Category: Politics

Mea Culpa. I apologize. I bet you don’t hear apologies that often from my side of the political fence.

During a recent series of Huffington Postarticles, I extolled the virtues of Andrea Horwath, “current” leader of the Ontario NDP. At least for now.

I thought Andrea Horwath had the political smarts, toughness and experience to lead her party, the NDP, to its first victory since Bob Rae, the then leader of the Ontario NDP, was surprisingly catapulted into the Premier’s office in the mid 1990s.

I totally overestimated Horwath. I thought she possessed the steel cojones of her fabled Hamilton Tiger Cats. I thought she had the strength to rise above being a mere handmaiden to union bosses, like Sid Ryan. I was wrong.

Last year Horwath was novel. A ballsy, earthy authentic female leader.

Last year I thought Horwath adroitly played the unobtainable maiden as the then Premier Dalton McGuinty ardently tried to woo Horwath with all kinds of political goodies and bonbons. In order to get her on board and support Dalton’s budget. Or at least not oppose it and bring down the McGuinty government.

Last year Horwath’s negotiating tactics and public actions worked. Last year, her shtick rocked.

This time around. Not so much.

I thought last year, Horwath would use the past 12 months, to build up the NDP political organization, both administratively and on the ground. In order to get ready for a possible election this year.

I thought she would use the time to improve NDP party fundraising, reduce party debt and build up a war chest.

It seems that Horwath has failed in all these objectives.

My NDP sources and friends advise the following. The NDP is far from campaign ready. Its head office and administration are weak. Its political ground game, save for an unhealthy over reliance on union members, is non existent. The NDP finances are weak. Again, the NDP is too dependent upon its narrow base of union supporters. Horwath has failed to reach out to other progressive/ leftist organizations and Ontario voters, in general, who may share the NDP’s views and policies.

By the way. What are the NDP policies?

Horwath still wants to go after those evil corporations and make them pay more taxes.

Wow! How original! We have been hearing that same NDP mantra, “Make the Corporations Pay” since the founding of the NDP.

The only other visible NDP policy is Andrea Horwath.

Unfortunately, her brand and the NDP, which is intertwined with the massive ego that is, Andrea, both have been severely tarnished.

Horwath has been masterfully outplayed by Premier Kathleen Wynne.

This time around Horwath was so predictable. Horwath threatened to force an election, unless her demands were met. But her demands were very inconsequential.

A 15 per cent reduction in car premiums. More borrowed funds by the Ontario government for unemployed youth. More borrowed funds or hard-earned taxpayers’ money for seniors and home care.

Are these meager requests all the NDP brain trust could come up with? Is this meaningless grab for more taxpayers’ money, the raison d’etre of the Ontario NDP?

Where’s the beef, Andrea?

This time Premier Wynne and the Liberals were ready for Horwath’s predictable maneuverings. They knew she would not settle if her first demands were met. So Wynne brilliantly doubled down, and offered to Horwath, more than what Horwath originally demanded. Knowing Horwath, would want to drag this negotiation on further and continue to try to hog the political spotlight for herself.

Predictably, Horwath was not satisfied, at first. So she asked for more. For more government accountability. For another auditor or ombudsman. The more Horwath dragged out these negotiations. The more she and her party lost credibility. And the more the NDP dropped in the polls.

The more Horwath negotiated, the more it became clear, that Horwath and the NDP were so weak, and so disorganized, that it was highly unlikely Horwath would ever force an election. And the more ridiculous, Horwath and the NDP appeared to the public.

Horwath and the NDP are in a free fall.

No one in Ontario will credit Horwath and the NDP for having Wynne accept her inconsequential policy demands.

But now, by propping up Wynne and the Liberals, the NDP have become complicit in the Liberals’ many scandals: OLG, eHealth, Ornge, OLG again. The NDP have become accessories after the fact and the crimes. But accessories, nonetheless.

No wonder Wynne has such a winning smile. Underneath Wynne’s calm, flexible, touchy-feely façade, lies one tough, decisive, determined and disciplined political leader. She has completely outplayed Horwath, And she taken back the “soft” left who had drifted to Horwath and the NDP.

I doff my chapeau to you, Premier.

For someone who hates casinos, you gambled with Horwath, bet your political future, and you masterfully stripped Horwath of her mortgage money, her lunch money and her political dignity and credibility.

Democratic House leader, Nancy Pelosi, recently tried to meet with Canadian New Democrat Party (“NDP”) Leader Thomas Mulcair, in Washington, under the radar.

They failed miserably.

The politically sensitive Keystone pipeline issue was discussed in secret. Confidential agreements were signed. Fingers crossed. And hope to die.

Everyone’s fears were justified.

We had not seen the non-camera shy Pelosi since 2010, when she led the House Democrats to a crushing defeat.

Pelosi emerged from sipping Zinfandel with Mulcair. And dropped her first grenade on US/Canada relations, when she declared, “It is just amazing to me that Keystone advocates claim the project would create tens of thousands of jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The oil is for export and the jobs are nowhere near that.”

Pelosi dropped another verbal grenade when she added irrelevantly, “Canadians don’t want the pipeline in their own country.”

Fact check time, Ms. Pelosi. With due respect.

Canada is presently governed by the Conservative party, led by Prime Minister Harper, which has a majority in the Canadian Parliament. These Conservatives are in favour of the Keystone pipeline and a pipeline from the Alberta oil sands, west to British Columbia. Similarly, the Federal Liberal party, led currently by Bob Rae, andenjoying about a 30 per cent approval rating in Canada, also supports Keystone and a pipeline to BC .

Even publicly, Tom Mulcair of the NDP, the official opposition party, supports an east/west Canadian pipeline.

Ms. Pelosi, I am sure that there are some Canadians who do not want a Canadian pipeline transporting Alberta oil in Canada. Just as there are many San Franciscans in your tony hood who are in favor of bicycles and streetcars and don’t want cars in your fair city.

But upon such limited appeal and flimsy strands of logic, national policies are not made. At least not in Canada.

Also, Ms. Pelosi, we get that you are a strong environmentalist against fossil fuel development.

And as I have warned in two previous HuffPost pieces, the most recent US State Department report cut the legs out of the environment opposition to the Keystone pipeline.

The Keystone pipeline will have a negligible effect on the environment. Without that argument, the environment movement is forced to argue on national security grounds and economic grounds. Both areas in which the anti-Keystone movement is woefully weak.

And Ms. Pelosi, thank you, for proving my point.

Notwithstanding Ms. Pelosi crapping all over Canada and the Canadian Conservative government, Canada still remains the United States’ strongest and most trusted ally.

Don’t believe me, Ms. Pelosi. Call up your Hollywood buddy, Ben Affleck, and privately screen his award-winning film, “Argo”, once more. How easy you ungrateful Americans forget.

Oil coming from Alberta is still more secure and more reliable than oil from the anti-American, anti-capitalist Venezuela. Or from such unstable, authoritarian, homophobic, misogynistic, Mideast countries like Saudi Arabia or Al Gore’s favorite,Qatar.

The US has the option, once this oil is refined in American Gulf refineries, to use it internally for its own purposes, or to export it. Reduction in dependence from non-North American oil. Pretty clear.

However, when Ms. Pelosi tried to undermine Keystone by questioning the number of jobs actually created. That is when her true colors were revealed.

Blue. As in blue blood. Elitist. The notorious One per cent. Welcome to Romney Country, Ms. Pelosi.

The US State Department has estimated that Keystone will create over 42,000 jobs. Either directly involved in the construction of the pipeline or in related service jobs, which will assist the construction workers. The Keystone pipeline may also lead to additional jobs related to the American Gulf refineries refining this Albertan oil.

So the Keystone project can employ over 42,000 currently unemployed Americans.

Note that these jobs will be funded by the private sector, as a result of demand from the private sector.

And as opposed to the US government borrowing more money from China to pay for “make work jobs” of
little economic value.

But Democrats like Pelosi, multi-millionaires, (family net worth about $12 million) from wealthy districts like San Francisco, are in reality, indifferent to the plight of your average lower/middle income Americans. Who need basic jobs to pay the mortgage, buy food for the family and provide an education for their children.

These fancy electric car-driving Liberals prefer putting their own esoteric environment/ideological interests over the day to day mundane interests of hard-working Americans, who desperately need the jobs that Keystone will provide.

As a result, leading Democrats like Ms. Pelosi, are driving working class Americans in America’s heartland, into the arms of the pro Keystone Republicans. And the Democrats have only themselves to blame.

The headquarters of The International Civil Aviation Organization (“ICAO”) has been located in Montreal since 1946. Now, the upstart oil-rich kingdom of Qatar wants to lay down some really big buckaroos to move the ICAO head office and all its employees from Montreal to Qatar’s very own foreign worker-based country.

These autocratic Qatar oil sheiks have a lot of chutzpah. But respect for civil rights and workers’ rights? Not so much.

Before I speculate on the “shock and awe” attack ad campaign that Stephen Harper will unleash against this unsuspecting Persian Gulf emirate, here is some important background information.

ICAO’s current Montreal headquarters were built in the 1990s at a cost of about $100-million.

The organization employs 534 people and it generates over $80-million annually for Montreal’s economy.

For over 67 years, Montreal has been an effective host of this UN Agency. There have been no serious complaints by the UN, ICAO, or its employees about Montreal, or Quebec, or Canada. Except that now, Qatar has suddenly discovered that the weather in Montreal is too cold. And Canada may be too far from Asia and Europe.

This does not seem to be a deal-breaker to me. But the UN and its members have been known to make some wacky decisions. Electing Libya to the UN Human RightsCouncil in 2011, comes to mind.

Losing ICAO would be a blow for Canada and Montreal, the hub of Canada’s aviation industry.

Qatar is proposing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to construct new premises in Qatar, to move materials and staffers, and to pay for all expenses resulting from staff terminations and severance packages.

Qatar is also counting on using its oil wealth and its influence in the Arab and Muslim world to persuade enough Arab and Muslim UN member states, and at least 60 per cent of the 191 UN member states, to vote against Canada and move the ICAO headquarters to Qatar. The idea seems to be to punish Canada for its apparently one-sided pro-Israeli international position.

Qatar’s big mistake is thinking that the Prime Minister and his Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird are just going to roll over and do nothing — essentially wimp out like past federal Liberal leaders. Or like past federal Liberal governments, which tried to get along diplomatically by going along.

Such past Liberal governments would seriously consider throwing Israel under the bus over an issue like this. Or perhaps cutting back on public support of Israel, under the guise of being an “honest broker” between Israel and the Palestinians in order to curry favour with Arab dictators and Arab oil sheiks (and to get their vote). Keeping ICAO in Montreal and perhaps winning Canada a temporary seat on the UN Security Council.

Fortunately, Canada is not currently led by one of these past governments, or by federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. If Justin were faced with this very real threat from Qatar, he would probably engage in some serious soul-searching and naval gazing, searching far and wide for the root causes of why “poor” Qatar feels “excluded.” His mother, Maggie Trudeau, would probably whine publicly that Qatar is acting like a bully to her poor son, Justin. And to Canada. Because Justin and Canada just want to get along with everyone.

Unfortunately for Justin, the harsh reality is that Canada lives in a very tough, brutal, and competitive world where singing Kumbaya and dancing with flowers in your hair around the maypole do not impress oil potentates like Qatar.

Fortunately, Harper and Baird no longer give a flying frack about Canada being voted in as a temporary member of the UN Security Council. They also don’t give a frack about sucking up to such sterling UN members as Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen — or a whole host of other morally challenged UN member states.

Fortunately, in other words, Harper is one tough, decisive, hard-nosed, and hard-assed dude. And so is John Baird.

Quickly, Harper and Baird secured the very important support of the Obama Administration in opposing Qatar’s move on ICAO. Harper has temporarily buried the hatchet with Quebec Premier Pauline Marois. And together the right wing anti-Christ and the Separatist Destroyer of Canada have joined to fight Qatar’s bid to buy ICAO from Montreal.

Harper, not known for being particularly trade-union-friendly, has also secured the valuable support of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (“ITF”) and the International Trade Union Confederation (“ITUC”).

Both international unions are shocked and outraged that the UN would contemplate moving its headquarters to a country where there is a disturbing lack of democratic rights and workers’ rights.

Commenting on a possible move to Qatar, ITF general secretary David Cockroftangrily stated, “This defies belief. ICAO is the lead body for civil aviation across the world. How can an organization that has to defend the rights and safety of workers and passengers be moved to a state whose citizens’ pleas for democracy are answered with batons and buckshot?”

ITF President Paddy Crumlin added, “The UN cannot bend to the power of the Riyal at a time when ordinary Qataris’ fights for rights are met with massive repression. It’s doubly outrageous when thousands of staff at Qatar Airways are denied the fundamental right to union membership enshrined by the UN.”

ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow argued: “The people who work for the ICAO need to know that they would be moving to a rights-free zone where the fundamental standards of the International Labour Organization, a sister body of the ICAO, simply don’t apply. No foreign employee, whether a cleaner or a football star, is allowed to quit Qatar unless their employer allows them to.”

Note that Qatar is an absolute monarchy with about 250,000 citizens and over 1.2 million foreign workers who do most of the work there.

The above trade union leaders are referring to the fact that foreign workers in Qatar are treated as indentured slaves. Upon arrival, their passports are held by their employers. They have no freedoms. No democratic rights. No protections as workers or as humans.

They are terribly underpaid, underfed, and overworked. They live in overcrowded premises. Their lives are entirely controlled by their employers. And they are not allowed to do anything, including leaving Qatar, without the consent of their employers.

Not exactly a Workers’ Paradise.

Guess what, Attack ads work.

NDP BC Leader Adrian Dix tried to take the high road in this week’s BC provincial election.

And he crashed and burned. In one of the greatest upsets in BC and Canadian political history.

Adrian Dix was hoping to cruise to victory on the basis that BC voters were sick and tired of the Liberals after 12 years in power. And they wanted to kick the bums out and have a new government, for a change.

Dix had Liberal leader Christy Clark and the Liberals on the ropes.

BC voters had not forgotten that former Liberal leader Campbell had brought in the hated HST tax.

And the Liberals, like most parties in power for too many years, inevitably succumb to scandals and bungling.

And hence were extremely vulnerable.

Instead of hammering Clark and the Liberals with attack ads, reminding the voters why they were sick and tired of the Clark Liberals, due to their myriad of scandals, blunders, HST tax, costly government programs and arrogance, Dix tried to be Mr. Nice Guy.

Dix tried to moderate the NDP image. Make them more user friendly. Sort of government-ready to prudently manage the economy. Sort of what Horwath is doing in Ontario, while she does the two-step with Wynne.

That was a serious election blunder.

Then to make matters worse.

The old leftist crazy anti- business, anti-profits, anti-economy, anti-prosperity NDP monster also raised its ugly head, when Dix promised to kibosh the expansion of a crucial Kinder Morgan pipeline that moves heavy oil from Alberta to the Vancouver port.

In effect, Dix was threatening to bring BC’s economy and its prosperity to a halt.

Even before the environmental studies had been completed.

Will the Loony Left in BC, ever learn?

And the rest became political history.

So what are the lessons for Andrea Horwath?

As I have stated in numerous Huffington Post articles, Horwath, like NDP Adrian Dix, had Wynne and the Liberals on the ropes.

The Ontario electorate is sick and tired of the Liberals after 9 years of Dalton McGuinty.

There have been numerous scandals, OLG, eHealth, Ornge and the cancellation of the two gas plants at a cost of over $500 million and still counting. There is a scandalbrewing at OLG again.

Senior executives at OLG are earning bonuses and income in contravention of the government’s own guidelines for wage freezes on senior government officials.

Where there is smoke, there is fire.

More appropriately, the OLG “House” seems to be always winning.

And the poor Ontario electorate are being taken as suckers to the cleaners once again.

There are probably other OLG, Ornge, eHealth scandals, hidden inside the Liberal Government.

The only way to uncover these government abuses, is a change of administration.

If Andrea Horwath truly wants to clean up the Ontario government and make the Ontario government accountable, put your money where your mouth is.

Oppose the budget, and force an election.

Then unlike the limp Dix,

Attack. Attack. Attack.

You have 12 years of Liberal arrogance and incompetence to go after.

I think Horwath can still pull a victory off.

At worse, Horwath will be the leader of the major opposition party.

And Horwath together with Hudak, can then go through the former Liberal government books and expose the Liberal government’s past 12 years of mismanagement.

The future of Horwath and the Ontario NDP lay in marginalizing the Liberals. Not in jumping in bed with them for inconsequential short term progressive public policy gains.

Hudak and Tories are not the devils.

The NDP and Tories can together make Ontario more accountable, more transparent and less incompetent.

It is to Hudak’s interests long term interests to work with the NDP.

Which includes economic policies that work for the majority of working men and women in Ontario.

I know that seems counterintuitive.

But the Tories are not the natural enemy of the NDP in Ontario. The Liberals are.
The Liberals are putting the very existence and survival of the NDP at risk.

Read my lips. The Liberals are going after your NDP base and soft left support.

Weeks ago I warned Horwath, that the more you negotiate with the Wynne Liberals, the more the NDP will drop into the toilet.

My prediction has proven correct.

You may not like my politics, but my predictions about your fate are correct.

If Horwath and the NDP support the Wynne government this time around, Horwath will be toast in about a year and the NDP will have fallen off the political map.

Recent Ipso Reid polls should be good news for Ontario Tory Leader Tim Hudak.

He and his party are up 9 per cent over Ontario Premier Wynne and the Ontario Liberals.

Hudak and the Tories are at 37% of decided Ontario voters; Horwath’s NDP at 29% and Wynne and the Liberals at 28%.

This is real bad news for Premier Wynne and her band of less than merry Liberals.

But these polls provide even better news to Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

Horwath and her party are within striking distance of Hudak and currently ahead of Wynne’s Liberals.

Also Andrea Horwath (30%) is statistically tied with Hudak (32%) and Wynne (32%) as to who would be the best premier.

This should be also troubling to Premier Wynne.

Premier Wynne has tried vainly to make Ontario voters forget about the dying days and months of the unpopular Dalton McGuinty government.

Premier Wynne has tried to reach out to Ontario rural voters who had felt neglected by the former McGuinty government. And were also alienated by McGuinty’s insensitive push to build wind turbines in their backyards, without their consent. In Dalton’s fruitless effort to turn Ontario into a renewal energy superpower.

Talk about Dalton tilting at windmills.

Wynne has also tried to cool the tempers of the thousands of Ontario public school teachers who, only a few months ago, had turned their backs on the Liberal party, for ignoring and abusing their collective bargaining rights. And hitting them in their pocketbooks as well.

Recall these teachers were mighty agitated about the Government eliminating or seriously reducing their sacrosanct banked unused sick days. Which these teachers earned by accumulating unpaid sick days and turning these banked unpaid sick days into cash on retirement.

Sort of like Cold for Cash!! Basinga!

But notwithstanding Wynne’s “touchy feely” mode of government. And apple-polishing the teachers.
The Wynne government is still weighed down by past Liberal scandals: eHealth, Ornge and of course the half billion dollar + gas plant cancellations debacle.

Gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville were shut down, and relocated to save the seats of four Liberals, in the last election, at an outrageous cost, over half a billion dollars, bought and paid for by the Ontario taxpayers.

Because Wynne was a senior Cabinet Minister at the time and Co-chair of the Liberal election campaign, she has to wear the gas plant scandals as a badge of dishonor. Her excuse that she was not present at a pivotal meeting, is pathetically lame. It is beneath contempt. It is an insult to the intelligence of Ontario voters. It simply won’t fly.

So Horwath has Wynne on the ropes. Wynne is winded, but she is not down yet.

So what must Horwath do?

Does she prop up the Wynne government for another year? Or does she go in for the kill?

I urge Horwath to channel her inner Sheryl Sandberg. Don’t fear success.

“Lean in” and put Wynne away, politically.

Don’t be swayed by Wynne’s promise to reduce car insurance premiums and fund home care.

That is such small beer. It is unworthy of the NDP to be so bought off .

Horwath should also channel her inner Hamilton.

The City of Hamilton has been knocked on its ass. But it is fighting back with grit and backbone.

The town is a survivor . Like local girl Horwath. And Hamilton’s number one daughter is the epitome of Steel Town.

She is feisty, gritty, and a bit raunchy. (I really like that in a woman)

With steel for a backbone. And great hair. (nearly as nice as Justin’s)

She is a Hamilton Tiger-Cat, through and through, for God sakes!

And they don’t come no tougher than Andrea Horwath.

Now is her time. While the memories of the Liberal scandals are still fresh in the voters’ minds.

Horwath should not, knock politely on the Premier’s door.

She should break the door down, and charge through. Like the famous Hamilton Tiger-Cat, Angelo Mosca.

Oppose the Budget. Force an Election. And throw the Liberal bums for a loss.

And out of office.

Then she should really surprise Ontario by attacking the deficit; taming public union pensions and salaries; tackling our skyrocketing health costs.

And finally building a mass transit system worthy of the great cities of Ontario.

Wouldn’t that be a political game changer?

Horwath is the only Ontario political leader with the steel cojones to pull this off.

The question is, “Can she man up?”