While his pronunciation of the English language may be as mangled as a cat in a combine, Stephane Dion does show a knack for tapping into long held Western Canadian metaphors…
“I’m not there to kill the growth, I’m there to make the growth sustainable,” he said. “I don’t want to kill the milk cow. But I want to make sure that the milk will still be good and there for our grandchildren.”
Just as it was for his grandparents.
oops, 1945-2007. not 19145. I must have been using dions logic or figures to come up with that one.
How to milk the Confederation of Canada; Two easy lessons:
1. Walk softly and carry the big Quebec stick.
2.The corollary: Divide and conquer.
Citizen/Citoyen Dion and his Librano$ say: Voila! C’est ca! C’est tout! Aux armes, citoyens, marchons, …
The Liberal Party has this lesson down pat.
Globe | Quebec renews calls for climate change funding
Montreal — The Quebec government renewed its calls Saturday for federal money to fight climate change after reports emerged that the province will have difficulty meeting its Kyoto targets. …-
jack’s newswatch
According to Neil Waugh, in todays Sun, dion says Alberta will elect 8 MPs next election. That stmt alone should tell Ottawa and TO voters how out to lunch he is. Then he says we need more GroupAction. Took him a while to realize what he had said. Guess he was surprised we hicks out here know what groupaction was/is. I think it was a Freudian Slip. Did those attending the convention have any idea of what and who they elected. Mind you they didn’t have much to choose from. Considering they had almost a year to make a choice, I think most liberals slept thru all the facts re any of the choices. They were still in a state of shock they lost the election and haven’t woke up to this day. Dion is a disaster walking outside of Quebec, and I read he is not too popular there either. Has any media talking head, or newspaper, or asked him about his being appointed to cabinet without being elected, by JC. At least Emmerson was elected, before his appointment. I don’t think many liberals or reporterettes know that fact, the way they jumped on Harper. And, he is not the only one, remember Tobin.
The “Milch” cow cartoon demonstrated how Ottawa and central bankers and industry exploited the wests productivity and political impotence by rigging the captive market monopolies for western resource wealth ( agricultural and mineral) with protectionist tarrifsand transport subsidies all which hid under the cleansing banner of “commonwelth” rationalization..this in the early 20th century.
There are other cartoons for western publications in this era that demonstrate the same thing:
http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/Acadiensis/2006/images/acad35_2for02_fig1.jpg
http://www.westcan.org/westcan/bull.gif
…..the “commonwealth” concepts of confederal Canada went out the window the moment big money concerns in the east realized they could make their puppets in Ottawa use this to redistribute wealth this was in the 1890s….it continues today the original intent of commonwealth assitance has continued to devolve into a corrupted socialist wealth distribution system which pays off political patronage for the party running Ottawa throug dorect taxation of the provinces to “eqialize” other provincuial budgets.
I see Dion as wanting to start up the old 1880 styles captive markets with western grain and oil again….will the west allow it this time?
Here’s a clue…westerners have the longest memories of any species of Canadian.
Nothing has essentially changed except the cow poops twice as much on the east coast and folks in that local come to think of being pooped on by the Milch cow as patiotism.
“do not get sucked into the east vs west game…”
How about the “Alberta becoming a U.S. state game”? ‘Cuz I could go for that.
Kingstonlad; I agree that the divide and conquer tactic is the keystone of the Frenchman’s (Duel Citizinette Dion; French first, Quebec second) agenda. The blatant insults hurled at Western Canadians (in particular, Alberta) are not ‘faux pas’; they are calculated and deliberate. The ‘you’ vs ‘us’ worked for the Cretian; for some reason, the Liberanos think it will work again.
I would be interested to know what people living in Quebec think about decentralization for all provinces. If Alberta were to decide to succeed; do Quebec and Ont. and the Merrytimes have the sediment of ‘Don’t let the door hit you on your way out’, if not, why not?
I believe that the nation has matured to the point that provincial differences are reality; it is time to recognize that there is no value to trying to force one province’s ‘values’ on other provinces.
Centralization in all social engineering forms is a dead issue. The provinces must arrange their own social and economic futures without the ‘help’ of Ottawa or the other provinces. Defense and international trade are the venue of Ottawa; internal trade (within the confederation) and economy and taxation is a provincial responsibility. Redistribution of wealth is a communist idea that cannot fly anywhere; taxes are a Provincial responsibility and for any arrangement to work, Ottawa must get out of the redistribution of wealth game.
For a moment, just for clarity ask yourselves: Why is Alberta subsidizing Sask? The two provinces have almost identical geographies!! Why is all of Canada subsidizing Nunavut and the Yukon? The Yukon has very few people and mineral resources galore – Nunavut wants to control the land they have claimed – let them.
The “Swiss” formula works very well in Switzerland. It can work in Canada. It is up to the people of this country to decide. The dictatorship of the E. Mountebanks is no longer an option. The warning was sounded during the last Dictatorship of the Liberanos. There is no turning back to the ‘group action’ thingie Frenchman Dion. The Liberano glory daze are over, even if the Frenchman Stevie were to win the election it would bring only chaos and infighting and fragmentation to our country. Probably bankruptcy. When citizens refuse to co-operate with government ; government fails. Frenchman Dion cannot force the citizens of this nation because we are not poor, uneducated, and broke. The above conditions must exist for the revolution that the grey Dion has in mind for Canada to fly.
Do not even think of voting for Mo Strong’s boy if you have an iota of respect for yourself and you family.
Dion talking about easy money – What money is easier than sitting back and collecting equalization paymnets?
I say that the west should start separation talks if the Liberals get more than 20% of the vote. And we should let it be known well before the next federal election that if the east wants to keep voting libs then they can try and eek out a living without their own “milk”
I think the time has come for all of western Canada to unite and start taking control of our own destiny rather than always being at the wrong end of Quebec and Ontarios puppet strings. The energy sector is going to be giving up the ghost within the next 20 to 50 years and western Canada will become a have not area. And anyone here that thinks Eastern Canada will “help” us out is outta their mind.
I don’t think that we need to separate, but the provinces definitely need to be able to use separation as a stick in order to ensure that all provinces have a say in how we live our lives.
Is this the Canada that our ancestors came to Canada for? Is this the Canada that Canadian soldiers are and have died for? To have not only a corrupt government but a corrupt bureaucracy too? Where people “feel” they are entitled to health care, education, food, homes, all on the backs of other people just because they are too lazy to work?
Time for Canadians to have a reality check and think for a second what kind of country we want to live in?
“The artistry suggests that it was drawn early in the 1900s. Nothing has changed.”
I wasn’t aware that Ontario lived off transfer payments from Western Canada. It seems like one of us has been entertaining a delusion.
When I heard the media bites on the QR77 following Msr. Dion’s road trip, I distinctly heard a plan for NEP II. It wasn’t so much what he said, as the way he said it. Of course, it would be under the guise of saving the planet, but the fact still remains. Am I the only one who heard this?
As someone who went through NEP 1, I have no intention of EVER letting anyone do another end run. If Alta/Sask/BC/Man don’t separate from Canada if Dion gets in, I will.
According to Greg Weston in the London Free Press Op-Ed this morning it sounds as though journalists are even having difficulty deciphering his English.
But who knows maybe it’s a trick the Libs can use to claim Dion’s message wasn’t interpreted correctly.
Listen closely especially when he says Albertan’s make “easy money”.
Jose: When this cartoon first appeared, all the banks etc were in Ontario, and they made decisions that affected the west. Farmers could not borrow money for one thing. Barriers were set up to keep prov to prov trading impossible. Tariffs were set to benefit Ont manufacturing. Quotas were set, for many products to benefit Ont. Ontario and Ottawa lived off the west for many years. Liberals have tried for years to put policies in place that will make us dependent on them, like the succeeded to do with the maritimes.
The NEP and CWB are just 2 examples, but we in the west have a different attitude, we will not let them win. We might go down once in a while, but we will never be out, except out of Canada if the voters in TO and Quebec put the libs back in power. Jose, why do you think the social credit had to introduce the so called funney money, to survive. Why do you think liberal is a bad word in Alberta. Every chance the libs get, they punish Alberta for not supporting them. Even in the rare instance we did send a liberal mp to Ottawa we still got screwed. How hard did landslide annie fight for us, she didn’t.
Need we remind Msr Borat Dion that Alberta’s oil industry was refused start up and development capital from Ottawa and eastern banks. Alberta’s oil patch got its start from seed capital and engineering from the US. Ovwr the years Albertans regained ciontrol over their own resourses and though careful stewardship and small governments with frugal economics, have revenue surpluses from this prime industry.
Now the eastern grasshopper wants the western ant to keep him warm and fed….strained charity to say the least.
The US buys our oil for US dollars. They buy 80% of all our products with US dollars. We also import a majority of the products in our stores. Now, dion wants to buy hot air for millions of cdn dollars. He then want to export hot air to other countries to improve our profits and lifestyle. So I guess he wants us to believe that all the hot air spouted over the years by liberals has a value. Has he not paid attention to the fact europe is rethinking kyoto because of the job losses, industries shutting down, and the realization that it is affecting the average persons lifestyle. Europe will not renew kyoto after 2012. No countries that have not signed on, will not even consider a new accord. Dion will soon be the only wannabe leader supporting kyoto and by doing so, if elected will make Bangladesh look like a great economy compared to ours.
We have to quit referring to credits and call them what they are, hot air, and quit using the term ROC and replace it with Great/est Part of Canada.
It’s at time like this that I’m glad that folks like WL Mackenzie Redux are on my side. Well said.
I think that we’ve only just started to see the arrogance from the eastern politicians that will target everything from the hats we wear to the work we do.
Pat
Lots of complaits re the so called leak about the coming budget and fiscal imbalance solutions. Just maybe Harper has taken note of feeling in the west and is putting in policies to get the West out of Canada. But, in order to get a majority he needs seats in Que. If he gets one, maybe he will finally be able to address all the issues we complain about. If he gets another minority, albeit a larger one, he can tell Que, I tried to please you and you rejected us, so we will cancel all the fiscal imbalance pymts we promised, I will follow the liberal agenda and break a promise. However, our government will never cater to Que again, please get out of my country.
From Greg Westin’s article “Slip of the Tongue” in today’s Ottawa Sun
http://www.ottawasun.com/News/Columnists/Weston_Greg/2007/01/16/3387704.html
….
Dion’s interesting choice of words to describe the Alberta oil boom now fuelling the national economy evidently struck it raw in the West.
One of our favourite Internet blogs, called Small Dead Animals, featured a cartoon apparently penned many decades ago, showing a cow straddling Canada and the caption: “Fed in the West, milked in the East, evacuates (sic) on the Maritimes.”
…..
SDA RULES!
If anyone from Ontario thinks that you all think like us here in Alberta, go to http://www.garth.ca and read some of the posts on his weblog (ie “On the wrong side”). I’ve deduced that there are plenty of Ontario posters who don’t think like us and would like a piece of the pie from Alberta’s good fortune, without working for it. One has to wonder whose side Garth is on and whose side some of his posters are on.
Why is it so bad for a politician from Quebec to suggest that he wants to ensure that riches of Alberta are still around in 100 years? Doesn’t anyone remember what happened to the Atlantic Cod and how over fishing has killed the entire industry? Isn’t any one concerned that eventually, all the oil and oil production will come to an end? What’s good for Alberta is good for the rest of Canada, but what if that runs out? If the oil production was removed from Alberta, what would happen to that economy?
Also, I think what he meant by ‘easy money’, he was refering to the high wages paid by the oil companies. I’m quite sure that working the oil fields is a very hard job to and they deserve every penny they get.
Finally, the ironic thing is – the issues that Albertans have against the federal government are the same issues that Quebekers have against the federal government.
BTW – here is a history of that cartoon: http://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/online/libhtm/milch.htm
The last time Garth Turner made sense was when he was campaigning like a small “C” conservative for a seat in the Mulroney era.
Nothing much since.
Help me people!Someone says that Quebecs and Albertas issues are the same with the Federal govt!How does taking billions of dollars from Canada by Quebec equal giving billions of dollars to Quebec from Alberta via the Federal govt?
Jose
It’s almost 8 PM out here in Campbell River.
I doubt that you will see this and I’m only sorry I didn’t have a chance to read your post much earlier.
I could have enlightened you. Given you an earful so to speak.
The “Miclh Cow” has little if anything to do with transfer payments. They came long after this cartoon was drawn.
Transfer payments come from taxes collected by Ottawa and handed back to the provinces. Albertans pay far more than anyone else and that is a different beef if you’ll pardon a bad unintended pun.
No, this goes far beyond transfer paynents and your post suggests you live in Ontario so I doubt that you would understand how we in the west feel about being a “Milch Cow”.
I am a transplanted Albertan and I guess you had to be there. Or have to be there now.
The latest “Milch Cow” is the oil patch. And if Dion is elected, he will “milch” that cow until it goes dry if he gets a chance. But I think Albertans will be too smart for that and leave.Then Dion will have to find his milch cow closer to home.
Mr wannabe priminster Dion, born,saised and educated in Canada– yet can not speak proper english–wants to keep one foot in Canada and one in France this speaks volumes to me
This man is either content writing off Western Canada for Liberal support or unbelievably ill-informed about our history and issues. I tend to believe the latter – judging by the fact that he so willingly voices such comments.
This from some paranoid prairie lunatic. What an indictment.
Funny how Harper is “suddenly” one of the guys holding the teat now.