The Last Exile

The Globe and Mail carries an article on the high cash balances large North American corporations are carrying on their books.

Am I surprised that the US and Canada are singled out as ‘high-cost manufacturing countries’? No, this is the price to be paid for having a standard of living which elevates most of the citizenry from living 12 to a room and having to dump a bucket down a public drain twice a day.

What is galling, is that these companies (especially the automakers), demanded our governments use public funds to help them stave off bankruptcy just a scant few years ago. GM is free to build their cars in whatever country they desire, but when you suck at the public teat, then be prepared to give back.

In GM’s case, the company is mooching off the taxpayers of Canada and the US. Time to end financing and corporate tax breaks for corporate welfare bums who cannot remember where their bread gets buttered. Frankly, the entire board and executive management of GM should be tarred, feathered and run out of North America.

A Finnish study links penis size to a country’s economic output. I got nothing to add…I’m Canadian woman who has only ever married immigrants.

Foreign Policy magazine has posted highlights of Freedom House’s annual report with a listing of the 20 least free countries in the world. North Korea ranks #1 and none of the big fat nasty places mentioned are a surprise per say. Well, except - I did think Somalia should rank higher than #5 and while I never thought Libya would be an easy place to live-in, I am kind of surprised to see Libya trumped a bigger hell-hole than Somalia.

Now, if I could just get my head around the idea that it is more desirable to be citizen of Somalia rather than a Libya. It just doesn’t quite pass my inner sniff test. Zimbabwe did not even make the list or rate a dishonorable mention. What’s up with that? In fact, it looks like the entirety of Central and South American is no longer deserving of a mention among the worst of the worse…which is either a cause for celebration or someone(s) possesses really poor world geography skills.

Depending on your geopolitics – China holds either one or two spots on the list. Once as Tibet (China 9), and then again, as China (12). I don’t mean to give the impression I am suddenly going soft on commies but I have real doubts China 2010 rates a place in the top 20.

While the dictators/despots of Africa earn 5 dishonorable mentions 4 FSU satellites are given rather prominent positions on the list. Is this an appropriate time to interject and just say a small prayer of thanksgiving for the fact some of my ancestors all got the hell of out Belarus (10) – alive and in one piece. Egad, would it ever suck to be me in Belarus now.

Guess who didn’t make the list or a mention? Israel, which doesn’t surprise me in the least but Israel’s omission has probably made the world’s collective mouth gasp in horror for such a glaring and obvious omission. The Saudis and the Syrians make the list, and the Saudis’ 16th spot beats the Syrian’s 17th which is probably the only time in the last 100 years that a Saudis have beaten anyone other than a slave or a woman. Again from this region, I am rather surprised to see not the slightest nod Yemen’s way. Speaking of misses, Iran does not clock in anywhere. No doubt Neda and thousands of other Iranians would probably be rather startled by that fact as well – well they would; if they weren’t already dead.

When news of Federal Conservative cabinet Minister Helena Guergis had her public tantrum at airline security officials in PEI hit the news I wasn’t among the almost the chorus calling her out for rude, boorish behaviour. Not because it wasn’t rude, boorish and at the very least unbecoming public conduct for a cabinet minister. It wasn’t even out of sense of sympathy for one who has many times been caught being rude, loud and obnoxious in public. I took a different view of the matter from most Canadians and thought she had a point – not in being rude but in objecting to not receiving ’special’ or ‘different’ treatment by airline security officials. She is a Canadian MP and a cabinet minister representing the highest level of government, and if a Canadian MP and cabinet official comes under the same insane intense scrutiny as a potential terrorist we are all in a great deal of trouble. It seems there is no place for common sense when it comes to the conduct of airline security officials which is why the government keeps raising airport taxes way beyond the actual threat level.

But I get why most Canadians were very vocal in their disgust of her public meltdown. Canadians like to think everyone gets treated the same and they like to see everyone without exception being treated the same by the government bureaucracy. Somehow it makes the indignity and foolishness of the matter far more palatable for the rest of us to endure with a measure of good grace.

Now there is a reason for our criminal justice system is conducted openly and members of the public are welcomed to attend almost without exception the sitting of any criminal court. Not only do we need to see justice being metered out but we also want to ensure that those who we entrust enforce and administer justice are not behaving in an incompetent or shoddy fashion and we need to believe all of us will be treated equally as well as fairly before the criminal justice system.

All of which brings me to the Rahim Jaffer matter and the general outrage by the public over the resolution which I also share. This backroom plea deal which saw a former MP and current spouse to cabinet Minister Helena Guergis charged by police with a DUI, possession of cocaine and a traffic violation. The Crown in this case worked out a backroom deal with the defense counsel which saw all the charges; including the very serious charges of DUI and possession of cocaine withdrawn in exchange for a guilty plea to ‘careless driving’ and a small fine.

The Crown suggests this is the best possible outcome and there was a reasonable chance of not being able to successfully win a conviction for the more serious charges of DUI and possession of cocaine which is all very well and good – possibly even a realistic evaluation of the situation but justice was not seen to be done in an open and public manner and the public needs to know why there was no reasonable chance of conviction.

What we do know is there was a backroom plea bargain offered and accepted and public is left entirely out of the loop in a matter. Police are public servants and we need to know they are doing their job competently. We do know Mr. Jaffer was administered a breathalyzer test in which he did not pass hence to laying of a DUI charge. If there is a procedure loophole or the breathalyzer tests are somewhat unreliable – it is within the public interest to know. The police allege they found cocaine and the public needs to know the police are not setting up evidence willy-nilly but are operating in a fair and impartial matter within the bounds of applying the law equally to all. If the police officer(s) involved made procedure mistakes the public which foots the bills needs to know – we also need to be reassured that is nothing more than a one-off incidence. The public also needs to know there isn’t a two tiered justice system operating under our very noses and lady justice blindfold doesn’t slip depending on who appears before her.

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams comes clean on his healthcare. Toronto Sun.

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams had his mitral valve repaired in Florida – a procedure he says was not offered in Canada.
However, Dr. Asim Cheema, a cardiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, told QMI Agency that mitral valve repair is routinely performed in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.Williams told NTV that his doctor recommended he have it done at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Fla., where the procedure is minimally invasive. The ailing premier talked about his medical ordeal for the first time Monday in an interview with NTV, a private TV station in St. John’s, N.L.

(…)”I just said, ‘Look, our communications plan here is going to be quite simple: This is my heart, it’s my health and it’s my choice’,” Williams told NTV.
Williams said his doctors in St. John’s diagnosed him with mitral valve regurgitation about a year ago. His cardiologist told him his condition was moderate and he might eventually have to get the valve repaired or replaced. Just before Christmas, doctors told him his condition had become severe. “The mitral valve is a special surgery,” Williams said. “It’s not a typical open heart surgery where your arteries are replaced … so, they recommended that I look at going outside the province.”

The premiere’s office confirmed that his procedure is, in fact, available in Canada, but could not confirm why Williams’ chose instead to go to Florida.

But to get the money quote we have to go to the Toronto Star:

The premier also said he paid for the treatment, but added he would seek any refunds he would be eligible for in Canada.

And this is why I shall forever call him Danny Millions.

Newfoundland Premier is a wealthy man with a heart condition who has elected to seek medical care within the United States rather than avail himself of the provincial or national health care system. Medical tourism among the wealthy has always been with us and I expect it always will be.

While I can laud his decision to ‘opt’ out of provincial or the national healthcare system and consequently free up the medical resources within the country by the factor of one. Unless of course, his medical adventurism is paid for out of the public purse. Although, there is no evidence this is the case and I would expect the man who donates his premier’s salary to charity would also be paying for his own out of country medical expenses. We simply do not know and his office is rather silent on this who is footing the bill.

As an individual I completely support his right to do whatever with his own money but…and isn’t there always a but? As premier of the province and as one of the gatekeeper of the public health care system within this country I expect better – not only for him but for all the citizens of this country. Failure to address any deficiencies of the public health care within his home province or even within the country is a gross betrayal of the public trust and therefore; it is simply time for him to resign his office.

According to this Globe and Mail article political ‘insiders’ are suggesting the Prime Minister has no desire to call a spring election. And you know what? With the kind of work ethic the Harper Conservatives are showing; I am not surprised in the slightest.

Forget all that speculation about a spring election.

Stephen Harper has no intention of calling an election or engineering the defeat of his minority government any time soon, insiders close to the Prime Minister say. “The chances of hell freezing over in March are better than us doing something to trigger an election,” one source said flatly.

“There’s no appetite [for an election] in the government, there’s no appetite in the PM and there’s no appetite in the Canadian public.” Rather, Mr. Harper intends to keep his focus resolutely fixed on the “issues that matter to Canadians,” first among which is steering the country through the fragile economic recovery, the insider said on condition of anonymity.

How Harper intends to keep his focus resolutely fixed on ‘issues that matter to Canadians’ when he just decided to not show up for work for a few months boggles my mind. Maybe its because I am a conservative but there is something fiscally irresponsible and morally offensive about being forced to pay the salaries for a group of slackers who just decided they cannot be bothered to show at work for a couple of months. Maybe everyone else in this country is fine with this – but it just doesn’t sit well with me.

I haven’t written about the proroguing of the Canadian Parliament for the second time in less than a year out of disgust. Instead of spewing the bile of more than a few expletives; I suggest you read Putting the Olympics before the House of Commons. Alan at Gen X is much nicer than me and he still manages to gets the point across rather succinctly.

Maybe I missed it, but as far as I know there has yet to be a terrorist who has attempted to hijack, crash or implode an air plane with the use of a book – even a good one – at any point in the history of the world. This Toronto Star article on the pitfalls of Airport staff trying to implement the new ’security’ rules reveals this new twist.

Under rules for Canada-U.S. flights imposed by Transport Canada on Monday, no carry-on baggage is permitted – except for a “small purse” or “tote bag,” or laptop bag. But how small is “small”? If a laptop bag is also a backpack, is it a laptop bag or a backpack? What is it about a purse that gives it its pursiness? And most important and most vexing of all: Why? Why? Why?

“I don’t think it’s going to do anything,” said Jennifer Morrison, 26. “It’s ridiculous.”

Flying partner Colin Taylor, 28, held her laptop bag as they approached the check-in counter; he had to carry it with him, since she already had a purse. An airline employee, Morrison said, told her the book and magazine she had stored inside the laptop bag were acceptable even though the new rules said only computer accessories were permitted. “As long we don’t have `lots of books,’” Taylor said. “That’s what she said,” added Morrison.

For frack’s sake – now they are limited the amount of books any individual can fly with? I would be remiss if I didn’t point out there is no point in banning ‘large’ purses while still letting one carry on a ‘tote bag’. Thank G-d, there is more to the world than America.

As the war for television entitlements heats up Michael Geist explains just how far broadcast networks want to go beyond just a fee for carriage increase at the current CRTC hearings. Toronto Star:

Fee for carriage is only part of the story, as broadcasters are also seeking to: block U.S. signals; leave some Canadian communities without over-the-air television; and delay the transition to digital television transmission until 2013. The prospect of blocking U.S. television signals will come as a shock to many, but both CTV and CanWest, Canada’s two largest private broadcasters, have asked the CRTC to establish a new program-deletion policy.

For many years, Canadian broadcasters have benefited from simultaneous substitution, which allows them to air U.S. programs at the same time as U.S. broadcasters but to substitute their broadcast (complete with advertisements) on both channels. That policy is the reason programs such as House or Desperate Housewives air simultaneously in the U.S. and Canada, creating an important commercial advantage for Canadian broadcasters.

The broadcasters now wish to expand the simultaneous substitution policy with program deletion. It would provide that when a Canadian broadcaster purchases the rights to a U.S. program, they would have the right to air it whenever they choose within a seven-day window. The hook is cable and satellite companies would be required to block the U.S. broadcast of the same program if it did not air simultaneously. The proposal, which would lead to millions of Canadians regularly encountering blank screens instead of expected programs, would perversely increase the attractiveness of U.S. programming.

Geist goes on to suggest this will lead more Canadian television consumers turning to the internet as a viable alternative, and in this I agree. Once that happens, and its felt in the pockets of broadcast networks as well as cable and satellite providers -a big push will come to regulate the internet to control not just how we are watching but what we watch.