Month: September 2005

Gloria Galloway must really have it out for Conservatives. The Globe and Mail reporter writes numerous stories attacking Stephen Harper and publishes tales exaggerating turmoil in the Conservative leader’s office.

She did it again today, and as with her Carol Jamieson exaggeration, Galloway gets it wrong again.

In a story in today’s Globe and Mail describing CPC candidates that are ‘dropping out’ of the race Galloway names Tim Dobson as a bailout.

Tim Dobson, the Tory who placed second to Liberal Dan McTeague in Pickering-Scarborough East last year, said he was no longer interested is running, as did Tony Backhurst, the Tory candidate in Scarborough-Rouge River, who also ran in 2004.

However, at about 6pm, I received a copy of the letter that Tim sent into the Globe and Mail late today expressing his confusion as to why Gloria would print such a thing:

“News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated” – Oscar Wilde’s memorable quip came to mind as I read Gloria Galloway’s piece on September 13th (“Tory Leader Hunts for New Troops”). The article states that I am “no longer interested in running”. For the record, I have never expressed these sentiments to Ms Galloway, to anyone at the Globe and Mail or to anybody anywhere, anytime. I look forward to fighting the next election side by side with Stephen Harper and carrying the Conservative banner to every corner of our great riding, Pickering-Scarborough East.

Signed,
Tim Dobson
Candidate (still)
Conservative Party of Canada
Pickering-Scarborough East

I can clear things up for Mr. Dobson. It seems that even national newspaper reporters can leap before they look. However, reporters are not columnists, they are not supposed to be biased. Yet, bias doesn’t mean printing stories which are factually untrue. Sometimes we all make mistakes, but when we do, we apologize for them.

Now, will Gloria Galloway print a retraction and apologize? Will she put away the daggers for Stephen Harper and write pieces without bias?

Tim’s letter will likely appear in tomorrow’s Globe and Mail. Will an apology from Galloway to Dobson and the Conservative Party be in print as well?

For some more context concerning Gloria Galloway’s bias against the Conservative Party, check out this recent post as well.

Today Conservative Party of Canada Critic for International Cooperation Helena Guergis asked an interesting question:

“Why is Paul Martin still giving Canadian Foreign Aid to Communist China?”

Ms. Guergis asked the question in response to China’s donation of millions of dollars towards the United States for hurricane relief.

“I think it only makes perfect sense that the country with the world’s second largest economy would help out the United States in its hour of need but it looks to me like they’re just turning around and using the money of Canadian taxpayers … Usually China props up corrupt countries like Sudan [] with the cash Paul Martin gives them, in this instance we should be happy that they are using some of our money to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina” — Helena Guergis, Conservative Party of Canada

Why is Canada giving foreign aid to the country with the world’s second largest economy? I can see Canada providing emergency support in the time of a devastating crisis as with the recent hurricane disaster in the United States, but why is Canada providing a regular level of foreign aid to China?

According to the CIDA website, Canada is providing China with $8 million dollars for environmental management training in Jiangsu province. (project A-019759):

This project responds to severe environmental degradation and industrial pollution linked to the rapid growth of township and village enterprises (TVEs) in the Province of Jiangsu, most of which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It will provide assistance in management and in environmental/business planning capacity of TVEs; promote enterprises’ awareness of waste minimization, cleaner production and more environmentally sound technology alternatives through loans from the project environment revolving fund (ERF), demonstration/pilot projects and through training of trainers and support to local training capacity. The project will contribute to investments in enterprise-upgrading and the transfer of environmentally sound technologies through a $3.6 million environment revolving fund equally financed by China and CIDA. The original geographical focus was on Southern Jiangsu but it is gradually moving to poorer Northern Jiangsu. The project will also support sectoral linkages and information exchange between Canadian industries and Jiangsu TVEs in the sectors of focus of the project (chemical, food processing, metal working and textile).

Ms. Guergis asks an interesting question. Why is Canada giving foreign aid to the country with the world’s second largest economy? I can see Canada providing emergency support in the time of a devastating crisis as with the recent hurricane disaster in the United States, but why is Canada providing a regular level of foreign aid to China?

The NDP claims to be working for the average Canadian, yet their policies are way out of touch. Furthermore, their plans for dealing with Canada’s growing dependence on gas and Canada’s management of this resource are ill-conceived.

Consider this statement attributed to NDP MP Yvon Godin today. According to the Globe and Mail, “Godin said it is time for Canada to act like a federation by sharing energy resources internally at lower prices”.

Godin mused “Are we a country or are we not? Maybe Alberta is upset about it, but right now the whole country is upset that the price of oil is too high … When we have a province that has a problem, we ask the federal government to help. When a province is doing good, they say we want to be alone and leave us to all our money. Then what is a country?”

Are Mr. Godin and the NDP advocating for the creation of NEP 2?

So, what is the NDP’s stance on lowering the price at the pumps?

According to a policy document on the NDP website, the NDP wants to “Stop tilting the marketplace towards unsustainable fuel and, over four years, shift government subsidies away from unsustainable fuels towards renewable ones”.

While idealists might agree that this is a good idea, the technology isn’t there yet in practical terms for all Canadians. The NDP fixation on implementing the Kyoto protocol (an environmental accord with a wealth transfer program hidden underneath) will do no more than the Conservative environmental plan than transfer billions to developing countries in “hot air” credits. This annual loss will translate to a significant added cost at the pumps and will increase the cost of living for average working Canadians and their families. Now, depending on who you are, you might think that this is a fantastic idea. But then you’d be out of touch with the average working Canadian.