Daily Musings - Jan 29th

Hey -- did you hear about the new Quebec Charter?  

A replacement for the despised "charter of values"  -- this was supposed to be a satirical piece but I think that the fact that (all these religious symbols are worn above the waist) we all wear the same pants is a good point.  

"Described as the 'perfect charter,' Bourassa says that, "by wearing the same pants, we are saying that from the waist down Quebecers are united, but from the waist up we are all unique and can celebrate our individually anyway we like." 
He went on to state that, "there is absolutely nothing controversial about pants."

And it is amusing, (if perhaps a little stereotyped in the French accent department) listen here: 

 http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/This+Is+That/ID/2408342828/  

My childhood was pretty happy and un-eventful: parents stayed together, we had a family vacation (by car every summer) no one got really sick or died.  My father did break a leg, both his arms and smashed his heel in a fall at work.  I remember it,  but not as traumatic.  Parents were pretty stoic Scots (I was born there, but of Irish descent on both sides)  - so nothing much caused big drama.  We were allowed to be intellectually challenging - political discussion was not out of bounds - but not angry or upset. We cried a lot, though -- something about the Irish -- I remember all of us, even my father, shedding a tear without shame at "Not a love story"  and how we laughed at ourselves.  But all that is just a lead in to this:

My nuns were those in black habits with white wimples around the face and voluminous skirts and LARGE crucifixes. . . intimidating?  Guess so. . . 

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A note or two on the environment: 

This is American data, but, in case you thought that oil pipelines might be safer than rail - since we have had several big rail derailments with fire, death, destruction, evacuation etc. - check out this time lapse of oil spills, from pipelines, in the U.S. since 1986.  

This piece is a list of the crimes against the environment that the Harper Cons are guilty of. . . check it out -- it is a looooong list!  It includes the following categories and under each a long list of evidence: 

The charge: Promoting willful ignorance by eliminating advisory bodies and restricting data gathering.

The charge: Preventing knowledge from reaching the public by muzzling government scientists.

The charge: Systematically dismantling decades of environmental protection legislation.

The charge: Limiting scientists’ ability to provide perspective by reducing environmental research funding.

The charge: Undermining conservation and monitoring efforts by cutting funding, staff and programs.

The charge: Obstructing and threatening environmental education and advocacy efforts.

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On women:  Check out this Bollywood star, and her angrily giving it to journalists, who want to suggest that she was dissing India, in an American interview.  As she points out she was just describing the country's treatment of women. It is mixed Hindi and English but totally understandable!

And speaking of the position of women in society -- this is a great piece by the Guardian about childcare.  It is about the UK, but, of course,  we do not provide state funded  childcare in Canada.  Daycare as daycare (in a group with trained providers)  is un-affordable  for people making minimum wage or even a little better and yet we distribute income by work - essentially consigning mothers and even two parents and children to poverty.    And they wonder why we, in Canada, delay childbearing and have so few children -- because it is each individual that is supposed to be responsible for all the costs of raising children, staying housed and employed etc. and it is hard unless you have a living wage and then some.  The paragraph I love from the article above is this: 

I believe the work situation is substantially down to the way we talk about life in gender silos, where "children", "maternity leave", "pregnancy" and "families" are filed under "women", while "industrial relations", "tribunals", "contracts" and "workplace" go under "men". This has blinded us to the fact that many statutory entitlements can never be upheld. Maybe you have the wrong kind of job or the wrong kind of (zero hours) contract; some rights build up over time and you can't prove unbroken service if you've never had a proper contract. Even if you could, your position is too precarious to insist on the rights you do have; and if it all turns sour you can't take anybody to a tribunal because since last July you've had to pay to do so.

Good eh?  ______________________________________________________________________________

Couple more things about the Harper Cons before I go. . .  You should check out:    http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/omar-alghabra/muslims-sue-pmo_b_4682824.html  a story about Harper calling Muslims terrorists and their backlash. . .they are suing!   It says in part: 

A prominent Muslim Canadian advocacy group has decided that enough is enough and is suing the Prime Minister and his chief spokesperson.

Jason McDonald, Stephen Harper's Communication Director publicly accused the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) of having "documented links to a terrorist organization" with a straight face and without providing a shred of evidence.

His irresponsible smear was in response to a plea the organization made with the Prime Minister not to invite a controversial Rabbi to accompany him on his trip to Israel.

Instead of reacting maturely to the request, Mr. McDonald chose to level a nasty charge against the NCCM, accusing them of one the most egregious crimes a person or a group can be accused of.

Unfortunately, the journalist who reported the accusation didn't ask the spokesperson to provide evidence or wonder why, if there are "documented links," this organization has not been charged with anything.

And then there is this:

Judge Exposes Harper Government's "paternalistic, self serving, arbitrary" approach to First Nations

Which says in part: 

On January 17, 2014, Justice Patrick Smith of the Specific Claims Tribunal issued his decision in Aundeck Omni Kaning v. Canada, finding that Canada's unilateral, take-it-or-leave-it approach to the resolution of specific claims represents a blatant refusal to negotiate and undermines the Honour of the Crown in its dealings with First Nations . . . In his decision, Justice Smith observed Canada's position is: "frankly, paternalistic, self-serving, arbitrary and disrespectful of First Nations. It falls short of upholding the honour of the Crown, and its implied principle of "good faith" required in all negotiations Canada undertakes with First Nations. Such a position affords no room for the principles of reconciliation, accommodation and consultation that the Supreme Court, in many decisions, has described as being the foundation of Canada's relationship with First Nations. " 

Harper has a couple of other crimes on the books today. . . 

Info on one comes from NUPGE and says that the federal gov (Harper Cons)  is backing away from their promise to improve/update/clean up the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW)Program -- you will recall that a couple of corporations (Including banks) got caught abusing this program. . . and I can tell you they are not looking too hard in NS before they bring in TFWs!  Those workers are welcome here but they should be able to immigrate and have the same rights as other Canadian workers.  Instead, it appears to be just another strategy to reduce wages and increase profits. 

According to NUPGE, and as one example: 

A recent Globe and Mail article suggested measures to force companies to prove they've made an effort to hire or train Canadians before they can use the TFWP may be scrapped after lobbying from business groups. This comes less than a month after the federal government scrapped plans to prevent those convicted of human trafficking, sexual abuse or causing death to employees from participating in the TFWP.

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And one last piece on Harper. . . (daily I feel like there is a book to be written about our PM and fedgov. . . ) and this happened last year but just came to my attention (today) and I do pay attention so it must have passed quietly. 

Last year Harper set up a Venture Capital Action Plan- a comprehensive strategy for deploying 400 million "to help increase private sector investments to create jobs and economic growth. "

I heard about it because this week they appointed a new Chair of the Venture Capital Expert Panel - those who get to decide who gets the 400 million.  IN a country without daycare, without jobs, with too many children in poverty - they are giving 400 million to Venture Capital Firms?  That's where the money already is and the problem is they are sitting on capital without investing it and now the gov't thinks that they will solve that problem by giving them money?  I am aghast!

Links are here: 
http://actionplan.gc.ca/en/initiative/venture-capital-action-plan-0

http://www.capebretonpost.com/section/2014-01-28/article-3593171/Flaherty-names-Verschuren-chair-of-the-venture-capital-expert-panel/1

http://www.fin.gc.ca/n14/14-012-eng.asp

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And, of course, we cannot forget the Post Office!!! Click here for what you can do to help save the post office and home mail delivery! Save Canada Post!

And while thinking about mail delivery - this passed by my eyes on FB and felt compelled to share it as it is very funny. . . and really, although amusing, speaks to the difficulties of door to door delivery! 


And that's today's musings --