Monday, February 25, 2013

Diane Finley's Hideous War on the Poor



She has always been one of the most brutish Cons.

A hardline right-wing ideologue who would wage war on Canada's poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

And have the unmitigated gall to deny it.

Last month she claimed that EI inspectors didn't have quotas for uncovering fraud that they were expected to discover. 

Only to be exposed today as a shameless liar. 

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley had flatly denied previous reports that EI investigators have been given monthly dollar quotas. However, government documents obtained by Montreal newspaper Le Devoir show civil servants are expected to find $485,000 each in fraudulent claims each year — a total that corresponds to the previously reported $40,000 monthly quota.

Now she claims they're not quotas, they're "targets." As if inspectors should be pressurized that way. As if that makes any difference to the Canadians they are trying to humiliate by invading their homes. Or portraying them as criminals at a time when they might be discouraged, or feeling worthless, or worrying about how to feed their families.  

Even though EI fraud accounts for less than ONE percent of the money spent on that program. Even though it's becoming harder and harder to claim the EI benefits that WE pay for. And even as more and more Canadians are clinging to precarious jobs. 

Barely half of working adults in the GTA and Hamilton have full-time jobs with benefits and expect to be working for their current employer a year from now, according to a groundbreaking report on precarious work and household well-being.

And may soon need EI benefits to survive. 

Can you believe that? Are those Cons monsters or maniacs?

Or just a grubby bunch of right-wing ideologues doing what Cons always do. Putting ideology before people. Trying to demonize the unemployed, destroy the social safety net, and turn this country into a low-wage economy, so they can more easily sell us out to foreign interests.



For if cruelty is their first name, mediocrity is their trademark.

And Finlay is the one who should be investigated for losing the personal information of more than half a million Canadians. Or sharing it with those who would go after Canadians with disability pensions.

The Department of Justice is under investigation in connection with a lost USB key containing the personal information of thousands of pension plan applicants.In December, 2012, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada said a misplaced USB key meant that personal information of about 5,000 Canadian Pension Plan applicants had been lost. 

For in Stephen Harper's ugly Canada where the truth is what he says it is, even the disabled poor must be portrayed as potential criminals, or spongers... 

“I don’t know how somebody’s confidential health information to apply for a CPP disability pension ends up in front of employees with the Department of Justice,” he said. “I don’t know if somebody when they applied for a CPP disability pension ever realized that the government intends to show that information to other departments, including the DOJ.” 

And raked over the coals, unlike the Con's high flying senators.

The minister is sending investigators into the homes of randomly selected seasonal workers in Atlantic Canada. They cannot send them to inspect senators of course because we do not know where they actually live.

But then why should I be surprised eh? When it's all so familiar.

For the Con assault on the poorest and the most vulnerable, is exactly what the even more brutish Cameron Conservatives in Britain are doing. Slashing benefits, de-indexing pensions, dismantling medicare, creating workfare programs like the Mike Harris Cons once did. Demonizing the poor as scroungers or criminals. 

Forcing the disabled to work or lose their benefits...



(click pic to enlarge)

For exactly the same reasons.

So the poor can get poorer.

And the rich can get richer...



Because a Con, is a Con, is a CON.

And to the same savage jungle would Stephen Harper take us.

Wake up Canada. Understand what's really happening. 

Unite to defeat those cruel ideological fanatics.

Before they cause mass misery, and rip the soul out of this country...

h/t Trapped in a Whirlpool

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11 comments:

e.a.f. said...

the attack on the unemployed has been going on since Mulroney started it. The libs didn't exactly help things but certainly stevie slime is taking it another step forward.

there has never been a lot of fraud on the part of claimants of U.I./E.I. There has been much more fraud with businesses and the income tax department and big business with government.

The current E.I. plan started as the U.I. plan under Trudeau with what was called Plan 71. It was intended to give workers a source of income, when not employed. At the time of the plan's inception, it was 8 weeks of work for up to 6 months benefits, at 2/3 of your previous income, up to whatever the max. was at the time. This max. went up yearly depending upon the cost of living. This was eventually eroded.

Along the way various governments decided to use the money paid by workers and employers for other purposes. There have been billions and billions paid into the plan and at time the plan had a surplus of several billion.

there is no need to have employees go to the homes of clients. It was most likely stevie slime's hurry to lay off government workers which reduced the number of people who worked in E.I. that may have led to problems if in fact there are any. At one time E.I. had its investigation unit and they did interviews, in the office. Why the government would try to have federal government workers try to go to peoples homes is beyond me. If they thought the people weren't actually there or working, they just have to send them a notice and ask them to come in for an interview.

given the polifiaration of guns within society, I do trust the slimers will provide RCMP escorts to the E. I. investigators. (they used to have to do so for immigration investigators who did home visits, when it was warranted.)

This new program is simply disgusting. The only fraud going on with the E.I. fund is the cons taking money out of it and using it for purposes other than paying E. I. benefits to the unemployed.

when lying brian was P.M. he also made cuts to the U.I. program. At the plans inception if you quit or were fired there was a 3 week disqualification prior to being put into pay. Now its no pay or up to a 12 week disqualification. What this did was down load unemployment onto the provinces, when there was no need to. It impoverished children. Parents who no longer qualify for E. I. now go on welfare. When Trudeau's plan was created almost anyone who worked qualified. when they became unemployed the could actually still make their rent/mortgage and pay for food.

During the 80s, when a recession hit, in some smaller towns the biggest payroll was the U.I. cheques. What this did was enabled people to continue living in dignity and kept many small businesses going. Now stevie slime just wants to grind everyone into the ground so they will accept the low wages foreign workers make. Stevie slime's plan for E.I. may also be to bring Canada's E.I. program into line with the American's.

In this day and age, where there is no such things as employment security, e.i. should be available to all citizen workers. Plan 71 was Trudeau Sr., idea to create a safety net for working people in Canada. Since then, whenever a con government came to power, they have always worked at getting rid of it. The slimers choose to have children go hungry and people be homeless.

Simon, if you want to find out more information regarding the gutting of E.I. you might want to consider contacting the union which represents the workers at Service Canada. They are the C.E.I.U., which is a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. its been a long time but I do believe The C.E.I.U. has a field office in Montreal.

thwap said...

When they are defeated they WILL be tried for war crimes, election fraud, and much else besides. stephen harper will die in prison.

bcwaterboy said...

Diane Finley makes my skin crawl just as much as other con douchebags like Kenney or Toews. In the eyes of the public, quotas and target are essentially the same thing. It's interesting how Van Loan can make excuses for the outrageous expenses of the likes of Duffy and Wallin but an unfortunate citizen out of work through no fault of their own has someone knocking on their door to claw back the $300/week they receive to bridge a gap to the next job. Since she's female, we could expect that if there is any dirt on this, our pm will ensure she takes the fall.

Anonymous said...

Harper was Policy Chief for his, Northern Foundation Party of 1989. Invading homes, is exactly something Harper will do. A lot of that went on during the 30's in Europe. All Dictators are paranoid, which makes them control freaks.

Harper gives our resources and resource jobs to Communist China. Harper's Omnibull-S-Bill gives China the right to sue, any Canadians getting in Red China's way. China sued in BC, to take the mining jobs. 300 BC miners applied for those 200 mining jobs in BC. No doubt, Harper will send E.I. into their homes too.

Harper's job action plan isn't for Canadians, those jobs are for Communist China. So are Christy Clark's jobs for China. She did nothing to protect our BC miners jobs. There are nine new mines and mine expansions, going into Northern BC. Wonder who will get those jobs? Chinese miners earn, $800 per month. China's minimum wage is, $236 per month.

Harper's personality is very similar to, Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini's. They too lied, deceived, were corrupt, thieved, used dirty tactics, dirty politics, were controlling and, all of them cheated to win. Sound familiar? It should?

wazz said...

The HarperLand ™ Cons are pushing unemployed citizens off EI rolls and into lower paying jobs that may have nothing to do with their particular skill sets so that even fewer people will qualify for EI, which puts further downward pressure on wages by forcing EI recipients to take jobs that pay up to 30 percent less than their previous occupations.. AS they raid the homes of the unemployed in 'house calls' to check for 'fraud,' WHILE DEFENDING the fraudulent activities of Harper Con Senate appointees ...when are these callous and hypocritical Con clowns going to make 'house calls' to determine if Conservative Senators really live in the residences they claim tens of thousands of public dollars in housing allowances for?? By the way, ever notice how many of the Connie’s look like they never met an all-you-can-eat buffet that they didn’t investigate snout first? ? Senator Puffster, Harper (heartless, bat-shit crazy, beady eyed, Evangelicalism faith following, fat sack of shit who doubles as the PM of Canada), Pamela Waddlin, PorkyVan Loan, Dean The Walrus DelMastro, Lord of Tubbsville Jason Kenney, Toronto’s Fraud brothers; etc. The list of right wing porkers is long. And wide.

Simon said...

hi e.a.f...you're right about the sad history of what was once more correctly named Unemployment Insurance. It has been repeatedly diminished, made harder and harder to qualify for, and now it's a cruel joke. Unless of course you're unemployed, and then it's a nightmare.
Unemployment is hard enough, the unemployed and their families need help and support, not harassment and humiliation. With a little imagination and good will it could have become a great program, helping to set up apprentice programs for young workers, developing new ways to retrain older ones. But no, they had to destroy it, and dimish us further. And all I can say is, if the economy goes into the tank, and EI can't handle the load, the Cons will regret it for there will be trouble...

Simon said...

hi thwap...I'm glad we share the same objectives, and the same dreams. May this nightmare end soon. May they pay for what they have done...

Simon said...

hi bcwaterboy...I know what you mean. She's definitely on my list of the five worst Cons. But then of course she's married to Doug Finley, the old Con bagman, who they called the "pitbull" and compared to the original Republican attack dog
Lee Atwater. One of the ringleaders of the so-called In and Out Scandal. So what do you expect eh? And despite her many fumbles, and her cruelty, I don't see Harper punishing her in any way. For she's a true believer, and just a sock puppet for his own views....

Simon said...

hi anonymous...you would think that the rabid Con base would gate the idea of inspectors barging into people's homes they have chosen at random. Aren't they the ones always screaming about how Big Government is plotting to take away their guns, burn their Bibles, and contaminate their precious bodily fluids? So you think they'd be up in arms, or in their bunkers eh? But no, they're cheering Big Government on. So much for the great libertarians, so much for the absurd Cons...

Simon said...

hi wazz...I never thought I'd see a Canadian government work so hard and so blatantly to turn us into a low wage economy. But of course it makes sense eh? The lower our wages the bigger the profits of their Big Business masters. Even though by depressing wages they will drive us into a depression, and there won't be enough tax money to finance anything. So we'll end up living in a jungle. In Europe they are a rebelling against the failing politics of austerity, let's hope it will be our turn soon. I'm hoping for a VERY hot summer.... :)

Gary Shelley said...

Check out what has been done to CPP disability if you want to see what gutting a system looks like. Complete with patronage appointed single panel judges, loss of appeal rights, loss of face to face interviews. Gone are the 3 person panels in person. BUT what they do have is a 62% denial rate and they are just warming up, it will likely hit 70% and we'll change how it's calculated to getting Harper better election numbers;) Harper.......in it to win it for big oil, to hell with Canadians and you poor and disabled, can't you die quicker???