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Why this blog?
Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked.
This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio -
"You don't speak for me."
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The Pence Principle
Poor Richard's Retirement
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Trump The Establishment
Chetien is daring..oops advising Dion the ‘bring down’ the CPC’s.Yes..it’s all about power, isn’t it? The little guy can’t even stay in the House to vote, how will he manage to campaign?
Looks like The Cretin wants to end Dion’s fumbling, since the obvious outcome for the Libs would be an excuse to replace Dion.
CTV.ca
Sorry to say this but Jim Prentice looked totally ridiculous on QP today.
He sounded like a robot that had been programmed to repeat the same fifty words as he , no less than five times, kept answering Bob Fife’s questions by calling for Dion to justify to Canadians his 62.5 billion dollar promises.
Prentice missed an opportunity to correct Fife when he said that Dion has promised 3 billion for infra-structure improvements.
What he promised was that all surpluses OVER 3 billion would go to infra-structure, so I guess if there is no surplus….POOF!!….no infra-structure money. That went right by Jim Prentice.
Fortunately though, booze head McCallum came next and looked even more ridiculous, calling the Conservatives liars for things they said in 1993 and repeating that over and over.
It would be easy to defeat these half wit Liberals if the Tories would just talk naturally and not like robots.
Accidently linked to WK (I never intentionally go there)…He’s complaining about Lapierre…says he has no idea what Chretien wants.
Sounds like WK feels left out…boo hoo why didn’t Cretien tell ME first?
WK reminds me of Turner more every day.
Actually, lberia, the local union I’m in is paid significantly less than our American counterparts.
Also, I’ve been to every single local, and one national conference. (Moncton 2004. CAW Local 5454.)
Thanks, but your dogs, they just don’t hunt.
Newsworld’s international interview show is asking “What’s next for Russia after Putin?”
Same thing for unelected Opposition Leader J. “‘ptit gars” Chretien. Pulling the strings of your successor, and being in power after you’re officially not in power.
The next step: Shoot the kulaks, says lberia, aka Stalin’s first lieutenant.
…-
£10 government permit plan to deter smokers
A ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone who does not pay for a government smoking permit has been proposed by Health England, a ministerial advisory board.
The idea is the brainchild of the board’s chairman, Julian Le Grand, who is a professor at the London School of Economics and was Tony Blair’s senior health adviser. In a paper being studied by Lord Darzi, the health minister appointed to oversee NHS reform, he says many smokers would be helped to break the habit if they had to make a decision whether to “opt in”….-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1971992/posts
Yukon:
Good to know that you go to your meetings. Stand by your principles and make a motion to donate money to the Conservatives. Or do like my union does: make a motion to not make any political donations.
“Unfortunately, union members rartely qualify as “working people” nowadays, as they are at the top of the wage spectrum.”
You’re moving the goal posts now by bringing up pay rates in the US.
What is the difference between a Canadian government workers’ union under a Parti Quebecois / NDP government, and a Soviet gov’t workers’ union before 1991 or a Chinese gov’t workers’ union in the PRC in 2008?
I seem to remember in the 2000 election that the NDP definition of “higher-income” included 80% of the CAW rank and file who sweated for “The Man” in Oshawa.
A curious thing on cbc sunday this morning. The two hosts,evan soloman and Carol Whatever,I really don’t remember her name,maclean maybe,were wearing identical suits. Is it possible that she spent the night at his place and her clothes were all balled up,under the covers,at the foot of the bed? I wonder,though I have heard she slept her way up to the job,is it possible to sleep your way down? Did this strike anyone else as unusual? Does anyone else watch this show?
lieberia,
I watched and tried to assist a shop in our area from becoming unionized against the vast majority of the workers.
I argued with the Teamsters provincial rep. who was a total idiot and lied about almost everything they had done.
This shop was unionized with far less than 50% of the vote, a legal process in Sask.
On top of this they settled on 2% increase over 5 years now making them the lowest paid shop in the region not including the deductions for union dues.
This was about nothing more than greed on the Teamsters part.
They took the union dues and then abandoned the workers.
Fact is your posts should always be called bullsh@t because they are never smart enough measure up to a lie.
lberia, make up your mind. Do Union members vote as an NDP bloc or not. Unions give overwhelmingly to NDP and socialist causes. Presumably, if 36% of them voted Conservative, they would object to this. Oh right, they’re apathetic. It’s their fault. The Union goes out of their way, I’m sure, to ensure their members are given a full debate on funding issues, with representation from both sides. The non-secret ballot has nothing do do with it; well that’s a certainty, right lberia? When they have a “meeting” about budget allocations, how does it get approved. Are you telling us that budgets are approved by secret ballot?
Do Unions survey their people and ask them where their support to political and social causes. Maybe they rely on low voter turnout to smoke things through. Funny how that works for the overwhelming NDP executives of many, and certainly most if not all public unions.
I do agree it’s up to Union members to change this, and how can we if they don’t?
Ah yes, that meanie Harper screwing the people. Hmm, I just finished doing a tax return where the client earned $10,000 more in 07 yet paid $300 less in tax. Yeah, she’s real upset. Oh, sorry lberia, she’s not in a union, so she’s not a real “working person;” she’s just a cleaner, and I guess not good enough to be in a union.
She would just be apathetic anyway.
Shamrock:
Are you drinking this afternoon? You are making no sense.
To repeat, union members do not vote as a bloc…they make up their own minds; motions are made at a meeting on the floor, to spend money or whether or not to donate to a certain political party, so if you’re not at the meeting, you don’t have a say; and, only elections are done by ballot.
Your tax example is misleading and also pointless. Your client may have bought RSP’s, or done a hundred other things differently from the previous year.
Actually lberia I had a Timmies butter caramel hot smoothy. It was delicious.
Yes, she doubled her modest RRSP contribution; that’s the reason she paid less tax, right? Not.
No, her average and marginal tax rates are down from last year. Hello, she made $10,000 more. To reduce marginal tax would require just about all of that raise be contributed.
WRT ballot at unions, let me ask you a clear question. Who decides how much a union is going to contribute to the NDP, or other parties, or other causes? Do the rank and file unions vote directly, and secretly on that decision? Not through them, not around, not past them, but by them, on a secret ballot? I hope the question is clear enough for you, should you care to answer.
I guess there there could be a “hundred reasons” why a union, with say 15% NDP voters, would contribute, 50 or 60 or 75% to them. Of course, they do “vote” for that, at their “meetings.”
BTW, what are you drinking?
Iberia “aren’t Real Women supposed to be in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant?” . . . this is pathetic. Are you interested in dialogue, or are you simply wanting to smear any organization or viewpoint in the conservative camp? I don’t usually attack people’s perspectives unless I have something concrete to add, but you have hit a new low. My impression is that you have simply lost touch with reality.
Shamrock:
Unions run their meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order, though some Canadian unions use Bourinot’s Rules, which are very similar. Other than the payment of day to day office expenses, any spending or donations must be put forward as a motion, seconded, discussed and voted on by the members present. Only a member of that particular local lodge can put forward a motion. If no one seconds it, the motion dies. Every member in attendance votes on a motion. It would be impractical to vote on every item of business by secret ballot, so ballot votes are reserved for elections.
If it is known that important business is to be discussed at a future meeting, such as a constitutional change or election, a Notice of Motion is made in order to make sure that interested members will be in attendance at the following meeting to discuss this business.
Which brings us to apathy. Most union members do not attend meetings, nor do they even know what the union does or how it works. (Up until a few years ago I was like this too.) Often the ones that do attend are a bit radical or have an agenda, but if the other less radical members can’t be bothered to attend, then motions which they might disagree with are made and passed by those members in attendance.
Hope that makes things clearer. BTW, too busy, so nothing to drink today (unfortunately).
HE”s AT IT AGAIN!!!
HE’S AT IT AGAIN!!!
So someone sends Kinsella a very generic e-mail
“Now, regular reader Helen was one of a few Libs who sent me the CTV link, adding: “Perhaps, one of Chretien’s friends should run the war room!” Yikes!”
and he immdiatley, and arrogantly, assmues it is about him.
Didn’t we just have that scenario a week ago??
Horny Toad
LindaL:
That “article” is just an opinion piece and looks like it was written by the NCC. Real Women have their smear campaign, why shouldn’t I have mine?
Iberia” “why shouldn’t I have mine?” because I think we are looking for some level of meaningful dialogue — hyperbole is pointless in this context. It does nothing but fuel animosity. Surely — at some level — you are looking for a validation of your own ideas.
Well LindaL, if you read my later posts, you’ll see that I have tried to have some meaningful dialogue. If you find my attitude towards Real Women snarky, it’s because I’m tired of well funded partisan lobby groups pretending that they’re grass roots organizations.
E.T.
thanks for the link to realwomen. i see the upcoming 25th is going to be held in my neck of the woods.
la belle province holds the dubious distinction of being the most unionised region per capita on the continent. i used to be frustrated by that fact but ever since the blues (from ottawa) took ten federal seats seats (a miracle considering the tories have been all but banished since borden) it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel. the tide is turning – not from activism inside or from activism outside but, from that old friend, adam smith and that ghostly hand. that and the fact younger generations have witnessed the corrosive effect of collectivist thought.
it is not written anywhere as mandatory, but the government here consults with BIG labour (CSN & FTQ)on many issues. government knows the consequences of forgetting to cc strategy/policy sessions. imagine karl marx and adam smith in the same room.
then try to get a handle on the idea that a majority government for cpc rests in large part with the voters of quebec. i’m not making this up or making predictions but i am an optimist at heart. the irony of it all.
ET – pardon
[quote]it is not written anywhere as mandatory, but the government here consults with BIG labour (CSN & FTQ)on many issues. government knows the consequences of forgetting to cc strategy/policy sessions. imagine karl marx and adam smith in the same room.[/quote]
Johnny,
You seem confused… The Labor Unions from Quebec IMO do not seem to be political, on the contrary they just want sustainable Industry & Jobs. I could be wrong!
The Bad unions are those that wage Socialistic Class War in the work place. These Unions are not desired or successful. The union membership are usually underpaid because management numbers must be increased to deal with the nonsence/mischief.
Corporations can deal and many actually prefer to have GOOD unions… Why! Because they can eliminate/reduce costly middle management. The break point favors unions.
The 1950’s are gone.
lberia, I didn’t move the goalposts, as I’m in a field with only one employer north of the border, and one main employer south of it. That, you see, makes it my only point of reference, unless I start comparing dollars to euros, etc, etc.
No Yukon, I meant that you initially wrote that union members are at the top of the wage spectrum, and then later you started making comparisons with the US.
phillip,
yes i’m confused. it’s 2008.
i’m not against interested parties sitting down and negotiating deals, but across the public spectrum i would prefer those parties to be official and elected as opposed to unofficial and unelected.
politicians have been known to unexpectedly change their minds on projects when made aware of previously unforeseen consequences – and i would wager that it is not outside the realm of chances that the newer position was against their better judgement.
i’m not suggesting people throw out the baby with the bathwater – but i do have fond memories of reagan and the air traffic controllers.
did you read the article here?
Re my union, the meetings are so far away from where most of us work, it causes real hardship for most members to get to them—not to mention the mountains of obligations that teachers now have to deal with. Then, there’s the fact that the union is made up of a cabal of socialists, more interested in the considerable perqs of office than the deteriorating working conditions of those who pay them. (Ask any teacher falsely accused by a student, parent, or administrator: one wonders why one pays such big bucks to these politically correct union appeasers, whose utopian ideas actually work against teachers in the trenches.)
Most union types—the women, in particular—are not married and certainly don’t have kids. Teachers with kids are already in high stress mode from two very demanding jobs: their classes and their own children. When I was in that position, I was the school rep. for my union—mainly to keep an eye on its shenanigans: all feminist and socialist, all the time—unintelligently presented, I might add. (These lock-step toadies sure give the words “education” and “intelligence” a bad reputation.)
I’d write submissions, with an alternate viewpoint, to their publications (for which my dues paid), both local and provincial. Then I’d have to fight to have my ideas published. I pointed out to the union enforcers that an alternate viewpoint was an important aspect of both debate and educating their members. Of course, I soon found out that “debate” and “educating” are words sadly lacking in their lexicon. However, the word “indoctrination” has pride of place. One union bigwig actually told me to forget the articles and letters—my right, I pointed out—and that, if I wanted a say, I’d have to run for office. Right . . .
Activist, socialist teachers, who see the union for the Sugar Daddy it is, and don’t like being in the classroom, have a nice little sinecure in their cushy, highly paid union jobs: it’s basically a closed shop. No new ideas or debate are ever welcome. And they spend my hard earned money on political action that is anathema to me: “taxation without representation” basically.
Ironically, when the teachers’ unions were separated, the female arm, firmly in the clutches of doctrinaire feminists, tried to pass a pro-abortion motion at their AGM. Because of declining enrolment, teachers were losing jobs in droves and young teachers couldn’t get into the profession. The feminist pinheads, of course, had no sense of irony at all. BTW, by some miracle, the female lawyer who was hired to moderate the motions—the union airheads had made a “mistake” and hired a non-feminist lawyer!—ruled the motion out of order; “This assembly has no authority to vote on such an ‘out of school’ issue on behalf of the whole profession.” So there! But the unions still try on this kind of thing. Read the huge list of motions for each AGM. They’re preposterous and altogether pretentious: as if the teachers of a certain, very local jurisdiction can solve all the world’s problems! I’m sure someone’s tried to slip in one that condemns Stephen Harper for the plight of starving children in Africa.
I’ve read REAL Women’s factual, well researched paper. Brava, ladies!
Stalin/lberia’s Gulag cells*: The Evil in a new form.
…-
The Dungeon of Fallujah
“This is not Norway here, and it is not Denmark.” – Lebanese Forces militia leader Bashir Gemayel.
FALLUJAH – Next to the Joint Communications Center in downtown Fallujah is a squalid and war-shattered warehouse for human beings. Most detainees are common criminals. Others are captured insurgents – terrorists, car-bombers, IED makers, and throat-slashers. A few are even innocent family members of Al Qaeda leaders at large. The Iraqi Police call it a jail, but it’s nothing like a jail you’ve ever seen, at least not in any civilized country. It was built to house 120 prisoners. Recently it held 900.
“Have you seen that place yet?” one Marine said. “It is absolutely disgraceful.”
“The smell,” said another and nearly gagged on remembering. “God, you will never forget it.”
I hadn’t seen or smelled it yet, but I was about to. http://tinyurl.com/2qvunb (mjtotten)
…-
*Gulag cells.
The St. Petersburg Times – Opinion – Standing Up for the ‘Real …
It is clear that Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov did not have any relatives who rotted in gulag cells packed to 15 times their capacity. …
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=8216
Taliban Day from Taliban Jack Layton-NDP.
…-
Layton urges Harper to create new national holiday on third Monday of February
OTTAWA – NDP Leader Jack Layton wants the prime minister to give Canadians a winter break.
lberia – perhaps you missed the correlation of corporate income taxes on worker’s wages as well:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mast1732/RePEc/pdf/WP0707.pdf
and yet which party is against corporate tax cuts? That’s right, the favourite of the union executives.
I got fired from a Dept of Hwys union job, in B.C., (lowly flag girl!) for putting a poster up in the lunchroom saying Vote Social Credit, back in 1979. Unions are political and they are contol freaks.
BTW, I did not have ANY Union benifits as I was an auxillery worker BUT I had dues deducted from my cheques. You can imagine my relief when I moved to Alta. and landed a job in free enterprize where my boss only asked me to do my job!
Google translates Talibanese.
” “We have followed the saga of liberals who do not seem interested,” said our source. « On lui a donné un coup de fil car ses opinions dans plusieurs dossiers, comme la loi anti-scab et l’Afghanistan, la condition féminine, les pétrolières, se rapprochent de la position de notre formation. “We gave him a call because his opinions in several cases, such as the anti-scab and Afghanistan, women, the oil closer to the position of our training. » ”
Françoise Boivin join the NDP
[…]
Opportunities in Quebec
« Nous avons suivi la saga des libéraux qui ne semblent pas intéressés », a poursuivi notre source. “We have followed the saga of liberals who do not seem interested,” said our source. « On lui a donné un coup de fil car ses opinions dans plusieurs dossiers, comme la loi anti-scab et l’Afghanistan, la condition féminine, les pétrolières, se rapprochent de la position de notre formation. “We gave him a call because his opinions in several cases, Françoise Boivin join the NDP » ”
http://tinyurl.com/3aqqqx