Pensioners, veterans, fish, and federal public service workers, watch out!
Ish Theilheimer and Samantha Bayard, with YouTube video
The Harper Conservatives celebrate their first anniversary of winning majority government this week. The past week was like an advance celebration, with one bombshell after another exploding.
On the first Monday back from a two-week Easter break came revelations of Minister of International Cooperation Bev Oda's extravagant spending in London. She rejected her five-star hotel and elected to stayed in the more-expensive Savoy Hotel, paid $1000 for a short limo ride, and even purchased a $16 glass of orange juice — all on the taxpayers' dime. Rumour has it that she preferred the Savoy because she could not smoke in the other hotel she was offered. Ralph Goodale, Liberal MP for Wascana commented on this rumour, "Of all the bizarre excuses you could concoct that is the most stupid one".
Ralph Goodale on Bev Oda's crazy spending
More alarming than Oda's extravagance was the news that Section 35 of the Fisheries Act, which calls for an environmental review before anyone can alter or destroy a body of water that is vital to the life cycle of fish, is being scrapped under the omnibus federal budget bill.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May spoke out last Tuesday about these changes and the impact they will have. "I think they have one raison d'être," she said, "and that's approving pipelines — getting them built."
Elizabeth May discusses the reason for the Environmental Assessment Act
Newly-minted NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen said "This is about projects that don't have merit on their own to stand up to Canadian law. So what they're doing is destroying Canadian law… The part of the Fisheries Act that is being destroyed here is the most significant environment protection that we have."
Lumping this change into the Budget bill is proof, he said, that Conservatives know "that Canadians will not tolerate this. If Canadian knew the truth of what's hiding in this bill they would be outraged… When the hunters and fishers get to know what's actually happening here, they're going to be outraged."
Nathan Cullen is scrummed over Fisheries Act changes.
Also on Monday came news that Bruce Hyer (Thunder Bay-Superior North) was defecting from the NDP caucus to sit as an Independent, saying he did not want to be whipped by party discipline, particularly on the gun registry.
Thomas Mulcair speaks on MP Bruce Hyer jumping ship
Oddly enough, Hyer went home, listened to constituents, and recanted within a week, asking to be let back into Caucus.
Farther down the Opposition benches, a small, distracting storm erupted over remarks that former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff made on British television to the effect that Quebec's independence is inevitable. NDP leader Thomas Mulcair responded by saying, "Michael Ignatieff's totally disconnected comments show why he's not there. But it also shows why the Liberals are no longer there in the province of Quebec. They don't get it."
Thomas Mulcair comments on Ignatieff's Quebec independence comments
Of more direct concern to many Canadians is the government's plan, under the Budget bill, to raise the qualifying age for Old Age Security (OAS) from 65 to 67. NDP Pensions Critic Irene Mathyssen introduced an Opposition Day motion to reject this change. She cited a new report showing that raising the age of eligibility for OAS and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GAI) from 65-67 will leave more seniors in poverty. "What we're seeing here is a Federal Government that is steadily undermining our safety net."
Irene Mathyssen says OAS age increase will lead more seniors into poverty
The Conservatives also brought the abortion debate back to Parliament this week. Prime Minister Stephen Harper claimed to oppose the private member's bill from Kitchener MP Stephen Woodworth calling for a debate over when fetuses become humans. However, the fact that Harper, Canada's most control-oriented PM, ever allowed this bill to be debated suggests otherwise. Clearly, the bill was raised as a signal of some sort to Harper's anti-abortion base.
News also broke this week that more federal workers are being fired, with Parks Canada and Veterans Affairs (VA) staff being among the thousands getting notices telling them their jobs are affected. District VA offices, for instance, are being phased out in Sydney, Charlottetown, Corner Brook, Windsor, Thunder Bay, Brandon, Saskatoon, Kelowna, and Prince George. In most of these cases veterans will now face long drives to access needed services.
NDP veterans critic Peter Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore) spoke out about the closure of nine district Veterans Affairs offices across the country and how it will affect service to military and RCMP veterans and their families.
Peter Stoffer on cuts at service for veterans.
Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair said, about the decimation of Canada's public service, "It's a tragedy what's happening. You're sending out a signal of fear and insecurity amongst hundreds of thousands of people whose only job is to try to do their best to provide a service to the public."
Thomas Mulcair talks about the most recent wave of federal job cuts.
NDP housing critic Andrew Cash (Davenport) was pressed by reporters about the cost of the upcoming royal visit while so many other things are underfunded: "Many Canadians are excited about the Royal tours but those same Canadians are also very concerned about how they are going to afford their mortgages, how they are going to afford their rent…so I think the government has a credibility issue when it comes to addressing the real concerns of Canadians."
Andrew Cash talks about the cost of the upcoming royal visit.
The Conservatives continued to roll out radical changes that will affect Canadian workers and families. This week they introduced changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) that will allow employers to hire TFWs without hiring available Canadians first. Critics say the move will force TFWs to work for even lower wages which forces Canadian workers to take lower wages to compete with them.
All in all, the Conservatives made much of their first anniversary, at the expense, it appears, of pensioners, veterans, fish, and federal public service workers.
About Ish Theilheimer and Samantha Bayard
Ish Theilheimer is founder and publisher of SG News and lives in Golden Lake, ON. Samantha Bayard is an Ottawa reporter and an editorial and administrative assistant at SGNews.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.