End the Indian Act Says the Head of the Assembly of First Nations

Shawn Atleo, the head of the Assembly of First Nations, states  that the Indian Act should be scrapped within five years.

WINNIPEG—Aboriginals should get out “from under” the Indian Act within five years and build a new, more-independent relationship with the federal government, the head of the Assembly of First Nations said Tuesday.
“Is it time to boldly suggest that within two to five years, the Indian Act will no longer be part of our lives?” Shawn Atleo asked the AFN’s annual assembly.

I agree.  We pour billions of dollars each year into First Nations and it seems like things just don't get  any better for them.  There is no accountability as to where the money is being spent.  They live in third world conditions.  There's a lot of alcoholism, drug abuse, a high incarceration rate, low level of education, and the suicide rate is high among the aboriginal population.  There is no initiative to get ahead.

“Imagine a time ... when we give up all that the current system provides — the highest suicide rates, the highest rates of incarceration in the country, the lowest education rates, the lowest income rates.”

The Department of Indian Affairs just perpetuates the problem. There should be no difference between the rest of Canadians and our First Nations.  Everyone should be treated equally.  Equality is in our Charter isn't it?

“We will once and for all work to dismantle the unnecessary machinery of the Department of Indian Affairs, which only perpetuates our poverty.

The dismantlement of the Act allowing aboriginals independence and equal treatment would be better for them.  They would gain the initiative to better themselves thus some of those problems they face would not be as great. They would have greater self-esteem, be healthier, more productive and prosperous.
Plus it would save the federal taxpayer billions each year.   
Tom Flanagan earlier this year suggested something like that in  giving first nations property rights.

Restoring aboriginal property rights will enhance economic activity on reserves and create more jobs and business opportunities for first nations people

Minister  Strahl,  please listen to the Assembly of First Nations and Mr. Flanagan.  This is the way to go.  The current system is not working. Don't hold back our aboriginal people anymore.  They deserve to be independent, equal, healthy and prosperous like the rest of us.

Media Bias Against Mr. Z Fueled by a Left-and Rightwing Conspriacy?

Adrian McNair, says according to Liberal party president, Alfred Apps poor Mr. Z is victim of media bias. Oh, poor baby!  Apps claims the media is being aided by some in his own party but by Tory and NDP as well to feed them "propaganda."

 Michael Ignatieff is the victim of a persistent media bias, according to Liberal party president Alfred Apps. In an 18-page analysis obtained exclusively by Victoria freelance journalist, Sean Holman, Mr. Apps suggests the media “increasingly appears to have lost all perspective on reality” in coverage of the federal Liberal Party.
He suggests much of the media, aided from within the ranks of the Liberal Party itself, has bought into the narrative that Mr.Ignatieff and Liberal electoral prospects under the leadership have all the “marks of being Tory/NDP-inspired.”

Unbelievable! Then Apps has the audacity to criticize the media for seeing his great leader as arrogant, aloof and unable to connect with regular folk.

Mr. Apps also criticizes the “consensus” view from the Canadian press that Mr. Ignatieff is arrogant, aloof, and unable to connect with the ordinary Canadian. Liberal electoral fortunes slide every time the media propagates these untruths.

So media bias is the reason why Mr. Z and the Libs are not doing very well.  I think that's a stretch.  The media has done more to prop up and cover for the Liberal party and it's leaders including this one  more than any other party for years.  Mr. Apps fails to realize the reason why Mr. Z is not connecting is that he IS arrogant, aloof and condescending. Another reason Mr. Z cannot connect is  because he's been out of the country too long and  doesn't really know much about it.  He missed 34yrs and a lot has happened.  The country has changed.   That's why, Mr. Apps!  The media is not your problem!  Take a close look at your leader and your party for that matter!

Adrian goes on to sum it up quite nicely.

But the Liberal party’s problem is that it’s providing abundant material to validate the picture portrayed by the media. The media may build the fire, but it’s getting the wood from Alf Apps and his party.

Bingo!

A Cabinet Shuffle and Fall Election?

The Hill Times is musing today that PM Harper will have cabinet shuffle and then call and election this fall.
They go on speculating what was reported in Le Devoir that Minister Jim Flaherty will be shuffled out of Finance in which I truly find that hard to believe. Minister Flaherty has done a great job steering us through a very bad recession and is well liked and has been given kudos from the international world.  The PM has full confidence in his Minister, why would he want to suffle him now?  The economy is still recovering and is still very fragile.

Secondly they are speculating that PM Harper will go the GG before the House is scheduled to return on Sept. 20 for the fall sitting, and ask for an election depending on how Iffy's desperation bus tour goes.

The Le Devoir story raised discussion not only of the government's plans for the short term, but also of the odds Prime Minister Harper may decide to ask Governor General Michäelle Jean to dissolve Parliament before it reconvenes on Sept. 20, paving the way for an election in which he would hope to capitalize on rising support his party is experiencing in public opinion polls while the fortunes of the Liberal party and Leader Michael Ignatieff (Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ont.) continue to decline in the opposition direction. 

Joanne at BLY pointed out a particular comment of  pollster Frank Graves  in this column on her blog.

Joanne says:

July 19, 2010 at 7:05 am

Rather surprising to hear Frank Graves say this:

Ekos pollster Frank Graves said Prime Minister Harper has already benefitted from his appearances this year with Queen Elizabeth, his leadership at the G8 and G20 summits, the Vancouver Olympics and his gradual ascension on the world stage over the past four years.
“I believe that what’s happened is that Stephen Harper has gradually and slowly, almost without anybody noticing, he becomes the proxy for national pride,” Mr. Graves told The Hill Times. “This has never happened [with Prime Minister Harper] before. I think it’s a new dynamic

Methinks it’s a trap.

I happen to agree.  Frank Graves should not be trusted since he has been advising the Liberal party.
Even though the temptation might be there, the PM should refrain from calling an election this fall instead as stated by Joanne from BLY to continue governing competently.

Frmgrl – I really hope PM Harper refrains from calling an election anytime soon – no matter how tempting. He should continue to do just what he’s doing – govern competently with a view to get us back on our feet economically. He’s doing a great job.

It would be a mistake to call one this fall for three main reasons.

 1. There are municipal elections both in Alberta and Ontario this fall.  It would result in lower voter turn out because election fatigue.  It's hard enough to GOTV in the municipal ones since the turn out  is usually very low.  Voters would not be happy campers to have two elections at the same time or just weeks apart.

2.  I believe PM Harper would be seen as opportunistic and it could backfire.  He could very likely be punished at the polls.

3.  There needs to be a very good reason to drag the public to the polls and I don't see one right now.

Anyway I don’t see a Jim Flaherty being shuffled out of his Finance Ministry portfolio nor do I see  federal election until at least next spring after the budget.  Let the  media speculate all they want.  Let the opposition parties defeat the government on a bill.  They can get the flak then for an unwanted election.

I do think all this  fall election talk by the MSM is because THEY are the ones that really want one in order to send "The Visiting Professor" back to academia  so  that their favorite party can anoint their next messiah in hopes that next one will  win the big prize.


 Note: Having problems with comment moderation. Please be patient. Hope to have it straightened out shortly!

Is the Media Turning On Iffy?

For the last week now the Liberal leader has been on a bus tour that he and his party hopes improves their numbers and possibly take them back to 24 Sussex.  Well how's it been workin' so far? The media hasn't been actually that kind to him this week for one thing.  Their reporting has been relatively critical. They have been reporting mostly the negatives. I must add he hasn't actually helped himself out here. It started even before Iffy boarded the Liberal Express. Last weekend at the Calgary Stampede, he channeled Hugo Chavez when he made a comment about "smelling sulfur" when referring to the PM.
Tuesday shortly after the bus was on the road, it broke down and "Harper Diesel" came to the rescue.That's what the story was for the day.

Yesterday he was on the defensive when Jim Travers from the Star reported that there was and exit strategy for Iffy should he lose the next election.  Iffy denied the report and dissed Travers at the same time. 

“Let’s put it this way. I was surprised,” he said. “Jim Travers is a good journalist, but he’s starting to write fiction here in his declining years. I really don’t know where he got it from.”

Oooh, that most likely didn't endear him to Travers and the Star.  When you're a politician you don't diss a journalist they can turn on you and become vicious.
Michael Den Tandt describes Iffy as vague and timid.  Calls his vision  nostalgic and could come back to hurt him.
Susan Riley is equally critical about Iffy. She is known to be more critical of Conservatives not Liberals.

The problem is not that Canadians don't know the Liberal leader, all these months later. The problem is that they know him too well.

and this zinger,

Trouble is, Canadians don't see a regular guy when they see Ignatieff, no matter what he wears. They see a man trying to be someone he isn't.

Michael Harris sums it up quite nicely.

When the guys who buy ink by the barrel turn against you, the bus ride is usually one way.

Ain't that the truth! There's still a lot of touring for Iffy left to do.  Will he be able to turn it around?  Who knows.  It's still early in his tour but he surely has an uphill battle to win hearts and minds of the public especially if he doesn't have the media on his side.  Without the liberal media on their side, Liberals have a really hard time.

Is Kelly McParland Right? Maybe Ignatieff just isn’t that smart

Kelly McParland stated this just a couple of days ago that Michael Ignatieff :

 Maybe Ignatieff just isn’t that smart.  It’s hard to figure this guy. He’s made mistake after mistake after mistake. He signs the coalition pact, insists he’s on side, then repudiates the whole thing later. He stokes a phony election threat, insists he means it despite all common sense, then retreats in embarrassment when it falls flat. He raises issue after issue as a line in the sand, then does nothing when the Tories step over the line and kick sand in his face to boot. His own caucus ignores him, his supposed pal Bob Rae embarrasses him, he fires his advisers to get better advice, and then makes the same dumb mistakes under the new advisers.
He doesn’t seem to learn. He spends a deeply uncomfortable week or two insisting he’s not interested in a coalition of opposition parties, then uses a trip to Britain to confer with the junior member of Britain’s coalition party. Great optics? Um…no. He knows he has to soften his image as a pointy-headed academic, so he does it by touring Canadian campuses and holding a “thinkers conference” in Montreal. Why not just move back to Harvard and run the party from there?

Well Mr. McParland just may be right.  We have this today from John Ibbitson.  Seems like Ignatieff has trouble with knowing about the different bills that are out there. 

 Kingston voters school Ignatieff on legislation that matters
KINGSTON, ONT. – Do you know what Bill C-6 is? Or Bill C-474? Don’t worry, it would seem Michael Ignatieff doesn’t either. 

As leader of the official opposition he should have a clue about these bills. Does he not read them? Is he not at least briefed on them?  Good grief! 
PM Harper would have known what these bills were about, each clause, each paragraph and able to explain them in detail.  So would NDP Leader Jack Layton.   Maybe Iffy should spend more time at work then maybe he'd have somewhat of a clue.  It just shows he's not ready for prime time.