tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post2185575442170886800..comments2024-03-28T10:07:24.955-04:00Comments on Northern Reflections: Inequality Keeps Them In PowerOwen Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-85597713734829146142013-07-18T19:36:00.687-04:002013-07-18T19:36:00.687-04:00I haven't heard that message from either Mulca...I haven't heard that message from either Mulcair or Trudeau, Mound. I have heard it from Elizabeth May. Unfortunately, she is a party of one.<br /><br />As much as I would cheer Harper's demise, it will make no difference if we go from the frying pan into the fire.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-621859945348214302013-07-18T18:19:39.559-04:002013-07-18T18:19:39.559-04:00I have truly lost all confidence in our opposition...I have truly lost all confidence in our opposition parties, Owen. They're so busy courting power that they've lost the courage to stand for ordinary Canadians. You can't fight inequality and the rehabilitation of Canada's middle class by mumbling platitudes. It has to be at the forefront of your policy platform, front and centre, and you have to show you mean business.<br /><br />That means you have to threaten the powerful, let them know that inequality of wealth, of income and of opportunity is going to be arrested and reversed not to harm them but because that's the only way forward.<br /><br />Promise me, Owen, that you'll wake me up and let me know when you hear that message crossing the lips of Mulcair and Truedau.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-71075978977796142172013-07-18T14:18:44.989-04:002013-07-18T14:18:44.989-04:00Only informed citizens can keep the fascists at ba...Only informed citizens can keep the fascists at bay, Anon. And informed citizens are not apathetic citizens.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-66254869728386465912013-07-18T14:16:24.060-04:002013-07-18T14:16:24.060-04:00I agree, Anon. The cheerleaders are responsible fo...I agree, Anon. The cheerleaders are responsible for this mess.<br /><br />It's time to call the cheerleaders out. They are doing us no favours.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-83644724660296477252013-07-18T14:12:03.015-04:002013-07-18T14:12:03.015-04:00We get out, Anon, by mobilizing enough voters to ...We get out, Anon, by mobilizing enough voters to get Harper out.<br /><br />That means that the opposition needs to develop social trust, instead of trying to pulverize each other.<br /><br />I admit that's a tall order.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-21398730165864760712013-07-18T13:34:43.644-04:002013-07-18T13:34:43.644-04:00AU has mandatory voting - doesn't keep the fas...AU has mandatory voting - doesn't keep the fascists at bay.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-31486428292615932582013-07-18T13:27:17.445-04:002013-07-18T13:27:17.445-04:00Yes where is the trust when resource extraction mu...Yes where is the trust when resource extraction multi-nationals are allowed to pollute our lands and our homes and expect the taxpayer to clean-up all the while making record profits and literally paying almost zero taxes?<br /><br />http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/2013/01/28/ceos_take_tax_breaks_but_dont_create_jobs.html<br /><br />Although they make the most they pay the smallest share of taxes only 8.3% of government revenue. We can't trust a system manipulated by the very wealthy to ensure corporate welfare while stealing essential services to pay for it. Quoted from link above:<br /><br />"Corporate tax giveaways mean that the federal government has foregone billions of dollars in revenues. As a result, Ottawa has borrowed billions of dollars and driven up both the deficit and the national debt. Now, the government has chosen to make massive cuts to public services that are essential to Canadians in order to pay the bill for those tax breaks. These service cuts include closing the Coast Guard station in Canada’s busiest port in Vancouver to save $900,000 a year, and closing the Search and Rescue call centre in St. John’s to save $1 million."<br /><br />Stephen is an office boy for the rich transferring wealth like never before in Canadian history to the wealthy who simply don't need it. So when disaster strikes on either coast we will be on our own, the government can't help and rich refuse with all that money they have made at our expense. Look what happened in Quebec, the Harper government and the industry are squarely to blame. See here:<br /><br />"OTTAWA – The Auditor General’s Office is refuting a claim that it “granted” Transport Canada extensions on fulfilling commitments to address weaknesses in its oversight of the transportation of dangerous goods.<br />“We aren’t, as auditors, the ones who grant extensions,” spokeswoman Celine Bissonnette wrote in an email. “That is Transport Canada’s own decision, for which they alone are accountable.”<br />The deadlines in question were set in response to a damning audit from the federal environment commissioner, who worked in the Auditor General’s Office, published in December 2011.' from:<br /><br />http://globalnews.ca/news/710646/ag-refutes-granting-transport-canada-extensions-on-addressing-safety-weaknesses/<br /><br />Basically Harper wants more jails for us all the while he leaves corporate crimes to self regulation. How can you trust a government and large corporations in an environment specifically designed so they do not have any liability and we have to assume it.<br /><br />Hey you Harper cheerleaders you are also very responsible for this mess.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-56408343576706568562013-07-18T13:25:13.447-04:002013-07-18T13:25:13.447-04:00Always interesting to read Mr. Himelfarb's ins...Always interesting to read Mr. Himelfarb's insights. I just wish people of his intellect would address the current political realities more directly and suggest realistic solutions. Yes, Alex, we all know we are stuck in the swamp. How can we get out?<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-53925432625109351222013-07-18T12:31:39.441-04:002013-07-18T12:31:39.441-04:00Nobody has a better grasp of how this country work...Nobody has a better grasp of how this country works, Lorne -- or, at least, how it should work.<br /><br />Himelfarb stands as a stark defender of Canada's "better angels."Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-13444837894974908232013-07-18T11:46:17.661-04:002013-07-18T11:46:17.661-04:00It is always a pleasure to read Himelfarb's in...It is always a pleasure to read Himelfarb's insights, Owen. We need more such people of social conscience and intellectual rigor in the public arena.Lornehttp://www.politicsanditsdiscontents.blogspot.canoreply@blogger.com