Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Climate change and canards

At some recent forums one of the other candidates has been saying in authoritative tones,
"Global warming is probably being caused by factors other than human activity. For example, Mars is warming."
The word that came to my mind is one that's not used a lot and I wasn't 100% sure of it's meaning: CANARD. I looked it up and find I was right. A canard is "An unfounded or false, deliberately misleading story." The petroleum and coal industries never cease to try to defuse the criticism of their industry by supporting those who'll spread the word that we can go on living as usual. Here's a link to a place that gives all the facts about Mars warming as well as other FAQs: RealClimate.org

And here's what they say about Mars:
Globally, the mean temperature of the Martian atmosphere is particularly sensitive to the strength and duration of hemispheric dust storms. . . .
Thus inferring global warming from a 3 Martian year regional trend is unwarranted. The observed regional changes in south polar ice cover are almost certainly due to a regional climate transition, not a global phenomenon, and are demonstrably unrelated to external forcing. There is a slight irony in people rushing to claim that the glacier changes on Mars are a sure sign of global warming, while not being swayed by the much more persuasive analogous phenomena here on Earth…

Sunday, September 28, 2008

NDP Platform favours middle class and working families over corporate tax cuts.

Today's news featured (at least for NDPers) stories detailing the announcement of the NDP Platform.
Prudent plan chooses the middle-class over corporate tax cuts
TORONTO – New Democrat Leader Jack Layton released his party’s platform today at a community centre in his east-end Toronto riding. The platform focused on helping middle-class and working families make ends meet.

“While Stephen Harper’s priority is a $50 billion corporate tax cut, my priority is investing in families and their children,“ said Layton.

The centerpiece of the platform is the New Democrat’s new Child Benefit, an initiative that unifies, simplifies and enhances existing programs such as the Child Tax Benefit and the Universal Child Care Benefit. . . (For more, go to NDP announcement).


What strikes me most and makes me most proud is that this will be balanced. Here's how: both Jack Layton and Stephen Harper are proposing to spend about $50 billion dollars. Stephen Harper is planning to spend it on corporate tax cuts. Jack Layton is proposing to spend it on things like the Child Benefit, hiring more doctors and nurses, a national children’s nutrition plan, investments in cancer research, and helping students with their tuition.

Harper says corporate tax cuts will stimulate investment and mean jobs; Layton says these tax cuts will benefit corporations already making lots of money (if they're not making money, they're paying little or no taxes anyway), and do little to stimulate the economy. Better to stimulate some green industries.

For the whole platform, see Platform (PDF Document)

Friday, September 26, 2008

Two forums down, six and a half to go

Last night (Sept 25th) was the second forum in a row; the first being on Wednesday night in Picture Butte. Lethbridge Herald story.
Feedback for me was positive:
Hi Mark,

I just wanted to let you know that you did a fantastic job in the forum last night. I was supposed to be at an event . . ., but I was so sick that they sent me home. So, I watched the forum on TV. You were by far the most intelligent and the most knowledgeable on your party's platform.


Blush.

Anyway it's interesting being on stage with the bright lights shining and the TV cameras blinking. I've run in previous elections (2001 and 2004 Alberta Provincial), but in those elections, the Chamber of Commerce Forums were at the LCC Barn.

One item that came up in the forum is the possible closure of rural post offices because of the "review" being done by Canada Post. Many communities around the country are upset at the possibility that their postal service may disappear or be severely cut back. One of the communties is Coalhurst which sent this into the CANADA POST CORPORATION STRATEGIC REVIEW:
WHEREAS the Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review, which was launched by the federal government on April 21, 2008, is looking at deregulating our public post office (i.e. reducing or removing Canada Post's exclusive privilege on letters); and
WHEREAS it will become increasingly difficult for our public post office to provide affordable service to everyone, no matter where they live, if the government erodes or eliminates the very mechanism that funds universal postal service - the exclusive
privilege; and
WHEREAS postal deregulation in other countries has led to post office closures, less service, fewer jobs and higher postal rates for the public and small businesses; and
WHEREAS the government is not holding public hearings as part of its strategic review or adequately consulting with the real owners of the post office - the public;

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the TOWN OF COALHURST send a letter or submission to the Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review opposing deregulation of Canada Post and insisting that the government hold public hearings and properly consult with the true owners of Canada Post - the public.


The post office is one of the few focal points remaining in many small towns. Here is a website campaigning to oppose the privatization and/or deregulation of Canada Post. Website.

I stated in the forum that I'd hate to see a day that a drive from Lethbridge to Calgary involves travelling through 200km of virtually uninhabited land. At the very least, postal deregulation, if we can learn from other countries, will lead to post office closures, less service, fewer jobs and higher postal rates for the public and small businesses. With the Conservative policies Canadians are looking at, this is a possibility.

Monday, September 22, 2008

The Prime Minister's email list was hacked!





Yesterday (Sunday) a supporter forwarded the following email to me:


Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:34:54 +0000
From: pm@PM.GC.CA
Subject: Why you shouldn't fear me
To: ALLNEWS_E@LSERV.PMO-CPM.GC.CA

Hi The Average Canadian,

Stephen Harper wanted to tell you...

My name is Stephen Harper. I am an ALBERTAN, here me roar! My goal is to make Canada America's 51st state and destroy health care that all Canadians cherish by infusing my propaganda with hard core ad hominem attacks. Please vote for me, because if you do, I promise you'll be able to vote for McCain 2012!

We are a tar sands level party, not a grass roots party. We consider anything with the word \"Green\" offensive, except for the almighty American dollar, which we hope to be able to implement in the coming months! We shall first have to make sure that American and Canadian jelly beans have the same standards, and then we shall proceed.

I hope everyone has a great weekend,

Take care,

Stephen \"I can lead you to Hell but not back\" Harper

If you agree click here [link deleted].


The person who sent this to me was very upset. She thought she'd signed up in good faith to hear news from the PM's office and here some hacker had obtained her email address.

The Canadian Press, and others, now have a story on this.

The Canadian Press story says,
The jokesters would not necessarily have needed to hack into government computers to perform their stunt; all they would have required was the listserv's email address.
This is totally false. I also run a listserv type email list and, if anyone posts to the list who's not authorized, the message is not sent out, but, instead comes to me for approval.

Another lie coming from Harper's office?

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Some fun things for candiates

Saturday, I went to the Pig and Pumpkin event at Broxburn vegetables and Café. I found lots of support for the NDP and also took a turn at the pumpkin cannon. There's now a web album for the campaign . Please visit to see the photos Henning took.

Sadly today's Lethbridge Herald reported that someone stole money from the fundraiser during the celebrity auction. The fundraiser was sponsored by the Lion's Club with proceeds going to the Lethbridge Association for the Blind which is a member of The Canadian Council for the Blind.

This week will really start to get busy. Monday night is the talk by Naomi Klein; Tuesday is the Friends of Medicare Forum; Wednesday is the forum in Picture Butte; and Thursday is the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce Forum at the Yates. All events start at 7 p.m. See my Calendar for details.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

NDP: ‘small C’ Conservatives !?!?!?

I admit I was taken aback when I saw what part of the interview the Herald chose to emphasize. However, upon reflection, I'm glad they did. It offers the opportunity to open discussions on a wide variety of topics. (Full story)

First, just what was said? The story quotes me fairly accurately:
"Take the Conservative Party of Canada, for instance. Mark Sandilands . . . says the Conservative party has changed so much, it’s really no longer very conservative. Yet many people still vote Conservative out of habit.
There is, however, a party that believes in old-fashioned conservative values.
“Now, the NDP is the small C Conservative Party,” Sandilands says.
Sandilands, who officially opened his new campaign office Friday at 519 7 St. S." (Click on the link in the headline to read the whole story.)
What I also said is that the Conservatives, who are no longer Progressive (and in fact deserve a new label: UPC for Unprogressive Conservative Party), are closer to being libertarians. A libertarian is someone who "who, in general, supports government policies that favor individual liberty in all matters, whether economic, personal, or social (http://www.csun.edu/~dgw61315/libFAQ.html); in other words, those who don't believe government should have much of a role at all the lives of people. Contrast that with long gone Conservatives such as John A. MacDonald (let's build a national railway), John Diefenbaker (let's develop the North and let's have a Bill of Human Rights), or even RB Bennett (let's have a national broadcaster and call it CBC). Do you know which US president freed the slaves? Abraham Lincoln. Which party? Republican.

How about balancing the books? Figures from the federal Department of Finance confirm that, on average, NDP provincial/territorial governments stayed out of deficit 49% of their years in office from 1984-85 to 2005-06, compared to 39% for Conservatives and only 23% for Liberal governments. (Interestingly, this study seems to have been taken out of the Department of Finance online material.)

New Democrats believe in the moral stance that we are our brothers' keepers, that we are responsible custodians or even sharers of this planet, and that one shouldn't take more than a fair share.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Mark will be on the ballot.

Tonight when I got home from the Naomi Wolf lecture there was a message on my machine from Elections Canada. The news was that all the hoops have been jumped through and my name will be on the ballot. On October 14th you'll see

Mark Sandilands NDP [__X__]


(please add the X on your ballot.)

The two Naomis; 1.

By a strange coincidence, two powerful speakers named Naomi are visiting Lethbridge within the space of four days. I attended the lecture tonight and will see Naomi #2 on Monday. Tonight was Naomi Wolf, author of a recent best seller, The End of America. She was very impressive in laying out what she believes are the steps that may be leading to a "fascist [United State of] America".

Here they are:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law

During questions, one person asked, "Why?" The answer was "Profit." After the end of the cold war, the industries that profited from missiles and nuclear weapons were losing money--they needed a new enemy. Voila! The war on terror. They've switched over from weapons to surveillance systems.

I'm sure we'll hear more about how companies such as Blackwater have profited when Naomi Klein speaks on Sept. 22.

I spoke briefly with Naomi Wolf after her talk at the book signing. She wished me well in my campaign and was happy to put one of my campaign button on.

For more on Naomi Wolf see Naomi Wolf article

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Strong leadership in perilous times

The news today is laden with bad economic news. The Toronto Stock Exchange dropped almost 350 points and the Dow dropped 400+ into the 10,000s even though the US government bailed out AIG to the tune of $85billion.

As someone told me on the doorstep tonight, Stephen Harper still doesn’t get it. He seems to believe that Canada is safe from the economic woes of the Americans. As the former head of the National Citizen's coalition and a graduate of the Calgary school of economics (a clone of the Chicago School), he still firmly believes the market will solve all.

The world is moving rapidly back towards government regulation of the financial sector and the economy in general: Harper has not moved an inch from his laissez-faire ideology.

A recent article in the Globe and Mail addressed this:
"With the nationalization of American mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the February nationalization of Britain's Northern Rock, governments are stepping in again. The heady days of conservative economics are over for now." (Skidelsky is professor emeritus of political economy at Warwick University, England, and author of a prize-winning Keynes biography)
Read the rest of Skidelsky's article

Anyone wanting to read more about the Chicago School of Economics should read from a left perspective must read Naomi Klein's book, The Shock Doctrine, attend her upcoming lecture at the University of Lethbridge, or, at the very least, visit her website:
Naomi Klein Official Website

Nomination has taken the next step.



Late this afternoon, I met with the excellent Returning Officer for Lethbridge Federal Riding, Arlene Albiez at the Election Canada Lethbridge offices at Lethbridge Centre (Main floor). We were pleased to learn in a conversation with the assistant RO that there will be registration sessions for student voters at both the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College. Students are going to be able to vote in this election IN LETHBRIDGE.

Our main reason for being there was to register to be on the ballot. We turned in well over the 100 required signatures, the candidate fee and associated papers. We were promised a response within 48 hours. Thanks to all who signed my nomination papers.

After the nomination Leona and I did a bit of door knocking.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Listeria continues to be a problem for Canadians

As I stated in my September 5th letter, Canadians should be able to rely on government to keep their food safe. Nothing is 100% safe, but we also shouldn't have to worry a lot either. Here's what a group of physicians are saying in the Canadian Medical Association Journal:
"Listeria is the biological agent, cold cuts the vector, but the ultimate cause may be found in risky government decisions."
The editorial, signed by several doctors and journal editors, states that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has reversed much of the progress previous governments made in relation to public health."Full article

September 5th 2008 Letter

Editor:

The latest news regarding the infection of meat with the listeria bacteria shows how dangerous Stephen Harper and the Conservatives' policies are to the health of Canadians. According to news stories published on August 30th Harper and his band of free marketers bent to pressure from the meat industry and cut back on inspections by meat inspectors across Canada.

Most Canadians think their inspection regimes are tougher than the American ones, but not in the case of meat inspection. The policies of the Canadian Department of Agriculture are significantly weaker than those of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). However, because many meat-processing plants export to the USA, Canadian processors must open their doors to USDA inspectors who then take their reports back to the USA to inform USA consumers. Canadian consumers are left in the dark. But freedom of information requests to the US government are very revealing. An example is one at a PEI company where the floor drainage was so poor that a worker had to stand surrounded by water with blood in it.

Cutbacks to inspectors began with the Liberals under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin and have picked up pace with Stephen Harper whose government now wants to turn over inspection of food processing plants to the companies themselves with the federal inspectors simply auditing the work now and then. Like putting the foxes in charge of the henhouse.

Canadians should turf out Harper and turn over government to a party that's not in bed with the corporations.

Mark Sandilands
NDP Candidate, Lethbridge Federal

Pre campaign thoughts

It now turns out that the Conservatives were planning to have an election way back in July.  Kind of throws out the window the claims that the householders that were taken by Conservative MP staffers to Canada Post on August 27th were "just normal" constituent mailouts, doesn't it?

Anyway, as those who follow my letters to the editor or browse my website, know, I've been sending thoughts out about my feelings for the Harper government for many months now.  The latest one was printed in the Lethbridge Herald on September 5th.  It's in the post immediately above this one.

Those who want to read earlier letters to the editor can go to Mark Sandilands Comments.