Iggy Poop's EI retreat

So Mike Ignatieff's popularity is worse than the spectacularly dismal Steve Bumbledore Dion's? What astounding - and welcome - news. Iggy doesn't resonate with most Canadians. What went wrong? Just look at Wayne Easter, Ujjal Dosanjh, Gerrard Kennedy, Carolyn Bennett, Bob Rae for your answers...

Remember Iggy's big announcement that EI 'reform' was to be his great cause?!

Remember this Iggy Poop O Gram (see also here; also here; also here), sent out in Sept. courtesy of Ujjal Dosanjh, blabbing Liberal BS about EI?!
Well, it turns out it was all just Liberal BS, as now Iggy has waffled on his supposed grand EI ambitions! Now Iggy, aka The Flipflopinator, has gone cold - on his own idea!

See here for Herbert Grubel's Oct.29, 2009 National Post article on just how deceptive and misguided Iggy's EI bluster was.

Although Grubel's column was headlined "Liberals dodge EI bullet", and closes with "The Liberals did well to avoid repeating their historical mistake", it is this point which needs to be emphasized: the Liberals under Iggy dodged a bullet which they themselves loaded and fired!

This wasn't someone else's idea, which Iggy just walked away from (after trumpeting it for months!) - THIS WAS IGGY'S OWN IDEA! An idea which was simply a half-baked piece of Liberal hotair BS.

Grubel's closing (that "the Liberals did well to avoid repeating their historical mistakes") sloughs off the fact that Iggy's Liberals DID TRY TO REPEAT THEIR MISTAKE - AGAIN!

They didn't try "to avoid" it - they actively pursued it! What's worse: they pursued it knowing full well all those nasty details which Grubel carefully points out in his article. The Liberals knew (of course!) that their phony EI 'reforms' were bad for the economy: Iggy was brazenly playing politics here, and not acting in the best interests of Canada.

Iggy can't get his own pet policy initiatives straight - how can anyone believe Iggy could make stable decisions as Prime Minister?!

One day - Iggy's pushing EI reforms; next day - he's not!

Iggy's got an industrial size waffle maker.

Maid of the Mist lease up for tender

The Niagara Falls Review reported Oct.29, 2009, that the Ontario government has ordered the Niagara Parks Commission to call for open tenders on the boat cruises now run by the Maid of the Mist.

The Review's Corey Laroque reported:

"For the first time in years, the Maid of the Mist will have to fend off competitors to hold onto the right to run boat tours in the Niagara River.

Ontario Tourism Minister Monique Smith announced Wednesday the Niagara Parks Commission will solicit competing bids from companies interested in leasing the property needed to provide the tours.

"For once, the taxpayers have won. It's unbelievable," said Bob Gale, the former commissioner whose concerns about the attempt to renew the lease in 2008 led to a year and a half of intense scrutiny for Niagara Parks.

The Liberal government's direction to the parks commission stems from its reaction to the recent scandal at eHealth Ontario, where it was revealed the electronic health records agency issued millions of dollars in untendered contracts.

After the eHealth scandal, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a new policy aimed at opening government-issued contracts to competitive bids more regularly.

"We think that this process aligns itself well with that," Smith said in an interview just hours after she recommended cabinet not give its approval to the deal the parks commission negotiated in 2008 with the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co.

"I think this is the appropriate course," Smith said. "It ensures all interested parties get the opportunity to submit proposals in a fair and open competition."

Parks commission chairman Jim Williams said his board will abide by the order.

"As a dutiful agency of government, we are not our own masters. We work for the government," Williams said. "They're wanting an open, transparent process. We will certainly follow that recommendation." "

*

We have to wonder: if McGuinty's eHealth scandal had not been uncovered (and the Liberals tried their best to hide it from scrutiny), would this ever have come about at the NPC? And what other cosy little arrangements are there that we aren't aware of?

For months after Bob Gale quit the Parks board, he was shunned; now suddenly - and ONLY AFTER McGuinty's Liberals were caught in the eHealth scandal - does it occur to McGuinty's Liberals to 'institute transparent processes'??!! For cryin' out loud.

Laroque also writes:

"The Maid of the Mist lease has been controversial since April 2008, when the 12-member parks commission voted to extend it. Then-commissioner Gale objected to renewing it before finding out if another company might pay more for the right to run tours.

Two others, including Ripley's Entertainment and Atlanta-based Alcatraz Media, had said they were interested.

Gale's complaint to Ontario's integrity commissioner led to an eight-month investigation, two government reviews and Smith's order for the parks commission to take a second look at its 2008 decision.

When commissioners reviewed that decision in September, they reached the same conclusion - extend the Maid lease -and asked the Liberal cabinet to approve it.

Gale said he was "pretty pleased" the lease was ultimately going to tender, something he pushed for a year and a half ago.

"It's the right first step ... I salute the government, I salute Monique Smith for putting it out to tender," said Gale, adding the commission needs supervision to make sure the bidding process is fair.

Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor, who backed Gale's call for openness, said he was happy with his party's new approach.

"I always felt that should have been tendered out," Craitor said.

It means the parks commission has less than five months to draft and issue a tender, give companies time to prepare their bids, consider the bids and award a contract.

There is a provision in the current lease for the Maid of the Mist to continue on a month-to-month basis. If the Maid company lost the contract, it could continue business until the winner takes over. "

With all this saluting to the Liberals - let's not forget that those same Liberals - before eHealth - would have denied and laughed off concerns that there were any transparency issues in their government depts., agencies, and boards!

And let's look at Kim Craitor's claims that he always felt that the Maid of the Mist's lease should have been tendered out.

Why, then, doesn't Craitor apply his same (faux) ideas of openness to his closed, secretive, Liberal health care monopoly?

Why, then, doesn't Craitor call for tenders and competition within the Liberal health care monopoly, and call for the de-monopolization - ie for reform - of Ontario's health monopoly?

Why isn't Craitor advocating for patient payer and provider choice, and planning a phased process in which competing medical service providers and insurers bid for business?

Why does Liberal Kim Craitor bizarrely go protesting about health care cuts in front of his Liberal buddy Jim Bradley's office (what was that about?!) - yet he can't fathom that his own Liberal party's misguided monopolism is the problem?

Really, why is Craitor in the Liberal party anyway? Isn't he a closet Dipper? He could just quit and sit as an independent MPP, where he can really be a more honest voice - especially as McGuinty's Liberals (to whom Craitor means little) disintegrate in the next two years.

Niagara Falls Then and Now: Buildings renovated, part 2

above: Apr.17, 2008 - looking along the east side of Erie Ave., south of Park St.

above: May 19, 2009 -blue canopy has been removed and scaffolding in place to reach upper facade

above: Jun.4, 2009 new trim installed under upper parapet, under upper windows, and over the lower storefront

above: Jun.18, 2009 - new windows and doors installed, brackets over side door

above: Jul.15, 2009 - brick painted; new side door; lighting in place over sign.

above: Sept.3, 2009 - storefront for rent sign on window. Autumn Moon restaurant next door to the south gets a new bright yellow paint job. A bit of the old Rosberg building's north wall looms at the far upper right; on Oct.4, 2009, Rosberg's would suffer a catastrophic fire.

above: Aug.7, 2009 - looking at the former Burroughes Furniture building at the south-east corner of Queen St. and Crysler Ave., new plywood installed

above: Aug.10, 2009 painting underway

above: Aug.14, 2009, upper brick facade painted

above: view on Aug.18, 2009. See here and here for older photos of Burroughes.

Niagara Falls Then and Now: Buildings renovated

below: Sept.9, 2009; the former Critelli's storefront on the south side of Queen St., just west of Ontario Ave., in Niagara Falls Ont., goes from green to a yellow paint job.
above: same view, Nov.2, 2009, gold and red-trimmed facade seen with new awnings

above: Dec.1, 2008; view of the south side of Queen St., just east of St. Clair Ave.

Where The Perspective is seen, was once the storefront of Edd Masters Mens Shop; where Jonathon Adams Glass Blowing Gallery is seen, once was Helen's Millinery shop - see here.

above: Sept.1, 2009, same buildings, with a new storefront, Cranberry Creek, starting renovations

above: Sept.10, 2009 - the 'old-e tudor-e' stucco and wood facade is covered by wood framing.

above: Sept.11, 2009 - framing continues.

above: Sept.18, 2009 - dentil detail work installed, primer painting underway

above: Sept.23, 2009

above: Oct.20, 2009 - Adonis now seen with a black canopy above; Cranberry's new sign installed on Oct.19

above: Feb.3, 2009 - looking along the north side of Queen, just east of St. Clair Ave., at where the Woolworth's once was

above: May 11, 2009; same view as the incoming Buttery restaurant renovates the space

above: Oct.16, 2009 looking at the south-west corner of Ferry St. and Fallsview Ave., at the former VIP Korean restaurant.

above: Oct.21, 2009, windows being blocked

above: Oct.23, 2009; the rear windows have been blocked; interior work is underway

above: Oct.29, 2009; work continues - siding removed to reveal old upper facade, and some blocked windows.

above: Oct.5, 2009, looking east along Morrison St., west of St. Clair Ave., at the newly built Morrison Apts., to which the house at the left is attached, and is being renovated.

above: Oct.14, 2009 - upper horizontal clapboard facade being re-framed.

above: Oct.23, 2009 - insulation added.

OHIP coverage available in the US.

above: ad in Niagara This Week, Oct.29, 2009. (another similar ad ran on Nov.11, 2009, P17, St.Catharines Edition)

Dalton McGuinty's ideological Liberal health care monopolists are cutting health care services locally, yet OHIP funding is available for bariatric health care in Buffalo? Why aren't such services available in Ontario, Dalton?

Maybe Good Ole Liberal health care monopolist, St.Catharines MPP Jim Bradley, can address this issue?

Remember smarm-bag Bradley's vitriol against the American health care system!? (see: here, pg.44-45)

Now Ontario's Liberal health care is delivered in the States? (see: here; here)

Let's see - which Niagara media organization will ask Jim Bradley to comment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!heeheehee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh... what's that... Jimmy's not available to chat?! Surprise!

Why is the Liberal health premium being sent to the States, for services that should be available in Ontario?? Don't ask!!!

Maybe someone can ask Liberal Health Minister Deb Matthews to comment - but, well, Matthews has utterly vanished into an undisclosed lair.

Blame Liberals

This edited letter ("Blame Liberals", seen at left) was printed in Niagara This Week's Oct.28, 2009 edition; the original submission which I had sent to the editor is below:

Re: Susan A. Salzer letter, "NHS systemic failures revealed", Niagara This Week, Oct.8, 2009:

I agree with much of Salzer’s letter, but differ when she places blame on the NHS, but not on the NHS’s Liberal bosses.

Of course there is a systemic failure in Dalton McGuinty's Incompetent Liberal Government-run health system: the failure is caused by ideological Liberal adherence to single-payer health monopolism. Liberals refuse to acknowledge this paradigm: they continue to believe that more state intrusion, and correspondingly less patient payer and provider choice [and, naturally, less government accountability and transparency] is the answer. In other words, their solution to the last forty-years-worth of state-run single-payer failure - is more government control.

Salzer asks "who else should be held responsible" for the NHS's problems, and advocates that the NHS should be 'beat up' - yet Salzer does not even mention the Liberal government's ideological complicity in this situation!

Is the NHS solely to blame for the health care cuts and underfunding imposed by their Liberal masters, while McGuinty, George Smitherman, David Caplan, Deb Matthews, Jim Bradley, and Kim Craitor are held harmless? Does anyone believe Caplan’s well-orchestrated departure, just before the eHealth fiasco was revealed, has solved anything? The NHS has consistently stated it is underfunded; yet at the same time, their unaccountable Liberal bosses were blowing a billion dollars over at eHealth. Now, McGuinty's secretive Liberals still refuse to call a full inquiry into eHealth.

The "overcrowded emergency rooms, ambulance backlogs and a shortage of beds" that Salzer writes about are a gift from her local Liberal health care monopolists!

This is the legacy of statist monopoly health care - what else could one expect?

Salzer writes that 'we object to Niagara's second-rate health care' - but what we should really be objecting to is the failed Liberal single-payer ideological monopoly that spawned it.

[see also here on above letter]

*

I heard federal Liberal Carolyn Bennett (CFRB with Jim Richards, Oct.29, 09) squawking her partisan, muddy views on the swine-flu/adjuvant issue for pregnant women; yet she couldn't make her own message clear.

The only thing Bennett made clear was her own partisan spin on the issue.

As CFRB's Brian Lilley pointed out later in Richards' show-gram, Carolyn Bennett is just full of "fake outrage".

Oh... where is Bennett's (or Michael Iggy Ignore-atieff's) flicking Liberal outrage when it comes to Ontario Liberal Health Minister, the elusive and missing-in-action Deb Matthews?

Carolyn Bennett even ridiculously claimed in Richards' interview (which Richards should have challenged) that the federal government 'thinks health care is a provincial matter'.

Carolyn: health care IS a provincial matter! WTF?!

Why doesn't loudmouth Liberal windebagge Bennett find Deb Matthews and ask Matthews her opinion on this little smarmy spin of Bennett's?!

McGuinty would also be quite interested to find out that health care is not Ontario's responsibility!

Really now - does Ignatieff believe Bennett's position that health care is somehow NOT a provincial responsibility?!

Obama vs. Fox; Van Dusen vs. Krauthammer

Further to Lisa Van Dusen's hilarious leftie column in support of Obama's White House attacking Fox (see here); now compare Van Dusen's views to Charles Krauthammer's column, here.
You'll never see the St. Catharines Standard print Krauthammer's view.