Quick Tour Oct. 26, 05

Stephen Harper & Income Trusts

Questioning income trusts puts seniors at risk Stephen Harper, NP, Oct. 26, 05

On September 19, the Prime Minister acted recklessly when he ordered his Finance Minister, Ralph Goodale, to wade into the income-trust market like a proverbial bull in a china shop. On that day, investors were put on notice that their popular income trusts were going to be targeted by a Liberal government seeking higher tax revenues from companies and investors. [. . . . ]

Canada-China "strategic partnership" -- Canada to bypass Uncle Sam for China in crude oil sales? CFP, By Judi McLeod, Tuesday, October 25, 2005

[. . . . ] Was it only coincidence that the Hu visit came on the heels of U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow’s survey of Alberta’s oil production?

“Beijing has been working to transfer control of Husky Oil from its favourite Hong Kong billionaire, Li Ka Shing, to one of its government oil companies. And last year, China announced it was willing to invest heavily in oil sand reserves, which makes Canada, now the world’s No, 7 producer, potentially one of the world’s largest and most stable energy sources.” (East-Asia-Intel.com, Oct. 19, 2005). [. . . . ]

Search:

Paul Martin mentor Maurice Strong

Canadian Steamship Lines International

China International Trust and Investment Group Corp, (CITIC)

divert U.S. oil imports





Avian madness Peter Foster, NP, Oct. 26, 05

[. . . . ] The alleged danger is that the virus might mutate into a form that could be spread between humans, and might then run out of control. That's two "mights." As it stands, the only way to contract H5N1 is apparently to do what the guy in the CBC ad is doing: getting down and dirty with a bird. The human infection comes via contact with excrement on feathers. Those who have caught the disease so far have been chicken pluckers, cock-fight organizers, children with pet ducks and others who are around when the feathers fly. Indeed, since many millions of birds are thought to have been infected and the number of human cases is so low, the World Health Organization has pointed out the "species barrier" to acquisition of the virus is "substantial." That, however, is not the impression that is being given. It's all pandemic, all the time.

The award for Bureaucratic Alarmism-By-Extension has to go to Canada's Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, which has produced a report suggesting the avian flu might be used by Osama bin Laden in his campaign of global terror. Watch out for swarthy young men in nightshirts plucking chickens on the subway.

He should check the next article.

[. . . . ] The most worrying, although predictable, suggestion to have emerged in Ottawa this week is that pharmaceutical patent rights might have to be overturned to deal with the "crisis." After all, people have to come before Big Pharma profits.

Where do we draw the line between allowing/encouraging business and showing humanitarian concern, i.e. without showing it by using other people's money . . . the time-honoured government way.


Al-Qaeda could spread avian flu, report warns A8, NP Oct. 25, 05

This is not far-fetched at all. There was an instance of a person importing a bird or birds to Belgium, hidden birds which had avian flu. Check this article.



Runaway nuclear: No Candu refurbishment has ever been delivered on budget -- Ontario is setting hydro customers up for a financial meltdown

Without public review, let alone a consideration of competitive alternatives, the Ontario government has just entered into a 31-year contract for electric power with an odd consortium that includes TransCanada Pipelines, an investment wing of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and two electricity unions. The deal involves refurbishing the four oldest Candu nuclear reactors of the eight built at the province's Bruce nuclear complex. It also involves risk-sharing provisions likely to lead to very costly power. [. . . . ]

Opportunity in oil: Talent search in Alberta gets desperate as lucrative oil and gas job vacancies pile up Jon Harding, FP, Oct. 26, 05

CALGARY - Alberta's roaring energy sector is so hungry for top-level managers it is feeding on itself. The talent-short industry is also trying to gobble up just about every upward-moving accountant, engineer and geologist in the country. [. . . . ]

Does that mean potential employees would have to relocate to Alberta? Luckily, PM is dispensing pre-election EI pork to certain ridings.



Surprise

The greatest Canadian that ever lived -- Don't miss the last few paragraphs. CFP, Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor, Monday, October 24, 2005




Government Failure in Canada, 2005 Report: A Review of the Auditor General's Reports, 1992-2005 Review of Auditor General’s reports predicts more problems like the sponsorship scandal -- news release October 17, 2005 -- Get the full publication here.



Is nothing too monstrous for the "understanding", "empathetic" crowd?

Antisemitic Poem in UK School Book

[. . . . ] The entry by the 14-year-old Gideon Taylor is apparently written from the viewpoint of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

It includes the lines “Jews are here, Jews are there, Jews are almost everywhere, filling up the darkest places, evil looks upon their faces.”

Another part reads: “Make them take many paces for being one of the worst races, on their way to a gas chamber, where they will sleep in their manger? I’ll be happy Jews have died.”

[. . . . ] Young Writers editor Steve Twelvetree, who also edited the book, said the poem was included as it illustrated how the writer was able to empathise with the infamous Nazi Fuehrer. [. . . . ]

Coming to a school near you?




Reactions to the Mehlis Report -- UN Being American in T.O.

Oct. 24 - I wish I could report on official Canadian reaction to the Mehlis Report but thus far there hasn't been any. The rest of the world isn't waiting for Canada, though, and Detlev Mehlis, who was commissioned by the U.N. to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, will be addressing the United Nations Security Council tomorrow.

[. . . . ] Imperative No. 1 at the CBC is to suppress any news that makes the U.N. look bad or, failing that, downplay it. (Imperative No. 2 is to hype news that makes the U.S.A. look bad; note the lead picture on their Indepth Lebanon page!) That's part of the reason why some of us are somewhat cynical when CBC reporters are named to the Senate or appointed Governor-General. When your job as a reporter includes tainting the news or even failing to report the news, The News Canadians Trust isn't very trustworthy and neither are its reporters.[. . . . ]

Indeed.



Syria: Murder & mayhem, but who cares? CFP, J. Grant Swank, Jr., Monday, October 24, 2005

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