It’s Cocktail Time Again!
First off… a martini for Craig Bridges who put his own neck on the line to save a couple and a dog that were overboard in a very frigid Lake Nipissing this week. That’s heroic, and not everyone would have done it. This world needs more Craig Bridges.
A Martini goes to John Hayes for his excellent letter to the Nugget editor that describes the issue of deforestation within city limits. Perhaps the community undervalues trees. Although it is hard to justify telling someone what foliage they must maintain on their private property, it is an interesting subject for public debate.
In developing countries, a woman dies every 8 minutes due to complications from unsafe abortions. That fact gets the Conservative government a nice big Molotov for refusing to include funding for safe abortions as part of its maternal health initiative. Hillary Clinton, one of many international figures who have voiced disagreement with the Harper government said it best: “you cannot have maternal health without reproductive health, and reproductive health includes contraception, family planning, and access to safe legal abortions.” In Africa there is a lot of rape. Rape is used as a military strategy by many parties involved in the civil wars that continue to tear that continent to shreds. Nothing terrorizes your enemies and makes them want to give up quite like mass rape. Harper wouldn’t want raped women to have abortions. In Africa, there is a lot of AIDS. Harper wouldn’t want raped women fighting AIDS to have an abortion. Harper has said he does not want to reopen the abortion debate, however, this represents a reversal of policy that had been embraced by previous Conservative as well as Liberal governments. Therefore, it seems like he just reopened it. Good job Steve. Now take a sip off the combustible cocktail in front of you, and get ready to be flamed in a debate that you cannot win.
How about this for a Special Diet for Monique Smith. Nuthin’ but Molotov cocktails from now till election night. The reason we elect Liberals is so that the less fortunate people in our society are treated with respect and dignity, and so that we don’t go so far in doing this, that we accidentally destroy the more fortunate. These Liberals are making a habit of kicking the poor when they are down, while finding ways to line the pockets of the rich. Over 160000 people who are collecting government assistance in Ontario are losing their Special Diet Allowance, which they receive for medical reasons. This program costs 200 million per year, and Monique Smith says that it’s unsustainable. A government that can provide 4.5 billion in tax cuts to businesses over the next 3 years should be able to sustain 200 million per year. A government that can spend 3.5 billion dollars bailing out GM (an American corporation) should not watch as anyone in this province goes hungry. That food allowance currently means the dignified survival of people with medical conditions who cannot afford a healthy diet. It is unclear how anybody collecting Ontario Works can possibly afford a healthy diet, but it is especially unclear when that person has a medical condition requiring a special diet, and really especially now that the HST is added on to most normal living expenses.
Everybody knows Peter Milliken likes to party. That is one of the things that makes him great at his job. Canada’s Speaker of the House gets a Martini this week for reminding Stephen Harper that Canada is a democracy. On a side note, Harper gets a Molotov for needing the reminder. As it happens, the Prime Minister does not control parliament, and its many elected members, in fact, parliament controls the Prime Minister. Now hand over the evidence Stevey boy, we are all anxious to know what secrets are so “interesting” in those documents that it would be worth a constitutional crisis to protect them from the proper authorities. Have you nasty Conservatives been an accessory to torturing detainees perhaps? Is the UN going to have to go all Geneva Convention on your ass?
By taking out a full page in the Nugget for the purpose of slamming Monique Smith, the anonymous people that did it have earned their semi-secret selves a Molotov. If you are going to fund a political message, please say who you are. It makes a difference, because it helps to establish motive. Motive colours the message and helps to put it into context. As it turns out there was a website at the bottom of the page, and the website is run by the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association. The full page ad in the Nugget talks about how the McGuinty government is taking 1 billion dollars out of front-line health care. They don’t describe what is being impacted, but any time I think of front-line health care, I think of nurses. Nothing makes me mad like firing 1 billion dollars worth of nurses. As it turns out, the government is restructuring reimbursements to generic drug companies to save money. They want to reimburse generic drug companies 25% the value of name brand drugs instead of 50%. Since our generic drugs are more expensive here in Ontario than elsewhere… it is about time that is done. The pharmacists know people’s assumptions would be more damaging to the government than conclusions they would form based on the real facts, and that is why they were real short on specifics. It should be immediately clear who is paying for political messages. It matters.
When the government does something that is clearly to the detriment of Nipissing, our MPP needs to step up and fight for Nipissing. This is why: the people of Nipissing elected an MPP to represent Nipissing at Queen’s Park, the people of Nipissing did not elect an MPP to represent the government in Nipissing. In a situation whereby Nipissing loses 64 jobs to Sudbury, it does not matter if there is a net benefit to the province, it only matters that Nipissing lost 64 jobs. Monique Smith needs to be angry about the loss of 31 hospital beds, and 64 jobs, and she needs to fight to keep those jobs here, her alternative is to have another Molotov. That’s two in one week. Nice job Monique.
