Representatives of all 7200 Alberta doctors call for a proper health inquiry.

Representatives of all 7200 Alberta doctors call for a proper health inquiry.

"In a strongly worded statement that accuses the government of “stonewalling” and brushing over an “inconvenient truth” on the eve of an election, physician representatives of all 7,200 provincial doctors are calling on Albertans to bring in a “tsunami of change” and demand a public health inquiry into the issue of physician intimidation."

Having written the terms of  reference so narrow that it is all but impossible for an inquiry to even consider looking at bullying and intimidation in healthcare, it is clear that Premier Redford is trying to whitewash the entire thing.

Who are you going to believe? Redford or our physicians?

I know who I trust more.

Bring on the tsunami.


Update: Corbella: MLAs paid nearly 1 million dollars after 14 minutes of work.


'And yet Prins, who is paid $18,000 a year to chair the standing committee on privileges and elections, standing orders and printing, was quoted in Friday’s Herald saying: “I have done nothing wrong. Why would I give money back?”
It’s an outrageous statement and highlights his overblown sense of entitlement.'

Braid's latest on the mighty tsunami election battle.  (Love the picture of Redford they used)

PC supporters. Please tell me again why I should vote for them?

Redford flounders on committee pay issue.

Thursday: News breaks on a committee that has not met since 2008 but yet pays MLAs $1000 per month. Redford responds that she was unaware of the situation: "I did not know," she said  “This, to me, is a ridiculous situation. It isn’t the way Albertans want politicians to be paid."  "It is not right"


Friday: We find out that Redford was not as unaware as she claimed when we learn that she sat on that very same committee from Oct 09 until Feb 2010.

Sunday: Redford said it is up to each individual member of her caucus to give back money they were paid for being on a committee that failed to meet for 39 months. “It’s a personal decision,”
 
Monday: It is no longer is a personal decision as Redford says that pay for committee work has been suspended for Tory members.

What a disaster this has been for the PC's. More of the entitlements that they voted for themselves get exposed to the light of day and a leader doing damage control who changes her story/position almost daily. And if the polls are any indication Alberta voters, who now are starting to pay more attention due to the upcoming election, are not finding the PC's and Redford's reactionary damage control very attractive.

Here is something to think about: The standing committee on privileges and elections was a category B ( MLAs paid per meeting) back in 2007 but the PCs changed that in 2008 making it category A ( meaning that MLAs get paid just because) Coincidentally 2008 was also the year that the Chair, PC MLA Ray Prins, last called the committee to meet.   Odd isn't it.


Want a good laugh. Read the minutes of the last time the standing committee on privileges and elections met back on November 17 2008  8:07AM.

Some highlights: 

Prins (Chair): Right. Following this motion, they’ll be approved by
the chair. If we didn’t do that, you wouldn’t be able to see them till
the next meeting, which could be 20 years from now.
Okay. All in favour of that motion?

Mr. Liepert: Well, I just want to get on the record that I find those
comments rather amusing considering the fact that this is as open
and transparent a way to discuss changes to the democratic process
– are you suggesting that we do it behind closed doors? I think this
is quite telling, Mr. Chairman.

Prins: Thank you.
If there are no further comments, I just want to add one more
comment myself, and that is that the final report back to the
Legislature from this committee will be tabled in the House as soon
as it can be put together, probably later this week, and we’ll look
forward to that.

We do have a motion to adjourn on the floor, so without further
comment all in favour?

Hon. Members: Agreed.

The Chair: Then we’re adjourned. Thank you very much.

.

The committee adjourned at 8:21 AM and has not met since. The pay cheques though continued.

Redford's misleading attack ad. Where did the PC's get their numbers from?

Have you heard the PC attack ad against Danielle Smith and the Wildrose yet?

BTW: It is the very first time in PCAA history that they have EVER named an opposition party or its leader in an ad. Take a listen:



Quite a piece of work isn't it. Pure fear mongering that not only is a total misrepresentation and fabrication of the Wildrose position on impaired driving (more on this later) but they also used a number that cannot be found in any research, study, academic work or from any government agency; 300.

"Since 1998 300 Albertans have been killed by drivers who blew 0.08 or less."

Putting aside for a moment the ludicrous wording that 300 deaths were caused by ANY driver who blew less than 0.08, including the vast majority who had absolutely NO measurable amount of alcohol in their system,which would make the number much higher, the 300 number it turns out is the work of one solitary journalist.

The ruling PC's who have the resources of an entire government at their disposal, as well as Transport Canada information and others, decided not to use any government statistics/research and instead decided to use those of a journalist who said of the 300 number "the estimate is my own". Yes, an estimate!  Since I don't want to turn this into a dueling numbers thing I will just leave it by saying what should be obvious; the PCs didn't like what they found looking at their own governments data and went number shopping instead to find what they were looking for to fit their political motives, in this case the attack ad. If you want to look more at some numbers that actually came from a reliable source, Alberta Transport, take a look at this recent blog post from Rob Harvie at Searching for Liberty.

But the story doesn't get better for the PC's. Their campaign chair, Susan Elliot of deleting Facebook posts fame, did an interview the other day in which as Dave Rutherford described it; "Susan Elliot in fact was not telling the truth in the interview.Torquing the story, cranking it up. And she is now the spokesperson for the PC party."  Dave was being kind. Speaking as the voice of the PCAA, Elliot flat out lied in order to mislead Albertans for political purposes and in defense of a bad law that was written to pander for votes after a tragedy on Alberta roads. And now these lies will taint every other claim that the PC's will make in the upcoming election because if they will lie about this, they will lie about anything and probably everything. WTG Campaign Chair!

You can listen to the interview here:



I don't know about yourself but I hate being lied to and we can see the PCs have already shown that they are more than happy to do just that so they can remain in power and have more time at the taxpayer funded trough.

This is going to backfire on the PC's big-time. A desperate attempt to mislead the very people that they claim to represent into again casting a ballot for their party made worse by the fact that they are treating us like idiots who can't see through the easily proven lies and spin.

It is like Redford and the PC's don't think we are worthy of the truth.

Enough is enough. Redford and the PCs have to go; Albertans deserve better than this.



h/t to Rob Breakenridge, Colby Cosh, Matt Solberg.


Related: This is not the first time that the PC's have lied about Bill 26.

Liberal John McCallum admits Ignatieff's corporate tax hike will cost jobs.

Yesterday on the Roy Green show on the Corus Radio Network, Liberal MP for Markham—Unionville, John McCallum admitted that the Liberals plan to raise corporate taxes from 16.5% to 18 % would cost Canadians jobs.



That's John McCallum ladies and gentlemen, part of the Liberal Team!


Update:  John McCallum apologizes to Peter Donolo for telling the truth about the Liberals plan to raise taxes!  The Liberal Party of Canada, where telling the truth requires an apology.



Past posts on McCallum:

Meet your new Liberal Transport critic.

"I could be sitting here as your prime minister, but I turned it down.."

And you want to be my latex salesman Mr. McCallum

The front runner for Finance Minister under Ignatieff.

John McCallum again on the Roy Green Show. This time talking about Ignatieff signing the 2008 coalition deal. (listen as hilarity ensues)

Ignatieff's vote pandering on a Quebec City arena. Who is happy, and who is not.

Recently Michael Ignatieff said the following on the subject of tax dollars going towards the building a new arena in Quebec City:

“If you want Ottawa to participate, you have to vote Liberal”
 (Link in French as the English MSM have all but ignored it to this point)

I know what my opinion is of his statement and was going to do a big write up on my thoughts, but considering that I am not exactly a big Liberal supporter and I suspect that most of my audience already have a good idea of what that post would look like, I decided against it. But that got me thinking; how would others view Ignatieff's statement? So here is a short list of some who I think will be happy with it, and some who won't.


Liberal MP Joyce Murray must be absolutely livid considering that she tweeted this"another Liberal MP: "Harper's vote-buying stadium scheme in Quebec to benefit a right-wing media buddy: Quebec voters too smart to fall for it..."  a short while back, and as far as I know "Harper" never said anything even remotely close to "if you want Ottawa to participate you have to vote conservative."

Poor Ian Davey is must be banging his head against the wall over this recent comment from his old boss?  Because the last time a top Liberal, in this case Bob Rae, had made similar comments,  Davey went on national television trying to spin hard for the Libs and ended up insulting a large swath of the Canadian population  and hurting the Libs the process.

Liberal MP Keith Martin also can't be too impressed: "175 million for a hockey arena in Quebec City from the Cons! The PM is wasting our money..."

At least one Liberal blogger will not be too happy with Ignatieff's offer of tax dollars going into a glorified NHL arena,  and there is a certain Liberal candidate for Edmonton-St Albert, Kevin Taron, who is already having a hard time dealing with questions on what Ignatieff said because of his very vocal opposition against funding the Quebec arena, including comments that all Alberta will be  getting is the bill. 

I am sure there is plenty more where they came from but being the fair and balanced blogger that I am, lets now look at a few who may happy with what Michael Ignatieff had to say.

Surely the millionaires will rejoice: “No public subsidies for the National Hockey League, no public subsidies for millionaires,”


Ralph Goodale must also be ecstatic as he said recently: "The federal Conservative government should be contributing "well in excess of $100 million" to a new domed stadium in Regina,"  and  "Goodale argued it's certainly reasonable to expect Ottawa to fund in excess of $100 million (more than 25 per cent of the costs) of a new football stadium and entertainment facility. Goodale added he would be willing to take that request to a new federal Liberal cabinet."  (From the Leader Post: link to story now dead)


And of course Denis Coderre must also be happy: 'Finally, le Journal reports that Liberal MP Denis Coderre is accusing the Conservatives of playing politics with the issue by dragging out the question of whether it will contribute to the financing of the arena: “This is a well-organized project that merits respect and dignity which means that the announcement should not be timed to win votes. They should announce it now.”


The people of Quebec: (But I am not sure on this one as it may be a toss up.)

While there is certainly a group who would be happy to hear what Ignatieff had to say, there are also a large number of Quebecois, who being very familiar with how the Liberal Party of Canada used to operate in their province with the 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' attitude and with memories of brown paper bags filled with money being passed around in return for favours still in peoples minds, would find Ignaiteff's comment suggesting that if Quebec voters scratch the Liberals back by voting for them that public dollars for the arena will flow to be very disturbing.

Polls seems to back up my view on the way the people of Quebec would lean, but perhaps that may be why Ignatieff promised that he would spend money on a high speed train before he spent any on an arena for Quebec City.

Wait a minute. If Ignatieff said that he would spend money on high speed rail BEFORE spending any on an arena, does that mean that spending on a high speed rail line is already fait accompli?   I wonder where Ignatieff plans to get the money for that, and when he plans to tell us about it?

Anymore questions as to why Ted Morton walked away?

Whether it is a 3.4 billion dollar deficit or a 6.1 billion dollar deficit, the Alberta Progressive Conservatives have made a colossal mess of the finances in what was the only debt free province in the country.

Time for someone new at the helm.


And I don't mean just a new leader either.

WIll Justin Trudeau defend the charter from Sen. Celine Hervieux-Payette

Quick, someone call Justin Trudeau!

Liberal Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette continues on her quest to make herself the laughingstock of Canadian politics by perusing passage of Senate Bill S-206. The bill would require Parliament to ensure that all publicly traded companies, banks, insurance companies and trust companies to have 50% of their board of directors made up of women. Nanny state nonsense, which goes against not only the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that Liberals everywhere like to pretend that they are so concerned over but also against common sense and such basic ideals such as merit based advancement, all in the name of political correctness.

Here is what she said on S-206 in June 2009: She argues that last fall's market meltdown, which has sparked a deep worldwide recession, is the result of having a relatively small coterie of men holding multiple directorships in a host of corporations.

She suggests that bad investments might have been avoided had more women been sitting on boards, bringing fresh eyes and a more independent, prudent approach to decision-making than the `old boys' club.'
I may be old fashioned but blaming the market meltdown on men sounds sort of sexist if you ask me, but being part of the old boys club by virtue of my parts, I guess my judgment may be clouded by those very same parts, so I had best leave that sexist definition up to the rest of you to decide. (that is as long as your parts are deemed acceptable)

--------------

Some related background on the esteemed Liberal Senator:

From a letter written to an American family concerned with the seal hunt: They should be more concerned with "the daily massacre of innocent people in Iraq, the execution of prisoners -- mainly blacks -- in American prisons, the massive sale of handguns to Americans, the destabilization of the entire world by the American government's aggressive foreign policy, etc." than the seal hunt.

Criticizing Alberta's Culture:  discussing statistics and how support for her bill was "off course" lower in Alberta than in Quebec because "we don't have the same culture" and went on to say in way of an explanation after being called out by host Tom Clarke "I am just telling you that maybe we (Quebec) have the appropriate way of dealing with children and education is different then hitting a child."  Not that her arrogant and clueless statement was enough she went on to laughingly say "We have some support in Alberta? That is news for me."

Filing a complaint against CTV and Bob Fife for doing their jobs, with just a bit of libel thrown in for good measure. ( "...and CTV is paid to broadcast these schemes.")


Where is Justin Trudeau and the "party of the charter" when you really need them?



Related: BC Blue on Payette.

Interesting Youtube video on affirmative action.

This might just put all taxpayers on disability.

The federal government has more than 10,000 employees on some sort of disability and shells out $240 million a year on claims.  BTW The public service now has the dubious distinction of being one of the sickest workplaces in the country. So far this year, claims have climbed 20 per cent over last year when they hit historic highs.

Are they all milking the system? No, but some certainly are.

Bonus pay for me, pay cut for you.

Old Fast Eddie's government is into it again, this time over bonuses paid out to the executives at Alberta Health Services. The same AHS that currently is trying to roll back the wages of nurses in Alberta.

They paid millions to pay out contracts, which didn't have to be bought out, for the old health executives, and now AHS has decided to give themselves a little something extra as a bonus for what has to be very dubious results. Been to a hospital in Alberta lately?

But yet the government came out and defended the bonuses.

Is anyone surprised?

Selective Outrage from the left.

George W Bush was in town yesterday for a speaking engagement and as expected the protesters were out in full force for the cameras. Nothing out of the ordinary really as GWB has always had this ability to drive the left absolutely nutty, but watching the news last night I wondered just how many of those people protesting would be doing the same thing if it was Obama in town rather than GWB. Afterall the Obama administration has not exactly changed much if anything from the last guy in the way of policy, in spite of what they said during the campaign, and in some ways they have done some things that make GWB look good by comparison.

Case in point: the vilification of Fox News.

Normally in a non bizarro world if a President and their administration tried to control or manipulate the media, or direct opinion on the media, bloggers, the media, and the left would go batshit crazy over these efforts, and rightfully so. But in this case not so much. In fact they are getting support for their efforts from not only some others in the MSM but from lefty groups such as MoveOn.org Contrast that with what would have happened if GWB did the same thing with CNN or MSNBC.

Taken from a more Canadian perspective could you imagine what the reaction would be if PM Harper or someone from the PMO went on to CTV and Global and declared that the CBC was not a news organization because they had an agenda and therefore the CBC and any of their stories should be ridiculed and ignored? Yes it would get ugly and it would get ugly fast. Remember early on when the PM got the PPG all worked up because he had the audacity to try to have some control over HIS OWN pressers and asked reporters to put their names on a list to ask questions? The press and the left went nuts and we are still seeing the effects of that even today in stories from the MSM when they sneak references into their reporting of how the PM likes to 'control' everything.


So where is the outrage on what the Obama administration is trying to do?


Vilifying a news organization because you do not like the stories they are doing about you is not only petty & cheap, it exposes your lack of leadership, thin skin and inability to deal with criticism, and it just reeks of something seen in 3rd world countries and dictatorships and is not what one would expect to see from the leadership of a free and democratic country such as the USA. Wrong is wrong.

There are ways to deal with negative or even slanted press stories, fighting back with the truth is the best IMHO, but the government trying to control/manipulate or even vilify the press is not the way to do it and in fact it is a very dangerous game to be playing in a free and open society. But it is a game that the left, in this case because they dislike Fox News so much, is only too happy to play. The next time this game gets played however the left may not be so supportive and when they scream out in outrage it will ring hollow because the last time it was played everyone will remember that the left were on the side lines cheering it all on.





To be fair there has been some backlash from this coming mainly from the press but you know as well as I that the level of outrage we have seen over this so far is nowhere close to what it would have been if GWB or even PM Harper had done the same thing.

It's Back!

It's back!


More of the same from the Liberals but this time at least Ignatieff is being up front with his big government tendencies. "The federal government is Canada's biggest employer, biggest landlord and biggest consumer of goods and services."

If that statement does not scare you as a taxpayer, nothing will.

Government does not create wealth Mr. Ignatieff, and if you have not yet figured that out you have no business in control of the money hardworking Canadians pay in taxes.



Update:
Speaking of cutting edge investment.

A Liberal speaks out on Ignatieff's bluster.