Ontario gas plant gets bigger

During the provincial Election, the Ontario Liberals promised to stop a gas plant from being built in Mississauga. A gas plant they approved in the first place.  The cancellation of the gas plant likely saved the Liberals a couple seats.

Gas Plant in Mississauga (late Oct 2011)  - CTV Photo

One month after the election and the work continues on the gas plant. McGuinty shrugs and tells us via CTV that stopping the gas plant is not as easy as he thought it would be.  That's hardly surprising, the government signed a contract.

Ontario (you and me) will have to pay compensation if we cancel the project even if we find an alternative location to put it.  Just as we had to pay compensation in the case of the Oakville plant cancelled before this last one was.  In that case I expect we paid upwards of a 100 million dollars to do so.  We don't know because the government refuses to tell us.  Perhaps we are on the hook for even more money in Oakville.

If the government keeps its promise to stop the Mississauga gas plant we will have to compensate for work done today, find a new location, and lost revenue the plant would have made if it were completed.  That's the very least amount of compensation they can expect to pay.

Initially the Mississauga plant was having trouble getting financing.  The government could have at that time said hey, lets move to another location, prior to any construction happening.  They would have to pay some compensation, but likely no where near the amount that will be required now.  The government gambled that the plant would never get the money to be built.  Then they would simply cancel the contract at little or no cost. The government lost the coin toss and you and me will pay big time.

Related: NDP asks AG to review Liberals' gas plant move

CBC Newspaper ad from 1971

Today CBC is 75 years old.  I was browsing through their excellent 75th birthday blog and they have many fabulous offerings there.  I found this two page newspaper ad outlining the TV schedule. It brought back many memories for me and I expect it will for you too.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Closed to stand with the 99%

There is a strike happening in Oakland California in support of Occupy Oakland.  Its only going to grow folks.

Here is photo of the window in a mens wear shop, closed for the day.  Check out the livestream for #occupoakland

This is what you get if Occupy movement wins...

This is what occupy wall street, the world wide occupy movement could do for you...

We want it back. A world that delivers what we promise.

Conservative Disdain of Parliament

Today Tony Clement goes before a Parliamentary committee. It should be a real ordeal for him.  It likely won't be however, as the Conservative majority will do what it takes to stifle real debate here. John Baird, his babysitter, will do his best to protect Clement during the questioning.  Will Tony look to John before he answers a question and will he use something other than talking points meant to avoid the subject?

During every question period since the election, the NDP have demanded answers from Tony.  It has been, almost always, John Baird that has stood to respond. Baird is Harper's most capable parliamentarian, he can respond to any question without notes, without a big binder of talking points.  He is the master of not answering a question.

In fact question period is only that.  The NDP stand up and ask a question, the Conservatives stand up and respond doing their best not to answer it.  Question period has become a joke.  Sometimes the NDP will ask the same question several times in both languages.  Every Conservative who rises to respond, uses the same words as the one before.

So today Tony will likely have to respond to some tough questions from the NDP at the committee.  Questions he has avoided answering in the House of Commons.  It won't look good if he uses John Baird's stock answers, but that will be okay.  Its three years to the next election.  Nothing to see here, move on now.

see CBC's Greg Weston's column today:
ANALYSIS: 5 questions Clement must answer on G8 spending

Asbestos Motion before the House

Asbestos, it kills people.  So while everyone is talking about the gun registry, The NDP's motion calling for the end of mining and exporting asbestos will be voted on this evening.

We came close to a similar motion in 2009, or least we thought we were close, then Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff told a group of people on Vancouver Island that is Asbestos was bad for the Parliament of Canada, (a project at the Parliament Buildings to remove asbestos has been ongoing for sometime now) then we have to stop exporting it.  "YAY!" shouted environmental and human rights groups.  Finally someone other than the NDP oppose Asbestos.

The Yay became Nay the next day.  Ignatieff says he was misunderstood.  What he really meant was that if its dangerous, we ought to warn people of the dangers.

Some Conservatives in the past have also called for a ban on Asbestos.  Dona Cadman of Surrey BC called for an end in 2009. Conservative MP Pat Davidson told the Sarnia Observer he's against mining and exporting Asbestos.  Chuck Strahl a long time Conservative MP retired in part due to cancer caused by Asbestos.  He has called for an end to mining and exporting Asbestos.

During the last election, Harper went to the federal riding where we mine Asbestos.  He said as long as there is a market for it, people want it, Canada will sell it to them.  Too bad he doesn't use the same principles with respect to marijuana. 

Asbestos if used today must be handled by people using very elaborate and expensive equipment and procedures.  Now how many of us believe the developing world, which imports almost all of our asbestos have the skills and local inspectors to ensure workers install it correctly.  That workers are protected?

Nope, didn't think you believed that either.

I wonder how many BLOC and Conservative MPs will vote to to ban Asbestos exports tonight?

see a long list of stories on this at Mcleans here.

Harper pulls the trigger on Registry

You know the Conservatives are doing more than just ending the registry for guns right? The debate has moved to the Government's plan to destroy the records. This has taken some of the attention away from the real meat of the legislation, that guns will be unregistered and some of them are sniper rifles. Rifles like the Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle.

This is the same rifle with a clip that holds 20 rounds used by the sniper in Norway this year to kill some 70 kids.

The Conservative bill the Ruger Mini-14, the .50-calibre sniper rifle known as the Steyr-Mannlicher HS .50 — a sniper rifle that can pierce light armour from a distance of up to 1.5 km — and the L115A3 Long Range Sniper Rifle, which can accurately hit a target 2 kilometres away will no longer require registration certificates.

Who the heck needs a rifle that can hit a target 2 kilometers away.  Why do people need a gun that can pierce Armour from 1.5 kilometers.  What, are bears now wearing flak jackets?  This rifle has only one purpose, to kill people. Currently you need to have it registered to own it.  After the Conservatives pass bill C19, no registration will be required.

I would expect we will see more of these guns sold in the months to come.  Canada will see a significant increase in sales of guns that are built to kill people.  No farmer or moose hunter needs one of these rifles to do the job.  Its over kill and likely to lead to more killing.

Canada has seen a large decrease in murder from guns since the registry was created.  We still have people that use illegal hand guns to kill.  For the most part its gang folks killing gang folks. Canada's restrictions on those guns have kept homicides down. You have to break to law to use them.

The sales of these aggressive weapons will increase soon.  We will also see a big rush to buy them in the months prior to the next election. The people that want these guns will fear an NDP government will bring back a long gun registry. They're right to worry.  An NDP majority will bring back a registry. A job that will be made that much more difficult as the Harper Conservatives intend to destroy all the records currently in the data bank.

One final note, the Conservatives with their majority have used closure to end debate on the bill.  Its now at committee.  I expect that once the witnesses are finished, the Conservatives will again use their majority to limit debate.  The gun law will be gone.  Welcome to the wild west.

That Certain Summer

"That Certain Summer," an ABC made-for-TV movie aired on this day in 1972.  It starred Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen as lovers. 

In the film a teenager must deal with his divorced father's homosexuality.  The made-for-tv movie was written by the Emmy-winning writing team of Richard Levinson and William Link (Columbo, Mannix). Hal Holbrook stars as a middle-aged divorced man, whose son played by Scott Jacoby cannot fathom the reason for his parents' split. 

During a summer visit (to San Francisco natch), Jacoby meets his father's much-younger "best friend," played by Martin Sheen. Holbrook hedges, but finds he can no longer hold back the truth from his son: Sheen is Holbrook's male lover. Originally telecast on November 1, 1972, That Certain Summer was the first TV film to take a mature and non-remonstrative approach to the subject of homosexuality.

Thanks to YouTube you can see the episode:

Part 1

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eubpq8ikfG8

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfAGeesH5Jg

The other parts are linked alongside these on Youtube.

- From Gay Wisdom