Harper a dinosaur on climate change

Stephen Harper pays lip service to the need to address climate change while fighting off any commitments by Canada to meet reduction targets. The latest example was his disgraceful performance at the CHOGM meeting in Africa. Harper personally blocked the adoption of a consensus statement that included a reference to targets and forced through a weaker version that committed no one to anything. By their actions of the past year Harper and his colleagues have in effect rescinded Canada's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Meanwhile Australians have tossed Harper's recent partner, PM John Howard, out of office. The new Australian PM has committed to ratify Kyoto and take real action on climate change. When Bush leaves office Harper will be isolated on this and many other issues, if he is still PM at that time. Dare we hope that Canadians will wake up and toss him out of office before then?

Will Americans control CanWest?

The foreign takeover of Canadian businesses continues at an accelerating pace. The tentacles of foreign control are now extending into Canadian media. CanWest is currently involved in merger discussions which could lead to American control of this Canadian media giant. As Thomas Walkon explains in today's Star:

"The essence of the deal is that CanWest, which owns Global Television and 11 daily newspapers across the country, wants to buy Alliance Atlantis, another media firm. But CanWest doesn't have the $2.3-billion needed. So it is proposing an arrangement with U.S. investment banker Goldman Sachs that would see the American firm put up the vast bulk of the money in return for 64 per cent of shares in a new, merged company."

Although CanWest is trying to pretend that Canadians would remain in control, this is clearly a specious argument. Should we be concerned? Indeed we should. Imagine if Fox had controlled CanWest during the Iraq war debates!

How the Liberals can regain power

Last week one poll indicated that Harper was in majority territory. Today a Strategic Counsel poll revealed that the Tories and Liberals are tied. Meanwhile Harper has been smacked in the face by the Mulroney debacle. After stating that he would appoint an independent person to look into the situation, Harper had to backtrack today and announce a full-scale judicial inquiry. Meanwhile Dion makes an ass of himself in QP by asking a question that Harper had already answered. It is now clear that Dion is a millstone around the Liberals' necks. The route back to power is for Dion to relinquish the leadership voluntarily. Then the Liberals need to annoint someone credible as leader by acclamation (Frank MacKenna perhaps?).

Have the police in this country gone nuts?

Recently there was widespread publicity and controversy over the tasering and death of a Polish man who was stranded in the arrivals area at the Vancouver Airport unable to speak English. A witness who videotaped the incident told the national media that within seconds of arriving on the scene officers decided to taser him and administered two jolts which killed him. This incident is under investigation. There have been others recently.

Today Kelowna RCMP used a Taser on a 68-year-old man in a parking dispute.

Clearly the use of Tasers by police in this country is completely out of control. When will they wake up and realize that Tasers are not toys to be used with reckless abandon. Maybe the law-and-order forces in the Harper government should wake up and ban the use of these lethal weapons by police forces in this country.