Are You a Canadian between the Ages of 18 and 25?

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Do Not Vote for the Anti-Science Green Party

There is no party platform that perfectly reflects my views on all issues. However, there is one thing I look for when deciding to support a political party and that's how they arrive at a particular policy. Is it scientific? Does the policy depend on evidence, healthy skepticism, and rational thinking?

The Green Party of Canada has outlined their platform in a document called Vision Green. Here's what they say in the introduction ...

Vision Green presents a well-researched analysis of critical environmental, economic and social challenges facing Canadians from coast to coast to coast, and presents practical solutions that can be achieved if there is the political will and leadership to take forward-looking action. It was developed by our Green Cabinet and was informed by experts, activists and citizens who participated in policy workshops held across Canada. Our vision is based on policies approved by the membership of the Green Party.

Sound promising. They don't actually say that their policies are based on sound scientific reasoning but it sounds like "well-researched" might be a synonym for "good science."

As you scan this document you encounter many positions that seem somewhat dogmatic and considerably beyond what the scientific evidence actually says. The Green Party is opposed to genetically engineered organisms, for example, and they propose to, "Phase out the use of genetically modified food products and ‘terminator’ seeds" (p. 74).

The Green Party is opposed to nuclear power and advocates a ban on new nuclear power plants and a shut-down of existing ones. The party proposes to ban uranium mining and refining. While some of their arguments are valid, the overall tone does not sound scientific.

But the real give-away comes when the document discusses health care. Here's one of the promises from page 70.

Provide funds to expand provincial health insurance to cover proven alternative therapies that are less expensive and invasive such as chiropractic, massage, acupuncture.

It is simply not true that these "alternative therapies" are proven in any scientific sense. What this tells me is that the Green Party platform is not based on scientific reasoning.

That's disappointing.

Everybody wants to promote good health. It's a motherhood issue. What's important is whether a political party has a realistic policy to achieve this goal. Most don't but the Green Party actually makes things worse ...

Health promotion is about more than health care or health education. It is about recognizing the profound health impacts of determinants of health outside the formal healthcare system and working with many stakeholders (policy-makers, NGOs, health agencies, multiple levels of government, the private sector, and most important, affected communities themselves) to reduce, eliminate, or overcome those factors that harm health or act as barriers to health enhancement, and to promote those factors that enhance the health, well-being and quality of life of all Canadians.

We will promote complimentary health care – through support of chiropractic, naturopathic, homeopathic, and other non-western practices. The Green Party of Canada recognizes the value of good health as a fundamental human right, and also the key to the most vibrant, inclusive and sustainable Canadian society possible.

I will never vote for a political party that promotes naturopathy and homeopathy in such a prominent manner. Naturopathy and homeopathy are examples of anti-science quack medicine. The fact that the leaders of the party would even include this in their platform tells me that scientific thinking is not part of their worldview and it calls into question their positions on everything else.

The Green Party wants to use my tax dollars to support these quacks.

Expand healthcare coverage to include qualified complementary/alternative health professionals such as naturopaths, acupuncturists, homeopaths, licensed massage therapists, chiropractors, and dietitians.

This is very wrong.

Do not vote for the Green Party. If you want to cast a protest vote then spoil your ballot or vote for some other party that cannot be elected in your riding. Every vote for the Green Party is a vote against science.

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[Hat Tips: Zak at Canadian Atheist: The Green Party Platform and Mitchell Gerskup at Skeptic North: Voting Green? Read This.]

Guess Who I'm Voting For?

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Stephen Harper on Coalitions

September 9, 2004

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson,
C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D.
Governor General
Rideau Hall
1 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A1

Excellency,

As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could be asked by the Prime Minister to dissolve the 38th Parliament at any time should the House of Commons fail to support some part of the government’s program.

We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority.

Your attention to this matter is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Hon. Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P.
Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada

Gilles Duceppe, M.P.
Leader of the Bloc Quebecois

Jack Layton, M.P.
Leader of the New Democratic Party

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[Hat Tip: Ryan Gregory]

Creationism Attacked in the Canadian Parliament

Yesterday the Canadian government under Stephen Harper was defeated for contempt of parliament [Canadian Government Falls]. This is the first time that this has happened in the history of the British Commonwealth.

During the debate preceding the vote, the Leader of the Bloc Québécois party, Gilles Duceppe, had this to say about the government leaders, [Hansard]

This government is very transparent. When we look at the Conservatives, we know exactly what they are thinking. We can see right through them. Quite apart from the image they like to project, if you look closely, you can see right through them. The Minister of State for Science and Technology is a creationist and believes that dinosaurs walked the earth with humans. He thinks that The Flintstones was a documentary and Dino was the star. We can see their old Reform roots, which are likely what inspired the Tea Party.

This actually resonates within the House of Commons and with Canadians. Creationists don't get much respect in Canada.

I'd definitely vote for this guy if he wasn't a separatist.

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Canadian Government Falls

This is how a parliamentary system of government works.

The following motion just passed in the Canadian House of Commons by a vote of 156-145.

Mr. Ignatieff (Etobicoke—Lakeshore) — That the House agree with the finding of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs that the government is in contempt of Parliament, which is unprecedented in Canadian parliamentary history, and consequently, the House has lost confidence in the government.

This was immediately followed by a motion from the Prime Minister to adjourn the House. That motion carried.

Michael Ignatieff, who moved lack of confidence, is the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition (Leader of the Opposition) and the leader of the Liberal Party.

The defeat of the government on this confidence motion means that the Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) must resign. He will probably go to the Governor General (the de facto Head of State¹) and seek permission to dissolve the House of Commons and call for a general election. In the absence of any party or coalition that could command the confidence of Parliament, that request will be granted.

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1. Officially, the Governor General is the Canadian representative of the Queen of Canada who lives in the United Kingdom. The Governor General will not be phoning the Queen to ask her advice. The current Governor General is His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston.

Who is Omar Alghabra?

This is the Liberal candidate for Federal Parliament in my riding. I've gotten to know him over the past few years and I can affirm that he really does support education and world peace. I'm not so sure about the blind puppies ...

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One School System and Abortion

Ontario has two schools systems—both publicly funded. The "public schools" are open to all comers but the "Roman Catholic" ("Separate") school system isn't.

I support the One School System Network.

The organizations represented by the One School System Network [OSSN] are united in the conviction that:

Ontario's publicly funded school system bring students of all backgrounds together in an environment that fosters mutual respect and understanding while respecting their fundamental equality and helping them to realize their full potential as citizens.

To realize that vision, OSSN seeks the establishment of a single secular school system for each official language, namely English and French public school boards.

Furthermore, OSSN seeks the elimination of costly duplication in the Ontario school system in order to minimize infrastructure costs and to maximize opportunities for student development.

Publicly funded schools in Ontario shall not discriminate on the basis of religion in any form including: school environment, enrolment of students, opportunities for all students, evaluation of students, employment and advancement of teachers and all other school board personnel, adherence to Ministry of Education curriculum guidelines including courses in World and Comparative Religions.

Publicly funded school boards may, where appropriate, permit voluntary religious programs for students provided by local faith groups outside regular instructional hours.

Here's one of the reasons why we need to merge the Roman Catholic schools into a single, secular, public school system: Students sent home.

Alexandria Szeglet added a strip of green tape to her St. Patrick High School uniform Thursday with the word “choice” written on it and was sent home for the day after refusing to take it off.

The Grade 10 student wore the green tape in response to a pro-life event at the school, where some students wore a red piece of tape with “life” written on it and didn’t talk for the day to display their belief in the injustice of abortion.

Alexandria and about 35 other students were send home for wearing the green tape. None of the students who wore red tape with the word "life" were sent home or asked to remove the tape.

Two of the comments below the article deserve more publicity.

Ann says:
Alexandria is my daughter. Her father and I are raising and guiding her and her sister into formulating independent thought and opinion. Alex went to school today wearing a green piece of tape in response to a pro-life scheduled event that she knew was already happening. It was JUST a piece of tape. Very quickly, she was informed that she wasn't allowed to imply her opinion ~ but others wearing "red" were. "Pro-choicers", like Alex, believe in simply that. If a woman chooses abortion, then Alex would support that. If a woman chooses to have the child, Alex would support that too. I know for a fact that she did this not expecting the out pouring of support she has been receiving, but to just put her opinion out there like all the rest. This IS a very touchy subject with a lot of people, and knowing that the School Board allows this in their halls ... I'm speechless. We're very proud of you, Alex.


Kerri says:
Alexandria is my niece and we are very proud of her ability to speak her own mind. This demonstration was done peacefully and without malice unlike some of the pro life demonstrations that have happened in the past. I am born and raised a Catholic woman, am well educated. Having attended a Catholic school myself, I am appaled at the ridiculousness of this situation and the stand that the school and school board have taken on this subject when Alex simply held true to her beliefs. Isn't that what we teach our children? To have independence, a mind of their own and to be secure in all the decisions they make?
Ask yourself this question: Would you want to be the person to explain who your childs dad was if you were a victim of rape or incest? OR What if your life was in mortal danger? PRO CHOICE means just that...a woman's choice. It's not a form of birth control nor is it a decision any woman would want to make. I know in my heart and in my wonderful niece's heart that she is intelligent enough to know what is right or wrong for her own self. We are proud of her if every sense and we will continue to support her throughout her life. It's a shame that the world is still stuck in the dark ages and that a woman still does not have the right to choose...This is a touchy subject that someone thought was ok for high schoolers to demonstrate...with the advent of Facebook and social media, what did they think would happen when people caught wind of today's events?

John de Faveri is the director of education for the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board.

“On the issue, pro-life is part of the Catholic stand,” said de Faveri during a phone interview with Dougall Media Thursday afternoon. “The pro-choice students were not appropriate in the context of a Catholic school.”

That's exactly why we need to convert all these schools into secular schools.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Catholic high schools over the next few days. I expect that many Principals and Vice-Principals are in for a hard time.

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[Hat Tip: Canadian Atheist: The easiest way to get kicked out of Catholic school…]

Sing the National Anthem

Ms. Sandwalk has a thing about singing our national anthem, O, Canada. Not only does she think that every Canadian should sing along whenever it's played but they should do so in TWO languages!

It's really not that difficult. The words and the music are widely available on the internet and everyone sings from the same page.

Not so true in the USA as we see below. Christina Aguilera is singing just one of the hundreds of versions that are popular. You'd have to know in advance what version she was going to use if you want to sing along. Ms. Sandwalk is not happy.

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming reaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
Oh so proudly we washed at the twilight's last reaming
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our a flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the nuh brave?

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[Hat Tip: Greg Laden's Blog: Sing along with Christina Aguilera]

Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell Challenges the Teabaggers on Evolution & Climate Change

The Right Honourable Kim Campbell is the former Conservative Prime Minister of Canada. I never voted for her party but I'm proud of her today. She took on Congressman Jack Kingston (R, Georgia) recently on the Bill Maher show and showed him how stupid he was for denying climate change and evolution.

Even intelligent conservatives in Canada know about science. Unfortunately, many of today's leaders of the Conservative Party don't qualify as "intelligent." However, I don't know of any Canadian federal politician who would publicly confess to such ignorance about science as Jack Kingston.

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Support Corporations: Wear the Flower

Read about Raffelesia and wear the flower to support free enterprise and profit making.

Support People for Corporate Tax Cuts.

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People for Corporate Tax Cuts

The recent economic downturn was caused by the private sector, especially big banks and investment companies. As an average citizen and public sector employee, I was happy to help out by giving the private sector bundles of taxpayer money in order to rescue them from their own greed. After all, that's what the public sector is for—to support free enterprise with government money.

Private companies need your help more than ever. They need corporate tax cuts. You can't expect them to support corporate welfare payments with high corporate tax rates. That would be like giving money to themselves and they don't teach that in business school, do they?

Support People for Corporate Tax Cuts.

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If I Had a Billion Dollars: the Video

 
Go to Jennifer's blog and see the video. It's fantastic.

If I Had a Billion Dollars - The Video!

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If I Had a Billion Dollars

 
Stephen Harper and his cronies have spent over one billion dollars preparing for the G8 and G20 meetings in Canada this month. That's a lot of money. The city of Toronto will be pretty much shut down from June 24 to June 27. The University of Toronto will be closed on the 24th and 26th and all activities are canceled on the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.

Here's The Bare Naked Ladies singing "If I had a million dollars" (With many interruptions). Go to Jennifer Smith's blog Runesmith's Canadian Content to see the new lyrics for [If I Had a Billion Dollars].

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A Message for Hillary Clinton from Canadians

 
From CBCNews [Don't extend Afghan mission, Canadians say: poll].

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Time to Leave

 
Canadian troops and support personal have been in Afghanistan for the better part of ten years. The goal was to create a stable democratic state that could offer security to its citizens and promote the rights and values that we cherish in Western democracies.

We aren't any closer to achieving that goal than we were ten years ago. Should Canadian forces remain in Afghanistan after 2011?

There are two main options ....

1. cut and run (withdraw all military forces)
2. soldier on, perhaps with no combat troops

I favor option #1. We've given it our best shot and it's time to admit defeat. Afghanistan is not going to become a respectable member of the world's democratic community.

My resolve was strengthened by a hard-hitting article in last week's issue of Newsweek [The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight].

America has spent more than $6 billion since 2002 in an effort to create an effective Afghan police force, buying weapons, building police academies, and hiring defense contractors to train the recruits—but the program has been a disaster. More than $322 million worth of invoices for police training were approved even though the funds were poorly accounted for, according to a government audit, and fewer than 12 percent of the country's police units are capable of operating on their own. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the State Department's top representative in the region, has publicly called the Afghan police "an inadequate organization, riddled with corruption." During the Obama administration's review of Afghanistan policy last year, "this issue received more attention than any other except for the question of U.S. troop levels," Holbrooke later told NEWSWEEK. "We drilled down deep into this."

The worst of it is that the police are central to Washington's plans for getting out of Afghanistan. The U.S.-backed government in Kabul will never have popular support if it can't keep people safe in their own homes and streets. Yet in a United Nations poll last fall, more than half the Afghan respondents said the police are corrupt. Police commanders have been implicated in drug trafficking, and when U.S. Marines moved into the town of Aynak last summer, villagers accused the local police force of extortion, assault, and rape.

It's time to leave—the sooner the better. The people of Afghanistan have to want change bad enough to fight for it and that's ain't happening.

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[Photo Credit: Defense Industry Daily]

[Hat Tip: Canadian Cynic]

What Can't You Do in the House of Commons?

 
Almost anything goes in Ontario's House of Commons and debates can be rather lively. However, tradition (and House rules) state that you cannot accuse someone of lying. Here's what happens if you break that rule.



Ted Chudleigh is the Conservative MPP for Halton—a district that includes Oakville and Milton. He's ranting about a proposal to harmonize the GST and PST taxes.

Jennifer Smith lives in Milton and she's on the case. A little digging led her to this quotation from a speech by Ted Chudleigh in the House of Commons only 14 months ago [Ted Chudleigh on the HST: What a Difference a Year Makes].

Taxing businesses for their input costs is also a negative thing to do in an economy. It would be far better if we could find a way to harmonize the PST with the GST." (October 2, 2008 - Legislative Assembly Hansard)

Oh, dear. Is it possible that Mr. Chudleigh is a liar? Or is he just a hypocrite?

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One More Reason to Visit Canada

 
I stole this from Bayblab It shows why Canadians like global warming.

Canadian Tourism Federation Welcome Video from Canadian Tourism Federation on Vimeo.

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The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

 
Twenty-nine men died on November 10, 1975 when the S.S. Edmund Fitgerald sank in a storm on Lake Superior.

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Charles and Camilla Are in Town

 
Charles and Camilla are visiting Toronto but you wouldn't know it if you didn't read the papers. Unless, of course, you just happen to be caught up in one of the mini traffic jams that are associated with such visits.

I witnessed one last night as several motorcycles and police cars with red and blue lights flashing, and sirens wailing, raced up University Avenue and around Queen's Park. They were escorting a convoy of half a dozen limos. I figure they were exceeding the speed limit by quite a bit.

Today, Charles is accompanying Camilla to Dundurn castle in Hamilton. The great house was built by Sir Allan Napier MacNab who happens to be Camilla's great-great-great grandfather. MacNab was Prime Minister of the Province of Ontario and was a member of the ruling elite that William Lyon Mackenzie opposed in the 1837 "rebellion."

This is Camilla's first visit to Canada. Charles has been here too often.

The couple will be opening the Royal Agricultural Winter's Fair before flying back to England.

For those of you interested in genealogy, here's how Camilla is related to MacNab.

Allen Napier MacNab (1798-1862)
m. Mary Stuart (1812-1846)
      Sophia Mary MacNab (1832-1917)
      m. William Coutts Keppel (1832-1894)
            Honourable George Keppel (1865-1947)
            m. Alice Frederica Edmonstone (1869-1947)
                  Sonia Rosemary Keppel (1900-1986)
                  m. Roland Calvert Cubbitt (1899-1962)
                        Honourable Rosalind Maud Cubbitt (1921-1994)
                        m. Bruce Middleton Hope Shand (1917- )
                              Camilla Rosemary Shand (1947- )
                              m. (1) Andrew Henry Parker-Bowles
                                    (2) Charles, Prince of Wales

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