Whether or not this latest instalment of the accusations by the opposition of patronage by Robert Ghiz and his government turns out to be true, it's easy to say that this government has been providing endless fodder for such accusations over the past year.
Recently, John Broderick, former Liberal Party of PEI President, (he was also a pal of Joseph Ghiz, getting VLT contracts from the province back in the day when he ran the show), has received a pretty decent job. He is now a full-time Commissioner at IRAC, free to rule on everything that comes across his chamber. There was absolutely no evidence produced (to date) that there was a fair and equitable hiring process conducted. I mean, I would've applied for this job had it been widely advertised.
Just before that, Nancy Guptill was appointed to the WCB. Now if her Liberal ties don't make her suspicious, the fact that her first words were "I hope this wasn't patronage!" makes you wonder if they even trust their own party to keep their promises. This one was tendered, so I won't complain about it, but really. Don't shoot yourself in the foot, Ms. Guptill. Guptill was a cabinet minister under Catharine Callbeck from 1993-1996. Callbeck was (surprise, surprise) Joseph Ghiz's (yes, the father of our Premier) successor.
Is Ghiz going to start being A LOT more open about his government's dealings? I sure hope so.
Keep your promise Ghiz, get patronage out of our province!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Manley Releases His Panel's Report
John Manley has released his panel's report on the Afghan mission. As expected by most level-minded individuals, the recommendation is to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, provided NATO bolsters its troops.
The Liberals are considering it, which they should, since the head of the panel is a high-profile Liberal (an obvious, effective election ploy by the Conservatives). The NDP and Bloc are against it, to the point where they won't 1) look at the report before commenting and 2) submit any recommendations to the website.
It's good to know that we're likely to stay in Afghanistan. Now all that's needed is for positive news to be spread, instead of just negatives. If a new town gets captured, and subsequently one soldier gets injured, every media outlet speaks about the injury and tragedy to no end, makes a little note of the town being captured, and reminds us that 77 soldiers and a diplomat have died. Negative media is killing this war. Most people who know soldiers personally know that they support the war, not because they have to (they don't, really. They can get other jobs.) but because they've been there, they've seen that we're making tons of progress, they just need a little more support to finish the mission.
Thanks, Mr. Manley, for a job well done.
The Liberals are considering it, which they should, since the head of the panel is a high-profile Liberal (an obvious, effective election ploy by the Conservatives). The NDP and Bloc are against it, to the point where they won't 1) look at the report before commenting and 2) submit any recommendations to the website.
It's good to know that we're likely to stay in Afghanistan. Now all that's needed is for positive news to be spread, instead of just negatives. If a new town gets captured, and subsequently one soldier gets injured, every media outlet speaks about the injury and tragedy to no end, makes a little note of the town being captured, and reminds us that 77 soldiers and a diplomat have died. Negative media is killing this war. Most people who know soldiers personally know that they support the war, not because they have to (they don't, really. They can get other jobs.) but because they've been there, they've seen that we're making tons of progress, they just need a little more support to finish the mission.
Thanks, Mr. Manley, for a job well done.
Great "New" Environment Plan in PEI
PEI Premier Robert Ghiz revealed his "new" energy plan today. Oh. Wait. No he didn't. He opened a $200,000 (of my hard earned) taxpayer-funded office to help people get information on energy conservation and renamed two old PC programs from 2005 or so.
So, Robert Ghiz's environment program currently includes: delaying the opening of a big and wonderful and bond-funded windmill project, cutting the tax on gas, so it's cheaper to drive everywhere (while everyone who knows two things about the environment knows that driving needs to be MORE expensive to encourage conservation), driving too many cars all over the place, spending $200,000 for an office to do what I can do online from anywhere in the world and renaming two PC programs. The amount of effort is amazing, but when will we get handouts of CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs, or even LED ones that we can dim and save energy? Or how about an incentive to replace old vehicles with newer, fuel efficient ones, while guaranteeing that the old car would be scrapped and recycled? Come on, people! When this Government saves its first tonne of CO2 emissions, I'll consider changing my vote. Note the word consider.
So, Robert Ghiz's environment program currently includes: delaying the opening of a big and wonderful and bond-funded windmill project, cutting the tax on gas, so it's cheaper to drive everywhere (while everyone who knows two things about the environment knows that driving needs to be MORE expensive to encourage conservation), driving too many cars all over the place, spending $200,000 for an office to do what I can do online from anywhere in the world and renaming two PC programs. The amount of effort is amazing, but when will we get handouts of CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs, or even LED ones that we can dim and save energy? Or how about an incentive to replace old vehicles with newer, fuel efficient ones, while guaranteeing that the old car would be scrapped and recycled? Come on, people! When this Government saves its first tonne of CO2 emissions, I'll consider changing my vote. Note the word consider.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
PEI's Environmental Efforts
Unfortunately, two provincial Cabinet ministers, Gerard Greenan and Carolyn Bertram, were involved in a car accident on the return from an Atlantic Ministers meeting in Sackville, New Brunswick, when they were struck by a fishtailing Geo Metro. Thankfully, they were merely shaken, with no need to visit the hospital. Fortunately, the article provides enough details to know the limited concern for public funds and the environment that this government has.
Greenan and Bertram were travelling together in a government owned Camry. This car has five seats. Fisheries Minister Alan Campbell was following behind in another vehicle, and offered to drive them home, their vehicle being too damaged to drive. Since he had room for two additional people in his vehicle, one could assume it was also a five-seat vehicle.
The name of the meeting "Atlantic Ministers Meeting" would leave one to believe that the entire cabinet would be travelling, 11 people, or the largest in recent history. If three ministers were using two cars for this ca. 1 hour drive (from Summerside or Charlottetown), then extrapolation of data shows that 11 people travelled in 8 vehicles (numbers rounded). This drive should take no longer than 3 hours from any point on PEI, and it would be relatively easy for Ministers to meet in Summerside and Charlottetown and carpool from there. The poor weather would extend the drive marginally, but is there really any reason why at least 4 people cannot travel in one vehicle for a relatively short distance?
Given the fact that this was winter driving, I will do a quick fuel calculation based on a popular, compact, four wheel drive SUV, the Ford Escape. I will use a model that I'm familiar with, the 2008 XLT with a four-cylinder engine. I will use a rather low-end fuel economy (it gets much better than what I will display, simulating terrible driving/conditions). At 12 liters/hundred kilometres (real life, expect 9-10 lt/100 km), the drive per vehicle would consume 12 litres from Summerside. Eight similar vehicles would burn approximately 120 litres, assuming five depart from Charlottetown and three from Charlottetown. The cost of only fuel, based on the regulated pump price on PEI, would be $128.40, based on the pump price acquired from www.peigasprices.com. The Carbon Dioxide released would measure 273.6 kg. This is without counting other requirements, such as oil, purchasing new tires and replacing parts for the vehicles, visits to mechanics (not for the accident), etc.
If, however, the government had chosen to carpool, we will assume one car departed from Summerside and two from Charlottetown, for simplicity. A total of approximately 360 kilometres would be driven, for a fuel burn of 43.2 litres, a cost of $46.10 and a CO2 release of 98.5 kg. Not to mention this frees up 5 vehicles for other people to drive!
What would PEI's Government save if they carpooled? They would save the taxpayers $82.30 (that's a game for your PS3), they would stop 175.1 kg of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere. These numbers concern only one direction of travel, so more realistic numbers would be $164.60 saved and 350.1 kg CO2 diverted. Sure, the numbers aren't huge, some people may laugh at the minuscule savings, but when your province has over $1.3 billion worth of debts ($10,000 per person), every penny saved is a definite start. Not to mention we'd be able to breathe a little easier.
Sure, this post isn't exactly scientific, you could argue that maybe only four vehicles were driven anyway, there's also the possibility that the Toyata Camry was the most fuel efficient vehicle driven, since there are also large vehicles in the government's fleet, and some ministers may have driven a private vehicle. Our tax dollars are not a joke. When the government stops wasting them and makes efforts to cut our debt, it will be a happy day.
Greenan and Bertram were travelling together in a government owned Camry. This car has five seats. Fisheries Minister Alan Campbell was following behind in another vehicle, and offered to drive them home, their vehicle being too damaged to drive. Since he had room for two additional people in his vehicle, one could assume it was also a five-seat vehicle.
The name of the meeting "Atlantic Ministers Meeting" would leave one to believe that the entire cabinet would be travelling, 11 people, or the largest in recent history. If three ministers were using two cars for this ca. 1 hour drive (from Summerside or Charlottetown), then extrapolation of data shows that 11 people travelled in 8 vehicles (numbers rounded). This drive should take no longer than 3 hours from any point on PEI, and it would be relatively easy for Ministers to meet in Summerside and Charlottetown and carpool from there. The poor weather would extend the drive marginally, but is there really any reason why at least 4 people cannot travel in one vehicle for a relatively short distance?
Given the fact that this was winter driving, I will do a quick fuel calculation based on a popular, compact, four wheel drive SUV, the Ford Escape. I will use a model that I'm familiar with, the 2008 XLT with a four-cylinder engine. I will use a rather low-end fuel economy (it gets much better than what I will display, simulating terrible driving/conditions). At 12 liters/hundred kilometres (real life, expect 9-10 lt/100 km), the drive per vehicle would consume 12 litres from Summerside. Eight similar vehicles would burn approximately 120 litres, assuming five depart from Charlottetown and three from Charlottetown. The cost of only fuel, based on the regulated pump price on PEI, would be $128.40, based on the pump price acquired from www.peigasprices.com. The Carbon Dioxide released would measure 273.6 kg. This is without counting other requirements, such as oil, purchasing new tires and replacing parts for the vehicles, visits to mechanics (not for the accident), etc.
If, however, the government had chosen to carpool, we will assume one car departed from Summerside and two from Charlottetown, for simplicity. A total of approximately 360 kilometres would be driven, for a fuel burn of 43.2 litres, a cost of $46.10 and a CO2 release of 98.5 kg. Not to mention this frees up 5 vehicles for other people to drive!
What would PEI's Government save if they carpooled? They would save the taxpayers $82.30 (that's a game for your PS3), they would stop 175.1 kg of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere. These numbers concern only one direction of travel, so more realistic numbers would be $164.60 saved and 350.1 kg CO2 diverted. Sure, the numbers aren't huge, some people may laugh at the minuscule savings, but when your province has over $1.3 billion worth of debts ($10,000 per person), every penny saved is a definite start. Not to mention we'd be able to breathe a little easier.
Sure, this post isn't exactly scientific, you could argue that maybe only four vehicles were driven anyway, there's also the possibility that the Toyata Camry was the most fuel efficient vehicle driven, since there are also large vehicles in the government's fleet, and some ministers may have driven a private vehicle. Our tax dollars are not a joke. When the government stops wasting them and makes efforts to cut our debt, it will be a happy day.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Democracy at its Finest
The PEI Liberal Government will stop at nothing to work under the radar and enforce hardship and concern upon its constituents. Just today, it was revealed that they are forcing the region's only pork processor to fork back $1.5 million in loans by Monday, the total time period being 10 days. This is for a company that's just in the first year of a five-year restructuring plan and they clearly don't have the cash to pay that back in 10 days.
Why does the government need the cash so bad that it's willing to put Island workers out of work? Is it because they switched a $2 million dollar surplus from the Pat Binns PCs into a $44 million deficit when they came to power? Is it because they've cut taxes on housing and petroleum products, a move that will lower their income and encourage people to build larger houses, or drive more with their big vehicles, since the hit on the pocketbook isn't so great, and now they need to raise back some cash to pay for the MOST EXPENSIVE election promises in ISLAND HISTORY? Or is it because they hate agriculture, having already threatened to shut down the region's only beef producer, which is facing similar problems? A recent promotion to buy local beef was successful, maybe the plant will be profitable soon. If given a chance, maybe the hog plant could do the same.
Then, later today, it was revealed that CBC was being charged upwards of $12,000 to receive information regarding loans to the Rodd hotel chain, the largest privately owned hotel chain in Atlantic Canada, which is being sold. Under provincial law, the requester must pay the costs of acquiring the material, but the fee can be waived if the requester can't afford it (no luck, CBC), or if the records relate to a matter of public interest. The CBC is obviously taking the government to court over the desire to hide the truth and I don't blame them. As an Islander, I want to know exactly what happened to our tax dollars. That is clearly a matter of public interest, and the dodginess of this government needs to stop. Considering they were out of power for 10 years, there certainly can't be much that the Liberals need to hide, or have they already been lining pockets? That'd explain the deficit.
Well, until 2011, the suffering will continue. All hail Robert Ghiz!
Why does the government need the cash so bad that it's willing to put Island workers out of work? Is it because they switched a $2 million dollar surplus from the Pat Binns PCs into a $44 million deficit when they came to power? Is it because they've cut taxes on housing and petroleum products, a move that will lower their income and encourage people to build larger houses, or drive more with their big vehicles, since the hit on the pocketbook isn't so great, and now they need to raise back some cash to pay for the MOST EXPENSIVE election promises in ISLAND HISTORY? Or is it because they hate agriculture, having already threatened to shut down the region's only beef producer, which is facing similar problems? A recent promotion to buy local beef was successful, maybe the plant will be profitable soon. If given a chance, maybe the hog plant could do the same.
Then, later today, it was revealed that CBC was being charged upwards of $12,000 to receive information regarding loans to the Rodd hotel chain, the largest privately owned hotel chain in Atlantic Canada, which is being sold. Under provincial law, the requester must pay the costs of acquiring the material, but the fee can be waived if the requester can't afford it (no luck, CBC), or if the records relate to a matter of public interest. The CBC is obviously taking the government to court over the desire to hide the truth and I don't blame them. As an Islander, I want to know exactly what happened to our tax dollars. That is clearly a matter of public interest, and the dodginess of this government needs to stop. Considering they were out of power for 10 years, there certainly can't be much that the Liberals need to hide, or have they already been lining pockets? That'd explain the deficit.
Well, until 2011, the suffering will continue. All hail Robert Ghiz!
Friday, January 11, 2008
First Ministers Meeting
It's been a while, since Christmas was busy for me and slow politically. However, an error-riddled article on CBC prompted me to write again.
Harper announced $1 Billion in aid for provinces yesterday, anticipating economic issues based mainly on crazy business deals in America. Since most people know about the sub-prime mortgage disaster, I'll skip it. Today, Harper starts his second meeting with all of the premiers since he was elected, in 2006 (not 2005, CBC). I mean, anyone saying that we've had such a wonderful government for so long is a saint, but I still prefer the facts.
Harper plans to ignore Charest and McGuinty, since they're just whining for more money, and saying they deserve more money than, for example, PEI, which has a nearly defunct fish and agriculture industry, a premier that keeps promises so well that he'll leave them with the HIGHEST PER CAPITA DEPT IN CANADA before he leaves office in 2011, with the municipalities considering jacking their taxes so they won't lose money with his tax cuts, and already a high unemployment rate. Quebec and Ontario: you enjoyed a good ride, now it's time for a little equality, which is what Harper did.
I believe this is a great plan, which will provide emergency money for the many single-industry towns in Canada, but hopefully the money isn't simply used to bail out. Diversification is a must. Everything doesn't have to be done in Smog Central, people in northern New Brunswick can assemble parts as well, or better, than those in Ontario. They don't need to always use saws to prepare wood for the market. All in all, I think Canada will come out of this ordeal a lot better than America.
Harper also wants serious talk of Senate Reform, perhaps so that the deal can be done in time for the next election. Dion criticizes such a move, naturally, because the Liberal enjoys the current stacked Senate. Cosmo magazine (yeah, the one about sex that your daughter reads)started the revolution to change the US Senate, maybe it'll do the same in Canada? (I doubt it. It wasn't about sex back then) Dion enjoyed pointing out that in Harper's "first meeting with the premiers in over two years" (which is impossible, since he hasn't been our Prime Minister for that long yet), he should concentrate on things such as, oh, avoiding a recession. Well, he has taken care of that. Unfortunately, when the US economy collapses, so does every other economy. It won't last long, however, and we can surely just rebuild our economy to be stronger and more diverse, since we've got a lot more of a line of credit to move around with.
Quit your Liberal whining, Mr. Dion. Please. We all beg you. It's the same rubbish day in and day out. Any respect I had of you when out the door when you forgot how long you've been out of power for.
Goodbye.
Harper announced $1 Billion in aid for provinces yesterday, anticipating economic issues based mainly on crazy business deals in America. Since most people know about the sub-prime mortgage disaster, I'll skip it. Today, Harper starts his second meeting with all of the premiers since he was elected, in 2006 (not 2005, CBC). I mean, anyone saying that we've had such a wonderful government for so long is a saint, but I still prefer the facts.
Harper plans to ignore Charest and McGuinty, since they're just whining for more money, and saying they deserve more money than, for example, PEI, which has a nearly defunct fish and agriculture industry, a premier that keeps promises so well that he'll leave them with the HIGHEST PER CAPITA DEPT IN CANADA before he leaves office in 2011, with the municipalities considering jacking their taxes so they won't lose money with his tax cuts, and already a high unemployment rate. Quebec and Ontario: you enjoyed a good ride, now it's time for a little equality, which is what Harper did.
I believe this is a great plan, which will provide emergency money for the many single-industry towns in Canada, but hopefully the money isn't simply used to bail out. Diversification is a must. Everything doesn't have to be done in Smog Central, people in northern New Brunswick can assemble parts as well, or better, than those in Ontario. They don't need to always use saws to prepare wood for the market. All in all, I think Canada will come out of this ordeal a lot better than America.
Harper also wants serious talk of Senate Reform, perhaps so that the deal can be done in time for the next election. Dion criticizes such a move, naturally, because the Liberal enjoys the current stacked Senate. Cosmo magazine (yeah, the one about sex that your daughter reads)started the revolution to change the US Senate, maybe it'll do the same in Canada? (I doubt it. It wasn't about sex back then) Dion enjoyed pointing out that in Harper's "first meeting with the premiers in over two years" (which is impossible, since he hasn't been our Prime Minister for that long yet), he should concentrate on things such as, oh, avoiding a recession. Well, he has taken care of that. Unfortunately, when the US economy collapses, so does every other economy. It won't last long, however, and we can surely just rebuild our economy to be stronger and more diverse, since we've got a lot more of a line of credit to move around with.
Quit your Liberal whining, Mr. Dion. Please. We all beg you. It's the same rubbish day in and day out. Any respect I had of you when out the door when you forgot how long you've been out of power for.
Goodbye.
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