Abortion Debate Returns To Parliament

The pro-life caucus in the House of Commons, led by a Conservative MP from Winnipeg Rod Bruinooge, is getting ready for the new session.

The all-party caucus will publicize what it views as inadequate abortion regulation, and push for legislation to restrict abortions, Winnipeg MP Rod Bruinooge said in an interview.
...
Mr. Bruinooge declined to provide details about the membership of the caucus – which he described as “sizable” – on the basis that MPs from other parties fear internal repercussions if their activism is known.

However, Mr. Bruinooge said that his party leader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is well aware that he is involved in a campaign to advocate for precisely what Mr. Harper does not want to see – the reopening of the abortion debate.

More >>>

Actually, the Prime Minister's Office has already responded and its response is typical. The government took the chance to distance itself from the abortion debate, pledging not to support any legislation on abortion. But Stephen Harper shouldn't forget that it's unlikely for him to win yet another election with nearly 170,000 less votes. That radical pro-aborts will never trust him, even if he drags his own wife to the abortion clinic, kicking and screaming. And - that Canada already has a "fis-con" political party leader; his name is Michael Ignatieff and he's far more attractive to all the moderates out there because he doesn't have a Reform/Alliance/NCC past. So he better starts listening to the pro-life, socially Conservative wing of his party.

The Globe And Mail concludes its article by quoting a radical pro-abort Joyce Arthur who claims that "People are happy with the status quo. It's working well." Well, if people are that happy with the status-quo, then I wonder how come Globe And Mail allowed no comments on the story? And, when it comes to the "working well" part - here's how "well" the system actually works:

In Canada in 2008, our citizens have no legal value while in the wombs of their mothers. We are completely alone in the world in this regard.

Most Canadians would agree that you should not be able to remove your kidney and sell it on eBay to the highest bidder. Although it's your body and your kidney, this would not only be a poor bioethical choice, but it is in fact illegal under our laws.

Most Canadians would also agree that an unborn child in the ninth month of gestation, moments away from delivery, should not be eligible for an elective abortion. However, regardless of the fact that this would be an extremely poor bioethical choice, it is in fact legal. As such, Canada has far greater protections for human kidneys than we do for human fetuses.

More >>>

I understand that radical pro-aborts themselves may be very happy with the status-quo. But, as the polls show - even those Canadians who favor legal abortions believe there should be some legal restrictions to protect the unborn at later stage of the pregnancy.

CHRC vs Free Dominion — What The [Censored]?!

How many CHRC bureaucrats does it take to investigate a Conservative website? Believe it or not, it takes 13 of them. And all they could show for over two years of "hard work" it is that the work is still in progress.

That’s about all the information that’s available from the access to information response provided by the CHRC to Free Dominion.

I’ve never seen such a laughable disregard for Canada’s freedom of information laws as this reply is. Seriously, click here (large file) to see 23 whited-out pages, yielding no information whatsoever.
...
First, the fact that the CHRC has refused to give any substantive information to Free Dominion, while clearly having a large file on them, shows how abusive the CHRC is. It’s a kangaroo court that treats the people it investigates not only with political contempt (the CHRC’s Dean Steacy compared Free Dominion, a legitimate conservative website, to the neo-Nazi website Stormfront, on page 5766 of this hearing) but without any regard for procedural fairness. They’re a bunch of bullies – not surprising, given that Jennifer Lynch is their chief.

More >>>

If you're still unfamiliar with this character - check out this article. It gives a lot more understanding on who Jennifer Lynch is and what kind of "human rights" she's promoting.

It's hard to comment on Ezra's articles without repeating what he's already said. So I'll just ask a rhetoric question: with the economic conditions being that bad and with the budget deficit threatening to consume all the recent years' debt repayment, why can't our supposedly Conservative government just fire them all?

At the very least, we can just give Ms. Lynch a shovel and a minimum wage paycheck and send her to clean sidewalks and driveways. The cost of her 5-day trip to Ireland alone would have been enough to keep her employed until the snow melts. And it would have been far more beneficial to Canadians as well.

In Memory Of A Hero And A Brother

Received by e-mail from David T. Little:

Dear Family & Friends,

In this Holy Christmas Season, my brother-in-law Sgt. Greg John Kruse, for me and our family a great hero, offered the ultimate sacrifice in service to his country and terribly oppressed men, women and children in Afghanistan on Saturday, December 27, 2008 at 12:15 PM. My sister Jill and Greg were married in June of 1996. Three beautiful little girls, twins Megan and Victoria, aged 6, and Kari Anne, aged 11 are now left without a daddy and my sister without her dear spouse. We are all very grieved at this great loss and I implore your prayers for my dear beloved sister and her little ones. Here is a photo taken on a recent Remembrance Day of Greg & his little girls....

Greg died on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, whose name he shared and so I ask your good prayers to this Saint that he may intercede with our good God for the repose of his soul. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. We love you Greg, and will never forget you and your selfless heroism.

Here is a photo I took a few years go at our home in Fredericton of Jill and Kari Anne.... you can see where the children get their beauty!

This is such a sorrow for the whole family. Please pray for Jill and the girls...please? And his family members and ours.

Let us all pray ardently for an end to the horrific disrespect to the dignity of human life throughout Canada and the world and for an end to the culture of death that the evil one insidiously advances in war on the Holy Innocents promoting murder in the womb and on heroic souls like dear Greg.

May God bless you all in 2009.

David

Tim Bloedow: Exposing The Lie Of Eco-Religion

Tim Bloedow, the author of the Christian Government website has published a new book entitled “Environmentalism and the Death of Science: Exposing the Lie of Eco-Religion.”

Environmentalism has become the leading religion in Canada and the Western world. It’s a globalist ideology that is at war with science and at war with Christianity. This might be the only book published in North America that tackles the key religious components of modern Environmentalism, exposing their errors and demonstrating the incompatibility of orthodox Christianity and Environmentalism. In an era when Christian leaders, including the leadership of the National Association of Evangelicals, has embraced false notions such as cataclysmic climate change theory, this book is a timely antidote to such deception and ignorance.

(Buy it online)

Check out this interview with Tim Bloedow at No Apologies website. And here's another article on the global warming alarmism which shows that the so called "consensus on global warming" is melting. It too, confirms what Tim Bloedow says in his book - that environmentalism has become nothing but a synthesis between pantheism and socialism, rather than a scientific theory.

A 2008 survey of 51,000 Canadian scientists revealed 68 per cent disagreed with the claim that global warming science is settled. And 31,000 American scientists have signed the Global Warming Petition Project that urges the U. S. government to reject the Kyoto treaty and any similar proposals, saying there is "no convincing scientific evidence" of a "catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere."

More >>>

So, only 32% agree that the science is settled. That might be enough to elect a candidate in a 4-way race, but in science, it's facts that matter, not votes. In order for the science to be truly settled, proponents of the global warming theory must provide facts that would be strong enough to convince the entire scientific community, instead of mere 32%.

P.S. That, in a way, explains the outrage over the Pope's Christmas speech. Not only the Pope spoke out against the gender ideology which seeks to redefine the sexes, but he also stated, that human beings deserve no less protection than rainforests. Thus enraging not only militant homosexuals and their supporters but also the eco-freaks of all stripes, some of whom would go as far as sterilizing themselves "for Gaia's sake".

No wonder that major newspapers (such as the Times of London) responded by blasting the speech, claiming that "Christmas was never meant to be about this". Yeah, right! Those liberal open-minded environmentally conscious journalists sure know better than the Pope.

When Pro-Life Messages And Actions Are Consistent And Regular...

...Pro-life fruits are sweet and abundant. Let this success story from the parish of St. Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, be an inspiration to us all.

Every Tuesday, in numbers too big to ignore, parishioners plant themselves in front of the city’s one remaining abortion business. They pray the Rosary and offer counseling. Led by their pastor, Father James Farfaglia, they’ve been at it for nearly two years.
...
Father Farfaglia and Reeves calculate that, at the start of these Tuesday vigils, between 40 and 50 abortions — possibly as many as 75 — were being carried out each week. Now, they estimate, the business is down to less than 20.

“The single most important thing a member of the clergy can do is be on the front lines of the sidewalk,” says Reeves, who from the early 1980s was involved with Project Gabriel and Operation Rescue with Randall Terry. Now he is chairman of Corpus Christi’s Hope House, a place for unwed mothers and their children. “The presence of a Roman collar and rosary beads is probably the single most powerful message that a pastor could send to his parishioners about his dedication to life.”

More >>>

From 40-50 abortions a week, down to less than 20. That's over 1200 (possibly - as many as 2000) lives saved every year. With no new abortion restrictions. With no help from the government. Without the mass media by their side. With nothing but courage, devotion and of course - prayer.

So let us remember that the true path to success is: Be there. Every week. Or every day if necessary.

Merry Christmas

Who said Christmas and diversity don't mix?

Christmas in Ukraine is celebrated January 7 according to the Gregorian calendar as in most of other Orthodox Christian countries. During the Soviet time it was not officially celebrated in Ukraine. Instead communist government tried to substitute Christmas with the holiday of New Year. But people did not forget their traditions. After gaining it’s independence in 1991 Ukraine started to celebrate Christmas officially as well. There are numerous Christmas traditions here. They vary significantly at the different parts of Ukraine. In most parts of Ukraine on the Christmas Eve people create so-called ‘Vertep’ (means cave in ancient Greek). These are scenes from Bible of Jesus birth. They show little Jesus in manger, Mary, strangers offering their gifts and Bethlehem star in the sky. Those verteps are exhibited at public places, usually near or inside churches. At night candles are installed inside verteps for people who come to church for the night service can observe them. The Christmas Eve is called in Ukraine ‘Sviaty Vechir’ (Holy Evening) sometimes also called ‘Sviata Vecheria’ (Holy Supper). People usually cook some tasty foods for this evening. There should be at least 12 different foods on the table. Those should mandatory include ‘Kutia’ — the ritual food which is prepared from cooked wheat and special syrup containing diluted honey, grated poppy seeds, raisins and sometimes walnuts.

(Source)

Merry Christmas to all and special thanks to Marginalized Action Dinosaur for the picture and the quote.

Why Should I Care About CBC Cuts

In fact, is there a reason why I shouldn't be cheering a $200M cut to CBC, that hopefully is still being considered by the government?

The Conservative party wants to cut $200 million from the CBC’s parliamentary grant, claims an independent watchdog of Canadian programming.
...
If true, the cut could cripple Canada’s national broadcaster, which received $974.3 million in operating funding and $93.1 million on amortisation of deferred capital funding from the feds in 2007; down from 2006, when it received $1 billion in operating funding and $118 million on amortisation of deferred capital funding.
...
The $200-million cut would also be a slap in the face to the federal standing committee on Canadian Heritage, which recommended in a February 2008 report that the CBC’s core funding be increased “to an amount equivalent to at least $40 per capita”.

(Source)

Why do they think the CBC should be entitled to that money? What have they done to earn it? The CBC claims to be the national broadcaster - how can it be the national broadcaster if it boycotts and ridicules if not openly despises millions of pro-life, pro-family Canadians?

Just name an issue. Abortion? Oh, we remember the CBC coverage of the March for Life. How long did it take for them to admit that the turnout for the March for Life was a little higher than 1500? (About 5 times higher than 1500, to be precise.) Marriage? I still remember the CBC news anchors trying to distance themselves from the pro-marriage side: "So called true marriage". "What they claim to be family values"... But the "legalize something-something marriage" mantra kept being repeated over and over, without disclaimers.

Remember the "Greatest Canadian Wish" contest run by the CBC? Had it been the pro-abortion wish winning the most votes, the CBC would have made sure to mention that in every newscast, not just on Canada day, but also - few days thereafter. But the most supported wish was a wish to abolish abortion. So the CBC aired its report at 7:34 am. Well, then they should not complain if instead of getting $40 per capita, they only get $40 for every Canadian viewer who doesn't mind waking up at 7:30 on a holiday morning to watch their shows. Anyone else should be allowed to keep his $40 to himself. Myself, I'd rather donate the same amount to Life Site News.

No, It's Not Suzanne From The Big Blue Wave

While the name is quite similar, Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis, who's been appointed to the Senate today is not the same Suzanne Fortin who is the author of the Big Blue Wave blog.

Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis was born in Chicoutimi and studied at the École des Beaux-arts de Québec and at Laval University, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in visual arts and a certificate in college education. She was a teacher at the regional school board Louis-Fréchette. In 1981, she became the first woman to be elected to the municipal council of the City of Sainte-Foy. She became active in federal politics and was elected as the MP for the riding of Louis-Hébert from 1984 to 1993. Ms. Fortin-Duplessis has always been involved in the community. During her career, she was a member of the board of the Alzheimer Society and the Fondation de l’Opéra de Québec, and she is a member of the Laval hospital and the Saint-Sacrement hospital foundations. More recently, she was a volunteer for the International Eucharistic Congress.

More >>>

Each new senator pledges to support Canada’s elected government, promote Canadian unity and advance Senate reform.

Best wishes to the new Senators and hopefully - one day we'll see the pro-life leaders of our generation (including Suzanne) in the House of Commons and in the Senate.

No More Political Correctness

Even if Canada was built by immigrants - it doesn't mean that Canadians should bend backwards to accommodate newcomers that are unwilling to accept Canada's founding languages, values and culture.

So many letter writers have explained how this land is made up of immigrants. May be we should turn to our history books and point out to people why today’s Canadian is not willing to accept the new kind of immigrant any longer.

Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to Canada, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in Halifax and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new Canadian households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home. They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.

Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labour laws to protect them. All they had were the skills, craftsmanship and desire they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

More >>>

And there was no political correctness. No desire to overcompensate for the "tyranny of the majority" by instituting a nasty tyranny of the minorities.

If you are a Christian, you cannot say the same things about other groups that so-called minority groups can say about Christians or about other protected groups. According to human rights commissions, an Imam who writes a hateful book about gays, Jews and Christians is a-okay, but a Christian pastor who writes a passionate letter to the editor condemning the tactics of gay activists must endure a lifetime speech ban even in private emails, make a public "confession" and "apology" and pay a crippling fine.

This is what I believe is the rationale. Christians are seen to be the majority religion and therefore the ones who have the levers of power. Thus, by definition, they are oppressors, and what they say is uniquely dangerous. I suppose the same thinking goes concerning the white race, and a lot of stupid people conflate the white race with the Christian faith and western civilization.

More >>>

The least we can do is simply refuse to cooperate with those who force political correctness on us. Don't buy "happy holidays" cards. Try not to shop at the stores that exclude Christians in their attempts to accommodate everyone else. And of course - reject their "newspeak"; keep using words they're telling you to avoid. When they tell you to say "seasons greetings" instead of "merry Christmas" or when they suggest that instead of asking "are you married" you should say "are you in relationship" - tell them to go... um... in a direction that is not marked on any compass.

Seven Courageous Students Say NO To Quebec's Creepy New Curriculum

Despite suspension, despite the threat of expulsion, they refuse to attend a mandatory course which is nothing but a virtual indoctrination into social and moral relativism.

The ERC curricula are mandated to introduce students to Quebec's rich diversity of religious tenets and "facilitate the spiritual development of students so as to promote self-fulfilment." Since when does the state "facilitate" spiritual self-fulfilment? To parents who take religion seriously, this is a chilling intrusion into what all democratically inspired charters of rights designate as a parental realm of authority.

ERC was adopted by virtual fiat, its mission to instill "normative pluralism" in students. "Normative pluralism" is gussied-up moral relativism, the ideology asserting there is no absolute right or wrong and that there are as many "truths" as there are whims. There were no public consultations.

The program is predicated on the worst possible educational model for young children: the philosopher Hegel's "pedagogy of conflict." As one of the founders of the ECR course, put it, students "must learn to shake up a too-solid identity" and experience "divergence and dissonance" through "le questionnement."

More >>>

According to World Net Daily, school boards across Quebec have received over 1400 request from parents for their children to be exempted from the course, which emphasizes feminism over Christianity, and suggests that Raelians are centuries ahead of other beliefs. For obvious reasons, all those requests were rejected. So the students have to fight for their rights themselves.

Diane Gagne's 16-year-old son, Jonathan, is one of those hit with a suspension. He has refused to take part in the two-hour-per-week course because it teaches values that run counter to his religious beliefs.

"He told me, 'Mom, I am still standing, and I'm going to keep standing and fight this to the end,'" said Diane Gagne. "We're prepared to go right to expulsion."

Lawyer Jean-Yves Cote is representing the family against the suspension imposed by the public high school in Granby, Quebec, as well as another family with a court challenge to the state demand.

Under the course requirements, "it is the state deciding what religious content will be learned, at what age, and that is totally overriding the parents' authority and role," Jean Morse-Chevrier, of the Quebec Association of Catholic Parents, told the newspaper.

In 2005, a change in the law eliminated a family's right to choose among "Catholic," "Protestant" or "moral" instruction in classrooms, a change that took effect last summer.

More >>>

Hopefully, those courageous seven will show the way to hundreds and thousands of others. Hopefully, their effort will eventually grow to a student strike province-wide which would force the government to back down.

Otherwise, if it turns out that Quebec's self-loathing quasi-national socialists are determined to erase Quebec's founding values and vast majority of Quebecers simply doesn't care - then it would make sense for Quebec's social conservatives to just move out. There are other provinces (including New Brunswick - bilingual, growth-oriented and not overrun by pinko-commies) that would be more than happy to accommodate hard-working refugees from Quebec.

CHP: Time To Rescue Canada From The Banks

If the government is going to shower ailing industries with billions of bailout money (up to $30B according to the recent news) - they better use the Bank of Canada to finance the economic stimulus, rather than borrowing from private investors at compound interest.

• First, the federal government apparently plans to use Bank-Created Money (BCM), which comes into the economy as interest-bearing debt, thus compounding and adding to the national debt.
  
  The CHP plan was for the Bank of Canada to create the funds—Government-Created Money (GCM)—which would not incur interest-bearing and -compounding debt. It is simply wrong to saddle future generations with more debt.
  
  What's the advantage of using BCM instead of GCM? Who benefits? Only the banks. And the children suffer.


• The CHP proposal was for the Bank of Canada to inject the money into the economy in the form of interest-free loans to provinces, municipalities and other local authorities. Local authorities know better what infrastructure is needed locally. And when the loans are repaid from the increased revenues generated by the economic stimulus, the funds created can be retired—or directed to other needs—so that the GCM does not have an inflationary effect.

...
There's no point in Ottawa "renting" our money from the banks. That makes the banks richer, but it impoverishes future generations to do so. Perhaps its time the big banks were booted off the Board of the Bank of Canada. Clearly, they have far too much influence over the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the central bank.

More >>>

The Bank of Canada was established by the Conservative government of Richard Bennet, but it was the Liberal government of McKenzie King which nationalized the Bank of Canada and started using it to the full benefit of the country.

It helped getting the country out of the Great Depression. It helped financing the post-WW2 transition to a peace-time economy. By 1974 (when the government switched to all private borrowing,) almost 25% of Canada's public debt was held by the Bank of Canada, making that portion of the debt virtually interest-free. (All the interest was passed back to the government in the form of dividends.) Now that share is less than 5%.

Stephen Harper has a unique opportunity to come up with a budget that would provide money for fiscal stimulus, while avoiding deficits and keeping the taxes low. Or - he could recreate the 1979 scenario and go for another election campaign - right after presenting a deficit boosting, tax-hiking budget.

Rights These Days Are Not Created Equal

Just check out the recent "human rights" rulings: A Christian pastor has no rights to criticize homosexual lifestyle. Similarly, a healthcare worker who happens to be a conservative Christian, has no right to distribute flyers that denounce homosexual lifestyle as biologically abnormal and unhealthy and that contain a photocopy of a newspaper ad such as "man seeking boys ... age not so relevant". That is punishable by a hefty fine, a court-ordered apology and a lifetime ban on criticizing homosexual lifestyle.

But a radical Muslim "imam" which openly calls for extermination of homosexuals - has his freedom of speech unabated. The Canadian "human rights" commission refused to hear a complaint against his viciously bigoted book which spreads hatred not just against homosexuals but also against women, Jews, Christians, Hindus and many other groups. Have Muslims become exempt from section 13.1 of the Canadian Human Rights Act? Or is it just that our brave CHRC jackboots prefer not to mess with Islam?

Ironically, the day the news came out, Mark Steyn Binks Webelf blogger published this "rights points scale" on Free Mark Steyn blog:

REMEMBER: all ‘rights’ these days are not created equal. White people get 0; men get -50; women get +10; gays get +20; Christians -25, other religions +25; the handicapped points vary.. for eugenical liberals, it’s -5, for old-fashioned liberals, it’s+5; for racist blacks or aboriginals or other minorities, it’s a +20; eco-greenies get +10; progressive utopians get +50, but for conservative anythings, it’s -50 or more, despite other categories. So the proverbial lesbian black-aboriginal racist green paraplegic utopian, it’s a sweet +140 of rights. Some white conservative Christian guy? -125 rights points: obviously much less human or deserving. Remember that: it’s diversity, and tolerance!

More >>>

Now everyone can calculate whether he's among the "more equals" or among the "less equals". And guess what - that's probably the only way to explain why rights of a homosexual activist outweigh the rights of a Christian pastor or those of a conservative nurse, but at the same time, right of a Muslim "imam" outweigh the rights of a homosexual activist.

See for yourself: a homosexual activists only earns +20 rights points. A homosexual female would earn +30. That's more than enough to beat a Christian conservative man (-125 rights points) but not enough to outweigh a Muslim who gets at least +45 points (25 for being "other religion" and 20 for being a minority). Plus there might be some special points for being Muslim (most likely - at least 100 if not more, so that Muslims could outweigh progressive utopians) which Mark Steyn simply forgot to mention.

So, how does it feel to be less equal?

Even Professors Have No Freedom Of Speech On Campus

The fact that our universities have long become socialist dictatorships is known to everyone. The so called "student unions" have long been acting like the new "Komsomol". So firing a professor over difference of opinion, while somewhat extraordinary, is simply another step in the same direction; another measure to strengthen ultra-left indoctrination on campuses by silencing anyone who dares to have opposing views:

According to Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) executive director James Turk, Reynolds was dismissed because he took positions that disagreed with the WHRA, and represents an encroachment on academic freedom.
...
"The university is complicit in the region getting rid of him, even though they're short of staff,” Turk said.

After Reynolds published a letter about the importance of family medicine in the Winnipeg Free Press, “He got a letter from WRHA that he should have had permission,” Turk said. “No professor should have to get permission to publish a letter in his field.”

Turk said that Reynolds also publicly disagreed with the WHRA plan to close the low-risk maternity ward at Victoria Hospital

“This is Family [Doctor] Week in Canada. This week the College of Family Doctors is having its annual meeting, and Reynolds is one of the speakers at it, talking about leadership in family medicine,” Turk said.

Manitoba Liberal leader Jon Gerrard issued a press release decrying the issue as a matter of free speech, and placing the blame squarely on Manitoba’s NDP government.

More >>>

John Pacheco has posted more details on Dr. Larry Reynolds' dismissal at SoCon or Bust blog. The University of Manitoba has a long-time history of silencing pro-lifers:

In 2003, a student was failed by the University of Manitoba School of Medicine. The reason? He informed his Obstetrics and Gynecology instructors he would refuse to perform or refer for any abortive procedure. He appealed the denial of his degree three times without success. The matter became public in March, 2004 when his final appeal was denied.

A story in Lifesitenews.com says, “He is being supported by several pro-life doctors in Manitoba, who are concerned about the university’s intolerance.”It’s not hard to imagine that one of those doctors was Dr. Larry Reynolds. Reynolds was a regular contributor to pro-life publications. He sat on the editorial board of Vital Signs, the newsletter of Canadian Physicians for Life. And while still with the University of Western Ontario he was quoted in a story in Vital Signs headlined “No Duty to Refer.”

More >>>

First they came for the students, then it was the professors' turn. Of course, you won't see our ill-famous "human rights" commissions intervening; they're all in favor of that kind of discrimination. And, unfortunately, there's little hope that the federal government (let alone - provincial government, run by the local NDP) is going to cut their funding. So it will be us, the taxpayers, pitching in so that those university jackboots keep getting their six-figure paychecks unabated, despite the recession.

Portrait Of A Non-Choice

This should respond to all the comments to one of my previous blog posts. I reposted some quotes from Socon or Bust blog, which showed that killing babies is a thankless job. My opponents were arguing that those quotes "are obviously made up", that those "doctors" are providing "necessary treatment", for which, they claim, women are thankful. Well, here are some more facts which denounce those claims:

• The overall death rate of women rises 3.5 times after an abortion. Suicide rates are 6-7 times higher after an abortion.


• 65% report symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder they attribute to their abortions.


• 60% said "part of me died."


• "We were maiming at least one woman a month." – Carol Everett, former abortion clinic operator

More >>>

Necessary treatment, they say. People are very thankful, they say. Thankful - for that?

• 64% felt pressured by others. Coercion can escalate to violence.


• Deceptive, inaccurate or incomplete information presented as fact by licensed professionals, health officials, clinic staffers, advisors and even religious counselors ... also acts coercively.


• Up to 83% of abortions are unwanted.


• The majority felt rushed and uncertain, yet 67% had no counseling before abortion.


• 79% not informed about available alternatives.


• 84% not given enough information to make an informed choice.

More >>>

This is just a small quote from a special report on forced abortions in America. The conclusion is obvious: Abortion is often a woman's last choice, but her abuser's first choice. So who is then the one most likely to be thankful for having all those abortion "clinics" around?

Feminism — Rejected By Real Women

Looks like the F-word has become a hot topic. Even before the no-libs blog came up with this blogpost, exposing nazi-like tactics of hardcore feminists, we had this National Post article by Barbara Kay:

November was Domestic Violence Awareness month. Truth in advertising suggests it should be Y-Chromosome Apartheid Month. Far from promoting "awareness" of a social problem or remedies for men and women with anger issues, the month is basically a radical feminist war dance around the Original Sin of maleness, cheered on by "progressive" media sympathizers.

The annual verbal pogrom will find its apotheosis in to-day's 19th observance of the Montreal Massacre anniversary, our domestic violence industry's shrine to feminism's Big Lie of male unilateralism in domestic violence.

More >>>

That was a good starter. Then there was a full-fledged blog war over the no-libs blog post, which brought us lots of comments from angry radical feminist brownshirts and - at least ten well-argumented articles by Suzanne, from the Big Blue Wave blog.

Check out Suzanne's great articles:

• I don't need feminism
• Feminism: so much to critique, so little time
• 5 Things That Are Wrong with Feminism (Introduction)
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
  • Part 4
  • Part 5
• Feminism did not give us free speech; free speech made feminism possible
• SOW's goal: an auditor-general for feminism

Suzanne responds to her hardcore feminist opponents, dispelling their myths one at a time.

Send A Christmas Card To A Pro-Life Heroine

Linda Gibbons is going to spend yet another Christmas in jail for merely refusing to abide by an injunction which forbids any pro-life activities (including silent prayers) near abortion facilities. Let us not abandon the pro-life heroine to her fate. Sending a simple Christmas card is the least we can do.

Here's Linda's address:

Linda Gibbons
Vanier Women's Detention Centre
655 Martin St. - Box 1040
Milton, ON L9T 5E6

P.S. Don't forget - all the correspondence is read by the security guards. So if you want to contribute to Linda's effort to spread the word - consider including 2 or 3 pro-life pamphlets with your card. Or - write a letter which would include a pro-life comment. It will be read and it may end up touching someone's heart.

Check out the Life Site News page for detailed rules for such letters.

You Wanted Appointed Senators? You Got Them!

That's my message to Calgary Grit and all the Liberals out there who accuse Harper of breaking his campaign promise. Sorry guys, but in the last three years Liberals have done all they could to block the Senate reform. Heck, some Quebec Liberals even went as far as threatening legal action against the government if there would be no other way to stop bill C-20. So quit blaming Harper. It's not his fault that we still can't have a general election to fill those 18 vacant Senate seats. The only thing he can do now is to make an agreement with the soon to be appointed Senators that would require them to resign and contest an election as soon as the Senate election bill passes.

And by the way - since when are Liberals against filling Senate seats by appointment? Where were they when a Liberal Prime Minister (Paul Martin) chose to ignore the Alberta Senate nominee election, appointing unelected Liberals and Liberal-leaning PCs instead? Then, when Stephen Harper chose to stop appointing unelected Senators, wasn't it a Liberal caucus in the Senate which wanted to force new Senate appointments either through a private member bill (S-224) or through a direct appeal to the Governor General? They wanted appointed Senators - they got them! So what's the problem then?

The problem is that some Liberals apparently see themselves already in power. So it frustrates them that a man whom they regard as merely an interim Prime Minister is giving away what they regard as "rightfully theirs". Senate appointments were part of the coalition deal. If those vacancies are gone - Liberals could no longer offer 6 Senate seats to Jacques Parizeau and his separatist friends, let alone giving a 20-year sinecure to Elizabeth May. That's what upsets them so much.

Canada's Left - A "People's Democracy"

When Dominic LeBlanc withdrew from the Liberal leadership race on Monday, he said it had been a privilege “running for the leadership of the greatest democratic institution in the Western world.” In keeping with the democratic principles he so admires, he then called on his party to short-circuit it’s own constitutional leadership selection process and anoint Michael Ignatieff forthwith.

When asked by reporters how he could reconcile his professed love of the democratic process with his desire to see Mr. Ignatieff in the leader’s office (and, presumably himself in a prominent front-bench role) without a vote by more than the 77 Liberal MPs and 58 Liberal senators, Mr. LeBlanc offered the heartfelt response of all great defenders of democracy: “The urgency of the situation requires extraordinary measures.”

Sorry? Is our country being invaded? The urgency of just what situation requires the suspension of rank-and-file Liberals’ right to choose their party’s boss?

Oh, right, I forgot: the urgent need to replace the Conservatives as government without an election; another time-honoured democratic tradition.
...
Thus the man they last week proposed to foist on Canada as an unelected prime minister — Stéphane Dion — they have this week tossed over the rail in favour of foisting Michael Igantieff on their membership.

Such are the heavy obligations that come with being such a magnificent democratic institution.

More >>>

Well, there's apparently one word that Dominic Leblanc has omitted. Most likely he was talking about people's democracy - the one Soviet style; you know, when you come to vote and they give you a ballot which says "cross out all candidates, leaving out one". Except that "other" candidates which could be crossed out, weren't even there and the only candidate to be left out was already there.

All that voters had to do was - getting the ballot from the poll officer, walking across the room to the ballot box and dropping the ballot in. Few hours later, the news anchors were reporting about the great show of unity and support for democracy and progress, with 98-99% of the voters endorsing the Block of Communists and Non-Party Members.

Here we have a "progressive coalition". With the Liberals' junior partners too giving people's democracy a try:

The NDP is getting really desperate, with one MP even resorting to falsifying the results of an online poll on her site. In the space of just 20 minutes, she deleted 80 votes from her online poll that had been cast against her position.

She should have known better. In this blogging and Web 2.0 age, such manipulations cannot be covered up. Shame on the NDP.

More >>>

Oh, come on guys! Next time don't even add the "No" option to your poll. Make it much simpler: if you agree, click this button, if you don't agree - close the browser. That would spare you the need to tamper with the results every time the outcome doesn't match your declaration.

Little Mosque Under A Christmas Tree

New this non-denominational holiday season - a toy that praises Islam. Start teaching diversity at early age! Show your child "the light" by introducing her (or him) to the "religion of peace"...

Sounds crazy? Well, just listen to what this doll is saying. Mattel executives claim this is all a coincidence. To me - it looks more like a well planned act of subversion. Recalling the toy is just a half-measure. A thorough investigation must follow. If this came from a factory overseas - Mattel should consider contracting its manufacturers in another country.

If however this was perpetrated by someone who lives here in Canada - that means we've let the wrong guy in. That means, the same guy who took advantage of Canada's hospitality, is now resorting to all sorts of dirty tricks to make our children accept the very same oppressive foreign cult he once claimed to be fleeing.

Make It Informed Choice. Let Her See The Baby

Let every woman seeking abortion see the actual image of the baby she's willing to destroy. In his National Post article, Jonathan Kay outlines his arguments in defense of this seemingly cruel but morally necessary exercise:

One of the lamentable results of the culture wars is that women have been taught to regard abortion — a medically profound event that either kills, or pre-empts, a unique, genetically determinate human being — as if it were merely an act of feminist self-empowerment. Showing a mother an image of her soon-to-be-dead fetus will disabuse her of that myth.

Over time, such a policy might also render a more humane society. It is no coincidence that monstrous crimes are most common under governments that deliberately shield their citizens from the moral consequences of their actions. In the Soviet Union, abortion was used as a means of birth control. (In latter decades, each Soviet mother had, on average, four abortions.) And why not? The all-knowing state said it was OK. In other communist nations, orphaned babies were warehoused in conditions that ordinary people would have found shocking — had they been allowed to observe them.

This is more or less the template that Canada's militant pro-abortion advocates are following. Last month, the National Post's Charles Lewis profiled the tactics that university radicals are using to shut down the abortion debate on Canadian campuses. At the University of Guelph, the Central Student Association has informed Life Choice, an anti-abortion student club, that it would not be accredited because its message allegedly offends women. The controversy mirrors a similar episode at York University, whose student government banned a pro-life group under an identical pretext last summer.
...
In other words, pro-abortion radicals don't just want a country where abortion is free and easy, but where consciences are as well — where a woman who gets an abortion is not only exempt from legal sanction, but also exempt from the natural moral reflection that, in a humane society, inevitably accompanies major bioethical choices. And to make that wish come true, they're willing to shut up anyone trying to tell women the other side of the story.

More >>>

Jonathan's article may seem a little bit too optimistic to pro-lifers who are familiar with the actual state of affairs. Lack of laws that would require abortion providers to inform women about the consequences of their decision (let alone - about fetal development) is just part of the problem. To make things worse, several provinces won't even allow devoted volunteers to hand out information brochures anywhere near abortion facilities.

Ignorance is power. Especially - for those who take advantage of someone else's ignorance. Abortionists and their supporters each have their reasons to hide the simple fact that an unborn baby is a human too.

Carbon Trading — It Simply Doesn't Work

Europeans tried that - the system brought windfalls for some, higher utility bills for the rest, but little benefit to climate.

BRUSSELS: The European Union started with the most high-minded of ecological goals: to create a market that would encourage companies to reduce greenhouse gases by making them pay for each ton emitted into the atmosphere.

Four years later, the carbon trading system has created a multibillion-euro windfall for some of the continent's biggest polluters, with little or no noticeable benefit to the environment so far.

More >>>

What a terrible news. Who could have thought that letting polluters pay someone else to take the blame for their emissions would produce no results, except benefiting the polluters themselves? Who could have thought that emission permits would be practically given away, rather than sold? Who could have thought that all the extra costs would be simply passed along to the consumers? Oh, wait! That was actually part of the plan:

The initiative also included another, quieter goal: to raise the price of electricity by letting utilities pass along permit costs, thereby encouraging energy efficiency and innovation among customers as well.

That "quieter goal" was achieved. Utility prices did go up, to the cheers of a handful of Gaia fanatics (that would want to reduce our standards of living to the third world level), enraging ordinary Europeans who have to work more to pay the higher utility bills. Did it help the environment in any way? Of course it didn't!

For one simple reason: the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is minuscule. And the man-made contribution constitutes only a small part of all the carbon dioxide that's in the atmosphere. So even if every country in the world met its Kyoto targets and capped its CO₂ emissions at 6% below the 1990 level, the effect on the atmosphere would be negligible. Implementing Kyoto won't reduce the number of smog days in Toronto or Ottawa.

And, unlike the mythical "global warming", (which has never been confirmed,) smog and air pollution are known health hazards, that result in ~21,000 deaths a year in Canada alone. Instead of being so preoccupied with reducing "greenhouse gas emissions", governments of all levels should be working together to set up an action plan that would make our air and water cleaner. The plan should include stricter emission and waste treatment standards and polluters should be held individually responsible for abiding by them - with no opportunity to pay their way out.

If the Conservative government survives the budget vote next January - they should reintroduce the original Clean Air Act. The one that contained no reference to Kyoto or carbon taxes, targeting smog and air pollution instead.

Bob Rae Gets The Taste Of His Own Medicine

"Don’t Let Your Right to Vote be taken Away". Who says that? Who is the outspoken fellow that has the courage to speak up for the little guy's right to have a direct say on who should be the next leader? Stephen Harper? Nope. Riley Whitelock, the creator of a 140,000 member-strong facebook group named Canadians Against a Liberal/NDP Coalition Gov't? Wrong again! Believe it or not, that's Bob Rae!

But why would a man who helped crafting the backroom deal to change the government without election, be so concerned about the activist base, about rural Liberals, about almost all of Western Canada, about Quebeckers outside Montreal and about many others that may be denied the right to vote? In his press-release he states that "reducing the franchise to just 76 men and women seems so out-of-step with the modern world". But just days ago, Rae didn't mind reducing the franchise to mere 308 in an attempt to install a party leader, whom the voters had rejected 3 to 1 as Prime Minister. So what happened?

You see, once the backroom deal to force a USSR (Union of Socialist Separatist Rejects) coalition on Canada got shelved, some in the Liberal party started working on another backroom deal - to oust Dion and to install a permanent leader before the Parliament resumes on January 26. And, if instead of holding a full scale leadership convention it all narrows down to a snap decision by the 77 Liberal MPs - bare-behind Bob will be left with... just that. That's why Rae is suddenly all in favor of the little guy's right to vote, campaigning for a quick one-member-one-vote electronic ballot as a constitutional alternative to a caucus vote.

If only Bob Rae had taken a moment to think about all those voters who weren't aware that voting NDP or Bloc means installing Dion as Prime Minister or about those undecided / non-voting folks who didn't know that giving Conservatives anything less than a majority would result in a Liberal / NDP / Bloc coalition running the country. At the very least - why didn't he think about those Liberal voters who couldn't imagine that a party they were voting for might agree to cede 6 Cabinet posts to the NDP and 6 Senate seats - to Quebec separatists?...

Bob Rae gets the taste of his own medicine. If he had been ready to let the voters have their say on the coalition plans, instead of preparing a backroom deal to install Dion as "mutually agreed upon" Prime Minister, he wouldn't have had to fight another backroom deal that seeks to install Ignatieff as "mutually agreed upon" Liberal leader.

Killing Unborn Babies — A Thankless Job

Ever wondered what abortion providers really think about their jobs? Here are some quotes, posted on the SoCon or Bust blog:

“In medical practice, there are few surgical procedures given so little attention and so underrated in its potential hazards as abortion. It is a commonly held view that complications are inevitable.”

– Warren Hern, Abortionist

“No one ever says ‘Thank you’ to an abortionist.”

– Unidentified Abortionist

“Every woman … has a trauma at destroying a pregnancy … This is a part of her own life. When she destroys a pregnancy she is destroying herself.”

– Dr. Julius Fogel, Psychiatrist/OB
who has performed over 20,000 abortions
More >>>

Those are abortion industry workers' own words.

Meanwhile the Morguentaler controversy continues with two more Order of Canada medals returned.

TORONTO, December 8, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Catholic religious order known as the Oblate Fathers of Assumption Province, based in Toronto, Ontario, has returned two Orders of Canada awarded to members of the community in protest against the decision to grant the award to abortionist Henry Morgentaler.

"We write to you today, December 8th , the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Principal Patroness of our Congregation, on account of the recent decision by your office and the committee responsible for nominations to provide an Order of Canada to Henry Morgentaler, the noted Toronto abortionist," begins the letter addressed to Governor General Michaelle Jean.

"We hope that this gesture is understood as a sign of our astonishment and outrage at the exploitation of the Order of Canada in the interests of an ideology of death, division and indignity which has resulted in the clinical murder of over 110,000 Canadians every year who never had the chance to deserve a better country," says the letter, signed by the Provincial Superior of the Order, Fr. Janusz Blazejak, OMI.

More >>>

Back-door deals and outright violations of the protocol gave Morguentaler his six-petal pajama button. But were there many congratulatory telegrams from the women whose babies' lives were taken away at his abortion franchise?

Stephane Dion's Last Days As Liberal Leader?

Coalition supporters wanted December 8th to become Stephen Harper's last day as Prime Minister. Instead, according to CTV, this could become one of Stephane Dion's last days as Liberal leader.

The Liberal caucus is to meet on Wednesday, which will include 57 MPs who support Ignatieff, Oliver said. They would "almost certainly" vote to make Ignatieff their parliamentary leader, putting immense pressure on Liberal MP Bob Rae to drop out of the leadership race.

Oliver said that sources close to Rae said he's a team player and will drop out so the Liberals can focus on pressing national issues.

More >>>

The recent CTV newscast suggests that Dion may step down as early as tomorrow, becoming the third Liberal leader ever (after Edward Blake and Daniel Duncan McKenzie) who never gets to be Prime Minister. The first of a kind in almost 90 years. (And many more!!!)

And what about the coalition? It looks like not every Liberal MP was supporting the idea. So, the coalition began crumbling right after the prorogation. If Michael Ignatieff does become the next Liberal leader before the Parliament resumes - then the coalition is gone for good. Most likely - Ignatieff and Harper find some common ground that would allow both parties to save face and to declare themselves winners. Otherwise - we'll simply have a new election.

New Brunswick Appeals Morgentaler Ruling

From the New Brunswick Right To Life website:

New Brunswick Right to Life is pleased with the Province of New Brunswick’s decision to appeal a ruling granting Henry Morgentaler the status to pursue his lawsuit on the issue of tax-funded abortion.

On August 1 Madam Justice Paula Garnett ruled that Morgentaler had the right to represent women seeking an abortion. Morgentaler contends that the province’s refusal to fund his private clinic in Fredericton is a violation of the Charter of Rights and the Canada Health Act.

Peter Ryan says he received a letter from Premier Shawn Graham stating that the Province is appealing the ruling.

"This is good news," says Ryan. "There is no reason not to appeal."

Ryan says the province’s position in the dispute is consistent with federal law. "It is a myth to say there is any requirement to fund abortion on demand. That is elective surgery, which legally is a matter of discretionary funding."

He added, "On a humanitarian level, it is the height of insanity to force the public to pay for mothers to extinguish their child's life. An abortion clinic is more like a temple of sacrifice than a health care facility.

"I don't care how much of a celebrity Morgentaler is," Ryan said. "What he's into, in my view, is not medicine but something that has the earmarks of a religious cult. To fund that would be lunacy."

Well said. Abortion funding has nothing to do with healthcare. (Except being a burden to it.) It's all about principle: radical feminists believe that taking away life of an unborn baby should be as easy as removing a wart and Morguentaller - well, he's the founder of the abortion franchise; of course he wants more customers.

Rally For Canada — December 6th, In 24 Cities Across Canada

The coup d'etat has been shelved for some 8 weeks, but that doesn't mean we should lay down our arms. Let's stand up together from coast to coast and say no to the snake oil coalition. A Rally for Canada will take place tomorrow (December 6th) in 24 cities across Canada.

Last weekend, we learned that the NDP under Jack Layton has been in talks with the separatist Bloc Quebecois for quite some time to form a plan to seize power and to overthrow the government. This would overturn the results of the last election held just six weeks ago without seeking consent from we the Canadian voters.

More >>>

Almost 300,000 people have signed the petition in support of our right to vote on the proposed coalition. The membership in the facebook group "Canadians Against a Liberal/NDP Coalition Gov't" has surpassed 125,000. Hopefully, all those efforts, along with tomorrow's rallies help convincing the opposition to let go of their back-room deal and get back to business, once the Parliament reconvenes in late January.

Phew, That Was Close!

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean has approved Prime Minister Stephen Harper's request to suspend Parliament, agreeing to put the government on hold until the end of January.

More >>>

Phew, that was close! I'm glad that the Governor General chose to overstep her sympathies and do what's right for the country. At the very least - we won't have the Grinch Trio stealing Christmas this year.

What's next? The Parliament will reopen on Jan.26 with a new Throne Speech. The budget will be released on Jan.27. That means at least 2 confidence votes and, unless things change, the government will lose. If that's the situation - the Conservatives must arrange it so the vote on the budget comes first. If the opposition is determined to topple the Conservatives - they won't let the Conservative economic platform pass, no matter what's in there. But toppling the government over the budget vote won't give the opposition the chance to proceed with their own non-confidence motion which would name Dion as an alternative Prime Minister.

And then the ball will be back in the Governor General's court. Obviously, she can refuse to dissolve the Parliament, arguing that she's already yielded to the Prime Minister once, giving him the much needed break and that this time she'd act differently. At the same time - by then it will have been not mere weeks from one election to another, but several months. Plus - there's a precedent which Stephen Harper could use to defend his request - not the King-Byng affair, but Lester Pearson's attempt to take power without election in 1958.

Back then, the Liberals had actually won higher share of the popular vote in the preceding election, but ended up with fewer seats than the PCs. Unlike Dion, Lester B. Pearson was a newly elected leader, not an interim one. There was too, an economic downturn back then and the Liberals too had the "you don't know how to handle it, let us try" attitude. And, the Liberals were only 7 seats short of a plurality, not almost 70 seats short. Still, when Pearson demanded Diefenbaker to resign and to hand the power over to the Liberals, Diefenbaker responded by calling a snap election - just months after the 1957 election. Setting a new precedent.

Lester Pearson learned his lesson. Five years later, when the Parliament was in a similar situation, he didn't try to outnumber the PCs by forming a coalition with the NDP - even though it had been just months after the 1962 election. Pearson and his Liberals voted against the government and contested a new election. Which they won. If Dion doesn't want to be the Liberal leader who never gets to form a government (the first of the kind in about 90 years) - he must do just that. Contest an election and let the voters decide if they want to see his party in coalition with the hard-left and the separatist left.

Liberal / NDP Deal With The Bloc — Ripping The Country Apart

Dion doesn't want to be the only Liberal leader in almost a century which doesn't become a Prime Minister. But so far, his leadership has resulted in nothing but the biggest electoral defeat for the Liberal party. In order to overturn the defeat in the polls and to become Prime Minister, Dion is willing to pay generously - even if it means breathing new life into the Bloc and boosting Quebec separatism. Unlike the NDP, the Bloc won't get any cabinet seats. But they will get Senate seats instead. As well as at least $1B more in handouts for their supporters.

There is no specific mention in the coalition documents, but Marois said the immediate consequence of the agreement is the new Conservative formula for equalization payments is dead in the water; so instead of a $75-million increase in transfer payments, Quebec would get $1 billion in 2009-2010 because the old formula will apply.
...
But on the same show, we learned of other coming pay-offs: There are 18 vacancies in the Senate, including four in Quebec. Not only are the Bloc in line for patronage pay-offs, but Elizabeth May, the Green Party leader, was on Parliament Hill today, and she wouldn't deny that she, too, was offered a Senate seat.

It's a fire sale in Ottawa! Senate seats, billions of dollars, whatever you want -- just make Stephane Dion the prime minister!

Fire sale -- or looting, I'm not sure.

More >>>

So, it almost looks like Quebec is going to be the winner. Almost. Because empowering separatists, giving lifetime appointments to unelected quasinational socialists whose only goal is to perpetuate Quebec's problems for political gains - that's hardly a victory. Handouts too will only prolong the rotting, creating an illusion of stability, allowing the government to postpone much needed reforms. Thus - Quebec too will lose on the long run.

But idea of three opposition parties uniting to topple the Conservatives angers the Western provinces, that are to lose a lot more on the short run. Not many there (especially in Alberta) like the idea of having to pitch in more to bankroll a tax-and-spend Prime Minister and his hard-left and separatist-left coalition partners. Here's the kind of response that some Alberta politicians are recommending for their Premier:

1. Serve notice of Alberta's intent to withdraw from the current Federal Transfer Program.
2. Initiate measures for Alberta to begin collecting its own taxes;
3. Initiate discussions on a Regional Equalization Program involving the four Western Provinces;

More >>>

And it would be interesting to look at the public opinion. Here are the results of some CTV polls:

When it comes to who should govern the country, 31972 respondents (62%) say - Conservatives. The Lib/NDP coalition is backed by 19977 respondents (38%). Well, you can't just throw away a party that has won almost twice as many seats compared to the Liberals, can you?

When it comes to a question whether the Liberals and the NDP should form a coalition, the idea of a coalition only wins 38% support (7886 respondents) with 12959 respondents (62%) opposed. Almost 3 in 4 respondents (73%) regard the coalition as nothing more than a power grab, with only 27% (4681 respondent) claiming that it reflects the will of the people.

About 60% of respondents agree that the Parliament should be prorogued until the budget day. (18078 for vs 12045 against.) The move to eliminate per-vote handouts to political parties is supported by nearly 80% of the respondents. So if there is an election anytime next year - the Conservatives might as well make it a part of their platform.
Finally (here's an Angus-Reid poll for a change) - almost 2 in 3 Canadians aren't comfortable with Dion becoming Canada's prime Minister.

So we have over 200,000 Canadians signing a petition for an early election. As well as over 80,000 people joining the "Canadians Against a Liberal/NDP Coalition" group on Facebook. Rallies against the proposed power grab are planned in more than a dozen cities from coast to coast. If the coalition wants to govern - they should win that right at the polls, not through a back-room deal.

Opposition Fiscal Plan: Overtax, Overspend

They're not yet in power, but they're getting ready to go on a spending spree. And where will they get the money? Don't worry that's what successful businessmen are for.

Fife reported earlier Monday that the cabinet formed under the coalition would include both Liberal and NDP ministers. The Liberals would take 18 cabinet seats, while the NDP would get six.

Fife also reported that the coalition government would introduce a $30-billion economic stimulus package and roll back $50 billion in planned corporate tax cuts.

More >>>

In other words - they'll be robbing a successful businessman Peter to pay Paul, whose business is failing. Rolling back business tax cuts means raising the small business rate from 11% back to 13.12% - nearly a 20% increase. Great way to provide an economic stimulus, isn't it?

And another thing: They're looking forward to cancel $50B in tax cuts and to outlay $30B in bailouts. What happens to the rest? What are they planning to do with the $20,000,000,000 "leftovers"? Waste them on the Kyoto "carbon credit" market? Spend them on vote-buying and social engineering? (Handouts to special interest groups, universal McDaycare, affordable ghetto housing etc.) Or maybe they don't even count on those remaining $20B, considering the inevitable slowdown and bankruptcies resulting from their tax hike? After all, not every Mom & Pop Enterprise out there could afford to pay an extra 20% in taxes, to raise money for the bailouts...

It's been just 6 weeks since voters rejected the Liberals the NDP and the Bloc individually. If they want to gang-up to ransack the country's finances - they must leave the final say to the voters. Spending $200M on a new election is a far lesser evil than having the country's fate decided by a back-door deal.

Update: The original news release has been removed from the CTV site, but thanks to the bloggers we can still have a glimpse of what a Liberal/NDP budget would be like.

Please sign a petition to your Member of Parliament to oppose the proposed "coalition". Yes, I know it's going to be a whipped vote, so our signatures are unlikely to change anything. Still - let them know what we think about their back room deals.

Update 2: A Rally For Canada will take place in several cities across the country to protest this potential coalition, especially the fact that the NDP and Bloc had been in discussions about such an idea well before the fiscal update was presented.

Was The Opposition Just Looking For An Excuse?...

As it turns out, an idea of a broad coalition between the three opposition parties wasn't a spontaneous response to an unpopular government policy.

The New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois held talks to form a coalition party well before the opposition's uproar over the government's fiscal update, CTV News has learned.

NDP Leader Jack Layton was in talks with Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe for a "considerable period of time," reported CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife on Sunday.

Layton held a telephone-conference meeting with his caucus Saturday morning that was recorded by a Conservative member. According to the audio tape, Layton appears to take credit for the possibility of a coalition.

More >>>

That explains a lot. If such a move was planned well in advance - no wonder the opposition leaders were quick to declare their intention to vote down the proposed fiscal measures, mentioning "some other constitution measures" as an alternative to a snap election. That also explains why Don Newman kept asking every prominent opposition MP whether or not there was a deal in the making between the Liberals and the NDP. (No party was ready to acknowledge that back on Thursday.)

And, if Don Newman has heard some rumors on the opposition deal - Stephen Harper must have heard those rumors too. And that explains the sharp swing to the right. If Stephen Harper knew that Liberals wouldn't abstain this time; that the opposition was just looking for an excuse to topple his government and that no compromise would be likely - no wonder he chose to counter-attack. And, to the surprise of many - he succeeded. No matter what the opposition may say about his government's fiscal policies, in the eyes of the public, this political turmoil is all about the Liberals and NDP getting in bed with the separatists for a $1.95 per vote. No matter what the outcome of the December 8 vote is - this will come back to haunt them.

But there might as well be no vote on December 8th. First of all, the government may fall earlier, during a vote on the routine supply bills. Since those supply bills contain no reference to a "viable alternative government" which "can be formed within the present House of Commons", nothing prevents Harper from seeking dissolution of the House. Blaming the opposition for triggering a Christmas election over what? That's right, over those $1.95 per vote subsidies.

Another option is - once the Parliament passes the supply bills (it's a routine measure that doesn't take long to go through both chambers) Harper may prorogue the Parliament. That will end the session with all the pending bills (including Dion's motion) dying on the order paper. The Parliament then will have to be restarted with another Throne speech. Which will be immediately followed by the new budget speech. And then the opposition may trigger an election if they must. If they just won't let the Conservatives govern - the least the government could do is present its plan to the people and let the people decide whether or not they'd wish to keep it.

And of course - there's still a possibility that the coalition collapses and Dion's motion gets defeated. An extra week could serve as a "cooling-off period". The opposition parties may want more details on the deal before they vote for it - an argument over the details may actually lead to a discord. And of course, there are Liberals. Some of whom may question the wisdom of triggering a snap election or installing a lame-duck PM with an ultra-left coalition just to postpone the very same snap election to after the leadership convention. Especially when the threat of losing the per-vote subsidies if the Conservatives stay in power is no longer imminent. They too may silently sabotage the deal.