He Just Cannot Take ‘Yes’ For An Answer..

 

I am speaking of course about the former Prime Minister of Greece … Alexis Tsipras.

Tsipras, as you will recall, was elected P.M. earlier this year – January 25th to be precise.  He and his Party literally came out of nowhere – from left field as it were, to seize this coveted post.

We all know why – Greece was struggling under European sanctions designed to get Greece’s finances under control.  The average Greek did not like it and turned surprisingly to Tsipras and his left wing Party for relief.

So if anyone had a mandate to deal effectively with those mean spirted  Europeans – it was Tsipras.

But no – that was not good enough for Alexis.

He needed a Referendum to give him real authority and a concrete mandate to tell Europe to go to blazes.

The Referendum came and went and low and behold Tsipras got what he wanted – overwhelming support to take a tough stand with the EU.

Two strong ‘Yeses’ within months of one another.

So off to the EU within days of the Referendum and what does he do … why of course he capitulates – that is to say, he totally surrenders to Europe’s demands.

You may ask what was the purpose of the January Election and the follow-up Referendum?  And you’d be right.  What was their purpose.

It gets even more bizarre.

I said in an earlier Blog that we could now expect his party to revolt and kick their leader out for his outlandish betrayal.

And indeed, that is just what happened this week – Tsipras resigned after calling another election.

But surprise, surprise – he is not riding off into the sunset as he should – rather he is running for the Prime Ministership once again – within 8 months of being elected to the same post.

Incredible.

I cannot wait to see what happens.  Shoudl he wins – he calls another Referendum to be followed by another election.

He just gets too many Yeses – hopefully this time he will get his no and Greece can begin to move on and do what they need to do to get their house in order.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

 

So It Was All About The Students’ …

 

Welfare …. AFTER ALL !!

Or… Maybe Not !!!

Two Big Ontario Teachers’ Unions – The Ontario High School Teachers Union and the English Catholic High School Teachers Union have tentatively settled with the Province pending approval with their respective memberships which is thought to be a mere formality.

This is indeed great news, since the benefits for our students must be most significant – after all, was it not the Unions and even their respective membership who said that the students’ welfare was paramount for them in the discussions with the Province?

But wait, what I have read so far in regard to the proposed settlement this week include bonuses, increased wages (apparently the current top level- after 10 years of teaching – of $95,000 was just not enough), another PD Day and no change in class size.

If you count another PD as a benefit for students – that is to say – another holiday for them (I know, I know) there really is zippo for our kids.

But lots for the Teachers.

Imagine !

In a blog last week on the subject of the bargaining I laid out as follows what I had been told the real issues of concern to the Teachers and their Unions:

• Class sizes are too high - 30+ class size cannot be properly managed;
• Classes include numerous ‘special needs students’ which often disrupt the class and always slow the learning process for the non-special needs children;
• The old core curriculum has been replaced by politically correct studies;  and,
• Students are not allowed to fail.

I could add to this list the inability to properly discipline and the need for more teacher assistants to help manage the huge class sizes and lack of effective training material such as computers.

As an aside dear Premier Wynne is quoted as saying while the teachers receive more under the agreement – they really didn’t because it comes out of the education envelope and it will not increase.

I guess translated this means the teachers are getting bonuses and wage hikes but the over all budget for things like teacher assistants and computers etc etc is reduced.  Seems hard to understand since these were included in the issues of concern to the Unionites.

But not too worry dear reader – the memberships of both Unions have yet to vote on these deals and of course they are most likely to turn the proposed settlements down given their sincere assurances that increased wages / bonuses / and more PD Days were the last thing they either wanted or expected.

Again, to translate this for you – ‘like a snowball’s chance in Hell’.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

MAY BE SOON TIME FOR A ‘TRUMP’ MOMENT …

 

IN CANADIAN POLITICS.

The National Opinion Polls, leading into the dog days of August, are not all that favourable to the Conservatives; indeed, some show the Tories mired in third place but even if split is even, with the other Two Major Parties, it means at best Minority Government status for the Tories.

And that dear reader, would end up in their defeat as since as sure ‘God made the little green apples’; the left leaning Liberals and the New Democrats would team up to form the Government.

That said, these are still early days but if this trend continues into late September … watch out.

I say that because, as bad as Harper and company are – the other two are far worse.

So that leads me back to the title of today’s blog which I could have also called ‘Is It Time For A Hail Mary Pass’ and in that regard, two possible subject matters come to mind:

The First, is in regard to the annual $1.2 Billion Dollar subsidy Canadian taxpayers pay to the Canadian Broadcast Corporation more widely known as the CBC.

Harper should have already ended this subsidy over the course of his 10 year stint as Prime Minister but could pledge to do so if re-elected.  The Lefties would of course go wild but the majority, like you and me, who find it unfair to subsidize one broadcaster over others such as Global and CTV would cheer Harper on.

A ‘Trump’ moment if there ever was one.

But there is even a bigger area where Harper could promise action which would also sit well with the majority of voters but admittedly would take even more guts on the part of Canada’s Ruling Party. That dear Reader would entail Harper promising to de-unionize all public servants – including the armed forces and the RCMP.

We have long ago reached the point in our country where we have two classes of employee – the haves who form the public service and the have-nots who work in the private sector and pay the salaries and benefits of the former.

There are many reasons this has come about but I do not have the time to itemize them here - but have dealt with them in previous blogs. The bottom-line is that the public servant needs no union – they are not working in coal pits suffering from black lung.

But the reason to see Public Service Unions disbanded go way beyond this. 

Simply stated they are undemocratic.

And not just because they often act without their membership’s approval.

They are undemocratic since they take taxpayers’ money via their membership and spend that money to politic against parties – like the Conservatives – which many voters / taxpayers support.

It is unfair, it is undemocratic and it needs to be addressed.

As a concrete example of what I am referring to is the fact that 3rd parties can advertise during the current Election under the Federal Elections Act. I was even surprised to learn that this was even possible since I suspect like you I had been led believe that once the Writ was dropped and the Election called – all 3rd party involvement ceased as of that date.

In that regard, The National Post published recently a list of nearly 2 dozen outfits – mostly Public Servant Unions and supplemented by other left-wingy groups that have been granted the right by Elections Canada to spend their membership’s money to defeat the Conservatives during the current campaign. Included in this list are the following:

Third parties registered with Elections Canada (as of Aug. 19):

§ Animal Justice Canada Legislative Fund

§ AVAAZ

§ BC Government and Service Employees’ Union

§ Canadian Health Coalition

§ Canadian Media Guild

§ Canadian Medical Association

§ Canadian Union of Postal Workers

§ Canadian Union of Public Employees

§ Canadian Veterans ABC Campaign 2015

§ Diane Babcock

§ Dogwood Initiative

§ Downtown Mission of Windsor Inc.

§ Fair Vote Canada

§ Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec

§ Friends of Canadian Broadcasting

§ IATSE

§ International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada

§ Leadnow Society

§ Les Sans-Chemise

§ National Citizens Coalition Inc.

§ NORML Canada Inc. NORML Canada Inc.

§ Ontario Public Service Employees Union

§ Open Media

§ Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario

§ UNIFOR

§ Voters Against Harper

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Do you remember several weeks back that a right wing group formed to advertise in favour of the Conservatives.  Well the Media and the left wing went ballistic- “no fair” they spewed – but you will not find even one conservative group in the above list of those approved by Elections Canada.  All of the above have as their goal to see Harper and the Conservatives defeated and not so much as a whimper.

This is not democracy and if Harper fails to take this Trump Like Initiative – you will certainly not see the other parties do.

Do I expect Harper to do either of these?

No I don’t.

But if the polls hold for another month, I would also not expect him to win.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’