tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8126899641601422932024-03-16T03:09:05.606-04:00jackandcokewithalimeReal Commentary on the Real World..jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.comBlogger346125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-4311817618990225322011-05-04T07:52:00.001-04:002011-05-04T07:53:48.122-04:00Ontario's Hatred for Dalton McGuinty Drove The Federal Liberal Massacre<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_GfXNsAk4ERvus7Ev7QrlpXg0i3kZ7zucu4o7smVZj0PEBWN3b85HW5pBX-VhC5QbB_Vmo376M2-6-FHGDUR_ckQn3IQ-_O62TtDZPaxLlBnb6Mb9t35LpFTHjakDNjDe9kcEY8N31sv0/s1600/OntarioCanadaFlags_by_lothlaurien_on_flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_GfXNsAk4ERvus7Ev7QrlpXg0i3kZ7zucu4o7smVZj0PEBWN3b85HW5pBX-VhC5QbB_Vmo376M2-6-FHGDUR_ckQn3IQ-_O62TtDZPaxLlBnb6Mb9t35LpFTHjakDNjDe9kcEY8N31sv0/s640/OntarioCanadaFlags_by_lothlaurien_on_flickr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
If the Federal Liberals are shaking their heads wondering how they could have suffered such a monumental defeat in this 2011 Federal Election (especially here in Ontario), they need look no further for the reason why than their Provincial cousins and Ontario Liberal Leader, Premier Dalton McGuinty.<br />
<br />
With McGuinty's catastrophic failures as the Ontario Premier over his past 2 terms in office (see: <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/03/list-of-ontario-liberal-premier-dalton.html" target="_blank">List of Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty's Scandals with Details...</a>), and his tax, spend and waste policy of disastrous mismanagement, Ontarians are severely fed-up, and are salivating at the mouth at their upcoming opportunity to completely obliterate McGuinty and his Provincial Liberals and send them packing in the October Ontario Provincial Election.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Unfortunately for Ignatieff and his Federal Liberal comrades, they felt the wrath of the pent-up anger Ontarians have for Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal Party. Poor Ignatieff was just a victim in what was meant to be yet another symbol in the grassroots campaign of vengeance brewing in Ontario against Dalton McGuinty.<br />
<br />
It started with the victory for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in Toronto over McGuinty Liberal Loyalist, George Smitherman, a key figure in McGuinty's record of failure in Ontario. And the movement has been tearing through Ontario leaving the Federal Liberals as wreckage in it's trail. It's now focused on it's key target and it will leave the Liberals both in Ontario and in Canada questioning their party's entire purpose, philosophy, mandate and leadership.<br />
<br />
The Liberals have grown out of touch with Canadians and Ontarians, and voters have proven that they recognize it. And they will continue to prove it in this 2010 decade of change and remediation.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lothlaurien/3775422491/sizes/z/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/lothlaurien/3775422491/sizes/z/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lothlaurien/" target="_blank">lothlaurien</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-11195664293140064912011-05-02T23:54:00.003-04:002011-05-04T07:56:09.563-04:00Canada's Harper Conservative Majority a Victory for Taxpayers!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MtyhZ1gC7c37L_VyT8GHyhPvQ8_qDJ85ptaVQ0oC3K5zNGuHVgF-ulauK6s6Tr9bkfhLfilt8J3HJJIY693Z5vpGZbgahe7uzFgyZrimOdsomaEGNGNXwcWjqz3fv7RRhTGAe9-fs4r9/s1600/CanadaFlag_by_abdallah_on_flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="480px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MtyhZ1gC7c37L_VyT8GHyhPvQ8_qDJ85ptaVQ0oC3K5zNGuHVgF-ulauK6s6Tr9bkfhLfilt8J3HJJIY693Z5vpGZbgahe7uzFgyZrimOdsomaEGNGNXwcWjqz3fv7RRhTGAe9-fs4r9/s640/CanadaFlag_by_abdallah_on_flickr.jpg" width="640px" /></a></div><br />
Last night Canadians chose to support the Taxpayers in this 2011 Canadian Federal Election, voting Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada a Majority Government!<br />
<br />
NDP Leader Jack "the John" Layton made a huge surge as the polls had predicted, bringing a scary new reality to Canadian Politics where the super-left welfare state supporters are seriously on the rise. Luckily the Conservatives came through with the Majority and will protect the Taxpayers and the Canadian economy for at least another 4 years.<br />
<br />
Good for you Canada!<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
With Super Mayor Rob Ford in office in Toronto, and now Stephen Harper as the majority-backed Prime Minister of Canada, all that remains to complete the "Taxpayer Trinity" is the flushing of Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty down the toilet and the electing of Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak as our next Premier. Once that final piece of the puzzle is complete, taxpayers can finally breathe a much deserved and far belated sigh of relief.<br />
<br />
Congratulations Canada, and Congratulations to all of the Taxpayers in Canada! You deserved this! Take that money you're going to save and go grab yourself a much deserved Jack and Coke with lime!<br />
<br />
Cheers!<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
PS: The Liberals are finished in Canada! Ignatieff lost in his own riding! Classic! ;)<br />
<br />
McGuinty, you're next...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/husseinabdallah/2310315395/sizes/o/in/photostream/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/husseinabdallah/2310315395/sizes/o/in/photostream/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/husseinabdallah/" target="_blank">husseinabdallah</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-7132230656338035072011-04-21T17:48:00.001-04:002011-04-21T17:48:42.691-04:00Has Premier Dalton McGuinty Been "Asleep At The Wheel" for 8 Years?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzGooaUti9RoG1BsvyNwhHTnQsHp1cPpAFGe3QL4unn7VM8VFt2HmTPcQzD4B50ezHKA97ZG-IO1nBf1kUSdk4vPpPoSLBB1q5PaNfatm8DhbjuTal0dw7tKJhNUD6aGXMw7XMgnxePANP/s1600/DaltonMcGuinty_by_NPetten_on_flickr_cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzGooaUti9RoG1BsvyNwhHTnQsHp1cPpAFGe3QL4unn7VM8VFt2HmTPcQzD4B50ezHKA97ZG-IO1nBf1kUSdk4vPpPoSLBB1q5PaNfatm8DhbjuTal0dw7tKJhNUD6aGXMw7XMgnxePANP/s640/DaltonMcGuinty_by_NPetten_on_flickr_cropped.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
In what must be the absolute worst year for Ontario Liberal Premier, Dalton McGuinty, Premier "Deadbeat" Dad is doing everything he can to try and appear -again- like he actually cares about Ontarians, and he's out there fighting the good fight on our behalf. He's hoping that Ontarians will conveniently forget that he's done absolutely nothing to help us over his entire 8 years as our Premier, except raise our taxes, fees, and pretty much the cost of everything we need in order to survive, and he's back to his old tricks going to the press and shamefully making statements and gestures that are intended to have Ontarians believe that he is still working in our best interest.<br />
<br />
McGuinty's latest sad attempts to show that he's looking out for Ontarians involve the Canadian Federal Election. I still remember years back when McGuinty was riding on the mantra of a "$23 Billion gap" between what Ontarians give the Feds, and what we get in return (see <a href="http://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2005/05/remarks-by-dalton-mcguinty-premier-of-ontario-on-meeting-with-the-prime-minister.html" target="_blank">Ontario.ca: Remarks By Dalton McGuinty, Premier Of Ontario On Meeting With The Prime Minister</a>)... He impassioned Ontarians with the resonating cold facts that we are a crutch for this country, and yet we get minimal support back. He said it was time to fight for Ontario and to get our fair share, and he was the leader to make it happen. Yet, here we are, years later, still no better off than when we elected and reelected him... McGuinty's latest cries to the Feds are of the same tune, just with different lyrics. Back then it was the "$23 Billion gap", this year it's "40% of the Federal Government's money comes from Ontario" (see: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/968640--mcguinty-demands-energy-fairness-for-ontario-from-ottawa" target="_blank">Toronto Star: McGuinty demands energy fairness for Ontario from Ottawa</a>). Again, same tune, just different lyrics...<br />
<br />
So to me, I question what he's done to narrow this gap over his 8 years in office? It's one thing to question it and raise it as an election issue, but it's another thing to actually follow through on your promises and do something about it. Unfortunately with Dalton McGuinty, this is a common theme. He barks about something that is unfair during the Election, but once he's in office, he does nothing about it. Then here we are, years later at the next Election, and guess what, that topic comes right up yet again from McGuinty...<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Today, McGuinty came out and said that Ontario should have more control over which Immigrants come into this province (see <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/2011/04/21/province-seeks-say-on-immigrants" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Province seeks say on immigrants</a>). He questions why Ontario gets only 16% of economic class immigrants, while the provincial average is 25%. I don't disagree with his question, but my question for Dalton McGuinty is, why are you asking about this now? Where has this question been for the past 8 years that you've been Ontario's leader? Why, all of a sudden, is this now an issue? <br />
<br />
A week back, Dalton released a statement to Ontario hospitals stating that they shouldn't destroy their internal documents in attempts to hide eHealth and OLG type scandals (see <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/977998--don-t-shred-documents-mcguinty-tells-hospitals" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Don’t shred documents, McGuinty tells hospitals</a>). My question for Premier McGuinty is, how is this not an official policy, and why is this something that you have to "request" of the hospitals? And again, why is this something that you are finally addressing only now after 8 years that you've been in office? What have you been doing for 8 years?<br />
<br />
A week and a half ago, Dalton urged Ontario Hospitals to reign in bloated pay packages for Hospital Executives (see <a href="http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Curb+generous+execs+McGuinty+urges+hospitals/4602893/story.html" target="_blank">Ottawa Citizen: Curb generous pay for top execs, McGuinty urges hospitals</a>), something Ontarians have been screaming about for years, yet, here we are, 8 years after Premier McGuinty took office, and only now is he looking to curb the generous pay packages of these under-worked and overpaid, golf-paying, consultant-hiring, expense policy-exploiting, Hospital Execs?<br />
<br />
A couple of weeks ago, Dalton was caught up yet again in another expenses scandal, this time where he was the culprit, hiding his own expenses under other staffers' names (see: <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/04/premier-dalton-mcguinty-plays-ontarians.html" target="_blank">Premier Dalton McGuinty Plays Ontarians For Fools With Expense Trickery</a>). He later responded to this finding by saying that going forward, he would declare his own expenses under his own name. Now, one would assume that that would be a basic principle that an ethical person in power would follow, but I guess that's not the case with our Premier. And yet again, I ask the question of Premier McGuinty, why after 8 years in office do you suddenly now decide that you're going to be ethical with your expenses and their declaration to the public? <br />
<br />
A few weeks back, Dalton suddenly decided to take up the fight for energy funding support from the Feds, highlighting the proposed Lower Churchill hydro project for Newfoundland and Labrador, and asking where's the funding for Ontario (see: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/968640--mcguinty-demands-energy-fairness-for-ontario-from-ottawa" target="_blank">Toronto Star: McGuinty demands energy fairness for Ontario from Ottawa</a>). With the skyrocketing energy rates in Ontario caused primarily by McGuinty's lax energy policies and failed green energy experiments, one would think that he would have been fighting for energy funding for Ontario for years, yet only now, 8 years after being in office, is he suddenly looking out for Ontario?<br />
<br />
I could literally go on and on with countless examples, but over and over the same thing rings true, why has it taken Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty 8 years to realize that these are legitimate concerns and issues that needed to be addressed? Why haven't these issues been resolved yet? Why is he only looking into this now? He's had 8 years!!<br />
<br />
The only answer Ontarians can come up with for why he's done nothing about these issues after all of this time, is simply that Dalton McGuinty has been asleep at the wheel for the past 8 years. And unfortunately for Ontarians, we're the ones who've been paying the price for it, both figuratively, and literally...<br />
<br />
Ontario is desperately in need of a change... We need someone who makes things happen now. Someone who doesn't <em>appear</em> to come around after a decade of uselessness and inaction. We need someone who is a proactive leader, not a passive one. We need a strong leader, not a weak one. We need an ethical leader, not a corrupt one.<br />
<br />
In October, Ontarians, it's time to show Premier "Deadbeat" Dad, the door, and take back our Ontario.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
PS: The one thing that I can say that Dalton McGuinty has been on top of over the past 8 years, is taxes and fees!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/npetten/3610810337/sizes/o/in/photostream/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/npetten/3610810337/sizes/o/in/photostream/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/npetten/" target="_blank">NPetten</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-63172578144321230492011-04-13T16:13:00.000-04:002011-04-13T16:13:29.107-04:00Federal Debate #1: Harper Impressed; Duceppe an Embarrassing Clown...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju8GFKUKkai_WaSc2BqFdWeSA4Gjl_VLYZbC8hG-GhkxT8BKy3K9Yoj-XyhV_z2gCDWjPp8JM_OtHeYZtSRSF0FkGWVTQ-9hIvxql1DxUojKg2PisMjYMTw2Z1WbiLMCR0SAPRiQz1O_ul/s1600/CanadaFederalElection2011Debate_via_screenshots_from_Votes2011_on_YouTube.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="532" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju8GFKUKkai_WaSc2BqFdWeSA4Gjl_VLYZbC8hG-GhkxT8BKy3K9Yoj-XyhV_z2gCDWjPp8JM_OtHeYZtSRSF0FkGWVTQ-9hIvxql1DxUojKg2PisMjYMTw2Z1WbiLMCR0SAPRiQz1O_ul/s640/CanadaFederalElection2011Debate_via_screenshots_from_Votes2011_on_YouTube.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Last night's Canadian Federal Election Debate #1 was quite literally the "Stephen Harper Show", as he completely out-classed, out-smarted, and so easily manhandled his shamefully inferior opponents, that it was like watching NHL phenom Sidney Crosby take some time out to play ice hockey with the Tim Horton's Timbits kids -no offence, Timbits! (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTmUBATgNSE&feature=related" target="_blank">Sidney Crosby - Timbits Hockey Commercial [2009]</a>). <br />
<br />
Though some people may complain that the debate was an utter bore, I didn't find it boring at all. I actually quite enjoyed watching the various party leaders go toe-to-toe. It's so easy for politicians to spew their rhetoric to the press when their opponents aren't there to respond, but when they're placed next to each other with no handlers between them to whisper in their ears, this is when you really see the strength, knowledge and abilities of our leaders.<br />
<br />
It was pretty obvious that Prime Minister Harper came out the winner in this debate, even though the various Liberal news organizations out there will try to avoid that topic entirely (you know who you are, you <em>stars</em>, you...). And in a surprising finish for 2nd place, it was NDP Leader Jack Layton, who at times attacked both Stephen Harper and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. And while Stephen Harper was easily able to defend himself against Layton's mostly nonsensical accusations, Ignatieff was often left stuttering, bumbling and pretty much speechless, apparently in shock at the supposed betrayal by Layton. Now that was entertainment!<br />
<br />
But, the highlight of the night had to be Bloc Québécois Leader, Gilles Duceppe, who was almost comical in his irrelevance... He was like a sad French clown who tried so desperately to be taken seriously, but kept having cream pies thrown in his face and having his nose honked. I have to commend Stephen Harper for keeping a straight face every time Duceppe spoke, because it was like Duceppe was in his own world, completely ignoring the questions that were posed, and reading off questions and accusations from his prepared cue cards that had nothing to do with the topic at hand. A couple of times Harper just had no idea what the hell Duceppe was talking about, but still in the most cordial and diplomatic way, tried to respond. I'm sure that many viewers like me who watched this Duceppe train-wreck, couldn't help but cringe every time he spoke... What a disastrous embarrassment Duceppe is for the Bloc and for Quebeckers overall.<br />
<br />
After this debate, I wonder how any self-respecting Québécois could vote for such a bumbling idiot, and I question how he can not be seen as the laughing stock of all of Quebec, especially the Bloc... If any Quebeckers watched last night's debate, you can be sure they're votes have switched from the Bloc to the NDP.<br />
<br />
If you'd like to watch the debate for yourself, the video can be found at:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/leaders-debate/#" target="_blank">Canada Votes 2011 - Leaders' Debate - On Demand</a><br />
<br />
And you tell me, how many damn times do we need to hear from Jack Layton that he's married to a person that wasn't born here in Canada (Olivia Chow)?? Seriously, this guy brings that up in every single sentence. Dude, we've been hearing that from you for years. Have some respect for your wife and try not exploiting her for once! It's like he married her just for political gain!<br />
<br />
But at the end of the night, Prime Minister Harper really did impress. For every single accusation that was thrown his way, he dismissed it as inaccurate and untrue, and then backed up his point with facts about how it was untrue. The opposition leaders couldn't even dispute his retorts, often just repeating their nonsensical rhetoric. At one point Ignatieff just gave up and went back to his useless mantra of "Jails, Jets and Corporate Tax Cuts", like, "well you did this", Ignatieff would say, Harper would respond, "well this is just not true, and this is why", and then Ignatieff would come back with, "well, all you're about is Jails, Jets and Corporate Tax Cuts...". It was almost disgraceful to watch. Isn't this guy suppose to be a <em>Harvard Academic</em>? Yet he couldn't even make one valid argument?<br />
<br />
Again, the debate was very entertaining, and I urge each of you to watch it. I know I've been more focused on our local Ontario Provincial Election, and the absolutely critical need for Ontarians to dispose of our Godfather of Scandal, Premier Dalton McGuinty, but this debate was just something that I didn't want to miss, and I'm glad I didn't.<br />
<br />
What are your thoughts on the debate? Do you agree, or disagree? I'm sure the readers would love to know.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
Screenshot from video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UioReyyeqO8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UioReyyeqO8</a> by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/votes2011" target="_blank">Votes2011</a> on YouTube<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-54972216111982584012011-04-12T17:09:00.000-04:002011-04-12T17:09:21.718-04:00OECD Study: Canada Ranks #4 for Most Work Hrs per Day, USA #9, Mexico #1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKiQVQfJGqVx3egx-KMfyMLhBGmpdfavj3QKM-JK_-CcLIfdtVemmFAoh8MhtOFqXYsoy4LAiHbn5oynkshHgTdlh_K-jP_T1C4TS_ZejcszZsblm1KSto_IZA06lHooVf3hXnvJ0MR9o0/s1600/OECD-TotalWorkingHoursPerDay_by_jackandcokewithalime.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKiQVQfJGqVx3egx-KMfyMLhBGmpdfavj3QKM-JK_-CcLIfdtVemmFAoh8MhtOFqXYsoy4LAiHbn5oynkshHgTdlh_K-jP_T1C4TS_ZejcszZsblm1KSto_IZA06lHooVf3hXnvJ0MR9o0/s640/OECD-TotalWorkingHoursPerDay_by_jackandcokewithalime.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
A new study released by the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_36734052_36734103_1_1_1_1_1,00.html" target="_blank">Organisation for Economic Co-operaton and Development (OECD)</a> which involves the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, The United Kingdom, and The United States, shows that Canada ranks 4th overall in the OECD for Total Paid and Unpaid Hours worked per day at 8.62 daily hours. The study shows that Mexico has the highest total hours worked per day with 9.91, Japan is in 2nd with 9.01, and the United States is 9th overall with 8.27.<br />
<br />
Here's the story from the OECD website:<br />
<a name='more'></a><a href="http://www.oecd.org/document/60/0,3746,en_21571361_44315115_47567356_1_1_1_1,00.html" target="_blank">OECD: Who’s busiest: working hours and household chores across OECD</a><br />
<blockquote>Mexicans work longer days than anyone else in OECD countries, devoting 10 hours to paid and unpaid work, such as cleaning or cooking at home. Belgians work the least, at 7 hours, compared with an OECD average of 8 hours a day.<br />
<br />
A special chapter in the report looks at unpaid work, such as cooking, cleaning, caring, and shopping, in 26 OECD countries, as well as China, India and South Africa.<br />
<br />
Most unpaid work is housework. Mexicans do the most, at more than 3 hours per day, and Koreans the least, at 1 hour and 19 minutes. Much of this time is spent cooking. Americans spend the least time cooking each day (30 minutes) and Turks the most in the OECD (74 minutes). Most people spend around 50 minutes a day cooking.<br />
<br />
Shopping also makes up a big part of unpaid work. Most people in OECD countries spend 23 minutes a day shopping, with the French spending the most (32 minutes) and the Koreans the least (13 minutes).</blockquote><br />
I took the liberty of pulling the data provided in the report into 3 tables. The first which ranks the Countries by Total Paid and Unpaid Hours of Work per Day. The second which ranks Countries by Total Paid Hours of Work per Day (the REAL ranking if you ask me, though Canada actually did worse in that one). And third which ranks the Countries by Total Unpaid Hours of Work per Day.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><u>Countries Ranked by Total Paid and Unpaid Hours of Work per Day</u></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAaaALIIva1ujt2MhEa4LVqdhgd6LS1jELt_tN_Dr25d8Nju_Xl-FXiFVvz88IMLuVjuEg2p8PzDWQCVgX9xmGc2tRevCpFieoHRFtRUj2coOnG3lQolHZhk88cdWwOsVDXPqgfFLsUTBY/s1600/OECD-TotalWorkingHoursPerDayTable_by_jackandcokewithalime.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAaaALIIva1ujt2MhEa4LVqdhgd6LS1jELt_tN_Dr25d8Nju_Xl-FXiFVvz88IMLuVjuEg2p8PzDWQCVgX9xmGc2tRevCpFieoHRFtRUj2coOnG3lQolHZhk88cdWwOsVDXPqgfFLsUTBY/s640/OECD-TotalWorkingHoursPerDayTable_by_jackandcokewithalime.JPG" width="404" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><u>Countries Ranked by Total Paid Hours of Work per Day</u></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6WVQrTuINkawrkTknfvlFydT0RFCc7K6nEi5ygKKvNebDiCQQHk4SzwWfaywuv48rAa_3q-Qtfgs0Yo21dXrYJ69p1CEvZXCFrHq7_o1oRvmuBjkbZgznKvUdozQaFBVAIkX-pCyBgmfM/s1600/OECD-PaidWorkingHoursPerDay_by_jackandcokewithalime.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6WVQrTuINkawrkTknfvlFydT0RFCc7K6nEi5ygKKvNebDiCQQHk4SzwWfaywuv48rAa_3q-Qtfgs0Yo21dXrYJ69p1CEvZXCFrHq7_o1oRvmuBjkbZgznKvUdozQaFBVAIkX-pCyBgmfM/s640/OECD-PaidWorkingHoursPerDay_by_jackandcokewithalime.JPG" width="257" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><u>Countries Ranked by Total Unpaid Hours of Work per Day</u></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97JOPHQ1yunxy4vz_Nq13Q0GolXd0Io7Hj7awoJatOuq4yB4pw1oVH6tQlfopbYzrUyXe5xz-GF5R6-kFbzCrKzWgiCk6_ROb6EwXz0bGb0SZeL0Wc9xcrCCpLHExXlQWAOOV-WrN1pJV/s1600/OECD-UnPaidWorkingHoursPerDay_by_jackandcokewithalime.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97JOPHQ1yunxy4vz_Nq13Q0GolXd0Io7Hj7awoJatOuq4yB4pw1oVH6tQlfopbYzrUyXe5xz-GF5R6-kFbzCrKzWgiCk6_ROb6EwXz0bGb0SZeL0Wc9xcrCCpLHExXlQWAOOV-WrN1pJV/s640/OECD-UnPaidWorkingHoursPerDay_by_jackandcokewithalime.JPG" width="297" /></a></div><br />
After doing some digging in the actual text of the report, I found the following qualification about these numbers that must be noted when reviewing the results:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/displaydocumentpdf/?cote=DELSA/ELSA/WD/SEM%282011%291&doclanguage=en">OECD SOCIAL, EMPLOYMENT AND MIGRATION WORKING PAPERS</a><br />
<blockquote>While the average daily paid working time seems low at first sight, it should be borne in mind that these figures cover weekdays and weekend days, as well as holiday periods, and include<br />
both employed and non-employed individuals.</blockquote>So, if you're wondering -like I was- why the numbers appear to be so low, then this hopefully should clear that up for you. And if you want to get technical, taking a typical Canadian work day of 8 hours per day, multiplying that by 5 work days per week, and then dividing that by 7 days (to include the weekend), you end up with 8 hours x 5 days = 40 hours / 7 days = 5.71 paid work hours per day (which when compared to the noted 5.34 in the study, is pretty close to bang on, especially if you include the unemployed which would cause the 5.71 number to drop). <br />
<br />
Now, if you want to get <i>really</i> technical, and talk about our Public Sector Unionized Workers, then we're talking about 2 hours of paid <i>true</i> work per day, so 2 hours x 5 days = 10 hours / 7 days = 1.4 paid work hours per day! Relax Unionites, I'm just kidding........no I'm not. ;)<br />
<br />
Also, for those of you who are wondering what exactly "Unpaid" work is supposed to be defined as, here is the definition as noted in the above-mentioned document:<br />
<blockquote><b>Defining unpaid work</b> </blockquote><blockquote>Unpaid work is the production of goods and services by household members that are not sold on the market. Some unpaid work is for the consumption within the family, such as cooking, gardening and house cleaning. The products of unpaid work may also be consumed by people not living in the household, e.g. cooking a meal for visiting friends, helping in a soup kitchen for homeless people, mowing the lawn of an elderly relative, or coaching the local football team. </blockquote><blockquote>The boundary between unpaid work and leisure is determined by the so-called “third-person”<br />
criterion. If a third person could hypothetically be paid to do the activity, it is considered to be work. Cooking, cleaning, child care, laundry, walking the dog and gardening are therefore all examples of unpaid work. On the other hand, someone else cannot be paid to watch a movie, play tennis, or silently read a book on another’s behalf as the benefits of the activity would accrue to the doer (the third person), and not to the hirer (Ironmonger, 1996). These activities are therefore considered as leisure. </blockquote><blockquote>Some unpaid work, e.g. playing with children, walking the dog, cooking or tending a garden, is<br />
often enjoyable, depending on the state of mind and other time pressures (see Society at a Glance 2009 on reported enjoyment of various activities). The satisfaction from the activity is a benefit that cannot be transferred to another person. Similarly, many people derive a great deal of personal satisfaction from paid work and enjoy their time spent in their job. Thus the level of enjoyment of the person doing the activity cannot be used as a criterion to distinguish between work and leisure (Hill, 1979).</blockquote><br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Images:<br />
Derived from OECD Study: <a href="http://www.oecd.org/document/60/0,3746,en_21571361_44315115_47567356_1_1_1_1,00.html" target="_blank">OECD: Who's busiest: working hours and household chores across OECD</a><br />
Data pulled from Study's Embedded Excel Document at: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932381456" target="_blank">Download the underlying data in Excel</a><br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-24070364376770323882011-04-12T00:47:00.004-04:002011-04-12T00:57:19.241-04:00Finance Minister Duncan Patronizes Ontarians with Gasoline Tax Rhetoric<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6uOjOzPex_JuHLUTKKpE021ut7znH7ZdTQ-PLAaN9Hm6HWgs9p2rWSvxT9O77CrsGzAsjxKgsCvEKnYOWk-yZ865aYwNMfAz3b5pILD-F_64jbJ8NUHKXCKSKPAQw3rZXyu9iViRq6SS/s1600/TorontoGasPrice129.5_by_MSVG_on_flickr_cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="441" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6uOjOzPex_JuHLUTKKpE021ut7znH7ZdTQ-PLAaN9Hm6HWgs9p2rWSvxT9O77CrsGzAsjxKgsCvEKnYOWk-yZ865aYwNMfAz3b5pILD-F_64jbJ8NUHKXCKSKPAQw3rZXyu9iViRq6SS/s640/TorontoGasPrice129.5_by_MSVG_on_flickr_cropped.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
With Gas Prices skyrocketing in Ontario, you would think that an Ontario Government that has become famous for scandal, boondoggle and waste, would have some kind of sympathy and compassion for the struggling Ontario families who can't even afford to pay for the skyrocketing electricity costs for their homes, let alone the massive taxes that are applied on Gasoline.<br />
<br />
But, if you ask Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan about it, he'll tell you that the taxes that Ontario has applied on Gasoline, actually protect Ontarians from...higher gas prices! Can you believe it? How could we Ontarians have been so stupid? I mean, it's not like gas prices have been skyrocketing non-stop over the past 8 years that Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty has been in power, not-to-mention during the tenure of our incompetent and moronic Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, who is the antithesis of fiscal prudence.<br />
<br />
No, that hasn't been happening... (What's that symbol for sarcasm again?) No, we've been "protected" by the non-stop tax bombardment from our useless Ontario Liberal Government who as a result of scandal-after-scandal-after-scandal, need to tax Ontarians to death in order to make up for their consistent squandering of precious taxpayer dollars.<br />
<br />
Here's the story from the Toronto Star:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/972946--duncan-warns-cutting-taxes-on-gasoline-would-just-let-oil-companies-raise-prices?bn=1" target="_blank">Duncan warns cutting taxes on gasoline would just let oil companies raise prices</a><br />
<blockquote>Ontario's opposition parties hope to make an election issue out of rising gasoline prices, but the Liberals say they won't cut gas taxes.<br />
<br />
A study from CIBC World Markets warns the near 25 per cent hike in gas prices since late 2010 will cost Canadians an extra $12 billion at the pumps this year.<br />
<br />
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak won't make any specific promises, but says he's looking to give people a break and will consider options such as removing the HST from gasoline.<br />
<br />
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan says removing the HST or reducing the 14.7 cents a litre flat provincial tax would only make room for the oil companies to raise prices.<br />
<br />
Duncan also says the province's revenues from gasoline drop when prices rise because consumption also drops with higher prices.</blockquote><br />
Yet, with McGuinty's and Duncan's golden HST, an additional 8% was added on to Gas Prices in Ontario, so really, when Gas prices go up, the Government does indeed collect higher revenues, not-to-mention that it is common knowledge that people don't drive just for fun anymore -this isn't the 60s! They drive out of necessity, so even with higher prices, that doesn't change the fact that parents still need to drive to work, and they still need to drive their kids to school, and to the doctor, and to hockey and soccer practice. Regardless of what Minister Duncan thinks/says, when Gas prices go up, the Ontario Liberal Government has more money to <i>scandal</i> into their, and their Liberal friends' pockets... <br />
<br />
And last I checked, Gas Prices have been skyrocketing regardless of the "price-saving taxes" that the McGuinty/Duncan tag-team have inflicted on Ontarians relentlessly. Doing a quick check on <a href="http://www.ontariogasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx" target="_blank">OntarioGasPrices.com - Historical Gas Prices</a>, the price of gas back in 2006 on this date (April 11th) was approximately $0.85, while today on April 11th 2011, the price of gas is approximately $1.29. Great job controlling the gas prices with taxes, Finance Minister Duncan!!<br />
<br />
Is our Minister of "Finance" <em>really</em> Dwight Duncan? I mean, can we really have such a <em>moron</em> in a position of such importance?? Actually, that would explain a lot when noting that after our latest Ontario Budget released recently, it was revealed that Ontarians pay over $10 Billion per year in deficit interest payments alone. $10 BILLION DOLLARS!!! That's the definition of taxdollar waste! WE GET NOTHING IN RETURN FOR THIS ANNUAL $10 BILLION DOLLARS!!<br />
<br />
This is the gift that Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty and his idiot Finance Minister Dwight Duncan will be leaving for Ontarians when they are tossed in the trash come the October election.<br />
<br />
What a nightmare we live in here in Ontario. What a nightmare of leaders we have with this incompetent, corrupt and unforgivingly-useless Liberal Government.<br />
<br />
October 6th, 2011 just can't come quickly enough.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msvg/5599699110/sizes/o/in/photostream/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/msvg/5599699110/sizes/o/in/photostream/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msvg/" target="_blank">MSVG</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-46192771604132090402011-04-11T23:00:00.003-04:002011-04-11T23:09:45.388-04:00Premier Dalton McGuinty Plays Ontarians For Fools With Expense Trickery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUjTNTc4YxsGEQdRD6V8mZ0m4gRpfmi1Amj5SBN9THmFzIBEGrwuJDttQIhKS4iJ0flp4zkVGzDADGOn2hb2sIWs5W57r2YjmgTbAKEXRqtxMeO9ucoRHWmP1uqbf9Fx5mgu0iGZJDEhPC/s1600/GodfatherPremierMcGuinty_by_jackandcokewithalime.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="475" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUjTNTc4YxsGEQdRD6V8mZ0m4gRpfmi1Amj5SBN9THmFzIBEGrwuJDttQIhKS4iJ0flp4zkVGzDADGOn2hb2sIWs5W57r2YjmgTbAKEXRqtxMeO9ucoRHWmP1uqbf9Fx5mgu0iGZJDEhPC/s640/GodfatherPremierMcGuinty_by_jackandcokewithalime.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The Godfather of Scandal, Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, has been caught yet again with his pants down trying to fool Ontarians, this time in regards to his own expenses.<br />
<br />
In a time in Ontario where every penny matters more to the taxpayer than ever before, politicians of all ilk are trying to show that they are "Rob Ford-esque" in fiscal prudence, watching every penny and ensuring that Ontarians' hard-earned taxdollars are not being wasted.<br />
<br />
With this in mind, and knowing that an Ontario Provincial Election is quickly up-coming, Dalton McGuinty went out of his way in a scumbag move to hide his exorbitant travel expenses under the names of his staff, and then published on the Ontario Government website (see <a href="http://www.ontario.ca/en/expense_claim/index.htm" target="_blank">Ontario.ca - Travel and Hospitality Expense Totals for the Individual</a>) that he had accrued exactly $0 in expenses.<br />
<br />
Luckily for Ontarians, the leader of the Opposition, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak, isn't asleep at the wheel and immediately called out McGuinty on his lack of expense reporting/publishing, citing his lavish trip to Israel for example, where McGuinty flew first class for $6,227, and stayed in a $500-a-night hotel racking up $2,035 for a 4-nights stay. And this was just one example out of countless others where Dalton McGuinty was partying it up on the Ontario taxpayers' dime; yet, upon review of the Ontario government's official website where all travel expenses are supposed to be published, there is nothing reported under Dalton McGuinty's name.<br />
<br />
Caught completely off-guard by this revelation by Tim Hudak during question period, later in the afternoon, McGuinty's office responded releasing a statement that, “moving forward, for the premier, they’re going to start posting them (the expenses) under his name.”<br />
<br />
Here's the story from the Toronto Star:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/973149--mcguinty-alters-the-way-he-reports-expenses?bn=1" target="_blank">McGuinty alters the way he reports expenses</a><br />
<blockquote>Premier Dalton McGuinty will now report his travel expenses under his own name — not his staff — after the Progressive Conservatives accused him of trying to “weasel out” of revealing them openly. <br />
<br />
The government’s online list of expenses shows none under McGuinty’s name despite trips to a premier’s conference in Manitoba and overseas trade missions like one to Israel last year, Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said Monday.<br />
<br />
“The premier said that he would post expenses according to who incurred them, not try to hide them somewhere else,” Hudak added, questioning whether the premier had “suddenly learned to fly” to avoid reporting airfares.<br />
<br />
“They look like they’re trying to weasel out of their own legislation.”<br />
<br />
By late afternoon, the premier’s office announced that “moving forward, for the premier, they’re doing to start posting them (the expenses) under his name.”<br />
<br />
That will include almost $10,000 for last May’s trade mission to Israel, including $6,227 in executive class airfare and four nights in a Tel Aviv hotel for $2,035.<br />
<br />
McGuinty’s trip to Manitoba for a premier’s conference last summer was listed under the name of his executive assistant Tracey Sobers, including airfare of $1,874.87 for the premier and his wife, Terri.<br />
<br />
But an ordinary citizen looking for McGuinty’s expenses would have no idea under which other names to look and that is hardly in keeping with the spirit of the law, said Hudak.<br />
<br />
He quoted McGuinty as saying two years ago the point of the rule was “to shine a light on all expenses so Ontarians will know who exactly is spending what exactly” in the wake of expense scandals at eHealth Ontario and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.<br />
<br />
The reporting of the premier’s expenses is reminiscent of problems the Liberal government has had trying to boost transparency on the “sunshine list” of public servants earning over $100,000.</blockquote><br />
Isn't it sad how now after 8 years as Premier, suddenly with a crucial election coming, Dalton McGuinty has finally decided that he is no longer going to lie to Ontarians about his expenses, and be fully transparent?<br />
<br />
And don't be fooled Ontarians, this is not just a small oversight by Premier McGuinty (though there have been a suspiciously large number of those that have occurred during his reign as Godfath...er...Premier). McGuinty is famous for hiding the bloated fatcat salaries and expenses of his buddy Ministers & staff under other agencies in order to trick Ontarians and hide the truth of their wasteful profiteering. The latest example of this was the hiding of disgraced former Deputy Health Minister Ron Sapsford's $700,000 payday that he received after he quit amidst the eHealth Billion Dollar Scandal which he was partly responsible for (see <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/christina_blizzard/2011/04/05/17887811.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Outrageous!: Blizzard</a>), where McGuinty hid his $700K reward (??) under the Hamilton Health Sciences Centre, instead of properly reporting it under the Minister's salary in the sunshine list.<br />
<br />
Disgusting, disgraceful, dishonest and just simply dirty. This is what Ontario's Godfather Premier has become known for. This is what Ontario has now become famous for. Scandal, corruption and waste, and the sucker taxpayers who stick their heads in the sand and pretend it isn't happening...<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Image:<br />
</span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robin24/5034100202/sizes/l/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #99aadd; font-size: xx-small;">http://www.flickr.com/photos/robin24/5034100202/sizes/l/</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> by </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robin24/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #99aadd; font-size: xx-small;">Robin_24</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> on flickr</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dalton_McGuinty_Crop_2.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="color: #99aadd; font-size: xx-small;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dalton_McGuinty_Crop_2.jpg</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> by </span><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sherurcij" target="_blank"><span style="color: #99aadd; font-size: xx-small;">Joshua Sherurcij</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> on Wikipedia<br />
Compilation of the above images and title artwork created by jackandcokewithalime.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;">)</span></i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-54793790258302225172011-04-10T09:39:00.000-04:002011-04-10T09:39:29.239-04:00Mayor Ford's Success Validated by Toronto Parasite Unions' Self-Pity Rally!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenUz3TmJnTa_FouSp68N4J0rqpeo7emzQYfjgYpgeotTiiO9uLegX7kacs_FZRMBRQ87d0sWQ0WKWyAr7ytEXyAScvECjA4BuobJ6GNc-gOc35PzCHtnacbY4qJKsgdlFIFrhcjtivkng/s1600/UntitledSculpture_in_Toronto_by_ShaunMerritt_on_flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenUz3TmJnTa_FouSp68N4J0rqpeo7emzQYfjgYpgeotTiiO9uLegX7kacs_FZRMBRQ87d0sWQ0WKWyAr7ytEXyAScvECjA4BuobJ6GNc-gOc35PzCHtnacbY4qJKsgdlFIFrhcjtivkng/s640/UntitledSculpture_in_Toronto_by_ShaunMerritt_on_flickr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Yesterday, the various Public Sector Unions in Toronto and Ontario, pulled together a group of barely 10,000 supporters and marched around Toronto from Dundas Square to City Hall, bitching and crying that their gravy train is coming to an end. They appropriately dubbed this self-pity-fest, an "Anti-Ford Rally".<br />
<br />
And while local parasite Councillors like Adam Vaughan, Joe Mihevc, Shelley Carroll and newcomer Mary Fragedakis tried to spin this as something Mayor Rob Ford and his supporters should be concerned about, in truth, this demonstration only validated to the majority of Torontonians that Mayor Rob Ford is perfectly on track and fulfilling the mandate on which he was elected. And unfortunately for these deadbeat Toronto leeches, Toronto's taxpayers back him 100%.<br />
<br />
Toronto's parasites, namely the "jobs-for-life" blackmail-artist good-for-nothing expect-high-pay-for-minimal-menial-output Public Sector Unions, paraded around pretending that the majority of Torontonians in voting in Rob Ford as Mayor, didn't have a clear expectation that he would bring these Unions back to reality and bring Municipal Taxes and User Fees paid for by the taxpayers back to a reasonable level that was long lost under the David Miller / Adam Vaughan regime. And while they tried to make their battle appear to have merit by fear-mongering illegitimately on <i>true</i> taxpayer-sensitive issues like service cuts (incorrectly citing the cut TTC routes which had no passengers and were a waste of taxpayer money), and future increased user fees (with the key word being 'future', as there hasn't been any official mention from Rob Ford of any increase in user fees, in fact he fought victoriously to prevent an increase in TTC fares, and also successfully eliminated the Personal Vehicle Tax, one of the largest annual 'user fees' on Torontonians), their campaign of manipulation was only successful in getting them some much needed exercise. ;)<br />
<br />
Here's the story from the Toronto Sun:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/04/09/17935296.html" target="_blank">Anti-Ford rally jams Dundas Square</a><br />
<blockquote>Protesters took over Dundas Square Saturday where even the whisper of Rob Ford’s name was followed by catcalls.<br />
<br />
Flags of labour groups and unions were waved as protest organizers estimated about 10,000 people were taking part in the “Rally for Respect.”<br />
<br />
The demonstrators called on Ford to stop cutting social programs and public services, slashing public transit, selling off public housing, privatizing garbage collection, and raising recreation user fees.<br />
<br />
“Sure (Ford) was elected the mayor, but he wasn’t elected the czar of Ontario and he’s acting like that,” said Sid Ryan, Ontario Federation of Labour president.<br />
<br />
“Essentially (we’re saying) slow down, have some public debate, allow some public input, work with councillors, and let’s come to a consensual approach in terms of how this city is managed.”<br />
<br />
If Ford doesn’t react to the rally, protesters are hoping that the city’s councillors will.<br />
<br />
“If (Ford) doesn’t hear then council hears it,” said Toronto councillor Joe Mihevc.</blockquote><br />
What these useless and sponging parasites apparently don't realize is that Rob Ford was elected for this exact reason, to remove these bloodsucking leeches off of the drowning taxpayers veins. And there was countless public debate on the issue, and it was called a year-long Municipal Election Campaign where Rob Ford debated the likes of taxdollar-wasting scumbags like George Smitherman, Joe Pantalone and Sarah Thomson.<br />
<br />
All that this rally is representing is a group of sore-losers who are in for a reality check that's been a long time coming.<br />
<br />
Thank goodness for Mayor Rob Ford. Finally, a politician who cares about the taxpayers, who can't be corrupted by the parasitic public sector unions and their minions, and who actually follows through on his promises. <br />
<br />
What a refreshing change.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaunpierre/3607637910/sizes/o/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaunpierre/3607637910/sizes/o/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaunpierre/" target="_blank">Shaun Merritt</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-76202491080026585112011-04-09T08:48:00.003-04:002011-04-09T08:51:32.312-04:00PC Leader Tim Hudak to Scrap Ontario Vehicle Emissions Test If Elected!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbWhDGUqBNjzRV2XSA7_ywicBAmm3dzdXBxCL7nVEX4VLbI792Hmn_DklopGp2gxSd3RiTIwGOsYb8w_RsTB_Mg2hc4mJtbVKoo8E9UaEY8O2tZdaifkBL8JSrPkEzV9o6MpH4LzOC1UI/s1600/Tim_Hudak_by_NuclearWarfare_on_Wikipedia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbWhDGUqBNjzRV2XSA7_ywicBAmm3dzdXBxCL7nVEX4VLbI792Hmn_DklopGp2gxSd3RiTIwGOsYb8w_RsTB_Mg2hc4mJtbVKoo8E9UaEY8O2tZdaifkBL8JSrPkEzV9o6MpH4LzOC1UI/s640/Tim_Hudak_by_NuclearWarfare_on_Wikipedia.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Tim Hudak, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader, promised to phase out the flawed <a href="http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/en/air/driveclean/" target="_blank">Ontario Drive Clean</a> Emissions Test requirement, if he is elected the next Premier of Ontario!!<br />
<br />
Here's the story from the Toronto Sun:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/04/07/17914176.html" target="_blank">Hudak says Drive Clean tests outlived usefulness</a><br />
<blockquote>Drive Clean is getting overhauled.<br />
<br />
Cars and light trucks would not require a Drive Clean test until they were seven years old instead of the current five years, Environment Minister John Wilkinson announced Thursday.<br />
<br />
But PC Leader Tim Hudak said the program has outlived its usefulness and he would scrap it entirely.<br />
<br />
Drive Clean, introduced under the Mike Harris government in 1999, was meant to encourage car companies to improve emissions standards.<br />
<br />
Technology has now improved to the point where the program is redundant, Hudak said.<br />
<br />
“Instead of picking an arbitrary number out of the air like seven years, let’s put a plan in place to phase out the program altogether,” he said. “It’s achieved its purpose, but now it’s time to move it off into the sunset.”<br />
<br />
Hudak said his 2003 Chevy Avalanche passed Drive Clean with flying colours recently and yet he’ll have to purchase the test again in two years, a typical experience for most Ontario drivers.<br />
<br />
The Drive Clean test costs a maximum of $35, but car owners can be required to spend up to $450 on repairs if the vehicle flunks.</blockquote><br />
The Ontario Drive Clean Emissions Tests have been riddled in scandal and controversy over the past years, as they've been proven, firstly, to be completely unreliable in detecting emissions issues with vehicles.<br />
<br />
SOURCE: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario%27s_Drive_Clean#Test_accuracy" target="_blank">Wikipedia - Ontario's Drive Clean - Test Accuracy</a><br />
<blockquote>Drive Clean's emissions test results have been shown to be unreliable in surveys carried out by the media such as in-depth work done by the Hamilton Spectator, The Fraser Institute, and consumer advocacy groups such as the Automobile Protection Association. In APA surveys, it was shown that the same car can have extremely variable results in test results (up to 800 percent in one survey), even at the same garage or on the same day with no work being carried out on the car. (APA). In 2004, the Ontario Auditor General reported on myriad cases of fraud within the Drive Clean program, such as test facilities (garages) that, for a fee, would test a clean car and report those results instead. Other test facilities would fail a well-tuned car to generate additional work. For these reasons and others, consumer reports suggest drivers try another garage if their car fails a Drive Clean test, before proceeding with expensive repairs.</blockquote><br />
Second, the Drive Clean Emissions program has also been proven to have had "little <i>real</i> impact" on the reduction of air pollution in Ontario, especially after 2004 (it's originally intended end-date).<br />
<br />
SOURCE: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario%27s_Drive_Clean#Impacts_on_air_pollution" target="_blank">Wikipedia - Ontario's Drive Clean - Impacts on Air Pollution</a><br />
<blockquote>Drive Clean has had little real impact on air pollution in Ontario. 2005 was Toronto's worst year on record for smog with a total of 48 smog alert days. The Ontario Medical Association estimated in 2005 that total air pollution (from all sources) would cause some 5,800 deaths and 17,000 hospital admissions that year. It also estimated that the direct health care costs of air pollution in Ontario were about $507 million, and the total economic cost of air pollution to be about $7.8 billion. <br />
<br />
In late 2004, Norm Sterling, who served as the Environment Minister in Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris's cabinet, stated that Drive Clean had already had its greatest impact on air pollution and had served its purpose. Mr. Sterling is often referred to as the founder of Drive Clean. Drive Clean can only address a small fraction of the total automobile emissions problem, because all internal combustion vehicles burn fuels which ultimately pollute the air (including most so-called "alternative" fuels). <br />
<br />
Greenpeace co-founder Robert Hunter (journalist) wrote in 1999 that Drive Clean "has turned out to be an agonizing bureaucratic nightmare that hits drivers with what is basically another tax and a huge hassle, while accomplishing -- in Environmental Commissioner Eva Ligeti's assessment -- 'minimal benefits.'"</blockquote><br />
Tim Hudak, a refreshing change from scandal-plagued and completely out-of-touch Dalton McGuinty, is finally an Ontario Leader that understands the struggle of Ontario families.<br />
<br />
In addition to abolishing the punishing and no longer necessary Ontario Drive Clean Emissions test, Hudak also promises to unplug McGuinty's so-called "Smart Meters", he's raised possibilities of reducing the HST, and in ending McGuinty's Green Energy Experiments and reducing his Government's consistent boondoggle, waste, and severely bloated bureaucracy, he will reduce taxes and save Ontarians money.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Hudak.jpg" target="_blank">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Hudak.jpg</a> by <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:NuclearWarfare" target="_blank">NuclearWarfare</a> on Wikipedia<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-44556448086631884552011-04-07T08:07:00.003-04:002011-04-07T08:13:58.146-04:00Ontario Teachers Cry Poor, Yet They Have Money To Burn?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRTIdZrxp7xPmXHZ1Kue2HR2gy8DDKlSMy3ox4zDs7MRz0fvaRT7IgTgLXAOctoUdr4XugTHFwH8Ios4-6nzV6mU89V8dhcDsqVFIm_ssQUoJz3P3OWrBMniq1Cp-d7nf_a3IGaopf5XL/s1600/TorontoSchool_by_jbcurio_on_flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRTIdZrxp7xPmXHZ1Kue2HR2gy8DDKlSMy3ox4zDs7MRz0fvaRT7IgTgLXAOctoUdr4XugTHFwH8Ios4-6nzV6mU89V8dhcDsqVFIm_ssQUoJz3P3OWrBMniq1Cp-d7nf_a3IGaopf5XL/s640/TorontoSchool_by_jbcurio_on_flickr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
It's one thing to threaten strikes every time their contracts are coming up for expiration, crying that they are severely underpaid and their benefits/pensions are lacking; but it is a complete other to later have the ability to come up with millions of dollars apparently from thin-air (as they are supposed to be struggling, right?) in order to use it for political influencing, money that though it may be coming from the teachers, it originated from you and I, the taxpayers.<br />
<br />
The Ontario Catholic Teachers Union (OECTA - Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association) in a disgusting and eye-opening move have announced that they will be collecting monies from all teachers ($3 Million minimum) in order to use it to launch an advertising campaign aimed at preventing the Ontario Progressive Conservatives from winning this year's Provincial election, and stopping the removal of the worst Premier Ontario has ever had, Dalton McGuinty, from office. <br />
<br />
For a group of so-called underpaid and under-appreciated workers who constantly threaten strikes over lack of compensation, having these extra funds available to be used in such a frivolous way that has nothing to do with "teaching" only shows one thing, that the teachers are so severely overpaid that they've got money to burn.<br />
<br />
I mean, just the fact that the person they are looking to sabotage, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, was himself born from parents who are teachers, and whose sister is a teacher, and who has big plans to help teachers, for some reason is irrelevant to these apparently bloated fatcats who claim to be doing this "for the children", only goes to prove that the next time the teachers come to the bargaining table looking for sympathy from the taxpayers, all we need to do is remind them of all of the extra cash that they seem to be able to come up with with ease any time they feel like it. To me, and to millions of struggling Ontario taxpayers who don't have the same luxury, this is simply evidence that shows that teachers don't need more funding, they simply need more accountability, and maybe need some financial advisement.<br />
<br />
Here's the story from the Toronto Sun:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/04/06/17900786.html" target="_blank">Catholic teachers target Tories</a><br />
<blockquote>A $3-million election war chest paid for by Ontario’s Catholic teachers has left the provincial Tories feeling outgunned.<br />
<br />
Tory MPP Lisa MacLeod said the political action campaign fund set up by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) will put PCs at a severe spending disadvantage during the upcoming fall campaign. <br />
<br />
“We’re looking at about $3 million which will go towards ads to defeat Tim Hudak, myself, other PC candidates,” MacLeod said. “And there’s no opportunity for my supporters or any teacher who doesn’t agree with this tactic to opt out. And I think that’s unfair.”<br />
<br />
OECTA President James Ryan said that a portion of the money will be used on a province-wide billboard campaign — “Who Speaks For Children” — to ensure that the investments made in education during the last eight years continue past October’s fall election.<br />
<br />
Each member of OECTA will be required to pay an extra $60 in union fees to fund the campaign, but dues will return to regular levels the following year, Ryan said.<br />
<br />
Hudak said he’s getting calls and e-mails from teachers who are upset that they’re being forced to spend money on what they view as a political exercise to get the Ontario Liberals re-elected.<br />
<br />
Hudak has three family members who worked in the Catholic school system — his father was a principal, his mother was a special needs teacher and his sister is a secondary school teacher.<br />
<br />
“The importance of supporting teachers in the class and classroom education is something that I grew up with talking around the kitchen table almost each and every day,” he said. “You’ll see that reflected in the PC platform and I encourage individual teachers to see where we want to go with education. I think they’ll be impressed.”</blockquote><br />
I used to have a soft spot for teachers, as I was one of the people who truly understood their value to our society, and I always felt that if anyone deserved to receive improved compensation, it was the teachers. But after this latest eye-opening travesty, that has all changed. If the teachers have money to burn, then they shouldn't be reaching into my pockets for more. I can't even pay my Fuel costs and Hydro bills, let alone put money towards politically influencing tactics. I, unlike the teachers, don't have that luxury, and I'm betting that the majority of Ontarians don't either.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
PS: Am I wrong, Ontario teachers? I'm dying to believe that I am... Prove it to me and to Ontarians by forcing your Union Leaders to stop these illegal politically influencing tactics, which are costing you money that you <em>supposedly</em> don't have. Otherwise, if you do nothing, then you've only confirmed our suspicions, and you better then realize that Ontarians have seen this, we understand this, and we will recall this in all future considerations in regards to Ontario teachers.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbcurio/3956182084/sizes/o/in/photostream/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbcurio/3956182084/sizes/o/in/photostream/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbcurio/" target="_blank">jbcurio</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-35233695232549520442011-03-31T23:37:00.000-04:002011-03-31T23:37:40.372-04:002011 Ontario Sunshine List in Excel! Courtesy of jackandcokewithalime...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirKbQN3c9rWvcFxyYJF7Es5eSC3g7Z4A3gcMdnLQhct_HHz3jEywKYs8qMGaMNa4QF_xZVgcc9RCCaj-y-jJtMQpQ_aN1qZZFnCjGRyp-jntF0APudtP2RZB_creHwzSIrvyfGwAm35bZp/s1600/OntarioSunshineList2011Screenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirKbQN3c9rWvcFxyYJF7Es5eSC3g7Z4A3gcMdnLQhct_HHz3jEywKYs8qMGaMNa4QF_xZVgcc9RCCaj-y-jJtMQpQ_aN1qZZFnCjGRyp-jntF0APudtP2RZB_creHwzSIrvyfGwAm35bZp/s640/OntarioSunshineList2011Screenshot.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The 2011 Ontario Sunshine List (the list of Ontario Public Sector Employees who made $100,000 or more in 2010) came out today and is available for everyone to review. If you're looking for the official Ontario Government website link for the list, visit: <a href="http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/publications/salarydisclosure/2011/" target="_blank">Public Sector Salary Disclosure 2011 (Disclosure for 2010)</a>.<br />
<br />
I took the liberty of pulling the 2011 Sunshine List into a Microsoft Excel file so that you can go ahead and <em>slice and dice</em> the data to your heart's content. <br />
<br />
Here's the link to download the Excel version of the list, courtesy of yours truly, jackandcokewithalime: <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0BxTGWrHnmGQvMDRjNWMwZmEtN2Q3MS00MmQyLTkyMTUtNDAxNTkyMjA3MTcy&export=download&authkey=CNX6ltAG&hl=en" target="_blank">OntarioSunshineList2011.xls</a> (9.9 MB - Hosted on GoogleDocs)<br />
<br />
Enjoy!!<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime</div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-47063597178791863682011-03-31T13:46:00.002-04:002011-03-31T23:47:07.115-04:00The 2011 Ontario Sunshine List is Out! Here's The Link...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrIAgheNuwrlsK7tiwlyW9ZGiTpOS9nDoMy5qta_FRhkKjzJT5KTCWzvWb9BU7lJB3zi2MutfVFFLH-O3PmvV_p2onW1zJY-HczQrAeVG-z-Az2hoZc8AZeLRplSk6ZXfY4a4qo_YNN8K8/s1600/CanadianCash_by_duckiemonster_on_flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="428" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrIAgheNuwrlsK7tiwlyW9ZGiTpOS9nDoMy5qta_FRhkKjzJT5KTCWzvWb9BU7lJB3zi2MutfVFFLH-O3PmvV_p2onW1zJY-HczQrAeVG-z-Az2hoZc8AZeLRplSk6ZXfY4a4qo_YNN8K8/s640/CanadianCash_by_duckiemonster_on_flickr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The 2011 Ontario Public Salary Disclosure (for 2010) is finally out!!!<br />
<br />
Here's the link in case you are interested:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/publications/salarydisclosure/2011/" target="_blank">Public Sector Salary Disclosure 2011 (Disclosure for 2010)</a><br />
<br />
I plan to review it in-depth and will comment on it at a later time. But in the meantime, enjoy!!<br />
<br />
Also, in case you're interested, I took the liberty of pulling the 2011 Ontario Sunshine list into a Microsoft Excel file so that you can have fun slicing and dicing the data. You can find the link to this Excel file at the following page: <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/03/2011-ontario-sunshine-list-in-excel.html" target="_blank">2011 Ontario Sunshine List in Excel! Courtesy of jackandcokewithalime...</a>.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
PS: If you would like to compare this year's sunshine list to last year's sunshine list, please see the following page: <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/03/2010-ontario-sunshine-list-is-out-heres.html" target="_blank">The 2010 Ontario Sunshine List is Out! Here's The Link...</a>.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Image:</span></i><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/duckiemonster/2219220078/sizes/l/" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.flickr.com/photos/duckiemonster/2219220078/sizes/l/</span></i></a><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> by </span></i><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/duckiemonster/" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">duckiemonster</span></i></a><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on flickr</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</span></i></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-72339701846762959312011-03-29T00:18:00.004-04:002011-03-29T00:27:16.124-04:00Canada Defeats USA in Average Penis Size! Though, Both Lose To The World...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDGD5B7YSzNjExaXBtI7Tpl3_cZbYxQ166Mq-imc6p3diJv9NQYeeBBdNYQEFBrMPAevPhKrCAyOdcNLdOdrgm6K-cGosU11p4sEXfRZULNQ0-fDfLZTObN3_igFsYFmNOQkOV9FZVL5jN/s1600/WorldPenisSize_by_onionSlayer_on_TargetMap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDGD5B7YSzNjExaXBtI7Tpl3_cZbYxQ166Mq-imc6p3diJv9NQYeeBBdNYQEFBrMPAevPhKrCAyOdcNLdOdrgm6K-cGosU11p4sEXfRZULNQ0-fDfLZTObN3_igFsYFmNOQkOV9FZVL5jN/s640/WorldPenisSize_by_onionSlayer_on_TargetMap.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Yes, yes, I went there... ;)<br />
<br />
Though Canadian men have an Average Erect Penis Size that is of longer length than American men (5.5 inches for Canadian men versus 5.1 inches for American men), overall, both Canada and the United States did pretty embarrassingly in a survey/study of Average Penis Sizes around the world (with Canada landing in 76th place overall, and the United States landing in 98th).<br />
<br />
Here's a list of the results:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://everyoneweb.com/worldpenissize/" target="_blank">Average Size Database - World Penis Size</a><br />
<br />
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr style="background-color: #cccccc;"><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>#</b></td><td style="color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>COUNTRY</b></td><td style="color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>AVG. PENIS SIZE (Inches)</b></td><td style="color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>COMMENT</b></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>1</b></td><td>Democratic Republic of the Congo</td><td style="text-align: center;">7.1</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>2</b></td><td>Ecuador </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.9</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>3</b></td><td>Republic of the Congo</td><td style="text-align: center;">6.8</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>4</b></td><td>Ghana </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.8</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>5</b></td><td>Colombia </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.7</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>6</b></td><td>Venezuela </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.7</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>7</b></td><td>Lebanon </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.6</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>8</b></td><td>Bolivia </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>9</b></td><td>Cameroon </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.5</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>10</b></td><td>Hungary </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.5</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>11</b></td><td>Jamaica </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.4</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>12</b></td><td>Panama </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.4</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>13</b></td><td>Sudan </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.4</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>14</b></td><td>Brazil </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.3</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>15</b></td><td>Haiti </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.3</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>16</b></td><td>Senegal </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.3</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>17</b></td><td>Benin </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.3</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>18</b></td><td>Czech Republic </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.3</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>19</b></td><td>France </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.3</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>20</b></td><td>Peru </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.3</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>21</b></td><td>Puerto Rico</td><td style="text-align: center;">6.3</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>22</b></td><td>Cuba </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>23</b></td><td>Egypt </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>24</b></td><td>Gambia, The </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>25</b></td><td>The Netherlands </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>26</b></td><td>Belgium </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.2</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>27</b></td><td>Belize </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.2</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>28</b></td><td>Burkina Faso</td><td style="text-align: center;">6.2</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>29</b></td><td>Dominican Republic </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.2</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>30</b></td><td>Italy </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.2</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>31</b></td><td>Zambia </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.2</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>32</b></td><td>Paraguay </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.1</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>33</b></td><td>Zimbabwe</td><td style="text-align: center;">6.1</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>34</b></td><td>Angola </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.1</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>35</b></td><td>Bosnia & Herzegovina </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.1</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>36</b></td><td>Georgia </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.1</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>37</b></td><td>Guatemala </td><td style="text-align: center;">6.1</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>38</b></td><td>Central African Republic </td><td style="text-align: center;">6</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>39</b></td><td>Chad </td><td style="text-align: center;">6</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>40</b></td><td>Nigeria </td><td style="text-align: center;">6</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>41</b></td><td>Denmark </td><td style="text-align: center;">6</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>42</b></td><td>Nicaragua </td><td style="text-align: center;">6</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>43</b></td><td>South Africa </td><td style="text-align: center;">6</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>44</b></td><td>Bulgaria </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>45</b></td><td>Cape Verde</td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>46</b></td><td>Côte d'Ivoire </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>47</b></td><td>Democratic Republic of the Costa Rica </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>48</b></td><td>Gaza Strip</td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>49</b></td><td>Honduras </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>50</b></td><td>Mexico </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>51</b></td><td>Morocco </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>52</b></td><td>Slovakia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>53</b></td><td>Slovenia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>54</b></td><td>Tunisia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>55</b></td><td>Uruguay </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.9</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>56</b></td><td>Argentina </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.8</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>57</b></td><td>Croatia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.8</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>58</b></td><td>El Salvador </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.8</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>59</b></td><td>Greece </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.8</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>60</b></td><td>Serbia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.8</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>61</b></td><td>Sweden </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.8</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>62</b></td><td>Albania </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.8</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>63</b></td><td>Belarus </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.7</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>64</b></td><td>Chile </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.7</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>65</b></td><td>Germany </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.7</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>66</b></td><td>Iceland </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.7</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>67</b></td><td>Iran </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.7</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>68</b></td><td>Iraq </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.7</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>69</b></td><td>Suriname </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.7</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>70</b></td><td>Austria </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.6</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>71</b></td><td>Norway </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.6</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>72</b></td><td>Poland </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.6</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>73</b></td><td>Switzerland </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.6</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>74</b></td><td>Eritrea </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.6</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>75</b></td><td>Israel </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.6</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>76</b></td><td style="background-color: red; color: white; text-align: center;"><b>CANADA</b></td><td style="text-align: center;"><b>5.5</b></td><td><b>Measured</b></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>77</b></td><td>Macedonia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>78</b></td><td>New Zealand </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>79</b></td><td>Spain </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>80</b></td><td>Turkey </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>81</b></td><td>Ukraine </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>82</b></td><td>United Kingdom </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>83</b></td><td>Algeria </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.5</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>84</b></td><td>Somalia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.5</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>85</b></td><td>Azerbaijan </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.4</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>86</b></td><td>Finland </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.4</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>87</b></td><td>Libya </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.4</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>88</b></td><td>Estonia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.4</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>89</b></td><td>Greenland</td><td style="text-align: center;">5.4</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>90</b></td><td>Saudi Arabia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.4</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>91</b></td><td>Afghanistan </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.3</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>92</b></td><td>Turkmenistan </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.3</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>93</b></td><td>Ethiopia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.3</td><td>Self-Reported</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>94</b></td><td>Armenia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>95</b></td><td>Australia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>96</b></td><td>Portugal </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>97</b></td><td>Russia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>98</b></td><td style="background-color: #073763; color: white; text-align: center;"><b>USA</b></td><td style="text-align: center;"><b>5.1</b></td><td><b>Measured</b></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>99</b></td><td>Ireland </td><td style="text-align: center;">5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>100</b></td><td>Mongolia </td><td style="text-align: center;">5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>101</b></td><td>Yemen </td><td style="text-align: center;">5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>102</b></td><td>Romania </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.9</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>103</b></td><td>Pakistan </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.8</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>104</b></td><td>Burma (Myanmar) </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.6</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>105</b></td><td>Indonesia </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.6</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>106</b></td><td>Singapore </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>107</b></td><td>Vietnam </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.5</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>108</b></td><td>Bangladesh </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.4</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>109</b></td><td>Hong Kong</td><td style="text-align: center;">4.4</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>110</b></td><td>Malaysia </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.4</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>111</b></td><td>Japan </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.3</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>112</b></td><td>Sri Lanka </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.3</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>113</b></td><td>China </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>114</b></td><td>Taiwan </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>115</b></td><td>The Philippines </td><td style="text-align: center;">4.2</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>116</b></td><td>Cambodia </td><td style="text-align: center;">4</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>117</b></td><td>India </td><td style="text-align: center;">4</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>118</b></td><td>Thailand </td><td style="text-align: center;">4</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>119</b></td><td>Korea, North </td><td style="text-align: center;">3.8</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #073763; text-align: center;"><b>120</b></td><td>Korea, South </td><td style="text-align: center;">3.8</td><td>Measured</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Now, if you're a defensive male like I am, then you're probably thinking, "hey, what the hell does '<u>Self-Reported</u>' mean?". Yes, I hear you. Because we all know that if someone has to "self-report" their penis size, there's no way in hell that you will report if it's 3.8 inches like the poor, poor Koreans.<br />
<br />
As such, if you ask me, I disqualify all of the above countries that have "Self-Reported" their results! :)<br />
<br />
By the way, on the same website (linked above) that reported these results, it also had notes from a study performed on 800 New Yorkers which basically showed that men who were asked to "Self-Report" their erect penis size, on average, embellished the size by between 3cm to 6cm (equivalent to 1.2 inches to 2.4 inches)!<br />
<br />
So, if we want to get technical, if we take the midpoint between 1.2 and 2.4, which is 1.8, and add that to our Canadian length which is 5.5 + 1.8 = 7.3 inches, and the American length which is 5.1 + 1.8 = 6.9 inches, then Canada ends up in 1st place and the USA ends up in 3rd, when <u><i>we</i></u><i> </i>provide "Self-Reported" numbers. Yes, now we feel much better!<br />
<br />
Ok, ok, if we did that, then Ecuador would win... Yes, yes... Listen, this isn't a competition alright! It's not the <i>size that matters</i>, it's the <i>motion of the ocean</i>... No, really! Ah, forget it...<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
PS: Damn Congo!!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=3073" target="_blank">http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=3073</a> by <a href="http://www.targetmap.com/index.aspx?searchinput=onionSlayer&page=1&category=" target="_blank">onionSlayer</a> on <a href="http://www.targetmap.com/#" target="_blank">TargetMap</a><br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com109tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-22857681013944627762011-03-27T12:32:00.000-04:002011-03-27T12:32:27.521-04:00Torontonians Ignore Earth Hour Due To McGuinty Green-Failure Fatigue...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvIc-UHknX2ddcnAx5MWc32n9pDITeq-x-TkuFMS3ZSvjNVYxgOkkhbT0l_W7SLt0JGTkM3c82ld58gCpBZMI930ZT_06x1dQfSBEj870q9N02GaGWDBxXg9SSww8P1Qzb1IL6lsHxooQ/s1600/EarthHour2011_by_LajonTanganco_on_flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvIc-UHknX2ddcnAx5MWc32n9pDITeq-x-TkuFMS3ZSvjNVYxgOkkhbT0l_W7SLt0JGTkM3c82ld58gCpBZMI930ZT_06x1dQfSBEj870q9N02GaGWDBxXg9SSww8P1Qzb1IL6lsHxooQ/s1600/EarthHour2011_by_LajonTanganco_on_flickr.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Last night on March 26th 2011 between 8:30pm and 9:30pm, the world recognized Earth Hour (see: <a href="http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx" target="_blank">EarthHour.org</a>), but if you were in Toronto, you wouldn't have been able to distinguish last night from any other night, as Torontonians are just fed up, and if Green fanatics and Eco activists are looking for someone to blame, you need to look no further than Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.<br />
<br />
With everything from McGuinty's failed Eco Fees (see: <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/09/ontario-eco-fees-fail-to-divert.html" target="_blank">Ontario Eco Fees FAIL to Divert Hazardous Materials from Landfills...</a> and <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/07/eco-fees-trashed-another-mcguinty.html" target="_blank">Eco Fees Trashed! Another McGuinty Government Fiasco...</a>) to his failed Green Experiments and Smart Meters causing skyrocketing Electricity prices (see: <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/01/dalton-mcguintys-energy-policy-costs.html" target="_blank">Dalton McGuinty's Energy Policy Costs Ontario 1,680% Extra for Electricity!</a> and <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/10/george-smitherman-caused-ontarios.html" target="_blank">McGuinty's Former Deputy Premier George Smitherman Caused Ontario's Skyrocketing Electricity Rates...</a>), Torontonians and Ontarians are so black and blue from McGuinty's Green abuse, that just the mention of the words "Green" or "Eco" has us feeling traumatized and reaching to protect our wallets.<br />
<br />
What Torontonians and Ontarians need, more now than ever, is a "Wallet Hour", not an "Earth Hour", protecting our pocketbooks from McGuinty's relentless Taxation Warming.<br />
<br />
Here's the Earth Hour story from the Toronto Star:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/article/962381--toronto-only-sees-5-per-cent-power-drop-for-earth-hour" target="_blank">Toronto only sees 5 per cent power drop for Earth Hour</a><br />
<blockquote>Is Toronto in the dark when it comes to Earth Hour?<br />
<br />
Millions of people from 134 countries — from Delhi, India to Heidelberg, Germany — switched off their lights and televisions for the fifth annual Earth Hour on Saturday night to show their support for action on climate change.<br />
<br />
But Toronto only saw a 5 per cent power drop during the event — half of the reduction achieved during Earth Hour in 2010.<br />
<br />
The year before that, the city had a 15 per cent drop in megawatts being used.<br />
<br />
Parts of Toronto went dark from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night, but spectators at Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square said they were disappointed to see many stores stay brightly lit.<br />
<br />
Toronto first participated in 2008, a year after the World Wildlife Fund kicked off the event in Australia.<br />
<br />
“We are really proud to be the lead city in Canada fighting to save the environment and in supporting Earth Hour,” said then-mayor David Miller at the time.<br />
<br />
On Saturday, the Star sought out prominent leaders and landmarks city-wide to see if they were setting an example. The results were disappointing.<br />
<br />
Some experts say the novelty of the event has worn off. But the WWF, which runs Earth Hour, says more countries and municipalities are participating than ever before.<br />
<br />
The 5 per cent power reduction equals a drop of about 115 megawatts for the one hour period – the equivalent of about 35,000 homes or 12 skyscrapers going off the grid.</blockquote><br />
Dalton McGuinty's Ontario Liberal <em>Green Crusading</em> has turned off Torontonians and Ontarians, and now we're starting to see the backlash.<br />
<br />
Just wait until November when McGuinty and his Ontario Liberals are tossed in the trash, and no amount of recycling will ever bring them back to power.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lajon/5549006981/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/lajon/5549006981/sizes/l/in/photostream/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lajon/" target="_blank">Vajrasattva</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-89848819591743583022011-03-24T16:56:00.000-04:002011-03-24T16:56:05.867-04:00Statistic: Median Net Worth by Age & By Annual Income - Are You On Track?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTWoSSg_Knm3LlxiUHAO8DmVHVxpbFhyyHbEoraWEOATKr1VTWsp0Cff1dbkWqnaxPfDjcimBWTP3LX1g8W_NGKRRSP0MzrPcLgzeSac_udUVEQmQcFrbrtNU2ZeMazx_dgDwJSDpkDFa/s1600/Money_by_khrawlings_on_flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTWoSSg_Knm3LlxiUHAO8DmVHVxpbFhyyHbEoraWEOATKr1VTWsp0Cff1dbkWqnaxPfDjcimBWTP3LX1g8W_NGKRRSP0MzrPcLgzeSac_udUVEQmQcFrbrtNU2ZeMazx_dgDwJSDpkDFa/s640/Money_by_khrawlings_on_flickr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
It's natural for people to wonder how they measure up against everyone else when it comes to what their Net Worth is when they're at a certain Age, or what their Net Worth is when they're making a certain Annual Income. I know I do sometimes...<br />
<br />
Well, it turns out that <a href="http://www.claritas.com/sitereports/Default.jsp" target="_blank">Neilsen Claritas</a> performed a study which measured this in the United States, and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/" target="_blank">CNN Money</a> created a great calculator as a part of their Retirement Calculators which shows the Median value (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median" target="_blank">Wikipedia: Median</a>) for Net Worth (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Networth" target="_blank">Wikipedia: Net Worth</a>) by Age and by Annual Income.<br />
<br />
I thought it was pretty handy, so I figured I would share it with you.<br />
<br />
The CNN Net Worth by Age and Income Calculator can be found at the following site: <br />
<a name='more'></a><a href="http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/networth_ageincome/index.html" target="_blank">Net Worth: How do you stack up?</a><br />
<br />
I took the liberty of creating 2 tables that show what the Median Net Worth is both by Age and by Annual Income, based on the values provided by the CNN Money Calculator (to save you the trouble of having to test each out on your own):<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>MEDIAN NET WORTH BY AGE</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8nIJDIkXJv3lpOR8fRs03rI0GpszwQKj5KQDJySs3DdevsYgjrLEU5Gc7oVVi_Gq7bA40lstz3LCRx9E_X-553dKyWBp3M0EyTAwrNtIvVayFfjb_QGgJIE6d_0afOC46wkBDaEZDgVIx/s1600/NetWorthByAge.JPG" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8nIJDIkXJv3lpOR8fRs03rI0GpszwQKj5KQDJySs3DdevsYgjrLEU5Gc7oVVi_Gq7bA40lstz3LCRx9E_X-553dKyWBp3M0EyTAwrNtIvVayFfjb_QGgJIE6d_0afOC46wkBDaEZDgVIx/s640/NetWorthByAge.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>MEDIAN NET WORTH BY ANNUAL INCOME</b></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrRSiC_1pphHhn47jlZ2RCojdAkUy2Wyuc4f4tq5SebQLG7IPYwkcQGGxbx7vFnOllsvIvAMewOB5E0kawa_KDxqCeQV9Lfimu_XBozW9B86RHuz3w2bdwa93voYkB2KYAtVFLaRPiysUF/s1600/NetWorthByAnnualIncome.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrRSiC_1pphHhn47jlZ2RCojdAkUy2Wyuc4f4tq5SebQLG7IPYwkcQGGxbx7vFnOllsvIvAMewOB5E0kawa_KDxqCeQV9Lfimu_XBozW9B86RHuz3w2bdwa93voYkB2KYAtVFLaRPiysUF/s640/NetWorthByAnnualIncome.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<br />
So, how do you measure up? Are you on track? Are you behind? Are you ahead?<br />
<br />
I would tell you where I stand<i> to get your sympathy</i>, but I'm sure you have your own problems... ;)<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/khrawlings/3407402643/sizes/l/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/khrawlings/3407402643/sizes/l/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/khrawlings/" target="_blank">khrawlings</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-44451101319985108782011-03-24T15:00:00.001-04:002011-03-24T15:06:14.204-04:00Toronto's Leftist City Councillors Perversely Punish Torontonians via the TEYCC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrh24FVQyLlZfGrAJrT1vyrFZQ_zS5fkgf64A3EwhkvMb2VAHcm3jAf4XlGrM-ZDcAdnUHOfSIMRODO7cje84VebCZQUUh2ez8F1BtzcK19YlSLclXpOcTYqUUM3h62aN45eTaGpOdANpU/s1600/14PetmanAvenueGoogleMaps.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrh24FVQyLlZfGrAJrT1vyrFZQ_zS5fkgf64A3EwhkvMb2VAHcm3jAf4XlGrM-ZDcAdnUHOfSIMRODO7cje84VebCZQUUh2ez8F1BtzcK19YlSLclXpOcTYqUUM3h62aN45eTaGpOdANpU/s640/14PetmanAvenueGoogleMaps.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Wendy Hymus' House in Ward 22 where her request to have a parking pad installed was rejected by the TEYCC.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Talk about sore losers... <br />
<br />
In a lame attempt to punish Torontonians for removing any remaining power that Toronto City Council's Leftist tax-spend-and-waste contingent have in the city, Councillors like Gord Perks and Adam Vaughan have chosen to use the Toronto and East York Community Council (TEYCC) as a tool to make applicable constituents the proverbial whipping-boys on which to unleash their payback in the form of parking pad request rejections (among other things).<br />
<br />
Torontonians residing in the Wards within the realm of the TEYCC are facing a firing squad of Leftist Councillors who make every attempt to reject their requests for parking pads on their properties, simply because Toronto Mayor Rob Ford won the election with one of the goals being to end the war on the car, and therefore, by rejecting these requests from car owners, they are winning a small victory against Rob Ford, meanwhile causing a massive loss for the TEYCC constituents.<br />
<br />
Car owners in these applicable Wards require parking pads (parking spaces constructed on their properties, sometimes above grassed areas on their front lawn) for all kinds of reasons ranging from disability issues, to security concerns about having to park countless blocks away and having to walk home at late hours of the night, to concerns with having to make their small children have to endure this long trek, simply because they cannot install this parking pad on their own property. But, when residents raise these issues with the TEYCC Council representatives, instead of looking out for Torontonians and trying to help them with their problems (as they were elected to do), they instead do everything they can to make life harder for these constituents, a truly perverse and scumbag move.<br />
<br />
Here is a related story from the Toronto Sun:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/sueann_levy/2011/03/23/17731256.html" target="_blank">Car-hating councillors strike again: Levy</a><br />
<blockquote>Wendy Hymus came to Toronto and East York Community Council (TEYCC) on Jan. 18 pleading for permission to create a parking spot in the front yard of her midtown semi-detached home.<br />
<br />
The single Grade 1 teacher told councillors safety is a “significant concern” for her especially at night when she has to walk from whatever spot she finds in her Eglinton and Mt. Pleasant neighbourhood.<br />
<br />
To add insult to injury, her street does not offer permit parking — meaning she forever risks a $15 parking ticket if she parks on it for too long.<br />
<br />
“There are no other parking options for me,” she told community council that day.<br />
<br />
Hymus, 40, already had an interlocking walkway built to city specifications and only needed to extend that by about one metre to have room to park her Mazda 3 on the front-yard pad.<br />
<br />
The city’s own report also noted there are six properties already licensed for front-yard parking on her street. A poll of the neighbours in the area found some 80% were in favour of allowing Hymus to create the parking pad.<br />
<br />
She also promised to ensure the city tree on her front yard — a maple — would not be damaged in any way.<br />
<br />
But that did not satisfy the leftist contingent on the TEYCC — whose loss of power at City Hall has not dampened their zeal to banish every car they can from this city.<br />
<br />
Hymus lost her bid on a 5-5 vote.<br />
<br />
“I think it left me a little bit bitter,” she said Wednesday. “I hoped there would have been a little more understanding with my safety concerns.” <br />
<br />
But that wasn’t the end of the story.<br />
<br />
The following month at TEYCC, a neighbour who lives three doors down from Hymus won his bid to install a front-yard parking pad. The same circumstances were involved including a potentially compromised city tree in close proximity to the pad.<br />
<br />
The bid squeezed through 6-5.<br />
<br />
Why? Because one of the anti-parking pad leftists had slipped out of the room to the washroom during the vote.<br />
<br />
“It’s frustrating,” said Hymus. “I was left thinking why is there not a general policy ... there should be consistency on how they deal with it.”<br />
<br />
Oh but there is a policy.<br />
<br />
That policy, at least for the anti-car contingent on the TEYCC, is not to approve a single front-yard parking pad no matter the circumstances — unless an applicant happens to catch a break when one of them takes a bathroom break.<br />
<br />
Families with small children, those with health conditions or existing parking pads before they rebuilt their homes, even those who’ve taken time to find environmentally friendly solutions for their pads — all of them be damned because they have the audacity to drive cars.<br />
<br />
I watched three applications go down to defeat in a row at this past week’s TEYCC — led by the council’s smug chairman, Gord Perks, who has discovered this is one way he can flex his muscles now that his feckless leader, David Miller, is no longer in power.<br />
<br />
One of the applicants even had to sit through the insufferable Adam Vaughan who insisted he and his leftist pals have been “begging, pleading, demanding, asking, requesting” that his colleagues on TEYCC who support any and all front-yard parking pads (sniff, sniff) come forth with “criteria” for approving them.</blockquote><br />
I found the details of Wendy Hymus's case on the City of Toronto website at the following link: <a href="http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2011.TE3.17" target="_blank">TE3.17 - Front Yard Parking Appeal – 14 Petman Avenue</a>. Feel free to take a look if you are interested.<br />
<br />
The Toronto & East York Community Council (see: <a href="http://www.toronto.ca/committees/council_profiles/torontosouth.htm" target="_blank">Toronto.ca - Toronto & East York Community Council</a>) spans across the following Wards, and is controlled by the following Toronto City Councillors:<br />
<br />
Ward 14 - Gord Perks - TEYCC Committee Chair<br />
Ward 18 - Anna Bailao<br />
Ward 19 - Mike Layton<br />
Ward 20 - Adam Vaughan<br />
Ward 21 - Joe Mihevc<br />
Ward 22 - Josh Matlow<br />
Ward 27 - Kristyn Wong-Tam<br />
Ward 28 - Pam McConnell<br />
Ward 29 - Mary Fragedakis<br />
Ward 30 - Paula Fletcher - TEYCC Committee Vice-Chair<br />
Ward 31 - Janet Davis<br />
Ward 32 - Mary-Margaret McMahon<br />
<br />
As you can see, the obvious scumbag Leftist City Councillors are present on this list, like TEYCC Committee Chair Gord Perks, Vice-Chair Paula Fletcher, Adam Vaughan, Pam McConnell, Janet Davis and Joe Mihevc. Throw in newbie lefties like Mike Layton into the mix, and getting anything passed through this committee that would be in the best interests of TEYCC constituents, is pretty much impossible.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, in reviewing the records of the <a href="http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/decisionBodyProfile.do?function=doPrepare&decisionBodyId=267" target="_blank">TEYCC Vote Results</a> for these parking pad requests, it doesn't show which Councillors voted for or against the requests (lucky for them), but you can be pretty sure that those Councillors singled out above were most likely the naysayers.<br />
<br />
People who wonder why Mayor Rob Ford and other City Councillors like him were at such odds with these Leftist Scumbag City Councillors who were running the show when David Miller was in charge, only need to look to the horror stories of the constituents who voted them into office to understand why. <br />
<br />
I still remember Councillor Paula Fletcher scolding Torontonians when they asked simple questions about the budget last year. She challenged them to run against her in the election if they didn't like how she did things. Unfortunately when they did challenge her, she still won (by a very small margin, but still).<br />
<br />
Until Torontonians realize that these Leftist Councillors are not in it for them, but truly are only looking to push their own selfish agendas, these travesties will continue to happen. Sadly for the Wards under the TEYCC, this is going to be their reality for the next few years -and longer if they don't vote differently next time.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
Screenshot from <a href="http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=14+Petman+Avenue&layer=c&sll=43.707564,-79.384164&cbp=13,230.86,,0,4.31&cbll=43.707543,-79.384135&hl=en&sspn=0.006295,0.006295&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=14+Petman+Ave,+Toronto,+Toronto+Division,+Ontario+M4S+2S8&ll=43.707438,-79.382079&spn=0,0.009624&t=h&z=17&panoid=3BXatZ5oGSZ59IEYxvvEtA" target="_blank">http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=14+Petman+Avenue&layer=c&sll=43.707564,-79.384164&cbp=13,230.86,,0,4.31&cbll=43.707543,-79.384135&hl=en&sspn=0.006295,0.006295&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=14+Petman+Ave,+Toronto,+Toronto+Division,+Ontario+M4S+2S8&ll=43.707438,-79.382079&spn=0,0.009624&t=h&z=17&panoid=3BXatZ5oGSZ59IEYxvvEtA</a> on Google Maps<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span> </div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-52373111395424235482011-03-20T10:25:00.000-04:002011-03-20T10:25:48.875-04:00Milton Crown Prosecutor Fails Canada on PETA Pie-Terrorist's Weak Plea Deal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_8B8KQYsNhW9vCc3hq1VLO4m8Olz9KiQKiLdI1jeyuFsgTP_pcIfcQmwQTg3FWn-OJbTz7g68WRN8sne_-MjJ9OZudceOUoOWiCV31NOkUHAcECPvgveRgLAeK4cSzy9Po87D-u0LNps/s1600/GailSheaPieInFaceCombined.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_8B8KQYsNhW9vCc3hq1VLO4m8Olz9KiQKiLdI1jeyuFsgTP_pcIfcQmwQTg3FWn-OJbTz7g68WRN8sne_-MjJ9OZudceOUoOWiCV31NOkUHAcECPvgveRgLAeK4cSzy9Po87D-u0LNps/s640/GailSheaPieInFaceCombined.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Last week, the Milton Crown Prosecutor made a shameful and disgusting <i>deal with the devil</i>, an American PETA Pie-Terrorist devil that is, essentially condoning the planned and calculated assault on a Canadian Government Minister and telling anyone that if they disagree with a Canadian Policy, they should feel free to go right ahead and assault the applicable Canadian Minister without fear of <i>true</i> accountability.<br />
<br />
The American PETA-Terrorist, Emily McCoy, waited patiently tofu-pie-in-hand, at a press conference where Canadian Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Gail Shea, was about to speak. As soon as she got up to the podium and started her speech, McCoy ran up to her and slammed the pie in her face, after which she started shouting her verbal diatribe about immoral seal clubbing and the unethical treatment of animals and etc.<br />
<br />
Here is a YouTube Video that shows the incident:<br />
<a name='more'></a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0XIN4P-7jE" target="_blank"> Gail Shea Gets Pie In Face by PETA Activist!</a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p0XIN4P-7jE?rel=0" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><br />
I don't know anyone who could watch that video and not feel absolutely horrible for Minister Shea...<br />
<br />
Now, I'm not going to get into the moral aspect of seal hunting and clubbing, as that truly is completely irrelevant in this discussion. Whether it's right or wrong has nothing to do with the willful planned assault on an elected Canadian Government Official, and the lack of justice handed out by our horrifying useless Crown Prosecutor and Milton Judge. <br />
<br />
The deal handed to McCoy for carrying out this essentially terrorist assault was (as per the Toronto Star article: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/955857--woman-banned-from-canada-over-pieing-minister?bn=1" target="_blank">Woman banned from Canada over pieing minister</a>):<br />
<br />
Probation for 2 years which includes the following (to be enforced during these 2 years):<br />
- Not being allowed to enter Canada<br />
- Not being allowed to have any contact with Minister Gail Shea, her victim<br />
- Not being allowed to have any contact with the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans<br />
- Not being allowed to have contact with any Canadian Embassies or Consulates<br />
<br />
And that's it. No jail time for the assault on a Canadian Elected Government Minister. No lifetime ban from entering Canada. This truly was an un-justifiable slap on the wrist, though even a literal slap on the wrist would have been a more harsh punishment.<br />
<br />
The Milton Crown Prosecutor, in making this outrageous plea deal with the PETA-Terrorist, and the Milton Judge who accepted this horrific plea deal, both have failed Canada, and both desperately need to be removed from office immediately. Apparently they don't understand that in the current state of the world in which we live, it is absolutely critical to make examples of such assaulting acts on our elected Government Officials, regardless of what the righteous intention was, or even the severity of the assault (given that the PETA sympathizers will claim that it was <i>just</i> a pie in the face).<br />
<br />
Unfortunately there hasn't been any press coverage of the Crown Prosecutor's or the Judge's formal justification for this lax and irresponsible sentencing, nor have they provided the names of these failed so-called public representatives who allowed this deal.<br />
<br />
But in the meantime, I guess based on the Crown's and Judge's decision, we can take solace in watching a video of a PETA activist getting pied in her face while protesting and waiting for Prime Minister Harper. Apparently, that is ok and is condoned by our keepers of justice in Milton.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L880zkvT9Yc?rel=0" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
Screenshots from Video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiEIX-uirGY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiEIX-uirGY</a> by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/nomorecruelty" target="_blank">nomorecruelty</a> on YouTube<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-31968629933498967782011-03-18T00:38:00.000-04:002011-03-18T00:38:15.006-04:00HST "First Look" Study Paid For By Ontario Ministry of Finance is Flawed...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDERV56t98ptP1OBOoG6h5swN3n5OzZ3Uj89S8tN7DmxVnWs6AbKdlG7GqzOp6Bam4bEUFS6zfCe9bCxw94h1_88aX_ReI3Ed8LqtRnyxTYii2qiKx8nJF_1WatGyFqWyBgvQy5kfu6tUD/s1600/OntarioParliament_by_bobolink_on_flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDERV56t98ptP1OBOoG6h5swN3n5OzZ3Uj89S8tN7DmxVnWs6AbKdlG7GqzOp6Bam4bEUFS6zfCe9bCxw94h1_88aX_ReI3Ed8LqtRnyxTYii2qiKx8nJF_1WatGyFqWyBgvQy5kfu6tUD/s640/OntarioParliament_by_bobolink_on_flickr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The Ontario Ministry of Finance (obviously on Premier Dalton McGuinty's request given the up-coming election) <i>cleverly</i> requested a Study to be conducted now (barely months after the HST's introduction in Ontario), in order to measure the financial impact of the HST on Ontario families.<br />
<br />
The results of this Study appear to show that prices increased slightly in Ontario by 0.9% in July 2010, and 0.6% in December 2010, compared to what would have happened had the HST not been implemented. <br />
<br />
To see the study for yourself (and I encourage you to read it through, it's not too bad), please visit: <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
University of Calgary - The School of Public Policy website at: <a href="http://policyschool.ucalgary.ca/publications" target="_blank">The School of Public Policy - Latest Papers</a>, and the actual study pdf can be downloaded at: <a href="http://policyschool.ucalgary.ca/files/publicpolicy/ontario%20sales%20tax%20reform4.pdf" target="_blank">THE IMPACT OF SALES TAX REFORM ON ONTARIO CONSUMERS: A First Look at the Evidence</a>.<br />
<br />
Now, aside from the fact that Dalton McGuinty continuously said that prices would decrease given that the HST was passing the tax burden on from Businesses to the Consumers, and therefore the tax savings from the Businesses would result in lower prices for Consumers (as well as new jobs and higher wages for employees of the businesses), unfortunately right off the bat we are still seeing price increases (as per the Study), and as far as I've seen and heard, still there haven't been any mass availabilities of new jobs and no mass wage increases for business employees after the implementation of the HST. Of course these 2 latter points are of my own opinion, but with that said, prove me wrong!<br />
<br />
So that's already 3 points against the HST, and 3 points that were not noted in this Study. And if I guess correctly, the author of the Study will blame the fact that it's still too early to expect changes in those areas, yet here we are performing the Study at this early point anyway. It's funny how when it works to the benefit of the HST, it is fine to perform a short term study. But when it works against it, it's not factual, right? Right...<br />
<br />
In my intro, you probably noticed that I said that McGuinty "<i>cleverly</i>" requested the study now. The reason I said "<i>cleverly</i>", is because by performing the study now, as opposed to performing the study a year from now or two years from now, that means that the Ontario one-time $1,000 transitional payments will be incorporated into this Study's determined financial impact on Ontario families, and Dalton McGuinty knew this full well when requesting this study at this time. Had this study been performed in 2012 or 2013 (post-election), it would no longer include these one-time payments, and therefore a far less biased study (which currently favours Dalton McGuinty) and a far more factual study (showing the HSTs true costs on Ontario families) would have been performed. The author of the study constantly notes that this study is a "first look" at the tax, pretty much in the same way that when you light a fire in a room that has a sprinkler system, at first look it appears to be contained, and therefore you would assume that it's not so bad. But when you allow the fire to grow over time and also shut off that sprinkler system, next thing you know, not only is the entire house on fire, but so is the entire forest where the house resides. The fact that this study was performed so short-term after the HST's implementation and includes these one-time transition payments -meant to disguise the true HST-driven financial burden on Ontario families just long enough for the October Provincial Election- is a definite flaw.<br />
<br />
Other flaws that can be found in the study are as follows:<br />
<br />
- The Study compares Ontario with Quebec when looking at the changes in prices based on the HST's introduction. Though Ontario and Quebec are close in proximity, and may seem to be closely tied economically, at the end of the day, the study is comparing Ontario with Quebec instead of Ontario with Ontario, essentially comparing Apples with Oranges. To assume that if the prices rise in Ontario they will definitely rise in Quebec by the exact same amount, is a huge leap of faith. Definitely the same type of leap of faith that the McGuinty Government took in hoping Ontarians would believe this flawed and biased study. The only way this Study works is if Ontario and Quebec have the exact same price fluctuations on everything all the time, and this is just not a logical assumption.<br />
<br />
- The Study shows that Travel Services prices didn't increase as much in Ontario compared to Quebec after the implementation of the HST, but as the Study notes, there was a 3% Price Levy on Ontario Hotel Rooms used to finance local tourism that was removed at the same time as the HST was introduced (not related). Therefore, this 3% reduction in price should have been taken into account in this study, but the author chose not to include that in his metrics, and instead just made a quick side note that this reduction could "reflect in part seller's conscious decision to absorb the new tax in the form of lower industry funding for tourism promotion". This was yet another purposeful oversight used to ensure the Study's results were skewed in its financier's (the Dalton McGuinty Ministry of Finance) favour.<br />
<br />
- The Study doesn't include the impact of the HST on New House purchases, while New House purchases falls into the category (Owned Accommodation) that has the second highest CPI of 17.3 (out of 100, with the highest being Private Transportation which includes Gasoline and Taxis and is a 17.9 out of 100). The author even notes that due to the HST being applied on New Homes, this also causes the price of the Non-New Homes (Resale Homes) to increase as well due to the market for similarly located, aged and sized homes. With the impact of the HST on New Home Prices and Resale Home Prices being applied on such high amounts (with home prices costing hundreds of thousands of dollars compared to a haircut which costs $20), though the end percentage applied for the tax may be low, the overall dollar price impact is huge at the end of the day. Yet, the author chose to exclude New Home Price increases from his metrics? Now, the author does state some reasons as to why it would be hard to pinpoint exactly how much New Home Prices account for the overall Owned Accommodation category, and this is another reason why he's excluded it from his metrics, but, given the he said that Resale homes were also indirectly impacted by the HST being applied on New Homes, really, the impact of the HST on Owned Accommodation should have been meaningful enough to include it in the calculations. If it's not possible to calculate it, then this study should not have been performed. Performing this study while excluding a critical price-increasing category in the calculation, is a yet another flaw of this Study, with this one being pretty much fatal.<br />
<br />
Given all of these flaws -and I'm sure there are many more that a person who is more educated in this area would be able to point out as well- this study truly should be taken with a grain of salt, and should be categorized as yet another pathetic attempt by Dalton McGuinty to manipulate the public just in time for the October Provincial Election.<br />
<br />
Please keep these flaws in mind when the McGuinty HST Manipulation Campaign heads your way this Election.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobolink/3831627151/sizes/l/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobolink/3831627151/sizes/l/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobolink/" target="_blank">Bobolink</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-30045759304102914882011-03-15T23:35:00.002-04:002011-03-19T11:16:51.511-04:00List of Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty's Scandals with Details...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSErE9WOM5L1FQpW_ldhCT6JeoOqPef9D3twIwf2JGNn5D2iHMS9vilq0rtm2eNhxRK8fQm-GtueprTCiZXvLVHxnPB1wYos63f3OVpfR-hVY_OM3cVNFk_0EOKapj9-ShvyQ4tEcFj6wm/s1600/Dalton_McGuinty_Crop_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSErE9WOM5L1FQpW_ldhCT6JeoOqPef9D3twIwf2JGNn5D2iHMS9vilq0rtm2eNhxRK8fQm-GtueprTCiZXvLVHxnPB1wYos63f3OVpfR-hVY_OM3cVNFk_0EOKapj9-ShvyQ4tEcFj6wm/s640/Dalton_McGuinty_Crop_2.jpg" width="507" /></a></div><br />
With the Ontario Provincial Election coming up in October, and with Liberal Organizations like the "Working Families Coalition" out there spreading their pro-Liberal pro-Union agenda (see: <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/03/disgraceful-working-families-coalition.html" target="_blank">Disgraceful "Working Families Coalition" Defines Anti-Family in Ontario...</a>), I though it absolutely necessary to pull together a list with supporting details of 30 Dalton McGuinty Ontario Liberal Scandals that have taken place over his 2 terms as the Premier of Ontario (from 2003 to 2011).<br />
<br />
Without a doubt, Dalton McGuinty is the most scandal-plagued, tax-spend-and-waste, unethical, integrity-deficient Premier that Ontario has ever had in its entire history. And even though this should be obvious to all Ontarians, McGuinty's gift of being able to talk his way out of anything often leaves Ontarians questioning their hurtful experiences and falling for his "Premier Dad" routine of manipulation. McGuinty could literally get away with murder by convincing Ontarians that "though this was not the easy thing to do, it was the right thing to do".<br />
<br />
Given this gift of his, <i>even I</i> find myself sometimes caught up in his rhetoric about being responsible and taking our tough medicine even if it tastes awful, only to find myself later waking up in a proverbial hangover with my head pounding realizing that he got me once again! This is why I compiled this list of many of Dalton McGuinty's more publicized scandals (along with links to applicable news stories from reputable news organizations that have reported on them). Now every time I find myself questioning my disgust with Premier McGuinty, I simply just review this list and remember everything that he has done to Ontario and Ontarians.<br />
<br />
Though this list has many Scandals, Broken Promises and New Taxes/Fees that Premier Dalton McGuinty has plagued Ontarians with since being elected, in no way is this a complete list. If you find that I have missed any Scandals, Broken Promises or New Taxes/Fees, please feel free to add a comment and note them along with any supporting websites that readers can review to get further details.<br />
<br />
Without any further delay, here is the list. (Please note that this list is not in any particular order related to importance or timelines or etc.)<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
1. The McGuinty Ontario Health Premium - The highest tax increase in Ontario's history, implemented months after Dalton McGuinty was elected in 2003 on a promise to not increase taxes (even after signing a contract with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to not increase taxes). McGuinty justified his healthcare tax increase on Ontario's Working Families by saying that he inherited an unknown deficit from the previous Government, yet here we stand today in Ontario with the highest deficit that Ontario has ever had, literally multiplied by the McGuinty Government and Ontario's Unions. This was the first tax of many new taxes and user fees that Dalton McGuinty has imposed on Ontario's Working Families in order to support his Union Boss buddies and allow the scandalous corruption to continue. (See: <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/archives/article783867.ece" target="_blank">Globe and Mail: The health care premium</a>).<br />
<br />
2. The McGuinty Delisting of OHIP Covered Necessary Health Services - Where after Dalton McGuinty promised not to decrease any health services covered by OHIP, and also not to raise taxes, he did both on the same day by implementing the Ontario Health Premium and delisting coverage of Optometry (Eye), Chiropractic and Physiotherapy Services for Ontarians. (See: <a href="http://www.cancer.nt.ca/Ontario/About%20us/Media%20centre/OD-Media%20releases/Mixed%20reaction%20to%20McGuinty%20governments%20budget%20Canadian%20Canc%0A%0Aer%20Society.aspx?sc_lang=en" target="_blank">Canadian Cancer Care Society: Mixed reaction to McGuinty government’s budget</a> and <a href="http://www.thestar.com/OntarioElection/article/260657" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Hampton pledges to pay for delisted health services</a>.)<br />
<br />
3. The McGuinty eHealth Scandal - That cost Ontario's Working Families a Billion dollars in wasted tax dollars (and unprecedented delays in the computerization of Ontario's health records), and is a true definition of "gravy", a term that also defines McGuinty's wasteful mismanagement of the Ontario Government. Here we stand years after this initiative started and Billions of dollars in the hole, and still it is not completed. The eHealth failure was famous not only for its complete lack of progress, but also for its constant usage of sole-sourcing and untendered contracts to Liberal friends, along with scandalous expenses logged by useless consultants, eHealth Executives and Upper Management. "eHeatlh" has now become a term that is synonymous with scandal, waste and boondoggle. (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/703083" target="_blank">Toronto Star: EHealth operation bled $1B</a> and <a href="http://www.thestar.com/topic/News-Ontario-eHealth" target="_blank">Toronto Star - Coverage of eHealth Ontario</a>.)<br />
<br />
4. The McGuinty Slush Fund Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty's Government gave $32 Million to Liberal friendly groups (in the form of Government Grants) over a 2 years span with no formal application process and no accountability for how the money would be spent. Just, "here you go, vote Liberal!" (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/article/208203" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Insults and accusations fly in Ontario 'slush fund' affair</a> and <a href="http://www.thestar.com/article/206442" target="_blank">Toronto Star: New charges fuel 'slush fund' scandal</a>.)<br />
<br />
5. The McGuinty Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) Scandal - Where on the McGuinty Government's watch, there were multiple accounts of catastrophic corruption related to Lottery Winnings being stolen from Ontario families by Lottery Retailers, countless OLG insider wins, Ontario family tax dollars being corruptly given out via sole-sourced untendered contracts to Liberal friendly firms, and massive Ontario family tax dollar waste via the horrifying expenses by OLG staff again allowed by the McGuinty Government (in exactly the same way it was allowed in eHealth). (See: <a href="http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090831/OLG_changes_090831/20090831?hub=Toronto" target="_blank">CTV: Ont. gov't scrambles to control OLG scandal damage</a> and <a href="http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090831/olg_timeline_090831/20090831/?hub=TorontoNewHome" target="_blank">CTV: OLG: Billions in profits, but lots of headaches</a>.)<br />
<br />
6. The McGuinty CancerCare Ontario Scandal - Yet another eHealth-style scandal costing Ontario Working Families millions of dollars. (See: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2009/10/07/cancer-care-ontario.html" target="_blank">CBC: Cancer Care Ontario broke rules: audit</a> and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/10/08/11340216-sun.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: A 'scandal behind another scandal'</a>.)<br />
<br />
7. The McGuinty Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC) Scandal - Where on the McGuinty Government's watch, Ontario Families had their homes either significantly undervalued or significantly overvalued by the MPAC, resulting in either a huge loss of their home's value, or them being significantly overcharged for property taxes. When provided the auditor's report, the MPAC rejected investigating into the issue. In addition to their failures in providing the basic service for which they are employed, they also were caught in yet another eHealth-type expense scandal. (See: <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:EUbSmgCbDngJ:www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html%3Fid%3D3934758%26sponsor%3D+MPAC+Scandal+Ottaw%0A%0Aa+Citizen&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.ca" target="_blank">The Ottawa Citizen: Ontario auditor-general says MPAC shortchanges homeowners, hospital wait times not improving</a> and <a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/books/Ontario+Audit/3937294/story.html" target="_blank">National Post: Ontario's Audit</a>.)<br />
<br />
8. The McGuinty Children's Aid Society (CAS) Scandal - Where on the McGuinty Government's watch, Ontario working family tax dollars that were supposed to go towards vulnerable children in Ontario, were instead squandered on Luxury Vehicles, All-Inclusive Luxury Resort Vacations to the Caribbean and other vacation destinations, Gym Memberships and Executive Allowances for CAS Management. (See: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2006/11/30/ont-childrensaid.html" target="_blank">CBC: Ontario children's aid societies misspent money, auditors allege</a>, <a href="http://www.theinquiry.ca/CAS_scandal_011206.hide.php" target="_blank">National Post / The Ottawa Citizen: Children's Aid funds misused, auditor says</a> and <a href="http://www.thestar.com/article/126640" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Opposition slams Ont. Liberals over CAS</a>.)<br />
<br />
9. The McGuinty Tire Tax - Yet another blatant lie by Dalton McGuinty where he said he would not implement a tire tax, and then went right ahead and implemented one (calling it a fee and not a tax, as to act like he didn't lie yet again). (See: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/ted_woloshyn/2009/08/29/10661711-sun.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Tired of all the taxes</a> and <a href="http://www.wheels.ca/Article_Category/News_and_Features/article/549587" target="_blank">Toronto Star - Wheels.ca: Costly tire recycling plan will replace one that only needs tweaking</a>.)<br />
<br />
10. The McGuinty Ontario Ministry of Health, Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) and Ontario Hospitals Consultant Hiring & Expenses Scandal - Where under the McGuinty Government, yet again another eHealth-type of fiasco took place, where untendered contracts were awarded to consultants and lobbyists, in addition to lax expense controls leading to lavish world-wide vacations in thousand-dollar-a-night hotels, expensive lunches and boozy dinners all paid for by Ontario's Working Families. (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/878209--ontario-tightens-lobbying-rules-after-scathing-report" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Ontario tightens lobbying rules after scathing report</a> and <a href="http://www.globaltoronto.com/auditor+general+says+rules+health+consultants+still+followed/3699492/story.html" target="_blank">Global TV: Ont. auditor general says rules on health consultants still not followed</a>.)<br />
<br />
11. The McGuinty Tax Collectors Getting $45,000 Severance Packages for switching their job titles from "Provincial" to "Federal" Scandal - Where when Dalton McGuinty implemented the HST in Ontario, he overlooked the severance packages that would be rewarded to Ontario's Tax Collectors who, though they would not be losing their jobs, would still get this massive payout from Ontario's Working Families (many of which can only dream about making $45,000 a year) for moving from the Provincial Ontario Government to the Federal Government. (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/hst/article/778415--tax-collectors-get-45k-severance-keep-jobs" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Tax collectors get $45K severance, keep jobs</a>.)<br />
<br />
12. The McGuinty Niagara Falls Commission Scandal - Yet another eHealth-type fiasco, where countless tax dollars from Ontario's Working Families were blown on fancy dinners, nights out, expensive hotels and countless other unethical expenses by Management at the Niagara Parks Commission, not to mention the usual untendered contracts and sole-sourced deals given to Liberal friends. (See: <a href="http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/276801--niagara-parks-exec-ran-up-400-000-in-expenses" target="_blank">The Hamilton Spectator: Niagara Parks exec ran up $400,000 in expenses</a> and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/christina_blizzard/2010/12/02/16408316.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Call in the auditor!: Blizzard</a>.)<br />
<br />
13. The McGuinty General Motors Auto Pensions Bailout - Where Dalton McGuinty, after rejecting for years that Ontario taxpayers wouldn't be expected to bail out the GM Pensions (as many Ontarians don't have pensions themselves), Dalton McGuinty like usual, went ahead and broke that promise and provided Ontario Working Family tax dollars to GM to bail out their auto pensions. (See: <a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1651485" target="_blank">National Post: Canada may hold stake in GM until 2018</a>.)<br />
<br />
14. The McGuinty Nortel Pensions Bailout - Where again, Dalton McGuinty for years said that Ontario taxpayers shouldn't be expected to bailout the pensions of private companies, as many Ontarians don't have pensions themselves, went ahead and bailed out Nortel's workers' pensions in an effort to buy votes for a by-election. (See: <a href="http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/69629--mcguinty-shrugs-off-accusations-of-vote-buying-with-nortel-pension-guarantee" target="_blank">CityTV: McGuinty Shrugs Off Accusations Of Vote-Buying With Nortel Pension Guarantee</a>.)<br />
<br />
15. The McGuinty Workers Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) Tax Increase - Where Dalton McGuinty's Government allowed the WSIB to mismanage itself so horribly, that after years of lax controls, the WSIB had to increase rates on Ontario Businesses in order to recover from its failures. (See: <a href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101231/101231_new_year_changes?hub=CP24Home" target="_blank">CTV: New Year brings hydro rebates in Ontario plus higher EI and CPP premiums</a> and <a href="http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=38921" target="_blank">Northbay's The Bay Today: CFIB blasts the WSIB’s hike in payroll taxes</a>.)<br />
<br />
16. The McGuinty Nanticoke Coal Power Plant Shutdown Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty, in the election in 2003, promised then to shut down all Coal Power Plants by 2007, and then later admitted to breaking that promise, and instead said they would all be shutdown by 2009. Now, in prep for the 2011 election, McGuinty is saying that all Coal Power Plants will be shutdown by 2014! Yet another blatant lie and broken promise by Dalton McGuinty against Ontario Working Families. (See: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2006/11/16/coal-responsibility.html" target="_blank">CBC: McGuinty takes blame for broken promise on coal plant closures</a> and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/lorrie_goldstein/2011/03/04/17500101.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Dalton McGuinty’s mind games: Goldstein</a>.)<br />
<br />
17. The McGuinty Caledonia Scandal - Where the McGuinty Government has been turning a blind eye to an illegal protection racket run by militant natives who have assaulted citizens and police officers, and Dalton McGuinty has prevented them from taking back control of Caledonia, all for the fear of another Ipperwash type scandal (see: <a href="http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FIpperwash_Crisis&rct=j&q=ipperwash&ei=4Ip_TeCyKu230QHL2vT1CA&usg=AFQjCNHSKJxCrq3XicUa716_7VwsijlI1w&cad=rja" target="_blank">Ipperwash Crisis - Wikipedia</a>). McGuinty has once again turned his back on Ontario Working Families, this time those living in Caledonia. (See: <a href="http://www.caledoniawakeupcall.com/updates/080117post3.html" target="_blank">National Post: Caledonia redux</a> and <a href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/01/19/national-post-editorial-on-dalton-mcguinty-s-caledonia-policy-the-coward-at-queen-s-park.aspx" target="_blank">National Post editorial on Dalton McGuinty's Caledonia policy: 'The coward at Queen's Park'</a>.)<br />
<br />
18. The McGuinty G20 Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty implemented illegal regulations to enable the police to detain people during Toronto's G20 summit without cause. Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin said in regards to the McGuinty Government's G20 actions, "For the citizens of Toronto, the days up to and including the (June 26-27) weekend of the G20 will live in infamy as a time period where martial law set in in the city of Toronto, leading to the most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history". (See: <a href="http://www.ombudsman.on.ca/en/media/ombudsman-in-the-news/2010/g20-law-was-%27massive%27-breach-of-rights-marin-says.aspx" target="_blank">OmbudsmanOntario.on.ca: G20 law was 'massive' breach of rights, Marin says (Toronto Star)</a> and <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/article/945867" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Report details ‘shocking’ abuses at G20 summit</a>.)<br />
<br />
19. The McGuinty Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) Review Delay Until After October Election - Where Dalton McGuinty purposely delayed the Auditor's review of McGuinty's much-loved LHINs, who via freedom of information inquiries has been found to be yet another eHealth type fiasco. The LHIN scandal is different in that many of the findings from the report happened after McGuinty implemented regulations to stop further eHealth type fiascoes. Where McGuinty has been protected before by saying these scandals happened before these new regulations, the LHIN scandals happened afterward, proving the continued complete lack of oversight and mismanagement by Dalton McGuinty of Ontario Working Families' tax dollars. (See: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2010/08/12/mcguinty-lhin.html" target="_blank">CBC: McGuinty says LHINs can do better </a> and <a href="http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2010/30/c6461.html" target="_blank">Newswire.ca: McGuinty Blocks LHIN Review to Hide Another eHealth-Style Insider Scandal</a>.)<br />
<br />
20. The McGuinty Government has made Ontario Tuition Fees the highest in Canada - Ontario College/University Tuition fees have skyrocketed under Dalton McGuinty to become the highest in Canada, again making life extremely hard for Ontario's Working Families to send their children for post-secondary education. (See: <a href="http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100916/100916_tuition/20100916/?hub=CP24Home" target="_blank">CP24: Ontario university students paying highest tuition fees in Canada</a>.)<br />
<br />
21. The McGuinty Foreign Scholarships Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty, after continuously raising College/University Tuitions for Ontario students and making Ontario Tuitions the highest in Canada, then goes and gives free scholarships to foreign students. (See: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/2010/11/05/15990656.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Don't send our scholarships to China: Zimonjic</a> and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/11/06/16002986.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: PCs would flunk plan to fund foreign students</a>.)<br />
<br />
22. The Dalton McGuinty Auto Insurance Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty promised to reduce Auto Insurance rates by 10% during the 2003 election, he instead has done the exact opposite increasing Auto Insurance rates in Ontario to skyrocketing heights, and at the same time has allowed the reduction of insurance coverage with those new higher rates. Yet another blow to Ontario Working Families by the Dalton McGuinty Government. (See: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/christina_blizzard/2010/07/16/14740596.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: McGuinty's insurance debacle</a> and <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/auto-news/new-auto-insurance-rules-in-ontario/article1692647/" target="_blank">Globe and Mail: New auto insurance rules in Ontario</a>.)<br />
<br />
23. The Dalton McGuinty Eco-Fee Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty snuck in an Eco Tax along with the HST, and after outrage in Ontario from Ontario Working Families, along with a completely failed implementation by the Ontario Stewardship, he back-pedaled on the new (supposedly necessary as per McGuinty) tax. (See: <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/07/20/ontario-dropping-eco-fee/" target="_blank">National Post: Poor communication blamed for failed Ontario eco fee</a> and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/07/20/14772246.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Eco fees recycled</a>.)<br />
<br />
24. The Dalton McGuinty Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) - Where Dalton McGuinty imposed yet another tax, this time a massive tax that was applied on almost everything including: Home Heating Costs, Gasoline, Natural Gas, Electricity, Tobacco, Quit Smoking Aids, Newspaper/Magazine subscriptions, Fast Food (over $4), New Homes (over $400,000), Vitamins, Used Vehicles, Internet Access, Airfare, Bus fare, Taxi Fares, Haircuts, Hotels, Legal Services, Gym Memberships, Accountants, Real Estate Commissions, Lawn Care and Landscaping, Dry Cleaning, Snow Removal, Campsites, Audio Books, Home Renovations, Massage Therapy, Green fees for golf, Live Theatre, Hockey Rink fees and Hall rentals, Funeral Services, Fitness Trainer, Esthetician Services, Hunting and Fishing Licenses. This is how Dalton McGuinty helps Ontario's Working Families, by increasing taxes on everything they depend on to survive. (See: <a href="http://www.daltonsalestax.com/hst-news/" target="_blank">Dalton Sales Tax - Dalton's Sales Tax on Everything - HST News</a> and <a href="http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/en/taxchange/taxable.html" target="_blank">Ontario Ministry of Revenue: What's Taxable Under the HST and What's Not?</a>.)<br />
<br />
25. The Dalton McGuinty Smart Meters Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty forced Ontarians to have so-called "Smart Meters" installed which impose Time-of-use pricing on Ontario's Working Families. The Time-of-use pricing is forcing Ontario Working Families to do their dishes at midnight, their laundry at 3am, and ensure to get their kids dressed and off to school before 7am in the morning, if Ontario Families don't want their electricity bills to skyrocket. The Smart Meters have cost Ontarians $1 Billion to implement, and have failed to provide the cost savings that they were touted to be able to do originally (even when Ontarians abide by the time-of-use recommendations). Not only is this hurting Ontario's Working Families, but it is making life impossible and completely unaffordable for Ontario's Seniors. (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/business/cleanbreak/article/949116--what-s-the-return-on-1-billion-smart-meter-investment" target="_blank">Toronto Star: What’s the return on $1 billion smart meter investment?</a> and <a href="http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/03/11/lawrence-solomon-mcguintys-reality/" target="_blank">Financial Post: Lawrence Solomon: McGuinty’s reality</a>.)<br />
<br />
26. The Dalton McGuinty Skyrocketing Hydro Rates and disgraceful 10% so-called rebate Scandal - Under Dalton McGuinty, Ontario's Working Families have seen their Hydro rates skyrocket, firstly because of McGuinty's failed Green Energy experiments, second because of bloated Unionized Workers wages and benefits, and third because again of severe mismanagement by the McGuinty Government. As if the constant increases Ontario Working Families have already seen aren't enough, his Government has provided another low-ball estimate of rates rising another 46% over the next 5 years. Obviously this is just a pre-election number that will most likely increase 10 times over after the election. In addition, Dalton added his HST on top of these increasing rates, adding another 8% on top! Then, in order to manipulate Ontario's Working Families, McGuinty gave back a 10% rebate (for 5 years only mind-you), and made sure to glorify it on Ontarians' Hydro Bills, in yet another disgraceful attempt to manipulate Ontario's Working Families. (See: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/11/18/16204611.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Expect a 46% hydro rate hike</a> and <a href="http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/100628--hydro-rates-set-to-skyrocket-over-next-five-years" target="_blank">CityTV: Hydro Rates Set To Skyrocket Over Next Five Years</a>.)<br />
<br />
27. The Dalton McGuinty Offshore Wind Turbines Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty forced Ontarians to accept that Offshore Wind Turbines would be created, completely dismissing health concerns raised by Ontario Working Families (citing studies that had been done which proved the contrary), and now just before an election he suddenly says that they are postponing it to perform a study on their safety? Typical McGuinty. Not only did McGuinty hurt Ontario Working Families with this flip-flop, he also hurt Ontario Businesses who invested in this technology only to see it scrapped, and also weakened Ontario's Global Reputation as it can no longer be trusted to follow through on its initiatives. (See: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/02/15/ontario-wind-farms.html?ref=rss" target="_blank">CBC: Wind farm decision not election-related: McGuinty</a> and <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/ontarios-wind-power-flip-flop-draws-ire/article1910439/" target="_blank">Globe and Mail: Ontario’s wind power ‘flip-flop’ draws ire</a>.)<br />
<br />
28. The Dalton McGuinty Green Energy Strategy for Solar Power in Rural Ontario Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty offered Ontario Working Families in Rural Ontario 80 cents per kWh if they implemented small solar power installations on their properties, only to renege on that deal and chop that rate to 58.8 cents, after many Ontarians already invested in the technology... Suddenly Ontario Working Families won't get that return on investment in the time they were told. Now Ontarians are looking at timelines of over a decade, and still after this latest price change, that is not even certain. In addition to the rate slashing, many Rural Ontarians are now being told that their contracts can no longer be fulfilled, after they've invested their retirement incomes into these Solar Power Systems. This is how Dalton McGuinty protects Ontario's Working Families. (See: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/connie_woodcock/2010/07/09/14665841.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Dalton McGuinty 's solar chop: Woodcock</a>, <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/ontarios-search-for-a-solar-system/article1919546/singlepage/#articlecontent" target="_blank">Globe and Mail: Ontario's search for a solar system</a> and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/02/24/ontario-green-projects.html" target="_blank">CBC: Ont. goes ahead with large green energy projects</a>.)<br />
<br />
29. The Dalton McGuinty Samsung Deal Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty awarded the Korean Conglomerate Samsung with "the mother of all sole-sourced untendered contracts", a sweetheart deal worth $7 Billion to develop Green Energy Technology in Ontario. In exchange for the deal, Samsung will get Ontarians to pay significantly higher feed-in-tariff energy rates for the next 25 years. Is this looking out for Ontario Working Families? What about looking out for Ontario businesses that could have done the same work that Samsung is being allowed? (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/article/753609" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Tories seek probe into $7B green energy deal</a> and <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-samsung-in-7-billion-deal-for-green-energy/article1439002/" target="_blank">Globe and Mail: Ontario's green deal raises ire of energy developers</a>.)<br />
<br />
30. The Dalton McGuinty Ontario Sunshine List's Skyrocketing Total Membership Scandal - Where under Dalton McGuinty, the number of Ontario Public Sector workers making $100,000 or more has skyrocketed from just over 12,000 members in 2003, to a whopping 63,371 in 2009, or in total, an over 500% increase while Dalton McGuinty has been Premier. And Ontario's Working Families wonder how taxes seem to constantly rise under Dalton McGuinty while the services provided in return are decreasing, because in addition to his Government's countless failures (see the 29 points above), he still finds a way to give them raises and push them into the six-figure salary range. Meanwhile, Ontario Working Families pick up the bill and can't afford to live. This is how Dalton McGuinty protects Ontario's Working Families? (See: <a href="http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/647918871.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+01%2C+2003&author=Richard+Brennan&pub=Toronto+Star&%0A%0Adesc=Strike+overtime+helps+pad+province%27s+%24100%2C000+club+%3B+More+than+12%2C000+on+%27sunshine%27+list+Hospital+network+CEO+highest+paid&pqatl=google" target="_blank">Toronto Star Clipping from 2003: Strike overtime helps pad province's $100,000 club ; More than 12,000 on 'sunshine' list; Hospital network CEO highest paid</a> and <a href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100331/100331_sunshine/20100331/?hub=CP24Home" target="_blank">CTV: AGO gallery CEO is No. 3 on province's sunshine list</a>.)<br />
<br />
After these 30 examples of failures by the Dalton McGuinty Ontario Liberal Government, you would think that this would be it, but truthfully, there are many, many, many more examples of his failures that have cost Ontario's Working Families their entire livelihood.<br />
<br />
Again, if you feel that I have missed any Scandals, Broken Promises or New Taxes/Fees, please feel free to add a comment describing the Scandal, and also providing any supporting websites that readers can visit to get further details.<br />
<br />
Also, below I've listed some of my other related previous posts that you may find useful in prep for this year's coming Provincial Election:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/12/reminder-dalton-mcguintys-2003-2007.html" target="_blank">Reminder: Dalton McGuinty's 2003 & 2007 Election Promises/Platforms</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/03/disgraceful-working-families-coalition.html" target="_blank">Disgraceful "Working Families Coalition" Defines Anti-Family in Ontario...</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/03/premier-dalton-mcguinty-hilariously.html" target="_blank">Premier Dalton McGuinty Hilariously Promises No New Taxes if Reelected!</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/03/ontario-liberal-machine-working.html" target="_blank">Ontario Liberal Machine Working Overtime To Restrain Ford Nation...</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/03/ontario-every-child-should-be-treated.html" target="_blank">Ontario: Every Child Should Be Treated Equally, Especially in Education...</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/03/rob-ford-will-end-dalton-mcguintys.html" target="_blank">Rob Ford Will End Dalton McGuinty's Reign For Snubbing Toronto Again</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/01/baby-boomers-will-revolt-against.html" target="_blank">Baby Boomers Will Revolt Against McGuinty Liberals in 2011 Ontario Election</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/01/dalton-mcguintys-energy-policy-costs.html" target="_blank">Dalton McGuinty's Energy Policy Costs Ontario 1680% Extra for Electricity!</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/12/mcguinty-government-fails-ontarians.html" target="_blank">The McGuinty Government Fails Ontarians With Mental Health Issues...</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/12/tim-hudak-to-scrap-dalton-mcguintys-eco.html" target="_blank">Tim Hudak to Scrap Dalton McGuinty's Eco Fees When Elected in 2011!!</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/10/george-smitherman-caused-ontarios.html" target="_blank">McGuinty's Former Deputy Premier George Smitherman Caused Ontario's Skyrocketing Electricity Rates...</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/09/ontario-eco-fees-fail-to-divert.html" target="_blank">Ontario Eco Fees FAIL to Divert Hazardous Materials from Landfills...</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/07/eco-fees-trashed-another-mcguinty.html" target="_blank">Eco Fees Trashed! Another McGuinty Government Fiasco...</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/07/mcguinty-pushing-all-ontario-ministries.html" target="_blank">McGuinty Pushing All Ontario Ministries to Add More Fees</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/06/beware-of-dalton-mcguinty-hst.html" target="_blank">Beware of the Dalton McGuinty HST Manipulation Machine...</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/04/mcguinty-screws-natives-with-hst-and.html" target="_blank">McGuinty Screws the Natives with HST and Blames the Feds??</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/04/mcguinty-re-election-in-2011-15-hst-in.html" target="_blank">McGuinty Re-Election in 2011 = 15% HST in Ontario... Bet on it!!</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/03/2010-ontario-sunshine-list-is-out-heres.html" target="_blank">The 2010 Ontario Sunshine List is Out! Here's The Link...</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/02/mcguintys-campaign-of-hst-manipulation.html" target="_blank">McGuinty's Campaign of HST Manipulation has Begun..</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/02/mcguinty-burns-another-16-million-on.html" target="_blank">McGuinty burns another $1.6 Million on HST Manipulation..</a><br />
<a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/01/dalton-mcguinty-is-burrying-ontario.html" target="_blank">Dalton McGuinty is Burrying Ontario...</a><br />
<br />
Ontarians, it's time that we remove this Dalton McGuinty Ontario Liberal cancer that is killing our families, and get back to a time of prosperity and happiness for Ontario. Do the right thing this October and please go out there and vote! It has never been so important.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dalton_McGuinty_Crop_2.jpg" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dalton_McGuinty_Crop_2.jpg</a> by <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sherurcij" target="_blank">Joshua Sherurcij</a> on Wikipedia<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-8309174573757562742011-03-15T15:05:00.005-04:002011-03-28T10:05:08.727-04:00Disgraceful "Working Families Coalition" Defines Anti-Family in Ontario...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDvEYrx1sSoHvqkZ0SbBIeVbIo3o6NgpqvCVmUB6SNabEX1y2gClSVO9h0Q8QypnV0yGqSprjpWH6CXHQNI1jEl7EtSQPZUDPvgqh88Tu5OFm86g_apN_zDIzmKoJpcTgddmkpxxg9WDg/s1600/WorkingFamiliesCoalition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="499" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDvEYrx1sSoHvqkZ0SbBIeVbIo3o6NgpqvCVmUB6SNabEX1y2gClSVO9h0Q8QypnV0yGqSprjpWH6CXHQNI1jEl7EtSQPZUDPvgqh88Tu5OFm86g_apN_zDIzmKoJpcTgddmkpxxg9WDg/s640/WorkingFamiliesCoalition.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
It looks like the <a href="http://www.workingfamilies.ca/about.html" target="_blank">Working Families Coalition</a>, a Union-backed Ontario Liberal Party front (see: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/christina_blizzard/2011/03/04/17500486.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Using Oscar for special attack: Blizzard</a>), have kicked off their illegal campaign of slander and manipulation against all parties that are not Liberal in Ontario (see: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/953382--attack-ads-paint-hudak-as-bay-street-stooge?bn=1" target="_blank">Attack ads paint Hudak as Bay Street stooge</a>), a well known tactic that they became famous for during the 2003 and 2007 Ontario Provincial Elections.<br />
<br />
This disgraceful and unethical so-called "Working Families" Coalition has no interest in protecting Ontario's Working Families (as much as they would try to have you believe). No, they more accurately look to protect the corrupt and wasteful Unions in Ontario, with their six-figure-salary-earning Union Bosses, their drastically-overly-high wages for their Union Members, unprecedented pensions and benefits that are far above-and-beyond any kind of industry standard that <i>true</i> Ontario "Working Families" receive, and unfair and unrealistic jobs-for-life contract clauses that are bankrupting Ontario, eroding our services, and were obtained through corrupt workers strikes that withheld necessary services from Ontario's families.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the truth is that the "Families" that the so-called "Working Families Coalition" are trying to protect, are not the same types of "Families" that include mothers, fathers and children. No, this Coalition is looking to protect an entirely different type of "Family". (And I'll just stop there out of the fear of a violent response from this Coalition's "Family" connections...)<br />
<br />
Aside from the obvious reasons to fear this type of Corrupt Coalition in Ontario, another horrifying prospect is the underlying connections between this "Family" Coalition and the Ontario Liberal Party, not to mention their "Family Boss", Dalton McGuinty.<br />
<br />
While Ontario's <i>true</i> "Working Families" have been struggling to survive under this scandal-plagued tax-and-waste McGuinty Liberal Government, the Ontario Unions have been living it up on a honeymoon that has been going on ever since he took office 8 years ago. Never has Ontario seen so many scandals after scandals after scandals after scandals, all the while increasing taxes at a record rate to cover these scandals of corruption overseen by the McGuinty Government. The McGuinty Government along with their Union buddies have effectively turned Ontario into a have-not province, and have left <i>true</i> Ontario Working Families starving and out in the cold.<br />
<br />
If you live in Ontario, it's been impossible to miss the countless broken promises, scandals and new taxes that Dalton McGuinty has imposed on Ontarians; broken promises, scandals and new taxes that the "Working Families Coalition" is fighting to protect. Here are just a few examples:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
1. The McGuinty Ontario Health Premium - The highest tax increase in Ontario's history, implemented months after Dalton McGuinty was elected in 2003 on a promise to not increase taxes (even after signing a contract with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to not increase taxes). McGuinty justified his healthcare tax increase on Ontario's Working Families by saying that he inherited an unknown deficit from the previous Government, yet here we stand today in Ontario with the highest deficit that Ontario has ever had, literally multiplied by the McGuinty Government and Ontario's Unions. This was the first tax of many new taxes and user fees that Dalton McGuinty has imposed on Ontario's Working Families in order to support his Union Boss buddies and allow the scandalous corruption to continue. (See: <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/archives/article783867.ece" target="_blank">Globe and Mail: The health care premium</a>).<br />
<br />
2. The McGuinty Delisting of OHIP Covered Necessary Health Services - Where after Dalton McGuinty promised not to decrease any health services covered by OHIP, and also not to raise taxes, he did both on the same day by implementing the Ontario Health Premium and delisting coverage of Optometry (Eye), Chiropractic and Physiotherapy Services for Ontarians. (See: <a href="http://www.cancer.nt.ca/Ontario/About%20us/Media%20centre/OD-Media%20releases/Mixed%20reaction%20to%20McGuinty%20governments%20budget%20Canadian%20Canc%0A%0Aer%20Society.aspx?sc_lang=en" target="_blank">Canadian Cancer Care Society: Mixed reaction to McGuinty government’s budget</a> and <a href="http://www.thestar.com/OntarioElection/article/260657" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Hampton pledges to pay for delisted health services</a>.)<br />
<br />
3. The McGuinty eHealth Scandal - That cost Ontario's Working Families a Billion dollars in wasted tax dollars (and unprecedented delays in the computerization of Ontario's health records), and is a true definition of "gravy", a term that defines McGuinty's wasteful mismanagement of the Ontario Government. Here we stand years after this initiative started and Billions of dollars in the hole, and still it is not completed. "eHeatlh" has now become a term that is synonymous with scandal, waste and boondoggle. (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/703083" target="_blank">Toronto Star: EHealth operation bled $1B</a> and <a href="http://www.thestar.com/topic/News-Ontario-eHealth" target="_blank">Toronto Star - Coverage of eHealth Ontario</a>.)<br />
<br />
4. The McGuinty Slush Fund Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty's Government gave $32 Million to Liberal friendly groups (in the form of Government Grants) over a 2 years span with no formal application process and no accountability for how the money would be spent. Just, "here you go, vote Liberal!" (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/article/208203" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Insults and accusations fly in Ontario 'slush fund' affair</a> and <a href="http://www.thestar.com/article/206442" target="_blank">Toronto Star: New charges fuel 'slush fund' scandal</a>.)<br />
<br />
5. The McGuinty Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) Scandal - Where on the McGuinty Government's watch, there were multiple accounts of catastrophic corruption related to Lottery Winnings being stolen from Ontario families by Lottery Retailers, countless OLG insider wins, Ontario family tax dollars being corruptly given out via sole-sourced untendered contracts to Liberal friendly firms, and massive Ontario family tax dollar waste via the horrifying expenses by OLG staff again allowed by the McGuinty Government (in exactly the same way it was allowed in eHealth). (See: <a href="http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090831/OLG_changes_090831/20090831?hub=Toronto" target="_blank">CTV: Ont. gov't scrambles to control OLG scandal damage</a> and <a href="http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090831/olg_timeline_090831/20090831/?hub=TorontoNewHome" target="_blank">CTV: OLG: Billions in profits, but lots of headaches</a>.)<br />
<br />
6. The McGuinty CancerCare Ontario Scandal - Yet another eHealth-style scandal costing Ontario Working Families millions of dollars. (See: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2009/10/07/cancer-care-ontario.html" target="_blank">CBC: Cancer Care Ontario broke rules: audit</a> and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/10/08/11340216-sun.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: A 'scandal behind another scandal'</a>.)<br />
<br />
7. The McGuinty Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC) Scandal - Where on the McGuinty Government's watch, Ontario Families had their homes either significantly undervalued or significantly overvalued by the MPAC, resulting in either a huge loss of their home's value, or them being significantly overcharged for property taxes. When provided the auditor's report, the MPAC rejected investigating into the issue. In addition to their failures in providing the basic service for which they are employed, they also were caught in yet another eHealth-type expense scandal. (See: <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:EUbSmgCbDngJ:www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html%3Fid%3D3934758%26sponsor%3D+MPAC+Scandal+Ottaw%0A%0Aa+Citizen&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.ca" target="_blank">The Ottawa Citizen: Ontario auditor-general says MPAC shortchanges homeowners, hospital wait times not improving</a> and <a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/books/Ontario+Audit/3937294/story.html" target="_blank">National Post: Ontario's Audit</a>.)<br />
<br />
8. The McGuinty Children's Aid Society (CAS) Scandal - Where on the McGuinty Government's watch, Ontario working family tax dollars that were supposed to go towards vulnerable children in Ontario, were instead squandered on Luxury Vehicles, All-Inclusive Luxury Resort Vacations to the Caribbean and other vacation destinations, Gym Memberships and Executive Allowances for CAS Management. (See: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2006/11/30/ont-childrensaid.html" target="_blank">CBC: Ontario children's aid societies misspent money, auditors allege</a>, <a href="http://www.theinquiry.ca/CAS_scandal_011206.hide.php" target="_blank">National Post / The Ottawa Citizen: Children's Aid funds misused, auditor says</a> and <a href="http://www.thestar.com/article/126640" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Opposition slams Ont. Liberals over CAS</a>.)<br />
<br />
9. The McGuinty Tire Tax - Yet another blatant lie by Dalton McGuinty where he said he would not implement a tire tax, and then went right ahead and implemented one (calling it a fee and not a tax, as to act like he didn't lie yet again). (See: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/ted_woloshyn/2009/08/29/10661711-sun.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Tired of all the taxes</a> and <a href="http://www.wheels.ca/Article_Category/News_and_Features/article/549587" target="_blank">Toronto Star - Wheels.ca: Costly tire recycling plan will replace one that only needs tweaking</a>.)<br />
<br />
10. The McGuinty Ontario Ministry of Health, Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) and Ontario Hospitals Consultant Hiring & Expenses Scandal - Where under the McGuinty Government, yet again another eHealth-type of fiasco took place, where untendered contracts were awarded to consultants and lobbyists, in addition to lax expense controls leading to lavish world-wide vacations in thousand-dollar-a-night hotels, expensive lunches and boozy dinners all paid for by Ontario's Working Families. (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/878209--ontario-tightens-lobbying-rules-after-scathing-report" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Ontario tightens lobbying rules after scathing report</a> and <a href="http://www.globaltoronto.com/auditor+general+says+rules+health+consultants+still+followed/3699492/story.html" target="_blank">Global TV: Ont. auditor general says rules on health consultants still not followed</a>.)<br />
<br />
11. The McGuinty Tax Collectors Getting $45,000 Severance Packages for switching their job titles from "Provincial" to "Federal" Scandal - Where when Dalton McGuinty implemented the HST in Ontario, he overlooked the severance packages that would be rewarded to Ontario's Tax Collectors who, though they would not be losing their jobs, would still get this massive payout from Ontario's Working Families (many of which can only dream about making $45,000 a year) for moving from the Provincial Ontario Government to the Federal Government. (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/hst/article/778415--tax-collectors-get-45k-severance-keep-jobs" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Tax collectors get $45K severance, keep jobs</a>.)<br />
<br />
12. The McGuinty Niagara Falls Commission Scandal - Yet another eHealth-type fiasco, where countless tax dollars from Ontario's Working Families were blown on fancy dinners, nights out, expensive hotels and countless other unethical expenses by Management at the Niagara Parks Commission, not to mention the usual untendered contracts and sole-sourced deals given to Liberal friends. (See: <a href="http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/276801--niagara-parks-exec-ran-up-400-000-in-expenses" target="_blank">The Hamilton Spectator: Niagara Parks exec ran up $400,000 in expenses</a> and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/christina_blizzard/2010/12/02/16408316.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Call in the auditor!: Blizzard</a>.)<br />
<br />
13. The McGuinty General Motors Auto Pensions Bailout - Where Dalton McGuinty, after rejecting for years that Ontario taxpayers wouldn't be expected to bail out the GM Pensions (as many Ontarians don't have pensions themselves), Dalton McGuinty like usual, went ahead and broke that promise and provided Ontario Working Family tax dollars to GM to bail out their auto pensions. (See: <a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1651485" target="_blank">National Post: Canada may hold stake in GM until 2018</a>.)<br />
<br />
14. The McGuinty Nortel Pensions Bailout - Where again, Dalton McGuinty for years said that Ontario taxpayers shouldn't be expected to bailout the pensions of private companies, as many Ontarians don't have pensions themselves, went ahead and bailed out Nortel's workers' pensions in an effort to buy votes for a by-election. (See: <a href="http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/69629--mcguinty-shrugs-off-accusations-of-vote-buying-with-nortel-pension-guarantee" target="_blank">CityTV: McGuinty Shrugs Off Accusations Of Vote-Buying With Nortel Pension Guarantee</a>.)<br />
<br />
15. The McGuinty Workers Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) Tax Increase - Where Dalton McGuinty's Government allowed the WSIB to mismanage itself so horribly, that after years of lax controls, the WSIB had to increase rates on Ontario Businesses in order to recover from its failures. (See: <a href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101231/101231_new_year_changes?hub=CP24Home" target="_blank">CTV: New Year brings hydro rebates in Ontario plus higher EI and CPP premiums</a> and <a href="http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=38921" target="_blank">Northbay's The Bay Today: CFIB blasts the WSIB’s hike in payroll taxes</a>.)<br />
<br />
16. The McGuinty Nanticoke Coal Power Plant Shutdown Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty, in the election in 2003, promised then to shut down all Coal Power Plants by 2007, and then later admitted to breaking that promise, and instead said they would all be shutdown by 2009. Now, in prep for the 2011 election, McGuinty is saying that all Coal Power Plants will be shutdown by 2014! Yet another blatant lie and broken promise by Dalton McGuinty against Ontario Working Families. (See: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2006/11/16/coal-responsibility.html" target="_blank">CBC: McGuinty takes blame for broken promise on coal plant closures</a> and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/lorrie_goldstein/2011/03/04/17500101.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Dalton McGuinty’s mind games: Goldstein</a>.)<br />
<br />
17. The McGuinty Caledonia Scandal - Where the McGuinty Government has been turning a blind eye to an illegal protection racket run by militant natives who have assaulted citizens and police officers, and Dalton McGuinty has prevented them from taking back control of Caledonia, all for the fear of another Ipperwash type scandal (see: <a href="http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FIpperwash_Crisis&rct=j&q=ipperwash&ei=4Ip_TeCyKu230QHL2vT1CA&usg=AFQjCNHSKJxCrq3XicUa716_7VwsijlI1w&cad=rja" target="_blank">Ipperwash Crisis - Wikipedia</a>). McGuinty has once again turned his back on Ontario Working Families, this time those living in Caledonia. (See: <a href="http://www.caledoniawakeupcall.com/updates/080117post3.html" target="_blank">National Post: Caledonia redux</a> and <a href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/01/19/national-post-editorial-on-dalton-mcguinty-s-caledonia-policy-the-coward-at-queen-s-park.aspx" target="_blank">National Post editorial on Dalton McGuinty's Caledonia policy: 'The coward at Queen's Park'</a>.)<br />
<br />
18. The McGuinty G20 Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty implemented illegal regulations to enable the police to detain people during Toronto's G20 summit without cause. Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin said in regards to the McGuinty Government's G20 actions, "For the citizens of Toronto, the days up to and including the (June 26-27) weekend of the G20 will live in infamy as a time period where martial law set in in the city of Toronto, leading to the most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history". (See: <a href="http://www.ombudsman.on.ca/en/media/ombudsman-in-the-news/2010/g20-law-was-%27massive%27-breach-of-rights-marin-says.aspx" target="_blank">OmbudsmanOntario.on.ca: G20 law was 'massive' breach of rights, Marin says (Toronto Star)</a> and <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/article/945867" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Report details ‘shocking’ abuses at G20 summit</a>.)<br />
<br />
19. The McGuinty Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) Review Delay Until After October Election - Where Dalton McGuinty purposely delayed the Auditor's review of McGuinty's much-loved LHINs, who via freedom of information inquiries has been found to be yet another eHealth type fiasco. The LHIN scandal is different in that many of the findings from the report happened after McGuinty implemented regulations to stop further eHealth type fiascoes. Where McGuinty has been protected before by saying these scandals happened before these new regulations, the LHIN scandals happened afterward, proving the continued complete lack of oversight and mismanagement by Dalton McGuinty of Ontario Working Families' tax dollars. (See: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2010/08/12/mcguinty-lhin.html" target="_blank">CBC: McGuinty says LHINs can do better </a> and <a href="http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2010/30/c6461.html" target="_blank">Newswire.ca: McGuinty Blocks LHIN Review to Hide Another eHealth-Style Insider Scandal</a>.)<br />
<br />
20. The McGuinty Government has made Ontario Tuition Fees the highest in Canada - Ontario College/University Tuition fees have skyrocketed under Dalton McGuinty to become the highest in Canada, again making life extremely hard for Ontario's Working Families to send their children for post-secondary education. (See: <a href="http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100916/100916_tuition/20100916/?hub=CP24Home" target="_blank">CP24: Ontario university students paying highest tuition fees in Canada</a>.)<br />
<br />
21. The McGuinty Foreign Scholarships Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty, after continuously raising College/University Tuitions for Ontario students and making Ontario Tuitions the highest in Canada, then goes and gives free scholarships to foreign students. (See: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/2010/11/05/15990656.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Don't send our scholarships to China: Zimonjic</a> and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/11/06/16002986.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: PCs would flunk plan to fund foreign students</a>.)<br />
<br />
22. The Dalton McGuinty Auto Insurance Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty promised to reduce Auto Insurance rates by 10% during the 2003 election, he instead has done the exact opposite increasing Auto Insurance rates in Ontario to skyrocketing heights, and at the same time has allowed the reduction of insurance coverage with those new higher rates. Yet another blow to Ontario Working Families by the Dalton McGuinty Government. (See: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/christina_blizzard/2010/07/16/14740596.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: McGuinty's insurance debacle</a> and <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/auto-news/new-auto-insurance-rules-in-ontario/article1692647/" target="_blank">Globe and Mail: New auto insurance rules in Ontario</a>.)<br />
<br />
23. The Dalton McGuinty Eco-Fee Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty snuck in an Eco Tax along with the HST, and after outrage in Ontario from Ontario Working Families, along with a completely failed implementation by the Ontario Stewardship, he back-pedaled on the new (supposedly necessary as per McGuinty) tax. (See: <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/07/20/ontario-dropping-eco-fee/" target="_blank">National Post: Poor communication blamed for failed Ontario eco fee</a> and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/07/20/14772246.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Eco fees recycled</a>.)<br />
<br />
24. The Dalton McGuinty Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) - Where Dalton McGuinty imposed yet another tax, this time a massive tax that was applied on almost everything including: Home Heating Costs, Gasoline, Natural Gas, Electricity, Tobacco, Quit Smoking Aids, Newspaper/Magazine subscriptions, Fast Food (over $4), New Homes (over $400,000), Vitamins, Used Vehicles, Internet Access, Airfare, Bus fare, Taxi Fares, Haircuts, Hotels, Legal Services, Gym Memberships, Accountants, Real Estate Commissions, Lawn Care and Landscaping, Dry Cleaning, Snow Removal, Campsites, Audio Books, Home Renovations, Massage Therapy, Green fees for golf, Live Theatre, Hockey Rink fees and Hall rentals, Funeral Services, Fitness Trainer, Esthetician Services, Hunting and Fishing Licenses. This is how Dalton McGuinty helps Ontario's Working Families, by increasing taxes on everything they depend on to survive. (See: <a href="http://www.daltonsalestax.com/hst-news/" target="_blank">Dalton Sales Tax - Dalton's Sales Tax on Everything - HST News</a> and <a href="http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/en/taxchange/taxable.html" target="_blank">Ontario Ministry of Revenue: What's Taxable Under the HST and What's Not?</a>.)<br />
<br />
25. The Dalton McGuinty Smart Meters Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty forced Ontarians to have so-called "Smart Meters" installed which impose Time-of-use pricing on Ontario's Working Families. The Time-of-use pricing is forcing Ontario Working Families to do their dishes at midnight, their laundry at 3am, and ensure to get their kids dressed and off to school before 7am in the morning, if Ontario Families don't want their electricity bills to skyrocket. The Smart Meters have cost Ontarians $1 Billion to implement, and have failed to provide the cost savings that they were touted to be able to do originally (even when Ontarians abide by the time-of-use recommendations). Not only is this hurting Ontario's Working Families, but it is making life impossible and completely unaffordable for Ontario's Seniors. (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/business/cleanbreak/article/949116--what-s-the-return-on-1-billion-smart-meter-investment" target="_blank">Toronto Star: What’s the return on $1 billion smart meter investment?</a> and <a href="http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/03/11/lawrence-solomon-mcguintys-reality/" target="_blank">Financial Post: Lawrence Solomon: McGuinty’s reality</a>.)<br />
<br />
26. The Dalton McGuinty Skyrocketing Hydro Rates and disgraceful 10% so-called rebate Scandal - Under Dalton McGuinty, Ontario's Working Families have seen their Hydro rates skyrocket, firstly because of McGuinty's failed Green Energy experiments, second because of bloated Unionized Workers wages and benefits, and third because again of severe mismanagement by the McGuinty Government. As if the constant increases Ontario Working Families have already seen aren't enough, his Government has provided another low-ball estimate of rates rising another 46% over the next 5 years. Obviously this is just a pre-election number that will most likely increase 10 times over after the election. In addition, Dalton added his HST on top of these increasing rates, adding another 8% on top! Then, in order to manipulate Ontario's Working Families, McGuinty gave back a 10% rebate (for 5 years only mind-you), and made sure to glorify it on Ontarians' Hydro Bills, in yet another disgraceful attempt to manipulate Ontario's Working Families. (See: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/11/18/16204611.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Expect a 46% hydro rate hike</a> and <a href="http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/100628--hydro-rates-set-to-skyrocket-over-next-five-years" target="_blank">CityTV: Hydro Rates Set To Skyrocket Over Next Five Years</a>.)<br />
<br />
27. The Dalton McGuinty Offshore Wind Turbines Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty forced Ontarians to accept that Offshore Wind Turbines would be created, completely dismissing health concerns raised by Ontario Working Families (citing studies that had been done which proved the contrary), and now just before an election he suddenly says that they are postponing it to perform a study on their safety? Typical McGuinty. Not only did McGuinty hurt Ontario Working Families with this flip-flop, he also hurt Ontario Businesses who invested in this technology only to see it scrapped, and also weakened Ontario's Global Reputation as it can no longer be trusted to follow through on its initiatives. (See: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/02/15/ontario-wind-farms.html?ref=rss" target="_blank">CBC: Wind farm decision not election-related: McGuinty</a> and <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/ontarios-wind-power-flip-flop-draws-ire/article1910439/" target="_blank">Globe and Mail: Ontario’s wind power ‘flip-flop’ draws ire</a>.)<br />
<br />
28. The Dalton McGuinty Green Energy Strategy for Solar Power in Rural Ontario Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty offered Ontario Working Families in Rural Ontario 80 cents per kWh if they implemented small solar power installations on their properties, only to renege on that deal and chop that rate to 58.8 cents, after many Ontarians already invested in the technology... Suddenly Ontario Working Families won't get that return on investment in the time they were told. Now Ontarians are looking at timelines of over a decade, and still after this latest price change, that is not even certain. In addition to the rate slashing, many Rural Ontarians are now being told that their contracts can no longer be fulfilled, after they've invested their retirement incomes into these Solar Power Systems. This is how Dalton McGuinty protects Ontario's Working Families. (See: <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/connie_woodcock/2010/07/09/14665841.html" target="_blank">Toronto Sun: Dalton McGuinty 's solar chop: Woodcock</a>, <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/ontarios-search-for-a-solar-system/article1919546/singlepage/#articlecontent" target="_blank">Globe and Mail: Ontario's search for a solar system</a> and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/02/24/ontario-green-projects.html" target="_blank">CBC: Ont. goes ahead with large green energy projects</a>.)<br />
<br />
29. The Dalton McGuinty Samsung Deal Scandal - Where Dalton McGuinty awarded the Korean Conglomerate Samsung with "the mother of all sole-sourced untendered contracts", a sweetheart deal worth $7 Billion to develop Green Energy Technology in Ontario. In exchange for the deal, Samsung will get Ontarians to pay significantly higher feed-in-tariff energy rates for the next 25 years. Is this looking out for Ontario Working Families? What about looking out for Ontario businesses that could have done the same work that Samsung is being allowed? (See: <a href="http://www.thestar.com/article/753609" target="_blank">Toronto Star: Tories seek probe into $7B green energy deal</a> and <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-samsung-in-7-billion-deal-for-green-energy/article1439002/" target="_blank">Globe and Mail: Ontario's green deal raises ire of energy developers</a>.)<br />
<br />
30. The Dalton McGuinty Ontario Sunshine List's Skyrocketing Total Membership Scandal - Where under Dalton McGuinty, the number of Ontario Public Sector workers making $100,000 or more has skyrocketed from just over 12,000 members in 2003, to a whopping 63,371 in 2009, or in total, an over 500% increase while Dalton McGuinty has been Premier. And Ontario's Working Families wonder how taxes seem to constantly rise under Dalton McGuinty while the services provided in return are decreasing, because in addition to his Government's countless failures (see the 29 points above), he still finds a way to give them raises and push them into the six-figure salary range. Meanwhile, Ontario Working Families pick up the bill and can't afford to live. This is how Dalton McGuinty protects Ontario's Working Families? (See: <a href="http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/647918871.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+01%2C+2003&author=Richard+Brennan&pub=Toronto+Star&%0A%0Adesc=Strike+overtime+helps+pad+province%27s+%24100%2C000+club+%3B+More+than+12%2C000+on+%27sunshine%27+list+Hospital+network+CEO+highest+paid&pqatl=google" target="_blank">Toronto Star Clipping from 2003: Strike overtime helps pad province's $100,000 club ; More than 12,000 on 'sunshine' list; Hospital network CEO highest paid</a> and <a href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100331/100331_sunshine/20100331/?hub=CP24Home" target="_blank">CTV: AGO gallery CEO is No. 3 on province's sunshine list</a>.)<br />
<br />
After these 30 examples of failures by the Dalton McGuinty Ontario Liberal Government, supported by the supposed "Working Families" Coalition, you would think that this would be it. But truthfully, there are many, many, many more examples of failures that have cost Ontario's <i>true</i> Working Families their entire livelihood. I think if I continue, we will all just descend into depression, so I will stop right here.<br />
<br />
Now, with all of these broken promises, scandals and taxes, one would wonder how this coalition could be in anyway whatsoever trying to protect Ontario's Working Families. Working Families are not interested in protecting the very people who decrease their health coverage while raising their health care costs, purposely steal their hard earned tax dollars so they can go live it up at luxury resorts, thousand-dollar-a-night hotels, luxury spas, purchase luxury vehicles, have lavish parties, eat expensive dinners with expensive wine and champagne, get massages, manicures, pedicures and facials, buy flat screen TVs, video games, go to Theatre Shows, get Gym Memberships and Weekly Allowances, blow billions of dollars on failed initiatives, give millions and millions of dollars to their friends via government grants and contracts where there was no approval process and no accountability. All the while forcing Ontario's <i>true</i> Working Families to give up more and more of the money that they desperately need for them and their children to survive.<br />
<br />
This is not a group of people looking to protect Ontario's Working Families. This Coalition is exactly the opposite of a group trying to protect Ontario's Working Families. The "Working Families" Coalition is the definition of everything that is anti-family in Ontario and they urgently need to be stopped.<br />
<br />
The best thing that Ontario's Working Families can do to stop this corrupt "family" coalition, is to remove their "Boss" Dalton McGuinty and his party of greed and corruption from office.<br />
<br />
This October's Provincial Election will be Ontario's <i>TRUE</i> Working Families' best and only chance to do so. <br />
<br />
Let's finally remove this cancer that is killing our families here in Ontario.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
PS: Here is a great YouTube video that truly explains what the "Working Families" Coalition is all about, and how they work. Take a look:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><object style="height: 390px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/su4PwZCWUdg?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/su4PwZCWUdg?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object></div><br />
This video was a great find from the following site: <a href="http://canadaconservative.blogspot.com/2011/03/ontarios-working-families-coalition.html">Ontario's "Working Families Coalition" explained</a>. (Just giving credit where credit is due...)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robin24/5034100202/sizes/l/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/robin24/5034100202/sizes/l/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robin24/" target="_blank">Robin_24</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dalton_McGuinty_Crop_2.jpg" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dalton_McGuinty_Crop_2.jpg</a> by <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sherurcij" target="_blank">Joshua Sherurcij</a> on Wikipedia<br />
Compilation of the above images and title artwork created by jackandcokewithalime.<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-43986681595220448502011-03-12T11:19:00.000-05:002011-03-12T11:19:49.334-05:00Torontonians Wanting To Pay More Taxes Should Be Allowed To Do So!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHdzbI3cOsayJV3zErczoWEHLitYZ0rOSKQmFUmdRsFLQSTAMbgYBUBkfTvpBgexbo8fvrJOcaRfTGyDvmMSknl8ZGSOgipNogFIeinnNT8aN5QJOwWuX_iPQGTli4mnBjlhuM1eiEeMrb/s1600/TorontoCityCouncilClowns_AdamVaughGordPerks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHdzbI3cOsayJV3zErczoWEHLitYZ0rOSKQmFUmdRsFLQSTAMbgYBUBkfTvpBgexbo8fvrJOcaRfTGyDvmMSknl8ZGSOgipNogFIeinnNT8aN5QJOwWuX_iPQGTli4mnBjlhuM1eiEeMrb/s640/TorontoCityCouncilClowns_AdamVaughGordPerks.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Super Mayor Rob Ford fights every day to help out the taxpayers in this city, and every day he is opposed by leftist elitist scumbags like Toronto City Councillors Adam Vaughan and Gord Perks, who try to do everything they can to continue to increase taxes on Torontonians, all the while pushing for further reckless spending and lack of accountability for Toronto's various Departments and arms-length agencies.<br />
<br />
Reminder: Both City Councillors Adam Vaughan and Gord Perks (along with Janet Davis, Pam McConnell, Joe Mihevc, and Sarah Doucette) voted against repealing the Toronto Personal Vehicle Tax (see: <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/12/toronto-mayor-rob-ford-successfully.html" target="_blank">Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Successfully Abolished the Personal Vehicle Tax!</a>), and I say, if they want their constituents to pay the tax, then let their constituents have the choice to do so!<br />
<br />
If they also want their constituents to pay the Land Transfer Tax (after Mayor Ford repeals it too), then I say let them have the option to do that as well!<br />
<br />
As a severely over-taxed Toronto taxpayer, I am more than happy to have people who feel like they have so much money that they don't know what to do with it, to please feel free to go ahead and cut a cheque to the City of Toronto. In fact, feel free to setup a pre-authorized debit or a direct garnisheeing of your wages for whatever percentage you like, the higher the better, to the City of Toronto. Go right ahead!! In fact, I implore you to do so. Please!!<br />
<br />
While you're at it, for those who want to increase taxes to further fund the Arts and Culture in this City, feel free to again, cut a cheque to the City of Toronto! Go right ahead!<br />
<br />
You want to pay an additional tax on gas, cut a cheque to the City of Toronto.<br />
<br />
You want to add a 1% sales tax to everything in Toronto, cut a cheque to the City of Toronto.<br />
<br />
Now, I, unlike the majority of constituents in Adam Vaughan's and Gord Perks' Wards (or at least those that voted for those two morons), don't have even one additional penny that I can spare to give towards additional taxes and fees, and therefore, when I see scandals like the one uncovered recently at the TCHC, I get absolutely furious as I could have used those tax dollars that I gave up for a million other things that I desperately need.<br />
<br />
But again, if there are some Torontonians out there who have that great problem of their wallets and bank accounts being too fat, then feel free to lose some of that weight by passing that cash on to the City of Toronto. I mean, you have no problem trying to force ALL Torontonians to do so, so why not start with yourselves as a symbol, then maybe if the rest of Toronto sees your point (LOL!!), they may contribute as well. No, really. Seriously! ;)<br />
<br />
I mean, who am I to tell you how to spend <i>your</i> money? Though obviously you elitists are not extending me and the rest of Torontonians the same courtesy.<br />
<br />
Here's the related story from the Toronto Sun:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/03/08/17538006.html" target="_blank">Vehicle tax rebate returned to city</a><br />
<blockquote>Councillor Adam Vaughan handed in an anonymous resident’s car tax refund cheque to the city treasurer on Tuesday during the morning session of city council.<br />
<br />
“I’m being told I’m about to receive more of these cheques,” Vaughan told council before asking staff for direction.<br />
<br />
Council voted 39-6 in December to eliminate the $60 per year, per car tax effective Jan. 1. Around 147,000 refund cheques started going out last month to residents who had already paid the tax for 2011.<br />
<br />
Vaughan — no fan of Ford — was one of the six councillors to vote against scrapping the tax.<br />
<br />
Reading from the resident’s letter, Vaughan managed to deliver some shots at the mayor.<br />
<br />
“I believe you, as my city councillor, is in the best position to raise questions on the irresponsible fiscal management the city’s current administration seems bent on pursuing,” Vaughan read. “In Toronto, a city choked by traffic, we may need better and different services, what we don’t need is to erode municipal finances by catering to car owners while underfunding public transit.”<br />
<br />
Vaughan asked what the process is when councillors receive cheques from what he said appears to be a campaign to return the PVT to the city.<br />
<br />
City staff informed Vaughan they just need the cheque and the letter and they would issue a receipt.</blockquote><br />
Idiots...I mean, er..respectable Torontonians...<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
PS: Feel free to also give your money to me! I'll take it! Just click on that link on the right over there under the title that says "Buy Me A Drink?", and feel free to contribute as much or as little as you like! I could sure use it, and rest assured, you can feel very good about yourself after doing so. Believe me. It's true. <br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
Adam Vaughan: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adam_Vaughan_2007.JPG" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adam_Vaughan_2007.JPG</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sherurcij" target="_blank">Joshua Sherurcij</a> on Wikipedia<br />
Gord Perks: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gord_Perks_at_his_Campaign_Launch.jpg" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gord_Perks_at_his_Campaign_Launch.jpg</a> by <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Abebenjoe" target="_blank">Abebenjoe</a> on Wikipedia<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-60322168976618349172011-03-12T09:50:00.000-05:002011-03-12T09:50:46.327-05:00Ohio Union-Busting Displays Steps Needed To End Ontario & Toronto Unions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgREZxsCA8x_Y2XR7Am7N1Nmr5kzhtvFz8SLq8abhJ6LA6h6_S33oajCY5kmVrHBmQfxG1p4avKW8vACMI0TWbeLEnCZN41pZy76UyrH37RKKD5Hy00naYFcEGUelYUn6vSYnUaAjG8JTUg/s1600/TorontoGarbageStrike_by_TorontoCityLife_on_flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgREZxsCA8x_Y2XR7Am7N1Nmr5kzhtvFz8SLq8abhJ6LA6h6_S33oajCY5kmVrHBmQfxG1p4avKW8vACMI0TWbeLEnCZN41pZy76UyrH37RKKD5Hy00naYFcEGUelYUn6vSYnUaAjG8JTUg/s640/TorontoGarbageStrike_by_TorontoCityLife_on_flickr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
It is no surprise that the Public Sector Unions in Ontario and Toronto specifically have gone completely out of control. Unions use to be about protecting the rights of workers, but everyone knows that is no longer the case (no matter what the Unionists will tell you).<br />
<br />
No, in today's world, Public Sector Unions are all about unfairly blackmailing the taxpayers and forcing us to pay bloated and fat wages, provide over-the-top benefits, and submitting to implement jobs-for-life types of clauses for these horrifyingly over-compensated Union workers and their Union Leaders, leading the Province and City to having astronomical deficits and a resultant relentless never-ending attack on the taxpayer of tax increase after tax increase after tax increase.<br />
<br />
Public Leaders like Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, and former Toronto Mayor David Miller, instead of protecting the taxpayers against these Unions, actually gave the Unions more power, all in the name of getting their backing in their respective elections. Their <i>scumbag moves</i> in this regard are costing the taxpayers dearly.<br />
<br />
Now, every single time the topic of Busting the Unions comes up, we are told by various left-wing sources and Union sympathizers that it's just not possible, the Unions are protected by legislation and yada yada, it just can't happen. Well, tell that to the taxpayers in Ohio, whose Republican Governor John Kasich has turned the Ohio Public Sector Unions on their heads. You see, Leaders who truly do care about their taxpayers will find a way to protect them, as is their mandate.<br />
<br />
Ontario, after McGuinty is tossed, and Toronto, now that we have a <i>true</i> leader in Super Mayor Rob Ford, both have a great example in Ohio on how to end Unions in their respective jurisdictions, and the steps to do so are simple.<br />
<br />
Step 1: Remove the Right to Strike from the Unions (by declaring them essential or etc.).<br />
Step 2: Remove the Independant Arbitrators from the equation, and leave the final arbitration decisions in the hands of our elected political leaders.<br />
<br />
Here's the story from the Toronto Star:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/950648--walkom-a-lesson-for-ontario-in-sneaky-union-busting" target="_blank">Walkom: A lesson for Ontario in sneaky union-busting</a><br />
<blockquote>Canadian labour has its eyes firmly fixed on Wisconsin, where right-wing Republican governor Scott Walker hopes to destroy the state’s public sector unions.<br />
<br />
Unions here — both private and public — worry that Canadian governments might follow suit. Some have sent members to monitor the Wisconsin struggle.<br />
<br />
But the real model for Canadian governments interested in gutting trade unions may not be Wisconsin. It could be Ohio. The state senate there has just passed a bill that, in effect, hands over all labour arbitration decisions involving public workers directly to the governments that employ them.<br />
<br />
Or, to put it another way, the Ohio bill would give public sector bosses the right to unilaterally determine how much their workers are paid, what kind of benefits they receive and how many hours a day they work.<br />
<br />
There hasn’t been as much attention paid to Ohio’s attack on labour. Its Republican governor, John Kasich, is not as bumptious as Wisconsin’s Walker.<br />
<br />
But the Ohio remedy has the virtue of being sneakier. And that may appeal to Canadian politicians, particularly in Ontario.<br />
<br />
The key is control over arbitration. Public sector workers deemed essential are already denied the right to strike in Canadian provinces. In Ontario, essential workers include police, nurses and hospital employees.<br />
<br />
Queen’s Park, at the request of Toronto council, is preparing to add the city’s transit workers to the list.<br />
<br />
But being denied the right to strike hasn’t necessarily hurt essential workers. That’s because any disputes that can’t be solved by bargaining are decided by independent arbitrators.<br />
<br />
The Ohio solution, which still has to be approved by the state’s Republican-dominated lower house, goes something like this. First, all public sector employees — from teachers to fire fighters to clerks — are deemed essential workers and denied the right to strike.<br />
<br />
Their union rights are not removed entirely. They are allowed to bargain for wages (although not for much else).<br />
<br />
However in the event of an impasse, the final decision is made not by independent arbitrators but by the workers’ politician employers — which makes the entire bargaining exercise effectively irrelevant.<br />
<br />
As my colleague Rob Benzie has reported, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is already setting his sights on public sector arbitration. Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals might also find some version of the Ohio solution to their liking.<br />
<br />
For those who would bust unions, the elimination of independent arbitration is just as effective as the blowsier Wisconsin approach. But, done cleverly, its aim is easier to disguise.</blockquote><br />
Why do you think that TTC Union Boss Bob Kinnear was willing to give up the world to avoid having the TTC be declared essential (and have them lost their right to strike)? This is his and his Union's worst nightmare slowly coming true, step-by-step. Yes, yes... With all of the rhetoric around how making them essential would be more costly to taxpayers (which is not true anyway), people need to look at the big picture.<br />
<br />
It's time to give the power back to the taxpayers, and remove these out-of-date Unions from Ontario and Toronto. The Unions have been milking us dry for years without cause, and their honeymoon had to end sometime. We can only hope that that time is now.<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/torontocitylife/3741514124/sizes/z/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/torontocitylife/3741514124/sizes/z/</a> by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/torontocitylife" target="_blank">torontocitylife</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-67783659162427936342011-03-12T01:21:00.001-05:002011-03-12T01:23:14.482-05:00Douchebag NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman Arrogantly Dismisses Air Canada<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiit1ebPMROPurcu43yEt8HMUbh-8h4VPX7_otUFesriOnm8d3XeS3Otu3sJ9Tr__qo5O01zsSoMYZiGj4HA0qT8xNreNMDqNR-w4uQJgPRofqGbica_wP1LxawMtQkC1bASSRVeFMW2plo/s1600/AirCanada_GaryBettman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiit1ebPMROPurcu43yEt8HMUbh-8h4VPX7_otUFesriOnm8d3XeS3Otu3sJ9Tr__qo5O01zsSoMYZiGj4HA0qT8xNreNMDqNR-w4uQJgPRofqGbica_wP1LxawMtQkC1bASSRVeFMW2plo/s640/AirCanada_GaryBettman.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
After the NHL failed to properly punish Zdeno Chara for his blatantly illegal and injury-intending hit on Max Pacioretty (see: <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/03/zdeno-chara-hit-on-max-pacioretty-was.html" target="_blank">Zdeno Chara Hit on Max Pacioretty Was 100% Deliberate Intent To Injure...</a>), Air Canada, one of the NHL's largest Canadian Sponsors, threatened to pull their sponsorship (see: <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/see-air-canadas-letter-to-the-nhl/article1937106/" target="_blank">See Air Canada's letter to the NHL</a>), if something is not done to remedy this latest upward trend of career ending and life threatening head shots in the NHL.<br />
<br />
Garry Bettman, resident douchebag and NHL Commissioner, arrogantly dismissed Air Canada like it was nothing, telling Air Canada that if it wants to pull its sponsorship, it should go right ahead.<br />
<br />
Here's the story from the Toronto Star:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/article/951845--pacioretty-injury-horrific-but-part-of-the-game-bettman" target="_blank">Pacioretty injury horrific but part of the game: Bettman</a><br />
<blockquote>NHL commissioner Gary Bettman says there’s no need to “over-legislate” head hits.<br />
<br />
The issue has been front and centre this season, especially this week in the wake of Max Pacioretty being hospitalized with a severe concussion and fractured vertebra. The Montreal forward was slammed into a stanchion holding the glass at the Bell Centre on a hit by Bruins captain Zdeno Chara.<br />
<br />
The NHL subsequently elected not to suspend Chara.<br />
<br />
“Our hockey operations people are extraordinarily comfortable with the decision that they made,” Bettman said. “It was a horrific injury, we’re sorry that it happened in our fast-paced physical game, but I don’t think whether or not supplemental discipline was imposed would change what happened and in fact the people in the game who I have heard from almost to a person ... believe that it was handled appropriately by hockey operations.”<br />
<br />
The issue of head hits is expected to be raised again at a meeting of NHL general managers in Florida next week.<br />
<br />
As for Air Canada threatening to pull its sponsorship over such injuries, Bettman says the league can find other carriers if the airline doesn’t want its business.<br />
<br />
“Air Canada is a great brand, as is the National Hockey League, and if they decide they need to do other things with their sponsorship dollars that’s their prerogative, just like it’s the prerogative of our clubs that fly on Air Canada to make other arrangements if they don’t think Air Canada is giving them the appropriate level of service.”</blockquote><br />
With Bettman's response, Air Canada is pretty much left with no other option except to follow through on its threat, especially given the embarrassing nature of Bettman's comment.<br />
<br />
I wonder how the Canadian NHL teams are going to feel about that, given that they receive a large amount of the Air Canada sponsorship dollars coming into the NHL. Oh wait, Bettman doesn't care about the Canadian teams in the NHL... Oh, yeah...<br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
PS: Violence in the game might be one thing, but intent to injure is a complete other.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gary_Bettman_Crop.jpg" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gary_Bettman_Crop.jpg</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pirana/" target="_blank">captcanuk</a> on Wikipedia<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/62067745@N00/2060079247/sizes/l/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/62067745@N00/2060079247/sizes/l/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/62067745@N00/" target="_blank">WestendRaider</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-80559736841172149632011-03-12T00:18:00.005-05:002011-03-13T09:16:17.411-04:00Zdeno Chara Hit on Max Pacioretty Was 100% Deliberate Intent To Injure...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwIb6lfcsZO789-EOOodlg3u9fD_ysujIVixDy9tUlz9WxHGq0NBR3pKySpf8zEwtv1eolFW6WXVAWkrqdndtdGF9MGTYcIhRmYBj7R95TiYA7iMSbzXqsoohAtXjXATzXWhDku_1pTDir/s1600/ZdenoCharaHitOnPacioretty_from_YouTube_by_halorocker465.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwIb6lfcsZO789-EOOodlg3u9fD_ysujIVixDy9tUlz9WxHGq0NBR3pKySpf8zEwtv1eolFW6WXVAWkrqdndtdGF9MGTYcIhRmYBj7R95TiYA7iMSbzXqsoohAtXjXATzXWhDku_1pTDir/s640/ZdenoCharaHitOnPacioretty_from_YouTube_by_halorocker465.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Anyone who says that Zdeno Chara didn't intend to do exactly what he did to Max Pacioretty, which was essentially take his head off using the glass divider on the boards, either knows nothing about hockey, or is just a blatant liar.<br />
<br />
It's not like players don't know about that glass divider. It's not like players don't slam each other into that divider all the time (though obviously not with the same criminal intent that Chara had). Ok, come on... Chara's team was down 4-0, Pacioretty didn't even have the puck anymore when Chara went for him, and Chara had been wanting to get revenge on Pacioretty for his shove the other night. This was his best opportunity to completely obliterate Pacioretty in pure vengeance, and he did exactly that (as was his plan).<br />
<br />
Chara should be thrown in prison for what he did, and I really don't see any difference between what he did, and what Todd Bertuzzi did to Steve Moore, except I would say that it was much worse.<br />
<br />
...Idiots <i>pretending</i> like Chara didn't intend not only to injure Pacioretty, but to absolutely destroy his life...<br />
<br />
Chara, though he may not have a history of being a dirty player, definitely was exposed to those kinds of <i>scumbag tactics</i> during his time in Ottawa with his buddy Daniel Alfredsson (one of the dirtiest players to ever play the game). As such, this move by Chara should come as no surprise.<br />
<br />
Here's the video in case you wanted to analyze it for yourself. As you will see, Chara purposely pushes Pacioretty's head into the divider (as is shown in the screenshot above from the YouTube video).<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/unZ5Iw2s-iE" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
PS: And yet again we had another catastrophic failure by an official who was standing right there and saw the entire thing... 2 minutes for interference... What a joke.<br />
<br />
PPS: Don Cherry on HNIC tonight (for the video, see: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Sports/CBC%27s_Hockey_Night_in_Canada/Coach%27s_Corner/1239402029/ID=1839616999" target="_blank">Coach's Corner: March 12</a>) agreed with the NHL's decision to not suspend Chara. When it comes to hockey, I respect Don's opinion more than anyone elses (except for Mario Lemieux, who I would say I give equal weighting). All I have to say about Don's comments is that Don sees that type of hit (the turnbuckle-hit) as a normal part of the game, and he blames the arena design moreso than the intent of the player (Chara) who made the hit for the injury. Don is worried that if Chara was suspended, then next time he may refrain from making that type of hit. I completely see his point, but, just because the hit is legal, doesn't mean that Chara's intent to injure was legal as well. There's a reason why so many players get hit on the divider and don't end up with a broken neck... That's all I'm saying. Don's really just trying to protect the physical aspect of the game (which I totally understand, as it's a key part of the game), and any attempts to try and regulate it can end up in a slippery slope which may remove the physicality entirely. I completely understand that. But this argument that it's a fast paced game, and there's no way that Chara could have intended to do what he did, especially since he's been playing for 13 years and has never tried to end players' careers (as he could have been doing it left and right due to his size)....I'm not buying it. Yes it's a fast paced game, but these players are professionals at it, and have been playing at this fast pace their entire lives... Ok, so don't feed me that crap. Anyone who says that Chara didn't intend to do exactly what he did is just lying. Next, whether Chara hasn't injured anyone in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years or 50 years, when you are in the heat of the moment and you are looking for revenge, it doesn't matter what your track record is. Do murderers have their murder trials automatically dismissed because in their entire lives they've never been convicted of a crime? Come on... Give me a break.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
Screenshot from video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unZ5Iw2s-iE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unZ5Iw2s-iE</a> by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/halorocker465" target="_blank">halorocker465</a> on YouTube<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-812689964160142293.post-55060072519204977792011-03-11T22:39:00.000-05:002011-03-11T22:39:16.195-05:00Disgraced TCHC Ex-CEO Derek Ballantyne Finally Tossed from Build Toronto!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqpUDUdnQSyqJZVWlnP_4pqFohW7CGuRE5KHs1FpyhOdGEaeqF-fcC6dgL7hNhxWSfxyrPah3GbqtboYZS_Na3WZ-OHGw-4npE9Juls_ABeIFxeZdCNJ1Poy-RgKXHTDVvB7GLAFt0ypV6/s1600/TorontoSkylineNight_by_antkriz_on_flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqpUDUdnQSyqJZVWlnP_4pqFohW7CGuRE5KHs1FpyhOdGEaeqF-fcC6dgL7hNhxWSfxyrPah3GbqtboYZS_Na3WZ-OHGw-4npE9Juls_ABeIFxeZdCNJ1Poy-RgKXHTDVvB7GLAFt0ypV6/s640/TorontoSkylineNight_by_antkriz_on_flickr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Super Mayor Rob Ford said he would deal with Toronto Community Housing Corp's ex-CEO Derek Ballantyne who led the TCHC during its scandalous years outlined in the recent scathing Auditor General's report (see: <a href="http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2011/03/toronto-community-housing-corp-tchc.html" target="_blank">Toronto Community Housing Corp. (TCHC) Board & Staff Swam in "Gravy"</a>) and who currently is the <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:66ncYGkDhg0J:www.buildtoronto.ca/management.shtml+ballantyne&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&source=www.google.com" target="_blank">Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Operations at Build Toronto</a>, was finally today rightfully tossed in the trash from his position at Build Toronto (as Mayor Ford promised).<br />
<br />
Here's the story from the Toronto Sun:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/03/11/17587066.html" target="_blank">Former TCHC chief leaves Build Toronto</a><br />
<blockquote>Mayor Rob Ford is one CEO away from removing everyone he wanted to roll out in the wake of the Toronto Community Housing scandal.<br />
<br />
The former head of the TCHC, Derek Ballantyne, has left his position as COO of Build Toronto, the city-owned corporation announced Friday.<br />
<br />
“The board of directors of Build Toronto has determined that the recent allegations set out in the auditor general’s report regarding (TCHC) make it impossible for Mr. Ballantyne to continue to perform his duties for Build Toronto, whose sole shareholder is the City of Toronto,” read the statement from Blake Hutcheson, the chairman of the board.<br />
<br />
When the auditor general’s reports on TCHC were revealed last week, Ford called for the resignation of the corporation’s current CEO Keiko Nakamura and its board of directors. Asked about the fate of Ballantyne at Build Toronto, Ford said an answer on the former CEO’s fate would be coming soon and that he had “expressed his concerns” to Hutcheson.<br />
<br />
Ballantyne’s exit follows the resignation of TCHC’s seven civilian board members and two city councillors along with city council’s removal this week of the two tenant representatives and two city councillors who refused to quit.<br />
<br />
Nakamura, whose fate is still up in the air, will take orders from the lone member of the interim board, Ford’s handpicked managing director, Case Ootes.</blockquote><br />
Now only ex-COO and current CEO of the TCHC, Keiko Nakamura, remains. As soon as she finalizes her severance package with the TCHC, you can expect her to be tossed in the trash as well, and then finally the TCHC can move on from this scandal and get back to its <a href="http://www.torontohousing.ca/our-mission" target="_blank">mission</a> of "providing affordable housing, connecting tenants to services and opportunities, and working together to build healthy communities". <br />
<br />
--jackandcokewithalime<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Image:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ananth/45920231/sizes/l/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ananth/45920231/sizes/l/</a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ananth/" target="_blank">antkriz</a> on flickr<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif" /></a>)</i></span></div>jackandcokewithalimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16459660574250332680noreply@blogger.com3