Twenty years ago as Premier of Ontario I signed a “Statement of Political Relationship” with First Nations leadership, and followed it up with unprecedented investment in infrastructure in isolated northern communities.  We even shamed the federal government in to joining us in a partnership to provide running water and indoor plumbing in communities that had before been without modern sanitation and an assured supply of clean water.

It can be done, and the reserves in northern Manitoba have started a “running water for all” campaign that led to my motion in the House of Commons that was passed last year. The Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan said investments would be made.

Watch APTN coverage of Bob Rae’s trip to Island Lake (Click image above)

They’re only happening slowly, and at this pace it won’t happen for another decade or more.  Together with Manitoba Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard and Grand Chief David Harper we visited the St. Theresa Point First Nation and saw, as was the case in Attawapiskat this winter, conditions that just shouldn’t exist in Canada.  A 30-year-old young man with cerebral palsy has to walk 30 yards on crutches to go to an outhouse.  A woman recovering from hip surgery has to do the same.  It’s shameful and it shouldn’t be happening but it is. Canada can and must do better.

We also need to find better and faster ways to fund the infrastructure on reserves, including housing.  The interminable bureaucratic waiting lists condemn another generation to conditions that can only be described as degrading.

It is not the time for despair.  It is a time for constructive, well focused, anger and a determination to change the way we deal with this challenge.  We can turn our heads away no more.  When Stephen Harper walked away from Kelowna he cost Aboriginal people a great deal, but with the right on the ground campaigns we can keep trying to force change.

- Bob Rae

“After Canada experienced zero job growth during the last six months, we expected this budget to have one focus – jobs,” said Liberal Leader Bob Rae. “Unfortunately, this budget has no real measures to grow jobs, and address youth unemployment and Canada’s skills shortage. Moreover, it will worsen income inequality by increasing the qualifying age for the Old Age Security from 65 to 67, and by failing to make tax credits refundable for family caregivers, volunteer firefighters, children’s activities and the disability tax credit.”

In addition to cuts to the Old Age Security, Budget 2012 makes deep ideological cuts to the CBC, the Chief Electoral Officer, the Canadian International Development Agency and Regional Economic Development Agencies. Meanwhile, the government is imposing growing costs on the provinces, territories and municipalities while spending hundreds of millions of dollars on polling, advertising, bigger jails and expensive fighter jets.

“This is a budget of division that not only pits one generation against another, but also prosperous regions against regions that are suffering,” said Liberal Finance critic Scott Brison. “For example, in Atlantic Canada, this Conservative budget kills the Atlantic Investment Tax Credit, and cuts the Department of Fisheries and Oceans by $79 million a year and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency by 19% of its operating budget. Federal budgets should bring our country together, not pit one region against another.”

“The 1988 Air Canada Public Participation Act says Air Canada must service its aircraft in Winnipeg, Mississauga and Montreal,” said Liberal Transport, Infrastructure and Communities critic Denis Coderre. “Despite this law, the doors are now locked, thousands of highly-skilled workers are out of a job and, as we speak, the centres are being liquidated. This is a clear violation of the Act. We urge all Canadians to join our efforts to force the Harper government and Air Canada to respect the law.”

Liberal MP Stéphane Dion, whose Montreal-area riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville includes one of the affected overhaul centres, also highlighted the effects that the Aveos shut-down will have on local economies.

“Stephen Harper needs to remember the promises he made to Montreal and this crucial and highly specialized Canadian industry,” said Mr. Dion. “Right here in Montreal, less than a month ago, the Conservatives pledged their support for the Canadian aerospace industry, yet today they are allowing more than 1,785 aerospace jobs in Montreal alone to evaporate.”

Liberals are calling on the government to explain how the liquidation of Aveos will affect Canada’s international reputation in the global aerospace industry.

“The City of Winnipeg has a proud history of providing world-class service to Canada’s aerospace industry,” said Liberal MP for Winnipeg North, Kevin Lamoureux, whose riding is also affected by this sudden shut-down. “The over 400 highly-skilled aerospace workers in my riding that are now jobless deserve answers from the federal government on what impact this unlawful closure will have on Winnipeg’s local economy and Canada’s place in the global aerospace industry.”

In addition to Winnipeg and Montreal, the closure of Aveos will have an impact on the cities of Mississauga and Vancouver, as well as 8 Wing Canadian Forces Base Trenton, where the future of skilled Canadian jobs is also uncertain. These losses are in addition to Canada losing control of vital regulations and safety oversight, says Liberal MP for Scarborough–Guildwood, John McKay.

“By keeping Air Canada’s maintenance in Canada, we ensured a superior level of safety with tight regulations and a highly-skilled aerospace workforce,” said Mr. McKay. “By shuttering Canadian overhaul centres, Canada is losing its ability to ensure that our aircraft meet safety regulations.”

By Lawrence Martin, iPolitics

The Conservatives have been caught up in many shady activities since coming to power. The revelation that they may have been behind a robocall operation to suppress voting for opposition parties would rank, if proven, among the more serious offences.

Stephen Harper has denied involvement in the scam in which operatives acted under the guise of Elections Canada officials. Coincidentally, another controversy, the in-and-out affair, involved Elections Canada. Some of Harper’s most senior officials took part in that operation.

In giving or not giving the benefit of the doubt on matters like these, the question of the track record figures prominently. To the misfortune of Team Harper, its record on duplicitous activities is hardly one to inspire confidence that its hand are clean.

There follows a list — is Harperland becoming Nixonland? — of dirty tricks, black ops and hardball tactics from the Conservatives’ years in power.

1. Cooking the Books

The duplicity began in the election that brought the Conservatives to power — the 2006 campaign in which they were promising a new era of transparency and accountability. Via some peculiar accounting practices, the Tories exceeded spending limits in the campaign, providing themselves with an advertising advantage in key ridings. They were later caught, had their offices raided by police and ultimately pled guilty last year to reduced charges of violating financing provisions of the Elections Act.

2. The Hidden Slush Fund

More than $40-million slated for border-infrastructure improvements instead went into enhancement projects in Tony Clement’s riding in preparation for the G-8 summit. To conceal the intent of the spending from legislators, John Baird used the border fund as a “delivery mechanism” for the money.

3. Falsifying Documents

The document-altering scam involving Bev Oda’s office and the aid group Kairos is only one of several instances in which the Tories have been caught document-tampering. They went so far as to alter a report by Auditor General Sheila Fraser to make it look like she was crediting them with prudent financial management when, in fact, it was the Liberals to whom she was referring.

4. Shutting Down Detainees’ Probes

The Conservatives employed a number of authoritarian tactics to avoid culpability on the Afghan detainees’ file. They included an attack on the reputation of diplomat Richard Colvin, the shutting down of Parliament and the disabling of Peter Tinsley’s Military Police Complaints Commission. The Tories denied Tinsley’s commission documents for reasons of national security — even though commission members had national security clearance.

5. The Cotler Misinformation Campaign

In an act described by the Speaker of the Commons, himself a Tory, as reprehensible, Conservatives systematically spread rumours in Irwin Cotler’s Montreal riding that he was stepping down.

6. The Suppression of Damaging Reports

A report of the Commissioner of Firearms that showed the gun registry in a good light was kept hidden by Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan beyond its statutory release deadline. As a consequence, the report escaped the eyes of opposition members before a vote on the registry was taken. It is one of many instances in which the government has suppressed research that runs counter to its ideology.

7. Attempt to Frame the Opposition Leader

Late in the 2011 election camapign, a senior Conservative operative leaked bogus photos to Sun Media in an attempt to frame Michael Ignatieff as an Iraqi war planner.

8. Communications Lockdown

The government went to unprecedented lengths to vet, censor and withhold information. After denying legislators information on costs of programs, Harper became the first prime minister in history to be found in contempt of Parliament. The public service has muzzled like never before. Last week, several groups wrote Harper urging him to stop gagging the science community on the question of climate change and other issues. The Tories denied an opposition member accreditation to attend the Durban summit on climate change, then lambasted the member for not being there. Journalists have faced myriad restrictions. At one point in the in-and-out affair, PMO officials fled down a hotel fire-escape stairwell, Keystone-Kops style, to avoid the media. On another, the governing party had the police clear a Charlottetown hotel lobby of scribes wishing to cover a Tory caucus meeting.

9. Intimidation and Bullying of Adversaries

The list of smear campaigns against opponents is long. Some that come to mind are Harper’s trying to link Liberal Navdeep Bains to terrorism; Vic Toews’ labelling of distinguished jurist Louise Arbour a “disgrace to Canada” for her views on the Middle East; seeking reprisals against University of Ottawa academic Michael Behiels for being critical of the government; and the dismissal of Nuclear Safety Commission boss Linda Keen who the PM decried as having a Liberal background.

10. The ‘Citizenship’ Dog and Pony Show

As well as being muzzled, civil servants have been put to use for the government’s political benefit. In one such case, the immigration department ordered bureaucrats to act as stand-ins at a fake citizenship reaffirmation ceremony broadcast by Sun TV.

11. Writing the Book on Disrupting Committees

The Tories quietly issued their committee chairpersons a 200-page handbook on how to obstruct the opposition. The handbook recommended barring witnesses who might have embarrassing information. It went so far as to instruct chairpersons to shut down the committees if the going got really tough. The Tories have also issued an order that frees cabinet staffers from ever having to testify before committees. They are resorting more frequently to in-camera committee sessions, away from the public and media eye.

12. Leaking Veterans’ Medical Files

Colonel Pat Stogran, who was dropped as veterans’ ombudsman after making waves, says he became the target of anonymous defamatory emails and other dirty tricks after criticizing the government. Other veterans, Sean Bruyea and Dennis Manuge, say their medical files have been leaked, going all the way back to 2002, in an attempt to embarrass them.

13. Unfixing the Fixed-Date Election Law

The prime minister brought in a fixed date election law which, he said, would remove the governing party’s timing advantage in dropping the writ. He promptly turned around and, earning Jack Layton’s lasting disdain, ignored his own law and issued a surprise election call in 2008.

14. Declaring Brian Mulroney Persona Non Grata

In the wake of the Karlheinz Schreiber cash hand-out controversy, Harper’s team, in its zest to disassociate itself, went so far as to put out the false rumour that Mulroney, who won two majorities for the party, was no longer a card-carrying member.

15. Unreleasing Released Documents

The Conservatives have resorted to the use of shady tactics to de-access the Access to Information system. In one notable instance cabinet staffer Sebastien Togneri ordered officials to unrelease documents that were on their way to the media. Freedom of information specialist Stanley Tromp has catalogued some 46 examples of the government’s shielding and stonewalling.

16. Ejecting Citizens from Rallies

Operatives hauled voters out of Harper rallies in last year’s campaign for the simple reason that they had marginal ties to other parties. The PM was compelled to apologize.

17. Hit Squad on Journalists

Operating under phony email IDs, Conservative staffers have attacked journalists in thousands of online posts in an attempt to discredit them and their work.

18. Dirty Work on Dion

The Conservatives have set records for the use of personal attack ads. In the 2008 campaign they ran an online ad which depicted a bird defecating on Stephane Dion’s head. Protests compelled them to withdraw it.

19. Tory Logos on Taxpayer Cheques

The economic recovery program was paid for by taxpayer dollars but the Tories tried to make political gains by putting their party logo — until they were called on it — on billboard-sized cheques. Surveys by journalists showed the money was distributed disproportionately to Conservative ridings and partisans.

20. The Rob Anders Nomination Crackdown

The prime minister has been accused of turning his own party into an echo chamber. When someone tried to exercise her democratic right to challenge Harper loyalist Rob Anders for the nomination in his Calgary riding, Harper’s men descended like a black ops commando unit, seized control of the office, seized control of the riding executive and crushed the bid.

21. The Rights and Democracy Takeover

Groups like Rights and Democracy supposedly operate at arm’s length from the government. But the Harperites, in what journalists described as boardroom terror, removed or suspended board members and stacked the board with pro-Israeli hardliners. As part of the ethical anarchy, a break-in occurred at headquarters.

22. Vote Suppression Tactics

Along with the accusation of pre-recorded robocalls sending voters astray in last election, reports of several other Tory vote suppression tactics have surfaced. They include a systematic live-caller operation in which Liberal supporters were peppered with bogus information.

The list does not include such controversies as the Cadman affair in which the Conservatives allegedly tried to bribe independent MP Chuck Cadman for his vote; the whitewashing by Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet of 227 whistleblower complaints against the government; the allegation by eyewitness Elizabeth May that Harper cheated in the 2008 election’s televised debates by bringing in notes; and many others.

This article was first published on the excellent independent online political news source iPolitics. Lawrence Martin is the author of 10 books, including six national bestsellers. His most recent, Harperland, was nominated for the Shaughnessy Cohen award. His other works include two volumes on Jean Chrétien, two on Canada-U.S. relations and three books on hockey.

This bill would force internet service providers to track, preserve and hand over your personal subscriber information, including your email and IP addresses, upon request without a warrant.

Forget creeping your Facebook. Stephen Harper’s people would now have the legal right to monitor your emails and track your every move online without any kind of judicial oversight.

Liberals are standing up for your privacy rights in Parliament – but we need your help.

The government is on the defensive following a public outcry. They will be sending the bill to committee and have said they’ll consider opposition amendments. But with a majority government they can oppose any fair, sensible amendments we propose unless we demonstrate an overwhelming show of public support. That’s where you come in.

The Liberal Party’s Public Safety Critic Francis Scarpaleggia has studied the work of experts like Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart and Canada Research Chair Michael Geist to craft amendments that strike a proper balance between privacy rights and public safety.

With your support we can force the government to hold open, televised committee hearings and stop them from using procedural tactics to limit debate and ram the bill through Parliament to avoid further scrutiny.

Please click here to sign right now — and support the Liberal amendments calling for judicial oversight on electronic surveillance.

Then please forward this email to friends and share the petition on Facebook and Twitter as widely as possible before the committee meets.

http://lpc.ca/privacy 

Thank you.

Bob Rae

“The government’s decision to kill single desk selling is a clear violation of the Canadian Wheat Board Act, which insists on democratic producer control,” said Mr. Valeriote. “The Act also insists that any changes to the CWB must be made in consultation with their Board of Directors and with farmers directly, something this government has blatantly refused to do.”

The Harper government is proceeding with this legislation despite the fact that earlier this year, Western farmers voted convincingly to maintain the single-desk system in a plebiscite on the future of the CWB single desk marketing system.

“The CWB has been a strong advocate for Western farmers and is essential to Canada’s competitive advantage in world markets,” said Mr. Goodale. “With the passage of this bill, Prairie farmers will lose clout with grain and rail companies here at home and in markets around the world.”

In addition to the loss of an important voice for Western grain producers, Canada’s food sovereignty may also be at risk, said Mr. Valeriote.

“The sale of wheat without the Wheat Board may result in the loss of countless family farms and expose Canadian farmers to the risk of increased influence by foreign interests concerned primarily with their own food security – not Canada’s food sovereignty,” concluded Mr. Valeriote.

“I was shocked and deeply saddened to learn this morning of the sudden passing of Reg Alcock.

Reg was a distinguished politician and public servant. He began his political career in the Manitoba legislature and later moved to federal politics, serving the people of Winnipeg South for more than a decade. He served as a cabinet minister in the Martin government and took his experience and dedication to the University of Manitoba when his career in politics came to an end. He also served as a member of the Harvard Policy Group.

Reg’s booming voice, extraordinary energy and great enthusiasm for everything he did was his great hallmark. He befriended and mentored me in the ways of public policy and I shall miss his irrepressibly candid advice.

Reg’s passing is a loss to all of us. Manitoba and Canada have lost a man who was dedicated to the public good.

On behalf of the Liberal Party of Canada and our Parliamentary Caucus, I wish to express our deepest condolences to Reg’s family and many friends.”

I trust that you have all had the opportunity to take full advantage of one the best summers that I suspect most in Manitoba can recall. Speaking for myself, I took the opportunity this summer to recharge my batteries, to spend time with family and to reconnect with friends. I sincerely hope that you’ve also found similar opportunities during the fast fading summer days.

From my perspective, this summer has also provided us with the opportunity to reflect upon the many things for which we ought to be thankful (and there are many) and how these things came to be. Quite simply, many of the opportunities for which we all benefit are on account of the groundwork that has been laid in this Province and in this Country by the Liberal Party.

As most of you all know, we are two weeks away from a provincial election where, for reasons we can only assume, we have an incumbent government that would rather run a fear based campaign than run on its own achievements and an opposition party that appears set on attempting to spend and buy its way into power.

This is another choice and your help is needed.

I have always strongly believed that there is no such thing as a Federal Liberal and a Provincial Liberal – there are just Liberals. Together, as Liberals, we are indeed greater than the sum of our parts. I would therefore ask you all to heed this clarion call for our Party and consider giving some of your time to helping out the provincial campaign. I hope your share my view that our success at the provincial level will provide us with the opportunity to continue to rebuild on the federal side of this most important equation.  

These are critical times for the Liberal Party and I would suggest that we are all leaders in this Party by the virtue of the fact that we have the power to lend a hand, to knock on a door, to pound in a sign, to make a call, to help this movement and ensure that it continues to build upon its proud heritage and live up to its full potential.

Do not hesitate to call to provincial party office at 204.988.9380 to find out how you can help.

I hope to see you all on the campaign trail.

Warm regards,

Christian Monnin

This great event was well attended by many former MPs and candidates, current MPs and Senators. The three-day event included the meeting of the Women’s caucus, the general caucus meeting, and a meeting of the former candidates from un-held ridings.

The highlight of the event was the very inspiring speech by the interim leader Hon. Bob Rae, who urged the party to embark on a mission of change to become more relevant to the realities of political, social and economic life in Canada. Mr. Rae said that we need to once again inspire Canadians from all walks of life to embrace the principles of liberalism as a ‘movement’, and not  just a party affiliation.   He summed up the spirit of cooperation, dialogue and commitment amongst the participants in one word: “resilience!”  Mr. Rae vowed not to allow the Conservatives to undermine our party and our leadership with personal attacks and ideologically charged negative ad campaigns.  He said that Canadians are concerned about the economy, and the Liberal party will fight the Conservatives’ tea-party style economics with evidenced based policy alternatives.