And We Thought Young Trudeau Was…

 

Nothing More Than A Pretty Face.

Turns out, the young lad is also a Dictatorial Little Czar.

And, in that, he makes Stephen Harper look like a piker.

Our first hint of His Ruthlessness occurred when he injected himself into ongoing local riding nomination meetings making it clear that only candidates approved by Himself would be allowed to run for His Party.

Indeed, one such rejected candidate has taken the young guy to court in a $1.5 million dollar defamation case.

He then fired all Liberal Senators from His Party’s Liberal Caucus, without so much as a warning to them.  Good luck to Him if he does get elected and looks to these self same fired Senators for help in getting His legislative agenda through.

It would almost be worth fun to see it – but I said ‘almost’, since the little guy would be a disaster in the Big Chair (i.e. if he is so ruthless now, just wait until he has the resources of the PMO and PCO at his beckon call).

And then just yesterday, the little dip announced that no longer would candidates for nomination to His Party, be allowed to support Pro Life; this despite the fact that the vast majority of Canadians are in favour of limits being placed on unrestricted abortion.

So all Grits must now have the same belief as their Fearless Young Leader.

What issues are next for his dictatorial whims?

How can it be said that we live in a democracy if everyone has to have the same beliefs?

In that regard, have lamented on many occasions about the growing loss of democracy in our Parliamentary System of Government and Trudeau’s above actions serve only to greatly accelerate this dangerous trend.

If I was a Grit, working at the riding level, I would tender my resignation after first telling  Young Trudeau what I thought of his management style.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

Okay Galagher …. Who Will Win The

 

June 12th Ontario Election?

Glad you asked.

Tell me the Polls and I will tell you the outcome.

For instance, as things stand now the Tories will win a minority … the Grits will follow a close second and the Dippers will bring up the rear.

This is based upon current polling which shows Tory support in the mid 30s, the Liberals 2 or 3 points below that, and the NDP trailing in the mid 20s.

But the dynamics of the campaign await and in that regard I have some thoughts for you.

But first, I would like to clear up a misconception.  Pundits are almost unanimous in their belief that Andrea Horwath courageously brought down the Wynne Government.  She did nothing of the sort.

Wynne and Company were in full campaign mode a month before their budget came down – billions and billions of $ were being handed out like confetti.

Anyone tuned in would know the Grits were going to the polls come hell or high water and this included Ms. Horwath.  Her so called ‘principled’ stand to at last cease their support of the Grits was a desperate last minute bid to be seen doing something honourable.

She, who is the least honourable of the bunch, having propped up the worst Government in Ontario’s history for well over a year.

But now for some of my analysis in regard to the campaign.

Let’s start by saying that none of the three leaders deserve to be elected Premier.  I will just leave it at that.

The Tories with their mid 30s support is a floor in a sense since that number basically includes their base and is not likely to drop.  By the same token, it will not necessarily rise either.

The Liberals, low 30s, represents to me a ceiling since after a decade of power, they have bungled things so badly it is difficult to see that number increasing.  Their current 32 – 33 % support is about as high as they are going to get.

The NDP in the mid 20s is the Party most likely to grow over the next month.  I see this happening with a bleed to them from the Liberals.  I don’t think it will be enough for them to form the government, but it could place them in second place.

So at this point in time, without the benefit of final polling, here is my guess as to the final result:  Tories win with a minority.  The Grits and Dippers fight it out for Official Opposition Status.

Indeed, the three Parties may each end up with a vote total in the 30 per cent range.  In other words – a three way split of the electorate.

So what this means is that we could be back into another election within the year.

But of course I will know better when I get the final polling results.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

My Reply To The Budget …

 

Yesterday’s Ontario Liberal Budget that is … and Tim Hudak is most welcome to plagiarize it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in response to the Government’s Budget, more in sorrow than anger.

In sorrow, since we have all witnessed over the 10 years of Liberal Government Rule the decline of this once great Province from being the Engine of Canada, to one of Have-Not Status.

And yesterday’s Budget only serves to entrench it further.

I am also most saddened by the Government’s deliberate actions to divide Ontarians into two distinct groups: the first are all those who rely upon government for their financial support; the second group, a declining one, is composed of those who work in the private sector and whose earnings fund all things governmental.

Simply stated, without the Private Sector, there would be no Public Sector but that simple fact has escaped those on the front benches opposite.

Over the course of this last decade, those of the private sector have seen more and more of their hard-earned money going to pay provincial taxes of all kinds and all the while, have watched in horror as the Liberal Governments under Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne waste their tax dollars on multi-billion dollar scandals and the placating of rich Public Sector Unions which have become out-of-touch with the common working man and woman which they once rightly stood for.

Many of these good folks have been forced by their own Government to choose between keeping their homes warm or buying groceries.

Industry too has suffered greatly with the draconian increases in the cost of power and are fleeing the Province, often to jurisdictions which our own Government is subsidizing with cheap, below market rate power.

We in Ontario have a debt / deficit problem which would make indebted States such as California blush.

It cannot go on.

So I make my appeal today to those who find themselves in group one – the public sector. The current level of government spending is not sustainable.  If it is not stopped now, Ontario’s economy will soon fall to the point where we all will suffer great harm – the Public as well as the Private Sector.

We in Ontario, with all of our resources both human and natural should be number one in Canada and indeed throughout the world.  The fact that we are not is a tragedy and one of the making of the most wasteful Governments in Ontario’s history.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

There Goes The Supreme Court Of Canada Again…but this time it got it right

 

This Friday we finally got the long awaited ruling from the SCC in regard to the Government’s Reference on how to Reform or Abolish the Senate.

And you know what?

The Court got it right …they stuck more or less to interpreting the law rather than making it. 

As you know, I have been highly critical of the way in which matters of social importance have been handled by our courts rather than where they should be dealt with - in our Parliaments.

But in the Reference at hand the top court did what it should do – it looked at the state of the law – i.e. our Constitution and concluded rightly that in our Federation, the Provinces must be involved in the process.

As a Rule of Thumb, you can usually tell when the Courts exceed their jurisdiction in this important area; its when they rule that something can be done – i.e. gay marriage.  And conversely, you can usually tell when they act within their jurisdiction, it happens when they say something cannot be done – as in the Reference Case.

In the first instance they are making new law and in the latter instance they are interpreting the law which as I have said on many occasions is their prime function.

But with its decision we are left with an anachronism – an appointed Senate belonging to the 19th Century and not now.

I have made my views abundantly known as to what I think needs to be done with the Senate – Abolishment.  And the Court has stated that such an action would require unanimous approval of all 10 provinces.

Hard to accomplish but not impossible:

If I was Harper I would go to each Premier behind closed doors and first say to the Have-Not ones – if you want your federal transfer payments to continue – climb on board.  To the few Have Provinces I would find a way to bribe them in some other fashion – but would not find any, in that small group, intransigent.

The same process could be used if Harper wanted to Reform the Senate (i.e .have it made elected) and the hurdle is less onerous - 7 provinces with 50% of the population.  

But I would not recommend the Reform route; the last thing Canada needs is a second chamber with a mandate.  It would merely result in gridlock ala the USA.  Plus under our Constitution the Provinces have their own rights and responsibilities so they do not need any special protection at the federal level.

What we do desperately need though is a functioning House of Commons.  Right now they are but trained seals of the Prime Minister’s Office.  They need to have Committees with teeth and ample research capacity.  MPs need to be able to represent their constituents as much as their party.

Money saved on dissolving a useless Senate could be used to jump start the Reform of the House.

If though we continue to go on as we are, nothing of substance will be done to correct the democratic deficit which is afflicting our system of government.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’ 

 

OKAY YOU BE THE JUDGE …

 

This past week, the RCMP announced that it did not have sufficient evidence to lay charges against Harper’s former Chief of Staff in regard to the latter’s gift of $90,000 to now suspended Senator Mike Duffy.

So I am throwing it over to you to decide, on the known facts, whether or not charges should have been laid.

First of all, Harper has stated that he fired his Chief of Staff for making this $90k payment.

Then we have the former Chief of Staff admitting that he gave this money to Duffy, a sitting legislator, to enable him to repay monies owing to the Senate which the Senate said were improperly paid to Duffy.

Then we found out that upon receipt of this $90k payment the Senate amended its draft report concerning Duffy to make it less offensive.

Then Duffy himself admitted that he lied to the public as to the source of $90,000.

So with that in mind, I recite the definition of bribery, ‘money given to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust’.

How would you rule?

Not to influence your decision, but of note, Democracy Watch, a non-partisan advocacy group, is now actively considering the launch of a private criminal prosecution given the reticence of the police to do so.

That said, the greater issue in all of this for me is what I perceive to be a growing lack of respect for police forces in our society.

First of all, the RCMP, as well as the OPP, appear to have become politicized.

My faith in the RCMP first took a tumble in the infamous RCMP barn burning fiasco during the FLQ crisis of the 60s and 70s.  More recently I have to question why the RCMP felt it necessary to announce at the height of the 2006 federal election that it had launched a criminal investigation against then liberal finance minister Ralph Goodale? 

Even as a Tory I was offended by their egregious lack of discretion. 

And as for the OPP why did has it allowed native terrorists to run amuck at Caledonia to this very day, even to the point where it disobeyed Judge ordered injunctions directed at them to move against the natives?

And then you have the trigger happy city police forces too often killing mentally disabled people… bringing guns to a knife fight.

Police Forces losing our trust through bad decisions; Judges making laws rather than interpreting them; if respect is on the decline for them, whom can we trust?  Our politicians?

In all of this … something appears to be rotten in the State of Denmark or should I say in the State of Canada.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

Between a Stone and a Hard Place …

 

As in Keystone Pipeline.

The little fellow currently in the White House has, as you know, once again delayed approval for the Keystone Pipeline intended to transport Alberta Oil  to Texas refineries.

First, I am not at all surprised by this … I believe in my year to come review I said that this is exactly what would happen.

The guy – the little fellow in the W.H. is a disaster in all things, so why not in regard to the Pipeline too?

He would rather enrich Arab Sheiks who fund Muslim Terrorists, than buy oil from America’s best friend and ally. 

Many had thought that with the current threat from Russia, the little guy would now be forced to get North American energy in safe order … but no.

And why so?

First the little guy is thick … he cannot help being stupid; second, he does not want to offend his Hollywood friends and other Eco Nuts who adamantly oppose Keystone.

So where does that leave us in Canada?

The best thing we have going for us economically are the Oil Sands – but thanks to Obama we cannot get it to the States – our natural consumer.

Bsut not only that, US eco wackos are funding anti oil sands initiatives here in Canada.

Ergo my comment of being between a stone and a hard place.

Simply stated … we are scuppered.

So what to do Galagher?

I am glad you asked.

If I were the Prime Minister, I would impose the War Measures Act and push through the Alberta Pipelines to the West and East on a war footing.

And technically we are at war … with Al Qaeda and the cold war with Russia has returned with a vengeance. 

With our manufacturing sector in steep decline, we can no longer afford to let such an asset as our Oil Sands continue to underperform.

If the Courts rendered injunctions, as surely they would, I would simply ignore them in the same fashion that McGuinty ignored court ordered injunctions against native terrorists in Caledonia.

Our oil and gas assets are simply too valuable to continue to waste… the time has come to get them to new markets and when the US comes cap and hand to get in on the action, we’ll simply say to them – you are a day late and a dollar short.

So Sorry.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

They Are Inanimate … Dumb Objects.

 

Tools that is.

At least to me, but to my two sons-in-law (Ss-i-L), they are deserving of the utmost care, nay even love.

That said, I do have a favourite tool and that would be the ordinary hammer.

As I tell my Ss-i-L a hammer can be used for two useful purposes; it can build things up and tear things down. Indeed, when you think about it, that’s all one needs.

However, in the face of my non-interest in tools, come birthdays, father days, Christmas etc., my Ss-i-L take great delight in giving me tools – tools of all kinds.  I think secretly they do it for themselves since I am always getting them to “fix” something when they come over for family dinners.  So thinking ahead, they know that the what-you-ma-callit, will be at our home awaiting them.

But I get them back, when they get here and ask for the what-you-ma-callit, it cannot be found. I do not do it intentionally, all of my tools seem to go missing in action, sadly, even my hammers. (That is the reason I buy so many in a bid to have a least 1 findable if a need arises).

So now they are getting smarter, when they think they will be called upon to do some work, they  bring along their own tools.

But just this past Sunday, I caught the boys unawares. That is to say, without their fancy tools. Sunday afternoon saw the three of us parked in my garage putting together a BBQ – a BBQ that they had given to me which in itself warrants a Blog of its own – but I am of course dealing with tools today.

The instructions called for a screw driver with a certain type of head.  I pulled out my meagre tin can containing a few miserable tools which were not missing in action. J.F. picked up one and looked at it with disgust, he locked eyes with Oli and both looked like they had just lost their best friend.

“What’s wrong” I asked, “is it not the right kind”.

“Oh, it’s the right kind, but it is stripped and full of gunk”. 

“Oh, I was afraid, something was wrong”.

They keep trying but it is in vain.  I never have been particularly handy and it bothers me not in the least.

You know the adage, ‘measure twice …cut once’.

Mine is cut first and save yourself time.

It drives them nuts.

I also prescribe to the philosophy that if it is not worth paying someone else to do the job, the job is simply not worth doing.

And their tools are something to behold; huge tool boxes full of this, that and the other thing.  Names I could not even begin to pronounce.  But they know each and everyone one of them- clean shiny, and well oiled.

From time to time just out of fun, I ask them to leave their tools with me for a week ostensibly to finish up a job.  Well you would think I asked them to cut off their right arms.

I can’t blame them; give me a week and if the tools did not get lost, they’d be used and abused.

I remember one rare occasion when Oli did leave his tool box with me.  At some point that week I needed a tiny little screw driver … I had tried my hammer and my back-up - a kitchen knife, but neither worked …so I went to Oli’s box.

I never got round to returning the little thing to his box but when Oli arrived that Sunday the first thing he did was check it out and the second thing he did was to demand the return of his driver.

How would he know?  Amongst all those tools it took him but seconds to determine the tiny little screw driver was missing. 

I had to drop everything in order to keep peace in the family and eventually was able to find the missing item.  

I will keep on being me and I suspect my Ss-i-L will keep on being themselves – tools and all.

For their upcoming birthdays I think I will give them each a new hammer.  Might even get one or two for myself.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’