Great News For The Canadian Auto Industry!

In what I hope is sign of good things to come, Chrysler Canada has decided to keep the third shift running at the Windsor mini-van plant:

"Chrysler Canada Inc. has thrown a lifeline to 1,200 Canadian workers – and the beleaguered city of Windsor, Ont. – with a decision Friday to cancel its plans to end a third shift at its minivan plant this summer.

Canadian Auto Workers union president Ken Lewenza said he was contacted by the company Friday with the news that 1,200 workers will not face layoffs at the end of this month as earlier announced. “It's fantastic news,” Mr. Lewenza said in an interview. “It's great news for our members and it's a boost for a city that has the highest unemployment rate in Canada.

Chrysler notified the union in March that it would end the third shift at its minivan plant at the end of July following an annual two-week vacation shutdown this month."

Not only does this save the 1200 Chrysler jobs, it also saves thousands of parts suppliers jobs based in southern Ontario as well, Magna most notably. And it was leaked this week that GM is planning on building the new Cadillac at the Oshawa car plant, which will also save or increase the number of workers there, as well as spin-off jobs.

All in all some great news for Ontario and Canada.

The UFC Versus Gay Pride Parade

With the recent gay pride parade and supposed controversy about the event receiving federal aid, now seems like a great time to debate the merits of holding UFC events in Ontario. I have been on record as supporting funding for the parade as it does deliver a great amount of economic aid and stimulus to both the city, province, and federal government. However, the parade does cause quite a bit of criticism, most which is justified due to some displaying certain body parts that should really be covered in a public event. Of course when ever these complaints are brought forward, the usual suspects. led by David Miller, are quick to bring out the line about how much money the event generates for the city. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty also uses the financial aspect as a way of fending off complaints of lewd public displays and inappropriate behavior.

Which brings me to the debate on why the Ultimate Fighting Championship is still banned in the province. while David Miller has no say in the event being allowed, one would think he would be first in line lobbying for the event to be held. And one might think Dalton McGuinty and his government might be putting forth an argument for allowing the sport to hold events in the province, as the economic benefits are huge. Recent UFC events held in Montreal generated $50 million for the city and province. The UFC wants to hold an event at Rogers Centre, which has a far greater seating capacity of 50,000. The UFC has come a long way since it's early days, when it was rightly considered human cockfighting.

But now the UFC has become probably the most polished sport in North America, with sold-out events and a huge pay-per-view audience. Add in the fact the event would require no taxpayer money, would be held in a private complex, would bring tourists to Toronto, bring in tax dollars, put Toronto on the map with a huge pay TV event, and it seems like a no-brainer. In a city and province struggling, the silence of the politicians speaks volumes. Gay Pride fits their socialist ideology, MMA fighting does not, proving that the funds generated by Gay Pride events are just used as a means of explaining away holding the event. The UFC notes on its website that no fighter has been seriously injured at an event. As pointed out in CTV's article today, "Then again, Canada's national sport has its fair share of blood and hard head hits, and for many Ontario MMA fans, its hard not to point out the hypocrisy. "

And all that garbage generated at the Rogers Centre would be taken care of by private workers.

Thankfully the PM Never Attended Michael Jackson's Funeral.....

Because if he did Kinsella would be perusing video of the event to do multiple posts for partisan purposes. I wonder if Iggy thinks using a Canadian statesman's funeral for partisan political gain of the Liberal Party of Canada is divisive.

Perhaps Warren will be doing a post asking for dirt on Father Arthur Bourgeois.

"The priest who delivered the homily at the funeral mass of former governor-general Romeo LeBlanc said Stephen Harper behaved properly when he took part in the communion service last week.
“The Prime Minister did consume the host; he did not put it in his pocket,” said Father Arthur Bourgeois, who had been a friend of Mr. LeBlanc for 30 years."

It appears the Liberal war room might be more aptly named Romper Room.

James Travers Dink of the Month...

OK, it's only the 9th day of the month, but I'm quite confident in bestowing the Dink of the Month award to James Travers of the Toronto Star. During the last week Travers has really kicked his anti-Harper spiel up quite a few notches, with each editorial a little more over the top than the most previous. And today's doesn't disappoint, with Travers stating it's most likely Kevin Page will either resign or be set adrift by the PM because he doesn't like Page's economic predictions:

"OTTAWA—Kevin Page is the sand in Stephen Harper's oyster. Persistently, if without malicious or even mischievous intent, the federal budget officer irritates the Prime Minister while producing pearls for Canadians.

Page is doing it again this week by pointing out in passing that Conservative economic predictions are optimistic and perhaps fanciful. Bad as the news is, it's news the country needs to know and isn't hearing from the ruling party.

Truth in forecasting was rare even when Liberals were just hiding the size of the surplus. But honesty and reality have been strangers here since vanishing during last autumn's no-deficit, no-recession, federal election. They didn't answer the call for Jim Flaherty's crisis-provoking fall fiscal update and were obsolete by the time they made a cameo appearance in the finance minister's budget.

Reliable facts and figures are about the last thing wanted by any government, let alone a minority mired in recession and facing an early encounter with antsy voters. Dependable, if inconvenient, information is precisely what Page has been delivering since last year when Harper made half good on the letter, but not the spirit, of a campaign promise to create an independent budget watchdog. Without that scrutiny Canadians wouldn't know, for example, the runaway cost of the Afghanistan mission or the rosiness of the hue Conservatives put on the dark complexion of job losses."

Reliable facts and figures Mr. Travers? Well, let's look at some of Page's previous predictions shall we.

March 25th, 2009: " Flaherty forecast a deficit of $34 billion this year and $30 billion next year. Page said that MPs should now be planning on deficits of $38 billion this year and $35 billion next year."

November 20th, 2008: "Canada is on course to record "modest" deficits in the next two years and faces the "distinct possibility" of falling into the red this year as well, says a report by Canada's independent parliamentary budget officer.

Kevin Page gave the sobering outlook on Thursday morning in his first fiscal and economic assessment of the country.
The report projects a deficit of $3.9 billion in 2009-10 and $1.4 billion in 2010-11, with a return to modest surpluses of $1.6 billion in 2011-12 and $3 billion in 2012-13."

December 16th, 2008: "Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page, for example, has said the federal budget deficit could balloon to $14 billion next year."

Interesting, isn't it Mr. Travers? Page went from $3.9 to $14 billion in less than a month. He has changed his predictions as many times as finance ministers around the globe, with each new prediction worse than the previous. So is this what you consider reliable facts and figures? Does Page really mean it this time, that he won't again adjust his projections down, or god forbid, up if the economy continues it's modest rebound. Then again, if you didn't suffer from LJS (lazy journalist syndrome), you might have also noticed some other things Page mentioned. Start with this:

"Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page says Canada is "probably" better placed to deal with an economic recovery than other industrialized countries.

Page said the current economic situation is unusual because all countries are facing a recession.
"Our fundamentals are better for the most part in terms of balance sheets," Page told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday. "Even fiscal balance sheets going in are better so we are probably better placed to deal with recovery going forward."

That's hardly a reason for the PM to want to fire the man. Then again, the details are always in the fine print, something you seem to have overlooked:

"The report acknowledges there is a high degree of uncertainty in estimating potential outputs and budget balances, but comes to the conclusion that the budget "is not structurally balanced over the medium term."

Which makes you Mr. Travers, Dink of the Month.

Warren Kinsella Sinks Another Step Lower.....

Great posts up by Joanne's and ChuckerCanuck about WK's latest pathetic attempt at smearing the PM. What amazes me the most is Kinsella's selective choosing about which religious groups and their followers should be defended. The guy that pulled out a Barney doll to mock Stockwell Day's religious beliefs now paints himself as the savior of catholics, all for partisan reasons.

As Joanne pointed out, his party supports such things as same-sex marriage and the right to choose. As a church going catholic Kinsella knows both of those things are against catholic beliefs. The next time Warren takes holy communion, will he ponder what the church states are it's positions on a number of issues, many that are the polar opposite of what his Liberal Party preaches?

Kinsella has sunk to such a new low I'm not sure even he could dig himself deeper than he has today. And what once used to be a great Liblog, a BC'er in Toronto now seems interested in riding Kinsella's coattails is his partisan quest. It's even more disgusting Kinsella used the funeral of such a great Canadian, Romeo LeBlanc, a Liberal at that, as another attempt at returning the Liberal Party to office.

Looking back to the Liberal sleaze politics under Chretien, it's now apparent that Kinsella wasn't part of it, but rather the architect of it. The PM deserves credit for attending the funeral, which was the right thing to do. And Kinsella has shown just how much he has jumped the shark. Sorry buddy, your best war room days are behind you. You used to be a formidable opponent. Now you just look pathetic and desperate. Maybe it's time to focus on what your own guy is doing, like say $40 pancakes.

Being Conservative Means The Media Always Has You Wrong...

It's become beyond the point of laughable with media coverage of Conservative politics and leadership in Canada, both federally and provincially. With the recent election win of Tim Hudac as the new leader of the PC party of Ontario, the media was quick out of the gate, led by the usual suspect James Travers of the Toronto Star, as saying the party made the wrong decision on choosing their new leader, that Hudac was another Mike Harris. Well, if he is, I would consider that a good thing. Ontario prospered under Harris, who by the way, actually increased health care spending at a faster pace than Dalton McGuinty, even with the federal Liberals under Chretien/Martin slashing transfer payments for health care to the province. The province also saw 500,000 jobs created during Harris tenure. Compare that with McGuinty turning the province into one of have-not status. Also, John Tory was denounced by the media as being McGuinty-lite.

On the whole, criticism of Hudac as the choice of leader might have some merit, except that one need only look at media coverage of other Conservative leaders as an example of the fact that regardless of what is done they will be vilified as being wrong. Take the PM, those same journalists, again led by Travers, have denounced the PM for supposedly abandoning Conservative principles, most notably with the January budget, which Travers himself likes to refer to as a "Liberal budget". So Hudac is the wrong choice because he represents and wants to implement Conservative values. The PM is now the wrong choice because he doesn't encompass Conservative values and has implemented left-wing policies.

Next we can look at Alberta, where Ralph Klein was also vilified for his implementation and leadership in Conservative ideology. Journalists mocked him for cutting spending to get government finances in order, for allowing the oilsands to grow and thereby allow the province to prosper, and by extension, all of Canada. Enter Ed Stelmach, who appears to be be more center-left than center-right. and again, the media throws insults his way, writing daily editorials for his leanings or things he has implemented as premier, with many saying he has abandoned Conservative principles.

So count me as being a little confused. Perhaps Travers and others can explain if it's a good thing or bad for a Conservative to act like one. whether a Conservative leader should be praised or criticised for following Conservative policy. Because right now, they are damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Canada's Health Care System In Action....

Time for an update on my latest experience with our beloved health care system, the one politicians on the left consider sacred and scream hidden agenda when anyone dares to address problems within the system and offer new ideas to improve delivery and service.

My oldest daughter, 20, has been experiencing pains in her stomach for the last month. Her family doctor has said it's nothing in recent visits, but that will be the subject for a post in the future. This morning at 6 am my daughter phoned crying about pains in her stomach. I called the emerg unit and described what was going on and was advised to go to a walk-in clinic instead. The earliest any clinic here opens is 8 am so we waited and were the first ones there when it opened. After filling out the forms and waiting the doctor finally sees her, and says to take her to emerg.

Get to emerg at 8:30. Nobody in waiting room. This is good I think. By 10:30 waiting room is full, yet nobody, including us has been called in to see doctor. after going to triag nurse and venting (nicest way I can put it), she gets called in. I'm told I can't go with her because there isn't enough space. By 1pm still no sign of her. Between 10:30am and 1pm 4 people have left after tiring of waiting, including one man who scratched his eye at work. 1:45pm I hear a man cursing and swearing demanding to see a doctor. He had arrived at emerg shortly after us and had a dislocated shoulder.

It's now almost 3 in the afternoon. Girl across from me who has been there 4 hours breaks down into tears over the wait, husband not impressed. Another woman questions a nurse as to why she hasn't been called yet. Nurse states she was called twice. Woman's last name is McCullough. The person they called twice was McClinton. Apparently nobody named McClinton was at emerg. Oops. Again I question the status of my daughter, and am told she went for an ultra-sound and just waiting on the results. 2 hours later still waiting. It's now 5 in the afternoon. Go into my own tirade against admin nurse. Am told it's not their fault, only one doctor on duty. I count 11 nurses, 5 chatting and one going around getting take-out food orders for their dinner.

5:30. Daughter comes out crying. Doctor informs her she might need to get her gall bladder removed. Never explained why, what the surgery involves, what the effects on her life would be if it is removed. Advises her to make an appointment to see her family doctor and look into surgery. That's the same family doctor that has stated it was nothing to worry about twice in the last month.

So to recap, 9.5 hours in emerg, no treatment given, advised to see family doctor, might need gall bladder removed, might not. $10 parking. Lost track of how many people left after waiting hours. Patients names messed up, 11 nurses to 1 doctor, do know the nurses are having Texas Burger for dinner.

Canada's health care system in action. I could have sworn Jack Layton told Obama and the Democrats us Canadian's get treated in emerg within 6 minutes on average. wonder if he will pass the above information along to the Democrats in the States.