December 2008 Archives

I'm planning on a quiet evening at home but for those of you who are going out to party and might want a little something to boost your energy level, how about James Brown with I Feel Good?

Happy New Year. And, hey, be careful out there.

For the point of view you won't see much of in the traditional media, go read The Washington Note where Steve Clemons has a guest post from Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative.

I wonder if an upcoming budget that will make the Conservative base very unhappy is the reason that MP Rod Bruinooge has been given the green light to spout this gibberish comparing abortion to selling kidneys on eBay. Of course it's a bit early yet but perhaps we can look forward to even more attempts to change the subject. Won't that be fun?

And from the Department of Two Deep Thoughts for the Price of One: Since Andrew Coyne felt so strongly that we needed to have a debate about abortion, I wonder if he'll step up and point out that Bruinooge's arguments are basically crap.

Meanwhile, go read the Zerb who noticed that there are no women in Bruinooge's world, only mothers.

Max Cheung of Stageleft tagged me in comments there and here with balbulican's meme about the history of our working lives that has already matured interestingly. Thanks, Max, and I know I'm late, but here goes.

I was hoping to start us off with this wonderful performance by Rita MacNeil and The Men of the Deeps of "It's a Workin' Man I Am," but it seems that all the good Rita embeds have been disabled. Oh, well. One way or another, y'know.

My work history, the story of my misspent youth, happens on the turn (our main page being a family-viewing site).

For a lot of people this is the middle of an especially long weekend and a chance to unwind. Here's something you can enjoy over that second or third cup of coffee. It's a little Flecktones funk: Let Me Be The One.

A few weeks ago there was a discussion in comments in which someone asked for some Ray Charles. That seems like a good idea so I guess it's request night. Three of these are from the same 1963 show that has Charles fronting a very good jazz band. Here's What'd I Say.

Eartha Kitt (1927 - 2008)

Our blog lost one of its best friends this year, Melanie of Just a Bump in the Beltway and the Flu Wiki. For Melanie, Christmas was a time to cook up a storm and to celebrate, in spite of everything. It's still hard to believe that Melanie is gone.

Some of us have lost other loved ones this year, and this quiet snowy night brings back memories of the best we have known and loved. This performance is for them. It's not a Christmas song, and it's not a requiem. It's a hymn of praise to what we know as holy or (loosely interpreted) to those who have joined the saints.

Jessye Norman, the Sanctus from Gounod's Messe solennelle, with the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon and the Chœur Régional Vittoria d'Île de France. Yes, that is Notre Dame de Paris whose vastness they are filling with glorious sound.

To absent friends. *clink*

Oddly enough I had occasion to post the same tune last year around this time.

I'm out of here until Friday. Stay safe, everyone.

Somehow, Nicole Eaton just isn't working for me. The other few familiar names I see on Steve's list also make me feel that Canada really must be bigger than that.

So I thought I'd try my hand at this game. I didn't get all the way to eighteen, but then I'm not in as much of a rush as Steve appears to be, and I'm more willing to take input from others.

First draft of my list on the turn, and please feel free to add your own nominations.

Jill has done the right thing. The Bidens are going to get two puppies, and Jill says the second is going to be a pound dog.

Now there's a word from my youth -- not a shelter dog (those Obamas -- such young latte liberals, eh?) but a dog from the good ole-fashioned pound. Och, the man always makes me laugh.

I'm frustrated that there is (so far) no embeddable clip of that part of Biden's interview yesterday with George Stephanopoulos. You can watch if you go here, scroll down to VIP Puppies, then look to the left and click on the appropriate Watch. Or you could watch the entire interview, much of which is also up on a bad-quality YouTube but without the last segments -- the personal stuff, the gossip -- you know: the stuff that really counts.

The lines about his grandkids are priceless. The guy is obviously smitten. Even when he's making teh famous gaffes, you know his heart is in a good place.

Not that I'm endorsing the foreign policy or anything, you understand. And then there are the war crimes to be prosecuted ...

This has been another edition of Simple Answers to Simple Questions.

The "Bloc veto" on a Lib-NDP coalition government is a complete fabrication as is evident to anyone who reads the coalition agreement and as is reinforced by the post linked to above. It's not at all surprising that our prime minister is prepared to lie repeatedly about this. That's what he does. It's been interesting to see how many media figures are prepared to repeat that lie quite shamelessly.

On behalf of those of us here in southern Ontario who got clobbered with a snow storm today, I went looking for music that would make me think of warmer places and I came back with Jimmy Buffett. This is One Particular Harbour. There's a minor glitch near the end but I thought the dancing guitar player made up for it.

Back in the spring, CSIS Director Jim Judd was in the news after giving a speech in which, among other things, he lamented the erosion of public trust and confidence in agencies such as the one he runs. I don't have a link to any of the news stories that reported it, but I can send you to the speech itself. And here's the relevant portion:

The last several decades have seen a steady increase in what some have referred to as the "deference deficit" vis-à-vis institutions - public, private, and voluntary. Public trust and confidence in these has been steadily in decline and the intelligence community has certainly not been exempt from this trend.

In fact, it may be that the intelligence community has been more subject to this trend than many other public institutions. It is, after all, according to one of my former foreign colleagues, a business that is too often better known for its failures than its successes.

Or it may be that people don't trust CSIS because CSIS itself no longer defers to, you know, the law.

Microsoft has released a patch for the security vulnerability in Internet Explorer pogge referred to a couple of posts down. I applied this patch last night and, so far, no problems. I suggest you apply the patch regardless of whether or not you use IE. There are many other applications that use the IE rendering engine so you might be vulnerable even if you don't use IE itself. Why take the chance?

There are always a few smug non IE users out there. Firefox users among them might want to stop thumbing their noses at IE users long enough to download the 8 patches Mozilla has just released to plug 13 vulnerabilities.

Description of vulnerabilities for both browsers and links to the patches are here. BTW - I tried to download the patches for both Firefox and Opera this morning and struck out on both.

Ottawa predicts four consecutive years of deficits

The federal government is anticipating at least four years of budget deficits -- even before Ottawa spends a dime on stimulating the economy.
...
The deficits are forecast to occur even if the government proceeds with billions of dollars in asset sales and cost cutting it proposed in the doomed Nov. 27 economic update.

And I'm guessing we can thank the threat of the coalition (and possibly Kevin Page) for at least forcing the release of this info.

Apparently there is a serious security vulnerability in IE 7 that wasn't discovered until hackers began exploiting it. You can find out more at this Daily Kos diary.

The recommendation is to switch to another browser at least until Microsoft issues a patch. Unfortunately, I know of people who use the internet on the job and are basically down if they can't use IE because the websites they need to access only function properly with IE. So I'd recommend at least a three part solution though there are additional steps you can take (and the first step always applies anyway):

1. Don't say Yes or OK to requests on the internet that take you by surprise even if it appears someone is trying to help you. Don't download anything or allow any site to scan your system if you don't know the source and can't find independent sources who will vouch for it.

2. Keep your anti-virus software up to date and scan your system regularly.

3. Figure out how to apply pressure on companies whose websites only work properly when employing Microsoft's proprietary technology. That can be a tall order, I know.

From Zoom at KnitNut:

“Yes,” I said, “I’m refusing.”

“Real nice,” he said in disgust, “Thanks a lot.”

And he turned around and started to walk back to the knot of officers and the unconscious handcuffed woman.

“It’s still Canada,” said a young man in the crowd.

The cop wheeled around.

“You say something?” he demanded of the young man.

“Yeah,” he replied, “I said ‘It’s still Canada.’”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” demanded the cop.

“It means,” said the young man, “that we have rights here. She can take a picture of anything she wants and she doesn’t have to delete it just because you say so.”

“Oh yeah?” demanded the cop, “I told her I work undercover and I don’t want my picture anywhere, but she doesn’t care what happens to me.”

“Maybe she cares about what happens to that person lying unconscious on the sidewalk,” suggested the young man.

“You a lawyer?” demanded the cop, “Cause if you’re not a lawyer then mind your own business.”

Then, inexplicably, the cop said, “You own property? Eh? You own property? Cause I own property. That means I pay police tax. If you don’t own property, you don’t pay police tax!”

Got that? A Canadian police officer believes that, unless you're a lawyer or own property, you have no right to speak in a public place, certainly no right to contradict him, no matter what he and his cohorts have been doing to a defenceless woman.

First, please read Zoom's full narrative. It will frighten you because, even without those photos, you'll know it is a story that could happen, one way or another, to any of us but most especially to the most vulnerable among us.

It will also inspire you. Zoom's courage in the face of that bullycop was awesome, and it was also contagious. A young man in the crowd spoke up and spoke back. That's how we do it, citizens.

Second, if you're a blogger, please link to Zoom's story, and then send the link to your own post to the Ottawa Police Service complaints site. Bene Diction has further advice for citizens who live in Ottawa.

It's still Canada. So many of us know why that young man piped up with that curious sentence, both worried and proud. The rest of us have to pipe up too. That is the only way that the martinets who think they are in charge are going to get the message.

If it's irresponsible to say that you'll oppose a budget before you've even seen it, then how is it responsible to suggest that you should support a budget before you've even seen it?

Newly-minted Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff should not defeat the Harper government on the budget vote next month, but he should try to buy some time to rebuild the party, fundraise, and define his leadership before the Conservatives define him as they did to former leader Stéphane Dion, say some top Liberals.

In interviews last week, Grit sources said that, strategically, Liberals will be better off by not being in government as it is widely expected the economy will continue to worsen and massive job layoffs will occur.

Irate Iraqi journalist bids farewell to George W. Bush today in Baghdad:

Now, folks: don't anyone start thinking about trying this at home.

Wonderful karmic moment though this is -- for most of the people living in the world, I should think -- and many though the good jokes are going to be, I can't help worrying about what is happening to that guy right now. I hope that someone stays on top of the story (and not on top of him), and that the world makes it clear that we would feel nothing but contempt for any authority that abused or charged him.

Thanks to mattt with three tees, who always gets to the good titles first.

On Canada's performance at the UN climate change talks at Poznan: Yeah, we really suck but we talk a good game.

From Gordon Sinclair Jr.'s column in the Winnipeg Free Press:

The pencil-printed letter, in the unmistakable hand of a child, was contained on a single piece of lined, three-ringed binder paper.

And addressed to the Free Press.

"Dear Sir

"My name is Calli Vanderaa.

"I'm 9 years old and I live with my daddy.

"One day we found a little puppy in the BFI bin in our lane. Somebody had put 3 puppies in there and set them on fire.

"Two of the puppies died but daddy and I saved one that was sitting in the corner crying. We took her home and named her Jessie. She is happy and growing bigger every day..."

The return address was a house in a section of the North End that is, arguably, the most dangerous neighbourhood in the city.

Further to yesterday's discussion about Republican senators' efforts to block government assistance to the automotive industry, MSNBC's Countdown has obtained an internal Republican strategy memo which includes this:

This is the democrats first opportunity to payoff organized labor after the election. This is a precursor to card check and other items. Republicans should stand firm and take their first shot against organized labor, instead of taking their first blow from it.

No, that doesn't mean that anyone who agreed with this particular stand is necessarily guilty of the same kind of motivation. But walking back from high-fiving these jackasses might be in order because their stand on this had everything to do with punishing their partisan opponents and seeking political advantage on the backs of people losing their jobs. It had nothing to do with what might be best for the overall economy.

H/t to Josh Marshall.

Immediate update:

And a hat-tip to Jeff House in comments on the earlier post. He reported this news this afternoon and I was too distracted when I read his comment to grasp the significance.

Further update:

Auto Worker “Parity” and the Corruption of America’s Political Elite

Detroit's “business model,” now so widely condemned by those who control a failed "government model," was not GM’s alone; it was, and still is, America’s business model. They made the cars and trucks we wanted, and we used our tax dollars to build highways and unsustainable credit schemes to build sprawling communities across America to show off our freedom. If they were blind, so were we. And if that model must now be radically reformed, we and our leaders must take collective responsibility for that task, not put it on the backs of auto workers.

So far today I've seen at least two different bloggers base their posts on this poll-based article (though Wells links to it in a different CanWest paper) as if we can draw definitive conclusions from it. If you check you'll find the story doesn't reproduce the exact questions asked in the poll nor are there internals supplied. And if you drop by the Ipsos Reid website you'll be politely informed that the information in question is "Premium Content" and you must be a subscriber to see it.

It gets silly enough to watch the news media themselves commission these polls — creating their own news — and then report on what they supposedly tell us about public opinion without acknowledging said media's own role in creating that opinion. But it's even sillier when we can't see exactly what the poll results really mean. Believe it or not even a poll that originates as an honest attempt to measure opinion rather than a push poll designed to manipulate it can still ask questions in such a way as to render it less than useful. And besides, measuring a new Liberal leader's popularity without telling us the regional distribution of results in a country like Canada really doesn't tell us much.

I find it difficult to get excited about stories like these. So usually I don't.

PS:

On the other hand, allow me to join a number of bloggers who are encouraging everyone to read this Paul Wells piece on Stephen Harper.

I write first to make sure that people read Alison's analysis at Creekside of the BC Criminal Justice Branch report on the death of Robert Dziekanski just over a year ago at Vancouver International Airport.

As Alison says in comments, there is a more serious inquiry yet to come, the Braidwood inquiry, where we have to hope that all these sketchy references to unnamed medical experts, pathologists who draw imaginative conclusions, and experts in "addiction psychiatry" will be filled in and tested, because those unnamed experts will all be on the stand, answering lawyers of a calibre apparently not available to the BC Criminal Justice Branch. [NB: Please see Alison's corrections to this paragraph in comments below.]

We have problems with the RCMP, our local police forces, and the flaccid civilian authorities who seem not to know how to do their own research or assert proper democratic authority over the police.

I'm just as concerned, though, at the authority that our governments and courts give to purely speculative disciplines like psychology and psychiatry, and I am appalled to hear that qualified pathologists (who are supposed to be able to assess some factual things factually, like cardiac arrest) would fail to stop at the limits of their expertise and instead go on to invent a new fantasy cause of death, "Sudden Death Following Restraint," which is apparently the new "excited derlirium."

It's bad enough that pseudo-science, in this case believably tainted by political and commercial considerations, should be used to trash the memory of an innocent man. That people who claim to be medical professionals would pretend to be able to channel the mental state of someone they never met. That they should be doing Bill Frist-style long-distance diagnoses, and that any of this should be taken seriously by just about anyone else.

But it is terrifying to remember that our courts, our media, the general public are intimidated by this kind of intellectual fakery and assent too often to its use on those who are still alive.

I've been thinking for a while about what to me was a horrifying CBC report on how the return of Omar Khadr to Canada might be managed. It made me sick and furious, and I'm still trying to think of how to express that.

So that's why this post is called part one. For now, my tribute to Robert Dziekanski, for whom I lit a candle a year ago at Queen's Park, and my deepest condolences to his mother, Sofia Cisowski.

If you've read the preceding post and the conversation it spawned, you might not be surprised that I went looking for this: the Strawbs performing Part of the Union.

I was more than a little surprised to run into a post on the Progressive Bloggers front page cheering Republican senators on for blocking the bridge loan package for the American automotive industry.

Including spin-offs, it's been estimated that the Big 3 (or Big 2.5 according to some) employ some 3 million Americans. And it's been noted in a number of places that simply expecting their competitors like Honda and Toyota to pick up the slack if the domestic manufacturers go under is unrealistic. The international automotive companies rely on suppliers who, in turn, also rely on business from the Big 3 to stay afloat. If those suppliers go under, then Honda and Toyota have problems of their own.

Everyone agrees that the Big 3 management have been short-sighted and have made mistakes. But the GOP senators who have tried to block any aid package have done so because they claim they can't get appropriate concessions from the line workers who, as it happens, are unionized. And who, as it happens, already made serious concessions when they negotiated their last contract. And those senators have demagogued the issue by touting a phony figure of $73 per hour in total compensation for those workers. The figure was arrived at by totaling wages and benefits for all workers past and present. It's a bogus figure that can't be used for comparisons with Toyota's employees working in American plants.

The American government managed to find hundreds of billions of dollars for the banking industry and we're still seeing stories of banking executives who are getting six and seven figure retention bonuses. But they can't find $15 billion to keep the Big 3 from going into bankruptcy? Oh, right. The banking executives aren't unionized.

I hope everyone is still cheering when this recession becomes a full-blown depression. That'll sure show those unions.

Update:

Need more coffee. The reference to "the day after the Jan. 26 resumption..." is to the budget itself, not the delivery of the opposition's proposals. I'll leave the original post up as a reminder to myself not to blog until fully awake. You can laugh at me in comments if you're so inclined.

Impolitical already has a post up on this Globe and Mail article. It's primarily about Michael Ignatieff and the preparations he's making to come up with a plan for dealing with the economy. I just wanted to draw attention to this one section:

The official [in the Prime Minister's Office] said the Liberals should submit specific proposals for what they want to see in the budget, to be delivered the day after the Jan. 26 resumption of Parliament.

Is this the way this government prepares a budget? By just throwing it together on the day it's due? I guess it would explain a lot.

Apparently, the US lost. First there was their inability in the end to force the Iraqi government to hand over the oil. Now there’s the new SOFA, or Status of Forces Agreement.

the 150,000 American troops in Iraq will withdraw from cities, towns and villages by June 30, 2009 and from all of Iraq by December 31, 2011. The Iraqi government will take over military responsibility for the Green Zone in Baghdad, the heart of American power in Iraq, in a few weeks time. Private security companies will lose their legal immunity. US military operations and the arrest of Iraqis will only be carried out with Iraqi consent. There will be no US military bases left behind when the last US troops leave in three years time and the US military is banned in the interim from carrying out attacks on other countries from Iraq.

The agreement turns on their head all the key provisions that the US had put in the draft they recommended. The Americans are being kicked out. It’s a measure of how unwelcome this agreement is to the United States that they have not even translated it into English, the better to sweep it under the carpet.

Let’s put it this way: Iran has said publicly that they approve of the agreement.

I think the bigger part of the story concerning Stephen Harper's impending appointments to the Senate is that with everything else that's going on, this is what emerges as one of his priorities. It's not as if those 18 seats suddenly became vacant in the last week.

Jobless Claims at 26-Year High; Import Prices Fall

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits surged to a 26-year high last week, Labor Department data showed on Thursday, as a deepening recession forced employers to cut back on hirings.

Also, U.S import prices saw their largest monthly decline on record in November as the costs for imported oil and non-petroleum products tumbled, highlighting the deteriorating economic envrionment.

H/t to Atrios 'cos I hear he really needs the traffic I can send him.

There has been a lot of comment recently about the way the Conservatives have tried to distract from an economic crisis by reigniting a national unity crisis. It's worth noting that our current electoral system makes it easier for unscrupulous politicians to take advantage of regional issues in that way. See James Bow (h/t to Declan). And then check out the last paragraph in this post by Paul Wells.

The idea of coalition governments appears to send some of our political reporters in search of a fainting couch. They need to get over it because with a more reasonable electoral system, coalition governments would be the new normal.

Update:

CTV is now following the CBC practice of completely rewriting the article I link to while I'm not looking. The section I quoted in the original post below is still there but the opening is now less ambiguous.

Brand new Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said Wednesday he would honour the days-old coalition with the NDP to topple the Conservatives.

"I am prepared to form a coalition government, and to lead that government and provide Canada with the security and stability it needs," Ignatieff said in Ottawa Wednesday afternoon.

You've probably all heard about the proposed coalition government with the Liberals and the NDP joining forces to form a cabinet and draft policy and the Bloc agreeing to provide support on confidence votes for at least 18 months. But with a new Liberal leader comes a new idea: the uncoalition!

Fife also said senior Liberals have told him that they may not need a coalition to form a new government.

"If they do defeat the Conservative government... Ignatieff will go to the Governor General and say 'We think we can form the government but we don't have to do it with a coalition,'" Fife said.

"In other words we don't have to give the NDP any seats in a Liberal government."

He said the NDP and Block (sic) would have to support the Liberals because they already have expressed their hatred towards the Conservative government.

Admittedly this is from Robert Fife playing stenographer for the ubiquitous and anonymous "senior Liberals." And discovering that there are, in fact, senior Liberals with this attitude isn't a big surprise. But given the article's opening, which features Ignatieff talking both sides of an issue at the same time in typical Ignatieff fashion, it has the ring of truth to it. I'm afraid the coalition is dead. Ignatieff could easily change that impression and he could start by telling "senior Liberals" to STFU. But I'm not holding my breath.

And our Department of Finance doesn't want you to have them.

Impolitical points us to evidence that even though parliamentarians are having an unplanned vacation from the House of Commons, some of our public servants continue to report for duty.

Canada's parliamentary budget officer is publicly questioning the projected budget surpluses of the Conservative government's recent economic statement and is asking for evidence to back up the predictions.

He also asked for economic data and assumptions used for the 2008 budget and recent economic statement. Finance refused to give the data for the 2008 budget even though the numbers are routinely turned over to Bay Street forecasters. The assumptions, key to estimating the impact of economic volatility, used to be published by previous governments.

The usual suspects are lining up to proclaim that Harper should be allowed to continue to have his way with our institutions. The latest is that even if his budget on the 27th of next month fails, if he insists on a dissolution of parliament and a new election rather than having the Governor General turn to an alternative governing coalition, then he should get what he wants. Their position seems to be based at least in part on the idea that Harper is displaying some competence at the business of governing. But if you look closely, it seems fairer to say he's simply mastering the art of withholding information to make it appear as though he's governing competently because no one can actually argue otherwise until it's too late.

The Bank of Canada has used the 'r' word.

The Bank of Canada chopped a key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point Tuesday as the central bank moved to combat economic weakness.
...
"While Canada's economy evolved largely as expected during the summer and early autumn, it is now entering a recession as a result of the weakness in global economic activity," the bank said.

I guess the Liberal party's leadership race just got a lot simpler.

Bob Rae has told his supporters in a conference call Tuesday that he will end his bid for the Liberal leadership, CTV News has learned.

CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife confirmed the report saying Rae will not challenge frontrunner Michael Ignatieff.

Now we need to see where Ignatieff really stands on the coalition. Ball's in your court, Iggy.

National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women

6 December 1989, Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal

April Reign has begun a beautiful resource page that is both a tribute to the fourteen young women who died this day nineteen years ago and a site that we hope will grow with thoughtful contributions about the legacy of this day.

I urge everyone of good will to read the articles that April has already assembled, and to watch the videos. Governments may pay lip service to the horror and the tragedy of that day by declaring national commemorations, but if this story is history, it is living history. It continues. We have too many signs, from our governments and our culture generally, that the reality of that massacre has never truly broken through to so many people.

Born free. We all were. And it is essential that our laws declare and defend that principle. It would be much better if, one day, all citizens genuinely believed it.

To my sisters, with love.

Yesterday evening I was looking at photos taken at a coalition rally on Parliament Hill when the hook line from a Doobie Brothers tune popped into my head. So that's what you get this evening. This is Takin' It To The Streets. Michael McDonald, who wrote the tune, isn't along on this trip but you'll meet the keyboard player who is before they really get into it (along with one of the largest bass players I've ever seen).

So, ok, I know I'm not Shakespeare, and I'm not Tom Lehrer either, although man, do I miss him and hope he is doing well.

But as Tom would say, I have a modest little something here. First, I'll give you the original:

Tom Lehrer, The Vatican Rag (1965)

And now, for my thoughts on the word we've all been stumbling to pronounce for days:

Doin' the Proroguin' Rag

First you strike a nasty pose,
Sneer at all imagined foes,
Plot a government of hate, and
Terminate, terminate, terminate.

Ministers are merely puppets,
Write their speeches for your Muppets,
When you face resistance,
You can find assistance by
Doin’ the proroguin’ rag!

Motorcade across the avenue,
Keep that presidential attitude,
There the lady who is your senior will
Warn you that your act is mean, but still,
If it is, try fakin’ sincerity,
Agree to compromise and clarity,
Two, four, six, eight,
Time to grovel and ingratiate.

So disguise that nasty pose,
Grin at journalists in rows,
Duck a well-deser-ved fate, and
Terminate, terminate, terminate.

Lock the doors of Parliament,
Bigotry is heaven-sent,
Slander all the socialists,
Don’t leave out the separatists,
Gettin’ tyrannical,
Sorta fanatical,
Doin’ the proroguin’ rag!

Anyone who wishes to dispute my scansion might check Tom's lyrics here. As I remember Tom, he could fit in anything he felt like fitting in, so that was the principle I followed. I know I cheated on a bunch of rhymes. All suggestions for improvement welcome.

I wanted to thank you for running this Canadian Press story that points out how Conservatives are misrepresenting our system of government and the legitimacy of the coalition attempts to relieve Stephen Harper of power. Now if you could just be sure to have Robert Fife read it, that would be really awesome.

Love,
pogge

(H/t to Jason Townsend in comments.)

[Promoted from a comment by Eric Finley to the last post. I'm taking his preamble to mean he has no problem with this. I'm still mulling this over myself but certainly this would demonstrate that opposition to Stephen Harper and to the events of the last week isn't just some fleeting, momentary frustration. And it would demonstrate that objection to today's decision is based on both serious concern for our democracy and for the urgency of the occasion. So, for your consideration, consider this to be a guest post. -p]

Keep meeting.

To the coalition: Keep meeting.

Parliament has been prorogued. So you're not meeting in an official capacity. But nonetheless meet as if you were not prorogued.

Find a site. Pay for it yourselves, and be explicit about that. You're citizens meeting to speak. But in so doing, keep up the business of Parliament. Debate. Draft bills. Hold (unofficial) committee meetings. Vote... on memoranda of understanding.

Show the country, its citizens, and its investors that while you do not argue with the legality of the delay, you see no need to go on vacation in this crucial economic time. Assume (without even explicitly saying it) that in January when Parliament reconvenes, Harper will fall, the coalition will form government, and the memoranda of understanding and drafted bills will be dealt with, bang-bang-bang, because you have already hashed this out.

Invite the Conservatives to join you. If you get some momentum, you might get no few disgruntled members willing to bet that Harper's fury will not control their lives.

Let the Conservatives take an extended vactation. Shrink the proposed vacation period instead, to mark the severity of the economic need.

Make it plain that you do not dispute Her Excellency's right to consent to her nominal first minister's request to prorogue, and that you respect her for making a difficult decision in uncharted waters. Open each session with a consistent, well-crafted adaptation of protocol which is sufficiently distinct that it does not trespass upon Parliament's formal privileges... but that nonetheless shows clearly that you do this out of the uttermost respect for the Queen, the Governor General, and the Canadian people.

Repeat frequently that you're just trying to get work done now, so that things can happen fast when the doors unlock in January. It can't be trespass upon the privileges of government if its level of formality is that of a caucus meeting.

Be completely transparent. Defeat the smoke-filled rooms meme. Heck, hold it in a bar, if you can find one big enough.

The media will come to you. I can think of no more efficient way to stretch your advertising dollars than a bold, newsworthy stroke like this.

If you do this, I will donate to the limit of my ability. I will write letters to the editor praising your actions. I will take my four children and go door to door. In Edmonton. In December.

Pass it on.

KEEP MEETING.

GG approves PM's request to suspend Parliament: CTV

Which sets the precedent that any time a prime minister fears he's lost the confidence of the House of Commons, he can go to the GG and ask her to prorogue parliament.

Can we now refer to it as Canada's Absentee Government™?

Kady O'Malley is live-blogging Stephen Harper's visit to the Governor General. While standing outside Rideau Hall she writes:

... a tip to those organizing nonpartisan grassroots demonstrations: most of us who work on the Hill can recognize Conservative staffers - even when they’re all decked out like ordinary Canadians.

No turning blue this morning, citizens. And while we're waiting, may I have this dance?

Kate and Anna McGarrigle, The Log-Driver's Waltz

Vive la révolution du sirop d'érable!

(Well, if the Rev is ready and willing, I'm ready too.)

I just spent a half hour watching CTV's live stream of what was supposed to be an address by Prime Minister Harper followed by an address by opposition leader Stéphane Dion. What I actually saw was a briefer than expected address by Harper followed by filler involving Lloyd Robertson, Robert Fife, Craig Oliver and Peter Donolo. The filler was necessary because the tape with Dion's address didn't show up. At 7:30 pm ET, the end of the period which CTV had scheduled for this particular bit of political theatre, they went on to their next scheduled program.

I could make a few points about the way Harper misrepresented the situation. I could add a few points about the way the CTV pundits presented things. But I'm not sure there would be any point because the story of the evening for anyone who watched the CTV broadcast is that the coalition was a no-show. At one point, in reference to the missing tape, Fife used the word "incompetence." Protesting that is going to sound more than a little hollow.

I've gathered from comments at this post at Far and Wide that the CBC eventually got the tape and ran it, and that Dion did a good job. But people who tuned in to CTV will never know that unless, like me, they actually went looking to find out what happened.

My title is an understatement. Aside from being MIA, the coalition just gave Fife and Oliver in particular about twenty minutes to ad lib and the longer they talked, the worse it got unless you're a Stephen Harper supporter.

Harper wants to talk national unity? Sure, let’s talk national unity. To start with, the proposed coalition represents a majority of Canadians. Harper’s government represents a minority of Canadians. Which is more likely to serve national unity? The proposed coalition has roots and interests spread through every region of Canada, seats everywhere except the prairies (with one exception). The Conservatives have seats in various places, but the current brouhaha makes clear that their roots and interests are primarily in Alberta. Policy-wise, the Conservatives are making clear that they aren’t even serving the corporations in general (most of whom actually would kind of like some economic stimulus just now), they’re serving banks and Alberta oil. Certainly not serving the Ontario or Quebec employment situation, definitely not serving the Maritimes, pretty clearly not even serving Saskatchewan (think Wheat Board), and Harper’s tendency to piss on trade with China probably isn’t a big hand up for BC. What that leaves is not exactly a broad base for Canadian unity. The Cons' tendency to scorched-earth politics in which everyone other than them is an evil traitor is also not precisely conducive to national unity.

But wait, you say. The reason the Cons say the coalition is bad for national unity is that the Bloc have pledged to support it. And the Bloc are, you know, separatists. Surely that’s bad, you say (actually, you probably don’t, but bear with me for the sake of this hackneyed expository device). Well, I have news: The Bloc MPs were already elected. They are already in the House of Commons. They already get votes in parliament. Given that, which is more divisive—separatist MPs remaining separate, throwing stones at the workings of Canadian government? Or separatist MPs agreeing to support the Canadian government for the sake of our linked fates, becoming entangled in the ongoing project of Canada? I’d say the coalition is a sizable victory for national unity. Or at least it would be, if the Conservatives would stop foaming at the mouth about those horrible Bloquistes and by extension the horrible Quebecois who voted for them.

Um, what?

The whole world is watching and our closest ally - the United States - is worried as Canada goes through a "constitutional psychodrama," Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Tuesday.

Cannon told the Commons he expected president-elect Barack Obama's nominee for secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to ask about the stability of Canada's government. He is hoping to have his first conversation with Clinton on Wednesday.

I know it's still early in the day but it will be awfully hard to beat this quote from an anonymous Conservative MP

."A national televised address would be a great idea" for Harper, said one Conservative MP. "Real and abject humility is an even better idea."

Well, a sense of humour certainly helps get you through the tough times.

We don’t all have this raging, mad anger at the BQ.
-- Red Tory

No, we don't.

I was very pleased to see Red's post this morning about our "Mental Bloc." We've all been hearing the hysterical cries from the confused persons who still don't grasp or accept that a prime minister must have the confidence of the Commons to govern. "Liberals! Socialists! Separatists! Cooties! Gah!"

Well, yes: those would be the MPs that about 60 per cent of those who voted in the last election voted for, eh? But neocon ignorance, fear, and loathing for parliamentary democracy is not my text for the moment.

Red was taking apart this silly report in the Vancouver Sun by Barbara Yaffe, and I commend to y'all Red's sly skewering of both Yaffe and her "internationally recognized constitutional expert," Ted McWhinney. As Red says, not a lot of substance there, and besides, outpaced already.

What still needs answering is the hysteria about the BQ in general and Duceppe in particular. To me, reasonable people would look at the record. Gilles Duceppe has been a federal public servant longer than any of the other national party leaders. He was first elected as an MP in 1990, and any fair-minded person has to recognize that he has spent most of the years intervening thinking about and voting on many issues that are not Quebec-specific. To me, that is an admirable record, deserving of respect. I have no idea how he thinks about these things privately, but I know that, in practice, he has worked hard on many issues that matter to all Canadians, and in so doing he has defended the rights of citizens of every province. Again and again he has fought and voted for the best interests of Canadian workers, families, women, children, and our troops.

Of the Harper-Flaherty nastiness last week, Duceppe said that

... his party cannot support a fiscal update that runs counter to Quebec's values and seeks to roll back electoral financing reforms inspired by former Parti Québécois premier René Levesque.

"The Conservative government is putting ideology before the economy and before people," Duceppe told the House. "They are attacking the rights of women, of workers and they are attacking Quebec. This update very clearly goes against the interests and the values of Quebec and we will oppose it categorically."

So, ok, he has to throw in the obligatory provincial code. But if those are the values of Quebec, they are my values too.

I don't think we have a problem here ... unless you happen simply to be determined to send up alarms about anyone who dares to speak on behalf of other people, of women, and of workers. Scary words, eh? Scary guy? I don't think so.

Since Stéphane Dion has no experience as prime minister and hasn't earned the job, it's imperative that Stephen Harper resign in favour of another Conservative who has no experience as prime minister and hasn't earned the job.

H/t to Impolitical.

mahigan baked a cake but ... well, you don't want to know. The coffee's on us, though.

I just like this, so I hope you will too:

Louis Armstrong and Johnny Cash, Blue Yodel No. 9

It’s been suggested that there is in some sense no longer a need to actually form the coalition and turf the Cons—the opposition could use the power that comes from having that coalition ready to force the Conservatives to pass legislation as good as a coalition would have. There are a lot of reasons I really don’t think that’s at all true.

But let’s imagine it was. There’s an equally compelling reason to get rid of Harpo, aside from actual legislation. We've learned over the past couple of years that legislation is at most half of the picture. Much of the damage done by the Cons over the past while has been done not in the Commons, but by the Prime Minister’s Office and cabinet ministers through control over ministries and other extra-parliamentary powers. It's been done by creating or destroying regulations, firing watchdogs for doing their job, directing ministries to do worthless or evil things, representing the country badly internationally. From weakening environmental treaties to screwing over the wheat board, the Cons have not needed control of parliament to do harm. Kick Harper out the door and all those shenanigans go with him.