Tidbits
Stuff You May Have Missed...
web posted February 1997
Stephen Harper Named a National Citizens' Coalition Vice-President
Colin T. Brown, chairman of the National Citizens' Coalition announced on January 14 that Stephen Harper was appointed vice-president of the group and will assume the presidency at the end of 1997.
Harper, 37, is a former Reform Party MP for Calgary West, who had resigned his seat earlier that day to take up the post. Harper stated that he would not be seeking re-election last October.
"I'm taking on a great trust and I'll do my best to carry it out," Harper says. "I've been a longtime supporter of the NCC. It's a group which I respect because of its significant contributions to defending and promoting freedom in Canada."
If you're not familiar with the organization, basically the NCC believes in "more freedom through less government", with that statement serving has their guiding principle. If you're interested in getting involved with the NCC, here is some contact information:
National Citizens' Coalition
100 Adelaide Street West, Suite 907
Toronto, Ontario
M5H 1S3(416) 869 3838
(416) 869 1891 (Fax)
New Canadian Political Party Formed
About the same time that Harper resigned his seat in Parliament, a new political party announced its formation. Called the Canadian Action Party, it is being headed by businessman and former Trudeau cabinet minister Paul Hellyer.
The party states that the current level of unemployment is unacceptable and that the cause is a poor marriage between the financial economy and the wealth-producing economy. Huh?
"The underlying philosophy of the Canadian Action Party is that there should be a better marriage between the financial economy, which had been prospering, and the real, wealth-producing economy, which had been stagnating. An economy only reaches its potential when it provides young and old alike the opportunity to use their talents creatively and where anyone who wants to work can find a job within a reasonable period of time."
According to Hellyer, the poor job market in Canada is not due to globalization, free trade or technology, but rather bad economic management by the successive governments and the Bank of Canada.
So what does Hellyer and his friends plan to do when they assume the mantel of power? Let the press release tell all...
"A key proposal of the Canadian Action Party is to call on the Bank of Canada to provide the federal government with sufficient cash to stimulate the economy and increase the growth rate by an average of 40 per cent for the next four years. This will be enough to:
- balance the federal budget in two years
- eliminate the GST over three years
- and, most important by far, create 770 000 additional jobs over and above the current forecast
- reduce the unemployment rate to about 5.29 per cent from the projected 9.2 per cent by the year 2000"
This is nothing more than government intervention in the economy, and where there is government intervention, there is less freedom. Instead of freeing business by cutting taxes and reducing regulations to allow them to create real jobs, Hellyer believes only the government can do it. Sure has worked in the past hasn't it?
Of course, it will work when Hellyer does it...
To add an air of legitimacy to this statist plan, Hellyer has Professor Reuban Bellan of St. John's College, University of Manitoba sign off. Bellan of course states that this plan is actually better than sliced bread because the government will pay someone to make the bread. It only proves that if you call enough academics, you'll find one that will praise your ideas.
CAP plans on running candidates in every riding for the next election, except one -- Welland, the seat of the Speaker of the House, because apparently he has been doing a good job. I can't wait to see their campaign in action...A statist policy in every pot...
Manitoba's new labour laws....
February 1 marks a change in the labour laws of Manitoba. Bill 26 breaks new ground in labour legislation. Here are two reasons why:
the law requires unions to develop and implement a process for consulting with each employee in their bargaining unit before union dues are spent for political purposes. An employee who objects would have their dues re-directed to a charity.
unions must now file detailed financial statements, including any compensation of more than $50 000 per year paid to officers or staff. Failure to comply could result in the board's ordering the employer to stop deducting union dues from employees' paycheques.
Of course, critics say the moves are simply a pay-back to business and a hit against unions who spent quite a bit of money to attack premier Gary Filmon during the last campaign. They may have been, but the provisions above, and those in the bill similar to ones in Ontario serve a purpose.
You do not have a right not to join a union or not pay their dues. You are forced to join. The fact that you are forced does not mean that your production, that is money, can be used to purposes which you may be opposed to philosophically. I've heard enough people complain that their money goes straight to the New Democratic Party...now at least a charity can benefit.
We will finally, at least in Manitoba, learn exactly who the fat cats of unionism are. How they have turned into that which they claim to not to be...the high paid boss.
Fight the Tories and their Vile Agenda! (Or get a job with them....)
Remember Dave Cooke? Since the NDP lost power in the last provincial election, this former education minister has not had a lot to do.
Fear not though. The conservative government announced that it had hired Cooke and Ann Vanstone, both critics of the conservative's changes to education, to help implement those very changes.
Says Cooke, "This is not an endorsement of the government's over-all policies and nobody should see it that way." Cooke states that he has always been in favour of reforms to education, including cutting the number of school board trustees.
Cooke will trade in his twenty years of representing Windsor-Riverside for a cushy $80 000 to $90 000 per year job.
Just like Ed Broadbent, another New Democrat who talks a good
talk but will suckle at the teats of the taxpayer if given half a chance.
I guess his principles of anti-conservatism cost about $80 000...not a
bad deal. 