As Decoration Day approaches and as we gear up to mark the 70th anniversary of D Day it is appropriate to consider the way we are treating our veterans. All indicators point to strained relations between veterans and the government who have pinched considerable pennies from the [Read more]
‘Nero fiddled while Rome burned’ may not be a historically accurate phrase, but it describes being occupied with unimportant matters while faced with a more urgent crisis. That is pretty much what is happening with Stephen Harper who leads a government that has clearly demonstrated their [Read more]
This week in Queen’s Park the NDP announced their plan to create jobs for families in Ontario through a targeted tax credit that rewards job creators for new hires. This tax credit will help small businesses that are creating jobs here Algoma-Manitoulin and northern Ontario not the ones [Read more]
It’s been quite a week on Parliament Hill with most of the attention being paid to the Senate while the House of Commons largely evaded the headlines. That might change with another omnibus budget implementation bill. With time allocation immediately put in place, there is no chance this [Read more]
We hear a lot about the disappearing middle class these days and we should be hearing as much, or perhaps even more, about the plight of seniors mired in poverty. Whether it is because of pensions that underperform or vanish altogether, more seniors are requiring assistance from the [Read more]
Anyone in business knows that when money doesn’t come in the venture won’t last long. This critical point seems to escape the minds of Conservatives who have allowed uncollected tax to balloon under their watch. It is hurting Canada and punishing those who play by the rules. Since the [Read more]
An access to information request filed by Greenpeace turned up a letter sent by the oil and gas industry to the Ministers of the Environment and Natural Resources in December of 2011 that helps explain much of the contentious content in the budget bills C-38, and C-45. The letter laid out [Read more]
When Ed Broadbent was stepping down as leader of the New Democrat Party in 1989 he committed to one last campaign that brought about a unanimous parliamentary motion pledging to eliminate child poverty in Canada by the year 2000. Unfortunately, the will of parliament was not matched by the will [Read more]
The Finance Minister gave a fiscal update this week, outside of parliament, avoiding appropriate oversight from the people elected to review his work. Among the items of interest to all Canadians is a change in language that sees Canada no longer boasting about having the best economy in the G7. [Read more]
If you have something embarrassing to announce a good time to do it is on a Friday afternoon. It is believed that most news outlets have set their stories by that point, and the majority of journalists are not paying attention to the news ticker. This is even truer on a Friday before a long [Read more]
The brouhaha that flowed from the Auditor General’s report on April 3rd can be called appropriate when one considers the history of this issue. The out-of-whack estimates for the costing of these fighter jets and the concentrated effort on the part of the, then minority, Conservative government [Read more]
One of the things I heard a great deal during the Canada Post lockout was that most people would love to have the kind of pension that postal workers have. I cannot argue with that. I often hear from people struggling to get by on inadequate pensions and statisticians tell us this phenomenon is [Read more]
LE GOUVERNEMENT FÉDÉRAL DEVRAIT AVOIR HONTE DE LA FAÇON DONT IL TRAITE LES PREMIÈRES NATIONS QUANT À LA TVH Ottawa – Selon Carol Hughes, si le gouvernement veut éviter les contestations judiciaires et les protestations des Premières nations pendant l’été, il doit commencer par les [Read more]
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S TREATMENT OF FIRST NATIONS ON HST SHAMEFUL Ottawa – If the government wants to avoid legal challenges and a summer of protest from First Nations they should start treating them with respect on the HST, according to Carol Hughes. “The government’s handling of HST has [Read more]
C-311 unites opposition, survives crucial challenge 155 votes to 137 OTTAWA – After a procedural roadblock thrown up by Conservatives that forced a Wednesday night vote, Thunder Bay–Superior North MP Bruce Hyer’s private member’s bill, the Climate Change Accountability Act (Bill C-311) [Read more]
