When Harper & Ontario came up with their bailout of the Auto Industry, to the tune of over $4 Billion, the concern then was what would the US Stimulus package contain, that might impact Canadian Jobs. It was a concern of then Liberal leader Dion, NDP leader Layton, Bloc leader Duceppe and Green leader May, but was of no concern to Mr Harper, our Prime Minister.

Now it appears that the 800+ BILLION DOLLAR USA STIMULUS PACKAGE that has passed the House of Representatives, and is expected to the pass the US Senate, will contain even more restrictive requirements, to insure that products and materials used are MADE IN THE USA.

This language won’t necessarily be in the bill when it gets to Obama’s desk for signing, but the final version could be even worse from the point of view of U.S. trading partners.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that a Senate version of the bill, yet to be acted upon, goes further, requiring, with few exceptions, that all stimulus-funded projects use only U.S.-made equipment and goods ( source – CBC News )

Now, myself I do not have a problem with that. I mean after all, the money being spent is taxpayer money, not Canadian Taxpayer money, but USA Taxpayer cash. So why shouldn’t it be directed to USA Firms? Makes perfect sense to me, should to anyone really, SO WHY THEN ISN’T OUR STIMULUS PACKAGE ALSO MAKING SUCH RESTRICTIONS?

In short, we throw out 4 billion to the auto industry, with no guarantees of keeping Canadian Jobs, and we throw out 75 Billion to the banks, without any guarantees it will be used to provide credit to Canadian Business and Citizens.

Now we have a package of nearly 30 Billion going out the door, mostly in tax cuts, but in spending too, on social housing projects, and again, NO GUARANTEE FOR CANADIAN BUSINESS & CITIZENS.

So I guess, my question is, WHO DOES STEPHEN HARPER WORK FOR? CANADIAN INTERESTS OR USA INTERESTS?

SEVEN BILLION PLUS ON INFRASTRUCTURE BUT NO GUARANTEES ON WHO GETS THE MONEY.

And the best that Mr. Ignatieff can do is demand that the Government report more often? I am sorry, but on this one has to go with Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe and Elizabeth May.  This is not a budget that helps CANADA, but one that props up the USA Industrial base.

When you sell everything off, it is no wonder that we can’t spend our taxpayer dollars in our own country. We need a government and leadership, that is PRO CANADA, NOT PRO THEIR OWN VESTED INTERESTS.

I have been doing a real slow burn, from the budget release to the stupid assed response by the Liberal Party to it. I mean seriously, he’ll support it if Harper reports to Parliament more? Excuse me Mr. Ignatieff, but what friggin planet are you on?

Harper has yet to keep a promise made, and you expect him to honor this one when his back is to the wall? Like he would be a fool to not accept your lifeboat, and while you have squandered this opportunity to save Canada, you have made it hard for honest people to believe in the Liberal Party.

I seriously wonder about people these days. We have Harper & Flaherty going around with their heads buried in the sand, pushing failed Bush policies to save our economy, at the same time we have the bulldog Jack whining and snapping before even reading the damn budget, and now you play footsies with Harper?

AND THIS IS WHAT YOU PEOPLE IN OTTAWA CALL LEADERSHIP?

My God people, tens of billions of dollars are on the line, and all you can think of is to scold each other, and ignore that this budget is a rip off to the people, and worse, it will increase the difficulties not for the Bill Gates of Canada, but for the average common person. How selfish of you Mr. Igantieff, Mr. Harper, Mr. Layton.

Give me Elizabeth May, or anyone who is willing to address the real issues, and who will stop playing politics, when the election is over. Mr. Dion was honest, but Mr. Ignatieff you took advantage of that, by securing your leadership, without benefit of a convention, and now have endangered this country with your willingness to support a regime that is geared to make the rich richer, to make the poor poorer, and worse, to destroy the middle class and our remaining industrial base.

FOR SHAME ON YOU MR. IGNATIEFF, FOR SHAME.

If I was to tell you that come April 2010, you would get some money, and that your payments for the year will be a few dollars less, is that going to make you run out to buy a new car, a new house?

I rather doubt it, and yet that is exactly what Harper & Flaherty believe, that giving you less tax to pay at the source, with a bigger refund, possibly, in fourteen months, will be enough to get the economy rolling again.

By raising the personal exemption a paltry $720, he figures that is going to help the poor. Do the math, because at the rate of 15% plus provincial tax of about half that… making the tax about 24%, your grand savings from Mr. Flaherty’s stimulus to low income earners is a huge, whopping $180.00

AND THAT IS FOR THE YEAR.

“This tax relief will help low- and middle-income Canadians, and it will stimulate consumer spending,” Flaherty said in his budget address Tuesday afternoon ( source – CBC News )

Now I simply do not understand the thinking behind the Harper Conservatives. Tax Cuts is what they have been using since coming to power, and it has done absolutely nothing in staving off this economic collapse. Instead the big corporations got richer, at our expense, and the smaller businesses went bankrupt.

People are paying more for everyday goods, so Mr. Flaherty gives us back a whopping $180? How is that going to help pay off the mortgage, or credit cards? Yet more importantly, how is that going to add needed spending into our consumer based economy?

IT APPEARS THAT MR. HARPER HAS NOT LEARNED HIS LESSONS VERY WELL, AND IS MERELY PLAYING POLITICS AT A TIME WHEN WE NEED LEADERSHIP.

The Throne Speech was today, all eight minutes of it, in which the Harper Regime maps out its plan to save our economy, and to stay in power. Kind of makes you wonder, though, why he bothered with it, seeing as how he once more went against his promise, and leaked a large amount of tomorrow’s budget to the press.

I know that tomorrow is going to be an interesting day, as the Opposition lines up to see if Mr. Harper has gotten it, yet again. While Jack Layton of the NDP continues to talk like it is a foregone conclussion that he will vote against the budget, neither Mr. Duceppe nor Mr. Ignatieff are as adamant about it.

WHICH I BELIEVE IS THE RIGHT RESPONSE TO THIS.

If this issue is as vital, if the economy is indeed in such rough shape, then playing politics is not the way to deal with this. I think that both Harper & Layton are doing just that, playing politics instead of putting aside their differences, to work on a solution to the massive problem facing us. It may be simple window dressing by the Bloc and the Liberals, but at least it is a stab at doing what is right.

I do not believe that Mr. Harper gets it, nor do I expect his budget will save his political ass, but we owe it to ourselves, to wait and see first. Who knows, maybe he might get it right, but given how he is so busy playing games already, one tends to doubt it.

So, tomorrow should be interesting, and frankly I hope that at last, Harper will reveal his true self, to the point where those who stand by him, will realize what a fake, and phony he really is.  I also hope it will galvanize the country, to throw out such fakes, such American Republicans.

Heroics from the Canadian Inspection Food Agency is an oxymoron, because frankly, this Government Protection Agnecy obviously is more concerned about protecting corporate profits, the backside of the Harper regime, than in doing its job.

Saturday it announced that it was inspecting another Maple Leaf Foods plant for Listeria, it announced that a strain of Avian Flu was found in a Turkey farm in B.C., and today that pieces of plastic mesh could be in Black Diamond Mozza cheese slices.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning people not to consume a type of Black Diamond brand Fat-free Mozzarrella processed cheese slices because the product may contain small pieces of plastic mesh. ( source – CBC News )

To be fair, some of the fault also lies with the Media who rarely reports these notices anymore, because they deem it too common. It, in their twisted minds, is no longer hard breaking news, so who cares if people choke on plastic, eat contaminated meats, or simply contract an illness. Until they die or enough die, to them it isn’t news anymore.

However, how the Government reports the events is also to blame. While I can understand not wanting to create panic, the simple truth is, WE NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH.  Another little fact that Mr. Harper and his Government seem loathe to allow.

Before the paid for Conservative apologists get warmed up, keep in mind that CIFA is a government agency, responsible to the whims & wishes of those in charge, their political masters. Given how poorly Mr. Harper has directed them, how ambiguous his instructions are, it is no wonder that news or alerts get buried on a weekend. It is also no wonder at why these agencies fail to warn us in time, given how they fear for their future employment.

AND THAT DOES NOT MAKE FOR A SAFE FOOD & PRODUCT SUPPLY CHAIN.

I don’t care who is in power, what their allegiance is to, or who contributes to their campaigns. I do care that whoever is in power, honors its obligation to the people they work for, and THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE US, THE VOTER.

Ever since we made the giant mistake of giving power to this Man, and his party of Bush Republican Wannabee’s, we have begun to be inundated with corporate screw ups, that have cost lives. The entire Maple Leaf Food Crisis that killed at least 22 people, was a joke to the Harper Minister in charge, and yet he is still in charge. It is a joke to the Harper Regime that entire industries are now able to sacrifice safety because of Self Regulation Rules implemented by this Uncaring Government.

Harper & his party have one concern, to insure they get corporate backing, and funding, and to hell with us, the people who live here, who pay the taxes, that are to be squandered on tax cuts to conglomerates, simply so they can improve their profits, while adding to the Conservative Campaign War Chest.

There used to be a time, when Government watched over the food chain, when Government kept Business on its toes, by inspecting, by testing, and by insuring that the crap didn’t get out to the consumer. That was then, and since the Harper Regime, it has come to a crashing end. Now we are faced with toys containing lead paint, because Harper wants more Trade.

Businesses are allowed to import shoddy goods, move jobs abroad, all because Harper needs more campaign funds. There is no National Interest anymore, just cheap crap and dangerous crap, being passed onto the citizens of this country, all because STEPHEN HARPER is too busy changing sweaters, too busy kissing up to the Corporate Elite, and too busy trying to stay in power.

The dismantling of our protection agencies, in the name of Corporate Profits is a lie, and the Media not only has bought into it, but helps support it, by not reporting the recalls when they should, or in burying them in back pages, or at tail end of news reports. This is the society we have allowed to take place, all because we have bought into the Harper Fear Campaign.

Business should not run Government. It is that simple, and neither should Labor run it. It must, and has to be, the people of the country who run Government, through prudent and responsible use of the ballot box. Thank God for a minority government, because it means we can turf them out, but we can’t keep giving the same bozo’s another crack at it.

Harper, with his failed policies, his outdated perception of reality, and his arrogance, along with his broken promises & lies needs to be taught an important lesson. He needs to be removed from office, his party of ultra right wing lunatics and ideologues needs to be thrown out of office, and thrown out of the political landscape of this country.

I want a real conservative party, not a trumped up one,  made by backroom deals among liars and thieves. I want a conservative party to battle the Liberals, the NDP, and the Greens, based on real conservative beliefs, not on attack ads, or fear. I want a conservative party that will respect the social programs, respect the diversity of this country, and above all else, respect the people and work for them, not for the highest bidder.

ANYONE BUT HARPER.