The DAILY DIGEST: INFORMATION and OPINION from ST. JOHN'S to VICTORIA.
ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/
EDITORIAL PAGEs ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/
ST.JOHN'S TELEGRAM -
Two wrongs, no rights
http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=210632&sc=80
CORNER BROOK WESTERN STAR -
Have your wits about you
http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?sid=210487&sc=30
HALIFAX CHRONICLE HERALD -
Tax cuts like bucking up on decaf
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Editorial/1100666.html
Khadr trial: From limbo to no-go
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Editorial/1100713.html
AMHERST DAILY NEWS -
MP took a stand
http://www.amherstdaily.com/index.cfm?sid=210728&sc=61
MONTREAL GAZETTE -
The budget road show comes home to Ottawa this week
http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/op-ed/budget+road+show+comes+home+Ottawa+this+week/1174334/story.html
OTTAWA CITIZEN -
A simple policy
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/editorials/simple+policy/1174421/story.html
Ice cold fear
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/editorials/cold+fear/1174422/story.html
Access is not optional
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/editorials/Access+optional/1174439/story.html
OTTAWA SUN -
Time to draw a new line for drunk drivers
http://www.ottawasun.com/Comment/Editorial/2009/01/14/8015036-sun.html
KINGSTON WHIG STANDARD-
Our kids will pay the cost of bailing us out of this recession
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1386467
BELLEVILLE INTELLIGENCER -
Be ready for the Black Swan and the collapse of society
http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1386254
TORONTO STAR -
Canada's lone Gaza vote
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/article/570481
GLOBE & MAIL -
National unity for capital markets
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090113.weABCP14/BNStory/specialComment/home
Canada has now entered its second Olympic pregnancy
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090113.weOlympics14/BNStory/specialComment/home
Polygamy is not freedom
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090113.webountiful14/BNStory/specialComment/home
NATIONAL POST -
What's the rush, Mr. Flaherty?
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=1173982
HAMILTON SPECTATOR -
Too long a wait for new leader
http://www.thespec.com/Opinions/article/495845
K-W RECORD -
A welcome visit from Barack Obama
http://news.therecord.com/Opinions/article/471651
WINDSOR STAR -
Rail line
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/editorials/Rail+line/1174701/story.html
The return of John Tory
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/editorials/return+John+Tory/1174702/story.html
SUDBURY STAR -
Time to draw new line for drunk drivers
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1387042
Israel can learn from Iroquois
Savagery of their warfare won the Indian federation peace, security
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1387092
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS -
Australian Senate a recipe for disaster
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/australian_senate_a_recipe_for_disaster.html
SASKATOON STARPHOENIX -
Exploiting Sask. gone too far
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/forum/story.html?id=629bfc83-7d93-462d-805f-a020572c51f4
Canada requires single regulator to guard markets
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/forum/story.html?id=e191a012-390d-4273-a8ef-cea1cafc22e8
REGINA LEADER-POST -
Opportune time to rebuild
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/viewpoints/story.html?id=97a656a3-2c21-4ed9-ad75-2e734dd6b663
CALGARY HERALD -
A vital idea that must be protected
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=fefa8cc2-b477-4fe5-8a2f-27f48ccd669b
How's this for a fresh idea? Old-fashioned manners
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=32e1c516-2282-475f-82c5-0390f00d7270
War will always be with us, but it is changing
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=d89419e1-e97e-49f3-a5b0-dbb3bf5a46c4
EDMONTON JOURNAL -
Good plan for national regulator
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/editorials/Good+plan+national+regulator/1175266/story.html
VANCOUVER SUN -
If doctors who won't kill are 'wicked,' the world is sick
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=ac85f7a9-1e89-49f7-86dd-4bcf1a25ee4d
Green energy will help restore self-sufficiency
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=910cea2d-5172-40dc-a443-5e8bf7b3ca73
Skills development: Let's not take our eyes off the ball
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=85b10fef-b625-4a8b-871e-e9b59147c13f
VANCOUVER PROVINCE -
No one wants to wear this one
http://www.theprovince.com/opinion/editorials/wants+wear+this/1174552/story.html
VICTORIA TIMES-COLONIST -
Israel needs to work to keep friends like Canada
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=08739edf-81e9-4403-a9c4-db828bb81e4a
ISSUES
ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS -
First Nations treaties guarantee full education
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/first_nations_treaties_guarantee_full_education.html
AFGHANISTAN -
Hutton to accuse European allies of 'freeloading' over Nato operations
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/14/nato-afghanistan
US Afghan tribe plan 'is risky'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7828611.stm
Pakistan Seeks Mass Deportation of Khyber Afghan Refugees
http://quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2391&Itemid=48
'Bush Bazaar' crammed with goods
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=552860&category=Frontend&Country=AFGHANISTAN
Huge Divide Between Afghanistan's Haves And Have-Nots Plays Into Hands Of Taliban',
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0114/1231738222146.html
NATO tightens Afghan rules to cut civilian deaths
http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-37448820090114
U.S. seeks Afghan supply route via Kazakhstan
http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-37446320090114
CANUSA/USACAN -
Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports Chairman Comments On Effects of Canada's Log Export Restraints on Cross-Border Dispute http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-14-2009/0004955013&EDATE =
Harper plays down threat to Arctic sovereigntyComment
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090114.warctic14/BNStory/National/home
Bold response required to U.S. arctic claim: premier
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/todays-paper/Bold+response+required+arctic+claim+premier/1174817/story.html
Obama 'understands' economic ties
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/570594
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS -
CPP's $10b loss shows fund's good health
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=d7b4595c-947e-4757-b452-2d9898b21686
Troubled forest industry looking for help in upcoming federal budget
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5j8nBk90vnnrGX1cLnXbRgGVHtmlQ
Deficit will linger half decade, watchdog warns
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090114.wbudget14/BNStory/politics/home
Tax cuts: the third-best alternative
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/article/570485
'Stimulus' is not the cure
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/op-ed/Stimulus+cure/1177498/story.html
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
What must change
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=4f995b6f-2153-455a-b633-a6ffbd75e8af
Canadians fool themselves about modern peacekeeping
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/article/570442
HEALTH CARE RELATED -
Surgical checklist cuts complications by a third
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090113.wchecklist0114/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
JUSTICE SYSTEM -
Case puts focus on justice system's 'dirty little secret'
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090114.winnocent14/BNStory/National/home
HIV sex prosecutions harmful, say AIDS doctors
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=1173920
POLITICS IN THE PROVINCES -
Premiers to push Harper for big money
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/national/090114/n0114119A.html
Ten Reasons John Tory will win HKLB
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090114.WBSteele20090114125726/WBStory/WBSteele
FEDERAL POLITICS -
Ignatieff adds another catch to revamped leader's office
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/01/14/don-martin-ignatieff-adds-another-catch-to-his-revamped-office.aspx
Tories see opportunity in regulator feud
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/570624
PROGRAMMES -
NANOS: 70% WANT MORE INVESTMENT IN PUBLIC SERVICES
http://www.nupge.ca/node/777
Firm lays off Canadians and sells Ottawa U.S. trucks
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/570638
Cut red tape for green projects: Feds
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/01/14/8016611-sun.html
OPINION AND INFORMATION -
Australian Senate a recipe for disaster
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/australian_senate_a_recipe_for_disaster.html
Khadr fails to evoke sympathy
http://www.thestar.com/SpecialSections/article/570443
Canadian Jewish groups accuse demonstrators of 'hateful rhetoric'
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=1177738
Shame! Canada's Singular Support of Israel's Crimes
http://pacificfreepress.com/news/1/3597-shame-canadas-singular-support-of-israels-crimes.html
Canada a voice of integrity at UN
http://www.thestar.com/News/Columnist/article/570610
Route to peace faces obstacles
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Columnists/Van_Dusen_Lisa/2009/01/14/8015891-sun.html
INFOS -
Gaza: les propos haineux doivent être dénoncés, disent des Juifs
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/national/200901/14/01-817663-gaza-les-propos-haineux-doivent-etre-denonces-disent-des-juifs.php
Rencontre des PM: Québec a des attentes «minimales»
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-canadienne/200901/14/01-817640-rencontre-des-pm-quebec-a-des-attentes-minimales.php
Le NPD réclame plus d'argent pour les anciens combattants
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-canadienne/200901/14/01-817629-le-npd-reclame-plus-dargent-pour-les-anciens-combattants.php
Mulcair presse les libéraux d'agir
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-canadienne/200901/14/01-817405-mulcair-presse-les-liberaux-dagir.php
Une chicane surréaliste
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/opinions/chroniqueurs/alain-dubuc/200901/14/01-817418-une-chicane-surrealiste.php
Des chercheurs étudieront le degré d'innocuité des médicaments
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/sante/200901/14/01-817653-des-chercheurs-etudieront-le-degre-dinnocuite-des-medicaments.php
Environnement: Ottawa songe à réduire les contrôles
http://www.ledevoir.com/2009/01/14/227342.html
Budget fédéral - Défaire le gouvernement serait prématuré, selon des proches d'Ignatieff
http://www.ledevoir.com/2009/01/14/227341.html
À la recherche de soldats qualifiés
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/National/2009/01/13/003-armee-soldats-qualifies.shtml
Les Canadiens préfèrent que le gouvernement fédéral évite les baisses d'impôt
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/090114/N011470AU.html
Le monde municipal canadien demande 13,7 G $ à Ottawa pour l'infrastructure
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/090114/N0114126AU.html
Michael Ignatieff s'adjoint un conseiller du premier ministre Harper
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/090114/N011414AU.html
BELOW(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)
From: Carmelita McQuillanSydenham, Ontario
Subject: The right not to believe
Hi, Joe.
I linked to your site from the now-defunct Garth.ca blog.
Regarding the right not to believe, the atheists had a good holiday campaign, too.
Their slogan? "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake."
Amen to that!
Carmelita McQuillan
Sydenham, Ontario
===================================
From: "Rebecca Gingrich"
Subject: More 'hate crimes' in Canada?
Joe--The article below this video was printed in the Toronto Star today.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21746.htm
This is a video of a pro-israel rally in New York. I wonder if Mr. Farber
has seen it? I am not playing the 'you hate more than I hate' here but I
think Mr. Farber needs a wake-up call. Again with the 'poor jews'
spin--will we ever wake up? I guess we are all supposed to be programmed to
believe israel can do no wrong--you know--like our PM and all the other
parties?
Becky
===================================
From: "Brian D. Marlatt"
Subject: Voting system: Change or status quo?
Voting system: Change or status quo?
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/letters/Voting+system+Change+status/1175018/story.html
Vancouver Sun January 14, 2009
If you don't like democracy, support STV. Like all forms of proportional representation, STV is about voting by party. The party machine and party bosses make the decisions; candidates and voters become afterthoughts. Parties are empowered, candidates are accountable to the party and party discipline becomes absolute. After an election, the parties do what they want, generally as coalitions, brokering deals among themselves in their own interests. Voter interest isn't even an afterthought.
The usual suspects support STV/PR: Gordon Gibson, who never saw a bad idea he didn't like; Fair Vote BC, who think you are wasting your vote if you vote for the best candidate instead of by party, and commentators who think of politics as a horse race and forget that democracy is about the demos, the people.
Simple, clear, democratic and well understood, the status quo is best.
Brian Marlatt
White Rock
===================================
From: Ron Thornton
Hi Joe:
I took a look at the article that Brian Marlatt kindly sent recently concerning an elected Senate, as it applied to the version prior to Confederation. I agree that an elected Senate for life positions is not ideal, especially one back in the 1850's when the landed gentry did not think much of the common man's (as women didn't have the vote back then) decision making abilities. As the article pointed out, such a Senate might have been elected, but it sure wasn't accountable as those good ole boys did not have to seek a new mandate. All they had to do to stay in office was to keep breathing.
However, an elected Senate today to serve finite terms would be much more democratic than an appointed body of members who only need to be breathing up to their 75th birthday. With a House of Commons that represents the population of each province, there is no need to have 24 Senators each of Ontario and Quebec, while others must make due with 10 or 6 or 4. That seems like overkill to me. Having 10 Senators from each province (with one for each territory), on the other hand, in an institution that would provide equal representation from each of those provinces certainly does. It would provide, and demand, a truly national consensus on policy from sea to sea rather than having to follow the dictates of the two central provinces.
As mentioned in the article, would todays' Senate reformers be able to put forth a body that could prevent its province from sharing its resource wealth? Well, if they could convince at least the total complement of Senators from 4 other provinces to join them in their fight, then yes. However, if any issue can sway every Senator from five provinces, plus a handful from a few others, then maybe their view, whatever the debate, might represent the true national view. Even if each Senator in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario wanted to go the route of keeping their resources their own and only their own, they would still need to pick up support elsewhere. The odds would be long of that happening, which seems to debunk the initial argument. Based on the present distribution, the two central provinces actually would have a better shot of accomplishing such a thing, be damned as to what the rest of the country might think.
Would elected Senators be biased towards the wealthy and conservatives as the article suggests it was 150 years ago? Why would they? Senators could serve the province at large or a regional area (based on geography and not population), or any number of other ways of determining their constituencies. As to keeping the Senators from running the show, their power is already limited against that of the House. As for the length of terms, they could be fixed, Senators could find themselves seeking re-election to each Parliament (along with all those who sit in the House), or we could even have a system similar to the Australian model. All it would take is a little imagination, a bit of intelligence, and some common sense to present a system that meets our needs. However, the result of past Constitutional tinkering does not build my confidence.
Our dim-witted politicians, under the guise of reformation, have locked in figures in the House of Commons that make reform of even that body nearly impossible. No province can lose seats even if its population nose dives, which means either some provinces wind up with less seats than they deserve at the expense of those who don't, or we get blessed with a tally of Parliamentarians that begins to rival nations with ten times (or more) our population. Yah, like we need more politicians.
Senate reform that delivers to us an elected, rather than an appointed, Senator would be more democratic than the current model. It isn't the end game, but at least it would represent a beginning. In the end, equal representation within that institution with redefined terms would be the goal, but for some reason I doubt the provinces that enjoy a glut of Senators would be willing, in serving the national interest, to give any of them up. That being the case, electing Senators might be all we can hope for at the moment, but at least it would be a start.
Meanwhile, Larry Kazdan is correct when he states that a coalition does not change the result of an election. However, when they ran, the parties involved at that time denied even the possibility that they might join together. Talk about a hidden agenda. Now, if they wish to seek a new mandate, putting forth the possibility that they might combine forces to change the government, then I have no problem with that. I would still hate to see a government holding power only through an 18-month contract with the separatists, but at least when we next head to the polls we would be presented with a clearer, more honest, picture of the potential consequences.
By the way, Joe, while today brings snow I hear the next three or four days, at least, will be above the freezing mark in my neck of the woods. Now, that is something to look forward to.
Thanks again for the use of the hall, Joe.
Ron Thornton
===================================
From: "Robert Ede"
To: "Calgary Herald" <letters@theherald.canwest.com>,
Subject: What happened in 1968? to bargain away MP's right to approve total Budget?
1) Can anyone recall the Bill that caused the changes cited in this article?
2) Was this before or after the Comptroller-General position was eliminated?
Power and prestige of MPs on the wane. Decline traced to Trudeau era
By Richard Foot, Canwest News Service
January 13, 2009
The most serious blow to MPs' power came in 1968, when MPs themselves, under pressure from the Trudeau government, gave up their most vital function, the right to approve government spending. That power dated back almost 1,000 years to the signing of the Magna Carta, which required the king to give control of the public purse to his parliament.Canadian MPs once had the power to hold up government spending until the budget estimates of each department had been properly examined and explained. In 1968, in return for a longer question period and more research funds for opposition offices, MPs agreed to time limits on the process. If time ran out, billions of dollars in spending estimates would automatically be passed, whether or not they'd been approved.
Former press gallery reporter Dave McIntosh called this a"devastating sellout" in his 1987 memoir, Ottawa Unbuttoned.
"If Parliament had given up everything else... but kept control of the public purse, it would still be the country's supreme lawmaker," he said. "Now it is simply another stage in the bureaucratic process of spending your money."
--
Robert Ede,
===================================
From: "Suan H.Booiman"
Subject: Why Is Israel Blessed?
worth reading
Suan
Why Are Jews So Powerful?
http://www.masada2000.org/Powerful-Jews.html
___________________________
Subject: MPs lost in the cloud
Kathy is my MP Russ Hiebert's secretary
January 14, 2009
Kathy.
MPs are nobodies.................
Well aware I am not on the favoured list of Hiebert and Staff,
but at last Richard Roof with his article "MPs lost in the cloud"
said what my message has been for a long time, MPs are nobodies,
fearful to jeopardize personal future rather than what they are
elected to do is represent the constituency. The article did not say
so but today's MP are glorified bureaucrats, following orders.
Doing a good job in the consistency office but unknown outside
by their ordered silence.
Do I dare make a suggestion for Mr.Hiebert to be known around
the country for standing up and out by demanding that the Harper
government dispose of Human Rights Commissions, the Country
has the infamous Trudeau Canadian Laws to speak for and about
the people, laws that need interpretation from the Courts to explain
the meaning not needing other bureaucrats to do it for them.
He does not have to stand up in the House to do that, am sure
Peach Arch News, The Now and other papers will be glad to hear
him doing something positive. "Dispose of bureaucracy".
Regards,
Suan
===================================
From: "Rebecca Gingrich"
Subject: Harper's strong stand--NP article/Jan14/09
This is an email I sent to Lorne Gunter after reading his article in the NP.
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=88d52d26-0ea6-49b3-a70e-f0127177ea3f
becky
http://linux.50webs.org/palestine/destroyed-towns.htm
http://linux.50webs.org/palestine/conquest-timeline.htm
Lorne--here are just two web sites of what has really happened in Palestine.
Tell me again who is eradicating whom.
Harper is an embarrassment to all thinking Canadians. How can he defend the
indefensible. Homemade rockets opposing white phosphorus and metal shard
spreading munitions, DU bombs and tanks. I well remember the jewish woman
howling because her flower pot had been destroyed by a Palestinian rocket.
Must be very forceful rockets to destroy a flowerpot, eh?
The genocide in Palestine is above politics. Because the Liberals threw
money around does not justify 'supporting israel and the jewish faith' as
Harper stated while lighting a menorrah(on public property while we are not
allowed to call our 'holiday trees' Christmas trees on public property). And
this was just three days before israel commenced it's latest genocide on
Palestine.
You can complain about what Palestinian children are taught in school. But
israel is murdering Palestinian children and eradicating Palestinians from
the area, along with their land, their water, their crops and their hope. I
suspect it is maily for the gas deposits that have been found off the shore
of Gaza. You know, in the ocean where Palestinians who dare to fish are
bombed by israel?
http://www.zeitenschrift.net/news/sne-21607-bombinggaza.ihtml This site
reports that a Rabbi calls for carpet bombing of Gaza, because one jewish
life is more important than all Palestinian lives.
No matter how you report it Lorne--it is genocide that Harper supports. I
am ashamed to call myself a Canadian.
Becky
===================================
From Rene Moreau
re;For a national regulator
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/article/569772
Funny, ain't it, how in the discussions about one, national,
Securities Commission, it's the Yanks who are pushing for it. Sherrie
Cooper, chief economist for the Bank of Montreal, and Diane Francis,
editor for the National Pest paper, both Canadian-American, dual, and
a guy in Alberta, American, mentioned on the Wednesday, January 14th,
the Current, on CBC, with Anna Maria Tremonte. (around 9 o'clock)
Considering their penchant for pushing for the pro-corporate,
American, line, one wonders why, THEY would want our watchdogs
consolidated into one?
Easier to infiltrate and control, in a classic, 5th column move,
less manpower needed, for one instead of 13, perhaps?
They will of course be pushing poor Flaherty to go along with this!
Corporate Magna Carta, anyone?
For fun, punch in Financial Services Authority for Texas,
Washington, New Jersey and Florida, AND Great Britain. All of these,
it seems, are self-regulated. Their way of getting around the SEC or
Securities Watchdog, apparently.
Well, no-one call call them un-astute. (shrewd and crafty)
Rene Moreau (416-489-8347)
===================================
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