Every Time Harper Closes In On His Elusive Majority...

Something Blows Up In His Face.

I has happened once again and it has nothing to do with either Ms. Oda or Mr. Kenny - It is all about the Elections Canada and the 'in and out scandal'.

When I first heard about this matter I did not think it was such a big deal - what I understood it to be was that the National Tory Party provided funds to certain Ridings that had not spent their limit and these funds were allocated for the purpose of paying for local t.v. (media) advertising.

If more recent reports are accurate though, what really happened is that the National Tory Campaign provided funds to select local ridings and then immediately retrieved those funds back to the national campaign.

But it was not just a book entry since it is now alleged that this slight of hand entitled local tory associations to very large rebates from Elections Canada and those rebates of course are paid from Income Taxes.

One Riding - the Hull Aylmer Conservative Association, reported that that some $30,000 made their way from Elections Canada to its local coffers.

If you multiply that be the number of Ridings implicated you are soon up in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This is the type of thing you would expect from past Liberal Regimes and not from the Torys.

I suspect that if the Opposition continues to seize on this issue, the favourable tory polls will start to wobble.

As I see it...

'Galagher'

Public Sector Unions ...

Should never have been permitted.

And now that they are here - they should be Disbanded.

Why you ask?

Because the Employer is You - the Taxpayer but You are at a serious disadvantage - You have no representation at the Negotiations.

Let's look at two examples - Wisconsin and Ontario.

In Wisconsin, the new Republican Governor is attempting to limit the power of its public service unions because his State can no longer afford the Settlements. Now get this - the State is broke - it has a $3 Billion deficit. The Unions are holding firm even though their intransigents will likely result in the loss of employment for many of the Union Membership. How selfish.

Now Ontario.

Ontario's deficit is a whopping $26 Billion accompanied by a total Debt of some $240 Billion which even in this low interest rate environment still consumes some $10 Billion annually in Interest Payments. And yet our dear Premier attacks the imbalance with cosmetic zeal. Even as the former Grit Finance Minister - John Manley is urging the Province to attack the Debt / Deficit on a "war footing".

In both our nations - Canada and the United States, Unions are in the decline and in the minority in the Private Sector. It is in the Public Sector in both countries where they continue to flourish.

It used to be that employees in the Public Sector - the civil service, the armed forces, the hospitals, the schools, firemen, policemen and so on - were paid less than their private sector counterparts on the basis that they had better working conditions and greater job security.

Today they have those latter benefits as well as better pay and more generous pensions in all, their pay and benefits are some 40% higher.

How did his come about?

You were not at the Table - the Negotiating Table that is.

Present were the Politicians and the Unions. The Unions made outrageous demands and the Politicians took the expedient routes and consistently caved. Neither was dealing with their own dough - and of course the Taxpayer Pot was endless.

Harris made an attempt to get a handle on this and indeed when he left power Ontario was still a Have Province with no Deficit (despite the Liberal Claim that they took over $5 Billion deficit).

McGuinty came in and bought Public Union Peace via huge wage and benefit settlements.

I remember a Labour Class in Law School where the Professor (a Union Negotiator) was trumpeting the fact that Nurses had just recently been granted the right to Unionize. I had some knowledge of Nurses - both my Mother and Wife are RNs so I spoke up to ask what would be gained by it and he said it would give them an opportunity to air their grievances and of course to Strike if those grievances were not addressed. I pointed out to him that I was not aware of any such grievances - certainly ones serious enough to warrant Strike - but that Unionization would of itself lead to labour unrest. The Professor was not impressed and not surprisingly I received my worst mark in his course.

And what happened to the concept of essential services. Government employees not only work in the best conditions and enjoy the greatest job security they also work in an absolute monopoly. No one exists to step in and do their work in cases of labour stoppage and it is the poor Taxpayer that suffers from their lack of service.

If a Marshmallow factory goes on strike - there will be other Marshmallow companies that will step in to fill the void - even if the Marshmallow Industry became a Monopoly - the Public could turn to Twinkies - we would not be held ransom.

Even here in Ottawa we have the recent example of the Bus Strike which caused great inconvenience to the commuting public and great economic damage to local business. The Strike was over scheduling - a Management prerogative but one that the Union coveted. This long Strike finally came to an end when it was agreed that the issue of scheduling would go to Arbitration. The Arbitrator sided with Management. The Issue Resolved.

Well not so fast - recent rumblings indicate that the Bus Union is once again considering labour withdrawal based on the Scheduling Issue. Toronto has seen common sense and recently moved to declare Bus Service an Essential Service - as it should be.

Indeed - any and all services provided by those who receive their pay and benefits from the hapless taxpayer should be similarly declared Essential and I would take it a step further and remove their right to Unionization and leave that activity to the Marshmallow factories and to the Coal Mines.

As I see it....

'Galagher'

Democracies...A Short Part 2

I would call this new organization The League of Democratic Nations after the defunct Post WW I League of Nations - it has a nice ring to it.

So let the current United Nations rant and rave - through the Permanent Vetoes of England, France and the United States - we can keep it from causing any serious damage.

We will though have to continue tolerate such idiocies as their appointment this week of Iran to the UN's Womens' Rights Commission. Can you imagine.

As I see it...

"Galagher'

Democracies Unite.....

If the Middle East has taught us anything it is the need for true democracies to unite within an Organization similar to the United Nations - with one notable exception - in the new organization non-democracies need not apply.

When I say true democracies I am referring to those democratic states based on the Rule of Law. Without such Rules, you risk Tyranny by the Majority. Don`t forget that Hitler was first elected as a result of the democratic process and this is likely to occur in many of the Middle Eastern States following the Revolutions.

In past Blogs I have expressed the need for such an Organization - this need is greater than ever given that America is broke and in decline. It is now the time for similarly constructed nations to come together to relieve America of its burden.

And unlike the UN - this group would already have its own armed forces - NATO.

No longer would the world have to sit idly by while mad men and women slaughtered or starved or imprisoned their own citizens.

So deep six the United Nation.

Not at all.

Sir Winston Churchill said it best - Jaw Jaw is better than War War.

So let the petty dictators and tyrants talk - is does not cost that much and it keeps them from being totally isolated in their respective fiefdoms.

And it will provide ongoing comic relief to the world - seeing their important Organs such as the Human Rights Commission occupied by such notable Human Rights abusers as Libya and Cuba.

The new organization would work with potential members to strengthen their economies and set in place the intuitions needed to ensure democratic growth.

Will it happen - I am more confident today that it will and with the increasing threats throughout the world it cannot happen too soon.

As I see it...

`Galager

On A Lighter Note ...

You Done Well.

We have had an argument within the family for some time now on whether it is proper English to say 'Did Well' or 'Did Good' as in little Frankie did well on his exam rather than little Frankie did good on his exam.

Our Discussions have gone something like this.

(me) How did you do in your presentation at work today Anne?

(Anne) I think I did Well.

You mean you were feeling healthy when you gave it?

No, I mean it went okay.

So you did good?

No I did well !

There you go bringing health back into the argument.

What has my health got to do with how I did?

I agree.

You agree what?

That health has no place in how you did unless of course your health was somehow involved in how you did. For instance Anne, you might have said 'I could have done better but a migraine negatively affected my presentation'.

So how did your day go Galagher?

It went good.

As opposed to evil?

I suppose one could say that - but in my mind good is opposite to bad - as in the good, bad and the ugly.

I could say something about Ugly but I will let it pass.

A few things come to my mind as well in that regard.

Okay - in all reality you have to admit using the word 'well' sounds much better than using the word 'good'.

No I don't - in fact using the word 'well' sounds pretentious to me when what you are really trying to say is whether you did good or did bad. You are either well or not well and you either did good or you did not.

You are simply just wrong.

So I looked it up and found that we were both wrong and both correct. Correct in the sense that the words 'good' and 'well' can be used interchangeably in accepted English. And wrong in the sense that the best word to use in such circumstances is the word Fine - as in how did you do in your presentation / how did your day go?

'It went fine"

Who'd a thunk.

As I see it...

'Galagher'

A Few Quickies...

Beginning with Minister Oda

I suspect what has happened here is that after the Minister signed the $7 million Grant her Chief of Staff received a call from either the PMO or from Immigration Minister Kenney's Chief of Staff saying you must not allow it. At this point her Chief of Staff added the "not" to the approval.

Where Minister Oda went wrong is when she lied to her Standing Committee that she did not know how the "not" got there. Of course she did and for lying the only proper recourse is for her to resign.

I suspect Harper will come to that conclusion but if he does not - you can expect to see his polling numbers slide. In fact, I suspect that they will slide anyway given his defence of Oda to date.

All of this is somewhat bizarre when you consider that all MPs are constantly lying - i.e. defending policies that they really do not always support. The only thing saving them is the fact that their lying cannot be proved.


Hudak

I have for sometime now despaired with Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak's logic and he seems to only be getting worse.

His great pronouncement of a "buck a beer" - at a time when Ontario is going to Hell in a Hand Basket Budget Wise - leads the voter to conclude he is out of touch.

The next example shows this even better. He has come out this week in favour of keeping the dreaded Health Sur Tax - you know the one that Pinocchio McGuinty said he would never impose (I will not reduce taxes nor will I increase them).

I have been critical for some time now in regard to Hudak's unwillingness to say what his Government would do if Elected. Many have said that he is simply being smart and use John Tory's example of coming out too soon with a stand that can be attacked. In Tory's case, it was funding for religious and private schools.

But that was not the same - Tory came out with an ill conceived and divisive policy which had nothing to do with McGuinty's mismanagement of Ontario.

All Hudak has to do is attack McGuinty's record and provide some solid popular alternatives.

Here is a guy that should be 10 to 20 points ahead of the Provincial Grits and yet he is finds himself in a neck and neck duel. Hard to understand!!

Okay - so we go back to our example of the Health Sur Tax - Hudak should be saying I will deep six it or at least drastically reduce this tax and replace the lost revenue with the proceeds to be realized from scrapping the Health LINS which is one thing Hudak has said that he proposes to do if Elected. This despite the fact that the vast majority of Ontarians would be at a loss to understand what the Hell a LIN was in the fist place.

But the one thing the Folks would understand from this is that Hudak has a solid plan to save them money.

It's a win win and Hudak would go up in the Polls.

Sadly, this will not happen and if the Tory's are not more careful McGuinty just might squeeze back into power next time out.


Layton

Yesterday, Jack Layton met with the Prime Minister to see where they might have common ground re the March 22nd Budget.

The Press Reported it as an attempt for Harper to see how he could craft this Budget to ensure needed NDP support.

Layton came out of the meeting looking well satisfied and saying that there are a number of areas where his Party is in sinc with the Tories.

If I were Layton though I would check and see if I still had my wallet.

My guess is that Harper was sizing Layton up and determining where he and the NDP are most vulnerable and then exploit vulnerability in the coming Budget.


And finally Obama and the Middle East

Things continue to deteriorate for President Obama in this important part of the world.

After having cut his friend Mubarak loose other Middle Eastern Strong Men are now back peddling away from America - most notably in Saudi Arabia.

I have already pointed out that when Obama lent his support to Democracy in Egypt what he failed to realize is that it was the least likely thing to occur in that impoverished nation. Now I think it is starting to dawn on him how naive he was.

Simply stated, the Western World and most notably the United States need a safe and abundant supply of oil. It is now going to become ever more difficult for that to continue as the Middle East retreats closer to Theocracy.

The US and Israel could have forestalled these events if they had taken concrete steps to deal with Iran. It is now probably too late.

As I see it...

'Galagher'

Obama on Egypt...

I hope his is correct....but...

Obama came out yesterday guns blazing saying how proud he was of the Demonstrators in Tahrir Square as they were about to bring Democracy to this former Dictatorship.

Either he is most prescient or his unequivocal statement amounts to nothing more than wishful thinking.

In the case of the latter, I believe it is essential for Leaders of Important Nations, such as the United States, to think before they speak and as you can tell I am not sure he did so yesterday.

So what's the harm?

None, if he is correct.

Much if he is wrong, since his statement may very well bring about the opposite of what he is predicting. That is to say, Mubarak will be replaced either by another Dictator - this one more vicious that the previous - or - Mubarak will be replaced by the Ayatollahs which will be far worse than any Dictator since it is based on distorted religion.

How so?

If it had been me speaking - I would have said that it is the United States' fervent hope that true Democracy will follow Mubarak's Dictatorship but I would caution that much remains to be done. I would warn the world and especially those legitimate Egyptian Protesters that their goal of Democracy is not guaranteed with the simply the removal of Mubarak. That there are sinister players in the wings which will try to take advantage of the current situation and as such represent a very danger.

In a sense - I would put the Demonstrators on notice that their work is far from done but that the United States will be working with them in their ongoing efforts to be successful.

In effect, Obama's comments may lead to complacency which the enemies of democracy will be quick to take advantage of.

On a lessor note - Obama's critics will also be quick to play yesterday's sound bite back to demonstrate how out of touch their President is.

Again - he may be right in his declaration - for his sake and the sake of the world, I hope he is.

But as I setout in yesterday's Blog - I doubt it.

As I see it...

'Galagher'