the perceptions associated with their choice".
Despite the gravity of the lack of protection from sexual exploitation for Canadian children, political experts are predicting most MPs will vote against the proposals. However, political activist groups will be watching the votes closely to note which MPs are concerned with stopping sexual abuse of children by adults and which are not.
Campaign Life Coalition National President Jim Hughes told LifeSiteNews.com, "We will be using these votes in the voting records of MPs in our upcoming report cards of MPs." The report cards demonstrate how MPs voted on key issues related to life and family issues. Hughes and other pro-family leaders maintain that Wednesday's votes will provide a straightforward assessment of an MP's integrity and worthiness to hold public office.
A poll conducted in 2002 found that 80% of Canadians believe that the federal government should raise the age of consent from 14 years to at least 16 years
jhw
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05092705.html
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Homosexual Activist Opposition to Child Porn Law
Canadian Women’s Group Exposes Homosexual Activist Opposition to Child Porn Law
Bill C-2 includes “serious loopholes” for those charged with violating child porn law
OTTAWA, September 26, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Influential gay activist political tactics against child porn laws and raising the age of consent has been a disturbing and on-going phenomenon that the public is not aware of according to leaders of organizations fighting child porn.
On July 20, Canada’s House of Commons passed Bill C-2 which added amendments to the Criminal Code on matters related to child pornography. Gwen Landolt, National Vice President of REAL Women of Canada, says that the amendments were helpful but still do not provide full protection for vulnerable children. Furthermore, in a detailed article scheduled for the September 26th edition of REAL Women’s Reality magazine, Landolt reveals there was predictably strong opposition from Canada’s homosexual activist organizations to C-2.
Bill C-2, says Landolt “includes some serious loopholes for those charged with violations of our child pornography law”. Some of the problems she identifies are:
1.The defence of “artistic merit” to a charge of child pornography was retained.
2. No minimum sentence was included in the bill when it was introduced in the House of Commons.
3. It did not include a provision to raise the age of consent from 14 years to 16 years "despite the fact that the Provincial Attorneys General had approved, at their annual federal/provincial meetings in October 1998, December 1999, and again in September 2003, to raise the age of consent'.
Landlolt notes that Canada’s most prominent, and often government funded, homosexual activist organization, EGALE, opposes raising the age of consent and that the mild amendments to the child pornography law “made the homosexual community decidedly unhappy”.
Revealing the extraordinary influence of the homosexual organizations on government policy Landolt notes, “it is well known that the Liberal government never brings forward legislation unless it has passed inspection by the homosexual lobby.”
The article reports that the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario (CLGRO) submitted a brief to the committee considering C-2 and complained that the bill would deny lesbian, gay and bisexual teens the free expression of their sexuality and create more circumstances in which sexual relations with adolescents would be criminalized.
CLGRO stated in its brief that “younger persons are capable of seeking and do seek out consensual same-sex relationships with older persons and, in fact, may be the initiators of such relationships. In addition, contrary to popular belief, a relationship with an older person may not in fact be damaging for a young person”.
The national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, “which never fails to promote the homosexual agenda”, says Landolt, also opposed the C-2 amendments. In a July 6 editorial it stated that Bill C-2 was “extreme” and objected to the limits placed on freedom of expression.
The REAL Women article concludes by warning that “The homosexual activists’ objection to Bill C-2, together with the Globe and Mail editorial, are setting the stage for our liberal judges to overturn the child pornography law at the first opportunity they get”.
See the complete REAL Women article
Child Pornography Law Under Attack by Homosexuals
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/050926a.html
Bill C-2 includes “serious loopholes” for those charged with violating child porn law
OTTAWA, September 26, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Influential gay activist political tactics against child porn laws and raising the age of consent has been a disturbing and on-going phenomenon that the public is not aware of according to leaders of organizations fighting child porn.
On July 20, Canada’s House of Commons passed Bill C-2 which added amendments to the Criminal Code on matters related to child pornography. Gwen Landolt, National Vice President of REAL Women of Canada, says that the amendments were helpful but still do not provide full protection for vulnerable children. Furthermore, in a detailed article scheduled for the September 26th edition of REAL Women’s Reality magazine, Landolt reveals there was predictably strong opposition from Canada’s homosexual activist organizations to C-2.
Bill C-2, says Landolt “includes some serious loopholes for those charged with violations of our child pornography law”. Some of the problems she identifies are:
1.The defence of “artistic merit” to a charge of child pornography was retained.
2. No minimum sentence was included in the bill when it was introduced in the House of Commons.
3. It did not include a provision to raise the age of consent from 14 years to 16 years "despite the fact that the Provincial Attorneys General had approved, at their annual federal/provincial meetings in October 1998, December 1999, and again in September 2003, to raise the age of consent'.
Landlolt notes that Canada’s most prominent, and often government funded, homosexual activist organization, EGALE, opposes raising the age of consent and that the mild amendments to the child pornography law “made the homosexual community decidedly unhappy”.
Revealing the extraordinary influence of the homosexual organizations on government policy Landolt notes, “it is well known that the Liberal government never brings forward legislation unless it has passed inspection by the homosexual lobby.”
The article reports that the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario (CLGRO) submitted a brief to the committee considering C-2 and complained that the bill would deny lesbian, gay and bisexual teens the free expression of their sexuality and create more circumstances in which sexual relations with adolescents would be criminalized.
CLGRO stated in its brief that “younger persons are capable of seeking and do seek out consensual same-sex relationships with older persons and, in fact, may be the initiators of such relationships. In addition, contrary to popular belief, a relationship with an older person may not in fact be damaging for a young person”.
The national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, “which never fails to promote the homosexual agenda”, says Landolt, also opposed the C-2 amendments. In a July 6 editorial it stated that Bill C-2 was “extreme” and objected to the limits placed on freedom of expression.
The REAL Women article concludes by warning that “The homosexual activists’ objection to Bill C-2, together with the Globe and Mail editorial, are setting the stage for our liberal judges to overturn the child pornography law at the first opportunity they get”.
See the complete REAL Women article
Child Pornography Law Under Attack by Homosexuals
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/050926a.html
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Temple of Propaganda-Powerful Propaganda Institute Being Planned
If anyone doubts that Canada has become a cesspool of socialist multiculturalism, just read this....
Canada is one of the biggest pushers for the globalization of humanity. Not just economically, but culturally...
200 million taxpayer dollars down another liberal socialist toilet
carfix2000ca........
The Temple of Propaganda
Canada’s one-world priests leading the world into the ideological abyss – quietly
‘Izzy’ Asper, when expounding on his dream for the Museum For Human Rights lamented “We Canadians have a tendency to aim for the middle, not the top, not for the stars.”
But this statement isn’t true. Although Canadians on the whole seem to be increasingly unimpassioned, certain wealthy and powerful Canadians, the high-priests of the new-world religion, have stepped into influential roles and are leading the world in a most unobtrusive, deceptive—and effective—manner. For years they have been carefully guiding the fate of the world using their favorite vehicle—the United Nations.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the activist judges who have used it as a platform to ‘discover’ or create never before imagined ‘rights’, are merely the Canadian branch in this experimental new world-wide movement, which with the quiet unobtrusiveness of a creeping vine consumes and crushes the walls of tradition and the rock foundation of Judeo-Christian principles on which Canada, and so many other nations, were built.
Few realize that Canada is one of the most influential forces at the UN, pushing hard and skillfully for a one-world order dominated by leftist liberal ideologies. Canada has done considerable work in paving the way for global eco-extremism, ‘sexual rights’ and ‘reproductive rights’ (read: homosexual ‘marriage’, abortion, forced sterilization, contraception). Ask any of those who’ve lobbied in the UN on the behalf of family and life issues who it is they often spend the most of their time fighting – Canada.
And few, if any, have been more influential in pushing the one-world, ideological agenda than Canada’s own Maurice Strong. Strong, coincidentally enough, is one of the members of the advisory board for the Museum For Human Rights.
Maurice Strong is a notoriously soft spoken, deceptively Canadian businessman. He has served as senior adviser to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as well as the president of the World Bank, and has more awards and honorary degrees to his name than it is worth the time to recount; most have been for his extensive work in environmentalism. A mere handful of his many, many powerful connections include communications magnate Ted Turner, Mikhail Gorbachev, Al Gore, Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien, and current prime minister Paul Martin, and he is especially tied into the powerful web of influence of Canadian businessman Paul Desmarais. But that’s a story for a different article. A few of Strong’s many nicknames include the ‘godfather of globalism’, and ‘custodian of the planet’. In 1990 the Globe and Mail, with unusual insight, reported that on his 160,000 acre Colorado ranch he is “laying the groundwork for what amounts to a new world order.”
That 160,000 acre ranch once called by Strong’s wife the “Valley of the Refuge of World Truths” (now renamed “The Place of the Heart”) is a gargantuan new-age colony. It is a haven of religious and moral relativism. It brings together representatives of the world’s ‘traditional’ religions in the hope of fusing them together and creating a new world religion which is heralded by a return to the pagan earth spirituality of native Indians. Indeed, it isn’t at all surprising that a huge portion of the Museum For Human Rights will celebrate the supposed original innocence of the natives and lament their supposed subsequent corruption and destruction by white, male Europeans. The odds are minimal that it will mention the horrors of the frequent tribal warfare and violent practices which often appear throughout native history.
As Oscar Wilde would say to a friend at the height of his dissolution: “While we wait for a new religion of light, let Olympus serve as a shelter and refuge. We must let our instincts laugh and frolic in the sun like a troop of laughing children.” Paganism is in vogue.
Maurice Strong is only one such member of the list of advisers and donors, albeit one of the most noteworthy. The list reads like a who’s who of liberal ideologues—extreme feminists and environmentalists and homosexual-rights activists. It includes such groups as Egale Canada, Equal Marriage for Same-Sex Couples, Canadian Human Rights Commission, The Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations and the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). They are the priests and the priestesses that are quietly leading the world into the abyss of new age, one world, relativistic paganism.
Conclusion – The Temple of Propaganda
So far, it is unlikely that there will be much public criticism of the $300 million Human Rights Museum. Even Conservatives with the insight to see through the farce probably and sadly won’t have the courage to point out the emperor’s nakedness; instead they will gush enthusiastically about the mad project.
The left has long waged a war of words, a war of propaganda, and they have won almost every battle. They have usurped and made a monster of the word ‘tolerance’, they have raped the word ‘gay’, and they have beheaded the term ‘human rights’. To speak out against the museum is to risk being labeled ‘intolerant’, to risk finding your face in the Museum’s planned Hall of Shame which documents past violations of human rights. There you will annually be mocked and jeered at by hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren as a ‘bigot’ and an ‘extremist’.
To speak out against the museum might be to risk being in the shoes of Bishop Henry of Calgary who faces an expensive and exacting trial in the hands of a Human Rights Commission for simply laying out the teachings of the Catholic faith on homosexuality. To speak out is to risk being prosecuted and persecuted, like Chris Kempling, the British Columbia teacher whose teaching license was suspended for writing letters to the editor in defense of marriage. And then there is Scott Brockie, the Christian printer who refused to print letterhead for the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives whose battle with the Human Rights Commission left him doubled under the weight of a $5,000 fine and $40,000 in legal costs. The list goes on. The human rights of these persecuted Canadians of principle are anathema in the new temple.
Will there be a section devoted to China’s notorious forced one child policy, and its violent forced aborting of women and infanticides, of which so many of those on the board of the museum are supportive of?
Don’t count on it.
What are the chances that violations against human rights committed by Human Rights Commissions will be granted an exhibit in the Museum?
None at all.
The completion of the Museum For Human Rights will be the coup de grâce, the last button on the sash of liberal propaganda. After all, how did the Liberal federal government finally justify committing $100 million to building the museum? According to Martin Knelman of the National post, the realization that they could use the museum as a “training centre where police officers, military personnel and government employees will be sent for courses and seminars designed to make them more knowledgeable and sensitive to issues of cultural diversity, racial bigotry and the human rights of Canadian citizens under the Charter of Rights.”
God save us from the hands of these ideologically brainwashed individuals who are meant to protect us.
With the completion of the Museum Canada will finally have the means to create a bureaucracy passionately dedicated, and a police and military force fully equipped, to defend the new state ideology. The full coercive power of the state will stand vigilantly against detractors against the new order. And with such passionate and powerful protectors, who would dare speak out against it? Who would dare risk a place in the Museum For Human Right’s Hall of Shame?
I can think of a few who would. And they had better speak up now – about the museum, about the Charter, judicial activism, institutional corruption and so much more that is genuinely threatening to usurp our freedom.
Nothing about the Museum project is yet final. It is still thankfully almost $100 million short of its goal. And the museum website states that construction will not begin until full funding is put in place. Perhaps full funding will never be found. Perhaps Canadians will start vociferously objecting to this obscene waste of multi-millions.
Let us make it clear to our government and our fellow countrymen that the Museum for Human Rights is, at best, little more than a dangerous throwaway of $300 million.
Canada is one of the biggest pushers for the globalization of humanity. Not just economically, but culturally...
200 million taxpayer dollars down another liberal socialist toilet
carfix2000ca........
The Temple of PropagandaCanada’s one-world priests leading the world into the ideological abyss – quietly
‘Izzy’ Asper, when expounding on his dream for the Museum For Human Rights lamented “We Canadians have a tendency to aim for the middle, not the top, not for the stars.”
But this statement isn’t true. Although Canadians on the whole seem to be increasingly unimpassioned, certain wealthy and powerful Canadians, the high-priests of the new-world religion, have stepped into influential roles and are leading the world in a most unobtrusive, deceptive—and effective—manner. For years they have been carefully guiding the fate of the world using their favorite vehicle—the United Nations.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the activist judges who have used it as a platform to ‘discover’ or create never before imagined ‘rights’, are merely the Canadian branch in this experimental new world-wide movement, which with the quiet unobtrusiveness of a creeping vine consumes and crushes the walls of tradition and the rock foundation of Judeo-Christian principles on which Canada, and so many other nations, were built.
Few realize that Canada is one of the most influential forces at the UN, pushing hard and skillfully for a one-world order dominated by leftist liberal ideologies. Canada has done considerable work in paving the way for global eco-extremism, ‘sexual rights’ and ‘reproductive rights’ (read: homosexual ‘marriage’, abortion, forced sterilization, contraception). Ask any of those who’ve lobbied in the UN on the behalf of family and life issues who it is they often spend the most of their time fighting – Canada.
And few, if any, have been more influential in pushing the one-world, ideological agenda than Canada’s own Maurice Strong. Strong, coincidentally enough, is one of the members of the advisory board for the Museum For Human Rights.
Maurice Strong is a notoriously soft spoken, deceptively Canadian businessman. He has served as senior adviser to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as well as the president of the World Bank, and has more awards and honorary degrees to his name than it is worth the time to recount; most have been for his extensive work in environmentalism. A mere handful of his many, many powerful connections include communications magnate Ted Turner, Mikhail Gorbachev, Al Gore, Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien, and current prime minister Paul Martin, and he is especially tied into the powerful web of influence of Canadian businessman Paul Desmarais. But that’s a story for a different article. A few of Strong’s many nicknames include the ‘godfather of globalism’, and ‘custodian of the planet’. In 1990 the Globe and Mail, with unusual insight, reported that on his 160,000 acre Colorado ranch he is “laying the groundwork for what amounts to a new world order.”
That 160,000 acre ranch once called by Strong’s wife the “Valley of the Refuge of World Truths” (now renamed “The Place of the Heart”) is a gargantuan new-age colony. It is a haven of religious and moral relativism. It brings together representatives of the world’s ‘traditional’ religions in the hope of fusing them together and creating a new world religion which is heralded by a return to the pagan earth spirituality of native Indians. Indeed, it isn’t at all surprising that a huge portion of the Museum For Human Rights will celebrate the supposed original innocence of the natives and lament their supposed subsequent corruption and destruction by white, male Europeans. The odds are minimal that it will mention the horrors of the frequent tribal warfare and violent practices which often appear throughout native history.
As Oscar Wilde would say to a friend at the height of his dissolution: “While we wait for a new religion of light, let Olympus serve as a shelter and refuge. We must let our instincts laugh and frolic in the sun like a troop of laughing children.” Paganism is in vogue.
Maurice Strong is only one such member of the list of advisers and donors, albeit one of the most noteworthy. The list reads like a who’s who of liberal ideologues—extreme feminists and environmentalists and homosexual-rights activists. It includes such groups as Egale Canada, Equal Marriage for Same-Sex Couples, Canadian Human Rights Commission, The Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations and the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). They are the priests and the priestesses that are quietly leading the world into the abyss of new age, one world, relativistic paganism.
Conclusion – The Temple of Propaganda
So far, it is unlikely that there will be much public criticism of the $300 million Human Rights Museum. Even Conservatives with the insight to see through the farce probably and sadly won’t have the courage to point out the emperor’s nakedness; instead they will gush enthusiastically about the mad project.
The left has long waged a war of words, a war of propaganda, and they have won almost every battle. They have usurped and made a monster of the word ‘tolerance’, they have raped the word ‘gay’, and they have beheaded the term ‘human rights’. To speak out against the museum is to risk being labeled ‘intolerant’, to risk finding your face in the Museum’s planned Hall of Shame which documents past violations of human rights. There you will annually be mocked and jeered at by hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren as a ‘bigot’ and an ‘extremist’.
To speak out against the museum might be to risk being in the shoes of Bishop Henry of Calgary who faces an expensive and exacting trial in the hands of a Human Rights Commission for simply laying out the teachings of the Catholic faith on homosexuality. To speak out is to risk being prosecuted and persecuted, like Chris Kempling, the British Columbia teacher whose teaching license was suspended for writing letters to the editor in defense of marriage. And then there is Scott Brockie, the Christian printer who refused to print letterhead for the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives whose battle with the Human Rights Commission left him doubled under the weight of a $5,000 fine and $40,000 in legal costs. The list goes on. The human rights of these persecuted Canadians of principle are anathema in the new temple.
Will there be a section devoted to China’s notorious forced one child policy, and its violent forced aborting of women and infanticides, of which so many of those on the board of the museum are supportive of?
Don’t count on it.
What are the chances that violations against human rights committed by Human Rights Commissions will be granted an exhibit in the Museum?
None at all.
The completion of the Museum For Human Rights will be the coup de grâce, the last button on the sash of liberal propaganda. After all, how did the Liberal federal government finally justify committing $100 million to building the museum? According to Martin Knelman of the National post, the realization that they could use the museum as a “training centre where police officers, military personnel and government employees will be sent for courses and seminars designed to make them more knowledgeable and sensitive to issues of cultural diversity, racial bigotry and the human rights of Canadian citizens under the Charter of Rights.”
God save us from the hands of these ideologically brainwashed individuals who are meant to protect us.
With the completion of the Museum Canada will finally have the means to create a bureaucracy passionately dedicated, and a police and military force fully equipped, to defend the new state ideology. The full coercive power of the state will stand vigilantly against detractors against the new order. And with such passionate and powerful protectors, who would dare speak out against it? Who would dare risk a place in the Museum For Human Right’s Hall of Shame?
I can think of a few who would. And they had better speak up now – about the museum, about the Charter, judicial activism, institutional corruption and so much more that is genuinely threatening to usurp our freedom.
Nothing about the Museum project is yet final. It is still thankfully almost $100 million short of its goal. And the museum website states that construction will not begin until full funding is put in place. Perhaps full funding will never be found. Perhaps Canadians will start vociferously objecting to this obscene waste of multi-millions.
Let us make it clear to our government and our fellow countrymen that the Museum for Human Rights is, at best, little more than a dangerous throwaway of $300 million.
Liberals Furious Over New Children's Book
This one is so good I am going to add a side link.....:))
carix2000ca......
New kid’s book “Liberals Under My Bed” becomes lightning rod for controversy. Prominent liberals liken it to Nazi propaganda, but conservative author laughs off allegations.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 20, 2005 –- Liberals all over the country are up in arms over a new children’s book that portrays cartoon versions of left-wing icons Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy taxing and regulating a lemonade stand.
“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed” (Kids Ahead; hardcover: $15.95; ISBN 0976726904) hits bookstore shelves today, but author Katharine DeBrecht has already found herself under fire from liberals. MSNBC host Ron Reagan was incensed over the book and scolded DeBrecht on his cable television show. Fox News host Alan Colmes claimed the book exists for the purpose of “brainwashing.” Democratic Underground, a popular liberal Web site, named DeBrecht to its “Top 10 Conservative Idiots” list. And Daily Kos, the most trafficked left-wing blog, likened the book to Nazi propaganda.
In spite of the unflattering comparisons to Hitler, “Liberals Under My Bed” author DeBrecht is nonplussed by the allegations.
“What else would you expect from liberals?” shrugs DeBrecht, a mother of three and former co-captain of Security Moms for Bush. “Liberals have been foisting their ideological agenda on our kids for years, and now they’re beside themselves that someone would stand up to them. Evidently books about socialist fish and gay kings are OK, but a story about hard work and self-reliance is too extreme.”
DeBrecht asserts that no liberals have protested the presence of books such as “Rainbow Fish” (where a fish is hectored into giving away his beautiful scales so that all the fish look the same) and “King & King” (where two princes marry each other and adopt a little girl) in classrooms. She also points to the prohibition on prayer in school, attacks on the Boy Scouts, opposition to school choice, and the recent court ruling banning the Pledge of Allegiance because it contained the phrase “under God” as evidence of a liberal agenda targeting kids.
“Evidently liberals oppose parents who believe in traditional values having a book that will help them teach those values to their children,” says DeBrecht. “But, then again, liberals oppose anything that supports religion, traditional families, and the free market. Those institutions are obstacles to their goals of eliminating personal responsibility and establishing a welfare state.”
“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed” -- which features full-color illustrations by award winning artist Jim Hummel -- tells of two brothers who open a lemonade stand. Their plans to save up their hard earned profits to buy a swing set go awry when a Ted Kennedy character taxes away their profits and a pants-suit clad Hillary Clinton look-alike outlaws sugary drinks.
About World Ahead Publishing:
Kids Ahead is an imprint of Los Angeles-based World Ahead Publishing, the West Coast's premier publisher of conservative and libertarian books. To learn more, visit www.worldahead.com.
Contact Information:
To interview author Katharine DeBrecht, contact Special Guests at (630) 848-0750.
Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! Cartoon Caption Contest
carix2000ca......
New kid’s book “Liberals Under My Bed” becomes lightning rod for controversy. Prominent liberals liken it to Nazi propaganda, but conservative author laughs off allegations.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 20, 2005 –- Liberals all over the country are up in arms over a new children’s book that portrays cartoon versions of left-wing icons Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy taxing and regulating a lemonade stand.
“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed” (Kids Ahead; hardcover: $15.95; ISBN 0976726904) hits bookstore shelves today, but author Katharine DeBrecht has already found herself under fire from liberals. MSNBC host Ron Reagan was incensed over the book and scolded DeBrecht on his cable television show. Fox News host Alan Colmes claimed the book exists for the purpose of “brainwashing.” Democratic Underground, a popular liberal Web site, named DeBrecht to its “Top 10 Conservative Idiots” list. And Daily Kos, the most trafficked left-wing blog, likened the book to Nazi propaganda.
In spite of the unflattering comparisons to Hitler, “Liberals Under My Bed” author DeBrecht is nonplussed by the allegations.
“What else would you expect from liberals?” shrugs DeBrecht, a mother of three and former co-captain of Security Moms for Bush. “Liberals have been foisting their ideological agenda on our kids for years, and now they’re beside themselves that someone would stand up to them. Evidently books about socialist fish and gay kings are OK, but a story about hard work and self-reliance is too extreme.”
DeBrecht asserts that no liberals have protested the presence of books such as “Rainbow Fish” (where a fish is hectored into giving away his beautiful scales so that all the fish look the same) and “King & King” (where two princes marry each other and adopt a little girl) in classrooms. She also points to the prohibition on prayer in school, attacks on the Boy Scouts, opposition to school choice, and the recent court ruling banning the Pledge of Allegiance because it contained the phrase “under God” as evidence of a liberal agenda targeting kids.
“Evidently liberals oppose parents who believe in traditional values having a book that will help them teach those values to their children,” says DeBrecht. “But, then again, liberals oppose anything that supports religion, traditional families, and the free market. Those institutions are obstacles to their goals of eliminating personal responsibility and establishing a welfare state.”
“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed” -- which features full-color illustrations by award winning artist Jim Hummel -- tells of two brothers who open a lemonade stand. Their plans to save up their hard earned profits to buy a swing set go awry when a Ted Kennedy character taxes away their profits and a pants-suit clad Hillary Clinton look-alike outlaws sugary drinks.
About World Ahead Publishing:
Kids Ahead is an imprint of Los Angeles-based World Ahead Publishing, the West Coast's premier publisher of conservative and libertarian books. To learn more, visit www.worldahead.com.
Contact Information:
To interview author Katharine DeBrecht, contact Special Guests at (630) 848-0750.
Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! Cartoon Caption Contest
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
All Canadians pay too much in taxes for the value they get back
Posted by ENN at free dominion
All Canadians pay too much in taxes for the value they get back.
The reference above shows Manitoba paying slightly more percentage tax that Ontario, based on that estimate.
For a comparison across all provinces, consider my post below from earlier this year, based on Fraser Institute estimates in 2004, which are close to the estimate above.
More importantly, consider the wide disparity between Canada and the US' Tax Freedom Day, and how our higher taxes buy us poor comparative value.
Ever wonder why we pay and pay and pay, yet our "socialist eutopia" doesn't seem to pay off?
Because of government fiscal mismanagement: Corruption, excessive bureaucracy, economically inefficient pork-barrelling, subsidies and patronage programs all designed to win power, secure it, enjoy it and profit from it.
Canadians are getting ripped off. No wonder we feel we are falling behind in personal wellness compared to other countries: It's because we are!
How does Tax Freedom Day in Canada and the U.S.A. compare?
U.S.A.Tax Freedom Day April 17 this year.
Definition:Tax Freedom Day is calculated by dividing the official government tally of all taxes collected in each year by the official government tally of all income earned in each year. Governments — federal, state and local — took
Taxes as a Percentage of Income are 29.1% in the U.S.A.
CanadaTax Freedom Day
for the year 2004 was June 28
Definition: The taxes used to compute Tax Freedom Day include income taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes, as well as profit taxes, health, social security and employment taxes, import duties, license fees, taxes on the consumption of alcohol and tobacco (‘sin’ taxes), natural resource fees, fuel taxes, hospital taxes, and a host of other levies.
Taxes as a Percentage of Income are 48.8% in Canada
About that historical tax cut that Mr. Dithers often boasts about? The one where he says it's the largest tax cut in Canadian history?
Note the trend in Table 7: Climbing year after year since 1981, except the Fraser Institute reports: "After a seven-day decline from 2000 to 2001, Tax Freedom Day has been steadily increasing."
Canadian Tax Rates
But you say, Canada has its public health care system and the U.S has private health insurance! According to the Fraser Institute Report http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/admin/books/files/CSFENGrev.pdf A Canada Strong and Freep. 27:
The good news about Canadian health care is that Canadians are living longer and healthier lives than they were 30 years ago. The bad news is that while recent data shows Canada tied with Iceland as the number-one per-capita spender on health care among all the OECD countries with universal access health systems, we are not number one in any of the major categories used to measure the quality of health care provided (see Table 1).
According to a recent study, Canada ranks sixteenth in terms of doctors per capita (2.3 doctors for every 1000 Canadians), out of the 23 countries for which data is available. With respect to access to advanced medical technology, we ranked fifteenth of 24 in access to MRIs, seventeenth of 23 in access to CT scanners, and eighth of 22 in access to radiation scanners. Despite spending more on health care than any other industrialized country in the OECD (except Iceland), our citizens ranked fourteenth in the percentage of total life expectancy that will be lived disability free, sixteenth in infant mortality, eighth in mortality amenable to health care, ninth in potential years of life lost to disease, and sixth in the incidence of breast cancer mortality (Esmail and Walker, 2004).
So if our health care is so comparatively lousy compared to other OECD nations, where are all those extra taxes going? According to the same Fraser Institute report (p. 7) not to our military:
The Canadian military, once a source of national pride, has for many years been starved of funding, equipment, and personnel. This is true whether the services are viewed in absolute size, size relative to the population, or military spending as a percentage of GDP.
* Canada’s 52,500-person armed forces ranks 56th in the world, just behind Croatia and Sweden.
* Canada has 1.83 military personnel per 1,000 residents. By this measure, our armed forces are the smallest among the 26-member NATO alliance except for Luxembourg and Iceland; and 118th in the world, just ahead of Togo.
* Canada spends 1.1% of its GDP on the military—133rd in the world, tied with El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Niger, and the Central African Republic. (International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2002).
What about foreign aid?Canadians pride ourselves as the quintessential "kind and generous nation," right?
Our national government talks about its compassionate commitment to helping the world’s poor but its actions do not begin to match the commitment of the Canadian people to that objective. The Canadian government’s budget for foreign aid (as a percentage of GDP) is 0.26%, placing it thirteenth among the 22 rich OECD aid-giving nations, and its efforts to open free-trade doors for impoverished nations (the real answer to combating poverty internationally) are even weaker than its commitments to military and foreign-aid spending.
Where does the money go, then? Government waste, corruption and cronyism, unaccounted trust funds for foundations, pork-barreling and sponsorships?b]
Summary
* The difference in total tax rates between Canada and the US is 48.8-29.1= 19.1%.
* Almost 20% more of your income is siphoned off as taxes in Canada than in the US.
*For the dollar you earn in the U.S., all levels of government combined take nearly 30 cents.
* For the dollar you earn in the Canada, all levels of government combined take nearly 50 cents.
* Put another way, the average Canadian tax rate is 67.7% higher then the US tax rate.
Is our nanny state worth 67.7% higher taxes then the U.S.?
The CPC policy includes plans for deep tax cuts. The 2005 Liberal budget gave a $16 personal income tax cut: the typical cost of one pizza. Given that the average Canadian www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=nr&id=613 (refer to Tax Freedom Day tables link), that's a whopping 0.13% tax cut!
The Certified General Accountants Association of Canada gave the budget a http://www.cga-canada.org/budget2005/scorecard.htm failing grade for competitive tax policy.
Meanwhile, the government is on a http://www.cga-canada.org/budget2005/scorecard.htm# govspending spending spree, exceeding growth in the GDP:
Oh, thank-you so much for the irresponsible budget, Mr. Dithers!
All Canadians pay too much in taxes for the value they get back.
The reference above shows Manitoba paying slightly more percentage tax that Ontario, based on that estimate.
For a comparison across all provinces, consider my post below from earlier this year, based on Fraser Institute estimates in 2004, which are close to the estimate above.
More importantly, consider the wide disparity between Canada and the US' Tax Freedom Day, and how our higher taxes buy us poor comparative value.
Ever wonder why we pay and pay and pay, yet our "socialist eutopia" doesn't seem to pay off?
Because of government fiscal mismanagement: Corruption, excessive bureaucracy, economically inefficient pork-barrelling, subsidies and patronage programs all designed to win power, secure it, enjoy it and profit from it.
Canadians are getting ripped off. No wonder we feel we are falling behind in personal wellness compared to other countries: It's because we are!
How does Tax Freedom Day in Canada and the U.S.A. compare?
U.S.A.Tax Freedom Day April 17 this year.
Definition:Tax Freedom Day is calculated by dividing the official government tally of all taxes collected in each year by the official government tally of all income earned in each year. Governments — federal, state and local — took
Taxes as a Percentage of Income are 29.1% in the U.S.A.
CanadaTax Freedom Day
for the year 2004 was June 28
Definition: The taxes used to compute Tax Freedom Day include income taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes, as well as profit taxes, health, social security and employment taxes, import duties, license fees, taxes on the consumption of alcohol and tobacco (‘sin’ taxes), natural resource fees, fuel taxes, hospital taxes, and a host of other levies.
Taxes as a Percentage of Income are 48.8% in Canada
About that historical tax cut that Mr. Dithers often boasts about? The one where he says it's the largest tax cut in Canadian history?
“The fact that Tax Freedom Day has been steadily increasing since 2001 and comes only four days earlier than its peak should be cause for concern. All the talk of tax relief has not resulted in meaningful reductions in the tax burden for Canadian families,”commented Veldhuis.
Note the trend in Table 7: Climbing year after year since 1981, except the Fraser Institute reports: "After a seven-day decline from 2000 to 2001, Tax Freedom Day has been steadily increasing."
Canadian Tax Rates
But you say, Canada has its public health care system and the U.S has private health insurance! According to the Fraser Institute Report http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/admin/books/files/CSFENGrev.pdf A Canada Strong and Freep. 27:
The good news about Canadian health care is that Canadians are living longer and healthier lives than they were 30 years ago. The bad news is that while recent data shows Canada tied with Iceland as the number-one per-capita spender on health care among all the OECD countries with universal access health systems, we are not number one in any of the major categories used to measure the quality of health care provided (see Table 1).
According to a recent study, Canada ranks sixteenth in terms of doctors per capita (2.3 doctors for every 1000 Canadians), out of the 23 countries for which data is available. With respect to access to advanced medical technology, we ranked fifteenth of 24 in access to MRIs, seventeenth of 23 in access to CT scanners, and eighth of 22 in access to radiation scanners. Despite spending more on health care than any other industrialized country in the OECD (except Iceland), our citizens ranked fourteenth in the percentage of total life expectancy that will be lived disability free, sixteenth in infant mortality, eighth in mortality amenable to health care, ninth in potential years of life lost to disease, and sixth in the incidence of breast cancer mortality (Esmail and Walker, 2004).
So if our health care is so comparatively lousy compared to other OECD nations, where are all those extra taxes going? According to the same Fraser Institute report (p. 7) not to our military:
The Canadian military, once a source of national pride, has for many years been starved of funding, equipment, and personnel. This is true whether the services are viewed in absolute size, size relative to the population, or military spending as a percentage of GDP.
* Canada’s 52,500-person armed forces ranks 56th in the world, just behind Croatia and Sweden.
* Canada has 1.83 military personnel per 1,000 residents. By this measure, our armed forces are the smallest among the 26-member NATO alliance except for Luxembourg and Iceland; and 118th in the world, just ahead of Togo.
* Canada spends 1.1% of its GDP on the military—133rd in the world, tied with El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Niger, and the Central African Republic. (International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2002).
What about foreign aid?Canadians pride ourselves as the quintessential "kind and generous nation," right?
Our national government talks about its compassionate commitment to helping the world’s poor but its actions do not begin to match the commitment of the Canadian people to that objective. The Canadian government’s budget for foreign aid (as a percentage of GDP) is 0.26%, placing it thirteenth among the 22 rich OECD aid-giving nations, and its efforts to open free-trade doors for impoverished nations (the real answer to combating poverty internationally) are even weaker than its commitments to military and foreign-aid spending.
Where does the money go, then? Government waste, corruption and cronyism, unaccounted trust funds for foundations, pork-barreling and sponsorships?b]
Summary
* The difference in total tax rates between Canada and the US is 48.8-29.1= 19.1%.
* Almost 20% more of your income is siphoned off as taxes in Canada than in the US.
*For the dollar you earn in the U.S., all levels of government combined take nearly 30 cents.
* For the dollar you earn in the Canada, all levels of government combined take nearly 50 cents.
* Put another way, the average Canadian tax rate is 67.7% higher then the US tax rate.
Is our nanny state worth 67.7% higher taxes then the U.S.?
The CPC policy includes plans for deep tax cuts. The 2005 Liberal budget gave a $16 personal income tax cut: the typical cost of one pizza. Given that the average Canadian www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=nr&id=613 (refer to Tax Freedom Day tables link), that's a whopping 0.13% tax cut!
The Certified General Accountants Association of Canada gave the budget a http://www.cga-canada.org/budget2005/scorecard.htm failing grade for competitive tax policy.
Meanwhile, the government is on a http://www.cga-canada.org/budget2005/scorecard.htm# govspending spending spree, exceeding growth in the GDP:
Program expenses are expected to increase by 11.9 per cent in 2004 — 05. Average annual growth in program expenses over the 2005 — 06 to 2009 — 10 periods is projected to be around four per cent.
Oh, thank-you so much for the irresponsible budget, Mr. Dithers!
CHRISTIAN MEETING ATTACKED BY GAY MILITIA
CALGARY POLICE TO LAY CHARGES
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION COMPLAINT TO BE FILED
(Calgary) The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc., (CCC)www.concernedchristians.ca held it’s national convention in Calgary, Alberta on Saturday, April 17, 2004. At the national convention dinner the Gay Militia stormed the meeting with sticks, angry chants and verbally assaulted the delegates at hand. The dinner was being held in support of Rev. Stephen Boissoin who is currently being dragged before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for defending the Biblical view of homosexuality. Half of all profits were donated to Rev. Stephen Boissoin and fundraising will continue in order to help offset his legal costs. Further, information on Rev. Stephen Boissoin can be found at www.concernedchristians.ca
"I was dumbfounded at the fact that the Gay Militia would storm into a private meeting where we were praying and discussing Bill C-250 a bill that will affect our freedom as Christians to discuss certain beliefs. Just as our guest speaker Rev. Tristan Emmanuel was discussing how Bill C-250 is about silencing our freedom of speech and freedom of assembly the Gay Militia stormed the meeting and proved the point," stated Jim Blake, CCC Business Chair.
The CCC feels that all groups have a right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the freedom to assemble and protect their deep held personal and moral beliefs. "We are very concerned about the Christophobia and the growing hatred towards Christians in Canada. We are also very concerned that the media continually ignores the blatantly bigoted actions of the militant minority in this country. Can you imagine if our organization stormed a Homosexual gathering? It would be on the front page of every paper in the country and the headlines would not be flattering towards us," continued Blake.
The Calgary City Police arrived at the event just moments after the Gay Militia was cleared out by hotel security. The Calgary Police Service seized all the videotapes but one and some video footage has been placed on the internet at http://www.justicenetworkcanada.com.rmvb and on the CCC website of www.concernedchristians.ca The Calgary Police Service has assured the CCC that charges will be laid against members of the Gay Militia when they are found. The CCC has cited 3 sections of the Criminal Code that have been breached by the Gay Militia. Those sections are as follows:
175-1 A i Causing A Disturbance - every person who not being in a dwelling house causes a disturbance in or near a public place by fighting, screaming, shouting, swearing, singing or using insulting or obscene language.
176 2 Disturbing a Religious Worship - everyone who willfully disturbs or interrupts and assemblage of persons met for religious worship or for a moral, social or benevolent purpose is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
265 1 B Assault - A person commits an assault when he attempts or threatens by an act or a gesture to apply force to another person if he has or causes that other person to believe on reasonable grounds that he has present ability to affect his purpose.
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION COMPLAINT TO BE FILED
(Calgary) The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc., (CCC)www.concernedchristians.ca held it’s national convention in Calgary, Alberta on Saturday, April 17, 2004. At the national convention dinner the Gay Militia stormed the meeting with sticks, angry chants and verbally assaulted the delegates at hand. The dinner was being held in support of Rev. Stephen Boissoin who is currently being dragged before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for defending the Biblical view of homosexuality. Half of all profits were donated to Rev. Stephen Boissoin and fundraising will continue in order to help offset his legal costs. Further, information on Rev. Stephen Boissoin can be found at www.concernedchristians.ca
"I was dumbfounded at the fact that the Gay Militia would storm into a private meeting where we were praying and discussing Bill C-250 a bill that will affect our freedom as Christians to discuss certain beliefs. Just as our guest speaker Rev. Tristan Emmanuel was discussing how Bill C-250 is about silencing our freedom of speech and freedom of assembly the Gay Militia stormed the meeting and proved the point," stated Jim Blake, CCC Business Chair.
The CCC feels that all groups have a right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the freedom to assemble and protect their deep held personal and moral beliefs. "We are very concerned about the Christophobia and the growing hatred towards Christians in Canada. We are also very concerned that the media continually ignores the blatantly bigoted actions of the militant minority in this country. Can you imagine if our organization stormed a Homosexual gathering? It would be on the front page of every paper in the country and the headlines would not be flattering towards us," continued Blake.
The Calgary City Police arrived at the event just moments after the Gay Militia was cleared out by hotel security. The Calgary Police Service seized all the videotapes but one and some video footage has been placed on the internet at http://www.justicenetworkcanada.com.rmvb and on the CCC website of www.concernedchristians.ca The Calgary Police Service has assured the CCC that charges will be laid against members of the Gay Militia when they are found. The CCC has cited 3 sections of the Criminal Code that have been breached by the Gay Militia. Those sections are as follows:
175-1 A i Causing A Disturbance - every person who not being in a dwelling house causes a disturbance in or near a public place by fighting, screaming, shouting, swearing, singing or using insulting or obscene language.
176 2 Disturbing a Religious Worship - everyone who willfully disturbs or interrupts and assemblage of persons met for religious worship or for a moral, social or benevolent purpose is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
265 1 B Assault - A person commits an assault when he attempts or threatens by an act or a gesture to apply force to another person if he has or causes that other person to believe on reasonable grounds that he has present ability to affect his purpose.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Can A Completely Secular Society Survive?
Liberalism would prefer that we throw God out of society. Secular "Christians" would argue that Christ did away with the law. But they do not know God and don't understand just what happened when Christ died and rose. Yes, He did away with the law. Religious Law. But His moral law is still in effect. He laid it on mans heart and He poured His Spirit upon the world to convict us of sin.
Secularist believe that man made the law, and has a right to change it as man sees fit to suit man.
Lets look at some points about a completely secular society with man made laws and principles.
In the beginning there was only one law, and man broke it. So then law had to be created to show man right from wrong.
If it was not for the law, there would be no wrong.
When you tell your child , don't touch, what does he do? He touches. And in essence he has sinned against you. But if you had not said do not touch, he would not have sinned because he would not have known.
No different than man in general. But man did not make the law.
Thou shalt not murder.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Which is not illegal now) was laid down so man would not hurt others.
But if you take the path of just making it simple and say treat others how you would be treated, then this should be illegal. After all, it hurts, and you don't want to be treated that way, unless you don't care. It stirs something in you, and the law does not stir that, Gods spirit poured out on you does. It is a moral law that is written on mans heart, through the Spirit of God. You can't change it, unless you are immoral, which really just means the opposite of moral.
Treating others how you would be treated is scriptural, so if you take God out , you have to take that out of society also, and you could do anything to anyone, which we see more and more in society anyway..
One hundred years ago, society was based on Gods law, and immoral behaviour was dealt with, because man defended the principle of treating others as you would be treated.
All the laws of the bible have to be taken out if you want a secular society, because they came from there. These laws have been around for 6000 years.They are basic moral principles, which include Christian "Law"
And if you are going to say we don't need God involved in our law , or society then all these moral principles have to be removed. They have to be , because they came from God in the first place.
Before this was laid down as an absolute, there was no theft or murder. It was a "free" society.
Liberalism would do away with those morals.
Man did not just grab these laws out of the air. They came from somewhere. Moses didn't just dream them up.
Same as "Eat freely, just do not eat from that one tree" That was the only law in the beginning. But we could not even keep that one.
The Law was set down to bring sin into the open. If there had been no law there would not be sin.
So in a secular society you must go back to before any law was laid out, but we can't go back to paradise no matter how much we would like to.
And the law will not make you moral, it will only tell you the difference between right and wrong, but as we sink deeper into liberalism , we have created a society that is throwing a lot of this out, so we see a society that is falling more and more into bad behaviour. And is more and more confused.
This is why Jesus came, to show us that the law won't save us. The law won't give us a happy life. The law won't give you peace. Because man can't keep the law.
He said, Love God first, and love others. Pretty simple, but we mix it all up with religion, but if we follow Gods moral code that He laid out , then we have a life that is at peace, and we won't kill, we won't steal. We won't commit adultery.
But we can not follow God's moral code unless we follow Jesus, and surrender our lives to Him as our leader, our guide, our strength.
But if we throw God out of society then we have to throw out Love God first and Love others.....
How close has our society come to that?
Secularist believe that man made the law, and has a right to change it as man sees fit to suit man.
Lets look at some points about a completely secular society with man made laws and principles.
In the beginning there was only one law, and man broke it. So then law had to be created to show man right from wrong.
If it was not for the law, there would be no wrong.
When you tell your child , don't touch, what does he do? He touches. And in essence he has sinned against you. But if you had not said do not touch, he would not have sinned because he would not have known.
No different than man in general. But man did not make the law.
Thou shalt not murder.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Which is not illegal now) was laid down so man would not hurt others.
But if you take the path of just making it simple and say treat others how you would be treated, then this should be illegal. After all, it hurts, and you don't want to be treated that way, unless you don't care. It stirs something in you, and the law does not stir that, Gods spirit poured out on you does. It is a moral law that is written on mans heart, through the Spirit of God. You can't change it, unless you are immoral, which really just means the opposite of moral.
Treating others how you would be treated is scriptural, so if you take God out , you have to take that out of society also, and you could do anything to anyone, which we see more and more in society anyway..
One hundred years ago, society was based on Gods law, and immoral behaviour was dealt with, because man defended the principle of treating others as you would be treated.
All the laws of the bible have to be taken out if you want a secular society, because they came from there. These laws have been around for 6000 years.They are basic moral principles, which include Christian "Law"
And if you are going to say we don't need God involved in our law , or society then all these moral principles have to be removed. They have to be , because they came from God in the first place.
Before this was laid down as an absolute, there was no theft or murder. It was a "free" society.
Liberalism would do away with those morals.
Man did not just grab these laws out of the air. They came from somewhere. Moses didn't just dream them up.
Same as "Eat freely, just do not eat from that one tree" That was the only law in the beginning. But we could not even keep that one.
The Law was set down to bring sin into the open. If there had been no law there would not be sin.
So in a secular society you must go back to before any law was laid out, but we can't go back to paradise no matter how much we would like to.
And the law will not make you moral, it will only tell you the difference between right and wrong, but as we sink deeper into liberalism , we have created a society that is throwing a lot of this out, so we see a society that is falling more and more into bad behaviour. And is more and more confused.
This is why Jesus came, to show us that the law won't save us. The law won't give us a happy life. The law won't give you peace. Because man can't keep the law.
He said, Love God first, and love others. Pretty simple, but we mix it all up with religion, but if we follow Gods moral code that He laid out , then we have a life that is at peace, and we won't kill, we won't steal. We won't commit adultery.
But we can not follow God's moral code unless we follow Jesus, and surrender our lives to Him as our leader, our guide, our strength.
But if we throw God out of society then we have to throw out Love God first and Love others.....
How close has our society come to that?
Monday, September 19, 2005
Organ “Harvesting” Policy in Canada to Allow Terminal Patients to be Killed for Parts?
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Organ “Harvesting” Policy in Canada to Allow Terminal Patients to be Killed for Parts?
TORONTO, September 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Before the practice of organ donation and transplants began, the definition of death was not very difficult. If a person had no signs of life, if his brain, heart and other organs had ceased to show any activity, he was dead. But in the age of transplants and “miraculous” resuscitation, what constitutes death has become a controversial issue. Increasingly, the need to wait until the patient is no longer using his organs, is being overlooked in the rush to get fresh organs to transplant patients. The longer a donor has been dead, the less likely a donated organ will be to “take” in a recipient’s body.
Coupled with the erosion of the value of life from abortion and the rise of euthanasia, assisted suicide and related “end of life” issues, medical ethics is moving more and more into a dangerous grey area. From less-developed countries, it is becoming more common to hear news reports, horror stories, of patients having their organs “harvested” without permission and of poor and marginalized persons being killed for their organs.
Now Canada, always keeping in the forefront of such “developments” in post-modern medical ethics, is considering changing the rules for organ donation to allow organs to be removed after cardiac arrest after life support has been withdrawn. This has some concerned that terminal patients and non-terminal disabled will be prematurely ‘unhooked’ in order to procure organs for transplant. Walter Glannon, a clinical ethicist at the Children’s and Women’s Health Centre in Vancouver said, “The concern is that the removal of organs for transplant will take precedence over the (donor) patient.”
“Life support,” he said, “may be removed prematurely, without going through the medical and ethical protocol.”
The recommendation, by the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation, would have Canada join other countries that are expanding the limits of “ethics” in organ transplants. Dr. Michael DeVita, a critical care physician at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, quoted in today’s National Post, says, “It gets worse when you’re going to withdraw life support and then procure organs. People get more and more concerned that you’re going to be caring for people who are dying inappropriately just to get at their organs.”
The problem is compounded when the definition of “life support” includes food and water, as was the case with Terri Schiavo. In Canada, the medical community considers nutrition and hydration taken by some means other than by mouth, through an abdominal tube for example, to be “extraordinary” means of life support. The practice of passive euthanasia by starvation and dehydration is not uncommon in Canada and the US but it is nearly impossible to obtain reliable statistics.
See National Post article
Catholic medical authority raps 'brain death' criteria
HEART TRANSPLANTS: IS BRAIN DEATH REAL DEATH?
Commentary on the address by Pope John Paul IIto the participants in the International Congress on "Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas" (March 20, 2004)
GOV'T MAY PRESSURE CANADIANS TO DONATE THEIR ORGANS
Organ “Harvesting” Policy in Canada to Allow Terminal Patients to be Killed for Parts?
TORONTO, September 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Before the practice of organ donation and transplants began, the definition of death was not very difficult. If a person had no signs of life, if his brain, heart and other organs had ceased to show any activity, he was dead. But in the age of transplants and “miraculous” resuscitation, what constitutes death has become a controversial issue. Increasingly, the need to wait until the patient is no longer using his organs, is being overlooked in the rush to get fresh organs to transplant patients. The longer a donor has been dead, the less likely a donated organ will be to “take” in a recipient’s body.
Coupled with the erosion of the value of life from abortion and the rise of euthanasia, assisted suicide and related “end of life” issues, medical ethics is moving more and more into a dangerous grey area. From less-developed countries, it is becoming more common to hear news reports, horror stories, of patients having their organs “harvested” without permission and of poor and marginalized persons being killed for their organs.
Now Canada, always keeping in the forefront of such “developments” in post-modern medical ethics, is considering changing the rules for organ donation to allow organs to be removed after cardiac arrest after life support has been withdrawn. This has some concerned that terminal patients and non-terminal disabled will be prematurely ‘unhooked’ in order to procure organs for transplant. Walter Glannon, a clinical ethicist at the Children’s and Women’s Health Centre in Vancouver said, “The concern is that the removal of organs for transplant will take precedence over the (donor) patient.”
“Life support,” he said, “may be removed prematurely, without going through the medical and ethical protocol.”
The recommendation, by the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation, would have Canada join other countries that are expanding the limits of “ethics” in organ transplants. Dr. Michael DeVita, a critical care physician at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, quoted in today’s National Post, says, “It gets worse when you’re going to withdraw life support and then procure organs. People get more and more concerned that you’re going to be caring for people who are dying inappropriately just to get at their organs.”
The problem is compounded when the definition of “life support” includes food and water, as was the case with Terri Schiavo. In Canada, the medical community considers nutrition and hydration taken by some means other than by mouth, through an abdominal tube for example, to be “extraordinary” means of life support. The practice of passive euthanasia by starvation and dehydration is not uncommon in Canada and the US but it is nearly impossible to obtain reliable statistics.
See National Post article
Catholic medical authority raps 'brain death' criteria
HEART TRANSPLANTS: IS BRAIN DEATH REAL DEATH?
Commentary on the address by Pope John Paul IIto the participants in the International Congress on "Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas" (March 20, 2004)
GOV'T MAY PRESSURE CANADIANS TO DONATE THEIR ORGANS
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Children Taught to Question Their Sexuality?
Certain school boards have introduced policy that asks teachers to "combat heterosexism." Many parents will object if their children are asked to question their sexuality.
Compiled by Janet Epp Buckingham | Posted 9/07/05
As children go back to school, it is time to pray and act to ensure that their faith remains intact.
Will the change in the definition of marriage make a difference in what our children are taught at schools?
There is not getting around it, September feels like the beginning of the year. It is back to school. Back to university. Start of new activities. End of summer. End of holidays.
My own kids are starting at new schools this fall. They are moving up. One starts at middle school, the other at high school. There is a sense of anticipation but also of apprehension. What will the new year hold?
For some in public schools, there are new concerns. Will the change in the definition of marriage make a difference in what our children are taught at schools? How will we, as parents, deal with this?
For teachers, cases like the Kempling show a new intent to muzzle teachers. Will teachers be forced to teach material that is contrary to their beliefs?
Pro-gay curricula is not new. The Toronto District School Board developed a human rights policy back in 2001. The TDSB actively encourages teachers to combat "heterosexism" in kindergarten to grade six. "Heterosexism" is the concept that we assume children to be heterosexual.
In both London and Hamilton, the school boards have been developing similar policies, under names like "Equity Policy" and "Safe Schools". There are accusations that these policies have been developed with little input from the public. Many parents will object if their children are asked to question their sexuality.
In Vancouver, a gay couple has brought a human rights complaint that there is a heterosexist bias to public education. Murray and Peter Corren say that children should be taught "queer issues" in school.
In the meantime, what is the place of religion in schools? Over the last few years we have witnessed increasing restrictions on Christian clubs in schools. And few schools have any religious content in their course selection. While a "world religions" course may be on the books, it is rarely taught. And besides, the Correns are not asking for a course to be added to the B.C. curriculum on queer issues, they want it across the curriculum. Does this mean that we can ask for positive portrayals of Christians and "Christian issues" to be taught across the curriculum?
And let's put this in perspective. We have already had to deal with evolution and sex education in public schools.
Sigh. It is no wonder many Christian parents have opted for the alternatives. Homeschooling is very popular across the country. Homeschooling provides Christians with the opportunity to instil Christian virtues in their children while enhancing their education. It does require one parent to be available to be "the teacher," however.
Others choose Christian independent schools. Christian schools provide education from a Christian worldview and allow students to build a strong network of Christian friends who support their faith perspective. There is that problem of paying tuition, however. Even in the most enlightened provinces, only half the per pupil grant is covered by the province. And some provinces do not provide any funding at all for private, Christian schools. Remember too that the Correns have challenged the "heterosexist" curriculum in private schools as well because British Columbia provides some funding to these schools.
Some Protestant parents, and even Muslim parents, have opted for Roman Catholic separate schools in provinces where these are publicly funded (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan). This at least allows students to be educated in a Christian worldview even if it is not entirely consistent with the faith perspective of the parents. My kids went to a Roman Catholic separate school for a time. They found it difficult to be designated "non-Catholic" and excluded from certain religious observances. As Protestant Christians, they felt that they were being treated the same as non-Christians and that their particular faith perspective was not respected.
So, what about those of us who continue to opt for the public school option?
First, we cannot abdicate our responsibilities as parents to take responsibility for educating our children. We must ensure that our children know their own faith. We have to talk with our kids regularly to know what they are learning and if they are being indoctrinated into ideologies that are opposed to what we believe. Incidentally, when it came to learning evolution, my daughter thought it was hilarious that anyone believes that we are descended from monkeys. She chose not to take this up in class as an issue (she was only in grade 5 at the time) but let me know that she does not believe everything her teacher tells her.
Second, we can be involved in the schools themselves. My experience has taught me that parents that are actively involved with parent councils, or their equivalent, have a much stronger voice in the schools. Those who are seen to participate in the life of the school are given access to principals and teachers that others do not enjoy. I realize that not everyone has time to do this but it sure does help if an issue comes up.
Third, we have to be prepared to negotiate around difficult issues. My husband and I had an opportunity to present the message of Jesus at Christmas because the principal was prepared to have a multi-religious assembly at that time. The principal called this the "festival of lights" and let a Jewish parent, a Hindu parent, a Muslim parent and us share what our religious observance means. It was the only way that we could present a Christian message in the school.
Let's not bury our heads in the sand but be proactive with both our children and their teachers.
Lastly, with new issues in schools around marriage and sexuality, we would do well to try to address issues before they happen. Take advantage of the "meet the teacher" night to open dialogue with your children's teachers. Let them know you are Christians, that you pray for the teacher, that you take an active role in your child's education and that you have religious views that you would like respected.
The EFC has some great resources on religion and education. Focus on the Family also has some on-line resources on education. And of course, the Christianity.ca itself has a variety of resources on this topic.
If you, like me, are sending your children off to public school this year with some concerns about what will be imposed on them, know that you are not alone. Let's not bury our heads in the sand but be proactive with both our children and their teachers. But let's assume goodwill on all sides. And, most important, let's remember to pray!
Janet Epp Buckingham is director of Law and Public Policy and general legal counsel for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada in Ottawa.
Compiled by Janet Epp Buckingham | Posted 9/07/05
As children go back to school, it is time to pray and act to ensure that their faith remains intact.
Will the change in the definition of marriage make a difference in what our children are taught at schools?
There is not getting around it, September feels like the beginning of the year. It is back to school. Back to university. Start of new activities. End of summer. End of holidays.
My own kids are starting at new schools this fall. They are moving up. One starts at middle school, the other at high school. There is a sense of anticipation but also of apprehension. What will the new year hold?
For some in public schools, there are new concerns. Will the change in the definition of marriage make a difference in what our children are taught at schools? How will we, as parents, deal with this?
For teachers, cases like the Kempling show a new intent to muzzle teachers. Will teachers be forced to teach material that is contrary to their beliefs?
Pro-gay curricula is not new. The Toronto District School Board developed a human rights policy back in 2001. The TDSB actively encourages teachers to combat "heterosexism" in kindergarten to grade six. "Heterosexism" is the concept that we assume children to be heterosexual.
In both London and Hamilton, the school boards have been developing similar policies, under names like "Equity Policy" and "Safe Schools". There are accusations that these policies have been developed with little input from the public. Many parents will object if their children are asked to question their sexuality.
In Vancouver, a gay couple has brought a human rights complaint that there is a heterosexist bias to public education. Murray and Peter Corren say that children should be taught "queer issues" in school.
In the meantime, what is the place of religion in schools? Over the last few years we have witnessed increasing restrictions on Christian clubs in schools. And few schools have any religious content in their course selection. While a "world religions" course may be on the books, it is rarely taught. And besides, the Correns are not asking for a course to be added to the B.C. curriculum on queer issues, they want it across the curriculum. Does this mean that we can ask for positive portrayals of Christians and "Christian issues" to be taught across the curriculum?
And let's put this in perspective. We have already had to deal with evolution and sex education in public schools.
Sigh. It is no wonder many Christian parents have opted for the alternatives. Homeschooling is very popular across the country. Homeschooling provides Christians with the opportunity to instil Christian virtues in their children while enhancing their education. It does require one parent to be available to be "the teacher," however.
Others choose Christian independent schools. Christian schools provide education from a Christian worldview and allow students to build a strong network of Christian friends who support their faith perspective. There is that problem of paying tuition, however. Even in the most enlightened provinces, only half the per pupil grant is covered by the province. And some provinces do not provide any funding at all for private, Christian schools. Remember too that the Correns have challenged the "heterosexist" curriculum in private schools as well because British Columbia provides some funding to these schools.
Some Protestant parents, and even Muslim parents, have opted for Roman Catholic separate schools in provinces where these are publicly funded (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan). This at least allows students to be educated in a Christian worldview even if it is not entirely consistent with the faith perspective of the parents. My kids went to a Roman Catholic separate school for a time. They found it difficult to be designated "non-Catholic" and excluded from certain religious observances. As Protestant Christians, they felt that they were being treated the same as non-Christians and that their particular faith perspective was not respected.
So, what about those of us who continue to opt for the public school option?
First, we cannot abdicate our responsibilities as parents to take responsibility for educating our children. We must ensure that our children know their own faith. We have to talk with our kids regularly to know what they are learning and if they are being indoctrinated into ideologies that are opposed to what we believe. Incidentally, when it came to learning evolution, my daughter thought it was hilarious that anyone believes that we are descended from monkeys. She chose not to take this up in class as an issue (she was only in grade 5 at the time) but let me know that she does not believe everything her teacher tells her.
Second, we can be involved in the schools themselves. My experience has taught me that parents that are actively involved with parent councils, or their equivalent, have a much stronger voice in the schools. Those who are seen to participate in the life of the school are given access to principals and teachers that others do not enjoy. I realize that not everyone has time to do this but it sure does help if an issue comes up.
Third, we have to be prepared to negotiate around difficult issues. My husband and I had an opportunity to present the message of Jesus at Christmas because the principal was prepared to have a multi-religious assembly at that time. The principal called this the "festival of lights" and let a Jewish parent, a Hindu parent, a Muslim parent and us share what our religious observance means. It was the only way that we could present a Christian message in the school.
Let's not bury our heads in the sand but be proactive with both our children and their teachers.
Lastly, with new issues in schools around marriage and sexuality, we would do well to try to address issues before they happen. Take advantage of the "meet the teacher" night to open dialogue with your children's teachers. Let them know you are Christians, that you pray for the teacher, that you take an active role in your child's education and that you have religious views that you would like respected.
The EFC has some great resources on religion and education. Focus on the Family also has some on-line resources on education. And of course, the Christianity.ca itself has a variety of resources on this topic.
If you, like me, are sending your children off to public school this year with some concerns about what will be imposed on them, know that you are not alone. Let's not bury our heads in the sand but be proactive with both our children and their teachers. But let's assume goodwill on all sides. And, most important, let's remember to pray!
Janet Epp Buckingham is director of Law and Public Policy and general legal counsel for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada in Ottawa.
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