Harper's Sacrilege.... At A State Funeral No Less

The Harper Conservatives have tried to paint themselves as the only party that cares about people of faith, regardless of the faith. They have used that messaging to try to reach out to New Canadians, stating the old, tired and incorrect line that only the Conservatives care about these things. Of course, this is complete clap-trap, as it has always been. The Conservatives over the years have taken this messaging to the extreme, going so far as to state that those who dare to oppose them are some how anti-religion, anti-faith and alike. This is despite the fact that so many of their actions in their history has been quite intolerant, bigoted and quite to the contrary of many peoples faith. I know that as a Roman Catholic, I don’t feel that the Conservatives represent my values and my faith.

My own values have always revolved around respect for others and their beliefs and views. That also means that when attending services of different beliefs and religions, I have always gone out of my way to partake in a way that is respectful of said beliefs and religions. But, as it turns out, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn’t seem to believe the same thing (courtesy The Telegraph Journal):

A senior New Brunswick Roman Catholic priest is demanding the Prime Minister's Office explain what happened to the sacramental communion wafer Stephen Harper was given at Roméo LeBlanc's funeral mass.

During communion at the solemn and dignified service held last Friday in Memramcook for the former governor general, the prime minister slipped the thin wafer that Catholics call "the host" into his jacket pocket.

In Catholic understanding, the host - once consecrated by a priest for the Eucharist - becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ. It is crucial that the small wafer be consumed when it is received.

Monsignor Brian Henneberry, vicar general and chancellor in the Diocese of Saint John, wants to know whether the prime minister consumed the host and, if not, what happened to it.

If Harper accepted the host but did not consume it, "it's worse than a faux pas, it's a scandal from the Catholic point of view," he said.

Henneberry said a statement from the Prime Minister's Office is in order.

"If I were the prime minister, I would at least offer an explanation to say no offence was meant, and then (clarifying) what happened to the consecrated host is in order," he said. "I would hope the Prime Minister's Office would have enough respect for the Catholic Church and for faith in general to make clear whatever happened."

This is absolutely stunning to me that this guy who professes to respect other peoples beliefs would do such a thing. I equally refuse to believe that Mr. Harper has never been to a Catholic mass before and didn’t know the etiquette for such a situation. The proper etiquette in the Catholic church at communion for someone who is not Catholic is to go to the front like everyone else. But instead of putting your hands forward and requesting the host, you are supposed to cross your arms across your chest, which is the signal to request a blessing. At that point, the Priest will give you a blessing, and not the host. So how a man of 50 years old, who has been in politics for about half of those years, didn’t know something as simple as this is just not believable. The fact is Mr. Harper never should have even taken the host to begin with, let alone pocketed it. Mr. Harper and the Conservatives have a lot to answer for on this one.

What’s even worse is that Mr. Harper did this at the first State Funeral in the long history of the Province of New Brunswick. You’d think that Mr. Harper and his people would be on the ball enough to make sure that they didn’t so someone so cold and disrespectful towards the beliefs of the Catholic community. Personally, I am just waiting to hear what excuse the Harper Conservatives will come up for this. I do expect that some poor twenty-something staffer is going to pay the price for this act because heaven forbid that Stephen Harper or any Conservative actually face up to his or her own mistaken. In the meantime, this is just another “shining” example of the hypocrisy that is the Conservative Party of Canada and why they sure don’t represent the values and beliefs of this Roman Catholic Métis man. And thankfully, I know I’m far from being alone in that boat.

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Another Day, Another Conservative Cheap Shot

There are few guarantees in this World. As the old saying goes, those guarantees are death and taxes. Well, here in Canada thanks to things that just keep on happening, we can add a third: Conservative Cheap Shots. Today over at Liberal Arts and Minds, blogger KNB exposed another such attack on an Opposition MP for having the nerve and temerity to simply do his/her job. What did the Harper Conservatives do this time?

Well, KNB brought our attention to a Letter to the Editor in Today’s Timmins Daily Press written by a supposed citizen of Timmins by the name of Kyle M. Simunovic. Mr. Simunovic goes on a long tirade attacking New Democrat MP for Timmins-James Bay Charlie Angus, who dared to expose (again) that the current Conservative government has bought it’s Canadian Flag pins from a company that sourced their production to China. Yep, as it turns out the Canada Flag pins that MP’s across hand out to their constituents are many in China, work that Canadian manufacturers and workers sure could use in these rough times. So, what’s so big about this? What does it matter if a disgruntled resident airs their concerns in a letter to the editor? Well, it would be alright if this was a legitimate complaint, which this is not. Here is what KNB found out:

No, you see, Kyle M. Simunovic is a staffer (note contact) for MP, Royal Galipeau. You know him right? (One of many MP's who could use a little anger management training.)

In other words, Kyle, someone who is on the payroll for the Conservative Party of Canada, is sending a letter to discredit a member of parliament and worse, he fails to tell us who he is.

Yep folks, Mr. Simunovic is a staffer for a Conservative MP, who just happens to be a former Deputy Speaker in the last Parliament (doesn’t that just fit, hey?). So Mr. Simunovic’s letter sure does look that much worse in comparison, and completely self-serving, not to mention cowardly due to the fact that he obviously attempted to mislead residents of Timmins as passing himself off as an “average citizen”. I hope that Former Deputy Speaker Galipeau will reprimand his staffer for this act, but given the Conservatives history, I strongly doubt that will happen. He’s more than likely to get a pat on the back or might have even been told to do it. Now why would I suggest that a Conservative MP might actually condone such an action by a staffer? Well, that’s because a Conservative Cabinet Minister already did this earlier this year, to none other than Charlie Angus again. Remember this?

But tonight I became aware of the Harper Conservatives taking their smears to a whole new low. It turns out that Mr. Strahl’s Communications Director wrote a Letter to the Editor to MP Charlie Angus’ hometown news paper, that was printed yesterday. The letter was in response to the editorial they wrote last week, entitled “If Strahl leaves will INAC finally build new school?” and it’s contents just completely lowered the bar when it comes to the cheap behaviour of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Yep, you see back in April of this year the Director of Communications to the Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, Ted Yeomans, wrote his own Letter to the Editor of the Timmins Daily Press making personal attacks against Mr. Angus for daring to stand up for the residents of Attawapiskat. In that letter, Mr. Yeomans used many of the same attacks as Mr. Simunovic, calling Mr. Angus of making false statements, of not being a decent person, of pushing stunts and playing politics. Funny how that similar language was used again, right?

Well, personally I’m not shocked that the Conservatives would do this, especially against an MP like Mr. Angus, who has done nothing but stand up for his riding, work hard and with honour, and as the Parliamentary Budget Officer proved, has a nasty tendency of being right (nasty for the Conservatives that is). The Conservatives are simply just reverted to what they know best: when your wrong or can’t win your argument, take cheap shots. That’s a strategy that they’ve nailed.

Now, for the actually flag pin issue, this has a long history itself with Mr. Angus. As it turns out, he brought this up for the first time back in 2005, when the Martin Liberals were in government. Those inquiries brought out the following comment from then Liberal Public Works Minister Scott Brison:

"A competitive contract for the lapel pins was actually awarded to a Canadian company,which then sourced the pins to a Chinese manufacturer ... As a government, we respect our trade agreements but we do have a parliamentary exemption which we can apply within those trade agreements to purchases for members of parliament and senators. As such, I have directed that Canadian pins made for the use of senators and members of parliament will be manufactured in Canada from this point forward." (cbc.ca, February 4, 2005)

What did the Conservatives have to say about it this at the time in Opposition?

"Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services is hiding behind WTO trade agreements as his excuse for selling off the Canadian flag. However, China is only an observer to the agreement on government procurement and, therefore, we are not bound by its terms when dealing with China. Why does the minister still claim that he is bound by this agreement? Is it because he is too lazy to read the agreement? Maybe it is too complicated or maybe it has too many words.” - Rahim Jaffer (Edmonton-Strahcona), Hansard, 9 February 2005

“We have been assured that Canadian flag pins will no longer be made in China. I hope that the ones that we have in stock were not made in these forced labour camps.”
– Gord Brown (Leeds-Grenville), Hansard, 14 February 2005.

“The minister thinks it is hogwash that Kyoto could affect 80,000 jobs. Well, the government was quick to have our very own Canadian flag made in China. How long will it be before our automobiles are made in China?” – Colin Carrie (Oshawa), Hansard, 14 February 2005.

Now don’t those comments just seem comical today, given the response of the current Conservative government and the fact that the Conservative Government agreed to the current contract for Chinese made pins in February of 2009. I wonder if now former MP Jaffer would stand along side Mr. Angus and ask why the current Harper Conservative government is deciding to “hide behind WTO trade agreements as their excuse” for letting these jobs and this work go overseas? I doubt if Mr. Helena Guergis would. I also wonder if Mr. Brown is expressing is worries about the working conditions in those pin factories now at the Conservative caucus meeting. Something tells me that would be a big no. And as for Mr. Carrie, the irony in his “automobiles made in China” comment is especially striking today in his hometown of Oshawa as thousands of GM workers are out of work. I bet that a few hundred of those workers would love to have the chance to work making Canadian Flag pins in Oshawa, but Mr. Carrie and his government have decided to save a buck instead.

So maybe Mr. Simunovic should be spending more time asking his own bosses about why this government couldn’t keep that work here in Canada and why they have done a complete 180 from their past comments on this topic. In his letter Mr. Simunovic rants about the needs of Canadians, so why isn’t he asking his own bosses why they aren’t maximizing their chances to create much needed jobs here in Canada, and heck, maybe even in the riding that Mr. Sumunovic claimed to live in. I doubt that Mr. Simunovic will ever ask those questions of the appropriate people because he’s too busy looking out for himself and doing his job: taking cheap shots and smearing those MP’s who dare to question this government. Yep, Mr. Simunovic is only looking out one job,his own, by trying to quiet the person who’s standing up for jobs for hundreds of Canadians. Choosing the interests one person over hundreds of other people, that sure is the Conservative way.

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About that Transparency Thing

Over the past three years, the Conservatives have become quite the self-parody when it comes to certain things. Right at the top of that last has been their “commitment” to “transparency” (both of which I must use in the loosed to terms when talking about the Conservatives). The Conservatives brought in their Accountability Act and then created the post of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, a position that was supposed to be an Independent post, who would give us the straight dope about the numbers. That sounds really good, right?

Well, just like just about everything else with the Harper Conservatives, the actual reality is much different than how it might have seemed at the start. The Accountability Act has enough loopholes to drive a caravan of semi-trucks through it and that “Independent” Parliamentary Budget Officer, yeah, well, basically right after the Harper Conservatives named Kevin Page to the post, they started saying that he’s really not that “Independent” at all. All in typical Conservative fashion of course, but still making you shake your head.

Since his appointment though, Mr. Page has been a thorn in the Conservatives sides. First of all, he’s been interpreting his mandate in the way that the Harper Conservatives claimed to have actually wanted it, meaning as an Independent Officer of Parliament. That’s meant that he’s been doing his job, calling out the BS when he sees it and telling us all just how badly it actually stinks. Secondly, because he has giving us the goods, that’s made life harder on the Harper Conservatives, who have a propensity to speak from an alternate reality that seems to be devoid of truth and solid fact. Mr. Page has been calling them on their BS and has actually tried to be accountable to the people. Finally, not only has Mr. Page been speaking a lot, he’s has a propensity to be right. That means that the Harper Conservatives have had a propensity to be wrong, which doesn’t help the Conservatives cause.

So just like he has been doing since he got on the job, the other day Mr. Page came out again and said that Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s assertions that we will be back in surplus in five years and without a structural deficit are basically BS. That lead to Mr. Flaherty to respond yesterday and let’s just say it wasn’t exactly a warm response (courtesy cbc.ca):

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has dismissed a prediction of deeper, longer-term deficits from Parliament's budget watchdog.

He rejected the suggestion from Kevin Page, the parliamentary budget officer, that major spending cuts or tax hikes will be the only way to get Canada out of the red within five years.

Past warnings from Page have proven accurate. But Flaherty says he's off-base this time, because the bleak prediction is based on unduly pessimistic economic-growth projections.

"He's wrong," Flaherty told journalists Saturday in a conference call from the G8 finance ministers' meeting in Lecce, Italy.

"Because he says growth rates likely will be slower than I had predicted. Now, if you make an assumption with respect to lower growth rates, then you get the results that he postulates.

"But anybody can do that."

“He’s wrong” now is he Jimmy? Well, who should I believe here? Should I believe the person who’s predictions have been on the mark all along and has no reason to sugarcoat or blur the facts, or should I believe the person who’s predictions have been right off the mark for years, who has every reason (and a track record) of blurring the facts and has even done it in multiple jurisdictions? Call me crazy if you like everyone, but I’ll be going with the guy who’s been getting it right and has no motives over the guy who’s been consistently wrong.

But this recent incident is striking because of what’s been said here. When was the last time that any Cabinet Minister in any government has come out and stated that an appointed senior civil servant is “wrong”? When was the last time you saw something like that? We usually see a government, when faced with facts they don’t like, dance around the topic or try to spin it in a certain direction or way, but they never come out and say that they are “wrong”. By doing that, Mr. Flaherty basically questioned the knowledge of a watchdog, one who Mr. Flaherty’s own government appointed.

Sadly and naturally, that leads to a major question: Mr. Flaherty, if you believe Mr. Page is wrong and you consistently ignore his findings, why did your government appoint him at all? Why did the Conservatives appoint someone who they now say is “wrong”? Well folks, the answer to that question is very simple, but it’s not one that you’ll ever get from the Harper Conservatives. The fact is that Mr. Page is not wrong, is not lacking in knowledge and is the right person for this job. The facts support that over and over again. Personally, I’m quite glad as a citizen that we have someone like Mr. Page doing what he is doing these days. The fact here remains that Mr. Flaherty and his Conservatives are way off base again and in typical Conservative style, all they can come back with is a personal attack on the person pointing out their ineptitude. The facts support that simple fact over and over again as well.

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Majority History In Nova Scotia

Everyone, this really speaks for itself and it sounds so good (courtesy cbc.ca):

Nova Scotia has its first ever NDP government — and a majority government at that.

CBC News projects a historic win for Darrell Dexter's New Democratic Party, ending a decade of Progressive Conservative rule.

It also marks the first time Nova Scotia has had a majority government since 2003.

Less than an hour after the polls closed Tuesday night, New Democrats were re-elected in 10 districts and stole two from the Tories.

Folks, needless to say that I’m quite giddy tonight with elation at this result. Through out the election I have been getting reports from folks on the ground through out Nova Scotia (including from my wife over the past week who has been out there volunteering) that have been bolstering the media reports of big poll results and such. For the most part I haven’t written about the race too much, partially out of fear of jinxing things (yeah, call me superstitious if you want), so tonight I must admit I feel not too bad about having not said too much.

It’s been interesting watching the news coverage of this election tonight, especially some of the emails that some folks have been sending into the networks venting their views. It’s been interesting because some of the comments have been so over the top that it’s boarding on hilarious, predicting disaster and practically the end of the World. Frankly, those comments have been eerily similar to those of many Republicans when Barack Obama won the Presidency back in November, and last time I checked the World hasn’t ended yet and most of those folks have run fleeing from the country out of panic. Although I doubt we’ll see a pick up in gun sales through out Nova Scotia thanks to the win from the new Dexter New Democrat government that happened around President Obama’s win.

One thing though does comfort me when it comes to hearing those over the top and outlandish comments from a few hyper-partisans and that has been how the Nova Scotia media has gone out of their way to point out the best of facts: That New Democrats have the best record of financial management when in power of all parties in Canada. That’s something that the Nova Scotia media has been going out of their way to state. One of the best pieces describing that was written by Halifax Chronicle-Herald columnist Ralph Surette over a week ago, in which he wrote the following:

The explanation for this paradox is that some people have come to believe their own propaganda. The classic NDP governments in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the model subscribed to by the Nova Scotia NDP, were and are archtypical balanced-budget tightwads. The Bob Rae experience in Ontario notwithstanding (Rae was doing what Tories are trying to do now — stimulate the economy in a bad recession; it didn’t work), the NDP culture is one of penny-pinching by people who came up from the ground. The rampant scandals of waste and profligacy we know have been engineered by the fast-money big businessmen and lawyers who have typically populated the Tory and Liberal parties (think Brian Mulroney or the sponsorship scandal).

To have read those words almost brought tears to my eyes, because that’s something I’ve been pointing out to folks for years and years. The fact is that New Democrat governments, along with the policies that have governed them, have not been about spending more. It’s been about spending the money you already have, but doing it differently with different priorities. It’s been about investing in public services and crown corporations, things that bring a dividend back to the public purse. It’s always been about living better within ones means, which is the model that has lead to balanced budget after balanced budget in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and even to the elimination of the debt by the likes of Tommy Douglas.

The Dexter New Democrats ran their campaign just how they have been doing things for the past few years, which is to be modest, with modest policies. And tonight that steady approach and showing folks that you are truly the government in waiting obviously swayed more than a few minds and changed more than a few votes. Add to that the record of the now former Conservative government, and it lead to 46% of Nova Scotians voting for the New Democrats.

Now some of those doomsday, Chicken Little folks tonight are going to say that this government will go the way of Bob Rae and such. But to those people, I would make one major point of distinction: The circumstances of each of those governments election. The fact is that the Bob Rae win in the 90’s was quite the surprise to most and something that most didn’t see coming until the last couple of weeks of that campaign. That is quite the opposite of the case here in Nova Scotia in 2009. Entering the election, it was a foregone conclusion amongst the pundits and media from the start that the New Democrats were going to win government and the only thing that was up for grabs was whether it would be a minority or a majority. The New Democrats had been leading in opinion polls in Nova Scotia for a couple of years and with pretty safe margins, and that was missing out on government in the last provincial election by a couple of seats. Being the Official Opposition for the last three years has also given the New Democrats the experience of building towards government. To make a long story short, it has been a 10 year build to this point for them. That’s hardly an overnight success and sure does change how the new party in power approaches things.

Tonight is a sure watershed for New Democrats in Nova Scotia and all across Canada. It’s a nice that we can all raise a glass and welcome a new province and new government to the long, proud history of New Democratic governments in Canada. The road ahead won’t be easy and the hard work has just begun. Best of luck to the Dexter New Democrats in the next four years. Your long apprenticeship is now over, and now the real work begins.

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How To Not Bring “Sexy” Back

Wow folks, wow. Tonight I have to say that I am quite taken a back as the Raitt-Gate story takes another strange twist. First there was the leaving of secret documents in of all places, a national news room. That surely was a fire able offense, but Stephen Harper didn’t see it that way so while Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt got to keep her job, it was her 26 year-old staffer who took the fall instead. But tonight we found out even more to this story, and a twist that I doubt that anyone saw coming (courtesy Halifax Chronicle-Herald):

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt called the medical isotopes crisis "sexy," said she wanted to take credit for fixing it, and expressed doubts about the skills of Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq on a recording obtained by The Chronicle Herald.

Ms. Raitt made the comments to her former aide, Jasmine MacDonnell, in a conversation that appears to have been inadvertently recorded by Ms. MacDonnell on Jan. 30, while the two were being driven to an event in Victoria, B.C.

OTTAWA — Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt called the medical isotopes crisis "sexy," said she wanted to take credit for fixing it, and expressed doubts about the skills of Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq on a recording obtained by The Chronicle Herald.

Ms. Raitt made the comments to her former aide, Jasmine MacDonnell, in a conversation that appears to have been inadvertently recorded by Ms. MacDonnell on Jan. 30, while the two were being driven to an event in Victoria, B.C.

The news is likely to raise questions about Ms. Raitt's handling of the isotope crisis, and about her judgment, since she promoted Ms. MacDonnell, 26.

Soon after the Victoria trip, Ms. MacDonnell misplaced the voice recorder containing the recording in the press gallery in Ottawa, and asked The Chronicle Herald to hold it for her until she could collect it. Five months later, she had not picked it up.

After Ms. MacDonnell resigned this week — taking the blame for leaving secret files at CTV’s Ottawa studio — the paper’s editors decided to listen to the device.

Ms. Raitt and Ms. MacDonnell had their conversation not long after a heavy water leak at the Chalk River nuclear reactor, west of Ottawa. Problems at the reactor led to a shutdown in May, which has led to a shortage of radioisotopes, which doctors across Canada use to diagnose and treat cancer patients.

As they drive around Victoria, chatting with their driver, Ms. Raitt and Ms. MacDonnell discuss their unsuccessful efforts to get Ms. Aglukkaq to contribute a quote to a news release on the isotope crisis.

The article goes on to state in detail the highly questionable quotes from Ms. Raitt and her former side-kick but they are even the more astonishing when you hear it straight from their own voices, so I suggest that you listen to the audio that the Chronicle-Herald has on their website. The comments though at quite stunning though. First commenting about how “sexy” a medical crisis like this is for her and how it might benefit her is as cold and callous as can be, but typically Conservative. I would say that this comes of a lot like Gerry Ritz’s “Death by 1000 cold cuts” comments, but these words and their context are arguably worse. The fact that we actually have numerous examples of such tasteless comments from this group to be able to make such comparisons thought sure does say a lot about these Conservatives.

The fact that Ms. Raitt decided to go on to make personal attacks on her cabinet colleague Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq just takes this to a whole new level. I have had a few friends in the Aboriginal community tonight ask me the obvious, very fair and relevant question: Would Minister Raitt have been so dismissive of a colleague who was not Aboriginal? Once again, given the Conservatives past and comments when it comes to Aboriginal Canadians, that issue becomes all the more fair. Add to that fact that it is extremely hypocritical for the newly-elected, politically inexperienced Ms. Raitt to attack the former Nunavut MLA and Health Minister for ministerial weakness. That makes that “what if” question above all the more timely.

But in this story of twists and turns, there was a quote towards the end of this article that really jumped out at me and one that does now raise some questions about another group and their motives: The Liberal Party of Canada (courtesy Halifax Chronicle-Herald):

Later in her conversation with Ms. MacDonnell, Ms. Raitt tells the man driving them around Victoria that Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff had backed down from defeating the Conservative government on a budget a few days earlier because he got a message from Canadian bankers.

“They did it at the Canadian Council of (Chief) Executives, there was three presidents of major banks who stood up in the room — and this is not from cabinet so I can talk about it — stood up and said, ‘Ignatieff, don’t you even think about bringing us to an election,’” said Ms. Raitt.

“'We don’t need this. We have no interest in this. And we will never fund your party again.’ That was very powerful. So he heard it from very powerful people in the industry. He was definitely muzzled.”

Liberal finance critic John McCallum, who was present for the closed-door Jan. 20 meeting with about 100 executives, says they were against the coalition and an election, but there was “not even a hint of a veiled threat,” and bankers would never make such a threat in a meeting with so many people present.

“That’s absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “Can you imagine a bank president standing up in a room like that with more than 100 people in the room and saying something like that? It makes no sense.”

Now I sure won’t be the one to totally believe anything like this, especially based on the current credibility of Ms. Raitt, but this is an either an interesting twist or a chance to set the cat amongst the pigeons. It puts an interesting hypothesis out there when it comes to the rationale of Mr. Ignatieff backing out of the coalition in January, and while I won’t take Ms. Raitt totally at her word on this, I know better than to take Mr. McCallum at his either. Big business does have a lot of sway with the Liberal Party, so this story of Ms. Raitt’s, while a bit out there, is far from being out of the realm of possibility. It sure does make for an interesting side-piece to this story, but we’ll leave that for another day and another time.

In the meantime, this must be enough for Stephen Harper to give Ms. Raitt the cabinet heave-ho. You’d think that attacking a cabinet colleague in such a way and making such comments in a relatively public place, on top of everything else, would be enough. Even I, as someone while having some political experience, but far from lots, knows better than to have such conversations in a cab, car, restaurant or anywhere in public where people can hear it. If Ms. Raitt doesn’t know that much, that just speaks to how badly that she needs to go. But tonight CTV News Channel is reporting that the Harper PMO will not be firing Ms. Raitt and it looks like Mr. Harper is willing to keep this inept minister in her place. By doing so though,it seems like Mr. Harper is basically giving tacit approval to Ms. Raitt’s words and her actions. By doing so, it seems like Mr. Harper is basically giving the thumbs up to Ms. Raitt’s comments about Ms. Aglukkaq, basically leaving one to ask that same question from earlier in this piece of Mr. Harper. It’s stories and issues like these in which ones true character goes shining through or shows just how dim it is. Folks, tonight those dim lights are not helping the Conservatives at all and is just further showing Canadians their true selves.

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Record Setting Jim

Well, quite the bit of news today hey? Well, it’s always big news when someone sets a new record right, although I’m not sure where in the Guinness Book you might find this record. At least now the Harper Conservatives and Usain Bolt can honestly claim they have something in common: a record setting performance (courtesy cbc.ca):

The federal deficit will soar to more than $50 billion this fiscal year, setting a dubious record far eclipsing the bad old deficit days of the early 1990s.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Tuesday that the government's shortfall will be more than $16 billion higher in 2009-2010 than he forecast in January's budget.

"We will run a substantial short-term deficit this year which I would estimate at more than $50 billion," Flaherty said.

"We are going through a deeper economic slowdown than anticipated. The systemic stabilizers that we have automatically — more employment insurance, a couple of billion dollars, plus more, and lower taxes — are to be expected during a recession, which we are seeing.

"We also have the substantial auto payments that are going to be required."

The massive revision comes just a month after Flaherty said he was not changing his forecast.

Folks, what’s even more amazing about this story is the fact that Mr. Flaherty said later in the day that he’s not going to look at next years projections either. That is just irresponsible when this makes three times now that the Conservatives have goofed on their estimates (or at least the ones they told the public about) and to not look at those numbers again is just wrong.

But there is one thing about this story that I hope starts to correct something, that in my opinion, is one of the biggest falicies in Canadian political stereotypes: that Conservatives are great fiscal managers and that New Democrats are terrible ones. The facts have always shown otherwise, where New Democratic governments across Canada have had the best records of having balanced budgets and paying off debts, while the track record of the Conservatives has been much worse then that. Conservative governments have had a history of leaving big deficits and broken services behind them when they are finally turfed. Those are facts that have never sunken in because of Conservative rhetoric, but now the Conservatives are the “gold-standard” of setting deficits. They are the record holders. Yes, they are the champions when it comes to spending more than they’re bringing in. Many of us living in Ontario predicted this kind of result because of Mr. Flaherty’s track record as Ontario’s Finance Minister, but I doubt that most of us expected Mr. Flaherty to screw the pooch so spectacularily. It’s not something that I would be too proud of and it’s something that’s going to dog the Harper Conservatives for a long time to come. The Conservatives have no one to blame but themselves for it, but that probably won’t stop them from trying.

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My Growing Appreciation For The Governor General

Back on Sunday here at this blog I wrote about Governor General Michaelle Jean and one of her ideas for helping Canada's Inuit: Creating an Inuit University. She made her comments ahead of a trip this week to the Arctic. Well who would have guessed that good idea wouldn't be the big story of her trip up North. She sent some animal rights advocates into a tizzy today over her sampling of a Inuit traditional food: seal (article and video courtesy Toronto Star):

She came, she cut, she ate — and now, after gobbling seal heart raw, Governor General Michaelle Jean is tasting the inevitable wave of political indigestion.

"Neanderthal" and "blood lust" were some of the phrases animal-rights campaigners used today to describe Jean's cultural encounter in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, in which the Queen's representative sliced off and sampled a piece of seal heart from the dripping carcass of a freshly slaughtered seal.

"It's amazes us that a Canadian official would indulge in such bloodlust," said Dan Mathews, senior vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "It sounds like she's trying to give Canadians an even more Neanderthal image around the world than they already have."

Mindful of the debate into which she waded, Jean pronounced her taste of seal heart to be "absolutely delicious."

"These are ancient practices that are part of a way of life," she said, framing her gutsy gesture as an act of solidarity with the Inuit.

"If you can't understand that, you're completely missing the reality of life here."

But PETA officials said it was Jean who is missing reality.

"Our campaign is not to stop the native hunt, which accounts for only a very tiny part of Canada's seal slaughter," said Mathews. "Far more than 90 per cent of the Canadian seal hunt is unrelated to the native peoples. What we want to stop is that huge commercial market that is all about selling baby seal skins to Norway, where they become fashion items for the Russian and Chinese markets," he said.

That doesn't mean animal-rights activists approve of Inuit seal-hunting traditions. PETA today likened Jean's sampling of seal heart to "taking part in the beating of women in the Middle East because it is part of local practice."

"We acknowledge the native seal hunt is cultural," Mathews continued. "We give it a pass, even though we don't agree with it, because our campaign is against the commercial hunt.

"However much the Canadian government may want to hide behind the natives, the commercial hunt is the real issue here."

Jean helped to gut the seal before swallowing the slice of the mammal's heart after a European Union vote earlier this month to impose a ban on seal products on grounds that the seal hunt is cruel.

Asked today whether her actions were a message to Europe, Jean replied, "Take from that what you will.''

Personally, if this story isn't the definition of tempest in a teapot than I don't know what else would qualify. The fact is that Ms. Jean was simply taking part in a traditional meal of the people that she represents. She's partaking in their traditions and getting to know their culture. That's what our Head of State is supposed to do.

As for the reaction of the various groups quoted in the Star's piece, I found their reaction to be totally over the top, especially the comments from PETA. Almost all of the groups and individuals quoted stated that they aren't opposed to the Inuit seal hunt, but in the same breath went on to condemn Ms. Jean for taking part in said tradition when invited. That's just hypocritical on their part and frankly just disgusting. But given PETA's track record when it comes to over the top comments, they aren't shocking. Actually, I would argue the fact that it's PETA making these kinds of inflammatory and ignorant comments hurts the cause that they support much more than help it.

In the meantime, Ms. Jean did precisely the right thing. She came as a visitor to Rankin Inlet, partook in the communities ceremony and did it with respect. You'll notice in the video linked above of Ms. Jean's taste that there are two small children sitting besides her, helping them prepare the seal. Those two children were there learning their culture, their traditions and their history. They were learning about their Inuit heritage. Does PETA actually expect Ms. Jean to refuse to take part and, in turn, indirectly send these children a message about their own culture and beliefs? Something tells me that PETA never thought that part of things through and I wonder if the likes of Mr. Mathews would use those same kinds of words to describe those children and that community. The seal hunt is a part of Inuit culture and a part of the way of live in the Arctic. Ms. Jean was right when she said that if you don't understand that "you're completely missing the reality of life here". While PETA is completely missing that reality, it's not surprising that Ms. Jean and a great many Canadians not only understand that reality, but accept it.

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