2008-10-02
Citizens Against Carbon Tax
Mr. Charles Vautour
106 Connolly Street
Moncton, NB E1A 3L1

Results from the 2006 New Brunswick provincial election:

DISTRICT: SHEDIAC-CAP-PELÉ

Victor E. Boudreau LIB 5116 56.61% X
Léo Doiron PC 3639 40.26%
Charles Vautour NDP 283 3.13%

(I wonder if he's any relation to former NDP-turned-Progressive Conservative MP Angela Vautour?)

I think Dion's bad interview with ATV has once again turned attention back to his leadership skills. It has allowed the Tories to build their support to the Liberal's determent. This story is especially told in Ontario, where the Liberals are once again on offence after briefly eclipsing the Torries late in the campaign.

In Quebec, the picture is not likely to change much from the last election. The Bloc has recovered after a shaky start and now stands solidly at 41%. Even the Liberals have seemed to recover after an anticipated death spiral. Most importantly, the Conservative support has mellowed and remains within Liberal striking distance.

Strikingly, for a campaign the Conservative's wanted to run on leadership, Harper ranks fourth of five in leadership rankings. He is behind Duceppe, Layton and May. He is ahead of only Dion, who was actually ahead earlier this month.

I suspect that the numbers will stabilize in the voting booth. The prospect of a Conservative majority still scares most Canadians. Therefore, I anticipate a Harper minority. The Liberals won't do as badly as some may suggest. They will loose a few seats, but be ready to fight another day. Most importantly, I anticipate they will still be Her Majesty's Official Opposition. The Bloc will probably pick up a seat, the NDP two or three, but they will still stand third and fourth in the house, respectively. The Green's, despite their gains, will not win any seats. Their best chance is Vancouver Centre under candidate Adrienne Carr. She will do very well, but will fall just short (probably within a 100 votes, give or take). And so, as Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney had suggested, nothing much will change as a result of this election.

I attended a federal election all-candidates meeting last Tuesday. This depressed me, because I live in Langley. Langley is a Conservative stronghold. I already knew that, but to hear it in the form of claps and cheers in response to statements expressing sentiments such as 'global warming is a myth' and 'brocolli is a gmo food' made the prevailing ignorance of my community weigh all-too-heavily on my weary tree-huggin' bleeding-heart.

What has astonished me time and again though, is the secrecy and doubletalk the conservatives seem to get away with. On the televised english language leaders debate, Stephen Harper completely ignored Gilles Duceppe's challenge to explain the reasoning behind the controversial arts cuts the conservatives made. For those not in the know, these cuts were made on the basis of some arts programs being 'inefficient', but the reasoning behind these claims has never been publicly released. Go figure. 'Inefficient', perhaps, as in not mass-market, as in not mainstream, as in accepting of the status quo. These cuts weren't economic so much as they were ideological. Stephen Harper and the conservatives have effectively severed the Canadian cultural voice of those who would oppose him. So much for democracy. Mark Warawa, the conservative incumbent in Langley, made a similar dodge at the all candidates meeting last week. A member of the audience came and asked the candidates to comment on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (or SPP). If you've never heard of this, please go read about it. It is, as Andrew Claxton, the NDP candidate in Langley, referred to it, "NAFTA on steroids". This is an economic and social plan to integrate Canada and the United States (and Mexico?) more fully, severing key aspects of our sovereignty and would force us toward a socio-economic structure similar to that of the US. All the candidates before Mark Warawa spoke negatively of this plan, and particularly of the shame in the secrecy under which it is being discussed and planned. (i.e. not in parliament)... Even Jake Gray, the Liberal Candidate, despite the fact that it was his party that signed on to it under Paul Martin. When it came to Mark's turn, he completely dodged the question and rambled on about the virtues of parliamentary bureaucracy, without mentioning the program once. A frustrated woman from the back cried out 'SPP' at least three times, and he continued without flinching and completely avoided the issue. Was he under some binding contract to keep it hushed up? Would Stephen Harper flagellate him if he buckled under the pressure? I would hardly be surprised.
What distressed me as much or more than the actual meeting itself was an article I read today in The Langley Advance. The article covered the meeting, and glossed over some of the issues discussed. When it came to The Environment, they only mentioned comments made by the Conservatives and the Christian Heritage Party. The two parties who don't care about the environment. The two parties that have nothing close to a reasonable or practical platform on environment and climate change. What the heck, Langley. Seriously. Never mind the party founded based on environmental principles. Never mind even considering that the environment is a key issue in this election and people are finally getting concerned. Never mind that the scientific community is almost completely unified in their assertion that climate change is real and it is seriously affected by human activity and that it needs to be dealt with if we're to see the human race to the end of the next century. I'm bloody sick of the Fraser Valley's complete and utter stupidity when it comes to politics.
If you live in Langley, unless you're voting conservative (I'd be surprised if you had read this far if you are) your vote is not going to make a difference as to whether your candidate gets in. But it is going to make a difference. Each vote gives your party federal funding, and it shows Ottawa that there is support for these kinds of ideas. It also shows that the first-behind-the-post system is ineffectual and that we really need to adopt something like single-transfer-votes. Andrew Claxton of the NDP and Patrick Meyer of the Green Party both impressed me, but I've known Patrick for quite a while, and he's a really phenomenally intelligent man with a lot of great and progressive ideas. Give him a hand if you're interested in what he has to say.

We'll know Tuesday.

• Conservatives - 36% (152 seats)
• Liberals - 26% (60 seats)
• NDP - 19% (39 seats)

The Bloc would take 57 seats, and the Greens nothing.  Expect defections from the Liberals if this is the case over to the government side.

One can only hope.

Now for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of Stephen Taylor:

UPDATE: Well, well.  The upswing isn't just limited to EKOS. Political Staples has more.

Empower yourself and use the Moon energy wisely!  I’m grateful for the Moon in Pisces as it raises one’s passions to the surface.  When we are engaged emotionally, we are more likely to act on things that matter to us.  The research shows that our primitive brains must react first emotionally prior to our logical executive brain reacting.  That’s why you will feel an emotion rising throughout your body often before you are conscious of what you are thinking.  Pay attention to your body as it’s the first indicator.  Your body sensors, braille the universe like a satellite dish.  Your body sensors intuitively pick up clues that you consciously miss.  Tune into the energy of your body because it always tells the truth about what you truly feel!  Intuition rules us whether we acknowledge it or not.

In your family life and at the office, water sign times are awesome memory making times, especially when they fall on a weekend.  Now you can choose to create fabulous family memories or the opposite.  You get to choose!  With the Sun in Libra, this sun-moon combination is all about balance, doing the right thing, and doing things that make you more in tune with your own spirituality, if you are so inclined.  Neptune rules Pisces.  Now Neptune manifests in a couple of different ways.  Either you indulge in addictive behaviors, or you indulge in spiritual behaviors.  You see everything has it’s polar opposite.  Most people who overly indulge in drugs, alcohol or gambling have a strong Neptune/Pisces in their charts with a square, opposition or other challenging aspect.  The best treatment programs for any of these addictive behaviors go to the polar opposite and use spirituality.  That’s why AA programs tend to be more successful than other treatment programs. 

In your love life and friendships of all types there likely will be a desire to be with friends, talk to friends, or communicate with friends.  If you want to be alone with your main squeeze, understand the energy that is out there!  Watery Moon sign times means women want to connect with other women they value.  If you are a man, understand this and know that in a couple of days, you will be front and centre of her attention again.  Venus rules Libra and rules love relationships.  Not only that but transiting Venus is trine Uranus.  This means that out of the blue a woman will drop in, will call or will communicate.  Now Libra Sun will be telling men that you should just step aside and balance it all out.  That creates a win-win situation for you and your honey!

Reflection Questions! 

1. How can I help create an extraordinary experience for my family?
2. What kind of memory do I want to leave in the memory pages of my partner, my kids?
3. How can I create better balance in my life?
4. Pamper yourself first and refill your well.  How are you going to do that today?

How does the Moon shifting signs affect the combination of Canada and our wannabe leaders charts for the next couple of days? In alphabetical order:

Canada’s birth chart has Jupiter, Eris and Chiron in Pisces.  The Pisces Moon transit will want to expand in areas of philosophical debate, but Eris is wagging the finger saying “yah but”.  At the end of a couple of days, the yah buts likely will win out with Chiron wounds bleeding all over the place.  Canadians are going to take off their rose colored Neptune glasses and gloomily leak tears over the seemingly sudden downturn of their personal resources.  When reality hits, the topic of discussion over Thanksgiving turkey will likely be pretty dismal.  Moon transits have a habit of bringing outer world events front and centre into our lives!

Elizabeth May [Green] has no planets in Pisces in her combo with Canada platter.  However this Moon transit forms a Grand water Trine for her this weekend, suggesting that she definitely will be tugging at the positive emotions of the people she talks to.  People will hear her targeted green message and understand the importance of having a strong environmental agenda is healthy for all of us.  Expect an upward shift in her poll results.

Jack Layton [NDP] has no planets in Pisces in his Canada composite chart.  This Pisces Moon transit trines his Pluto conjunct Uranus in Cancer suggesting that there could be a sudden upward swing if he paints a transforming picture to people.  Since combo occurs in Cancer, those discussions around the Thanksgiving festivities will prove positive for the NDP as people gather with their families.  Cancer stands for family.   

Stephen Harper [PC] has his Chiron in Pisces in his Canada composite chart.  It’s part of a tee-square to the Sun and Saturn.  This infers that his Virgo Sun combo will be under more attack as people sift through the details of what he has been deceptively telling us.  The result will be a difficult Saturn lesson in Sagittarius. People will not take kindly to the evidence that is being presented with regard to conservative policies, and poor restrictive practices over the past few months.  People do want openness and accountability.  That has not been happening financially with the cost of the war to the taxpayer.  That has not been happening with the Food Inspection Agency.  That has not been happening with our economy since the banks warned Harper in June that we were in trouble.  Expect a severe Chiron wounding and downturn in the polls over the next couple of days. 

Stephane Dion [Liberal] has no planets in his composite chart with Canada.  However he has an extremely strong Water trine formed with the Moon transit.  His stellium of 7 planets in Scorpio trine the Moon and trine Pluto and Uranus in Cancer suggests  that emotionally people are shifting their thinking in his direction.  This deep well of emotion likely will spill over from the Pluto depths of peoples’  psyches.  The energy will be about bringing to the conscious level the honesty, integrity and passion this man has for doing the right thing.  Expect a rise in the polls the next couple of days.

Don’t forget that Mercury is still retrograde until October 15^th.  There are still some twists and turns to come out in the plot of this election story.  Hang on for the ride since the election also coincides with the Full Moon in Aries.  The swords will be out with a groundswell of anger amongst the voters!  There could well be several surprises yet! 

Dance in the Mercury Retrograde Moonlight!

I don’t usually write political commentary.  This morning I felt the urgency to do that on Love My Journey since I dearly love my country.  For more information on dealing with love and relationships, visit my blog at Love My Journey, www.sherrieh.wordpress.com.  If you are on a spiritual journey, you might also want to explore my website at www.moonwomenspirituality.com. 

1.  Illegal – if you and I did this to people who worked for us, we would be charged under the law.  There are certain groups in our country that are set up so they cannot be politically interfered with for the greater good in day-to-day operation of our country.  Here are only a few examples of what the Harper government has done.  Since Harper and his cabinet fired these folks unjustifiably, we the taxpayer are on the hook for paying millions of dollars in lawsuits.  Additional links are given for you to check out the research.

a.  the firing of Linda Keen, president of the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Agency.  She was doing her job that is supposed to be distanced from political interference for the safety of all of us.  She refused to be silenced and Harper fired her.  http://cyberwanderer.wordpress.com/2008/01/16/linda-keen-fired-lunn-testify/

b.  the firing of Adrian Measner, president and CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board.  Measner refused to violate the Privacy Act for the Harper government and was fired for his actions.  http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2006/12/19/measner-fired.html

c.  Harper’s  own federal law about when he would call an election.  He brought the parliamentary law into being, yet he went totally against it.  By going to the polls a year early, he cost our country over $3 million dollars at a time when it is not fiscally prudent to do so.  Yes every time we go to the polls federally, it costs us taxpayers over $3 million dollars.  http://www.660news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20080907_090605_38848

2.  Lies, deceits and cover-ups.  Harper has lied to us about the state of our economy.  He has been saying all along that Canada will weather this economic storm.  Harper ignored what the Bank of Canada had to say in June about the health of the Canadian economy http://money.canoe.ca/News/TopPhoto/2008/01/24/4791145-cp.html.  He ignored what all Canadians have been feeling in their home based budgets for some time. Instead he lied to us about the health of the Canadian economy.  So yesterday Harper was forced to pump billions of dollars into the banking system to shore it up.  That’s our tax dollars.  Excuse me, but the last time I looked in the business section of the paper the Canadian banks were bragging about how many billions they made from us during the last quarter.  Something does not fit right in this picture. 

3.  Lies, deceits and cover-ups.  Harper changed the dynamics of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.  Your health and mine are at an increased risk as a result.  On April 1, 2008 the CFIA changed how contaminated foods were to be reported to the public. As a result 20 people have died from listeria.  Harper and his government created those CFIA changes in policy.  For additional information see: http://news.top100.biz/health/More-proof-public-inquiry-is-needed-into-listeria-outbreak-Easter/

1.      lack of accountability and transparency – Harper’s government has refused to let parliament know how much this war in Afghanistan is costing the Canadian taxpayer.  http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=870812.  We will never win this war, so why again are we in it?  In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in "The Great Game" played between the British Indian Empire and Russian Empire.^[11] Because Bush said so?  Hello!  Bush wants to control the world’s oil supply.  That’s the motivation behind Bush’s war on terror folks.  Instead it should be labeled, the war on who controls the world’s supply of oil.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan 

I believe we have to focus on principles and good values when we vote. I believe in looking at historic track records and truths.  Vote anybody but Conservative in Canada’s election!

Color our world with ABC!

 If your want information on how the daily Moon and Sun energy affects you emotionally, visit www.astromoon.wordpress.com

So far the site predicts 118 seats for the Conservatives, 77 Liberal, a whopping 47 Bloc, 29 NDP, with 35 ridings too close to call.

Here's the link.

With the collapse of so many financial institutions, banks are afraid of lending money to each other and in turn, this affects businesses and consumers. Companies who were looking to borrow money to expand their operations are putting off such plans, and regular people are finding it harder to get approvals for mortgages and loans. Businesses lucky enough to have cash on hand are not spending it until things calm down.

Canada has not been hit too hard by all this (yet). No Canadian banks have folded, and the Conservative government did act early put a stop to the worst of the shady lending practices. However, about 75% of Canada's net exports goes to the US so if they are going into a recession, this will affect Canadian manufacturing jobs. All of this has made the economy the top focus of Tuesday's Federal election in Canada.

In Canada, we can't vote directly for the Prime Minister, so we have to vote for our MP strategically. The leader of the party with the most seats in Parliament becomes the PM. For the last 3 years we have had a Minority Government led by Conservative Stephen Harper. That means the Conservative party won less than half the seats in Parliament, so to pass any bills they had to work with the 4 other major political parties. This worked out quite well, blunting much of the Conservative social agenda that most Canadians were uncomfortable with.

In my Vancouver Centre riding, the leading candidate is veteran Hedy Fry. I like her. She's a visible minority (from Trinidad and Tobago), has a good voting record, and has consistently supported the needs of the...how can I put this..."highly diverse" Westend community. I am just so underwhelmed by the leader of the Liberal party, Stephan Dion. Also the Liberal Green Plan is too focused on making residential homes energy efficient ($10,000 interest free loans for projects such as retro-fitting homes with energy-saving insulation, or geo-thermal heating/hydro), but ignoring the biggest polluters: large scale industry. I would like to see tax credits and loans, along with stricter regulations and standards, (carrot and stick approach) towards making manufacturing plants more energy efficient. No party is offering that. Everyone is spouting "jobs" and "family."

The next leading candidate, Michael Byers (NDP), has too much of a socialist bent for my tastes. I personally quite like the leader of the NDP party, Jack Layton. However the NDP is pushing for:

• Shut down of the Alberta Oil Sands project (falling oil prices will do that anyway), 
• Proposing a cap-and-trade policy for carbon emissions (capping is fine, but I think trading emissions is idiotic),
• Anti-Carbon Tax (good),
• Proposing taxing the polluters and spending the money on environmental "solutions," while at the same time proposing proposing new jobs in the "Green economy." This makes no sense. Taxing manufacturers will drive up costs, thereby making them uncompetitive and ensure layoffs, and the promised "Green collar" jobs can't be created out of thin air. I'm leaning conservatively in this area. Government should monitor and regulate businesses (they are great at the bureaucracy) and let businesses create jobs as needed.
• Pro-Union. Looking at the example of US automakers, having powerful unions has meant GM, Ford and Chrysler are slower to re-tool or close down old, inefficient factories, and continue making crappy cars. Now there is talk of hi-tech workers unionizing. As a project manager, I sometimes have to resort to fear and intimidation to get even partial fixes to critical bug issues. Unionizing will make software products less buggy?   

The third leading candidate, Lorne Mayencourt, is running for the Conservative party. I'm sure he's a nice enough guy, but I can't vote for him. While a minority Conservative government is fine, I don't want to risk giving Stephen Harper a majority. Why is it that Conservative social views (anti-choice, anti-same-sex marriage, bone headed attitude towards law and order) are so tied to conservative fiscal policy (which I will admist they have done a good job with)?

Finally, fourth in the polls is Adrianne Carr of the Green party. I've given this one a lot of thought. Their leader, Ellizabeth May, won major national recognition by being allowed to participate in the leaders debates. I rather liked her fiesty retorts in the debate, and she's shown the Green Party can be more than a one issue party. I still think the party is too green, both politically and in the environmental sense of the word. The policies they are proposing I think are not broad enough to work in the current economic climate. But mainly I really hate being guilted into "voting for the environment." Something about being faced with liberal guilt triggers something in my brain that wants to go out, shoot a bear, start a fire in a tire yard, and beat up the homeless. Deap seated rebellious issues? Perhaps. But I still can't make myself vote for what I still consider a fringe party.

What I would really like is for Jack Layton to replace Stephane Dion as leader of the Liberal party, so I can vote for Hedy Fry with a clear conscience. 

Comments are allowed, but will be vetted for relevance, and intelligence.

Stephen Harper hid the cost of the war

As you may have seen from reports in yesterday and today’s morning newspapers, the cost of the war in Afghanistan will reach $18 billion by the end of 2011, according to a new report released by the Parliamentary Budget Office.

The report, by Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, does not even include the salaries of the 2500 soldiers in Afghanistan, and is still much higher than the $8 billion estimated cost provided by the Conservative government, which included salaries.

I attended the press conference yesterday in Ottawa, and during the announcement of the investigation, Page noted that this study is incomplete because he did not receive full co-operation from government departments, including the military. Even worse, those departments may not realize how much they are spending on the war because of sloppy accounting.

This the first public costing of the war completed by a government office or department. The study was produced at the request of NDP MP for Ottawa Centre Paul Dewar.

Earlier this week, David Macdonald and I released our own costing of the war in Afghanistan called The Cost of the War and the End of Peacekeeping: The Impact of Extending the Afghanistan Mission.

Based on our calculations, the cost of the war to the government coffers, including the salaries of the troops, will be $21 billion. Add to that the financial loss felt by families and communities from so many young men and women injured or killed, and the impact reaches $28 billion.

I was astounded to see that the Parliamentary Budget Office’s findings, when adjusted to use comparable methodologies, are actually much higher than our own results. Therefore the real cost is higher than anyone imagines.

Our report went a step further to look at our military’s contribution to peacekeeping, and we learned that it has dropped by more than 80 per cent since the beginning of the Afghanistan war. This year the military will spend a paltry $15 million for the entire year on UN peacekeeping, the equivalent of what we spend on the war in just two or three days. We contribute only 63 soldiers for UN peacekeeping operations – they could all fit into a school bus!

Yesterday we were busy discussing the cost of the war to Canadians through the national news media, in both Quebec and the rest of Canada. Here you can watch interviews on CTV Newsnet, CBC Radio, CBC TV, GlobalTV, and Business News Network. We also received coverage in The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and elsewhere.

Our message was this:

• The $18 billion estimate for the cost of the Afghanistan war provided by the Parliamentary Budget Office is very large – the largest anyone has seen. It is welcome information and should serve as a basis for further reporting.

• The number is likely too low, because the office did not receive full co-operation from the departments involved, including the military. The Prime Minister should have instructed departments to co-operate fully.

• It is appalling that Conservative and Liberal MPs voted to extend the war by three years, to December 2011, without even knowing that they were approving the expenditure of an additional $7 billion over the $11 billion already spent.

• With financial storm clouds gathering on the horizon and no large budget surpluses to rely upon, will the government cut social programs to fund the war and avoid tax increases or a deficit?

I would like to hear from you. Do you think the Afghanistan war has been worth the cost?

Source

Stephen Harper hid the cost of the war

Sparks fly over Afghan mission cost

Budget officer admits $18.1B estimate likely low

Mike Blanchfield , Canwest News Service

Published: Thursday, October 09, 2008

OTTAWA - Opposition leaders attacked Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday for hiding the full cost of the Afghanistan mission after the Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page said a lack of "transparency" meant his projection of up to $18.1 billion was on the low side.

The eagerly awaited report of the cost of Canada's involvement in Afghanistan catapulted the mission back to the centre of the federal election with five days left in the campaign.

Page took pains to present his office's analysis - sparked by a request from a frustrated NDP MP - as apolitical.

The cost of the war in Afghanistan, from the time it began until it is scheduled to end in 2011, will cost each and every Canadian household $1,500.

But Page's criticism of a confused bureaucracy that didn't have its numbers straight placed Harper on the defensive when the Liberals, NDP and the Bloc Quebecois piled on criticism.

Page's report cites a cost in the range of $13.9 billion to $18.1 billion to 2011. But several relevant departments - including Foreign Affairs and the Canadian International Agency, the military's two main partners in Afghanistan - refused to give his office additional figures beyond what they had already posted on their websites.

Page's estimate means each household is contributing $1,500 to support the deployment. But because of inconsistent government bookkeeping, that figure would be significantly higher because departments "have not met any appropriate standard or best practice," said Page, who called on Treasury Board to implement a streamlined practice.

"Budget transparency for parliamentarians and Canadians needs to be improved," Page said. "When compared with international experience, Canada appears to lag behind the best practices of other jurisdictions."

Page did not spare the previous Liberal government, which first sent Canadian troops to Afghanistan, when he said: "Although Canada is in the seventh year of the mission, Parliament has not been provided with estimates by successive governments on the fiscal costs incurred by all relevant departments."

Paul Dewar, the NDP MP for Ottawa Centre who requested Page's investigation, said knowing the true cost of the mission would have radically changed the House of Commons debate earlier this year that extended the Afghanistan mission by two years to 2011.

"The reason I asked the Parliamentary Budget Officer for this study is because the government would not answer my questions in the House nor at committee nor through order paper question. So Canadians were never given the facts," Dewar said. "This is the tip of the iceberg as you've heard today."

Dewar argued Page's finding showed Harper could not be trusted and he reiterated his party's stand that Canada's 2,500 troops should be withdrawn within months.

Page's estimate is still significantly higher than the original $8 billion that has been publicly cited, said Dewar.

The Canwest News Service first reported that figure in April based on an Access to Information request made by the NDP.

"The debate is not that the numbers are wrong. It's a debate about what to include and what not to include. This is something that governments of both stripes have been supporting for a decade," the prime minister said.

"One can go back and debate, 'Should we have made this commitment in 2002, should we have gone into Kandahar in 2005?' These are interesting questions. But the fact is the commitment was made, and this government has no option but to respect its obligations."

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion accused Harper failing to provide Canadians with an accurate year-to-year account of spending.

"It is the false transparency that is the problem," said Dion.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe said the Conservatives were not being "transparent and honest" with Canadians.

"In presenting numbers that were grossly erroneous on the cost of the mission in Afghanistan, Harper wanted to mislead the population," Duceppe said.

Page was supposed to report to Parliament last month, but it was dissolved when Harper called an election.

Page then said he would be willing to release his figures before Canadians went to the polls on Oct. 14 if all major party leaders agreed. They did.

The report said that CIDA's departmental performance reports "do not provide annual spending in Afghanistan for individual projects."

The Canadian government has earmarked $1.9 billion between 2001-2011 for development spending in Afghanistan.

"VAC (Veterans Affairs Canada) does not report basic financial data specific to the Afghanistan mission, although Canada's involvement in the Afghanistan mission is a major project and the death, disability, medical and stress related payments are fiscally material," the report said.

So far, 97 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan, while hundreds more have been injured.

The military also does not provide "mission specific details" to parliament, the report found.

"For example, it is impossible to determine how many reservists were deployed for each year of the mission; how much fuel was consumed; or the level of expenditure on equipment reset and betterment, for all Afghanistan related operations."

Page backed away from publicly criticizing the various government departments after the report's release, saying he wanted to build bridges with the bureaucracy.

His new oversight office was created this past spring, and is a largely unknown entity in Ottawa, he said, but is determined to bring better "fiscal transparency" to the federal government.

"It's important for me to be diplomatic," Page said, while also making clear he's not worried about being kicked out of a job if he ruffles a few feathers.

"Do I look afraid? I promise you I'm not afraid."

Source

Check out this NDP local ad done jointly by the Betty Bekkering and Bev Collins campaigns.

The message is simple: average workers have been hit hard by the downturn in the forest industry, and after contributing to the country for years, now need some help.  The local Conservatives MPs, Dick Harris and Jay Hill have been, for the most part, ignoring the problem. By electing the NDP in these ridings, Northern British Columbians will have a strong voice in Ottawa sticking up for them.

Edit: Forget a "Be" in the title.

Leadership.

This isn't surprising to me, for the last few elections people have asked whether the party leaders or local candidates should be their main concern when at the polls. Is it more important to vote based on which party leader you like, or which of your local candidates appeals to you the most.

In the past I've based my vote on a mix of the two. The last provincial election, my first in London, I voted based on the leader of the party (Liberal) as I wasn't familiar with the local candidates as well as I should have been. The previous provincial election it was a mix, I lived in the NDP leaders (Howard Hampton) riding and the other local candidates were weak offerings.The last federal election though I decided to vote for the preferable local candidate (Green) helped by a desire to not support Paul Martin and knowing the incumbent local, who I also liked, would be re-elected anyways.

But what about this election? How will I vote, how will you vote?

In my riding London North Center I'm presented with four choices. The incumbent Liberal Glen Pearson, who is the strongest of the group and has a rather interesting background. The Green and NDP candidates are fairly lacking in experiance and self confidence, and the Conservative candidate is the parties script reader write in.

As for the party leaders only Stephen Harper seems to have any sort of air of leadership about him. The Liberals have been on the losing end since electing Dion as leader, he does grow on you if you see him in person a few times but that's not enough. Layton and the NDP have been trying to pull up the middle, but smell of desperation and lack fresh ideas of their own. Lastly the Green's Elizabeth May who came in second during a by-election in London North Center isn't likely to do well, but it would be nice to have an alternative to the NDP. Furthermore The Undecided tells me my beliefs are 41% in line with the Greens, 24% for the Conservatives, 21% with the NDP, and 7% with the Liberals.

So with that said, do I vote for my local preference Liberal Glen Pearson despite Dion's poor performance, or vote for Stephen Harper despite the lackluster local candidate, or what a website tells me is my political leanings with the Green Party despite their awful Local candidate and Leader.

In the end does it even matter who your local candidate is anyways? Despite how you may feel about an issue and how your candidate feels the best they can often do in Parliament is not show up for a vote they oppose for fear of punishment by the party for voting against the whip.

Maybe it's time we changed out electoral system.

"The Voice of Persons with Disabilities is Being Heard - The Canadian Association for Community Living is pleased that all party platforms have made commitments on disability issues. It is clear that the voice of the community is having impact and being heard. In addition to explicit party commitments in platforms, it is also important to keep in mind the recent (May 2008) all-party motion that was passed unanimously by the House of Commons supporting ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The following provides a disability analysis of Federal election platforms for the Conservative Party of Canada, the Liberal Party, the New Democrat Party and the Green Party of Canada.

The analysis uses the three issues CACL identified as election priorities as the benchmarks for reviewing party platforms. The three issues are: poverty, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and inclusive and accessible communities"

If you would like to read more please click on this link: http://www.cacl.ca/infoat/

In other news, I need to probably start up on the 8 miles of walking per day again. I feel well fed, if you get my drift (but at least my pants still fit?).

Copyright © 2008 WrappedUpInBooksBlog. All rights reserved.

PS: For whoever keeps searching for Silverstein's Bakery in Toronto, you can literally just walk in off of the street. They're open daily from 8am or so until 6pm. As long as you're cool with them touching money AND your bread without washing their hands in between, you're a-ok. Best pumpernickel you'll ever have, guaranteed.

PPS: Whoever's looking for the vegan curry recipe: I'm making curry this week and I'll take down what I actually put in it to make it delicious. So hang tight!

PPPS: Whoever's looking for how many calories there are in Frosty Jack cider: don't drink that stuff.  It's garbage.  (Strongbow forever!)

One action that Canada took which was supported by most Canadians was to send troops to Afghanistan to root out the terrorists and bring stability to the country. This was well underway until the Americans (read George Bush) started a war with Iraq which took away the resources to finish the job. Now there is chaos and predictions that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won and of course there has been huge political pressure to bring our troops home.

Now a report on the cost of the war to Canadian taxpayers was released suggesting that by 2011, the cost could reach $13 to 18 billion. This is a huge amount of money but, hey, it costs money to run a war. We need to provide the best equipment and weaponry to our soldiers or the body count would double and triple. It is hard to suggest we should not have spent so much.

The New Democrats want to pull out of Afghanistan right away and New Democrat foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar, who requested the report, is using it as a political tool in the upcoming federal election. "I think Stephen Harper and Stephane Dion need to explain to Canadians why we're continuing with a mission that isn't working and that Canadians cannot afford," he said.

What does this nincompoop think they will say ' Oh yeah, good point, we are just wasting our money for no good reason, we will call the troops home tommorrow and ask the Afghans for a refund.' Good Grief, I hate people that, for political purposes, criticize decisions that they probably supported personally ( at least in private) because they feared what might happen in the future if we did not take action to protect ourselves.

Regardless, this is just another example of how soon we forget what happened on 9/11and how the whiners will find a way to take us back to where we are vulnerable again. Is the war costly? Yes. Can the war be won? Maybe, maybe not. Does it matter if we just walk away to save some money? Think back to how you felt on 9/11 to answer that one.

I should explain. In my terminology a "Snoozer" is one of those people who sets the alarm clock to go off an hour before required, and then spends that hour waking every five minutes to press the snooze button.

However I (the Campaign Widow) am a definite "Waker". When the alarm clock goes off the first time, I am instantly awake and unable to get back to sleep. That's not to say I'm up and about - I might lay in bed reading for some time - but I just can't fall back to sleep with the same speed and facility as my "Snoozer" wife.

Below: How could you turn this off and just go back to sleep?

Where this really started to matter was when Jane was designated to attend the Canada AM all-candidates debate for Burnaby Douglas which - due to time zone differences - is scheduled to start around 4am.

Eugh! That would mean getting up at 3am, and in Snoozer terms that would be 2am. Since I could be up till 1am writing this it barely would make sense to go to bed!

I do hope that the candidates' better-halves aren't Snoozers like mine is, since they are spending the previous evening at two other all-candidates debates and probably won't get to bed till late anyway.

Of course, the Conservative candidate for Burnaby-Douglas, Ronald Leung, has no such problems: he can go to bed early because he just isn't going to the previous day's debates. In fact, there are a lot of functions he isn't going to: the ones where he gets to meet the people of Burnaby.

Let's illustrate this scenario with some pictures.

Below: Bill Siksay's "Frequent Debater" card has been punched more times than an incompetent boxer:

Below: This little used card is owned by Ronald somebody:

Bizarre really, that Leung only attends the events where there are national media and doesn't apparently care whether the constituents he wishes to represent miss him or not.

However, the good news is that we now get to play "Where's Ronald?"

So, Where's Ronald? Shout out if you spot him!

Is he at the Moscrop School debate?

Of course not? He might get asked some tough questions by an eight-year-old.

Is he at the Simon Fraser debate?

Why bother? Students don't get to vote do they?

Is he at the Burnaby Al Salaam debate?

Good grief no. The place will be full of those immigrants the Tories think there are too many of.

Is he at the Co-op Housing Federation (CHFBC) meeting?

No. Well obviously if they can't afford a proper house they won't be voting Conservative.

Now I do know he was at the Canada AM debate, and the AM1320 debate (they were media events after all). Let's be fair and see if perhaps he took part in other debates I didn't know about. Let's search the riding association web site (click to enlarge):

Nothing there. Perhaps the web site calendar has an entry (click to enlarge):

Nothing at all. You guys do know there is some sort of event next Tuesday?

Well according to his expenses claim, he was in White Spot in June:

How was the meal? Would you recommend the chicken? Ah - of course. Now I know where he could be:

Let's hope that next Tuesday the good folk of Burnaby-Douglas don't look down the menu and pick the chicken.

OK. I could do a whole spiel about how the pattern is the same nationally, but why bother when I can just point you to someone else's work instead and save me a whole deal of grief.

So here are two articles from the web site ChineseinVancouver.ca:

- Should Canadians be Worried about Tories not taking Questions?
- When They Don't Answer Election Questions.

Not that I frequent these web sites, but according to the Liberal web site this evening:

May said that voters should vote strategically to “bring about change that includes Stéphane Dion as Prime Minister”.

While according to the Green web site:

"Strategic voting makes no sense," says May. "Canada needs to elect Greens"

Come on guys! I know your two parties are a joint team, but at least get the story straight.

Nearly there. 4 days to e-day!

OK: The disclaimer. I know I’m an NDP’er. You know I’m an NDPer. Even Bill Cunningham could be one - he said at the SFU debate that he'd already voted for one of the three candidates who were present, and I've always suspected he was a closet leftie. But I hope not since Bill Siksay won the debate by a mile and if I wasn't impressed before I certainly am now. So vote Siksay and get an MP who can actually string more than a single sentence together without filling it with ah's and um's.

Conservatives: 40%

NDP: 35%

Liberals: 17%

Greens: 7%

Undecided: 28%

Interestingly, in opposite fashion to the national trends of the past week, Dion's approval ratings are extremely low in the province, even lower than Elizabeth May. Stephen Harper is thought to make the best PM of the bunch, with Jack Layton having the highest approal rating. In 2006 the split was 49/25, the Liberal 2006 total was not reported but was higher than the current 17%.

A little speculation, again with a huge grain of salt. The NDP are serious challengers in 3 ridings, Palliser, Regina-Qu'Appelle and Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar. In 2006, the Conservatives enjoyed  leads of 6.5%/9%/10% over the New Democrats in SRB, R-Q, and Palliser. Assuming that these provincial trends breakdown evenly amongst these ridings it suggests that Nettie Wiebe in SRB has a decent chance of overcoming her 1,919 vote deficeit from 2006. It also means that Janice Bernier might be closer than expected for the New Democrats in Regina Qu'Appelle and that Liberal support may collapse enough to give Don Mitchell a chance in a relatively tight three-way race in Palliser.

Additionally, these numbers suggest that in most of the ridings with a major urban portion (Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, Saskatoon-Humboldt, Blackstrap, Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre, and Prince Albert), where the NDP finished second or a close third, that the New Democrat campaigns could enjoy significant gains on the Tory incumbents while pulling away from the Liberals.

For the Liberals, I don't think this means Goodale is in trouble in Wascana, as his closest competitor is a Conservative candidate and King Ralph has consistently bucked provincial trends. However, in DMCR it could mean that despite having a strong organizer like Orchard running, the Liberals may not have enough to overcome Conservative incumbent Rob Clarke, with some support swinging to the NDP instead

Anyhow, as a politics addict I couldn't resist a little speculation on a one-off poll. So take it with a grain of salt, disagree if you want, I am always open to different interpretations of the numbers.

___________________________

UPDATE: Just came across a poll conducted by the Regina-Leader Post in Wascana. Conducted between Oct 3 and 7th and interviewing 801 voters (3.4%, 19 out 20 times), the poll gives the following breakdown of decided voters:

Goodale (Lib): 51.4

Hunter (Con): 34.3

Moore (NDP): 11.1

Wooldridge (GP): 3.2

If these number hold true, it would suggest that my analyses of Wascana and Ralph bucking the provinical trends (yet again) were not far off the mark. Some further analyses by Murray Mandryk.

One could easily argue that the best governments we have seen as Canadians have been minorities, they seem to emit a more measured approach with a greater attention to detail.

How undemocratic does Canada have to be before anyone takes action?  We Canadians like to cast our ballot for her majesty's representatives and then shuffle off allowing whoever wins to stumble about for the next four years.  Heck when it's time to look again, if the economy looks in reasonable shape, we'll let them stay another four years.

One thing I agree with Stephen Harper about is a triple E senate, Equal, Elected and Effective.  I actually studied politics and when I think of the senate I think of a chamber with red carpeting, feeling very cathedral like where people go for their naps...  Perhaps we could tack an A onto the end there and call it accurate, that maybe each of the provinces actually send a group of representatives that reflect the popular vote.

As far as the legislature, we should elect our members with a pure Pacific to Atlantic to Arctic proportional systems.  That is, seats are divvied up according to the percentage of the vote each party receives on a national level.  The Green Party would have 30 seats, the NDP would get a slightly stronger voice at around 60 seats and the other two would not be able to run away with something they never won or deserved.

Climate change is not the only area Canada lags behind the rest of the western world, we lag behind most of the western world in democracy as well.

As expected the early Conservative lead in the polls has narrowed, to the point where the Liberals may be in a position to pull off a surprise win; or it's gonna be a Groundhog Day minority Govt all over again.

As it currently stands the Conservatives sit in the lead just outside of the MoE on 32, Liberals 27, NDP 19, Greens 12 and Bloc Quebecois 8.

There were round table debates in French and English, which included all of the Party Leaders (Greens included, yay!) and with the second (English) held on the same night as some other debate event south of the border involving a guy with hair plugs and some chick from Alaska, to say it was overshadowed was an understatement, but such is life in Canada.

Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt - Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

As it turns out my brother Nick had the TV on that night and was channel hopping and felt compelled to share his POV on the evenings events with me.

So the second televised debates of our five national parties (the Greens were finally invited to join) aired the same night as the Biden/Palen “debate”. I could only watch about 15 minutes of the latter and just had to turn, Palin nauseates me so with her “folksiness” and I actually felt shamed for Biden having to come down after 25 years in the Senate to actually debating this Alaskan Hockey Mom and Mayor.

The Canadian debate was on a much higher level and thoroughly enjoyable to watch Harper squirm and glare at the other four party leaders taking simultaneous attacks at him. Elizabeth May of the Greens was particularly enjoyable. She’s a single mother and took the train across Canada rather than flying to speak to her supporters. She was NOT afraid of Harper. Had all her data, facts etc. ready. When Harper defended the Tory environmental plan she said, “the new national parks – great! The rest is a fraud!”

Harper has been appearing on TV ads sporting a sweater instead of the usual suit in an attempt to make less of the ice man that he is so at one point Jack Layton (NDP) asked him “Where’s your plan? Under the sweater??!” Anyway, Dion still comes across as scared and Layton and May performed the best.

I was shocked to read in the morning free daily that “Harper held his own and did well” – say what???!!! Numerous friends of mine were all shocked at that wondering what the hell we missed. He was clearly on the defensive and only spouted truism’s – what facts he managed to use were quickly destroyed by the other leaders.

Anyway, polls are showing that Harper could still have a minority government. Fingers crossed on that although just booting his neo-con keester out would be better.

But what does he know, like me he's one of those 416 area code inner city latte sipping chardy drinking elites and would say that, the New Democrats or Greens will get his vote - it's the RoC that matters in this election.

But you can tell things aren't looking so rosy for the once cruising Conservatives, with the party now asking Canadians to imagine Canada led by a Prime Minister Dion. As political tactics goes this one sounds pretty desperate. The Conservative internal polling must be shocking.

Yes, desperation leads to panic, which leads to silliness and not thinking things through to the end and so it is with the latest gaffe by the Conservatives in their efforts to paint Dion as unfit to lead.

Conservative leader Stephen Harper emerged shortly after a broadcast interview aired showing Liberal leader Stéphane Dion struggling in English to grasp a simple economic question, suggesting his answers showed he was unfit to lead the country.

Harper moved quickly to exploit what the Conservatives said is a damning, embarrassing piece of tape, in which Dion asked for three takes to answer what he would have done about the economy if he were prime minister now.

But things are never so simple are they?

But spare some empathy for Mr. Dion. It’s the end of a grueling campaign, the man has admitted to a hearing impairment and the question was open to interpretation while being phrased in Mr. Dion’s second language.

The bigger question is how the Conservative response fits with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s efforts to tame his hard-nosed cold-hearted image with sweaters and baby hugs.

And.

Your leader's biggest problem is that voters find him unsympathetic. You've gone out of your way to cast him as warm and fuzzy, the apparent failure of which has seen your lead erode in the campaign's final week. And as your primary opponent suffers an embarrassing moment owing to a poor grasp of English and possibly a hearing impairment, you put that leader in front of a camera to make fun of him?

As they say, oops!

Elsewhere the Poll Bludger has an open discussion thread on the Canadian Election.

Reminder: As usual some of the posts here are cross posted at Larvatus Prodeo.

My friend,

It's time to throw Mr. Harper out.

It's time for a leader who cares more about bank customers than about banks. It's time to finally put you and your family first.

In the next 5 days, you and I can make this happen. Together we can defeat Harper and change the way things are done in Ottawa.

Make no mistake - it's not going to be easy. But our momentum has been growing since day 1 of this campaign. Everyday, more and more people come on board. Just yesterday we launched a new website to help you fund the final push of our campaign for change. Already hundreds of people have joined.

I want you to be a part of this momentum right now. I'm asking you to participate in our New Democrat final push. Here's what I'd like you to do:

1. Donate online right now. $100 or $150 will make all of the difference.
2. Share with others why you're voting New Democrat.
3. Invite your friends to join the New Democrat wave.

While the Conservatives rely on the support of corporate CEOs, our New Democrat strength has always come from everyday people like you. Now you have the chance to shape the outcome of this election.

There are only 5 days left. But there's still time to get your contribution into action right away. Your secure online donation now will be deposited into our Election fund within minutes.

This is our chance to finally put everyday people first. This is our chance to say that family doctors are more important than giveaways to profitable banks and the big polluters. This is our chance. Help me seize it.

Thank you,

Jack Layton

According to an RBC economist:

"The U.S. economy now appears to be in recession with Europe, the U.K. and Japan also sinking fast," RBC said. "While Canada is in better position with its financial sector less heavily impaired, overall growth will be substantially weaker than previously anticipated."

"The continued weakness in the U.S. economy is expected to dampen growth in Canada," said RBC's chief economist Craig Wright. "However, this pressure on our growth will be tempered by strong commodity prices which are contributing to robust export revenues and providing support to Canadian domestic spending via a boost to incomes."

Canada has also enjoyed strong growth in national income, which have boosted consumer spending, business investment and purchases of imports and is benefitting from what are still relatively high commodity prices, it said.

Job growth has also slowed and Canada's housing market is cooling, but it is not expected to suffer a U.S. style meltdown as Canadian mortgage markets did not see the excesses that afflicted the U.S. housing sector, it said.

Words of wisdom from Global Insight, a think tank:

Global Insight, an economic think-tank, also cut its growth projections for Canada while declaring the U.S. is in recession.

"The U.S. economy is forecast to now be in recession," it said, adding that it's no longer just a "mild" recession and projecting the contraction in that giant economy will run from the third quarter of this year through the first quarter of next year.

Meanwhile, it cut its forecast for growth in Canada's economy this year to 0.6 per cent from 0.8 per cent and next year to 0.9 per cent from 1.7 per cent.

However, there will not be two consecutive quarters in which the economy contracts.

"While a recession is most often defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth, we should not take too much comfort in the 'no recession' forecast," it added. "This is a very weak forecast of economic growth."

And the International Monetary Fund

... projected that Canada next year will have the fastest growing economy of the G7 major industrial countries, at 1.2 per cent, despite virtually no growth of just 0.1 per cent in the U.S., Canada's main export market.

Still need proof that this is not a good time to panic and we should all continue to live our lives, business as usual? The World Economic Forum has stated that Canadian banks are the soundest in the world.

Canada's banking industry, led by Royal Bank, CIBC, Scotiabank, TD Bank, Bank of Montreal and National Bank, was given a rating of 6.8, the best ranking of any banking system in the world.

The top 10 soundest banking countries are as follows:

• Canada (6.8)
• Sweden (6.7)
• Luxembourg (6.7)
• Australia (6.7)
• Denmark (6.7)
• Netherlands (6.7)
• Belgium (6.6)
• New Zealand (6.6)
• Ireland (6.6)
• Malta (6.6)

Really, I think Stephane Dion and Jack Layton ought to be ashamed of themselves - they are trying to spread panic to gain votes and that is appalling. They may be candidates in the current election, but they are still citizens of this country and their current scare tactics will have the opposite effect than would be desired. Stephen Harper, on the other hand, saw the current crisis coming and planned for it. While Layton and Dion can live in Never Never Land dreaming of fairies and mermaids, the rest of us have to live in the real world, and Stephen Harper (I can't believe I am writing this) seems to be the only one who understands this.

Now the important stuff... Stephen Harper got worked!  For someone who has trouble with a temper, I'd say Harper did rather well for himself in the face of four angry, presumptive opponents.  Gilles Duceppe's approach to everything is socialist, which he was reminded of as often as remembered by Mr Dion and Mr Harper.  He had some noticeable pronunciation issues, which is no surprise, but this limited his ability to explain the tenets of his socialist ideas, honorable as they may be, to the proletariat.  Elizabeth May, was a surprise, she was able to stay on message and attack specifics of the Harper Government.  However, she should have taken a page from Hillary Clinton's Primary experience and kept the finger pointing to a minimum.  Otherwise she was surprisingly sharp on Nationalism and Trade relations.  Stephen Harper spent the entire time defending his record, putting information in context and generally ignoring the barrageof personal and political attacks.  One important point he made was that the $50 Billion tax cut for big business was part of a $200 Billion tax cut, of which, the other $150 Billion went to lower and middle class tax payers.  This is very important because it is this claim that has helped cast doubt on the conservatives being the best party for the current economy.  When Harper brought these facts to light in response to Mr Layton's inaccurate paraphrasing, Jack's response was to ask if Harper was incompetent.  This is classic NDP, but more so classic Jack.  He will take any opportunity to align himself with the working class, even if it means taking the intellectual low-road as mentioned.  Mr Layton was direct and forceful with all of his accusations to all of the parties, but when it came to his own parties record, he was forced to site The NDP under Tommy Douglas, which his party is hardly influenced by or resembles.  Despite my criticism of Mr Layton, I do feel he was able to come out of this debate a winner, mostly due to his maintained authoritative posture, when compared to the posture and demeanor of the other candidates.  Stephane Dion struggled valiantly to express himself in english, under the harsh criticism of Gilles, Jack and Stephen.  I felt he argued strongly against both Harper and Layton when discussing the Carbon Tax.  I also think Stephane was the only candidate to display any strategy in responding to questions.  He was able to take advantage of the rules of the debate, by making/not making jabs at certain candidates in order to allow/not allow them time to respond on the issue.  Overall I think we have a Harper Minority on the way, and a refreshed NDP majority in the following elections.  Personally, I am closer to joining the Canadian Action Party, then the NDP but that's what i think is on the way!

But two other important questions are far from decided - who will be Opposition leader and whether it will be a minority or majority government.

After last week's debate and two years of Harper government one thing is very clear - the only real federal opposition in the House of Commons is the New Democratic Party. And the only real choice for Opposition leader is Jack Layton.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion is a smart, decent man. But Dion and the Liberals don't stand up to Stephen Harper - they prop him up.

On 43 separate occasions in Parliament, Dion's Liberals voted to keep Harper in power and accept his very conservative legislation.

By continually abstaining, the "Official Opposition" has abdicated its important role of serving the majority of Canadians who reject Conservative ideology.

But it wasn't just fear of losing an election that led to the Liberals becoming Conservative Lite - they actually agree with Harper's wrong-headed positions on many key political issues.

Dion and the Liberals support Harper's massive $50 billion corporate tax cuts that reward companies which have eliminated more than 400,000 manufacturing and forest industry jobs since 2000.

And the Liberals and Conservatives want huge tax cuts despite the fact that Canada's tax rates are already lower than many industrialized nations, including the United States, Germany, Italy and Japan.
And Canada also has a much lower Goods and Services Tax than most countries.

Dion and the Liberals joined with Conservatives to vote to extend till 2011 the deadly mission that sent brave Canadian troops into a hopeless situation in Afghanistan.

Dion and the Liberals say they want a "Green Shift" and carbon tax to protect the environment but oppose a proposed NDP moratorium on new Alberta tar sands oil projects - Canada's biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

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