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• The old core curriculum has been replaced by politically correct studies;  and,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

----------

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’

HEY CABBIE …

 

Cabbie ?

The World’s Cabbies are in Uber Trouble as in Big Trouble.

The cause …Uber – as in the Uber ride service.

And Uber itself is not some small outfit – recent reports indicate it has a worth in excess of $40 Billion Dollars.

Cabbies here in Ottawa are suffering along with their world confreres;  Estimates say that their weekly income has dropped as much as two-thirds.

One would think that the public would have great sympathy for them … but you’d be wrong.

Comments like the days of ‘the Horse and Buggy’ are over they say to explain that the time has come to put to pasture the once famous yellow cab.

And when Cabbies protest, they are uniformly vilified and told that they are only hurting their image and hastening their demise. 

As a bit of a contrarian, you might well imagine that I do not share the general public’s negative opinion of the Cab and its Driver.

The Cabbie is caught in the proverbial middle – he or sometimes she is totally powerless in what has transpired:

The Cab industry is regulated by the Municipality – in our case by the City of Ottawa which issues scarce licences which in turn are bought up by a small number of millionaire owners.

The owners then pass along to the hapless driver the regulatory costs of running the cab which includes public liability insurance which is most expensive together with the rental of the cab itself.

Then ad the cost of paying the company which operates the ?

Hence my analogy of them being caught in the middle.

For the pleasure of driving cab, they world 12+ hours a day often realizing much less than they would have received, had they worked 9 am to 5 pm somewhere for minimum wage.

So when your meagre wage is suddenly slashed by 66% how are they to manage – to keep house and home – to feed their families – to send their kids on to university …to even keep the cab on the road.

Some lash out – wouldn’t you?

Just imagine you work for someone and your pay is $60,000 per year and all of a sudden that amount is reduced to $20,000 or less.  Likely to be somewhat annoying – n’est pas?

And yet I have heard some people say – “they should just then seek other employment”.

Dah – but do you really think that they would be driving cab if they could easily get other employment?

Most are recent immigrants with poor domestic language abilities – easy for a native canadian to say – well go seek other work…

Rather, these chaps and gals are stuck in a soul destroying job – long long hours, poor pay, dealing day in and day out – night in and night out with congested city traffic, dealing with drunks / druggies, and too often with other obnoxious patrons.

Just imagine and as for me – I do not blame them for striking or work to rule.

The blame rests with the municipality but many municipalities like our own here in Ottawa – fail to take responsibility – indeed the Mayor himself has called some Cabbies thugs.

Our City has kicked the ball down the road by establishing a commission to study the issue … all the while these guys … and gals are bleeding.

The fair haired Boy or Girl in all of this is Uber.  And yet Uber is not registered to provide taxi or ride service to the public, it is breaking both Municipal and Provincial laws by not being registered and it has been established that many Uber drivers are doing so without any public liability insurance for commercial driving. They can also use their own uninspected vehicles.

So no wonder they can charge much less than the once proud yellow cab.

Okay so that is the issue and those are the problems.  In such cases I try to leave you with a solution and put forward the following for your consideration.

1. Ottawa cancel all existing licences (some are selling for a half million and more due to their scarcity) and enter into a modest compensation for their millionaire holders;
2. Licence all ride services to ensure that their vehicles are safe, the drivers are responsible and that they carry public liability insurance for commercial activity.  These licences should be unrestricted in number and be issued at a modest price.
3. If a company wants to organize a dispatch system and charge drivers for joining up so be it …by the same token if they want to take their fares over the internet via an Uber or similar arrangement …they are free to do that too.

It doesn’t seem to be all that complicated to me and certainly not worthy of an in-depth study – just get the interested parties together in a room and use my suggestion for the basis of discussion. I bet within a few days a settlement favourable to the majority will be reached.

And along with it – the dignity of some fine men and women will have been restored.

As I see it…

“K.D. Galagher’

 

 

 

Duffy and the Three Blind Mice.

 

NOTE:  I was pleased to read Andrew Coyne’s article on this same topic in this weekend’s National Post – he too has homed in on the real issue – see below - in the Duffy charade and for those of you wishing some more analysis on this, I would encourage you to read his article.  K.D. G.

As in the Judge, the Prosecutor and the Defence.

And if Harper is lucky their failure to engage in the quest for the truth, might just save him.

The Trial has been about Duffy’s apparent freeness with taxpayers’ money and whether he was forced by the evil forces in the PMO to take $90 grand to repay a hapless public.

But the more serious issue and what we could call the elephant in the room …the courtroom that is, is that the PMO worked frantically to find a way to rewrite a Senate Report before it got released.

The draft report named Duffy as a Senator who had wrongly misspent his expense account and the PMO knew if it got released the Prime Minister would look bad because he had appointed the Duffster and Senator Duffy had been a most effective fundraiser for the Tories.

Harper himself had called Duffy a most effective and energetic Senator.

Even so, don’t think for a moment that the Tories cared a fig about the Duffy’s welfare.  Indeed, his then Chief of Staff said he was abhorred to learn of the Senator’s spendthrift ways.

No their concern from the start was to whitewash the Senate Report before it got released and they – the PMO from the Chief of Staff to the head of the Tory Fund – to the in-house legal counsel worked tirelessly with the Senior Tories in the Senate to amend the report to get Duffy’s name deleted.

The only way they could do it was to have Duffy repay the monies in question from Duffy’s own resources or pay it for him - as what Nigel Wright eventually did out of his own pocket.  

So that brings us to the present – senior Government Officials are not supposed to have reports whitewashed through use of funds even if those funds turn out to be their own.

That dear reader is the real issue but it is being avoided like the plague by our three mice.

And why is that you ask?

Glad you did.

It is hard to fathom the charge of bribery against Duffy … the bribee and not against the briber …Wright.

Since the Crown did not charge Wright – they have no interest in stirring up evidence against Wright might prove a bribe took place.  Hence they avoid this issue in their questioning.

The Defence too has no wish to dwell on it – since if they did – they would not only implicate Wright in malfeasance – but their own client.

And the Judge appears willing to follow the Crown and Defence along in this charade.

In the scheme of things what is going on here is small potatoes – but I am a stickler for integrity and over the years have been sad to see it lacking in the successive governments and for the last 10 years with our Liberals in Ontario.  But I had higher hopes for the Conservatives.

It is all the more ironic that Harper came into government 10 years ago to clean up the Senate and had his lads just left the Duffster to his own devices – the responsibility for his irregular spending would have fallen entirely on him.

And at the same time it would have provided greater public support to fix a broken down organization.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

 

WRIGHT OR WRONG ?

 

We here in Canada are in the midst of a criminal trial regarding a politician who has been charged with bribery, fraud and so on.

But we do not have scandals like they do in so many other parts of the world – in the case at hand – the politician a Senator, in our no longer esteemed Senate, paid back the Senate some $90, 000 he allegedly improperly had taken.

The 90 grand was given to him by our Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff – one Nigel Wright, but the bottom-line here is the fact that the taxpayer was fully compensated for this Senator’s moral lapse.

Before I get into this there was a recent case where an MP was taken away in irons because …he had overspent his election cap by $20 k which dear reader was his own money which he donated to his campaign.

So you get the idea that we do scandals differently here in our boy scout /girl guide country.

That is not to say we are lily white – indeed we have a rogue Liberal Province – Ontario where scandal after scandal involving lost taxpayer dough go unchallenged.  They say that there are ongoing provincial police investigations but the officers on the case are beginning to die off from old age.  It could have something to do with the fact that these same cops openly supported the Liberals in Ontario in the most recent election.

But let’s get back to Wright or Wrong.

This case is not just about taxpayer money being repaid. It is also about a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office paying this politician money to see that a draft report was amended before being released. The amendment would drop the politician’s name  from the list of those being investigated for fraud.

The 90 grand payment did the trick – the report was whitewashed and the Prime Minister was spared having on of his appointees to the Senate dragged though the media mud which in turn would reflect badly on the Conservatives.

Nice work, but it is most illegal to do, that is to say – to pay even your own money to a politician in order to gain a benefit which the Prime Minister and his office most certainly gained.

Wright is also a highly educated lawyer – he knew what he was doing was Wrong and he should have been charged along the errant Senator.

The greater issue though is whether Prime Minister Harper knew and if he did know – why he did not stop the payment.

The answer to this question is even more important today since Canada finds itself in the midst of a General Election with the 3 major parties statistically tied at 30%.

I have written previously that I fully believe Harper, the control freak, knew of this payment well before it was made and I continue to believe that despite Wright’s testimony this week that he made the payment on his own without the knowledge of Stephen Harper.

I won’t go into my reasons why I believe as I do – they are on record in previous blog (s) if you are inclined to look them up.

I will though reiterate that even if what Wright says – i.e. that Harper did not know of the payment – Wright should be charged.

Nor is Harper now in the clear.

I say that because the focus to date has been on the $90 thousand – and as long as Wright is willing to stick to his story – Harper may well be in the clear in regard to that but …

There was also the sum of $30,000 bandied around.  The fundraising arm of the Conservative Party had agreed to bail the greedy Senator out for that amount but balked when it was discovered the money to be repaid was 3 times that amount.

The amount may be a third of what Wright ended up giving the Senator – but the issue remains the same in both.

So is Harper saying that his top guy in the Fundraising Arm too was going to give away donor money without his knowledge.

And emails say that his current Chief of Staff was also in the know about all this.

Seems like Harper was the only one who was not in the know.

It is very clear to me – how about you?

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

The Debates…Pt 2

 

So Galagher – what was missing from the Canadian Debate that was present in the American one?

In a word… ‘PASSION’

All 10 American Debaters conveyed it in spades  – their eyes flashed and their words pierced.

And that is why I am committed to watching more of them.

But when it comes to running a country, there is something needed even more than ‘Passion’ and that is ‘Vision’. It is too early to judge the Yankee contenders on this important aspect because their process is just beginning, but that does not apply here in Canada. Our three main leaders have been in place long enough to have established their credentials in that regard and sadly, from my perspective they have failed to do so.

The only Republican candidate that so far has shown any ‘vision’ is the indomitable ‘Donald’.  He wants to restore America to its past greatness and while in most cases this would be seen as toothless rhetoric – the fact remains that after 8 years of the little guy in the White House the US of A has sunk so far down in the world’s esteem that its enemies no longer fear it and its allies no longer trust it.

You will recall that Ronald Reagan made a similar promise in replacing the anaemic ‘Jimmy’ the peanut farmer Carter.

I still do not support the Trumper… unless it comes down to him and Hilary but he has fundamentally changed the dynamics of the US campaign.  Instead of platitudes – candidates are talking issues, instead of obfuscation candidates are speaking more plainly and more candidly.

Since the debate, Trump’s approval numbers have risen even more and while I do not foresee this continuing, I do appreciate the positive effect a – passionate / visionary can bring to invigorate the process.

Too bad we here in Canada do not have a Donald Trump to ignite the same sort of enthusiasm.

Rather, we have Young Trudeau speak about the need for inclusion while at the same time he closes the door on candidates who favour pro life.

And Mulcair, who in the debate talks about the Eastern Pipeline as a ‘win win’ and then a day later at his book signing says it will never happen under the NDP. Cynical or what?

While sour, dour Harper campaigns on the hustings but won’t let the great unwashed attend his events – they are open to card carrying Tories only.  Unbelievable.

And whatever they offer up is presented without the tiniest bit of passion.

I remember as a teenager attending an election ‘train stop’ of the late Rt. Hon John Diefenbaker in Campbellford Ontario in an election herre he promoted the vision about opening up the north – but his speech that day was about a prison escape in Quebec, by an underworld character named Rivard.  He escaped while allowed out of his cell to flood the prison rink in above freezing temperatures.  The passion with which olde Dief delivered his speech was spell-binding and one day I hope do a blog on that most memorable event.

But I digress.

So permit me to give you some possible scenarios for our three bland leaders to use to where they could show some vision.  (As for passion, that cannot be manufactured)

In the case of Young Trudeau, lets use his pledge to help the middle class:

‘If elected, my Party and I will focus our policies on helping the hardworking middle class.  We will do this since a strong, healthy, vibrant middle class is essential for society to properly function.

Once elected then, you can expect from our Government, provisions for ample and affordable day care; substantial income tax deductions for the middle wage earners, free university tuition to ensure that all their children who are academically able to do so, receive the education they and our society needs… etc.etc.’

You or I may agree /disagree with such an approach but at least it is visionary and you know going in where Trudeau and the Libs stand.  Many would I believe readily go for this.

And then Mulcair with his occupation with all things Green. Here is what he could say:

‘We at the New Democratic Party will invest in green energy and in so doing will eliminate all fossil fuels’.

Global warming is all around us and if we do not act quickly our planet will be destroyed… we cannot afford to be complacent’.

Again visional.  The voter knows exactly where the Dippers stand and why.

And now Harper:

‘We are at war with Islamic Terrorists and if elected, we Conservatives will greatly ramp up our efforts, on a War Footing, to defeat these Barbarians – at home and abroad.  

We will work with NATO to provide whatever and all assistance we can including bringing our Military Budget to 2% of GDP in line with NATO’s guidelines.

We will also make it a crime for residents of Canada to express, in any fashion, sympathy for Islamic Terrorists.  Call it a restriction of their freedoms if you will but Islamic animals are chopping of heads, burning and burying victims alive including young children and babies.

To assist our economy in winning this war on terror, oil and gas pipelines will be constructed on an urgent and priority basis with environmental requirements placed on hold, until the war is won”.

That dear reader is vision and is leadership from the front not from the rear as we have consistently experienced over the years.

It tells the voter exactly what the priority(s) of each of our main parties is and scraps the usual mishmash that tries to appeal to everyone and gains little or nothing.

Sadly, these visions cannot be said with passion – I fear the current lot is just not capable of that.

But that said, nor are they likely to all of a sudden be endued with vision.

But one can hope.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

AS IN THE DEBATES … OR TO BE MORE SPECIFIC, AS IN THE CANADIAN DEBATE.

This past Thursday, saw the first two debates concerning this fall’s Canadian Election in October and the US Election in November.  In the case of the American Election I am speaking of course of their Presidential Election coming in November of 2016.

In our Debate – The Canadian one that is – it contained three serious candidates which, if polls are accurate, are each within reach of each other – that is to say they are all in the 30% range.

There is Young Trudeau of the Liberal Party who looked nervous (his hands were moving every which way but loose, then there was Tom Mulcair who held a frozen smile throughout which reminded viewers of the proverbial village idiot, and finally there was current Prime Minister Stephen Harper who appeared his usual dour self.

All and all it was one boring event.

The only person to spice things up – a bit, was the leader of the 4th Party – the Greens – Lizzie May who showed a bit of get up and go but has as much chance of scoring big in the coming election as does a snowball in you know where.

Now a few disclaimers. I only watched the first half of this debate since I wanted to watch the Republican Debate in its entirety which came on an hour into our own.

Second, I found the debate in large measure a bore – not just because the candidates were boring – which they were – but also because I live in Ottawa and follow politics here on a day to day basis – hence I know the issues and have more or less memorized the positions of the major candidates.

Given this, I have resolved not to watch anymore of our own debates – even partially.

The only thing which would cause me to reconsider is if something came out of left field that might adversely or positively affect a campaign.  Let me give you a possible example:

Say, for instance, that Tom Mulcair of the New Democratic Party was caught in a rub and tug massage parlour as was his predecessor Jack Layton.  Then I would want to see in the next debate how he squirmed out of that one.

That said, I do believe debates are useful for the majority of Canadians since they do not have the time nor the inkling to follow things as closely as I do.

But I feel for them, especially after watching the Republican contenders in action.

They were head and shoulders above our own and they had something that was entirely lacking from the Canadian scene.

More on that in my next Blog.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’