Zaccardelli Was On Way Out Before The Push

Mulder

From what I am hearing, the resignation of Zaccardelli from the top cop post at the RCMP was in the works. The writing on the wall says that he had his resignation ready to go before he spoke to committee a couple of days ago and that the “come clean at committee” was to try to clear the record.

The Liberals are already spinning it as a victory because of their push, but considering they knew squat until the committee meeting, I think they are just beating their chests in false bravado.

Now just cross your fingers that someone stepping in can find the missing pension fund money that exceeds a million dollars and hopefully the investigations into Liberal corruption do not get shuffled away in the changeover.

Wait Times Indirectly Longer Due To Provincial Government Waste

Mulder

Let’s put two and two together.

The Auditor General for Ontario just released a scathing report which goes so far as to say they have no idea what the level of waste is when they have millions in expenses without receipts and millions more listed as miscellaneous expenses. This outrageous spending was nickelling and diming Ontario Taxpayers to the poorhouse by buying things like 40 leather jackets for one provincial power entity and one teacher who sent flowers to her own wedding.

We should already all be aware of the overspending by MHA’s from Newfoundland which has been turned over to the Department of Justice. Some of the money, apparently, went towards gold rings that many people claim they never got. I am sorry but even if they did get the gold rings, why the heck are taxpayers paying for jewellery?

Another report in the news indicates that for the tenth year in a row the money spent on health care in Canada went up but that we STILL only spend half the money per capita that the United States spends

Let’s do the math. The Americans are taxed at a lower tax rate than Canadians. The Americans have the money to spend on an awesome military. The Americans spend twice what we do per capita on healthcare yet we are supposed to have one of the best healthcare systems in the world. I emphasize the word supposed.

Considering my mom was in intensive care for five days last week after a triple bypass, I can assure you, our healthcare system needs help.

I am grateful and thankful for the high quality education and skills our doctors and nurses are equipped with, but when an intensive care unit (ICU) has a broken ice chip machine for five days something is wrong with the system.

When a patient is left in an expensive (one to one nurse to patient ratio) ICU for two days longer than needed because there are no beds or rooms available in the cardiac care ward then something is wrong with the system. The nurses themselves told us that there were at least 5 people and as many as 7 who were ready to go to regular care but there weren’t any open beds.

Wait times can easily be cut shorter by putting more beds into the picture because the bottom line is this. If the ICU is packed with people waiting for beds, then the surgeries are not happening because there is no ICU space to put post-op patients. Hence, wait times are directly affected.

For those who care, mom is doing great and recovering nicely.

Liberals Fart…Blame Smell On Tories

Mulder

Now that Zaccardelli has come forward claiming he knew less than previously admitted in the Mahar Arar case, the Liberals are looking to leave the Conservatives high and dry when it comes to an issue that took place under the Liberal watch.

1) The Liberals were in power when Mahar Arar went through his tragic ordeal

2) The Liberals appointed RCMP Guiliano Zaccardelli in the year 2000.

3) The Liberals appointed the O’Connor Inquiry into the Arar ordeal and the Conservatives are acting on every recommendation Justice O’Connor made.

Now that the Conservatives are saving taxpayers millions by waiting for the Arar lawsuit to either be dropped or be finished before moving forward on this file, the opposition Liberals are screaming for a) an apology that would produced a spike in the payout to Arar, and b) the termination from duty of Zaccardelli, whom they appointed.

I am not against Zaccardelli leaving or being pushed out if he wasn’t aware of the details of this high profile case. But I think the government is entitled to a couple of days to assess the situation to determine if a call for his head is warranted. The last thing we need is another Dingwall style million dollar payout if the government boots him. Or worse, a wrongful dismissal lawsuit.

What I hate is the Liberals kicking and screaming at the government to do something that will cost tax payers a big chunk of money and make it look like it was the Conservatives who did something wrong.

What has me the most perturbed at this whole situation is that if a new head of the RCMP is brought in, what happens to the open files such as the investigation into the Income Trust leak that allegedly took place under the Liberal’s watch. Or for that matter, what will happen to all the open cases left with the 33 RCMP Investigations Into Liberal Party Corruption that I posted about back in December 2005?

Will they get lost in the shuffle? Is this what the Liberals want out of the dismissal of Zaccardelli?

Hey Stephane, Don't Forget To Check Your Baggage Tags

Mulder

I posted Saturday about how the Liberal leadership convention did not bring about the renewal they needed as a party. I thought I would add a bit more to my argument by pointing out some information about a couple of key Dion supporters.

Dion had Don Boudria as his co-campaign chair. And many of you may remember that Boudria held a few key positions.

1) He was the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons for Chretien’s government from 1997 to 2002.

2) He was also the Minister of Public Works right after Alfonso Gagliano. How close to Chretien would Boudria have to be to get appointed to a position which may have been instrumental in the Sponsorship scandal right after the main bag man got canned? I would almost liken it to calling in the trustworthy cleanup crew.

To add a bit more fuel to the fire, another senior member of the Dion crew was Herb Metcalfe. Herb is one of the co-founders of Capital Hill Corp, a very well known lobbying firm. His wife, Isabel, ran for the Liberals against our current Minister of Defence Gordon O’ Connor and as I have mentioned before, Capital Hill Corp’s number 3 man behind David Angus and Herb Metcalfe is Chris Collenette.

Does the name Collenette sound familiar to you? It should.

Chris is the son of very well known Liberal David Collenette who was Chretien’s Minister of Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs from 1993 to 1996, and then the Minister of Transport from 1997 to 2003. Two very key positions in the Chretien government. Add in the fact that he is also the son of Penny Collenette, one has to wonder what kind of debt Stephane Dion will have to repay Capital Hill Corp should he ever become the Prime Minister.

In the last leadership race, Chris was a strong supporter of the anti-Martin movement. Macleans had a clip regarding the “dust up” over the election of the Ontario Young Liberals executive.

The future of an anyone-but-Martin movement in the unofficial Liberal leadership sweepstakes is looking doubtful after an early setback. At the Oct. 20 general meeting of the Ontario Young Liberals in London, combined forces backing Health Minister Allan Rock, Industry Minister Brian Tobin and Heritage Minister Sheila Copps failed to elect a slate of their supporters to the new OYL executive. Paul Martin’s team grabbed 13 of 16 positions. But this defeat might have gone unnoticed had it not been that the Rock-Tobin-Copps crew was talking up the meeting in advance. It was the first time they had closed ranks to try to prove that Martin is not a shoo-in to replace Jean Chretien, whenever the Prime Minister decides to step down.

In fact, the buzz generated by the three allies had spooked some Martin backers to the point where they were nervously downplaying the meeting’s importance. Obviously the Martinites needn’t have worried. Among those nursing wounds after the dustup is Rock staffer Chris Collenette, a key organizer of the failed anti-Martin bid — and son of Transport Minister David Collenette and Penny Collenette, the former patronage czarina for Chretien

Bolded emphasis mine.

To elabourate on the term “patronage czarina” that Maclean’s used, I will quote from Penny’s online resumé.

Penny was Director of Volunteers for Jean Chretien’s leadership race in 1984 and Campaign Director in the successful 1990 bid. She worked as National Director and Director of Legal Services for the Liberal Party of Canada for the 1993 election. She was subsequently named Director of Appointments in the Prime Minister’s office, a position she held for over 4 years.

With friends like these, I must ask again…Do the Liberals really think that making Dion their leader counts as a renewal? I think the Dion baggage can easily be confused with that of Jean Chretien on the carousel of Canadian politics.

Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss

Mulder

When I heard the Liberals were looking for renewal, I figured they would put in someone with a new face. Either Gerrard Kennedy or possibly even Ignatieff if they were feeling a bit more peckish.

But for them to return Stephane Dion says a lot about the party. By the last ballot, Dion was getting the support of Joe Volpe. He was getting the support of Bob Rae and Bob’s brother, an infamous Chretienite. He was getting support from those who felt he did a good job as the Environment Minister for the Chretien and Martin camps.

The bottom line is that today, the Liberals showed just what the level of interest was in renewal. That level is bo diddly squat.

I hope Canadians are paying attention. Dion may be a new name. But he is as old school as the rest of the Chretien crowd.

Ralph Goodale Is A Bald Faced Liar

Mulder

Yeah I said it. And I said it OUTSIDE the House of Commons.

Following is a video which shows you what I mean. Below the video is supporting documentation links. Click the video ONCE to view.

If the video does not play you can see it by clicking here.

The 2005 Fiscal Update can be seen by clicking here. See page 67.

The 2005 Budget can be seen by clicking here. See pages 33 and 289.

The 2004 Budget can be seen by clicking here. See page 52.

So there you have it. Ralph Goodale DID in fact use the terms “net debt” in the 2004 budget, the 2005 budget and the 2005 fiscal update.

Care to explain Ralph? How about an apology to the current Minister for calling him a liar?

What bothers me most about this was just the other day I was saying that Ralph Goodale was one of the Liberal MPs I respected the most because of his character. Today, I lost alot of that respect.

Accountability Act Delays Cost Taxpayers $5.5 Million (and counting)

Mulder

I just saw a counter that says it has been 158 days that the unelected Liberal slanted Senate has held up the Accountability Act.

158 freaking days!! Thats over 5 months over a single piece of legislation.

Let me do some math for you. 105 Senators paid $122,700/year, pro-rated at 158 days/365 days means we have already paid these guys $5,576,967 (and 12 cents) to get this piece of legislation through and they’re still arguing about it.

This is why our country is so broke taxes are so high my friends. The Liberals seem to think paying people to peruse the paperwork, ponder the paperwork, pander over the paperwork, pretend they are working on the paperwork, pushaw over the paperwork and then plunder the coffers by paying themselves and lawyers for half a year before they give it the A-OK is the way our nation should work.

What ever happened to “put your nose to the grindstone?” or “plant your feet in the same spot until you get the job done?” Why doesn’t the Senate show a little more “Put your money where your mouth is” and a lot less “Put OUR money where they need some trees cut at their cottage?” and get this piece of legislation through?

Talk about the public getting OfficiallyScrewed.

Ottawa Bloggers Gathering – Some New Faces In The Crowd

Mulder

Tonight’s Ottawa Blogger gathering (my third) at Marshy’s in Nepean seemed like a good time for all. The conversation primarily stayed political and topics that came up ranged from Income Trusts to Quebec as a Nation to Mark Steyn’s book to Hugh Segal to David Dingwall to makework government programs getting cut to the Income Splitting session on parliament hill this coming January. Sara will do her darndest to make that one well known and I will do my best to attend since it directly affects my family.

Their are two pictures below of the 9 of us who attended this one.

On the left side we have Paul O., a frequent commenter on this blog and a few others. This was Paul’s first venture out. Paul has a blog but we are going to have to bribe him with a beer to get the URL. Next is Victoria, a very politically minded non blogger who hopes to have a blog up and running by Christmas. Listening to many of her views, I would say she would get a good ear from BloggingTories. The next one down the table is yours truly. A hefty 30 to 40 lbs more since I quit smoking. Time to cut out the ribs and wings and get a few salads under my belt. And bringing up the anchor position on the left side is OttawaBlogger mainstay Victor, the Phantom Observer. Victor has been to every one of these that I have been to and is well known to the Blogging Tories and the Red Ensign Brigade. As usual, he had his patented fedora.

On the right from the front of the table moving backwards we have Nikki, a politically minded friend of Sara who is right beside her. I noticed that like many of the female blog crowd, she had some good strong views on topics and it was nice to have her speak her mind. As we all enjoy, some disagreement in the discussions always makes it interesting and fun to debate. next we have Sara. You might know Sara from A Choice For Childcare. Sara is making a lot of headway pleading the case for single income families and stay at home moms and doing a great job of it. Next is Shameer of ShamTheToryMan. Shameer has quite astute at both Canadian Politics and American Politics and I learn something new from him everytime we sit down. He has also been to every one of these meetings that I have attended. Beside him is Matt from A Step To The Right. Matt is always smiling and we discovered that like many other right leaning bloggers, we are both reading Mark Steyn’s book right now. Beside Matt is his girlfriend Jenn who seemed to enjoy herself. I think her and Matt are a bit down as they just lost one of their two cats. (Maybe they can adopt a new one from the Harpers!!)

Ottawa Bloggers November 25, 2006

Ottawa Bloggers2 November 25, 2006

We were all disappointed our friend Brent Colbert didn’t make it out, but apparently Brent was the recipient of a surprise birthday party this evening. I think if the planners had told him he couldn’t make the blogger gathering that it would have ruined the surprise so we forgive him… THIS time!! Happy Birthday Brent!!

It was great getting five new faces out to this gathering. Hopefully YOU will come attend the next one.

And The Chess Strategy Becomes More Clear

Mulder

In support of my post on the “nation” issue being but a single small move by a chess grandmaster, I have found Mr. Plonka translating some French for me. The translation comes from La Sphére des idées J.H.

I’ve just learned from a reliable source today that Prime Minister Harper will announce, on this coming December 19th in Quebec City, his proposal to limit the spending power of the federal government in provincial jurisdictions. There’s exactly one year between that and last year when, at the same place, the Tory chief promised Quebecers a new and open federalism during his electoral campaign. Many political analysts considered this announcement to be the key to the Conservative breakthrough in Quebec.

Harper plans to execute his promise by way of a Constitutional amendment which would limit the spending power of the federal government in provincial fields of jurisdiction, and would demand the approval of the provinces when creating a national program within a provincial field. Aside from these two conditions, in the event in which a federal program is created, a province will have the ability of opting out from the program with full financial compensation. To do this, the Conservative government will need the signiature[sic] of at least 7 provinces representing at least 50% of the population.

How could any province say no to these two items?

Continuing on further into the post.

We’re witnessing, at this moment, a renaissance of the Canadian federation, to the slow agony of the sovereigntist movement

…

Decentralization is the key to the survival of Canadian federalism and to inflicting slow, painful agony on the separatist movement, the latter finding its essence chiefly in the anger of nationalists towards an unrepentant federal government.

This is quite indicative of what I see coming and alluded to in my last post. A stronger Canada via stronger provinces, and not a centralized powerhouse. The downscaling will drop taxation dramatically at a federal level which will in turn put pressure on provinces to raise taxes to compensate for programs they are supposed to run and the amount of hands on the feds provide will be minimal and there to provide some equalization for the poorer provinces.

The feds can in one fell swoop drop taxes, give the provinces (including Quebec) more control of their own destiny, remove the fear of separation, alleviate the west’s feelings that Quebec is appeased and fix, or dramatically reduce, the fiscal imbalance.

And the chess game continues. Stay tuned.