More "Business as usual" in Alberta.

On Monday the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers or CAPP were found to be in "full compliance with the requirements of the Lobbyists Act" by Alberta's Ethics Commissioner, but on Tuesday that finding has been put into question.( A PDF of that report can be found here)

Internal government documents obtained by CBC appear to contradict some of the evidence upon which Alberta’s lobbyist registrar dismissed allegations of illegal lobbying against the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

 Under the act, lobbying is distinguished from collaboration by which organization initiates the communications. If an outside group initiates talks with the government that is lobbying. In the case involving CAPP, Odsen found that it was the government that initiated talks with CAPP. But documents obtained by CBC, and statements made by the government itself to CBC, directly contract Odsen’s findings.

Sadly this is business as usual in Alberta.

Where the PC government would rather work behind closed doors with industry to develop communications strategies and write press releases and would rather lie to Albertans then tell the truth about their own legislation.  

When this kind of crap becomes an almost a daily occurrence, it really is time for a change.

Red Ali Making Her Mark On Alberta!

I just hope it's not permanent. My MLA, a supposed Conservative sent me this message:

http://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=bills_status&selectbill=026

Dear Constituent:

Attached is Bill 26.   I support this legislation as I believe it will help to create a no-tolerance culture in Alberta.

I would appreciate your comments.

Thank you.


Fred Horne, MLA
Edmonton-Rutherford
Ph:  (780)414-1311

I added the bolding....no-tolerance culture? It's about lowering the legal drinking limit from .08 to .05. Here is my response:


My comment, you go ahead and support Bill 26, just one more indication that you are not a Conservative. You go ahead and support Bill 26, and I will not vote for you in the next election. I have asked for one thing from you as my MLA, a repeal of the Human Rights Commission's power, and you increased funding. Can the PC's  be anymore tone deaf than they already are? Be prepared to go the way of the federal Liberals. Your new leader was elected by the teachers union, real Conservatives like me stayed away. You have a majority and there is nothing we can do about this bill, you will push it through no matter what I want.

Go for it, but you have lost my vote. No-tolerance culture? That sounds a lot like prohibition to me, is that next? REAL Conservatives are all about personal responsibility, not the "collective" good of the group, socialism. Make the penalties higher for blowing over .08. As it stands if I go out and have 1 glass of wine, being a 100 pound female, I would blow over .05. You are penalizing the occasional drinker, and letting the real hard core repeat offenders go, time after time, with just a slap on the wrist. Get tough on the real offenders. This reminds me of the useless gun registry. Red Allison is pushing through her pet projects at the expense of good leadership, and you are following her onto the cliff. Good luck with that come election time.
 No response back so far, I don't really expect one, my MLA is busy as a Minister or something now, and won't have time for us. He is a wimp, (I have met him) and will bow to whatever Ali wants him to do. Make no mistake, she is a woman on a mission, and we are not going to like Alberta after she is done with it. What bugs me most is that she has not been given her mandate by Albertans, yet she is acting like she has been.

Someone who is thinking like me.....Searching for Liberty...you have to see his picture of Alison Ness, it's hilarious! 

What the hell are we paying you for? 24 Seconds of Christie on Obama

"I was angry listening to the spin coming out of the administration
about the failure of the Super Committee
and if the President knew it was doomed to failure
so he didn't get involved,
then what the hell are we paying you for?
"It's doomed for failure so I'm not getting involved?"
What have you been doing, exactly?"


Europe circling the drain



via

Shinning A Light On The CBC's Flawed Decision Making

There are only two days remaining to vote in the webpoll for which CBC employee you think tested the worst with focus groups. As of right now Terry Milewski has a large lead over his colleagues, followed by Stombo, Mary Walsh, and Soloman. Now that the CBC has been ordered by the courts to hand over internal documents such as focus group data, we may finally get a chance to shine a light on some of the Broadcaster's inner machinations for evidence of flawed decision making at the programming level.

Many of us would also like to see what programs lose the most money so we can start trimming the fat. Meanwhile, there is at least one group fighting to save the CBC's tax payer subsidies. The "Friends of Canadian Broadcasting" are launching an ad campaign targeting the Tory government on the CBC issue. The objective is to protect the flow of tax money to prop up a public broadcaster notorious for putting untalented people on the air. Somebody needs to fight for the right of Mary Walsh to get paid to be on television, because otherwise no network would hire "artists" like her. Generally you have to be funny to get a gig as a comedian, unless that employer is the CBC.

Climate change is a scientific issue, not a moral issue

Peter Foster: Part I -  The moral climate  and Part II - The left`s climate moralism.

Senator Boisvenu

I have met Senator Boisvenu on a number of occasions. He is a gracious, passionate, considerate man, who is a tireless advocate for victims rights. I had the chance to speak to the Senator recently at a fundraiser in Montreal. I told him how proud I was of his reposes to the left wing Quebec elites, media and the Quebec Bar association. Senator Boisvenu's daughter was murdered by a repeat offender, he has founded victims rights organizations. He sells his book to help fund his organization and gives them his salary. He knows the crime statistics backwards and forwards. I again thank him for all he has done for the victims of crime. I am proud he is a Tory Senator!

Constitutional punditry

My friend James Bowden shreds the constitutional silliness of Lori Turnbull and some other constitiinal pundits on prorogation
read his reply here.
The media and these leftist academics care little for the constitution.

What's happened to Britain?

Compare and contrast:

2011: Prime Minister David Cameron responding to the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran:
The Iranian government must recognize that there will be serious consequences for failing to protect our staff. We will consider what these measures should be in the coming days.
1843: Sir Charles James Napier, British Governor of Bombay & Commander of British forces in India, to holdout enemy leaders who refused to surrender after the Battle of Miani:
Come here instantly. Come here at once and make your submission, or I will in a week tear you from the midst of your village and hang you.

Friends of the CBC mocks US culture by using well known Canadian porn promoter in its ad.

Friends of the CBC have put out an ad mocking US culture and television by showing what may happen if the CBC were to be taken off the taxpayer funded dole. The ad (see below) titled CBC's new owner gives the news some action shows "new owner" Lance Fury's, an American former pro wrestler, plans for the new CBC; hot babes and lots of 'action' with not so subtle shots at the conservatives with a picture of PM Harper visible in some background shots.



The ad intentionally mocks the culture, or what many on the left believe is the culture, of our neighbors to the south and their television programming. Scantly clad women and lots of action is what the Friends of CBC claim will become of the CBC if it were to be privatized.

And how do the 'Friends' mock the culture of our American neighbours? By using a known Canadian pornography photographer and promoter Uncle D, known as "the Canadian Ass Man" in their ad. (because our culture is so much superior to that of the US)


 Uncle D as seen in the Friends Ad. Note the unique tattoos.



Uncle D as seen on CBC's Dragons Den, so it is not as if this guy was totally unknown to the CBC or its so called friends, where he was openly promoting his porn work and asking the Dragons for some cash to help his business. Some more info on Uncle D can be found here.


Financing the CBC............... 1.3 Billion taxpayer dollars a year.
Helping the Assman.............. 250K (as asked of the Dragons)
Mocking US culture by using a Canadian porn promoter... Priceless.

Herman Cain’s campaign overshadowed by allegations of impropriety

Herman Cain, Republican presidential candidate and former businessman, CEO and radio show host, is facing yet another charge of impropriety, this time from an Atlanta businesswoman who claimed she had a 13-year affair with the former pizza company chief executive. The woman, Ginger White, said that she had been aware at the time Mr. Cain was married and that their relationship was “inappropriate.”

Ms. White said Mr. Cain ended sexual relations with her eight months ago, when he began his run for the Republican nomination.

According to reports, Ms. White produced mobile phone bills showing what she said was Cain’s number. She said he had called her dozens of times over a period of several months. According to her, she decided to go public with her allegations after receiving calls from journalists, and she was bothered by the way Mr. Cain had “demonised” other women who had accused him of sexual harassment.

This surely must end what has been, until lately, an entertaining political campaign. According to Robert Costa at the National Review, “Herman Cain told his senior staff that he is ‘reassessing’ whether to remain in the race. He will make his final decision ‘over the next several days’.”

Mr. Cain is reported to have denied the “charges unequivocally.” He said, he had known “this lady” for “a number of years.” And that he’d “been attempting to help her financially because she was out of work and destitute, desperate.”

I believe, sadly, this candidate’s time in the sun is at an end. Even in these everything-goes days, marriage fidelity is expected, demanded, of a man who aspires to be the president. 

© Russell G. Campbell, 2011

Second Reading: November 29th, 2011

I thought I'd kick off a new feature here at The Clown at Midnight, focusing on the PC Party's efforts to wear Dalton down through legislation at Queen's Park.

For you see, my loyal readers, it is my duty to annoy Liberals like the War Room Boss and his cadre of cronies, but it is also my duty to inform you about how our stalwart representatives fight the good fight on our behalf. Since the news media are caught up with other breaking news stories that you can't start your day without, it's up to me to help get the message out there.

Prince Edward Hastings MPP Todd Smith wants to make it harder for the Liberals to just plunk down wind farms wherever they want by giving municipal councils more of a say. Dalton plans to "listen" to the bill, which I suppose is an improvement over his current practice of staying away from QP whenever he can. Looks like losing three cabinet ministers over wind farm opposition can change a man.

And while Smith's bill leaves Dalton blowing in the wind, Rob Leone of Cambridge took it upon himself to author a PMB of his own that passed 54-50 yesterday which would hold the government to account over promises to build hospitals. We know the McGuinty Liberals have had some trouble getting hospitals completed when they said they would, so maybe this humiliating defeat will light a fire under them.

For his part, Hudak will continue to push for reform to the apprenticeship system and hopefully create a situation where the government stops looking down their nose at people who want a career in the trades.

Full steam ahead!

Wheat board stranglehold broken with bill C-18. Red Deer farmer weeps in relief.



Chasing Apple Pie has posted a wonderful photograph taken after bill C-18 passed in the House of Commons yesterday.  "James Chatenay, a farmer from Red Deer, wipes a tear from his eye"

Brisk non-partisan review of tax rationales

Not for the faint of heart but refreshing and non-partisan:. All tax types briskly reviewed for underlying assumptions. Are wages more virtuous than dividends?  When does a public-spirited exemption become a tax on the poor?  What is a "fair share"?  If a few should pay a lot, should everyone pay a little? Despite the US spin,  most applies to Canada..  Perhaps the author underestimates the power of new enterprise and wealth to change the equation.  Linked by John Mauldin to Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital. (see picture), about 25 pages worth.