Canada wins 13th gold

in mens curling. The feat ties the record for the number of gold medals won by a country at a winter olympics (the Soviets did it several decades ago). That means that two events tomorrow could set the world record...either cross-country or the mens hockey team...what pressure!!!!

Conservatives block access to border installations

In response to a twitter war noted by BCL, this is what happened in my riding yesterday...

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(le français suit)

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

Conservatives block access to border installations

Stanstead, Feb 12, 2010. The Harper Conservatives reached a new low in their attempts to subvert democracy when the Public Safety Minister intervened to block a Member of Parliament's access to the Stanstead border installation, said William Hogg, Liberal candidate in Compton-Stanstead today.

Mr. Hogg was hosting MP Mark Holland, Liberal critic for Public Safety and National Security, and vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, for a public forum on border issues, from 2pm-4pm in the Stanstead Town Hall.

"Immediately prior to the forum Mr. Holland and I were to meet with the Canadian Border Service Agency for a tour and discussion about border issues in the region." said Mr. Hogg "The meeting had been set up through official channels and had been confirmed by local officials over a week ago. Yesterday, the Minister of Public Safety's office abruptly contacted Mr. Holland to tell him that our visit had been cancelled."

The Minister's office could give no good reason for the tour's cancellation nor could they explain the inconsistencies between the messages at the local and ministerial levels.

"It is clear that the Minister interfered for one of two reasons - either for pure partisan politics or to block our access to federal bureaucrats who may have helpful information, especially for me in my capacity as vice-chair of the parliamentary committee that oversees the border," said Mark Holland. "Either motive is an abuse of power and just serves to remind Canadians that the Harper government will stop at nothing to stifle criticism."

Combined with Conservative efforts to block access to information regarding Afghan detainees and the recently reported efforts on the part of Christian Paradis' staff to stop access to information requests, there seems to be a pattern of interference at the ministerial and prime-ministerial level in the management of public institutions. Stated Mr. Hogg,"the Conservatives continually push their transparency and accountability agenda in public, but behind the scenes they do everything in their power to undermine it."


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Contact: William Hogg,william@williamhogg.ca

Justine Villeneuve, Office of Mark Holland, MP

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Communiqué de Presse

Pour distribution immédiate

Les conservateurs bloquent l’accès aux installations frontalières

Stanstead, le 11 février 2010. Les conservateurs de Harper ont poursuivi leurs attaques sur nos institutions démocratiques aujourd’hui. « Le bureau du Ministre de la sécurité publique est intervenu pour bloquer l’accès à un membre du parlement aux installations frontalières à Stanstead. » a dit William Hogg, candidat Libéral dans Compton-Stanstead.

M. Hogg a accueilli aujourd’hui M. Mark Holland (député Libéral dans Ajax-Pickering, porte-parole libéral en matière de la sécurité publique et nationale, et vice-président du comité permanente sur la sécurité publique et nationale), pour un forum public sur la frontière à l’hôtel de ville de Stanstead.

« Immédiatement avant le forum, nous avions un rendez-vous avec l’Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, pour une visite guidée des installations et une discussion sur les enjeux régionaux. » a continué M. Hogg. « La rencontre a été organisée il y a une semaine, par demande officielle. Hier, le bureau du Ministre de la sécurité publique a contacté le bureau de M. Holland pour abruptement annuler l’événement. »

Le bureau du Ministre n’a pas été en mesure de fournir d’explications pour l’annulation de la visite. Il n’était non plus capable expliquer pourquoi, localement, nous avons eu l’approbation de la visite, mais qu’à Ottawa la visite à été refusée.

« C’est clair que le Ministre est intervenu pour une des deux raisons suivantes : soit à des fins partisanes, soit pour bloquer l’accès aux fonctionnaires fédéraux informés de la situation à la frontière. » a dit M. Holland. « Chacune de ces motivations est un abus de pouvoir, et montre bien aux canadiens que le gouvernement Harper ne se limitera à aucun moyen pour étouffer des débats publics. »

Que ce soit les efforts des conservateurs à bloquer l’accès à l’information sur les détenus Afghan, ou le bureau de Christian Paradis qui contrevient outrageusement les lois sur l’accès à l’information, on peut croire qu’il y a de l’ingérence au niveau ministériel et même prime-ministériel dans le fonctionnement des institutions publiques.

M. Hogg termine : « En public, les conservateurs prônent dans leur agenda la transparence et l’imputabilité, mais en arrière scène, ils font tout pour le détruire. »

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Contact :William Hogg, william@williamhogg.ca

Justine Villeneuve, Bureau de Mark Holland, MP

Dear Her Excellency the Governor General

This is an urgent request regarding the decision by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to prorogue parliament today. If indeed he approaches you with this request, myself and many others believe that it it is in the best interest of the country that you refuse.

The decision to prorogue parliament at this time will not only stop important legislation, on both the government and opposition side, but shut down important committee work on issues such as Afghan detainees, infrastructure, and government finances.

Beyond simple partisan reasons (protecting the government from unwanted exposure in committee and in the House prior to the Olympics, moving to give the Government majorities on Senate committees), Parliament does not need to be prorogued.

The three months lost between now and March will not only halt all legislation in the House but will also shut-down public debate, an anti-democratic move, one that you should refuse.

Sincerely,

William Hogg
Concerned citizen

Postal service in Canada's regions

I was happy to be in back in Ottawa yesterday for many reasons - meetings with the Quebec Caucus, National Caucus, OLO, QP, then Caucus Christmas Party.

But the best part of the day was when I learned that Michael released our plan to introduce a Rural Canadian Postal Service Charter to protect and restore rural home postal service, assure universality of postal service across the country, and assure that Canada Post expands its consultation with its clientele before making any changes to services in the future.

Rural communities and their businesses rely on effective postal service. It is a key part of our rural identity across the country.

I personally cringe every time I drive by one of those ugly new big brown mass mail box installations, and remember the struggle my parents undertook to try to overturn a decision to end service to their mail box (a box that I actually got for them years ago...)

Rural post offices are also a major part of small communities, acting as social, economic and political focal points. One of my tactics during the last campaign in the more isolated communities was to hit every post office, talk to the clerk. Who doesn't know the post-master in those communities???

Decisions over the past three years have put at risk this important symbol of Canada in our regional communities, and it has to stop.

Bravo to Michael and the caucus for taking the lead on this issue!

Coyne goes patriotic for Harper

Listening to the CBC At Issue panel last night, I was dismayed how quickly Coyne (and, shamefully, Hebert) fell in line with recent Ref-Con move towards unabashed patriotism as a political tool.

They scathingly criticized the leaders of the opposition parties for not supporting Harper vs. China. Seems that to them, when the PM goes overseas, politics is supposed to stop at the water's edge.

What?

You mean Harper is not supposed to play politics while abroad?

Like he did at the G8 meetings in Italy?

Like he did when he went "patriotic" in the Caribbean?

Like he did when he released his stimulus update "over Siberia."

Should I go on?

After his "trash" piece earlier this week, I thought Coyne had started to see through the fog of Harper's so-called patriotism.

Guess not...

Chucking the vaccine...

The Globe piece here confirms an email I got from a friend last week:

"My niece tells me that the vaccine is only good for one hour at room temperature. When she turned up for her appointment at the Childrens' the pharmacist was busy filling 100 syringes and cautioning the nurses that they had only one hour to inject 100 arms.When they couldn't find that many who were eligible (staff) they tried to give it away before the expiry time. Makes me wonder how much of this stuff is being wasted."

Doesn't jive with the 24 hours the Globe arcticle cites. Does anyone have clear numbers on the shelf life of the vaccine?

On another H1N1 note, my partner's son seems to have come down with the flu and is holed up in his room. He was supposed to get his shot this Thursday - too late for him it seems.

Maybe I'll be live-blogging my own personal version by the end of the week...

Quality journalism on a Saturday morning...

Le Devoir does some good analysis of the crisis of our Parliament here, here and here.

Bonne lecture!