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[Canada] Politics of the Democratic Friedmanite Republic of the Government of Harper

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Posts

  • 2 Marcus 2 Ravens2 Marcus 2 Ravens CanadaRegistered User regular
    Richy wrote: »
    Vic Toews: "Hey you guys, remember back in colonial days when people were charged rent for being in prison, so when their sentence was up they were kept in prison until they could pay their rent debt, which they never could because they were not earning any money while being in prison and had no savings and they were still being charged rent since they were still in prison, making it a meaningless and purposeless vicious cycle that only served to keep people in prison forever? Yeah, we're bringing those back! Because that was an awesome time, and we're THOUGH ON CRIME."

    To be fair, that's not precisely the story. It says they'll be paying something like 30% of their stipend on room and board.

    I'm not saying I agree with it at all, but that's some serious hyperbole you've got there.

  • CaedwyrCaedwyr Registered User regular
    As a sidenote, the Conservatives also eliminated pay from several job skills programs

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/05/09/pol-inmates-toews.html
    Inmates in Canada will pay more money for their room and board, and some offenders employed within institutions through a popular job skills program will no longer be paid, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said today.

    Toews also announced changes to the way inmates can buy goods, and that they will be charged more for using telephones.

    The public safety minister said the changes are designed to increase offender accountability and will also save taxpayers more than $10 million per year.

    The new measures also include:

    Eliminating "incentive pay" for inmates working at CORCAN facilities. The CORCAN job-training program is in 31 institutions, and gives employment to offenders in textiles, manufacturing, construction, printing services and laundry operations. Toews said there is a high demand to participate in the program, and therefore there is no need to offer an incentive.
    Transferring responsibility for operating canteens from prison staff to offender committees. Currently, about 85 per cent of canteens are already run by inmates, and now the other 15 per cent will also be transferred. Inmates buy goods such as books, food and clothing at the canteens.
    When inmates want to buy goods from outside stores, they fill out a request form and a staff member makes one trip at a time as the requests are processed. Now, staff will only go to a set list of stores and will do so at designated times to make multiple purchases for the inmates. Inmates will also be given the option of ordering through catalogues.

    Some of the changes will help reduce the administrative burdens on staff, Toews said. "Institutional staff are not personal shoppers," he said....

    ...He said he would like to see the CORCAN program expanded and is focused on doing that so that more offenders can benefit from it. CORCAN operates like private sector businesses do, within federal institutions, and are designed to give participants "real-world" work experience.

    Pay for inmates who are part of the CORCAN program varies depending on the location and the work being performed. It can range from 50 cents per hour to $2.30 per hour.

    Cutting the pay that is offered through this program will save $1.7 million according to Toews's office...

    ...A former inmate and participant in CORCAN, Rick Osborne, told CBC News that various reforms being made to the corrections system by the Conservative government are losing sight of the fact that prisoners are human beings.

    Taking away disposable income could risk giving a boost to the black market within prisons, he said.

    Most of the money earned by CORCAN employees goes towards inmates' families, he added, and taking away the incentive pay may decrease participation.

    "When you have a guy where he's working all week and doesn't have any disposable income at the end, that's called slavery. How far are you going with what you're going to make guys do inside?" he said.

    So, it's more than raising the rent

  • hippofanthippofant ティンク Registered User regular
    If there's high demand from people in prison for a few, productive work placements, I don't think the obvious response is to cut into the demand...

  • DiorinixDiorinix Registered User regular
    It still seems like a backpedal on the crime bill. Like they realized just how damn expensive its going to be paying for these super prisons when the crime rate has been going DOWN, and paying the working inmates less seemed like the best option.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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  • hippofanthippofant ティンク Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Ha. I can't believe this made it into the Hansard. From John Baird:
    [The Liberal party] should agree with the government to no discussion of a carbon tax that would kill and hurt Canadian families.

    http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=1&DocId=5583473#Int-7579955

    hippofant on
  • EtiowsaEtiowsa Registered User regular
    Oh wow, and conervatives complain about hyperbole...

  • Gnome-InterruptusGnome-Interruptus Registered User regular
    So did anyone else read the article about the Federal Conservatives killing a research department because it was producing results they didnt like? Anyone at all surprised by this?

    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/tories-admit-to-closing-enviro-research-group-because-they-disliked-results-151445775.html

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  • Gigazombie CybermageGigazombie Cybermage Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2012
    So did anyone else read the article about the Federal Conservatives killing a research department because it was producing results they didnt like? Anyone at all surprised by this?

    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/tories-admit-to-closing-enviro-research-group-because-they-disliked-results-151445775.html

    Aww... our northern neighbor thinks it's us~ Are you guys paying attention up there? Surely you guys aren't goin to let them get away with this crap like we do down here, are you?

    Gigazombie Cybermage on
  • RichyRichy Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    So that private member motion to have a fair and open-minded discussion on whether life begins at conception or you hate God and love murdering children was defeated. Just in time for another Harper MP to propose an anti-bullying law for children at school. Specifically, to protect unborn children from the bullying of abortion in the school of their mother's womb.

    Richy on
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  • EtiowsaEtiowsa Registered User regular
    I'm laughing, but I'm dying inside. How do people like that get elected?

  • psyck0psyck0 Registered User regular
    Keep it coming. Maybe, if we're all REALLY good this year, Santa will bring us a schism.

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  • saggiosaggio Registered User regular
    Richy wrote: »
    So that private member motion to have a fair and open-minded discussion on whether life begins at conception or you hate God and love murdering children was defeated. Just in time for another Harper MP to propose an anti-bullying law for children at school. Specifically, to protect unborn children from the bullying of abortion in the school of their mother's womb.

    It's all fun and games until the Campus Crusade for Christ gets sanctioned for their homophobic bullying...of foetuses.

    Wheels within wheels, plans within plans.

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  • LaOsLaOs SaskatoonRegistered User regular
    Goddamn I hate Maurice. I hate even more that he will pretty much never be beaten--no one with any chance ever runs against him. It makes me sad.

  • blkmageblkmage Registered User regular
    Richy wrote: »
    So that private member motion to have a fair and open-minded discussion on whether life begins at conception or you hate God and love murdering children was defeated. Just in time for another Harper MP to propose an anti-bullying law for children at school. Specifically, to protect unborn children from the bullying of abortion in the school of their mother's womb.

    I don't think they actually voted on that PMB yet, everyone just made it clear that they were tired of coming back to this shit again. iirc, the vote is coming up in June.

  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Richy wrote: »
    So that private member motion to have a fair and open-minded discussion on whether life begins at conception or you hate God and love murdering children was defeated. Just in time for another Harper MP to propose an anti-bullying law for children at school. Specifically, to protect unborn children from the bullying of abortion in the school of their mother's womb.

    this guy is a lunatic

    the logic here is worse than a first-year paper written the night before while stoned

    there is no logic

    he's just mashing concepts together

    Evil Multifarious on
  • CorporateGoonCorporateGoon Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Edit: Bah, redundant link!

    It was unrelated to the robocalls thing, but I think it sets a precedent that election results can and will be thrown out if shenanigans ensued.

    CorporateGoon on
  • psyck0psyck0 Registered User regular
    Richy wrote: »
    26 votes is a statistical tie, and really they should have just tossed a coin to see who won.

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  • TeriferinTeriferin Registered User regular
    psyck0 wrote: »
    Richy wrote: »
    26 votes is a statistical tie, and really they should have just tossed a coin to see who won.

    Technically, they did. It was just a very expensive, slightly weighted coin.

    teriferin#1625
  • NODeNODe Registered User regular
    Anyone else excited by the changes to EI?
    If anyone was concerned at all about the changes to immigration law to fast track skilled workers at under market value into high demand positions, don't worry! Now corporations have ways to hire Canadians at lower and lower wages! Don't like it, probably shouldn't have been laid off then you slacker. How do you feel about stacking shelves at Safeway? Sorry, I meant "you now have to stack shelves at Safeway", my mistake.

  • Nova_CNova_C I have the need The need for speedRegistered User regular
    I wonder what will happen when all the kids they forced to take out huge loans to pay for school that ended up just getting them jobs at Safeway and McDonald's are no longer able to pay their loans.

    I'm starting to think we should just recommend people not go to University and College, but man, I would just much rather it be heavily subsidized since more education is never bad.

    But it's being used to bludgeon people into even less upward mobility.

  • RichyRichy Registered User regular
    Nova_C wrote: »
    I wonder what will happen when all the kids they forced to take out huge loans to pay for school that ended up just getting them jobs at Safeway and McDonald's are no longer able to pay their loans.

    Maybe they'll realize that politics matters and start voting, then we won't get stuck with crappy governments that fuck the population in the ass for the benefit of corporations?

    Nah, they probably won't vote and Harper will win a second majority because that's who the Boomers vote for.

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  • hippofanthippofant ティンク Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Not too surprised. Resource-based economies, like the one the Conservatives are trying to move us towards, typically include a large underclass of unhappy labourers. Even "modern" countries like Dubai:

    The dark side of Dubai:
    As soon as he arrived at Dubai airport, his passport was taken from him by his construction company. He has not seen it since. He was told brusquely that from now on he would be working 14-hour days in the desert heat – where western tourists are advised not to stay outside for even five minutes in summer, when it hits 55 degrees – for 500 dirhams a month (£90), less than a quarter of the wage he was promised. If you don't like it, the company told him, go home. "But how can I go home? You have my passport, and I have no money for the ticket," he said. "Well, then you'd better get to work," they replied.

    There's a reason western nations all opted to move away from resource-based economies. Even those with plentiful resources, like Sweden and Finland, focus strongly on developing other sectors of their economies. Norway hasn't in the past, but even they're starting to recognize the need:

    Wikipedia's Economy of Norway article:
    The emergence of Norway as an oil-exporting country has raised a number of issues for Norwegian economic policy. There has been concern that much of Norway's human capital investment has been concentrated in petroleum-related industries. Critics have pointed out that Norway's economic structure is highly dependent on natural resources that do not require skilled labor, making economic growth highly vulnerable to fluctuations in the demand and pricing for these natural resources. The Government Pension Fund of Norway is part of several efforts to hedge against dependence on petroleum revenue.

    Because of the oil boom since the 1970s, there has been little extensive government incentive to help develop and encourage new industries in the private sector, in contrast to other Nordic countries like Sweden and particularly Finland. However the last decades have started to see some incentive on national and local government levels to encourage formation of new "mainland" industries that are competitive internationally. In addition to aspirations for a high-tech industry, there is growing interest in encouraging small business growth as a source of employment for the future. In 2006, the Norwegian government formed nine "centers of expertise" to facilitate this business growth. Later in June 2007, the government contributed to the formation of the Oslo Cancer Cluster (OCC) as a center of expertise, capitalizing on the fact that 80% of cancer research in Norway takes place in proximity to Oslo and that most Norwegian biotechnology companies are focused on cancer.

    The new EI rules will, quite frankly, drive skilled workers into unskilled jobs, which is contrary to what pretty much every nation wants.


    BTW, nobody wants to talk about this Montreal thing? :P

    hippofant on
  • NODeNODe Registered User regular
    and Norway is generally considered to have managed it's oil reserves in a very (economically) sustainable way. Can anyone explain to me what model Harper is supposed to be working towards here? "I'll be dead by the time we run out of resources", is the best I can come up with.

    I guess I don't feel informed enough to discuss Montreal, especially as the context for social unrest there is very different to anywhere else in Canada, and my Canadian history is quite spotty. I do love how it's ballooned beyond just the tuition issue.
    There was a great clip on cbc radio where they were interviewing a cab driver in Montreal who said that he had forbidden his college age children from participating in any demonstrations and then his daughter basically says "hey dad" from the crowd surrounding his cab.

  • JeanJean Heartbroken papa bear Gatineau, QuébecRegistered User regular
    Honestly, I didn't cared about the student strike until Charest voted bill 78. Now I'm so angry than I'll take the plane to Montréal to join the protest during my days off. I'll break your damn law and they're is nothing you can do about it because the police don't apply that law. I think it's because the police is smart enough to realise bill 78 is unconstitutional.

    I disagree with what the students have to say but the governement have no bussiness silencing them. Plus, how could that moron Charest not predict that law would piss off the students? He pourred a ton of oil on the fire.

    I already knew Charest was corrupt but I never tought he would pass an anti democratic bill like that.

    "You won't destroy us, You won't destroy our democracy. We are a small but proud nation. No one can bomb us to silence. No one can scare us from being Norway. This evening and tonight, we'll take care of each other. That's what we do best when attacked'' - Jens Stoltenberg
  • RichyRichy Registered User regular
    Charest was Harper's predecessor as leader of the Federal Conservatives. Anyone who did not see this twist coming has not been paying much attention to politics at all.

    At any rate, the hackjob Harper and his cronies are doing with our labour market will have much deeper, much worse, and much more long-term consequences than anything Charest did in Quebec. The fact that's going unchallenged while people are in the streets over a minor tuition increase and a law that will be struck down in the first legal challenge it faces only shows that the public is as short-sighted at the government.

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  • CanadianWolverineCanadianWolverine Registered User regular
    I think that is disingenuous Richy, saying the public is short-sighted about the fed gov, a lot of people voted for MPs that were not Con, yet our system does not take that into account. 39% of those who voted, yet a majority of seats - and then along comes the revelations of just how widespread and how far up the Robocall bullshit goes.

    What do we do, general strike?

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  • DanHibikiDanHibiki Registered User regular
    Rob Ford just stopped in front of me at an intersection and I didn't have a milkshake or a plastic bag with dog poo in it or any thing in my hands...

    his window was open and everything.

  • hawkboxhawkbox Registered User regular
    You let everyone down man.

  • FoomyFoomy Registered User regular
    did you at least yell something?

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  • hippofanthippofant ティンク Registered User regular
    Should've started taking pictures with your phone, and then start screaming, "Please don't hit me!"

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    DanHibiki wrote: »
    Rob Ford just stopped in front of me at an intersection and I didn't have a milkshake or a plastic bag with dog poo in it or any thing in my hands...

    his window was open and everything.

    You've got a butt.
    Use it.

  • The EnderThe Ender Registered User regular
    ...Does anyone else live on Vancouver Island?

    I just heard a whole series of explosions off in the distance. Like, it almost sounded like artillery fire. Went outside and saw some flashes, but the source was beyond the horizon.

    Anyone have any idea what the Hell is happening?

    With Love and Courage
  • CanadianWolverineCanadianWolverine Registered User regular
    Vancouver Island is a big place man, you are going to have to be way more specific than that. And hello there fellow Islander.

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  • Mom2KatMom2Kat Registered User regular
    yeah if your up near Comox Texada Island was blasting the other day and they had some flares set off. And can I be considered and islander even though I am in Powell river? We get treated like the island! that nd we have 2 ferries.

  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    DanHibiki wrote: »
    Rob Ford just stopped in front of me at an intersection and I didn't have a milkshake or a plastic bag with dog poo in it or any thing in my hands...

    his window was open and everything.

    You should have congratulated him on how great of a job he's doing on the Light Rail project.

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
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  • MatriasMatrias Registered User regular
    speaking of the island, how about that Ryder Hesjedal

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  • TeriferinTeriferin Registered User regular
    The Ender wrote: »
    ...Does anyone else live on Vancouver Island?

    I just heard a whole series of explosions off in the distance. Like, it almost sounded like artillery fire. Went outside and saw some flashes, but the source was beyond the horizon.

    Anyone have any idea what the Hell is happening?

    That was probably the HMCS Edmonton signalling the start of the Swiftsure 2012 races. It was really loud.

    teriferin#1625
  • oldmankenoldmanken Registered User regular
    Matrias wrote: »
    speaking of the island, how about that Ryder Hesjedal

    I was wondering where I was going to post about this, so thanks for mentioning it. First Canadian to win the Giro d'Italia, and first one to win one of the Grand Tours. Not getting hopes up, but I can't wait for this years Tour de France.

  • MatriasMatrias Registered User regular
    It sounds like he won't be able to compete fort he Tour.

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