News: Government cutting 245 board jobs

What's the real price of a recession? While you could argue that those employed by the government enjoy benefits that those employed by private institutions don't (I'd blame the private institutions for this discrepancy - if it actually does exist) they have the benefit of at least being employed.

Today the federal government announced that they are cutting 245 job in the public sector in order to save just over one million dollars. This tiny amount of savings is going to add to an ever-growing unemployment number and will probably cost the economy much more than the million dollars that the government will be saving. I can thus conclude that this is nothing more than the underlying Conservative plan to destroy public services in the name of benefiting the private sector.

Bold assumption? Possibly. Someone has to say it because none of the mainstream media services are asking this question. Why not? Am I crazy? The cuts proposed by the Conservatives are going to make government services less efficient and will perpetuate the myth that public services are by nature slow an inaffective. The real benefit of these cuts will not be our national budget, but the CEOs of ever-ballooning corporations who already spend most of their huge profits on expensive hookers.

CBC News - Politics - Government cutting 245 board jobs:

"The Conservative government will be cutting 245 jobs from agencies, boards and commissions, a move that will save Ottawa more than $1 million, Treasury Board President Stockwell Day announced Monday."

The Federal Budget - We need an election, badly.

I know it has been said numerous times by numerous people but I'll say it again: Somebody, anybody, please get Peter Mansbridge a chair. Watching him run around the set as he anchored today's budget coverage on CBC was exhausting for the viewer. There are days when I wish watching TV wasn't so much work. Sigh... anyway. (we joke, we jest, but on the inside, we cry) Moving on....

Some things to consider before diving into my little analysts of the budget. I am no economist. That's not an admission of complete ignorance when it comes to these matters. I do know that Canada is currently in a $56 Billion deficit. This is the largest such financial hole we've ever been in. While the economic downfall took hold when the housing bubble in the US went kaboom, we can't ignore that we are in an major time of change. We're undergoing a huge shift in how business works and the internet is the major reason for this. With that in mind let's take a look at what finance minister Jim Flaherty (Aka Fred Flintstone) put forth during his speech:

The bottom line of the budget appears to be that deficit can be eliminated in 5-6 years. How is this going to happen? Taxes are not going up. The bulk of the savings will come from freezing and even reigning in spending. It appears to be that Flaherty is banking on a private sector rebound to help make-up the bulk of the losses. Stimulus spending will come to an end in 2011 and that is supposed to cut the deficit by a large amount on its own. This is a timid budget that's putting too much faith in a private sector recovery. While most so-called 'economists' say that this is a fairly likely to happen, I think they are making a huge oversight. They are overlooking the cause of a large amount of whatever recovery that Canada has see thus far. We're heading for a housing bubble.

While job numbers are fairly terrible in Canada, consumers have been taking advantage of a low interest rate and have been buying over-priced mortgages on houses that they can't really afford. We've seen this before south of the border. The fallout from a housing crash could cripple this country and bring us down to our knees. The Bank of Canada is going to have to raise interest rates at some point. This could lead to a messy situation.

I think the real problem here is the state of mind of the Canadian people. This budget screams out "Election". Apparently, according to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, Canadians don't want an election. This is an insane idea and the Conservatives are taking advantage of it. We currently have a minority government. We are in this situation because the 'average Canadian' doesn't have any idea of what's happening with their politicians and can't come to a consensus on who should run this country. When a minority government puts out a budget that all the opposition parties don't want to support, then we must have an election. That's what should happen, and while the Liberals don't support the budget, they are not going to vote against it in order to avoid an election. This is not how our democracy works.

Canadians have to wake up and start paying attention. While they are soothed by the constant cry of "we're doing better than any other country in the world" they have to understand that only means we have a longer way to fall. The Conservative plan of cuts to public service and to limit the roll of government is risky business. Canadians are going to see things slowly dry up. The Conservatives are going to bleed this country until we are nothing. The private sector has such a tight control over Harper's outlook that we're left with a budget that says "well things are bound to get better, we hope". The private sector is supposedly going to lead us to glory but public services are going to have to be cut to help them along. Take into account that the 'free market' has not only been the cause of all this economic turmoil, but it continues to fail to take into account how the internet will affect their futures.

Sure, the rest of the G7 might look at Canada in envy, but I maintain that we are on surprisingly shaky ground. We're sitting on the edge of a cliff. The budget doesn't push us over the edge, but it doesn't do anything to pull us back from the precipice. We might not be quite at the point of free-fall, but I can't help but believe we are on the verge of some dark times.

I'll leave you with a sobering news article from over a year ago. Let's not make the same mistakes.

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The Throne Speech In Summation: Blablablablabla zzzzzz

That was easily the longest and most boring speech from the throne that I can remember. Michaëlle Jean was practically falling out of the throne trying to stay awake. I was doing alright for the first 20 minutes or so, but as the speech went on my eyes begun to glaze over, drool began seeping from my lip and I was in a state of sheer suspended indifference. Stephen Harper supposedly prorogued government to rethink policy. After listening to today's lengthy throne speech (it lasted for an entire hour of boredom in both official languages) we can conclude that Conservatives spent the majority of the time off watching the Olympics.

What's the point of all the pomp? In case you missed it, the process of waiting for the Governor General to walk from the front door of Parliament to her throne in the senate took about 45 minutes. She gets out of the car and the band starts playing a strange off-key hybrid of God Save The Queen and O Canada. Then, just when you think it couldn't get more ridiculous, cannons are fired. Boom! Bang! Wake up Canada! The GG's here and she's going to the senate (slowly). You see, no matter how charming Madame Jean might be, she loves socializing a bit too much. She literally takes the time to stop in front of each soldier, each band member, each canon operator and every single person who happens to be standing on the not-that-lengthy path she takes to babble on about the weather (I'm quite serious). By the time all the MPs were gathered into the Senate it was already 50 minutes passed the hour. You think our country could save some dough and run the GG up to her seat and save a few cannons? I know I know. It's tradition Whatever that means.

The speech itself sounded like a typical Conservative throne speech, just much longer. The government mentioned Canada's Olympic performance no less than three times throughout the hour long process. There's reason to wonder if this was necessary. I know Harper was getting plenty of air time on CTV during the games, but he shouldn't take too much credit. In terms of policy, Harper seems to have not changed a thing. The government will somehow balance the budget by holding government spending and MP salaries. They won't cut programs and they claim that raising taxes simply isn't an option. The Conservatives continue their "tough on crime" project, or as I like to call it the "appeal to old women policy". They are also going to reintroduce the bill for harsher drug crime laws. All this despite the fact that these sort of laws continuously prove themselves to not work at all. Think of the increased drug use in the States throughout their disastrous "war on drugs" campaign. It's simply an empty American style appeal to elderly rural voters (aka the only people who still go out and vote, aka the reason we have this backwards thinking government in power).

The throne speech mentioned that Canada has to continue to be on the leading edge of telecommunications and technologies. They almost admitted to just how far behind Canada's internet access is by restating their intentions of opening up the market to foreign companies. While the telco monopolies of Canada haven't helped anyone (besides the CEOs of Bell and Rogers (who really appreciate the high priced hookers paid for by the people of Canada)). I'll wait and see how much this helps our overpriced/overslow internet access. For more on my opinion on this subject, read my post on my tech blog.

The point that caught a few people off guard was a call to change our national anthem. Apparently O Canada is a very sexist piece of patriotism. "In all our sons command" wasn't even an original line. The anthem used to say "thou dost in us command". As far as I can tell, the Conservatives want to change it back. Personally, I don't really care. I do get the feeling that this was featured in the throne speech to get those who are ignorant in the ways of economy and government (aka 99% of the country) all slobbering and lathered up over something silly and trivial that they actually understand. The Conservatives got elected by capitalizing on Canadian ignorance and indifference and they are showing no signs of stopping their evil means of power-gain. No surprise here.

Not mentioned in the speech was electoral reform. As I hinted at in the previous paragraph, the Conservatives really like the way things are. Canadians either don't care or don't understand what is going on in Ottawa and that is fine and dandy for Harper's fascist style . If we really want Canadians to feel that democracy works we need to open up our government. Harper and his capitalist stooges operate in secrecy. They live behind closed doors. In the era of the world wide web, we are in desperate need of transparent government. With the use of new technologies, every meeting, every decision and every vote will be put out to the entire country. Don't doubt the fact that Harper and co. have considered this idea and the implications to their style of running the country is not palatable with any form of reform (this from the party formerly known as Reform). And don't get me started on proportional representation.

In summation: bla bla bla bla bla....this country is in the gutter. Tomorrow's budget will hammer home this fact...hard.

Tomorrow's Trone Speech: A post-Olympic wake up call?

It's been far too long since I've posted on this blog. The reasoning behind this is I, like most Canadians, have been waiting for Parliament to get back to business after the extended prorogue-infested vacation that has been holding things up. Oh, there also was this little distraction called the winter Olympic games that just wrapped up in Vancouver. The Olympics were a good thing for Mr. Stephen Harper. Before the games started he was down in the polls and seemed a bit at a loss for what to do with a country in a complete mess. A couple of photo-ops with Wayne Gretzky and an interview with CTV's Brian Williams in which he received a bunch of soft-ball questions to cliche away and BOOM Canada suddenly thinks he's great.

I think CTV's coverage of the Olympics was really nothing more than a promotional vehicle for Harper and the rest of Conservative Party. Call me crazy, but I'm sure I saw almost as much of the Conservative Party logo during the coverage of the games then I did the Canadian flag. The incorporation of a variation on Conservative party's logo into official team Canada apparel and Stephen Harper's all too consistant appearances on TV during the games amounts to what may be the most overtly politically influenced games in North America. Olympic games are always a venue for political propaganda, but this was a little ridiculous for Canadian standards. I mean, look at the logo! How obvious does one have to get? I'm developing a theory on all this that I'll post on my media blog later this week.

The Conservatives have been doing as much as they can to put themselves in the media spotlight over the past few months. The most offensive example might be the advertisements for the economic stimulus spending. Imagine! Every government in the G20 is taking on huge amounts of debt to try and rescue a global economy that was on the verge of total disaster a year ago and our beloved government is trying to take the credit for coming up with the great idea. Must we forget that deficit spending flies in the face of every value that Harper's Conservatives supposedly hold dear? Don't get confused folks. Stimulus spending isn't some great idea that Harper dreamed up one night in between his sexual fantasies of rubbing flesh with The Great One. No sire, this is something that every government in the world is doing.

Winter break is over! Time to get back to work. Tomorrow parliament finally resumes with a speech from the throne. I don't like to waste time making predictions, but I imagine there will be lots of mentions of how the stimulus spending is creating some form of economic recovery. I'm just not too sure if it's really working in the way it's supposed to. The idea is that government spending would be like a sort of economic lubrication, sparking the wheels of private institutions to start spending again. While there are signs that things have slightly improved over last year, all the improvements can essentially be traced back to the stimulus spending. The federal government now finds itself over $50 billion in the hole and the private sector still looks like a big mess. Did I mention that we're on the verge of a major housing bubble right here in Canada? House prices in the Toronto area are through the roof and seemingly climbing as consumers attempt to snatch up mortgages on their dream homes while the interest rate is at this insane low. How long can we keep this up before rates rise and houses are foreclosed?

The worst thing, in my own opinion, is that the average Canadian doesn't understand just how shaky things are. They are far too easily influenced by the private-industry style marketing and brand promotion that the Conservatives push on them on a daily basis. (Seriously, don't those Economic Recovery ads look exactly like Bank commercials?) In fact, the interwoven nature of the Conservative Party with the private industry in Canada is going to create a huge problem. The party receives so much in the form of lobbying contributions from the private sector that they're seemingly refusing to raise corporate taxes. Without raising taxes it's going to be a tough slog to get ourselves out of deficit. We're going to have to cut services. Olympic athletes, hope you enjoyed all that money you've been getting, because unless the Conservatives raise taxes your funding is doomed to be cut. Either that or pension benefits. Either way. Tomorrow's speech from the throne may be telling as to exactly how Harper and co. expect to dig this country out of a hole that's only getting deeper.

It's the decline of the American empire, and we're going to be dragged down with 'em.

Do you know that more Americans watched the US-Canada hockey game on Sunday than watched the last US elections? I don't have a good source on this, but if it's fact then we're in big trouble. I've been following the Olympics on my Canadian media blog (it's full of rage and anger so you should read it) and I've been a bit troubled by some of the ratings that have been coming out of the CTV coverage. I don't know what's causing the insane hype over a load of amateur sports (something most Canadians spend their time ignoring), but I think it's evidence of an empire in decline. Sound ludicrous? Read on.

I made a whole video a while back on the staggering drop in voter interest in the last decade. The fact of the mater is Canadians have don't give a damn about the state of their government. This worries me on a few levels. Firstly, Canada is a democracy and as such requires the people of the land to participate in the running of the country. If less than half the population is involved in choosing a government, then the government no longer represents the majority of the population. We currently have a government that represents the majority of the minority of the country. Secondly, it appears to me that instead of focusing on the running of the country, most Canadians are diverting their attention to fairly arbitrary things such as fluffy American television programming and sports. It doesn't sound that bad until you consider the implications.

More Canadian probably know who the most recent winner of American idol was than are aware of our foreign policy. More Canadians watched a hockey game than went out to vote. This is backwards. This is wrong. While following sports or reality TV makes for a fine diversion, when it dwarfs the national interest of the running of our country we have a problem on our hands. You might wonder if most Canadians would rather have a dictatorship as long as they still had access to American television. If they want a democracy, they have to participate in the democracy. The whole system doesn't work without each and every Canadian getting involved and knowing the facts. We all have a responsibility to take our share in the running of Canada. That's why we have a democracy rather than a dictatorship. We all have a right to say what we think our country should do. The country can't run itself, not if we want to be a democracy.

I worry because while most Canadians couldn't care less, our country is in really terrible shape. Our deep rooted ties to the United States dragged us into an economic turmoil that really doesn't seem to be willing to go away. The stock markets are tanking again today. The unemployment rate is still through the roof. Just hoping that these things are going to fix themselves while you watch the latest piece of American distraction on your idiot-tube isn't going to happen. If we don't want to go down with the US-Titantic, then we're going to have to start giving a shit. Wake up people.

Tax hikes are coming, like it or not.

Remember when the Conservatives promised to cut the GST by a couple of percent? Well they did. Remember when Canadians thought that was a great idea and elected those same Conservatives largely on the back of that promise? Well guess what... Canadians are dumb.

Those same Conservatives also were the ones who decreed against government spending. To their credit they probably didn't see the whole economic disaster that was about to unfold and they didn't necessarily consider that the G20 would call on government spending as the only means of keeping our fragile economy from complete collapse. As we sit now though, $56 Billion in the hole, that GST revenue would surely be nice.

Despite what you may believe, the global economy is still on terribly shaky grounds. Jim Flarity, Finance Minister and Fred Flintstone lookalike, is still confident that Canada can dig its way out of deficit without needing to raise taxes. If he didn't cut the GST in the first place I might believe him. The fact of the matter is we are unlikely to go anywhere but down even if the economy does recover in the way that some predict. I'm not so sure it will. Unemployment levels are not improving sufficiently. Until things improve south of the border we can't expect too much to happen here. Jim Flarity recently said that he sees a balanced budget by 2015. He also said that stopping stimulus spending and a pending economic recovery will be sufficient to right the ship. Didn't many Canadians vote for this Conservative government because they felt they were economically savvy? Somebody has been taking too many Flintstone vitamins.

Will the Conservative government raise the GST in the upcoming budget? Doing so may lead Canadians to realize just how big a mistake cutting it was in the first place. It probably won't happen. Something has to give if we want to balance that budget. There is always cutting. They could cut until their nose bleeds. I, for one, am not liking the idea of this government getting us out of this mess. I'm not sure who could replace them. The Liberals have balanced budgets in the past, but this ain't the Liberals of the 90s. Our broken system has really put us in tight spot. Worst of all, nobody in this stupid country cares. Canada's in bad shape.

There, that probably brightened your day.

Found Link: Prorogation Online

Prorogation Online: Partisans Carve up Canadian Social Media | Infoscape Research Lab

Prorogation Online: Partisans Carve up Canadian Social Media

Key findings from our study of social media and the Canadian political blogosphere since Harper’s prorogation (December 30-January 12):

* Unlike last year’s coalition crisis, Conservative bloggers have largely abandoned promoting Facebook groups. 83% of all links to Facebook in the blogosphere came from Liberal (49%) or NDP (34%) bloggers.
* Tories meanwhile spent considerably more time referencing Wikipedia entries on a diverse range of issues, though curiously very few relating to Canadian politics or the parliament. (see chart below)
* Non-partisan bloggers dominated Twitter to highlight anti-prorogation organizing.