Conservative MPs - Flex Your Muscles!

My first piece of election analysis is "phew!" I was really getting worried about Prime Minister Layton for a little while there.

It's fair to say I was a little disenchanted with Stephen Harper. I didn't volunteer on any local campaign. In fact this was the first election I remember in 20 years that I watched the results come in from home. Usually I was at a 'victory party' after scrutineering and watching the results come in with other volunteers from the campaign.

I'm still uncomfortable with the way pro-life MPs have been gagged during the course of his leadership, and I just don't get the agriculture policy. Spending so much energy attacking the Canadian Wheat Board and apparent hostility to proposals from Ontario farmers hasn't really made sense. (I guess you need to be an Ag minister from Western Canada to understand.)

Still, when faced with the prospect of old time socialism and aggressive pro-euthanasia elements in the NDP, I had to return to the fold.

Today I'm optimistic. The new majority means decisions can be made within the Conservative caucus. That means Conservative MPs have a real responsibility to bring innovative ideas forward. I'm hopeful that the many pro-life MPs will be able to move the yardstick forward on key issues. I'm also hopeful that Ontario MPs will be able to reassert the province's importance to the economy, particularly on agriculture since Ontario has the largest agricultural production of any province. Someone pointed out an interesting statistic . . . there are 72 Conservative MPs from Manitoba and West, there are 73 from Ontario.

Caucus meetings should be interesting!

Ignatieff's Blue Sweater

The same tool Harper used to propel himself to soften his image and propel himself to victory last time has been snatched by the Liberals. I'm surprised it's not a bigger story, but Ignatieff is pulling out all the stops this campaign even donning a blue sweater!

But that's not the only thing, Ignatieff is starting to try to sound like a Conservative at least according to this article in the Toronto Sun.

Liberal government won't be a big government but it will be an open government, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says . . . "These are initiatives that have one common characteristic. They help Canadian families with a minimum of bureaucracy... It's not big government, it's government that sends the help directly to the family" . . . "After a long life, I've understood there's a lot I not only can't control, there's a lot I shouldn't control"

Is it credible? Probably not. This is a leader who has promised to raise taxes and tried to force Stephen Harper to use foreign aid to finance abortions rather than maternal health. But, he is showing himself to be much more shrewd than he has appeared since he entered politics.

Ontario Budget Will Impact 2 Elections

Agriculture usually isn't considered sexy unless you get a copy of the Faces of Farming Calendar (Jen and Amy are May's calendar girls.) That all changed with Tuesday's Ontario Budget announcement of a multi-commodity Risk Management Program. Now the Toronto media, which barely write about Agriculture have taken notice. The Toronto Star's Martin Cohn concludes this may be the program that keeps the Ontario Liberals in power:

Unsurprisingly, an obscure agricultural program barely rated a mention in the Toronto papers. But it is destined to get acres of space in rural Ontario. And if it works as planned, the results will be big news across the province when ballots are counted on Oct. 6.

It’s called the “Risk Management Program,” a kind of insurance policy for farmers. The program isn’t sexy, but it sells — so don’t stop reading here. The economics and the politics behind it are what’s interesting, as are the players who joined forces.

First, the politics, without which no deal: The 71-member Liberal caucus has about 17 MPPs from rural ridings, mostly in the province’s southwest and east. If the Progressive Conservatives are to topple the Liberal government, they must first trample the thin red line of MPPs that serves as a defensive perimeter around Liberal-dominated cities. If the agricultural heartland doesn’t crumble, the urban fortresses may withstand a Tory assault.

Cohn is absolutely right, the decision is smart politics by the provincial Liberals and the fact that the Ontario PC Party had previously endorsed the program means the only criticism they can face is that the program came too late. The program will work for farmers, it will provide the beef and pork producers in this province with a predictable and bankable program upon which they can confidently make investment decisions.

The issue will resonate not just in rural Ontario but in a number of other urban ridings where agricultural suppliers and processors are a very important part of the economy. Consumers will have the assurance as well that safe, environmentally responsible, locally grown food will remain a viable option for them and their families in the future. The good press should continue as long as program details are done well. So it works politically.

With the momentum they've gained from this announcement farm groups will almost certainly turn their attention to the Federal campaign. The politics are similar, if Ignatieff endorses this program and the Conservatives continue to oppose it several seats that the Conservatives thought were safe could come into play. Not sure if Ignatieff is smart enough to capitalize on it, but Harper should shore up his rural Ontario base and get on board with the program.

Just Not That Motivated

I got a call today to volunteer on one of the campaigns for a nearby Conservative candidate. My answer was, "I'm not sure tell the candidate to call me." It's been a while since I put everything I had into a campaign, but I'm usually pretty excited around election time and more than ready to do my part for a cause or person that I believe in especially if there have been weeks of ramp up ahead of the election call. Aside from the brutally cold weather (-17C tonight!) there are two reasons I'm just not that motivated: First, the forcible silence of pro-life MPs seems likely to continue into the next Parliament. Harper told Peter Mansbridge he would not reopen the abortion issue if he achieved a majority and elaborated by saying, "If you want to diminish the number of abortions you’ve got to change hearts, and not laws." Whatever. I say if you want to limit any type of action you change hearts and laws. I may yet support some pro life conservative candidates, but the central party hasn't seen a donation from me since they formed government and they aren't likely to in the near future. Second the Harper Government has been indifferent to the needs of Ontario Agriculture ignoring repeated requests to participate in a price insurance proposal. Indeed Gerry Ritz was needlessly partisan in a letter to Better Farming refusing the proposals out of hand. As a Conservative, I'm embarrased by his closed mindedness. I explained to about 200 farmers and industry support people last week, we can vary not only who we support but our level of support. Right now my level of support is dangerously close to zero.

Fare thee well Stockwell

I was shocked and disappointed by the news that Stockwell Day will not run in the next election. I've been a Stockaholic since he first entered federal politics - to be honest part of me was still hoping that somehow events would transpire to make him our Prime Minister. I wasn't alone in that thinking, just over two years ago in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix David Akin wrote an excellent account of Day's success in the Harper cabinet concluding:

His renewed political success even has some in his party quietly whispering that he ought to consider running for leader again when Harper decides to retire.

I enthusastically helped on Day's campaign for the leadership of the Canadian Alliance and for the newly formed Conservative Party. After all that he went through during a caucus revolt from many of his colleagues, I would have completely understood if he had retired back then. Instead he demonstrated his ability and his class by staying on and becoming one of this government's most effective cabinet ministers

Stockwell's class was on full display in his retirement statement:

And [Thanks] to Prime Minister Harper for allowing me the privilege to serve under his outstanding leadership. That leadership has led our nation through the most troubling economic times in over half a century.

His belief (and insistence within his caucus) that every MP must be allowed equal ground to speak up vigorously for their constituents is the foundation of decision making upon which we develop the policies for our nation.

I wish the Prime Minister full success in the days ahead in the efforts on behalf of all Canadians in maintaining a Canada that stands strong and free.

I will miss Stockwell's class, integrity and effectiveness dearly and I believe this is a huge loss to the Conservative Party and to Canada.

But our loss is his family's gain and I sincerely wish him a happy retirement.

Temple Grandin - Nature is Cruel But We Don't Have to Be

Sometimes when I hear the terms animal rights or animal welfare I cringe. Often I think my goodness we can't even treat people properly and activists want us to worry more about animals. More often I think of my own time on the farm or friends and family and everyone else in the livestock industry and I know that they take pride in the way they care for their animals - I take it personally if anyone suggests otherwise.

I had known a little about Temple Grandin and her legacy. I've seen hog receiving areas that are designed without corners to ensure that the animals are not scared as they are moved. I've learned about animal flight zones that can be used to move animals without touching or frightening them. But I didn't rush to learn more about Temple's story by watching the HBO movie about her life and work. Over the last couple months, all the copies at the local video store were always rented so even if I had rushed to watch the movie, I might not have seen it any earlier.

The movie is excellent, it really does help demonstrate how autism affected her life and how she could be so very helpful in teaching us about how animals react to the situations we put them in. The story was told so very well its no wonder it has inspired millions of people who live with people with autism and helped everyone who saw the film understand how her important work has shaped the way we care for animals.

It takes us on a journey through her life giving a small sample of the suffering she felt because her autism made her different and she found it so difficult to deal with other people. We then see how she learned how to calm herself from the way farmers treated animals. Finally we see how she built her career improving animal handling facilities to make sure the animals are comfortable and relaxed.

The movie also features one of her most powerful quotes, "Nature is cruel but we don't have to be."

Try to watch it if you haven't had the chance already.

In Case You Missed it on CPAC

I sat beside Ontario Pork's chair person at our presentatin to the Ontario Standing Comittee on Finance. (That's my shoulder in the thumbnail, and I answered a question at the end of the presentation). I'll chalk the ums and ahs in answering a softball question up to nerves and a little bit of embarrasment for not having the answer ready. Still, I think the point was delivered and well received by the committee. (Ted Arnott's question starts at 9:40, My answer starts at 12:20)

Obama Delivers Slap in the Face to Canada

I'm at a loss for words. Sometimes I may be a little unfair in my criticism of President Obama, but his proposed tax on Canadians entering the country is a slap in the face; a grevious insult; and a hypocritical assault on the relationship between our two countries.

Canadian politicians are trying to put the best face on the situation:

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, however, suggested it's far too soon to get upset about the proposal.

"We're talking about the budget of 2012 and the 2011 budget hasn't even been passed yet," he said.

He added the prime minister and U.S. President Barack Obama appeared to be of the same mind when they met two weeks ago, that the global economic situation is fragile and that it's in the "best interest" of both countries to "find solutions that will increase the circulation of goods and people."

That's the issue. Two weeks ago Barack Obama spoke of strengthening the ties between our two countries. Now he is proposing to tax Canadian travellers to his country. This is not something that came from Congress. The duplicity comes straight from the President himself. This guy has absolutely no credibility.

Moo Barack Resigns

I was ready to join the celebrations when I heard that the fearsome dictatorial president Moo-Barack had resigned . . .


. . . How disappointing to learn that they had someone else in mind.

KW Right to Life Marks Tragic Anniversary

On January 28th approximately 100 people joined KW Right to Life to mark the anniversary of the Morgentaler decision that struck down Canada’s abortion laws and created the legal vacuum where preborn children have no legal protection in this country until the time of their birth.

The format was much different than in years past when we would hold an hour long silent vigil in front of Grand River hospital. This year we moved a few blocks south in front of Kitchener city hall, where the outdoor skating rink and the lights of downtown provided a fun and energetic atmosphere.

After a half hour we walked to St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church where we were graciously hosted. There we had a half hour of prayer and reflection.

The highlight for me this year was in the reflection delivered by Harold Albrecht, Conservative MP for Kitchener Conestoga. In a heartfelt address, Harold explained how his personal experiences have led him to place a high value on life at every stage from conception to natural death. They were powerful examples:

• He spoke of a grandson who was born extremely prematurely. The baby did not survive but the impact of the loss on the parents and extended family left little doubt that this was more than just product of conception. This little one was a very real person who remains missed.

• He spoke of the disabled, particularly children, youth and adults with Down ’s syndrome mentioning that they are often so joyful and unconditionally friendly. These special people have enriched the lives of their families and community, -- it would be a shame to end their lives prematurely – and miss out on the special joy they bring to our world simply because we have the technology to screen in utero.

• He spoke of visiting the elderly in nursing homes and hearing their stories of pain and loneliness. He said that’s why we must focus on providing quality comfort measures, palliative care and emotional support for the elderly rather than open the door to euthanasia.

• Finally he spoke of the mentally ill and the depressed, of a colleague who committed suicide and of how he was personally shaken by the news of Nadia Kajouji. Nadia was an 18 year old university student who committed suicide in March 2008. During the investigation into Kajouji's death, police discovered that a 47-year-old male nurse from Minnesota — who was posing as a 28-year-old woman online — might have encouraged Kajouji via an internet chat room to commit suicide. No charges have been laid in the case under Canadian law.

Harold explained that Section 241 of the Canadian Criminal Code says "everyone who … counsels a person to commit suicide, or aids or abets a person to commit suicide, whether suicide ensues or not, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years." His concern though is that it is not clear whether encouraging someone to commit suicide via the internet is a crime.

On November 18, the House of Commons voted unanimously in favour of a motion (M388) Harold put forward calling for change in how the Criminal Code deals with people who counsel others over the internet to commit suicide. He is hopeful that the measure will prevent another case similar to Nadia’s.

Harold thanked everyone present for the work they have done to protect life, and noted that our most important task is to change the hearts and minds of our friends and neighbours. He noted that in his experience even a simple example of sharing an image of a preborn child can start a conversation that will help convince people of the humanity of preborn children and know that they need our protection.

After hearing Harold’s message, many of us left with a renewed sense of purpose.

Chastity Makes Marriage Better

It may fly in the face of our oversexed culture's conventional wisdom, but people who remain chaste before marriage have better marriages according to a number of measures. The Medical News reports:

A new study that appeared in the Journal of Family Psychology finds that couples who wait until exchanging vows to have sex are “are happier with the quality of sex” and enjoy a “stable, happier marriage”. The team of researchers assessed 2,035 married couples in an online questionnaire based study called ‘RELATE’.

The results showed that couples who waited until marriage to have sex rated sexual quality 15% higher than people who had premarital sex, rated relationship stability as 22% higher and rated satisfaction with their relationships 20% higher.

The study controlled for religiosity and found, “Regardless of religiosity, waiting helps the relationship form better communication processes, and these help improve long-term stability and relationship satisfaction.” So the study seems pretty solid. There's always room for criticism though, The Economist notes:

Unfortunately, Dr Busby’s method cannot distinguish the cause of this. It could be, as many moralists preach, that the delay itself is improving. It could, though, be that the sort of people who are happy to delay having sex are also better at relationships. Correlation, in other words, rather than causation. That is material for another study.

That criticism is valid enough I suppose. Can't rule out selection bias. BUT if you're a young person getting into a relationship and considering marriage, choosing a mate is very much about selection bias. And no matter the reason why, the results are clear: if you and your partner can stay chaste you're marriage will be happier for it.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

It's a little late to be plugging the movie now that it's been running for 6 weeks and has dropped out of the top 10, but the Voyage of the Dawn Treader is an excellent movie. The casting is excellent. The new character Eustace is extremely convincing. It was probably more faithful to the book than the previous 2 movies. I think it's my favourite Narnia movie so far even though I would have ranked the book in the middle or toward the end of the pack. If you get a chance it's definitely worth seeing in the Theatre. I plan on owning the DVD.

A Gay 'Rights' Trifecta

"It makes no sense that Mr. Lusk could be acquitted in a Quebec court and then found liable for moral and punitive damages in front of a human rights tribunal," Mr. Angers said. "These tribunals are just in another world."

That's a pretty good summary of the situation after the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal fined a man $12,000 for saying a bad word:

The case against Mr. Lusk, a retired lieutenant colonel of the Canadian Forces, stems from an April 2004, incident in which Mr. Thibault is alleged to have driven recklessly down their street in the Montreal suburb of Pointe Claire while neighbourhood children, including Mr. Lusk's son, were playing road hockey.

A witness testified that Mr. Thibault had run a stop sign and driven at high speed toward one of the kids, nearly hitting the child. . . When Mr. Lusk heard about the latest encounter with Mr. Thibault, he decided to take the matter up with his neighbours.

Messrs. Thibault and Wouters allege Mr. Lusk showed up at their home yelling and hitting their metal gate, an accusation Mr. Lusk steadfastly denies. The couple said Mr. Lusk accused Mr. Wouters, who had not been in the car, of driving dangerously and endangering the lives of his children, calling him a "f---ing faggot." . . .

Police also charged him with assault and uttering death threats, but he was later acquitted.

Still, the Human Rights Tribunal, using surveillance footage of the encounter captured by cameras Messrs. Thibault and Wouters had installed on their home, ruled "by a preponderance of evidence, that the defendant, by his behaviour, his comments and his attitude, has violated the rights of the plaintiffs, on the basis of their sexual orientation."

I really don't know where to start. This is a grave injustice. First it was a matter between neighbours. It's pretty common for neighbours to have disagreements, and it is a father's responsibility to protect his children. I can't imagine the police treating this type of complaint seriously under any other circumstances.

Second Mr Lusk was acquitted of all charges related to the incident. We have a constitutional right not to be tried twice for the same crime so the Human Rights tribunal seems to be tramping all over Mr Lusk's rights.

Finally, I came across the story via a comment on my last post about the disturbing pace our rights are being eroded in the name of 'human rights.' That post referenced a court ruling that marriage commissioners cannot op out of performing marriage ceremonies for same sex couples and the silly censorship of the 1980s hit song Money for Nothing. That makes 3 decisions in one week that tramped on the rights of individuals in favour of the gay lobby.

I suppose now is the time for a disclaimer. I have nothing against gays individually or as a community, but when our basic rights are trampled on to appease a vocal minority we must stand up to protect them.

Stop the Madness Now!

First things first: Faggot, Faggot, Faggot. Take that you silly censors!

The ridiculous ruling by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council to ban the original version of Dire Strait's hit song 'Money for Nothing' is part of a very disturbing trend this week. It follows a decision earlier this week by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal that concluded marriage commissioners have no right to refuse to marry same sex couples.

In neither case are the rights of homosexuals harmed or challenged, but in both cases the rights of others are seriously threatened. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Conscience are fundamental to democracy, both have been harmed this week.

Fortunately, many Canadians are willing to stand up to the censorship decision. Q104 Halifax and K97 Edmonton are both publicly defying the ruling by playing the song, in their report, the Toronto Sun helpfully published contact information to complain to the CBSC. Anyone can contact the CBSC national chair Ronald Cohen at ron.cohen@cbsc.ca or 1 (866) 696-4718. I definitely plan on doing that, but I wish it were as easy to fight the Saskatchewan decision on conscience rights, because I think that's more serious.

In the meantime here's the unedited version of the song



and the offending lyrics:

See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire

'Sky Cake' is More Profound than This Dude Thinks

Patton Oswalt is deliberately offensive in this video implying that anyone who takes their faith seriously might as well believe in 'sky cake.' His athiest fans love it and if you're not offended too easily it's kinda funny:



The interesting thing to me though is that it actually makes a pretty profound point. Right of the top he says, "if we didn’t have religion we wouldn’t be here by now . . . there’d be no civilization."

I don't think I could have said it much better. Maybe his athiest fans can take note the next time they try to remove any reference to God from the public sphere.

Open at Your Own Peril

On the 10th day of Christmas, I finally caved and wrote a post lamenting corporate crimes against Christmas.

There's the standard 'happy holidays' or 'holiday lighting' phrases that just drive me crazy as they seemingly attempt to deny that we are even celebrating Christmas. I've spent more energy than I want to ranting against this lunacy. All I did this year was try to give some preference to stores that mentioned Christmas. (It was handy that many individual Tim Horton's franchises had Merry Christmas written all over their windows.)

This year's major crime against Christmas came from Shoppers' Drug Mart. They are the dominant pharmacy around these parts, much like Walgreen's in the US. Many Shoppers' stores were open on Christmas Day. If your family doctor is closed, I don't see the reason why the pharmacy needs to be open especially since you usually get at least a week's worth of prescription medicine at one time. Besides, the stores also feature cosmetics, photo finishing, gifts, and a grocery section. It's hard to imagine why other major retailers wouldn't argue if Shopper's can open, we must too.

It's a tragedy that so many of that company's employees needlessly worked on Christmas Day. It's also very easy to imagine other retail employees following suit. It was only a few years ago when every store in Ontario was closed for Boxing Day (Dec 26) as well as Christmas day.

Retailers are best advised to remember that time off at Christmas facilitates the gift giving that makes the season so profitable for retailers. If they decide to open en masse then there will be less people available for Christmas day gift exchanges and less gifts exchanged.

My advice to retailers is stay closed on Christmas Day, but if you do open it is at your own peril.

Christmas Light Show

Most likely I'm still at Midnight Mass, but I wanted to be sure to say Merry Christmas! Here's a way to celebrate for one and half minutes, or two minutes if you want to let the video load for a second.

Polar Bear Panic

I still can't believe that one cheap animation in an Al Gore presentation has had so much effect on our culture. The imminent extinction of the polar bear has been well documented over the past 3 weeks. Mercifully, at least one Ottawa Citizen reader is doing his part to insert logic into the debate:

Since your newspaper is so deeply interested in current scientific opinion, you are undoubtedly aware that another polar bear specialist, Dr. Mitchell Taylor
(Department of Environment, Government of Nunavut) has declared that, "It is entirely appropriate to be concerned about climate change, but it is just silly to predict the demise of polar bears in 25 years, based on media-assisted hysteria ... Of the 13 populations of polar bears in Canada, 11 are stable or increasing in number. They are not going extinct, or even appear to be affected at present. I understand that people who do not live in the North generally have difficulty grasping the concept of too many polar bears in an area. People who live here have a pretty good grasp of what it's like to have too many polar bears around."

After two weeks of shovelling snow and feeling my nostrils freeze, I'm sure the Arctic ice will be just fine and the polar bears will have tasty seal for dinner soon. Wait, aren't we supposed to save all the baby seals? No I'm sorry that was last year's cause du jour.

What Can We Do?

This month old article in the Globe and Mail highlights the problem of ethnic cleansing in Iraq:

The Islamic State of Iraq, an organization affiliated with al-Qaeda, announced it carried out the cathedral attack to force the release of Islamic converts allegedly being detained by the Coptic Church in Egypt. The group later declared Christians everywhere to be “legitimate targets.”

As Christians converged on their churches Wednesday to seek counsel from their religious leaders, the capital's Syrian Catholic archbishop made an emotional appeal for Western countries to come to their rescue.

“It would be criminal on the part of the international community not to take care of the security of the Christians,” said Athanase Matti Shaba Matoka as he tried to console members of the Baghdad cathedral’s congregation.

I'll admit I feel helpless. I don't know what to do to help these embattled Christians. This is a country that our American allies paid dearly to liberate. Unlike Afghanistan, I don't think the Americans could credibly threaten to withdrawl their support from the country. There are far too many risks by simply leaving the country for Iran to meddle in.

I shall simply pray and hope whatever pressure our governments are able to apply will have some effect. In the meantime I will take some small comfort in the fact that the Iraqi Prime Minister is at least saying the right things:

Wednesday’s attacks came just a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited the scarred cathedral and urged Christians not to leave the country. Iraqi security forces would protect them, he promised.

Innovation in China

I was pretty impressed on Saturday morning when I read about China's new high speed train:

Measurements during trial service on the run showed that train CRH380A reached a maximum speed of 486.1 km/h (302 mph), breaking the world operation speed record for unmodified commercial use trains. With this run, the train obliterated its
own previous record speed of 416.6 km/h (259 mph) set a mere two months ago.

I'll admit my bias toward China is it's a great place to buy cheap throw away items. Now it seems they're capable of advanced technology as well.

Good for China. They have the money and economic growth to invest in new technology, and the fact that they have partnered with a strong international company like Siemens is a positive sign that the technology may be transferred to the rest of the world.

There's probably no need to make too big of a deal about the train. It's normal operating speed is 350km/hr which isn't terribly faster than the TGV trains in Europe. Nonetheless, the story offers a welcome challenge to my image of China as a low tech, high pollution economy.

Working Too Hard

I've been putting a lot of hours in at work. In the office, on the road, and now even at home. I just can't seem to switch gears. So here it is a work related video on my personal blog. It's 4.5 minutes and it helps explain the problems with the livestock industry in Ontario. Both the cattle and hog industries are shrinking dramatically, breeding cow inventories have shrunk by nearly 20% since 2003 and the breeding herd for pigs is shrinking even faster. Down by more than 20% in less than 3 years. There are plenty of reasons, US trade barriers like Country of Origin Labelling, H1N1, an increasing Canadian dollar, and rising feed costs lead the list.

It's to the point now where there have been massive layoffs in the processing sector and suppliers as well as farmers are going out of business. If the industry falls below a critical mass there could be even less processing capacity causing a descent into a death spiral that does huge damage to the whole economy along the way. Ontario Farmers have put forward an affordable solution for governments. Hopefully you'll take a minute or 4 to watch the video and maybe even learn more about the program at http://www.beefporkrmp.ca/.