When I first saw Canadian soldiers arriving at long term care homes in Ontario and Quebec I must admit I was shocked. I didn't think they had the training or the equipment to be able to do much good. But boy was I wrong.
I can only imagine the frenzied state the scary Con Lisa Raitt must be in right now. But you can be sure it isn't pretty. And she is no doubt still howling at the moon, like her miserable leader Rona Ambrose.
But it won't do those ghastly Cons any good, because their desperate attempts to sabotage plans to enhance the CPP have gone down in flames.
Because I know a lot about death, and I've seen a lot of people die, some of my friends have been coming up to me and asking the same question: Why is Justin Trudeau's government clinging so stubbornly to its assisted dying bill C14? My blogging friend Kirby Evans asks the same question here. And my answer to him and the others is, for a very good reason.
When I was a boy my grandmother read me a story about an old woman whose body was discovered in a rooming house, days or weeks after she died. And when they went through her possessions they found a diary, with only these same words written on every page: "Nobody came today." And although my canny granny was probably just trying to guilt me out for not visiting HER enough i.e. more than four or five times a week. That story changed forever how I viewed seniors and loneliness.
Well there was Stephen Harper yesterday, standing in front of a wall of PROTECT signs, defending his miserly response to the refugee crisis. And playing the politics of fear. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is defending his government’s approach to the Syrian refugee crisis as “generous and responsible.”
And he took aim at the Liberals and New Democrats for what he branded as their “reckless” promises to throw open Canada’s doors to assist with the humanitarian crisis. But of course he would, because he knows that issue is working for him, and he is only following the orders of his Australian attack dingo Lynton Crosby.
I've written a lot of posts about the Stephen Harper and his Great Con War on Pensions and Seniors for a couple of very simple reasons. I like old people, I work and care for them all the time. I see far too many of them suffering the indignities of poverty in a country as rich as Canada. I will not remain quiet when so many are suffering in silence. And of course I loathe and despise foul bullies like Jesus Harper with every bone in my body. So now I'm writing another post, because as Martin Regg Cohn writes, his latest assault on pensions couldn't be more disgusting and reflexively destructive.
You might think that Stephen Harper has done enough to hurt poor seniors. By making them wait until they are sixty-seven to receive Old Age Security payments. And treating our veterans like dirt. You might think that his Great Con Debate scam would have satiated his corrupt instincts. But no, now he has ordered his dilapidated stooge Joe Oliver to flog a phony pension scam.
It was just a small story but it really bothered me. And it made me fear for this country's future. For just like I can't stand the way the brutish Harperite cult treats our veterans. I cannot countenance living in a Canada where our seniors are treated like this.
For that's not just an assault on the health of old people, it's an assault on their dignity. It makes you wonder how many others are being treated that way. And what I fear the most is that it's just a harbinger of worse things to come.
As you probably know, from now on in Harperland if you're old or disabled, or can't walk for miles or clamber over a snow drift to get to your ugly new community mailbox. If you want home delivery, you have to get a doctor's note. Not CONada Post says because they don't trust seniors. But only because they care about their health, and want to know their "special needs." After all didn't they once suggest it might be an "exercise opportunity?"
But sadly, or scandalously, it seems those wretched suits forgot to check with Canada's doctors, and they're not happy.
With just two days before the Ontario election, and still not having decided whether to vote for the NDP or the Liberals, I decided to check out the lawn signs on the island, which is part of Trinity-Spadina riding. And the results were no surprise. The island is still mostly orange, with a touch of green. The only blue signs are the ones from the No Jets at the Toronto Island Airport campaign. And between that and the hypnotic scent of the giant ORANGE poppies...
For a moment I thought I might be able to vote for the NDP, for sentimental reasons. And get away with it.
It's my nightmare vision of a Con jungle. A country full of seniors living in poverty and misery. A country where the old and the poor have no present, and the young have no future. A nightmare that became even more real today, when the Cons killed an NDP proposal to expand the Canada Pension Plan. Even though a recent study showed that Canada is the only OECD country where seniors are getting getting poorer, and the government is doing less and less to help them.
And the only good thing I can see, is that some seniors are finally starting to fight back.
I must admit I didn't think that police in Otario could stoop any lower than the public execution of Sammy Yatim. For its senseless brutality stunned me. But then so does this. Ontario's police watchdog is investigating after officers deployed a Taser on an 80-year-old woman in Mississauga, Ont.
I have to admit that I have always disliked Pierre Poilievre. Something about him rubs me the wrong way. He's abrasive, he's yappy, he's arrogant. He looks and acts like a weird old young guy trapped in the Cold War era. And his recent comment that the "root cause of terrorism is terrorism" only reinforced my belief that he is a brutish right-wing ideologue. As well as an absolute idiot.
You might think that Jim Flaherty would be satisfied with ramming through his latest Trojan Horse budget. His ghastly swollen beast stuffed to the gills with toxic waste. But no. Now he's going after seniors and the Canada Pension Plan.
Except for one woman who would just sit there on her plastic chair looking sad, never said a word, and couldn't be reached by anyone.
It bothered me a lot. Because if loneliness hurts when you're young, when you're old it must be devastating. And if you can't reach them you can't do anything to try to cheer them up.
So you can imagine how I felt when I saw this video about a lonely old guy and the magic of music...
Oh.My.Gnome. I see that little Jimbo Flaherty has been totally HUMILIATED. Again. Just the other day he was telling Canadians don't worry about your pensions if you're over fifty-seven.
But then the sinister operatives in the PMO heard what he said. And they were not pleased.
Well even by Jimbo Flaherty's ghastly standards it was a bizarre and ugly sight. There he was late this afternoon, looking like he wanted to hide under a chair, or in his case a small stool.
Sweating profusely, talking in a hoarse whisper, and promising you don't have to worry about your pension or your Old Age Security if you're older than fifty-seven.
"This is not for tomorrow morning," Flaherty said in Oshawa, Ont., at an event with Conservative MP Colin Carrie.
"This is for 2020, 2025, so that people who are middle-aged and younger today, like Colin and not me, can be assured that they will have the social programs, properly funded, fiscally responsible. They will be here for them in the future."
While at other times turning red in the face and looking like he wanted to strangle Kevin Page, the heroic Parliamentary Budget Officer, for making him look like an idiot.
On a work day that was already quite stressful, I also had to spend quite a bit of time reassuring some poor seniors, that the Cons were not about to take away their Old Age Assistance.
So when I read that Stephen Harper's grotesque water boy Peter Van Loan was claiming it was all a misunderstanding.
The Harper government moved Monday to assure seniors that it is not going after their Old Age Security. Rather, the government is eyeing reforming the program for the medium and long-term, says Government House Leader Peter Van Loan.
In this darkest of elections it is the brightest light of hope. The sight of thousands of Canadian students answering Rick Mercer's call to get out and vote.
And making all kinds of great vote mob videos, like this one from McMaster University...
In a weary cynical world, I find that idealism and energy so inspiring. I don't think I could continue without it.
But the truth is that alone, the youth vote can't save us. It could make a huge difference.
What does seem possible is that if youth turned to the degree that their parents and grandparents do — say 65 per cent — they would most likely be difference makers, especially in tight ridings.
“You’d have bigger clout,” says pollster Frank Graves, founder of EKOS Research Associates. “You might see 20 seats change hands, even 30.”
But it probably won't, because after years of ignoring their concerns, getting the young to vote isn't that easy.
Like youth elsewhere, they are more transient, which makes it more of a pain to vote and be found by those seeking their votes. They have busy lives, they’re in debt and may be holding down several jobs. The local paper does not land at their doorstep and they don’t tune in to traditional news coverage.
So this election will be decided by seniors and boomers. Most of whom support the Cons. Which made me think eh? Shouldn't progressive older Canadians be appealing to THEIR generations, to get out there and defeat the Cons?
I could appeal to them myself. Ask them why they would vote for a monster like Harper? Who would destroy the freedoms they helped bring to life. Why would they let him torch the planet their grandchildren will live on? Why would they let him strangle our medicare system when they do or will soon need it the most?
And do they really want to leave this bitter legacy?
Indeed, as Canada’s current crop of seniors ages and literally dies out, so too will their clout. But what kind of government will they and the Baby Boomers after them leave behind? It may well be one shaped more by fear than by youthful optimism and issues like the environment, says Graves.
But each generation appeals to its own the best. So I'm challenging them to do that. Get that message out. Or ask them this?
If it is indeed their last political hurrah, do they really want to go out to the dull thump of an executioner's drum in Harper's dark Canada?
Or would they rather go out singing this song?
Of course, I know the answer eh?
If old and young join together, we CAN defeat those bastard Cons.
OMG. I was watching the Evian Solomon show today, and there was Julie Fantino making a complete idiot out of himself. By dismissing this CARP poll.
62% say it is NOT a budget which benefits older Canadians 58% say they do NOT agree with the budget overall 54% say the Opposition Parties should vote against the Budget.
Claiming that he had other numbers... and that most seniors don't use computers anyway. Huh?
Only to have someone from CARP e-mail the show, and inform Fantino that they will make sure ALL their members hear about that one.
I'm sure Stephen Harper will hear about that too, and Julie will be forced to crawl six hundred and sixty six times around Great Angry Leader's desk...backwards. While Harper rides him like a burro.
How tragic eh? Once he was a cop... I mean a TOP. Now he's a bottom. With a persecution complex. Mama Mia.
Seriously though...I'm not surprised seniors weren't fooled by this budget. They know that an extra $1.50 a day won't help anyone escape from poverty, hunger, or indignity.
And that Jimbo Flaherty's budget is just like one of those cupcakes, covered with brightly coloured sprinkles. They look very pretty, but they are not very tasty or very filling.
Although I suppose if you're a nasty little Con gnome like Jimbo.
Even a cupcake can seem ENORMOUS...
And for a hungry senior I suppose it's better than nothing eh?
Oh boy. What can I say about these Cons that I haven't said before. Except that it takes a very evil ideology to spend BILLIONS on fancy jet planes, and almost nothing on poor children and seniors.
And you have to be really cruel bastards to do something like this.
Industry Minister Tony Clement has asked his Conservative colleagues in the Senate to vote against an NDP bill that would allow generic companies to copy brand-name drugs and sell them at cut rates to the world’s poorest countries.
You know, I was poking around the net looking for some video I could ...um... borrow... to make my low budget attack ads. When I came across a spooky clip that sent an icy chill down my spine.
Because it made me imagine what it would be like if Stephen Harper and his totalitarian Cons ever got a majority.
And we were forced to go on living in their moral darkness.
Or INFERNUM...
I see that there are still a few progressives out there who think an election is a bad idea.
But not me eh?
I can feel the darkness, and I'm running fighting for the light....