Forty Inconvenient Truths

A British National Party EU MP sums up climategate quite nicely, right here.

Take note of the last sentence on the site, I think is extremely important and something we should seriously think about.

"The threat to national sovereignty and the prosperity of all in the developed world from the United Nations cannot be overstated."

With the exception of Maxime Bernier, I wish more of our global warming denier politicians (I know they're out there) would speak out against that hoax.

Gibbs Finally Donns Team Canada Jersey

Took long enough! Kinda looks good on him though, don't you think?

Gibbs wears Canadian hockey jersey to pay off Olympic bet

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was a good sport today as he modeled a Team Canada hockey jersey at his briefing, paying off a bet placed on the Olympic gold medal hockey game last month.

"This does signal casual Friday at the White House," Gibbs joked, turning around to show his last name and the No. 39 on the back of the red-and-white jersey featuring an iconic maple leaf.

To recap the wager: Gibbs said he'd wear a Canadian jersey to a press briefing if the Canadians won and counterpart Dmitri Soudas, spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, would wear the U.S. jersey if the Americans won. Sadly, Team USA lost but the Americans did have an impressive, record-setting medal haul at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Gibbs said he wanted to wear the No. 39 in honor of Ryan Miller, the U.S. team goalie and Buffalo Sabres star who was named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.

The surprise for the assembled reporters -- and those watching on cable and the Internet -- was when Gibbs took off his Canadian jersey to display a blue Team USA jersey hidden underneath. The U.S. jersey bore the number 10, which Gibbs said was in honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Gibbs took most of his questions today wearing the U.S. jersey.

By the way, Gibbs said President Obama will be paying off his own Olympic bet with Harper. One case each of Molson, Canada's favorite brew, and Yuengling, from America's oldest brewery in Pottsville, Pa., will be delivered to Harper. Gibbs, though, jokes that Soudas might be drinking the beer himself.

Still related to that wonderful gold medal game. Commentary around the world re Jarome Ignila and Sidney Crosby. Enjoy! BTW. The Iggy is not that Iggy, it's Jarome Iginla, Iggy.



Update: Go to Sandy's for the video clip of Mr. Gibbs. He really is a good sport!

Ed Stelmach Backtracks on the Royalty Framework

It's about time the Premier lowered royalty rates for the oil industry. He shouldn't have touched them in the first place.

Since he raised them couple of years ago, thousands of jobs have been lost, revenues for the government was drastically reduced etc. in turn every sector has suffered. He believed Albertans were not getting "our fair share." (wasn't how I felt btw.) So he went about fixing what wasn't broken. We had lost that Alberta Advantage. Business was going to BC, Saskatchewan and other jurisdictions.

That move I believe was political, to appease the progressives. It didn't turn out so good in the political sense either. Everyone was getting mad at him and he was tanking in the polls. He lost a by-election last fall, a couple PCers have crossed the floor to the Wildrose Alliance. Others have made rumblings.
So I think this latest move of raising the rates is based mainly on political motives as well. I think he felt pressured into doing so.

It's a positive starting point but it will take years to recover from Ed Stelmach's bungling of this file. Heck we're still recovering from the NEP.

I still will not vote for you Premier because you still can't admit you were wrong and I don't know what you're gonna try to fix next the doesn't need fixing.

Does Mr. Iffy and the Liberals Have Any Original Ideas?

One wonders if Mr. Iffy and his party can actually come up with any real original ideas. For instance,you had Mr. Iffy proposing EI reform ideas that he adopted from the Dippers.

OTTAWA - Liberal and Bloc Quebecois MPs plan to unite this week behind a New Democratic Party bill aimed at increasing pressure on the government to standardize employment insurance eligibility across Canada.

The bill would set a single national EI eligibility rule of 360 hours of work -- a long-standing NDP proposal that Michael Ignatieff adopte afdter he was confirmed as Liberal leader last month and has cited as a potential summer election trigger.

Now, Stephen Taylor has discovered even the The Canada 150 thinkers conference is not really and original concept either. Notice on the Government of Canada website that Stephen has posted, the date is 2008 as highlighted in yellow. So take that for what's worth. I think Mr. Iffy came up with his Canada 150 concept later.

Andrew Steele,Globe and Mail Feb 20 talked about the Canada 150 public servants conference.

One is the Institute of Public Administration in Canada. IPAC is hosting a conference

March 11 and 12 that promises to help kick off the build up to Canada 150.

The Government of Canada is jumping on the bandwagon earlier this time. Wayne Wouters, the federal Clerk of the Privy Council, is encouraging public servants to take part in the conference.

Interestingly, the other organization promoting the possibility of Canada 150 is the Liberal Party of Canada.

The Liberals are using the impending sesquicentennial as an opportunity to set out long-term policy vision, without the shackles of present day trade-offs.

All Mr. Iffy does is think thoughts and dream dreams but yet finds it difficult to dream about Canada as John Ivison states.

Mr. Ignatieff is a dreamer. In his most recent book, True Patriot Love, he muses: "The ambition of our ancestors should be inspiring us to equal them in daring, today and tomorrow." Yet, as he has admitted to journalists, he finds Canada "a difficult country in which to dream". In the absence of any plan to turn vaulting ambition into reality, the Liberal leader's critics are likely to remain unconvinced.

Let Mr. Iffy dream his dreams and think those thoughts, that he lifts from others while PM Harper actually gets things done. using his own ideas.