Union Government In Canada

 

Over the years, there have been only a few Union Governments where two or more parties have come together to run the affairs of state.  The most famous was the Union Government headed by Robert Borden in 1917 during the latter days of World War One.

But do you happen to know the most recent example of this?

If you guessed this year’s Ontario Election … you’d be absolutely right.

The two parties which came together in victory were the Unions of Ontario’s Public Service and the Liberal Party of Ontario.

And is it not ironic that the term Union Government in our most recent example, contains just that – Unions.

If you are as old as me, you will recall a time when Unions really represented the over-worked and under appreciated – those who often worked under dangerous conditions and for the honour were paid a very modest wage.

Today though, Big Unions represent those who they would once have ridiculed – the overpaid and most privileged civil servant.

You might quibble with my contention that a Union can join forces with a political party and form Government but of course this is exactly what has happened.

Unions are not restrained by nuisance election laws that limit or cap spending and indeed spent multi millions in assisting the Grits to victory. Even the police union piled on against the hapless Tories.

And speaking of the Tories – do you really think anything will change with a new leader.  Look at the numbers: there are 1.5 million on Ontario’s payrolls.  Add spouses, adult children etc. and that number quickly turns into over 3 million all of whom have a vested interest in seeing the current arrangement prevail.

Juxtapose that to the number with the number who actually voted this past June – some 4.5 million or roughly half of the 9 million who were eligible to vote.

So if you start off with 3.5 million bureaucrats and their families in your pocket all anxious to preserve their entitlements -  it becomes virtually impossible to affect the status quo.

It reminds me of the days when the Liberals federally won election after election since they started off with virtually all 75 seats in Quebec along with those ridings in francophone eastern Ontario and northern New Brunswick.  

But the real issue here or should I say issues, is the fact that all of this support is most undemocratic:

• first, why should Unions be able to vote for one party when their membership is made up of voters who support numerous positions.
• but even more sinister, is the fact that when Public Service Unions support tax and spend they are thumbing their collective noses at the voters who are also the Province’s Taxpayers who end up paying the freight. 

So what to call this coalition Government?

What about the Liberal / Union Party of Ontario?

Or better yet, the Union / Liberal Party.

And even better, the Union Party of Ontario since that dear reader -  says it all.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

Should November 11th Be A Holiday …

 

Note:  I meant to say in the following Blog that the day of course should be given off to all veterans.  In addition, I am now more convinced than ever that a general holiday is a big mistake.  I say this because I learned today that the big Unions of Quebec take the long weekend as their remembrance so today – Monday the 10th of November - is a holiday for them.  How disrespectful but then again, the Ontario Teachers did something similar as per below.

No.

Rather it should be a time of Remembrance… not party time.

Some of you will know that I once worked for the Minister of Veterans Affairs.  I vividly recall our first Remembrance Day then and still a holiday for federal employees. 

The staff was called together the day before and it went something like this:

“Given that tomorrow is November 11th, wouldn’t it be nice if we all met at the office at 10 am tomorrow and then walk down to the War Memorial together.”

There were over 20 staffers present and the suggestion was met with dead silence.  Obviously  they had no intention of spending 11 am in remembrance, despite the fact that for the rest of the year, they worked directly on behalf of Canada’s veterans.

Ontario teachers have shown that they too hold Remembrance Day in questionable regard.  Once upon a time Schools here had November 11th off but teachers, in their wisdom, traded the day for more time off at Christmas.

So no, I am not in favour of a day off and I would even be inclined to rescind the holiday for Canadian government employees.

Rather, I would like to see the tradition begin to have all commercial enterprises closed between the hours of 11 am and noon.  And that everyone come to a stop for two minutes at the strike of 11.

Someone suggested earlier today that the two minutes silence be concluded with the peeling of church bells across the country.

I like the idea since it would touch everyone alike – those who would go to services and those who would not.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’ 

 

PM has acquired a little more competition.

 

In the form of Premier Kathleen Wynne …she thinks she is the Prime Minister.

This is not that new of an affliction, many Quebec Premiers in the past have also suffered from it but I do believe this is the first for an Ontario Premier.

As as aside, it has also afflicted others in a different way; we have had three Governors General who believed themselves to be the Queen – Sauve, Clarkson and Jean.

So why do I say dear Ms. Wynne believes herself to be Prime Minister?

First she brings in a Bill to create a Pension Plan to compete with the Canada Pension Plan.  It is so unnecessary.

Then she travels to China on a Trade Mission which in my opinion is and should be the propagative of the Feds.  To make matters worse, she does so in the face of the Hong Kong demonstrations for Democracy.

She then sends money to Africa to fight Ebola – albeit a most worthwhile endeavour but one the should be led by the Government of us All.  In reality her job is to get her province ready in case this epidemic spreads here to us. 

There is only so much money to spread around as she should well know.

And most recently, the dear lady is advertising in the media about Remembrance and Canada’s role in wars around the world.  I thought matters of veterans was the exclusive preserve of the Federal Government.

I guess Wynne is not happy confining herself to ensuring high hydro rates, loss of high paying manufacturing jobs, wasting money on numerous scandals …she now wants to branch out to the federal level.

Prime Minister Wynne… it has a nice ring to it.

But Heaven help us all.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

It Beats Me How …

 

One little twerp – albeit a ‘terrorist’ little twerp, could cause so much mayhem in and for our society.  I cannot recall more print and film being expended on one petty, vile individual; the 24 hour news cycle at its worst.

The following comments abound – end of innocence, this changes everything…  Not.

Ever hear of World War One when Canada lost over 1 in 10 of its male youth?  Heaven help us when we suffers a more significant terrorist act like that sustained by America on 9/11. 

That is not to say that a lone gunman cannot wreck havoc and affect the course of history – think of Lincoln and Kennedy.

But let’s not overstate it and to cut the chaff from the wheat, the only real issue that emerges from last week’s killings in both Montreal and here in Ottawa is what should we do with the 90 or so other little twerps freely roaming around..ready to strike?

Lock them up for Treason comes immediately to mind even though that would take a legislative change and I say this as a retired lawyer and a Libertarian to boot. 

Dear reader, we are at war and this will likely continue for some time to come. Our enemy is the World’s Terrorists …primarily the Muslim Extremists of every ilk and kind.

And know, these Bully Terrorist Groups are not doing it for Religious purposes – that is just to  shield their real motives of power and prestige.

They want to see Western Societies and indeed all Societies in their own image and will not rest until those ends are achieved or until they rest a good 6 feet under. In regard to the latter, let’s do our bit to help them along.

So that brings us back to the infamous 90.  They spout their venom and mimic their foreign twisted masters in the wish that our Society come to an abrupt end.   

This is a new phenomenon – we are not dealing with foreign armies but rather with organized guerrilla groups intent on inflicting as much pain on us as they possibly can.

If we have those amongst who support those objectives, they are our enemy – plain and simple.

Round them up with a view to deprogramming them.  If that does not work – keep them under lock and key until their masters abroad are defeated.

Harsh?  You bet, but sadly necessary.

The bottom line here is that although we should not fear terrorists, we should not leave them alone to their own devices.

Freedom of speech and thought is still paramount but there are limits; you cannot let someone like Hitler speak freely about the need to kill all Jews nor can you allow Islamic Terrorists to speak freely about the need to kill “infidels” like you and me.

The left will howl but as P.E.T. famously said, let those bleeding hearts bleed.  Your life and my life is more worthy than the lives of petty, cowardly terrorists.  Full stop.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

On One Of The Proudest Day’s Of His Life -

 

Corporal Nathan Cirillo, 24, married - with one young son, was cowardly shot dead this morning while he stood guard over the Grave of the Unknown Soldier at the War Memorial in Ottawa, Canada’s Capital. 

Cpl. Cirillo was a Reservist with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders based in Hamilton, Ontario. He had joined army cadets when only 13.

His death follows by only two days the equally senseless and cowardly murder of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent in Saint-Jean sur Richelieu.

In regard t these deaths, the first question on everyone’s lips is understandably – Why?

And to that I offer the following:

In both cases, it appears that these murderers were born and raised here in Canada. And given their actions, they would have been raised on violent and soul destroying computer games that depicted killing, rape and maiming as normal daily activities.  A toxic mixture itself, and then overlay that with extremist messages from the Internet and you have a very potent and volatile situation.

In essence, the murderers become brainwashed and in a sense are victims themselves.  Not said to excuse their acts but to explain how they are being used by extreme terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda.

They are not core members for the simple reason that it is power that fuels the Bin Ladens of the world – they want to be in a position to tell you and me how to act.  Rather the home grown terrorist is much like Stalin depicted them – useful idiots.  They are and can be just as deadly though.

The next natural question naturally to arise is what do we do?

Another soft one.

We are at war with Terrorists throughout the world - especially in the Middle East.  When our security forces uncover those living within our borders expressing sympathy for these murdering barbarians – we lock them up for the duration.  Simple as that.

I am not a big fan of the late Pierre Trudeau but I do very much appreciate the following comments he made during the height of the FLQ Crisis in the 1970s:

A. Well there are a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say is, go on and bleed, but it is more important to keep law and order in the society than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don't like the looks of ...

Q: At any cost? How far would you go with that? How far would you extend that?

A: Well just watch me.

Q: At reducing civil liberties? To what extent?

A: To what extent?

Q: Well, if you extend this and you say, ok, you're going to do anything to protect them, does this include wire-tapping, reducing other civil liberties in some way?

A: Yes, I think the society must take every means at its disposal to defend itself against the emergence of a parallel power which defies the elected power in this country and I think that goes to any distance. So long as there is a power in here which is challenging the elected representative of the people.

So Terrorists, whether home grown or from afar bring it on, you will find us more than up to the task.

As I see it…

“K. D. Galagher’

 

One Thumb Up …

 

One Thumb Down.

The Upped Thumb:

Yesterday, in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Harper did not hesitate whatsoever in announcing the Terrorist Attack in Quebec which took the life of one of our force’s members and badly injured another.

The Jihadist, was shot to death when he plunged at police with a large knife.

The cowardly killer had run down the two soldiers with his car, a method of killing recommended to these domestic creeps by Islamist Extremist.

Just before he was killed, the Terrorist called 911 to boast about his despicable act all of course in the name of Allah.

Had this happened below the border,  the Little Guy in the White House most likely have written off the incident as an unfortunate automobile accident.  Indeed that has been his modus operandi in numerous such incidents to date – spewing such nonsense as ‘workplace violence’.

So well done Mr. Harper for calling this inhuman act for what it is. 

Too bad you are the type of Leader the West needs – all you lack is an army as opposed to the Little Guy who has an army but lacks leadership.

The Downed Thumb:

Rona Ambrose, the Minister of Health announced today that Canada would not be sending medical personnel to the Ebola infected parts of Africa until … are you ready for it “we have a guaranteed medical evacuation (plan)”.

So here we have thousands of Africans dying from a disease that has no known cure and are in desperate need of the type of modern medical help that only  countries like ours can provide.

And what a weak excuse – no evacuation plan. 

I say that because the key to stopping this outbreak is to contain the outbreak where it now exists and the only way that can effectively be done is by sending expert medical help and treatment to the source.

Sure it is dangerous but so is sending our troops out to fight bad guys around the world.

In our supposed civilized world there are some things that just have to be done and the poor souls fighting for their lives from Ebola are deserving of our humanitarian best.

I would not force medical personnel to do this – rather I would ask for volunteers and knowing us Canadians I suspect there would be lots of takers.

In the meantime get the army working on needed evacuation plans – they are fully up to the task.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’

Blood Is Thicker Than Water …

 

  Note:  In the spirit of fairness I must point out that although I am critical of Muslims who betray their non Muslim neighbours, it was not that long ago when Christians in Germany did the same thing with respect to their Jewish neighbours.  Sadly, I fear, if given another opportunity, it would happen again; Civilization appears to have a very thin veneer.

It certainly appears that way for Tribal Members in the Middle East.

Recently, I was part of a small group which organized a Rally on Parliament Hill intended to support our Government in its efforts to stop the Killing, Raping and Pillaging going on throughout the Middle East and many parts of Africa.

The worst offender is the Barbarian Group known as ISIS.

During the course of the Rally, one of the clergy with strong ties to Mosul, Iraq told us that when ISIS invaded Mosul they had no idea where the Christians lived.  They were soon identified by their hereto peaceful Muslim neighbours.

These neighbours painted signs on their Christian neighbours’ doors thereby conveniently identifying them for persecution at the hands of ISIS.

Mosul today is totally bereft of Christians despite the fact that Christians there dated back to the 1st Century A.D.

More recently, the Kurds fighting for their collective lives in Syria have seen this too.  Invading ISIS has been helped by Muslim Neighbours marking Kurdish abodes for slaughter.

All this seems fly in the face of conventional wisdom that states the vast majority of Muslims abhor ISIS and their minions and that if only given a chance, they would come out and publicly say so.

But they certainly don’t appear to be doing so when given the chance in either Iraq or Syria.

So what are we to take from this?

I am not sure – especially as it relates to us here in the West.

One thing I do think we need to assess – and quickly – is whether major reductions are needed in the flow of Muslim immigration to our shores.  Sad to say, but it appears that this will be necessary until peace is restored in these war torn parts of the world

And that peace will only come when the Muslim Majorities demand it.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’