Conservatives Raise EI Premiums–Tax Jobs

As of January 1, 2012,  you will be making less money as Harper’s Employment Insurance Premium Hikes take effect. Workers will see their EI premiums rise 5% of insurable earnings to $1.83 while the maximum insurable pay has been raised to $45,900 from $44,200.

Those who qualify for the maximum over the year will lose $142 off their pay checks and their bosses will have to pay $164.

People will have less money due to this move and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation estimates that these premium hikes will make hiring more expensive. If we connect the dots, this means fewer jobs will be created.

“Across Canada there are governments that claim they are concerned about jobs and the economy, but at the same time they are taking hundreds of dollars of disposable income out of the pockets of Canadian families,” said CTF federal director Gregory Thomas.

“Between the employer and employee, you have $6,630 of payroll taxes. That’s the price of hiring a Canadian.”

A spokesman for Jim Flaherty argues that the tax relief over the years is sufficient for this to not be painful.

Meanwhile, the corporate tax hike will take another 1.5% cut to 15% as provinces join to cut towards 10% provincially.

This will bring Canada’s combined corporate tax rate down to 25% from 43% in 2000 and put Canadian corporations in a very competitive place in relation to other countries – too bad 97% of jobs in Canada are created by small businesses and that of the remaining 3%, corporations are likely a fraction. But, keep in mind that raising these taxes is detrimental and has worse consequences (it would be like raising taxes more than the amount that you want and then get another greedy grab off of the backs of consumers… us) – even if the economy worked great at those restore points.

Quebec, the most taxed province in North America will see another increase to the QST to make it now 9.5% and will also raise its EI premiums by 5.6%. Health taxes and tuition rates in Quebec will also go up, along with a soon to be increase of 1 cent per liter on gas.

In British Columbia, health taxes will raise by 6.4% for couples and 5.8% for individuals.

It goes to show that no matter how much a government claims to care about jobs, growth, the economy, and the people that ultimately pay the price, tax hikes are always a button away for them and they will soon be defending their financial mismanagements.

The Conservatives call themselves the party of low taxes, but while they didn’t yet raise the GST, like Mulroney did when he introduced it, they have increased EI premiums, an indirect tax grab, and they have taxed income trusts, which is a direct attack on retirement.

The Logic Behind the Conservatives’ Plan for Healthcare Transfers

The Conservatives have announced that cuts will be made to healthcare and let’s face it, it had to happen sooner or later. While the Conservative approach may be against that of the Canadian will and may also align with a stern ideological aspect, the economic logic makes sense.

We are spending a lot of money in healthcare, more so than ever, and will be paying a lot more in about 5 years time. The cost of healthcare is growing faster than the rate of economic growth which if you’re good at math means that the two lines will eventually intersect and lead to a cost over-run that is simply unsustainable and leads to a harsh structural deficit. Now we know that a structural deficit is bad because it means that no matter how well Canada is performing it will always be paying more than it can generate and the debt to GDP ratio will rise and interest payments will increase with every added dollar to debt and eventually we find a Canada that is imploding and in economic chaos. This is strictly based on numbers and numbers don’t lie, draw the two graphs, one with a rate of change of 3 and one with a rate of change of 6, they will certainly intersect and the one with the bigger slope will dominate therein.

We have spent a lot of money into healthcare and as I discussed in a previous article. all we have been doing is turning the tap on a broken hose, waiting for better results and being let down. The system is inefficient and broken and needs change.

The provincial finance ministers may be crying crocodile tears over Harper’s ruling to pair financial funding with economic strength, but this funding scheme is necessary. Even if we scrap everything but healthcare and put all of our resources into healthcare we will still have a lousy system and an eventual budgetary overrun.

By 2019, the federal government will be paying $38 billion, up from $19 billion this year, into the healthcare system. For years, money has been pumped through and how has medical serviced improved for you? Dismally.

The NDP are putting their foot down to the cuts proving simply how illogical and how ineffective their financial methods would be. They claim that even though the economy is only growing at 3% at best, the country should be spending twice as much into healthcare and make the 6% annual increases permanent. Incrementally increase the pressure of the broken hose and tell me at what rate will we see improvement for all of that wasted money.

The NDP would raise taxes which means that you and I would be paying more for a broken system and they believe that the solution to everything is to throw money at it which is simply illogical and irresponsible.

Canada needs healthcare reform, reforms that will tailor services to meet demographic needs, reforms that will slice through administrative and bureaucratic fat in the system, new wings should be for patients, not for bureaucrats! Canadian doctors are among the best paid in the world now, increasing their salary is too much of a burden. It is important that patients have more control over their records and that an online system is created.

We must have this discussion, a discussion the NDP doesn't want to make. The NDP would have you paying much higher taxes and create new spending that is unsustainable and reckless all in the name of their 1900’s ideology.

While the Conservatives may be fundamentally wrong about their take it or leave it approach and while they may be wrong about leaving provinces to figure it all out themselves – which has obviously failed since it is a provincial jurisdiction anyways, but in terms of the logistics of the sustainability of the healthcare system, they are spot on, we cannot afford annual 6% increases in spending, especially not if the increases that we’ve already made didn’t work at all.

“Stephen Harper says we have to slash stable increases to our healthcare funding – but let his wealthy friends keep their tax breaks,” Brian Topp, an NDP leadership candidate who has set out a bold plan to raise everyone’s taxes for his party’s ideology writes. “I think he’s dead wrong.”

The increases are not stable, and never will be because our growth is not more than 6%, and if you think that making growth 6% with tax increases will help the situation, perhaps you should call a plumber to replace the hose for you as you will continue to turn the faucet and get dismal results.

Anyone who believes in the pubic system must wake up and get ready to make reforms because once the system implodes, the public system will be privatized to keep the country afloat. By finding new ways of approaching healthcare, including providing resources for home care, specializing clinics for certain needs and setting new guidelines and cutting administration, the cost of Canadian healthcare can be greatly diminished and the money that does get invested in the system will actually flow through the system properly and not get leaked out to several waste points, and this is how you build and sustain a strong public healthcare system that should put quality first.

Canada’s Healthcare System: Not Underfunded; Inefficient and Mismanaged

Regular users of the Canadian Healthcare system know that something isn’t right. The system is broken, inefficient and mismanaged. It has become expensive and for the causes that it has received greater funding, it has not improved. Our healthcare system still easily deserves a failing grade for wait times, understaffing and overall performance but while some believe that it is due to a lack of funds, the reality remains that the funds are mismanaged and that regardless how much money you throw in the system, it will be wasted and your healthcare won’t improve.

There is a lot of controversy spiraling around the Conservative Government's decision to cut healthcare funding in 5 years. Provincial finance ministers are crying crocodile tears and some people are even afraid that the move will destroy Canadian healthcare.

First, let’s start with an analogy. Say that you are watering a garden. You notice that the pressure coming out of the hose is weak and insufficient. Naturally, you go to the main water supply of the hose and crank it up to a higher state. You continue watering the plants and notice dismal improvement. So you figure that there isn’t enough water and turn the tap to the max. As you continue watering, you are still agitated with the lack of pressure. You go to the tap once again but position yourself differently than before. All of a sudden, you feel your leg get shot with a burst of water. You look down and you are standing in a puddle with a massive leak in your hose. Ultimately, you either need to fix or replace the hose at this point.

Now how does watering the plants with a broken hose link to healthcare? Simple. Water is money, the hose is the system and pressure is the quality. So here is a question for you, if we are spending more money on a system that wastes money along the way, how much of the new funding will actually go to healthcare? And how will this increased funding help improve the overall quality of a broken system?

This view is shared by two thirds of Canadians: The problem isn’t funding, it’s efficient management.

If we look at some cases of what people had to say about the system, we realize that there are some real issues in healthcare.

Take Emily Nicolas, age 29, and a private calculus tutor, she used to say that we had a good healthcare system. After getting a stress fracture on her hip which was not properly diagnosed, she experienced an 8 year odyssey through the system. Nicolas endured 4 operations, including the replacement of her right hip, and formal physiotherapy which essentially weren’t needed and could have been done without.

“It’s not very sensible or innovative,” she said. “There’s too much focus on more diagnostics, more tests, when listening and communication could diminish the need for some of those.”

Now, the word mediocre is her overall description.

I can relate to her, while I did not have an injury like hers, I grew up in and out of the hospital and was very weak towards viruses. The wait times were awful, you are waiting in a room where you are surrounded by other sick kids whose germs are fresh in the air. Then you finally see a doctor 6 hours later, I guess I was one of the lucky ones, and they send you away with cold medication or with a diagnosis of mono, which were never the cases for me. I always ended up returning the next day in worst shape than I had entered and wait the long wait again to see a different doctor who would send me to the X-ray section. In the X-ray section, I would have to wait a few more hours before they finally take my X-ray and then I get the diagnosis that I should have gotten the first time.

The system is broken, Canadians know it, but, unlike the Conservatives, 77% believe in the public system. The public system does need a cleanup and some reorganization and efficiency checks, but it in itself is not the problem.

Increasingly, inefficiency is being seen as the main problem. Kevin Leonard, 54, a professor at Toronto’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, has lived for 4 decades with Crohn’s disease. When he went to get an ultrasound a few years ago for his abdomen, a frustrating encounter fueled his belief that patients need better access to their medical records. His radiologist folded a report on his exam and stapled it 17 times to hide his results until he saw a family doctor.

“It’s very, very ineffective the way it runs today,” he said. “It’s based on this mindset that’s rampant throughout health care that the patient is either not mature enough or does not have the right to get access to their own information until a doctor has said it's okay for you to have that.”

A solution that Leonard believes in is an online database which patients can use to track their health.

A friend of mine who lived in Ontario cited the events of a London-based hospital that should surprise many. The hospital underwent renovations and added a new wing. Usually, this is a good thing because it means more doctors, more beds, and better quality care. Once the renovations were finished, she investigated the new wing to find that it was solely for administrative offices and that no new beds or equipment was added. The renovations were on the taxpayer’s bill and likely came up to $1 million.

It goes to show that you can spend as much money on healthcare as you want, but if the system is broken, you are essentially flushing that money down the toilet.

Government of Canada ordered to Pay Jean Chretien Over Sponsorship Case

The election of 2006 was an election where the Conservatives placed repeated attacks against the Liberal Party for something called ad scam. The attacks were effective enough to get them into power and to slowly finish off the party. While many Canadians who bought the propaganda have declared and condemned the Liberal party as corrupt, evidence suggests that there was no link to Jean Chretien or even the Liberal Party.

 

Helena Guergis sues PM Harper and Conservative Party

Helena Guergis is suing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada over defamation and an alleged conspiracy plan to keep her out of Parliament.

 

Reasons why Canada’s Management System Needs Rethinking

Canadians pay a lot of money every year. They pay a GST and PST or HST, they pay income taxes, they pay payroll taxes, they pay municipal property taxes and there is a tax for almost everything in Canada. These taxes overlap and soon we all find ourselves struggling to balance our budgets and wondering why money disappears so fast. Meanwhile, government officials tell us that they are doing their best to manage budgets which in most cases are in deep deficits and are leading up to huge debts and budget run offs. The money that we pay is supposed to go toward infrastructure and the services we count on and every time our taxes are raised, there is a promise for better service. Ironically, as taxes increase throughout the country, the quality of our roads and infrastructure, our education and healthcare, and the safety net that we are obliged to fund are all deteriorating.  As we speak, public servants with inflated salaries and perks are going on spending sprees and having their unions try to hold taxpayers as hostages. As we speak, government officials are wasting our money and in some cases, even allegedly funding organized crime. Government and bureaucracy in Canada: hand in hand, putting their hands in the public piggy bank, it is time for change.

Government Officials Take Tax Payers for a Ride

Peter Mackay came under fire again this week as his hotel spending came to light and it isn’t pretty.  Mackay wasn’t alone, information has surfaced that a bureaucrat in charge of managing Aboriginal finances has been taking tax payers for a ride as well.

Quebec’s NDP Wave Died Out–Harris-Decima Poll

A new Harris-Decima poll suggests that the NDP is now tied with the Bloc Quebecois for first place in the province. At 26% a piece, the NDP has dropped significantly by 16 points since the May election. The NDP losses were distributed at 3 for the Bloc Quebecois, 1 for the Conservatives, 5 for Greens and 6 for the Liberals which shows the Liberals and Greens as the big gainers in Quebec to propel them to second/third place.

What Goes Around Comes Around

Jack Layton’s last attack in the May 2011 was aimed squarely at Michael Ignatieff and his Liberals. Touting that the NDP had a superior attendance record, the NDP managed to aid the Harper Conservatives in an attempt to hammer a nail on the Liberal coffin. The NDP are having a leadership race and all of them are uninspiring and on top of that, they are all among the worst parliamentarians in terms of attendance.

Conservatives Scramble with Budgeting

There is a $10 billion average difference between estimated structural budget balance forecasts between the Conservatives and budget watchdog Kevin Page.

Chretien: Gun Registry, Kyoto and Wheat Board are Dismantled… What’s Next?

Former Liberal PM Jean Chretien is warning Liberals that the Gun Registry, Kyoto Accord, and Wheat Board may just be the beginning in a Conservative ideological rampage which would change the face of Canada.

The Future of Medicare in Canada

A lot of speculation has been put into the way that Harper is going to deal with the upcoming healthcare accord. If there is one thing we know, he won’t make a repeat of Paul Martin, he won’t make each province sign a separate deal (which is what most commentators thought he would so) and he won’t make a big summit where everyone must agree to one blueprint (like what Paul Martin did). However, despite, however Harper approaches this, there is one certainty: a new approach to healthcare will be taken – and frankly must be taken.

Conservative Misspending on G8/G20 Summit Revealed; Brace Yourselves

You can throw efficiency, accountability, prudent management and logic out the window with the current Conservative government. Instead of doing the right thing and cutting down on their fat, they unnecessarily increased it and are continuing to increase it as we speak. But that is not all. Parts of Tony Clements’s ‘accountable’ spending in his riding is being exposed and it most certainly will get ugly.

 

Canada’s Political Scene: Filled with Irony

The state of our country and the state of our government can be described flawlessly with irony.

It is ironic how the Conservatives won the 2006 election by labeling the Liberals as corrupt and then have the nerve to take air rides and waste our money on a G20 summit – which was entirely for their own use and not for the public.

It is ironic how the Conservatives claim to be accountable while refusing to answer to Canadians and actively try to restrict democracy. Not to mention Harper’s egotistical attempt to name the Government of Canada after himself – as if he is the king or dictator of this country, its people and its affairs.

It is ironic how the Liberals were pinned as “tax and spend” during the last election while the Conservatives promised more financial restraint. As we speak, the Conservatives have upped government spending by 22% while the previous decade of Liberal governments cut spending. During the Mulroney Conservative government, the GST was introduced, the Liberals did not touch it and the governing Conservatives taxed income trust and taxed EI Premiums – effectively making hiring and retirement more expensive.

It is ironic how Stephen Harper once advocated democratic reform, and reduced government size and then slapped each and every one of us with the bill for his new senators, inflated cabinet, and inflating bureaucracy – not to mention all his bills for hospitality and the bill of the G20 summit alone. Is Canada really more democratic?

It is ironic how the Conservatives claim to be “tough on crime” while they have had 4 of their senior members how nearly faced jail time for election fraud.

It is ironic how the NDP (radical left) claimed to oppose the Conservatives (radical right) but not only took pride in working with them, but also squarely focused their attacks on the Liberals (relatively centrist) in the May 2011 election which gave the Conservatives a clear road to a majority government. (As seen in the picture)

It is ironic how the NDP have promised to fix Ottawa and then slapped every Canadian in the face with the most uncivil behavior seen yet.

It is ironic how the NDP claim that they aim to do the right thing when they tried to use the late Jack Layton’s death as a fundraising opportunity – which broke Election Canada rules. Layton died and they use his death as an opportunity to try to make money for the party? That is shallow, disrespectful and distasteful. They should be ashamed of themselves.

It is ironic how the NDP claim to be good for the economy when they have repeated time and time again that they would attack the very institutions that ensure that Canada’s economy doesn’t collapse. In comparison to the rest of the world, despite Harper’s mismanagement, no Canadian  bank has failed or required bailout. If Harper wouldn’t have made reckless decisions over the past 5 years, Canada may have been the country with the proud title of being the only country to not go into recession and not one with the biggest deficit in its history.

It is ironic how the NDP claim that a grand nationalization scheme will bring jobs and money back to Canadians. The reason for which the world entered globalization was to reduce the price of every item (including food) that you buy today and essentially make life more affordable. If the pair of pants that you were wearing today were made in Canada, they would cost several hundred dollars because let’s face it, who will pay a Canadian less than minimum wage to make them to be this cheap? And let’s face it, how will Canada’s existing payrolls make things more affordable? Increase the wages and you increase the price because everything is made in Canada.

It is ironic how the NDP say they support Canadians in this aspect while failing to realize the important repercussions of their reckless manners. While globalization has arguably gotten out of control and started to favor a small few, we must recognize that each and everyone of us would fall to the hands of poverty without it. It is ironic how something so radical that is suppose to help Canadians can be such a pitfall at the same time.

The negatives of our system are the result of mismanagement. It is the day when government took away its trust from Canadians and parents, became selfish, greedy and power hungry, decided to hold people to account instead of holding itself accountable to the people that our fine system had slowly started to dissipate.

We must also acknowledge that nothing in life is perfect. But in a system where everyone had their freedoms and had the opportunity to become what they wanted to become, you must admit that in comparison to everyone else, we have it pretty good. To live in a country where ethnicity is irrelevant and to live in a country where you are part of a family and not part of a militancy is something to honor.

Right now, Canada is being governed by the extreme right at the wheel and extreme left in the front passenger seat. With both arguing about each other’s driving skills and with both fighting for control of the wheel, the car, Canada, will crash. It is by far the worst thing that could have happened to Canada. Extremes are never good for a country, or in any part in life. It is and always have been the extremes that divide and damage  as they build their goals through beliefs and ideology and not facts and reason, as they divide instead of unite.

What has this political realm come to? It is sad folks.

To each of my loyal readers, I thank you for your support as I report and comment on things by the way I see them and not the way that monopolized media has. I doubt that any of the media stations you watch or listen to, or read, will ever have the guts to say what I have previously said. Honestly, this reflects how modern-day journalists have failed to question, criticize, and uncover the day’s  events. Whether it be due to government censorship, pure laziness, or political agenda, it is appalling that the questions that I raise are not raised by media itself. But, my fellow Canadians, this is the point of blogs and this blog in particular. This blog isn’t as much a news site as a place to start discussions and interpret the day’s political news and I invite you to stay tuned! The controversy starts here.

Commons Theater, A Production fresh out of College

The NDP have added life to the House of Commons on Thursday as they exchanged an array of literature with their Conservative counterparts. After promising to make Ottawa a more civil place, senior NDP MP Pat Martin took it to himself to send F-bombs to all of his opponents and the junior elites have been suggesting books from the “For Dummies Series.”

 

If you missed the show, here’s how it went. Caution: The following remarks may remind you of your college days!

 

The Call for Smaller and More Efficient Government

The Liberal rebuilding process will be an interesting one to watch. While media commentators have written them off, membership has soared. In my riding, which went from Bloc Quebecois to NDP the last time around, the Liberals had the second biggest burst of membership in the country and doubled what they had before – with more people coming in.

 

Conservative Fined for Breaking Election Rules

It appears the ‘tough on crime’ Conservatives aren’t as worthy of that title as we think. In an ongoing dispute with Elections Canada, the Conservatives pleased guilty to lessen the consequences of their guilty individuals who would have faced jail time for Electoral Fraud.

 

Conservative Economic Record Gets Slammed

Liberal Interim Leader Bob Rae slammed the Tory’s recent financial statement and offered up his own recipe to fixing Canada’s ailing economy.

Conservative Majority: Five Months Later; The Reason Why it Came to Be

Stephen harper may proudly pronounce that the Conservative Party is Canada’s party but if we look at the trends and the likely factors that brought the May 2011 result, we can see a different picture arise.

 

Clueless

With the recent protests against Wall Street and Corporations, the NDP will likely be making political gains – they are after all, the anti- corporation party and most importantly, the “party of change.” However, if you analyze what they represent and what they would do if given a mandate, you can easily see that while they are on the other side of the room, they are more of the same.

 

Canada’s Top Soldier thinks He is Entitled to Taxpayer Funded Plane Rides

All across the country, Canadians are buckling down as income slows and prices rise. As we speak, there is speculation of another recession that would put Harper’s rhetoric in a  tailspin. However, if we look to Canada’s top soldier, he not only is spending more, he is using our money to do so.

Jack’s Final Words

Jack Layton was a man who genuinely believed in what he stood for and that in politics is rare. Canada has lost an icon today and one that had one goal, not to bask in power, not to make a great salary, but to try to make the world a better place. Regardless where you stood about him, or his party, if one thing is for certain, at least Jack Layton cared.

Jack Layton Passes Away

At the age of 61, cancer won its last battle. At 4:45 am, Layton’s wife and children confirmed that he passed away.

How Stephen Harper’s Misguided Decisions will Finish Canada Off

In 2008, Stephen harper was reluctant to take notice of the coming recession and denied its existence until it hit hard. On the eve of the storm’s arrival, Harper faked an election to try to get a majority, thinking that the recession would be his downfall if he didn’t. He fell short of a majority and rode through the storm taking almost every demand the sharp-bladed opposition shoved at him.

NDP Supporters can Stop Supporting Turmel Now, Party Insiders have lost Confidence

It isn’t everyday that you hear of a federal opposition leader being secretly a part of a separatist party in the past. It isn’t everyday that the same person has two memberships with separatist parties and tries to brush them off saying that she believed in every value but separation. With two parties under her wing that share the separatist trait, and with 5 years of loyalty to them, it is no secret that she is a separatist and well, the NDP could have done much better than her anyway.

Who are the NDP? Separatists?

The NDP may have chosen Nycole Turmel as their interim leader, but that doesn't change her previous separatist ties. While she claims that she joined the Bloc Quebecois in 2006 because a friend urged her too and didn't like their principles, five years later, she now finds herself as interim leader of the NDP... If she really didn't agree with the Bloc Quebecois, why would she have had a membership for five years? Not to mention that she is also a member of Quebec's Quebec Solidaire Party which also puts Quebec sovereignty as their top priority.

Layton taking a Break From Politics to Fight New Cancer

Jack Layton will be taking a temporary leave as leader of the NDP to fight a new ‘non-prostate’ cancer that has attacked him until September 19, when parliament comes back from summer break.

Who should be entitled to child benefits?

Ottawa-area father Yannick Cloutier raised 2 children on his own for 8 years. Recently, he moved in with a common-law spouse and two years after she moved in with him, the Canada Revenue Agency decided that they would transfer the child benefits for his two children to his common-law spouse.

The NDP and Conservatives Fail to Make Public Safety Top Priority

The Champlain Bridge is crumbling down but for both the NDP and Conservatives, it isn’t a big issue. With the NDP only releasing a small statement and the Conservatives breaking their heads on how to deal with the documentation, bridge users – like myself – have absolutely no guarantee that the bridge will be replaced and there is no guarantee that the replacement will come before the bridge collapses and people die painful deaths as they plummet into the St. Lawrence.

Ethics Commissioner: Helena Guergis Broke Ethics Rules

Ethics commissioner Mary Dawson released a report today saying that former Conservative MP Helena Guergis broke ethics rules when she wrote a recommendation for a constituent whose business was linked to her husband’s.

Stephen Harper’s Misunderstanding of Where He Stands in the Public Eye

At the Calgary Stampede Barbeque, Harper took an opportunity to do what he does best: attack his opposition. However, his pitch to convince party faithful that their party has the big Mo may be unfounded.

European Broadband Makes North American Broadband look like expensive Dialup

If you leave Canada and the United States and go to England, you will notice a big difference in terms of your internet connection. Not only is it much cheaper, it is much faster. England didn’t pump billions into the system to get its widespread coverage and extremely low prices, they used regulations to increase competition and the companies that feared a loss in profits are now booming.

Harper’s Controversial Quotes

On April 25, a 500 page document was allegedly handed to the Liberal Party of Canada by Conservative insiders that contained an organized inventory of all of Stephen Harper’s controversial quotes ranging from abortion to western alienation.

The Dust Barely Settles after Back-to-Work Legislation becomes Law

During the filibuster last week as the Conservatives tried to forcefully end the standoff between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, an apparent agreement between them failed and insiders are pointing at the Prime Minister’s Office. All the while, the union said that it will be legally challenging the back to work legislation.

Nanos Poll Gives Tories 14 Point Lead

A new Nanos poll shows the end of the NDP honeymoon as their poll numbers are slipping. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are growing, the Liberals are recovering and the Bloc Quebecois remain crushed.

The NDP Inevitably Lost their Fight for Postal Workers

Jack Layton imposed a 58 hour filibuster to try to stall a Conservative back to work bill that would do more than just send postal workers back to work with a lower pay increase than the management’s last offer. As a result, Canadians can expect to get their mail on Tuesday and can expect a return to regular service. The bill easily passed in the house of commons on Saturday and easily passed through the senate on Sunday as both houses are held in majority status by the Conservatives.

Opinion: Liberal-NDP Merger: A Disaster in the Making

There has been a lot of speculation around Liberal-NDP merger and while the Liberal Party has swiftly stopped its main proponent Bob Rae from being able to discuss the topic, the NDP kept itself open by rejecting an internal proposal to prevent future talks of merger. While many people have different takes on a proposed merger, what would be the consequence if they chose to or not to merge in the near future?

Baird Condemns the Probe into $50 million in spending as a “PR stunt”

The controversy over the G8 summit didn’t die as the Tories desperately try to defend themselves after $50 million that was supposed to be spent on border upgrades was instead spent on various projects in Tony Clement’s riding. Former Liberal MP Marlene Jennings asked the RCMP to ask for an inquiry into the spending while Tory attack dog John Baird claims that it is all a PR stunt.

Canada Going Backward on Crime Initiatives

The Americans have been fighting the war on drugs for more than 20 years with their tough-on-crime agenda. However, the Americans are now moving away from mandatory minimum sentences without any chance of parole as more than 20 states struggle to afford it in the current economic times. All the while, Tory PM Harper plans to impose their failed justice system on Canada.

Harper’s Department Broke Expense Rules

The government’s tough rules for hospitality spending have been repeatedly broken by Stephen Harper’s own department, an internal report suggests. The report analyzed how the Privy Council Office spent $340,000 on hospitality and found widespread abuses to a basic rule – public servants can’t spend any money without getting approval from a supervisor.

Appointed Conservative Senators Change Their Tunes on Senate Reform

While the provinces of Ontario and Quebec were quick to pounce on Harper’s proposed senate reforms, it turns out that Harper’s newly minted Conservative majority in the Red Chamber are rejecting the plan as they fear that retiring at an earlier age than 75 will greatly reduce their pension payments. Harper defended his appointments at the time stating that the purpose was to pass senate reform.

Conservative Party goes at Full Steam Ahead

The Conservatives are going full steam ahead with their agendas. The throne speech went through without debate or a vote, Baird defends the ever-growing cost of the Libya mission, and the Conservatives won’t go to the Supreme Court of Canada to get the green light for senate reform. All the while, the Auditor General slammed their secrecy over G8 spending.

It May be Time for Canadians to Tighten Their Belts, but not the PMO

As the Conservatives announced cuts and user fees to come to public services and new austerity measures, Stephen Harper used his business jet to go to Game 4 of the Cup finals in Boston. Due to security reasons, Harper, his daughter Rachel, and Heritage Minister James Moore used a government Challenger Jet to get to the TD Garden for the game which cost $3,285 per hour to operate on the tax payers’ tab.

Flaherty intends to copy the Liberals

The Conservatives promised that they would get us out of deficit by 2014. However, such a promise won’t be visible in the upcoming budget. The Conservatives are well aware of the Liberal Party’s prudent economic abilities and plan to copy it. Jim Flaherty, Canada’s Finance Minister has declared that he doesn’t how to fix the economy, but knows that if he can figure out how the Liberals fixed the previous Tory mess, he can clean up his own.

NDP Surge Gave Tories Majority Government

A new poll finds that the NDP surge wasn’t a fluke, but instead is here to stay, however, that didn’t stop 16 seats from going blue as a result. These vote splits mainly occurred in Ontario at the expense of the Liberals. Meanwhile, there is speculation as to whether the NDP’s Quebec counterpart the Quebec Solidaire would ride the same wave. A recent poll also suggests that if Quebec voted today, the separatist Parti Quebecois would form a majority government.

NDP Gave Conservatives Majority

Below is a break down from ThreeHundredandEight.com outlining that the NDP were indeed the cause of the current Conservative majority government.


Had the NDP not split the vote in these 16 regions, the Conservatives would have been 4 short of a majority government.

Several of these ridings were close as well.

Bramalea-Gore-Malton went Conservative with only 500 votes leading.

Mississauga East-Cooksville was won with a 700 vote lead.

Etobicoke Centre was won by only 100 votes.

Nipissing-Timiskaming by only a handful of ballots.

In Michael Ignatieff’s old riding, 5,000 new NDP votes helped hand the seat to the Conservatives.

While the NDP gained between 2,200 and 13,500 votes, they only finished second or third.

However, the NDP weren’t completely to blame, in York Centre for example, the 2,200 NDP gain didn’t affect the 6,400 vote gap between Ken Dryden and the newly-elected Conservative MP Mark Adler.
Other ridings that were tossed to the Conservatives due to the NDP were Winnipeg South Centre, Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, Labrador, and Yukon.

In New Brunswick, the NDP’s growth created a three-way race electing Conservative Robert Goguen.
In Labrador, the 700 NDP votes prevented the Liberals from overtaking the Conservative with only 200 votes behind. In the Yukon, the 1,000 new votes for the NDP prevented the Liberals from holding the seat which they lost by only 100 votes.

While Stephen Harper reaped the benefit of Michael Ignatieff’s failings, he can thank Jack Layton for the 16 seats that bumped him to majority status.

NDP set to become Natural Opposition Party

All the while, the NDP surge wasn’t a fluke, a new Harris Decima poll suggests that Layton secured his position as Official Opposition Leader. Of the poll’s more than 2,000 respondents, the Conservatives got 37%, down from 39.6% on election day, the NDP got 34%, up from 30.6%, the Liberals got 15%, down 4.

"What's happened is the loyalties of traditional Liberal voters continue to be transferred over to the New Democrats," said pollster Allan Gregg, the chairman of Harris-Decima.

"We've got the New Democrats at an all-time high virtually everywhere except British Columbia right now."
The center-left people seem to have started to back the NDP which could make it Canada’s natural opposition party.

In Quebec, where the NDP made the most gains, Harris Decima suggests that the voting intention holds: 46% NDP, 21% Bloc Quebecois, 18% Conservatives, 10% Liberals.

Will the NDP Surge Help Quebec’s Quebec Solidaire Party?

Meanwhile, there has been speculation whether Quebec’s provincial party the Quebec Solidaire would ride the NDP wave. It is Quebec’s sister party to the NDP and like the official opposition Parti Quebecois, the Quebec Solidaire are a separatist party.

Threehundredandeight.com has compiled the provincial data and found that if an election were to be held today, Quebecers would oust Jean Charest’s Liberal Party and elect a major Parti Quebecois majority government which would put Quebec separation back on the table in Quebec. Provincially, the Parti Quebecois would get 78 seats, while the Liberals would get 27, the ADQ, Quebec’s right-leaning party would come in third with 15 seats and Quebec Solidaire would gain 4 more seats to get 5.

A CROP poll suggests that the PQ have 34%, the Liberals have 23%, the Action Democratic du Quebec (ADQ) has 16% and Quebec Solidaire has 12%.



Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois has plenty to be happy about and if the trend continues as Jean Charest’s popularity deteriorates in the province, the election that has yet to come in 2 years may give the Quebec separatist movement the keys to the National Assembly. In the end, the Quebec Solidaire didn’t pick up the gains as a part of the NDP surge in Quebec.

Conservatives go in Two Directions when it comes to the Israel Issues

During the G8 summit, Stephen Harper stood alone in rejecting Obama’s peace offer that would have Israel use its 1967 borders as a standing point for peace negotiations with independence seeking Palestinians. Now, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is singing a different tune from his leader, supporting Obama’s initiative.

Harper’s Response to Quebec Flood Victims ‘an Insult’

While Manitoba controls its flood and got two Prime Ministerial visits and plenty of support, Quebecers are left to deal a retreat of Canadian Armed Forces, all the while, Harper visits the rest of the brigade in Afghanistan. NDP leader Jack Layton took the opportunity to tour the region and called Harper’s actions ‘an insult.’ He is the first national leader to tour the region and many of his newest seats are in the area.

The Conservative Majority Government that campaigned on being ‘Here for Canada’ has turned its back to the 3,000 residents of the Richelieu Valley in Quebec who aren’t getting a break from the rising Richelieu river, nor will they see one any time soon.

An abnormally wet winter and spring has precipitated to a higher Lake Champlain and no where for water along the Richelieu Valley to go, but up. This has been the first time in over 100 years that the Richelieu river has reached these levels which have broken records three times.

The hardest hit of the region is the community of Saint-Paul-de-l’Ile-aux-Noix where Layton visited Monday morning with a few of his newly elected members of his Quebec-based caucus. He promised flood victims that he would speak to Harper directly about their many concerns.

However, residents are skeptical about Layton’s ability to change the situation and what they want is for the military to stay and for the water to go away. One woman in the region said that she has sleepless nights thinking about the mess that she will have to clean up when it is all over. Other residents didn’t care which politician came, they didn’t think it would make any difference.

One of the concerns that residents are raising in particular is Harper’s decision to withdraw the military as water levels rise. When the water recedes, sandbags that can weigh as much as 30 kg will be left for the residents to clean up on their own.

People in the region are now entering the fifth straight week of the flood where people literally need to use boats to cross the streets. Several thousand homes and businesses too, are underwater.

"It's been predicted for quite some time that we're going to have worse weather -- stronger weather," Layton told The Canadian Press. "All the insurance companies have been predicting it, weather scientists have been predicting it. We're going to have to take a look at how we respond, as a society."

Defense Minister Peter MacKay, however, made it clear during his visit to the region last week that the soldiers, which peaked at 800, will assist residents with the developing emergency but not the clean up.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest has been in the region four times announcing that the province would establish three task forces. One would focus on reconstruction, another on temporary shelter, a final on disaster prevention.

Over the weekend, heavy rain and strong winds caused the Richelieu river to rise another 25 cm bringing it to its highest levels for the third time  in 45 days.

"The same level as 6th of May, which I think was the highest," Saint-Paul-de-l'Ile-aux-Noix Mayor Gerard Dutil told CTV News Channel on Monday.

"Hopefully, with the weather persisting, we should be able to do something in the next 10 or 15 days, but we will have to come out of it soon," Dutil said.

If the river peaks as officials expect in the coming days, it will take weeks of good weather for the water to disappear and for a clean up operation to be able to take place.

Despite the Harper Government’s decision to leave Quebecers stranded, a site called SOS Richelieu  has managed to get more than 7,500 people to volunteer for its clean up operation that could start as soon as the weekend of June 11 and 12.

Other relief efforts include a Red Cross concert in Montreal on June 1 and a comedic fundraising event in Saint'-Jean-sur-Richelieu on June 7.

Liberals choose Bob Rae as Interim Leader

The Liberal Party of Canada has chosen Bob Rae to set the framework for the future of the party that will be handed off to another leader in 18 to 22 months depending on when the next convention takes place. Rae will the the Liberals’ fifth leader since Paul Martin resigned in 2006 after he lost to Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. With the task of rebuilding the Grits at hand, Rae as an extensive amount of political experience.

Layton’s New Job

Jack Layton has always had a fighting spirit, and he must be so happy that Harper has a majority. This may sound insane, but Harper having a majority actually does benefit him. Since Harper has a majority, he can bark at him and never risk toppling the government. In this case, smooth sailing for him to boost his image. All he needs to do is reject everything Harper does he will look golden by October 19, 2015.