The Black Rod

A thinking mans blog with content- food for thought reading. particularly interested in the comments and insights on the water park whitewash Q-J
The Black Rod: "First Casualty of the Election
The election hasn't been called yet, already it's claimed the first casualty."

Osprey Media Group Inc. - Brantford ExpositorSmoke shop owners vow to prevent raids

Osprey Media Group Inc. - Brantford Expositor: "What would happen in Brantford if the police were called for help and they said no?� asked one man. "

News | canada.com network What a way to run a country - chaos continues -who is running the show?

News | canada.com network: "'I understand the criticism, and not everybody's going to like what we're doing; that's life, that's why we have a democracy,' he said.
'I couldn't sleep at night if I knew that I had the chance to help some people get off the street and I didn't take it because I wanted the political advantage.' "

Winnipeg Sun: NEWS - Police violated laws, privacy ruling shows

Winnipeg Sun: NEWS - Police violated laws, privacy ruling shows

News | canada.com network It is time to let the citizens decide

News | canada.com network: "It is the most disgraceful thing I've seen in all my years on Parliament Hill,' Harper fumed.
'I will be asking our caucus to put this government out of its misery at the earliest possible opportunity.' "

National Post Martin's sellout Desperation to buy a 10 month election campaign

Liberals sell out their financial principles -what next? PR
National Post

Sympatico / MSN : News : CTV.ca Are there double standards ? Is no one accountable to the public?

Sympatico / MSN : News : CTV.ca: "Gagliano says he's victim of PM double standard
CTV.ca News Staff
Alfonso Gagliano says he's been unfairly singled out for blame in the sponsorship program, and believes the prime minister is a hypocrite for judging him so swiftly."

CANOE -- CNEWS - Law: Samson Cree lawsuit costs more than $45 million so far

Another example of public waste

CANOE -- CNEWS - Law: Samson Cree lawsuit costs more than $45 million so far: "OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government has spent more than $45 million on a mammoth legal fight against two Alberta native bands that could drag on for another decade. "

Winnipeg Sun: NEWS - Taxes lost in space

Six million a year of taxpayers money for an empty building? These people are hypocrites and mismanagers of our public trust money . They have got to go. PR
Winnipeg Sun: NEWS - Taxes lost in space: "A Conservative MP is demanding answers on why taxpayers picked up a $500,000-a-month tab for a federal building that sat empty for almost a year. Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre is holding a news conference today to press the Liberal government to provide a detailed financial accounting for rent payments on the vacant building owned by the company of Liberal Senator Paul Massicotte. "

National Post Private Healtncare business booming

National Post: "Patients fed up with long waiting lists in Canada are fuelling a fast-growing demand for brokerages that arrange speedy service in the United States as well as in Quebec's burgeoning for-profit medical industry."

World's Worst Pick-up Lines - FLOWGO.com

World's Worst Pick-up Lines - FLOWGO.com

Sympatico/MSN News - CBC.ca Why does gov't administration cost 97% of budget?

More pork barrel - PR
Sympatico/MSN News - CBC.ca: "Jim Prentice, an Alberta Conservative MP, says he asked the government for details and what he found out was 'staggering.'
'Ninety-seven per cent of the money is making its way through, to the process. And only three per cent of the money is making its way through to the victims. And that's completely unacceptable.' "

Winnipeg Sun Editorial: 'Only when I say so'

Winnipeg Sun Editorial: 'Only when I say so': "Let's hope, then, that Conservative Leader Stephen Harper keeps hammering on the point he made last night in his rebuttal: How can Canadians believe that Martin, who was the finance minister and No. 2 man in Jean Chretien's government when the sponsorship scandal was happening, didn't know any of this was going on? And how can Canadians possibly trust him to clean up the criminal corruption in the Liberal party when he's spent his entire life engaged in Liberal politics"

You can have an election when I say so

A liberal not national crisis -How can Canadians believe that Martin, who was the finance minister and No. 2 man in Jean Chretien's government when the sponsorship scandal was happening, didn't know any of this was going on? And how can Canadians possibly trust him to clean up the criminal corruption in the Liberal party when he's spent his entire life engaged in Liberal politics

HamiltonSmoking ban will close farms: farmers

Where are the priorities? Do we not have other issues that could use our attention- a health care system that is falling apart, a justice system with over 2 years waiting time, a government with a 9 billion dollar deficit to name a few. Why hit depressed farmers and further encourage foreign tobacco products? Where is the logic in this?

Hamilton: "There's never been before a more pressing or health-related need ...for government to actually help farmers protect the Canadian marketplace from foreign threat,' said Luc Martial, a consultant with the Tobacco Farmers In Crisis, a non-profit organization which represents Canadian tobacco farmers. "

Pope Benedict's Vexed Inheritance

Pope Benedict's Vexed Inheritance: "Still, Benedict XVI could surprise the many skeptics. Now that he has finally become Pope at age 78, he could use his authority to push for solutions to some of the Church's most pressing issues. 'If he tackled them, he could do so with great credibility because he has such conservative credentials,' argues Groome. He draws an analogy to cold war hardliner Richard Nixon being able to open the door to China as President, precisely because no one could accuse him of being soft on communism. "

2002 Report of the Auditor General of Canada - April - Chapter 2 - Canada Customs and Revenue Agency - Tax Administration: Write-Offs and Forgiveness

2002 Report of the Auditor General of Canada - April - Chapter 2 - Canada Customs and Revenue Agency - Tax Administration: Write-Offs and Forgiveness: ".9 Under legislation, the CCRA does not start a legal action to collect income taxes owed until 90 days after it dates and sends a notice of assessment or reassessment. It will also hold off action to collect taxes that the taxpayer is contesting through the Agency's internal appeal process or through the Tax Court of Canada (except for large corporations, which are required in the interim to pay 50 percent of the tax amount in dispute). These restrictions on the Agency's ability to start collection proceedings do not apply to amounts that the taxpayer is considered to be holding in trust, such as employee deductions and GST collected. "

Sympatico/MSN News - CBC.ca This is not the way democracy works

Not allowing our elected public representatives to speak - indicates that the fall of the Liberal empire is imminent, -more chaos ,more public bribes , more roman circuses, all symptons of a group of people who are out of touch with public reality. We need an election now to clear the air. PR -if we are still a real democracy in the old fashioned sense that is.
Sympatico/MSN News - CBC.ca: "Opposition Day is when opposition parties can introduce any motion they want, including a vote of non-confidence that might topple the government. "

2002 Report of the Auditor General of Canada - April - Chapter 2 - Case Study - Two cases of inconsistent treatment of taxpayers

CRA rules and procedures -There are accountability rules in place for Revenue Canada -why are they not being followed by those that are bound by their organization to do so. In reference to Adam the developer - rather then getting the 90 days to follow the required appeal procedure at Revenue Canada - he was given 11 days to respond .The notice of reassessment was dated December 7,2000 and criminal charges were laid Decemeber 18,2000. Once criminally charged all regular procedures and remediation options were closed to him. This does not seem fair and is a potential abuse of the governments own process- PR
2002 Report of the Auditor General of Canada - April - Chapter 2 - Case Study - Two cases of inconsistent treatment of taxpayers: "Two cases of inconsistent treatment of taxpayers
Case 1. A large service provider with locations across the country changed its payroll provider. The payroll provider set the frequency of payroll deduction remittances incorrectly, which delayed remittances to the Agency in many locations.
Requests to cancel the penalty for late remittances were sent to various tax services offices across Canada. Four requests were approved; two others have not yet been reviewed; and one was denied twice although it was known that four requests had been approved.
Case 2. A tax services office (TSO) approved the cancellation of penalties for late filing by a number of taxpayers because of their financial hardship. When the TSO sent the decisions to a taxation centre for processing, the centre disagreed with the decisions. It said the taxpayers could have avoided the penalties had they filed their returns on time without payment. The centre also noted that other TSOs were denying similar requests. "

2.9 Under legislation, the CCRA does not start a legal action to collect income taxes owed until 90 days after it dates and sends a notice of assessment or reassessment. It will also hold off action to collect taxes that the taxpayer is contesting through the Agency's internal appeal process or through the Tax Court of Canada (except for large corporations, which are required in the interim to pay 50 percent of the tax amount in dispute). These restrictions on the Agency's ability to start collection proceedings do not apply to amounts that the taxpayer is considered to be holding in trust, such as employee deductions and GST collected.

Winnipeg Sun Editorial: A pope for our times

Would it not be great -if we had a Canadian leader who could rule our country with the same conviction . The gomery inquest shows that we need one. PR
Winnipeg Sun Editorial: A pope for our times: "The message is simple: The Gospels contain 'absolutes' of moral conduct that are non-negotiable. Mere mortals cannot live up to those standards, but their Christian duty is to make the effort and to recognize when they fail. The concepts of sin, repentance and divine forgiveness are the very essence of the Christian faith.
As a German who lived through the Nazi and Communist eras, Cardinal Ratzinger saw the bitter fruits of systems that denied those absolutes in favour of 'sinless' ideals of humanity -- and undoubtedly that experience helped shape his commitment to hard-line doctrine.
He is tough. As the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog since 1981, he cracked down on the Marxist-influenced 'liberation theology' popular in Latin America, issued a strong denunciation of homosexuality and gay marriage, and rejected attempts by theologians to embrace eastern religions as part of God's plan for humanity. Last year, he denounced 'radical feminism' as an ideology that was anti-family, blurring the natural differences between the sexes. "