[Section 15] Farewell Jason

Jason Cherniak is retiring from political blogging in order to pursue progress in the backroom.

Though some celebrate his departure, I do not.

Jason has contributed a lot to the Canadian blogosphere, and though I did not always agree with him, I nevertheless have welcomed the diversity he has added to our corner of the Internet.

His last blog post is one that I can agree with. Now is not the time to find the Liberals another leader. Maybe Dion is not the man for our times politically, but I sense that he can grow into his role as opposition leader and build a successful team which will move the Liberal Party forward. The goal of the Libs should now be to progress in Ontario and Quebec, and keep Harper and the CONs constrained to constant minority status, at best. Trust me: The CONs will not maintain party unity unless they can achieve a majority in then ext few years.

Jason still backs Dion, and he wishes to be part of that force of change. From my own experiences working in the dark rooms of another political party, I can say that one dedicated volunteer toiling in obscurity can make more of a difference than even the most outspoken blogger.

Best of luck, Jason.

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Posted By Mark Francis to Section 15 at 10/15/2008 11:04:00 AM

[Section 15] Secret Whitehouse memos endorsed torture

CIA Tactics Endorsed In Secret Memos: Waterboarding Got White House Nod

The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaeda suspects -- documents prompted by worries among intelligence officials about a possible backlash if details of the program became public.

But it's okay because Jack Bauer agrees with it.

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Posted By Mark Francis to Section 15 at 10/15/2008 10:58:00 AM

[Section 15] Some surprising results

Gerard Kennedy won in Parkdale-High Park! I really thought that he was going to lose to incumbent NDPer Peggy Nash. I really didn't expect Kennedy to win. Congrats!

Garth Turner lost to a Conservative parachute candidate -- and campaign -- packing hefty amounts of central party cash. I'm sad to see him go. They really poured it on. I hope he tries again next election.

I was expecting more NDP breakthrough in Toronto, but instead they've constricted to just two ridings. That being said, nationally, the NDP have done well.

As for my my former green party, not so good. No seats, a modest gain in support, but little to show for a good debate performance. The theory that being included in the debate would really help the Greens seems to not be true.

I really think that the Greens have emerged as one of the spoilers in this election, serving to fragment the vote without gaining traction for worthy green causes.

Most of all, I save my criticism for the Liberals. It's not really Dion's fault -- not yet, anyway. He stood up to an incredible barrage of negative, vitriolic advertising. For a while there, it seemed as if Harper was the opposition, not the government. The Liberals have to define themselves better. Mostly shut out west of Ontario, they are no longer a truly national party, and seem to have no central message, no strong myths to draw upon. Changing leaders likely will accomplish nothing.

Still, last I checked, the Liberals made gains in Quebec. People should notice that.

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Posted By Mark Francis to Section 15 at 10/15/2008 12:06:00 AM

[Section 15] HaRPER PREPARES $225 BILLION BANK BAILOUT

According to the Calgary Herald, Harper is prepared to purchase up to $225 billion more of our banks' investments.

The bailout would consist of buying more mortgages, essentially making Ottawa a significant public owner of the commercial mortgage market in Canada.

Somehow I don't think this was originally part of Harper's alleged plan to rescue Canada -- not that he ever actually had one. As the article points out, this represents an abandonment of Harper's free market principles.

In truth, there's little else to do as the rest of the world is doing the same. The question is, how much is really necessary?

This isn't a free lunch. To do this, the federal government has to head off to the bond market and raise the cash. Obviously, this costs money in interest payments. We then hope that the mortgages purchased will provide us sufficient return to at least break even over time.

It is most unfortunate that these Conservatives don't understand that spending a liver of such grand amounts on child care and the environment also represents important return-yeilding investments.

*Sigh*

Oh yeah, VOTE! I did.

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Posted By Mark Francis to Section 15 at 10/14/2008 06:40:00 PM

[Section 15] The Globe and Mail Endorses... Harper!

What a sad, sad piece of reasoning. Read it for yourself here.

While acknowledging some of Harper's failings, the Globe thinks he can still grow into the job. Yes, he's a lone wolf. Yes, he's the one responsible for parliament not working. Yes, his climate change plan is completely inadequate. Yes, he distrusts the federal government as an force of domestic policy. Yes, most Canadians do not trust him. Yes, he is prone to savage attacks upon his opponents.

But he's the best man for the job?

Gee, and here I thought we're voting for a party to form government, not just a leader. How about a rundown, Globe editors, of the proven talent available in the Conservative Party? People like Flaherty, Baird... Oh, right.

The Globe criticizes Dion's Green Shift, and then is critical of the Liberals for not growing into the 21st Century. Editors, make up your mind.

I think the Globe is the institution failing to move into this century.

I wonder what they are going to say when they finally notice the deficit Flaherty and Harper have built this past year? it's at $20 billion, and counting...

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Posted By Mark Francis to Section 15 at 10/09/2008 08:26:00 PM

[Section 15] Afghanistan in a "downard spiral" report to say

A US report slated to come out next month is supposedly to say that Afghanistan is in a "downward spiral" with the tide turning towards the Taliban.

Assembled from American intelligence agencies, the report claims that the Karzai government is drowning in corruption and is ineffective.

The heroin trade, which accounts for an estimated 50 per cent of that country's economy, makes political and economic recovery impossible.

Just a few days ago, the departing commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, went on record saying that a military victory over the Taleban was "neither feasible nor supportable."

Meanwhile, Canada is looking to be $18 billion in the hole for its Afghanistan venture, an amount wildly beyond what we had been lead to believe. Harper has claimed costs to be set at $8 billion.

H/T to Rolling Back the Tide of Extremism, One Post at a Time

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Posted By Mark Francis to Section 15 at 10/09/2008 02:30:00 PM

[Section 15] ...A significant lack of fiscal transparency...

From the government which promised us transparency and accountability, and instead gave us stealth, smoke, mirrors and obfuscation, we learn that not only is the Afghanistan war effort way over budget, we really can't tell by how much.

A lack of federal government "fiscal transparency" has masked the true cost of Canada's Afghanistan mission, but it could cost taxpayers at least $18.1 billion by 2011, the Parliamentary Budget Officer revealed Thursday.

Although the report cites a range of $13.9- to $18.1-billion to 2011, several relevant departments - including Foreign Affairs and the Canadian International Development Agency, the military's two main partners in Afghanistan - refused to give Page's office additional figures.

Officials said the true cost would be significantly higher but they couldn't say by how much.

"Although there are costs incurred due to the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, it is important to note there are no Afghanistan mission-specific appropriations by Parliament for the various departments," the report stated.

"That makes is impossible to isolate the total amounts of money appropriated by Parliament, specifically for the Afghanistan mission."

"There is a significant lack of fiscal transparency due to the current system of financial reporting," the report stated.

The auditors in Page's department relied primarily on the publicly available spending estimates that are tabled in Parliament each year, as well as consulting with international allies such as the United States and Britain to help them crunch the future costs of paying soldiers and diplomats, depreciating the cost of their equipment and future health care.

The Defence Department tried to co-operate, but their numbers didn't add up.

"We have two sets of figures for DND's actual incremental spending," the report stated, citing the $2.72 billion it reported to Parliament up to end of 2009 compared with the $4.61 billion that its internal books revealed to Page's office.

The report said part of the discrepancy could be, in part, due to the lag time departments have in reporting to Parliament, which can range up to 18 months.

In addition to Foreign Affairs and CIDA, the Correctional Service of Canada and Veterans Affairs all declined to share internal data with Page's office, which was established this past spring to bring a greater degree of oversight to public spending.

CIDA's departmental performance reports "do not provide annual spending in Afghanistan for individual projects," the report stated.

The Canadian government has earmarked $1.9 billion between 2001-2011 for development spending in Afghanistan.

"VAC (Veterans Affairs Canada) does not report basic financial data specific to the Afghanistan mission, although Canada's involvement in the Afghanistan mission is a major project and the death, disability, medical and stress related payments are fiscally material."

This is a far cry from the $8 billion Harper claimed.

What a mess. Perhaps Finance Minister Flaherty can clear this up?

Oh, right. Deficit Jim, who has the country $20 billion in the hole so far this year, and yet denies it, isn't about to tell us anything truthful, is he?

For the record, the quote which is sure to haunt Flaherty after this election is

In responding to the worsening global financial crisis that has slowed economic growth in Canada and elsewhere, "we'll do what we have to do, so long as we remain economically prudent. We're sure not going to run a deficit ... We will maintain a surplus in Canada and we will continue to pay down debt."

Asked if running even a small deficit would be bad in these difficult times, Mr. Flaherty said flatly: "Yes, it would be."

Reported October 8, in the G&M.

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Posted By Mark Francis to Section 15 at 10/09/2008 12:24:00 PM

[Section 15] Conservative candidate no-show for kids at elementary school

Jilian Saweczko, stealth Conservative candidate for Parkdale-High Park is by no means a contender.

She has no chance to defeat the capable Peggy Nash, the riding's NDP incumbent. That job is up to famed Liberal Gerard Kennedy. [My prediction: Peggy takes it by 2-3 points.]

My kids' school invited the candidates to individually present at a time of their choosing.

The Green candidate showed up.

The NDP candidate showed up.

The Liberal candidate showed up.

But the Conservative candidate did not.

She was "too busy" to show up at a time and date of her own choosing.

Saweczko has failed to show up for other events as well. According to The Star

The Conservative candidate, Jilian Saweczko, was a no-show at an all-candidates debate on CBC's Metro Morning on Sept. 24, and then a coffee-house chat on CTV. She has not responded to numerous interview requests from the Star. On her website, she has said she'll fight to tackle crime, improve the environment and strengthen business.

My daughter remarked that she was disappointed and wouldn't vote for Harper if she could.

Way to go, kid!

See harpocracy.ca for a large listing of Conservative stealth candidates.


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Note: Sorry I've been away from this space. Life's been throwing me some interesting curve balls of late.

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Posted By Mark Francis to Section 15 at 10/09/2008 10:18:00 AM