Question More: Why scare seniors?

WARNING:
There is an email circulating that is a HOAX. It is targeted at seniors. My parents got it today. I am linking some articles to prove that this is a hoax. It's actually quite obvious...It states that Dalton McGuinty changed the age of retirement from 65 to 67...that was the Federal Conservatives. Also it says Wilson medical Centre in Toronto...there is no Wilson Medical Centre in Toronto. Oh and my favorite, that the changes to OHIP may not take place until after the American Election. Um...this is Canada why would we care about that? Apparently it is based form a chain email about Obamacare. I attached a link about that as well. Here is the email.:
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----- Original Message -----

From: Bill and Bev

To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;

Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 11:57 AM

Subject: Fw: Coming to Ontario in 2013 re OHIP Changes. please read!!!!

Subject: Fw: Coming to Ontario in 2013 re OHIP Changes. please read!!!!

"AND YOU VOTED LIBERAL1"

Subject:  Coming to Ontario in 2013 re OHIP Changes. please read!!!! I've received this email and I am passing it on for your information. If passed it will effect more than 75 and over.  Sounds like McGuinty is culling the seniors. I hope this applied to his parents too!     Coming to Ontario in 2013 re OHIP Changes A must read for everyone.  A must read for anyone over 65. Your life does depend on this. Not only did they raise the retirement age to 67 but now no emergency medical proceedures after 75 unless permission is given by a review board which only meets a few times a week. We have worked all our lives and this is the thanks we get...Our government at work. This applies even if you have extra medical coverage   PLEASE READ AND SHARE WITH EVERYONE!   So much for caring for the people who worked hard for this country!!! In a conversation about the "future," Dr. Suzanne Allen, head of emergency services at the Wilson Medical Center in Toronto, was asked if she has seen any affects of the upgraded health Care in her work.  "Oh, yes.  We are seeing cutbacks throughout the services we provide. For example, we are now having to deal with patients who would normally receive dialysis can no longer be accepted.   In the past, there was always automatic approval under OHIP for anyone who needed dialysis --not anymore."  So, what will be their outcome? "They will die soon without dialysis," she stated.  What about other services?  She indicated as of 2013 , no one over 75 will be given major medical procedures unless approved by locally administered Ethics Panels.  These Panels will determine whether a patient receives medical treatment or not. While details on specific operating procedures and schedules, Dr. Allen points out that most life-threatening emergencies do not occur during normal hospital business hours, and if there are emergencies that depend to be resolve within minutes or just few hours, the likely hood of getting these Panels approval in time to save a life are going to be very challenging and difficult, if not impossible she said.  This applies to major operations such as receiving stents, bypass surgery, kidney operations, or treating for an aneurysm that would be normally covered under OHIP today. In other words, if you needed a life-saving operation, OHIP will not provide coverage anymore after 2013 if you are 75 or over.  When in 2013? "We haven't been given a specific date --could be in January or July....but it's after the American election." This is shocking to any of us who will be 75 this year. Her advice--get healthy and stay healthy.   We do not know the specifics of the actual implementation of the full  Care policies and procedures--"they haven't filtered down to the local level yet. But we are already seeing severe cuts in what we provide to the elderly -- we refused dialysis to an individual who was 78 just the other day....we refused to give stents to a gentleman who was in his late 80s." Every day, she said, we are seeing these cutbacks aimed at reducing care across the board for anyone who is over 75. We can only hope that some day   new OHIP  will be overturned by the Supreme Court --otherwise, this is a death sentence to those who are over 75...perhaps you should pass this on to your friends who are thinking of voting for Dalton MaGuinty next time around.  Regardless if you have private health care coverage now (a Medical supplement) -- it will no longer apply after 2013 if the Ethics Panels disapprove of a procedure that may save your life.  Scary, scary, scary. Think about this. You? Your parents? Your loved ones? Didn't know about it?  Of course, not.  As Dalton MaGuinty said...."well, if you want to know what's in the bill, you'll have to read it..." after it was passed.   This is a graphic reminder of the need to stay healthy. Get your plot now at your earliest convenience..while they last. Is this a death sentence to those of us who will reach 75?... Yes!  Please do pass this along to those in your address book. Dr. Suzanne C. Allen, MD is a real person. If society deems you a burden due to age or infirmity, you should be willing to die to benefit society.

http://www.brantnews.com/news/setting-the-record-straight-on-health-care-funding/
http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/over75.asp
http://www.saultstar.com/2012/07/30/ohip-letter-a-hoax-orazietti

Question More: What is wrong with this current Government!

I am currently reading Political Marketing in Canada,  a collection of articles edited by Alex Marland, Thierry Giasson and Jennifer Lees-Marshment.

Now I am about a third of the way into the book but there is one thing that just keeps bothering me about how the Conservatives got their majority...They did it by appealing to small pockets of groups. Basically, they don't represent the majority of Canadians because of this. We have a leader who doesn't represent the values of the majority of Canadians.

So now I can understand why there is so many pro-life/anti-abortion petitions being presented in Parliament...and also the Motion to define when life begins. Also, that whole department of Religion thingy about a year of go that caught me off guard. Yes, the Conservatives appealed to religious groups. It also explains the whole gun registry elimination. These are not things that benefit Canada as a whole...They only benefit those groups that support and payed Conservative donations. The Conservatives are only doing what they are supposed to do...make their supporters happy and show that they are doing all they can to show that they represent those that support them.

The book explains how messaging has changed and how parties are targeting a small number of voters, enough to get elected, and even a majority, at the expense of the majority of Canadians. This is very dangerous.

I understand that MP's are to represent their Ridings, but the Leaders are to try to appeal to the majority of Canadians...right?

 I was so confused about why Harper won. His campaign was boring. He did stick to the script to appeal to those who don't pay attention to the news by saying that this is an "unnecessary election" that Canadians don't want another election and if you vote for him and give him a majority there would not be another election for a while.  Well that worked on my sister. She doesn't watch news and didn't understand why there was an election. She voted Conservative.

Democracy is at stake here. I have always believed that the Government of Canada, must represent the interests of the majority of Canadians. During the last election, polls showed that Health Care was the number one issue with Canadians. Now the Conservatives have cut Health Transfers from 6% to align it with GDP to a min of 3% as of 2016. Canadians did not vote for that! When was the last time Harper sat at the table with the premiers to discuss Health Care.

And one very important point that the Harper Government does not represent the people...they did not except any of the 700 amendments in the largest Budget omnibus implementation bill in Canadian History, which made changes to 70 laws and 2/3 of the bill and items in it that were not even budget related. Come on.  This is an abuse of power.

We have three years to get Canadians to wake up and start caring about their country as a whole again. We desperately need to increase voter turnout and make Canadians want Leaders that will represent the majority of Canadians.

O.k. more to come. I am going back to read  the book. Good book by the way. I recommend it to all!

What Are The Real Reasons For the Conservative's Attack Ad on Bob Rae?

I know people question why the Conservatives are attacking the 3rd Party.  Well I have 4 reasons.


1. Many of the very right-wing conservatives want to get rid of the Liberals altogether. This twitter post on march 20, 2012  (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=177168012401326&set=a.109769852474476.11221.100003243845287&type=1&theater ) explains that, as well as the book "Harperland" (http://www.straight.com/article-351602/vancouver/prime-minister-control).  Attack ads (smearing) of Michael Ignatieff, Stephane Dion and now Bob Rae have nothing to do with what's best for the country. It has nothing to do about Canada what so ever. Shouldn't a political party, especially one that is the Canadian Government, spend their energy on Canada as a whole, not one individual.


2. Fueling voter apathy. The Conservatives will talk about the fact the number of voters increased in the last election, while leaving out the real fact that the 2011 election had the 3rd lowest voter turnout in Canadian History. If you look at the Elections Canada stats on past elections, ( http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=ele&dir=turn&document=index&lang=e) you will notice, after adjustments, that the last four elections have the lowest turnout. Why? Perhaps the the negative attack ads played a roll in that. Perhaps the constant fear mongering by the Conservatives. Voter apathy favours the Conservatives.  As long as they get their voters to the polls and discourage others, they will win (as I will continue to explain in point 3) We need to deal with VOTER APATHY. If more Canadians vote the better representation of the Canadians as a whole.

3. Election Fraud. The Conservatives want a distraction from the whole "Robo-Call Scandal". Well, this scandal is not going away. It may fade a little but the minute more evidence is found the media and public eat it up. Bottom line...on election day telling people that their polling station has changed when it hasn't is Fraud.  Canadians can relate to this story. All Canadians have the right to vote. This fraud was done in favour of the Conservative Party of Canada. The Conservatives are not responding in a way that demonstrates consideration towards this violation of our right to vote in a fair election or even...innocence . They keep changing the story, claiming that the opposition parties are SMEARING them, that the Liberals are behind the robo-calls, etc..and now they decide to release an attack ad on Bob Rae. Distraction tactics by the Conservative Party, plain and simple. 


4. Some say that releasing the attack ad on the day of the by-election in Toronto-Danforth is significant. Yes it is...because the media would be reporting the by-electon which favours the Opposition parties. Of course the Conservatives did not want the Opposition parties to have all the attention...this was the Conservatives chance to get some media coverage. Besides, the Conservatives  were quoted as saying that this by-election was for the "Liberals to lose".


So in response to the actual content of the ad...
When the Mike Harris Conservatives took over from the Bob Rae NDP's in the 90's, they made major cuts to  education, Health Care, and other social programs and they left the current Ontario Liberals with a $5.6 Billion hidden deficit. For the first three years after Mike Harris the Ontario Liberals had balanced budgets. The Liberals under Chretien and Martin had balance budgets, created surpluses and actually paid down national debt.  The Federal Conservatives created the LARGEST Deficit  in Canadian History of $55.6 Billion and had taken a surplus of Employment Funds and created a deficit of $8.8 Billion deficit with no EI emergency funds. 


Basically...The Conservative Party of Canada are hypocrites and don't really care about ALL Canadians.
.

Question More: Why did the Conservative Party of Canada phone people about poll changes when Elections Canada instructed all Political Parties not to?

Elections Canada: "Some political parties did not comply" with request that polling station info be for internal use only

• March 5, 2012 1:04 PM | Read 66comments66
• By Kady O'Malley

Courtesy of the collective gimlet eye that is the twitterverse, a tidbit from the official post-election report prepared by Elections Canada that would seem to be at least a little bit more interesting than it might have initially appeared on first reading: 

Provision of polling site information to political parties

In response to an initial request from a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, the preliminary list of all election day polls was sent to all parties. Because a polling site can be replaced by another at the last minute, and to ensure that electors always have access to the most accurate information regarding their location, Elections Canada indicated to political parties that the list supplied should only be used for internal purposes and that parties should not direct electors to polling sites. Political parties were invited to refer electors to the Elections Canada Web site, their local Elections Canada office or their voter information card for locations, to prevent electors from being directed to incorrect polling sites. Some political parties did not comply with this request. 

I've sent a note to Elections Canada asking for more information on the lack of compliance with the request that the information "only be used for internal purposes." I'll let you know what, if anything, I hear back. 

Great description of what the Harper Government has done in the past 6 months.

• From the Cross the Floor Petition on the Care2 Petition site: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/crossthefloor/?cid=FB_Share
• 
  
• Target: Conservative Members of Parliament
• Sponsored by: Concerned Citizens of Canada

Canada: stand up against Stephen Harper’s destructive agenda.  Please sign the petition which endorses the idea of Conservative MPs crossing the floor as a means of stopping the current government from doing more damage to the country.  Canada cannot afford to wait another 3 1/2 years; The damage done to Canada and our once enviable reputation in the 6 months since Prime Minister Stephen Harper won his 39% majority is incalculable.  To list even the highlights would take many pages, but here are a few;The Economy - While the prime minister and finance minister boast about our economy the fact is, Jim Flaherty took ten years of huge Liberal surpluses and turned them into deficits well before the Recession.  It is a matter of record that he was the biggest spending finance minister in Canadian history before the economy faltered.  Stephen Harper promised in the last election campaign that he would not run a deficit.  We now have a massive deficit and record debt.- Integrity - Four Conservative MPs plead guilty to election spending charges over the 2006 election, something they described a “huge victory.”- The Wheatboard - The federal government first broke an election promise to put proposed changes to the wheat board to a vote.  Then they broke the law in the way they dismantled it.  And finally, they refused to adhere to a court ruling that concurred that they had indeed broken the law.- Torture - We have recently learned that the Harper regime advised CSIS that in what they called “exceptional circumstances,” they could use information obtained by torture.- The Irwin Cotler Scandal - The conservatives ran a secret smear campaign and accusations of anti-Semitism against Jewish MP Irwin Cotler.  When asked to apologize for this in the house, the prime minister refused to do so.- Espionage - While the citizens of the impoverished First Nations community of Attawapiskat struggled for survival in a scandal that would become international in scope, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs was spying on Cindy Blackstock, an ardent supporter of disadvantaged native kids.  While the ministry was busy spying on Ms. Blackstock, Minister John Duncan admitted that he did not even know about the crisis in Attawapiskat.- Crime & Punishment - Stephen Harper has refused expert advice from police, criminologists, judges, lawyers and even his own experts, to bring in a Dickensian crime bill that is so hateful that it will see some mentally ill people go to prison instead of a hospital, and that could see 18 year old kids going doing two year federal penitentiary terms for very minor marijuana offenses.- Democracy - The federal government has invoked closure on a record number of bills in both chambers, thwarting the democratic process, and making a mockery of Canadian Parliament.- Intimidation - Ministers Fantino and Mackay have threatened litigation against their critics, and environmentalists and First Nations groups who oppose the Enbridge pipeline have been painted as “radicals” and even “enemies of the people” by the federal government.- Attawapiskat Scandal - One of the very first things Stephen Harper did when he first took power was to kill the Kelowna Accord, which would have seen 5 billion dollars allocated for First Nations issues, and would have addressed situations like the one in the impoverished community of Attawapiskat.  The federal government has blamed that community for its plight, and minister Duncan has withheld critically needed funding, which the band was going to use to get ready for modular homes that are being shipped in on an emergency basis.  The community had to go to court to get the minister to release these funds.  Neither John Duncan nor the prime minister have had the decency or the sense of duty to visit Attawapiskat.- The Chopper Scandal - Defence Minister Peter MacKay was accused of misusing a search & rescue helicopter, and threatened to sue anyone who pressed the issue.- Tony Clement - has been accused of misspending G8 funds in his riding, and despite a staggering amount of evidence, continues to deny any wrong-doing.- Small Government - While in opposition, Stephen Harper decried big government and said he stood for smaller and more accountable governments.  Not only is he adding MPs to the already huge House of Commons, but he has the largest Privy Council in Canada’s history. -Senate Reform - After years of calling for senate reform, the prime minister has stacked the senate so heavily in his favour as to enable his government to run like a dictatorship.- Pensions - While Stephen Harper warns Canadians to brace for huge changes to their pensions, he will enjoy a massive pension, some $23,000.00 per month.  For each dollar he contributes to the pension, Canadians contribute twenty-three.- Asbestos Scandal - A recently run CBC documentary by Terrence McKenna has proven that the Harper regime has relied on junk science to validate their position on the deadly carcinogen, asbestos.- Kyoto - Canada has been vilified all over the world because of our withdrawal from the Kyoto Accord. - War - The Harper regime seems to be preparing Canada for war with both Syria and Iran.  Canada has been a very responsible global citizen in relation to both Afghanistan and Libya.  However, we cannot afford to be in every skirmish that takes place in the world.  Harper had advocated invading Iraq, even though he admitted not knowing “all the facts.”- China - While it seems that war against both Syria and Iran are options to the Harper regime, denouncing China for their UN veto which is enabling Syria to continue the massacre of citizens is not. Nor does it appear to be an option to call China out for continuing to buy Iranian oil.  - The Environment - Stephen Harper is determined to push through the Enbridge pipeline no matter how strong the opposition.  Bailing out of Kyoto hurt Canada a great deal, and the prime minister refuses to even ban shark fin imports, something that would have no impact on Canada’s economy.  We have also learned that there will be a cull of thousands of wolves in Alberta, an issue that relates directly to the tar sands.- Bills C-50 and C51 - The Harper regime is planning on bringing in Orwellian legislation that will allow it to spy on Canadian citizens and their electronic communications without any court warrants.  These are only a few of the things the Harper regime is responsible for that have the vast majority of Canadians so upset. It simply is not practical to list them all. Currently, the prime minister enjoys the support of less than 1/3 of Canadians, but because of his majorities in both houses, and because he has shown such contempt for Canadians and their aspirations, he is able to ram through legislation that is offensive to most of us and that is damaging to both our wonderful country and its international reputation.It has become apparent that Prime Minister Harper is going to force through legislation that is not supported by 68% of Canadians.  His claim that he has a strong majority is false.  He has never, ever had the anything close to the support of even 51% of Canadians.  We cannot allow a man with such low support to destroy our country.There must be some conservative MPs who are just as uncomfortable with the prime minister’s agenda as the majority of Canadians are.  Let’s encourage them to cross the floor, to put the good of Canada ahead of personal politics, and let’s cheer them when they do.Please sign the petition, and tell as many people as you possibly can about it, through Facebook, Twitter, Email, telephone; anyway you can get the word out.  Our goal is to collect one millions signatures, and to see the Conservative MPs who have had enough of Stephen Harper cross the floor.  less

QUESTION MORE: Conservative Government Budget Cuts

The Conservative Government inherited a surplus and created a record deficit. They are asking for Canadians to tighten their belts in order to compensate for their spending spree and corporate tax cuts. Canadians named health care as their number one Federal Election issue, yet, the Conservatives have chosen to cut Health Care Transfers and abandon their health care responsibilities. Canadians care about the environment but the Conservatives are cutting many jobs at Environment Canada which include climate change research and toxic chemical researchers positions, jobs that produce scientific facts that may not favour the oil sands pipeline expansions. The Finance Minister has mentioned possible cuts to the CPP. The Conservatives cut many jobs at Service Canada processing centres and reduced the number of locations causing Canadians to wait longer for EI payments. Taxpayers want their money to spent on things all Canadians need, want and use.

Question More: Liberals need less Trudeau, more Mackenzie King? Kelly McParland, that is not the real question.

This is my response to Kelly McParland's Full Comment in the National Post on December 30, 2011, Liberals need less Trudeau, more Mackenzie King?


http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/30/kelly-mcparland-liberals-need-less-trudeau-more-mackenzie-king/


First you need to keep in mind the source of this article, The National Post which is owned by the right-winged Post Media Network. This article is clearly bashing PE Trudeau for a reason, and it is not because the Liberals need someone more like Mackenzie King. The real reason why this article exists is that they, (the right -wing conservative supporters) see Justin Trudeau as a possible contender for the Liberal Leadership. Recently there was a poll by Robbins Research (http://www.robbinssceresearch.com/polls/poll_861.html) that stated that if Justin Trudeau was leader of Liberal Party he would have equal support to Stephen Harper. The goal of this article is to make PE Trudeau sound like a really bad guy and convince the public that having his offspring as PM would be terrible for Canada. Also, with the emphasis of the increase of the national debt during PE Trudeau' reign, which supports the Conservatives claim on focusing on the economy and creating jobs, (though they never have balanced a budget at the federal level), is really pushing the Conservatives cause. The article really doesn't take into consideration the great things PE Trudeau did for the country and the economic and demographics of that time period. Look, both Mackenzie King and PE Trudeau were wonderful Liberal Leaders. I am not saying we can't learn from Mackenzie King. The best way to learn is to learn from both PMs. They were both different in personality and they both ruled during different times. All I am saying is consider the source of the information and why the article is being written.