First Conservative Party of Canada Leadership Debate Feb. 11th
Be sure to tune in to the first candidates' debate of the leadership race. It will take place on Wednesday, February 11th, on CBC Newsworld. Host Don Newman will moderate the debate, and give Canadians their first comparative look at the candidates vying to lead our new party.
The debate will be carried live on CBC Newsworld at 5:10 p.m. (Eastern Time), and will be re-broadcast later that same evening at 11:00 p.m. (Eastern).
An Economic Revitalization Plan for Atlantic Canada
The House Today -- The Auditor General's Report Tomorrow
Do not forget that the Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, will deliver her explosive report to Parliament tomorrow. Note that Jean Chretien is in China when the details will be revealed of civil servants, apparently directed by their political masters, "broke every rule in the book". We should see fur fly and key players running for cover.
Paul Martin had other business today, I assume. He was not around for Question Period so Mr. Goodale and Lucienne Robillard had to answer for him. Monte Solberg and others commented and asked very pointed questions about tax havens, CSL, government contracts to Martin's companies, our ethics counsellor's input to these decisions and the timing of such, clause 13 where no government official is supposed to benefit from government contracts, the Technology Sponsorship Program -- or is it the Quebec Liberal Sponsorship Program? It is so difficult to remember the names of these funnels for taxpayer dollars. But apparently, one/some of Paul Martin's CSL companies received $4.9-million dollars under the Technology Sponsorship Program, if I heard correctly. If not, email.
Upcoming Venture Program:
I can hardly credit this -- correct me if you heard otherwise -- but last night a presenter for CBC Venture, in advertising an coming program on CEO remuneration suggested Air Canada's CEO, Robert Milton is receiving $20-million dollars a day from one of the shareholders of Air Canada. (Surely, that must have been a mistake?) The advertisement for this program showed Robert Milton walking with (board member of CITIC) Li Ka Shing's son Robert Li, who was okayed to acquire a large chunk of our national airline in a very unusual auction a day or so before Christmas -- an auction where he was able to see his competitor's bid before making his own final bid. You may have been too busy to notice -- and some news is best released at an extremely busy time when most will not see it and think too much; it might ruin the holiday.
Jean Chretien Travels in Powerful Circles
Our ex PM Jean Chretien is now in China, accompanied by his son-in-law, Andre Desmarais, the president of Power Corp., who also is a director of CITIC Pacific Ltd., the Hong Kong affiliate of the CITIC group.
Li Ka Shing is on the boards of China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation -- among other businesses. He has investments in telecommunications, energy and retail. Li is chairman of Hutchison Whampoa, with investments in several strategic ports, including both at the Panama Canal, the port of Balboa, and the port of Cristobal.
According to one article on Li Ka-Shing , he is listed by Forbes as being the twentieth wealthiest man in the world, with a reported net worth of eleven point three billion dollars "Li has been part of donations to political parties (through various companies he owns or has interest in, as well as himself as an individual). He is implicated in a 1.5 million pound donation to the British Conservative Party. " Of course, that was in the UK, not Canada. NJC
Unlike most media types who have an interest in maintaining the status quo (i.e. more Liberal government and advertising $$$), Cosh actually reports what was said -- and more. How refreshing!
Mr. Harper is supposed to have aroused ill-feeling in the [Maritime] region with comments he made in May, 2002, and since they're still relevant, perhaps we should recall exactly what he said, speaking of the need for a "can-do" federal government that could liberate the Atlantic provinces' economic energy:
***"I think in Atlantic Canada, because of what happened in the decades following Confederation ... there is a culture of defeat that we have to overcome. It's the idea that we just have to go along, we can't change it, things won't change. I think that's a sad part, a sad reality the traditional parties have bred in parts of Atlantic Canada ... Traditional regional development programs are not very successful. They grossly distort the market and they not only fail to develop a lot of profitable enterprises, but over a long period of time, they have detrimental effects on potential opportunities."***
Colby Cosh, himself, points out what is obvious to him, that "the multi-decade use of unemployment insurance as a regional transfer is logically anomalous and morally repellent. " and, what is self-evident concerning ACOA:
***[Research] by the C.D. Howe Institute has since confirmed: that the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has been used as a political slush fund for the benefit of the party in power, its cash outflow increasing at the end of election cycles and going disproportionately to ridings held narrowly by the Liberals***
Further along, Cosh adds:
***[The] appetite for reform in Atlantic Canada is superseded by the hunger for pork. But any politician who wishes to speak the truth about Atlantic Canada -- which is that the region has lived willingly in an abusive relationship with 40 years of open-handed governments -- must follow a fine line between rudeness and condescension. A person of good conscience who wishes to tackle real problems has to risk erring on the side of the former. It's called courage.***
That courage is what sets Stephen Harper apart from the rest. Research by the C.D. Howe Institute supports Stephen's position. He offers truth and a plan to change this situation in the Maritimes.
