Category: Politics/Conservatives

Budget 2008 set aside $15 million for the New Horizons Seniors Program (NHSP). The NHSP has been around for a while. The previous Liberal government started it up. Right now, the program is administed by Human Resources Development Canada.

Julie Vaux, the director of communications for HRDC minister Diane Finley, says:

Allocation for this funding is not politically motivated, in fact review committees in each province and territory play an important role in making recommendations for project funding. The committees consist of members who are active in seniors’ and community issues. They also include representatives from the federal and provincial or territorial governments. Also, the parameters of the Calls-for-Proposals under the NHSP have not changed since the program began. Since the beginning of this program, the NHSP has funded over 5,000 projects in several communities across Canada, helping seniors to bring their leadership, energy, and skills to benefit our communities. We are proud to continue to support seniors in strengthening our communities and building our country.

You should also know that 60% of projects funded under NHSP Community participation and leadership funding were in opposition held ridings. They are all available online:

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/community_partnerships/seniors/nhsp/cpl/ap/index.shtml

This week, Canwest News Service distributed a story under my byline in which I quoted Kevin Gaudet, national director of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, saying this program was “a waste of money.”
I also noted that the government had issued 32 press releases this year announcing funding from this program and of those 32, 31 were announcements about funding of projects in Conservative ridings.
Since we published that story, here are the press releases this week.

• Conservative MP Royal Galipeau announced that taxpayers would kick in $25,000 in his Ottawa-area riding so that seniors could participate in several activities including “a film on the history of Orleans, an after-school reading program that will partner seniors with elementary school children, and a computer technology class for seniors taught by university students and community volunteers.”
• Conservative MP Dave Van Kesteren announced that taxpayers would kick in $48,000 in his riding for two separate projects. First, the money will be used to create a video to demonstrate seven exercise seniors can do “that will build strength and balance to prevent falls.” The other $23,000 will be used so that “seniors who are knowledgeable in gardening to transfer their knowledge of planting, seeding, cultivating and canning to youth in the community.”
• Conservative MP Colin Mayes announced $19,000 of taxpayers money so that seniors could develop a mentorship program with local youth.
• Conservative MP Patrick Brown announced $24,608 so that seniors could learn about “a variety of leisure activities, including art programs, walking and nature hiking, gardening and plant identification, and other outdoor recreation activities.”
• Conservative MP Barry Devolin announced $25,000 for a “Computers with Seniors” program.
• Devolin also announced $19,000 for seniors in his riding to create a photography exhibit about elder abuse.
• Devolin also announced $25,000 so seniors in his riding could paint, draw, and take some photos.

Vaux may be correct in saying money is also flowing to opposition-held ridings but the government, it seems to me, doesn't want to draw any attention to that fact.

For the entire year now, there have been 37 press releases about the NHSP and 36 have been about funding in Conservative-held ridings.

It was similar story in 2008.

Check out the entire HRDC press release output for 2008.

By my count, there were 57 press releases issued by HRDC in all of 2008 announcing funding out of the New Horizons' program. Of all the of those, 44 or 77 per cent were press releases calling attention to funding of projects in a riding held by a Conservative or in a riding, such as Vaudreuil-Dorion, that the Conservatives were very keen to take in the election we all expected some time later in the year. (Indeed, former Sen. Michael Fortier issued three or more press releases from Vaudreuil-Dorion announcing funding from New Horizons. Fortier quit the Senate to run, unsuccessfully, in Vaudreuil-Soulanges.)

Sometimes, it is true, a press release was issued announced funding of projects in ridings held by non-Conservatives but, even then, the circumstances look suspicious: The government, for example, announced money for seniors in Kitchener, a riding they would, in fact, steal from the Liberals.

In some cases, a release was issued about the the funding of projects for a whole region. Joy Smith did that March 7, 2008, announcing that 48 organizations across Manitoba would get money — but while the government this week issued three separate releases for each of Conservative MP Barry Devolin's projects, the government never issued a press release for any of the Manitoba projects — except the separate one when when one organization in Smith's riding got some money.

WaPo media columnist Howard Kurtz writes: “Breaking with tradition and using a prepared list, Obama did not recognize journalists with The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Wall Street Journal or USA Today — the last four of which were not picked at last month's news conference, either. Instead, he called on reporters for Ebony magazine, Stars and Stripes, Univision, and Agence France-Presse . . .”

Kinda sounds familiar …

Tip-of-the-toque to Satchmo Wells …

[One of my Twitter Followers “CanTaxFed” twigged me on to the thinking that resulted in this post]

On Wednesday this week, Sen. Marjory LeBreton announced that the federal government was spending $11 million for 900 projects across the country aimed to improving the lives of seniors. Who's going to quarrel with that? No one in Beauval, Saskatchewan, that's for sure.

             

Today, the area's Conservative MP Rob Clarke announced that the village of Beauval was to receive $20,000 for “its project Circle of Seniors and Youth. The project will provide seniors with an opportunity to organize, plan and teach the traditional arts of dancing, beadwork and storytelling of the Cree culture to fellow seniors, youth and other members of the community.”

At the time of the 2006 census, 806 people lived in this northern Saskatchewan communitty and precisely 80 people were, in 2006, 60 or older. That works out to $250 per person over 60. Not bad.

Even before Sen. LeBreton made her announcement, MPs have been busy handing out cheques to seniors groups:

• Conservative MP Devinder Shory had $24,000 for the Calgary Seniors' Resource Society to be used for the “Seniors’ Social Link. The project will help seniors develop relationships and facilitate social activities for isolated seniors, including flower planting, educational presentations, cultural dance and musical entertainment.” There are about 100,000 seniors in Calgary. That's about 24 cents per senior, isolated or not.
• Conservative MP Peter Braid announced $25,000 for the Parkwood Mennonite Home “for its project Health and Wellness for Successful Aging, which will support seniors in the design and delivery of educational sessions on healthier lifestyle choices for their peers.” Cost per senior: 60 cents.
• Conservative MP Michael Chong handed out $25,000 to the Federated Women's Institute of Ontario “for its project ROSE Buddies. Through the project, seniors will create partnerships with local elementary schools and facilitate an intergenerational memoir-writing program with youth.” Cost per senior: 75 cents.

There's been a pile of other announcements like this in the last two weeks — MP so-and-so gives $20,000 to $25,000 for a seniors project in his or her community:

The Government of Canada supports seniors in Wingham ($22.42 a senior)
The Government of Canada supports seniors in New Jersey and Burnt Church ($22.25)
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Cayuga ($3.22)
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Kitchener (76 cents)
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Brussels ($33)

There have also been these since March 13:

The Government of Canada supports seniors in Niagara West and Flamborough
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Georgetown
The Government of Canada supports seniors in New Ross and Chester
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Beamsville
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Thornhill, Vaughan and Concord
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Goderich
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Kincardine
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Prince George
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Delta

Now I haven't crunched the seniors-to-funding ratio in that last bunch but I'm willing to bet that the good folks of Beauval are still going to come out on top no matter what.

By the way — these are the first 18 projects, I'm assuming, of the 900 that Senator LeBreton spoke of. If you're on Twitter and want to follow along, you can track these spending announcements and others by following the Twitter hashtag #ottawaspends or by just following me on Twitter at davidakin.

Asked by Globe and Mail journalist Anne McIlroy if he believed in evolution, Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear refused to answer. McIlroy reported his answer. Less than 24 hours after McIlroy reported Goodyear's non-answer, Goodyear gets asked the same question by another Globe and Mail journalist, Jane Taber, and this time he answers the question.

Goodyear now says ““We are evolving every year, every decade.” That fast, eh? Who knew?

On the day that Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technolgy, is getting the gears in some quarters for his inability to say that he believes in evolution, he announced (with the help of Diane Ablonzy) the award of $23 million in new or renewed Canada Research Chairs. The academic community is pretty much unanimous that the the Chairs program has been a big hit, helping to attract some top international research talent to move to and work in Canada and keep some of Canada's top talent from going elsewhere. So, given that there is the implicit suggestion in today's criticism of Goodyear that his government might not fund folks who are estabishing ever stronger evidence that evolution is as much a fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun, let's look at some of the researchers celebrating today's funding:

• Dr. Andrew Waskiewicz of the University of Alberta got $500,000. He essentially “investigates the formation of the vertebrate central nervous system, with a focus on identifying cell to cell signaling mechanisms in the brainstem and eye” and does this by growing zebrafish in large numbers. In other words, he's looking at how cells change in a given organism from generation to generation to generation. That would be yer evolution in action, Minister.
• Dr. Sarah Childs at the University of Calgary got $500,000. She, too, grows lots of Zebrafish so she can study how genetics affects the growth of blood vessels. Another example of evolution at work in the lab.
• Prof. Linda Marie Fedigan at the University of Calgary got $500,000. She studies monkeys and – gasp – has actually published a book studying the role of women in models of human evolution . She's also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and they're a pretty pro-evolution group.
• Dr. Denise Daley at the University of British Columbia got $500,000. She's a genetic epidemiologist which — and I stand to be corrected — means that, by definition, evolution is one of the basic assumptions underlying her work into figuring out how much genetics contributes to a disease like asthma and how much you can chalk up that disease to environmental determinants.
• Stephen G. Withers of UBC got $1.4 million and he makes no bones about he'll use the money for: “One major area of interest is in the use of directed evolution …” Directed evolution! He's figuring out a way for humans to control Darwin's mysterious hand!

There's more, but you get my point: The Science Minister Who Believes Evolution is a Religious Question is spending tons of taxpayer dough on folks who use evolution every day to real science that has the potential to make us a lot better.

Gary Goodyear, Canada's science minister, refuses to answer Globe and Mail science report Anne McIlroy when Anne asks Gary if he believes in evolution.

“I'm not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate,” Goodyear, the Minister of State for Science and Technology told McIlroy.

Gary might want to ask Steve about evolution. That is to say, any one of the 700 Steves on this list. They're all scientists. And I'll bet many of them are Christians. And they all say evolution is an undisputed scientific fact.

Here's what those Steves say:

Evolution is a vital, well-supported, unifying principle of the biological sciences, and the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the idea that all living things share a common ancestry. Although there are legitimate debates about the patterns and processes of evolution, there is no serious scientific doubt that evolution occurred or that natural selection is a major mechanism in its occurrence. It is scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible for creationist pseudoscience, including but not limited to “intelligent design,” to be introduced into the science curricula of our nation's public schools.

You Twitter freaks out there that are interested in politics might want to check out #mnce09 and/or #roft. #mnce09 is the Twitter hashtag for the Manning Centre for Building Democracy 2009 conference a three-day event on in Ottawa right now and the lineup of small-c, big-c and officially-c conservatives is pretty impressive. #roft is Stephen Taylor's creation — it stands for Right of Feed Twitter — a place for Conservatives to talk to each other on Twitter.

In any event: This afternoon, there was this panel:

A conservative response to economic downturn

Chair: Gwyn Morgan

– Bill Robson, C.D. Howe Institute

– Ken Boessenkool, GCI Canada

– Andrew Coyne, Maclean's

I've been stuck in the office chronicling the Conservative (Government) response to economic downturn but I've been keeping an eye on #mnce09 Twitter feed. Here's some of the content as at 1715 Ottawa time (I've stripped out some of the Twitter-junk and re-arranged it in chronological order from start to finish). For those not familiar with Twitter, it's a micro-blogging servier and your “tweets”, as they're called, can only be 140 characters long. So correspondents here only have a sentence or so to say something:

jmcjannett: Heading over to hear Gwyn Morgan and Coyne offer economic advice to Canada's conservative movement. #roft

jneilson42: listening to panelists describe how conservatives should solve the financial crisis at #mnce09

jneilson42: Bill Robson is explaining how US Congress rigged mortgage policy- off their balance sheets but artificially inflating home ownership #mnce09Dscn3897_2_normal

ncgafuik: Andrew Coyne, Gwyn Morgan, Ken Boessenkool, & Bill Robson talking economic downturn#roft

jneilson42: Bill Robson's telling the story of the porn industry asking for a bailout and it's obviously upsetting a nearby so-con at #mnce09Nickgafuik_normal

jneilson42: Robson: Wouldn't it be great if the people whose retirement dreams crashed w/ the market got the same support as those w/ pensions?

jneilson42: Bill Robson's view on bailouts – supporting banks is one thing, but picking and choosing who to support in the economy is a problem. #mnce09Dscn3897_2_normal

jneilson42: Ken Boessenkool invoking Goldwater at #mnce09Dscn3897_2_normal

jneilson42: Ken Boessenkool defending Harper's budget at #mnce09Dscn3897_2_normal

jneilson42: is a little confused about the compatibility of her last two tweets at #mnce09Dscn3897_2_normal

jneilson42: Ken Boessenkool: “Moderation in the defense of liberty is no vice.” Bastardizing the quote explains those tweets. #mnce09Dscn3897_2_normal

jneilson42: Coyne: Being opposed to a policy doesn't make you a fanatical purist. #mnce09Dscn3897_2_normal

stephen_taylor: Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) just called himself a socialist #roft

jneilson42: Coyne: Principled politics matters. What you do should cohort with what you say. #mnce09N81008618_36712070_1932_normal

stephen_taylor: “Principles are what you jettison on your way to power” — @acoyne #roft #mnce09

jneilson42: Coyne: Canadian Conservatives think that principles are the things you jettison on the way to power, but nowhere else in the world. #mnce09N81008618_36712070_1932_normal

Carywill: RT WHA?! how is that possible?! Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) just called himself a socialist #roft(via @stephen_taylor)

jneilson42: Coyne: No more argument in politics on what should be in the budget in Canada, just on who would pass it faster. #mnce09Cary_and_poppy_normal

stephen_taylor: Political debate has been reduced to who wil pass the budget faster — @acoyne

jneilson42: Coyne: Compromise might be a virtue in politics, but it shouldn't be the only virtue. #mnce

jneilson42: Coyne: don't be lulled into thinking Canada's higher spending is short termed.

jneilson42: Coyne kicking the crap out of partisan conservative defenses of Harper's government at #mnce09Dscn3897_2_normal

jneilson42: Coyne kicking the crap out of partisan Conservative defenses of Harper's government at #mnce09

jneilson42: Coyne: Conservatives don't think half a loaf is better than no loaf, they think no loaf is acceptable

jneilson42: Coyne: politics isn't the art of the possible, it's the art of expanding the possible

jneilson42: Coyne: Conservatives haven't just abandoned conservatism themselves, but have closed off the possibility of anyone else applying it. #mnce09

jneilson42: Coyne: whole sections of public policy have been ruled off limits because “even the Tories wouldn't do it.”#roft

jneilson42: Coyne: Conservative ministers go around the country boasting that their party delivers more pork

jneilson42: Coyne explaining why Conservatives have burned the bridge towards being anywhere near conservative if they become a majority#roft

jneilson42: Wonders if Coyne would like to come back to the podium and tell us how he really feels

jneilson42: Thinks there must be a lot of libertarians atfeeling vindicated after Coyne's thrashing of the Conservative party. #roft #fr33

jneilson42: Bill Robson: stressing taking the long view at #mnce09

jneilson42: Ken Boessenkool says Conservatives might be criticized for economic policy, but argues that strengthening the military is good#roft

jneilson42: Ken Boessenkool argues that the most important thing the Conservatives have done is stopped national child care

stephen_taylor: Coyne and Boessenkool battling it out on the CPC record #roft #mnce09

jneilson42: Coyne pwning Tories some more and sparring with Ken Boessenkool at#roft

jneilson42: Coyne: principled politics is possible, but it is difficult, especially when people give up before they've even started

jneilson42: Boessenkool outlined why conservatives can support the CPC in spite of economic lameness but libertarians are abandoning it#roft

jneilson42: Coyne argues for PR and recommends a Harper/Flanagan paper on the subject

jneilson42: Bill Robson: the less we spend, the happier I am

jneilson42: Coyne: when I wrote about the death of conservatism I was merely describing something, I wasn't lamenting anything.#fr33 #roft

jneilson42: Coyne calls out partisan Conservatives for being born-again Keynesians at#roft #fr33

jneilson42: Bill Robson: One of the most important things the government is doing is unilaterally cutting tariffs #fr33

jneilson42: @Freedomnation Hudak calls Coyne atcombative, possibly for claiming that disagreement needn't be interpreted as rabid purity? #roft

brentcolbert: Andrew Coyne didn't come to make friends but hopefully people will listen #mnce09

stephen_taylor: Coyne thinks artic sovereignty is a Conservative political gimmick. #roft #mnce09

jneilson42: Coyne: the issue of arctic sovereignty has been vastly overblown as a smart political move by the Conservatives#roft

stephen_taylor: Joe Clark tories started applause inflation by desk thumping #roft

stephen_taylor: Coyne gets a rousing desk thumping from the crowd #roft #mnce09

stephen_taylor: Flanagan reduces coyne from an economic coach to an economic sports writer. “He's not a player” Ow! #roft #mnce09

stephen_taylor: Flanagan: Stéphane Dion deserved everything he got from the Tories (attack ads) #roft #mnce09

jneilson42: Coyne's call for desk thumping has resulted in an awkward mixture of desk thumping with applause to show approval at #mnce09

stephen_taylor: Manning Centre is like a dietition that tells us (Conservatives) how to eat. — Boessenkool #roft #mnce09

stephen_taylor: Yikes! Boessenkool: PMO needs to be more accepting of criticism from their friends. #roft #mnce09

stephen_taylor: Wow, illegal mex-us immigratn uncharacteristically hits the floor for the first (and likely last) time at a Cdn con conference #roft #mnce09

jneilson42: Boessenkool/Coyne: it wasn't deficit or depression, it was deficit or defeat

stephen_taylor: In January, the PM faced deficit or defeat. — Boessenkool. Coyne says prorogue saved the Libs from themselves. #roft #mnce09

jneilson42: Coyne: political madness lies where political parties convince themselves that they are indispensable

jneilson42: Coyne: when greed is untempered by the usual competitive forces of the free market, you get economic problems #fr33

stephen_taylor: Coyne calls wall st. not a failure of capitalism but a failure of the

jneilson42: Coyne: don't excuse stupid behaviour in the private sector, but people respond to incentives from the gov to do stupid things#roft

jneilson42: Gwyn Morgan argues for keeping immigration low #deytookourjerbs!

Last night, Prime Minister Stephen Harper opened a three-day conference of conservatives convened by the Manning Institute of Democracy.

Harper had lots to say about conservatism in an era of big government, about Liberals, about Barack Obama, and about the cause of the recession.

You can read a summary here and, as I have time, I'll put up some transcripts. UPDATE: Well, there' s just no pleasing some people. First of all, somebody named “Ti-Guy” (read the comments) thinks I should have stopped everything and put up a transcript toot sweet. (Ti-Guy thinks it's because I spend too much time on Twitter.) Then a blogger named Sandra Crux thinks I and Jennifer Ditchburn grossly distorted the content of the speech in separate reports. You can read Sandra's beef with me here and “Gabby in QC” has provided Sandra with the transcript . Looks like Sandra has changed the URL and, as a result, you'll get a “404” error when you click through the link. Ask her for the correct link.

Incidentally: I can't talk about Jennifer's source, of course, but my “source” for the tape recording was me! And it was hardly a secret. I stood beside a speaker and recorded it while Harper was talking. And I wasn't trying to hide anything — I told Harper's representatives before and after the speech that I'd be reporting on it.

In the meantime, for those Harper-o-philes among you, grab a coffee and sit down for 17 minutes. You should see a QuickTime player control right below this sentence but, if not, click on this link:

Incidentally: I can't talk about Jennifer's source, of course, but
my “source” for the tape recording was me! And it was hardly a secret.
I stood beside a speaker and recorded it while Harper was talking. And
I wasn't trying to hide anything — I told Harper's representatives
before and after the speech that I'd be reporting on it.

To kick off a three-day conference of The Manning Centre for Democracy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave a remarkable — and unannounced — defence of small-c conservatism. It was remarkable, in my eyes, for its candour — we rarely get to hear him talk politics in this way nowadays — and its frank assessment of the mistakes that got us to where we are:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the global recession was caused by American consumers and investors who believed in the “unconservative” idea that they could borrow without consequences.

In a speech Thursday night to a group of supporters attending a fundraising dinner for a conservative think-tank, Mr. Harper delivered a frank diagnosis of the world's economic problems, took a swipe at U.S. President Barack Obama's stimulus plan, and suggested the federal courts and bureaucracy was filled with Liberals who did not share his Conservative government's agenda.

“Imagine how many Liberal insiders and ideologues would now be in the Senate, the courts and countless other federal institutions and agencies – I should say, how many more,” Harper said to the laughter of the mostly conservative crowd of about 300.

“Imagine what a carbon tax would be doing to our economy in the middle of this global recession.”

… in his speech, Mr. Harper gave a passionate defence of conservatism in what has become an era of big-spending, big government.

“We are in a global recession principally – and we have to face this – because a lot of people on Wall Street, because of a lot of people in the private sector more generally – homeowners or consumers – pushed or bought into a very unconservative idea:That they could live beyond their means,” Mr. Harper said. [ Read the rest of the story ]

Technorati Tags: conservatives, economy, stephen harper