Stephen Taylor

The Q4 numbers were released today detailing the allowances given to the four federal parties funded by the federal treasury. The allowances are calculated via the per-vote subsidy and are paid towards a party’s operating expenses and are paid quarterly at the same rate each year between elections.

I’ve argued before that we should stop this form of welfare and force political parties to appeal to their support base for donations rather than receive a handout from voters who often picked the party as the lesser of the other evils. You can read about how I think we should reform the system here.

If we made politics about the positive (Yes), responsibility of self (We) and enablement (Can) rather than the negative (No), what one’s opponent would do (They) and a need to stop them (Can’t), perhaps we could reduce voter apathy both at the ballot box and when parties pass the hat. If we gave voters more power to finance those they support rather than sustain those they least detest we could shift Canadian politics for the better.

But, as it stands Canadians gave the Bloc Quebecois $691,289 in the last quarter of 2010. Yes, we’ve been funding our own demise. If the Bloc had to appeal to their base of support for survival would they find that there’s little interest in funding separatism? The rest of Canada certainly has little interest in throwing money in that direction.

Here are the breakdowns:
BQ: $691,289
CPC; $2,609,418
Greens; $469,686
LPC: $1,819,999
NDP: $1,260,002

Today at Rideau Hall, Prime Minister Stephen Harper elevated three MPs to cabinet and gave one cabinet minister a new job.

Peter Kent becomes the new minister of the environment. Having weathered storms from Bali to Copenhagen, environment should cool down as an issue as the world tires of talk of slowing production during a time of austerity in Europe (and growing in the US). Further, Japan is in little mood to play green after its economic devastation. China and India don’t appear to be entertaining the notion of joining the coalition of the cooling either.

Ted Menzies gets a new cabinet post created just for him. His new business cards say that he’s the minister of state for Finance. This is a reward for an MP who is well liked among his caucus colleagues and by political watchers in Ottawa. This doesn’t necessarily refocus on increased activity in Finance, this is more a move to put a good man into cabinet.

Diane Ablonczy moves to Minister of State for the Americas to replace Peter Kent. The job is a busy one with much travel. A year ago the devastating Haitian earthquake hit, pushing much responsibility on this portfolio. While the principle responsibility for Haiti lies with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the political coordination among the states of the Americas is important as the rebuilding is underway. Indeed, there are always political fires burning in the western hemisphere.

Julian Fantino, former OPP commissioner, star candidate and rookie MP, gets a starter ministry with Minister of State for Seniors. He replaces Ablonczy in this job. Many predicted that he would be immediately elevated to Public Safety, Justice or Citizenship, however, these are too serious and involved for a freshman. The PM is putting Fantino in so that he can find his feet first in the cabinet environment.

Interesting note: While Menzies gets a new post as MOS (Finance), Guergis was not replaced in cabinet with a stand-alone minister at Status of Women. That responsibility still lies with Rona Ambrose who also is in charge of Public Works.

With the promotion of Peter Kent and Julian Fantino in cabinet, Stephen Harper is knocking loudly on Toronto’s York region door. It seems that the PM thinks that the path to majority seems will be blazed anew through the Toronto wilderness and less and less through Quebec as previously thought. This past year has been one of modern conservative firsts in the Big Smoke; the election of Julian Fantino and Rob Ford as mayor have shown that Torontonians (and those in the surrounding areas) are getting tired of their representation as usual.

York region has considerable influence in this latest refresh of the Prime Minister’s cabinet. This cabinet has a full minister and minister of state from York region in cabinet while as a region, southwestern Ontario has but one representative.

Pictures alleging to be of a new Chinese fighter jet hit a few aviation forums this Monday. Is this plane China’s new fifth-generation stealth fighter? As the US and its allies develop the F35 platform, how far along has China gotten developing this plane dubbed the J-20?

The impression here is of a big, long aircraft, 70+ feet from nose to tail, which would make sense for a number of reasons. Rob Hewson at Jane’s has reported that Russia has supplied 32,000-pound thrust 117S engines for the J-20, which would be adequate for an aircraft in the 80,000 pound class – with perhaps lower supercruise performance and agility than an F-22, but with larger weapon bays and more fuel.

But ask yourself: why would China need or want a short-range stealth aircraft? Any targets with defenses that call for that capability are a long way from the mainland. Also, the bigger that the aircraft is, the more likely it is that it is a bomber as much as, if not more than, a fighter.