NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Prime Minister Stephen Harper are exchanging fire over speeches Mulcair recently made to the business community in Washington and New York that outlines a critical view of the current direction of the current government. Harper claims Mulcair is “trash talking” Canada while Mulcair points to Harper’s past. Meanwhile, how true is Mulcair’s pitch about the banking system?
Who says Canadian politics is boring? Despite being in the first majority government since 2004, politics was easy as government shenanigan continued and controversy ruled The Canadian Political Scene. This post will round up 2012 into one bite-sized image with the big scandals and the party progress reports.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has approved the CNOOC-Nexen takeover deal and Canada is now trapped in a 31 year deal where China will almost always get the final say. The Chinese government does not believe in our free and capitalist society, remaining totalitarian with a communist system that has one of the worst standards for human rights in the world. This was once a concern for Harper whom slammed the door on China but now, out of virtually nowhere, not only is China an important trade partner, it is trusted enough to own, for 31 years, one of Canada’s most strategic resources that is in very high demand and low supply around the world. In other words, Canada got royally ripped off with its flat rate $15 billion in one-time revenue.
The Conservatives have spent the past few elections and inter-election periods demonizing a carbon tax that they themselves have promoted. At a Canada-UK Chamber of Commence meeting on May 29, 2008, Stephen Harper said that his government has applied a $65 per ton price on carbon, which we all know translates to a $65 per ton tax on carbon which is a carbon tax.
There is a detail about Prime Minister Stephen Harper that is very mum in Canada. It is a detail that may and will explain every decision he has made to date and every decision he will make in the future.
Do you remember the Accountability Act? It was a piece of legislation that the Conservatives passed in 2006 to diminish corruption by putting parliamentarians in check. It included the creation of a budgetary officer, whose mandate is to monitor federal finances. The Privy Council refused to give information on the wide range of cuts in Bill C-38 and as part of his job PBO head Kevin Page may likely be taking the Conservative government that created his position to court over a lack of accountability.
While the Conservatives and NDP divide the East and West over the effects of the tar sands in terms of the economy and effectively play political games, and while Harper gets funded by oil lobbyists to attack Environmentalists as radical terrorists, an oil spill in Alberta is proving the dangers of the project.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation claims that 21% of the price of gas is tax and is calling on the federal government to eliminate its additional layer to provincial taxes. The tax effects the daily commute, the price of transportation and the price of goods.
Environment Minister Peter Kent defended his government’s disdain and censorship of scientific facts claiming it was an “established practice.” This comes as the government plans to axe Environment Canada and cripple environmental assessments in their effort to quickly push forward the keystone pipeline project.