Conservative policy fails homeless

On the day that Toronto had their 2nd annual walk for homelessness, it came to the forefront that the Conservatives need to do more to help out our homeless.

Liberal Opposition critics Bonnie Brown and Marcel Proulx are demanding the minority Conservative government outline the steps it will take to address homelessness if Canadian communities are to avoid a critical situation.

“Homelessness is a dramatic social issue that the Conservatives cannot ignore. The problem won’t just go away,” said Ms. Brown.

Recent recommendations from the United Nations Committee on economic, social and cultural rights recommended the development of a national strategy to reduce homelessness.

The Liberal MPs urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to commit to extending the funding to address homelessness and to ensure funding is available to help those at risk of homelessness by extending the former Liberal government’s Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI) beyond 2007.

“We simply cannot afford to have the federal government avoid the issue of homelessness. The Harper government should put SCPI into its list of top priorities, “said Ms. Brown.

The SCPI program helps 150,000 Canadians who experience homelessness each year. It has been an essential and effective community-based approach to addressing the needs of homeless people and those at risk of homelessness across Canada. It is also the only federal program that gives funding for property, equipment and human resources in shelters, soup kitchens, drop-ins, prevention services or street work.

Mr. Proulx also took aim at the Conservative government’s failure to make even the operation of existing programs to address homelessness a priority. Despite the Conservative’s one-year extension of the SCPI program, Mr. Proulx says several community agencies are experiencing major difficulties because of unexplained delays in receiving the necessary authorization from Conservative Human Resources Minister Diane Finley.

“SCPI should distribute some $83 million throughout Canada, mainly to community agencies before March 31st, 2007, but delays by the Conservative government are forcing some agencies to suspend employees and cut services crucial for homeless people,“ Mr. Proulx said.

Many other agencies are threatened by similar situations, or could be forced to close their doors even though their funding has been approved by all federal, provincial and local authorities, he added.

“The federal government must make a clear commitment for the funding to be in place by April 1st, 2007, if communities are to avoid a crisis in homelessness.”’

Y2J IS TCA!!!!!

Its pretty amazing eh, the place I work at will be hosting Y2J in a play, it should be amazing. It is also fairly nice to see TCA being mentioned on wwe.com.

Here is the exact article from wwe.com, come out and check out Y2J in "Opening Night" as for 4 nights Y2J is TCA!!!

Tonight, the audience will file into the Toronto Centre for the Arts. A hush will fall over the crowd as the lights dim. The curtain will rise and former WWE Superstar Chris Jericho will make his theatre debut. Several months of training, rehearsal and promotion for the play have led to this moment. Does Y2J have butterflies in his stomach or is this just another chapter for “the larger than life superstar?” WWE.com caught up with him to find out.

“I’m really excited to see what people think of it and to get out there and just enjoy myself,” said Jericho. “It’s a funny play and a great role.”

In the play Opening Night, Jericho plays Jack Tisdale, a middle-aged varnish salesman who takes his wife to the opening night of a play for their 25th wedding anniversary. She’s ecstatic, but he would rather be home watching the World Series. Will the role be too much of a departure for fans loyal to “the sexy beast”? Jericho doesn’t think so.

“It’s a completely different role, but there will still be elements of Chris Jericho in there, just like there are elements of any actor (in their characters),” he said. “Any role that Johnny Depp plays has elements of Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt or Robert De Niro or Screech.”
Jericho compares himself to some pretty big names, but has worked hard to develop his acting skills.

Why is Health Care no Longer a Priority for the Harper Government?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper must explain why the patient wait times guarantee has been dropped from his government’s list of priorities, Liberal Health Critic Ruby Dhalla said today.

“The Conservative government has provided no leadership and has taken no action on improving health care in Canada,” said Ms. Dhalla.

“Prime Minister Harper has been so busy patting himself on the back for fulfilling his famous five priorities; he has conveniently forgotten about the biggest priority for Canadians today –timely access to quality public health care,” she continued.

“Why has he chosen to ignore this crucial issue when millions of Canadians remain on waiting lists to receive lifesaving medical procedures?”

Recent media reports have drawn attention to the fact that Conservative campaign promise to
“work with the provinces to establish a Patient Wait Times Guarantee” has been missing from the Conservative talking points for several months. Mr. Harper neglected to mention health care as his government’s priority in a column he wrote recently for Report Magazine, a neo-conservative magazine. This fifth priority of health care was replaced instead with an obtuse promise to “strengthen our country at home and around the world."

The previous Liberal government invested $41.2 billion and worked with the provinces to create a 10-year action plan to health care system. Meanwhile, the Conservative government has failed to invest any significant new monies for health care and has neglected to provide the provinces with any resources or funding to achieve a wait times guarantee.

“It’s no wonder Mr. Harper has chosen to break his health care promise to Canadians,” Ms. Dhalla explained. “He is demanding more services from our already overtaxed provincial health care systems but is unwilling to give any money to pay for them.”

Ms. Dhalla wondered if the lack of importance the Conservative government has placed on public health care gives any indication that Mr. Harper is returning to his Reform Party roots.

“Since taking office, Mr. Harper has been intent on checking off his priority list, one by one,” she said. “I am curious as to why his fifth priority has fallen off his agenda.
“Is Mr. Harper waiting to introduce a two-tiered health care system if he wins his much hoped-for majority in the next federal election?”

THE REASON ZIDANE LOST HIS COOL!!!!!

With France and Italy tied in extra time of Sunday's World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi in the chest and was ejected. France went on to lose on penalty kicks.

The day after, still no one knew what the Italian defender might have said to the French star.
"The Italians did everything they could do to provoke Zidane," France defender William Gallas said.

Seconds before, Materazzi had grabbed a handful of Zidane's jersey just as a French attack on goal passed harmlessly by. The two exchanged words as they walked back up the field, well behind the play. Then, without warning, Zidane spun around, lowered his head and rammed Materazzi, knocking him to the ground.

The Paris-based anti-racism advocacy group SOS-Racism issued a statement Monday quoting "several very well informed sources from the world of football" as saying Materazzi called Zidane a "dirty terrorist." It demanded that FIFA, soccer's world governing body, investigate and take any appropriate action.
FIFA, which reviews all red cards at the World Cup, would not comment on the specifics.

"This is a disciplinary matter now. I can't give any statements now," FIFA spokesman Markus Siegler said.

Materazzi, meanwhile, was quoted as denying the terrorist comment.

"It is absolutely not true, I didn't call him a terrorist, I don't know anything about that," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Materazzi as saying when he arrived with his team at an Italian military airfield.

"What happened is what all the world saw live on TV," the Italian player said, referring to the head-butting.

Zidane's agent, Alain Migliaccio, was quoted by the BBC as saying the France captain told him the Italian "said something very serious to him, but he wouldn't tell me what."
Whatever it was, it was enough to infuriate Zidane.

"Zizou is someone who reacts to things," said Aime Jacquet, Zidane's coach at the 1998 World Cup. "Unfortunately he could not control himself. It's terrible to see him leave this way."
Even with the ejection, Zidane still won the Golden Ball as the World Cup's best player.
Zidane, who came out of retirement to help France qualify for the World Cup and said he would quit soccer completely after the tournament, got 2,012 points in the vote by journalists covering the tournament. The three-time player of the year beat Fabio Cannavaro (1,977) and Andrea Pirlo (715), both of Italy.

Zidane's red card was anything but unusual. He was sent off 14 times in his career at the club and international level.

At the 1998 World Cup, he stomped on a Saudi Arabian opponent. Sitting out a two-match ban, he came back to score two goals against Brazil in the final.
Five years ago with Juventus, he head-butted an opponent in a Champions League match against Hamburger SV after being tackled from behind.

The reaction to Sunday's outburst was mixed in France. President Jacques Chirac called Zidane "a genius of world football," and former Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet said Zidane's aggressive act was unforgivable for its effect on children watching the game.
"This morning, Zinedine, what do we tell our children, and all those for whom you were the living role model for all times?" French sports daily L'Equipe wrote.

Zidane, whose parents emigrated to France from Algeria, became a proud symbol of a multicultural France and is adored in Algeria. In the mountains where Zidane's parents grew up, Atmanne Chelouah carried off a life-size cardboard cutout of the player at "Cafe Zizou" after the red card.

"We are very disappointed," Chelouah said. "He should have kept his cool."
But lashing out is nothing new to Zidane, who grew up playing on concrete in an impoverished immigrant neighborhood of Marseille, where fouls and insults are met with instant retribution.
Perhaps he could never shake off that you-or-me mentality.

"You can take the man out of the rough neighborhood, but you can't take the rough neighborhood out of the man," striker Thierry Henry said Sunday.
At this year's World Cup, where Zidane sat out one match for getting two yellow cards in the first round, he sent a message to his teammates. In a rare television interview, he said, "We die together."

They were ready to go as far as they could for him, yet he punished them.
"He'll carry that weight for a long time," France coach Raymond Domenech said of Zidane's latest red card.

Zidane nearly won the match with a late header after giving France an early lead with a penalty, taking two steps forward to slowly chip the ball into the air while goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon dived to his right.

It was his third goal of the tournament and sixth in the last 10 major tournament matches. He scored three at the 2004 European Championship.

Zidane's teammates had all wanted to help him to one last trophy. Failing that, they refused to kick him when he was down.

"For all that Zidane has done for the national team, you have to say 'Thank you and well done,"' said striker David Trezeguet, the only player to miss his penalty kick in the shootout.

WHY ZIZU WHY????

I have been tackling in my mind what to call this post, basically it was quite shocking what Zizu did in his supposed last game. I cannot believe what took place today in the World Cup, that is uncalled for, it had be something really personal in order for Zidance to become irate like that. Headbutting someone in the chest is an automatic red card, I think and alot of others probably think as well that Zizu had single handly cost France the world cup by being reded like that. If he was in the PSO instead of Treseguee than he probably would have scored.

Just look at how Zizu scored the penalty kick earlier. It was shocking to see that, how the hell can Zizu do that to his team. This man is really extremely talented with his skills but this was one move that he should not have done, please Zizu from me and all of France, please do not retire after that because this was a horrible way to go out if that is the case. Come back to Euros Zizu and win one more for France!!!!

Onto Italia, what a game they played. What a save by Bufon in extra time. Game saver indeed, it was an amazing game and overall the world cup was great. Gotta congratulate Germany for putting on a great hosting, lets just hope the world cup in 2010 will be this damn good.

Africa has their work cut out for them to follow up this great world cup. Congratulations Italia as your 24 years of futility is over, I think if Baggio did not miss the shot in 1994 that they would have won for sure!!!!!!!!

The Conservative Government’s Canada Day Gift: Welcoming 200,000 Canadians Back to the Tax Rolls

On July 1st, the Conservative Government is lowering the amount every Canadian can earn tax free by $400. As a result, 200,000 Canadians who should not have been paying income tax this year will once again be allowed to contribute. This tax hike was done to pay for the GST reduction, which also starts July 1st.

Liberal Finance Critic John McCallum is sure these low-income Canadians will be ecstatic about the change. “After all, who wouldn’t want to pay income tax once again to help someone save $1,200 in GST on a new Mercedes?” said McCallum. Canadians earning $10,000 per year will save about $26 in GST in 2006.

McCallum also pointed out that the Conservative Government will just keep on giving to low-income Canadians this Canada Day by also raising the lowest income tax rate to 15.5 percent from 15 percent, starting July 1st.

“This Government has clearly figured out that low-income Canadians are eager to celebrate the Conservative ideal of robbing the poor to pay the rich. And Canada Day is the perfect day to celebrate.”

As a result of the Canada Day income tax hikes, most Canadian taxpayers will pay about $100 more in 2006 and about $200 more in 2007.

McCallum also questioned the location that the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister chose to hold a GST reduction press conference today, a Giant Tiger store in Ottawa.

"They should have held the press conference at a Mercedes dealership where luxury car buyers stand to save hundreds of dollars from this reverse Robin Hood tax policy," said McCallum.

"Instead they choose a store famous for its 44 cent chocolate bars on which Canadians won't even save half a penny after July 1st."

McCallum did however point out that Conservative MP Scott Reid sits on the Board of Directors of Giant Tiger and is heir to the chain.

Conservatives Must Account for Unreported Donations

The Conservative Party must account for where they spent millions of dollars on donations that they never reported to Elections Canada, Treasury Board Critic Navdeep Bains and Liberal Party National Director Steve MacKinnon said today.

“The Conservatives received nearly $2 million dollars from their policy convention and made no disclosure to Elections Canada,” said Mr. Bains. “There’s no accountability. Many Conservative donors may have exceeded the annual donation limits. This money could have been spent on anything – campaigns, advertising, you name it.”

Today when questioned by reporters, Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to admit that his party had violated election financing laws despite explicit rules concerning the disclosure of political donations. Section 404.4(1) of the Canada Elections Act requires that registered political parties issue tax receipts for all financial contributions greater than $25.

Earlier this week, Treasury Board President John Baird, the man responsible for pushing the so-called federal Accountability Act through Parliament and cleaning up government, admitted before a Senate committee that his party did not consider fees paid to attend its 2005 policy convention to be political contributions.

Nearly 3,000 people attended the convention, paying close to $2 million in fees – money which should have been reported to Elections Canada as donations.
“Minister Baird’s admission raises the spectre of Conservative conventions being held, none of the money being reported, leaving Conservatives free to spend it as they please with zero accountability. It stinks and they’ll have to open the books to clear the air,” said Mr. MacKinnon.

By law all registered political parties must make an annual Financial Transactions Return with Elections Canada accounting for relevant receipts and expenditures, added Mr. MacKinnon.

Mr. MacKinnon and Mr. Bains reiterated that the Liberals will be filing a formal complaint with the Commissioner of Canada Elections, Raymond Landry, calling on him to investigate the possible illegal use of millions of dollars of unreported donations by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.

On June 29, Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer joined the call for the Conservative Party to open its books to a full independent audit. In a statement, Jean-Pierre Kingsley requested that “the Conservative Party of Canada to provide him with the necessary documents and supporting information to allow the public to know that the law has been respected.”

"The Conservatives have admitted this has been their common practice for years. So where did all the money go? They’ll have to account for every penny to ensure they are compliant with the law," said Mr. Bains.

Both Mr. Bains and Mr. Mackinnon said the Conservatives should establish a trust fund for all the monies in question until Mr. Landry completes his investigation.

“If the Conservatives want to be open and transparent they should put $1.7 million in a trust fund until the investigation is finished,” said Mr. MacKinnon.

IS IT FAIR TO HAVE THE POOR BE TAXED SO MUCH...ASK THE DAMN TORIES...THEY THINK SO!!!!!!!!!!!

Canadians will save about $5 billion a year thanks to the cut. But the government has made up for the lost revenue by rolling back broad income tax cuts promised by the Liberals.
"Some lower-income Canadians could pay more tax while the rich, with more to spend, will save more on the GST," reported CTV's Roger Smith.

One critic said cutting the GST is bad economics but a good political move, since the reduction is immediately visible to every voter.

"Canadians are being bribed with their own money here and it's probably good politics - unfortunately, because it's not the best way to us that amount of money," said economist Dale Orr.

He argued income tax relief would have been more beneficial for the economy, and that the price
of small items will adjust to make the cut unnoticeable.

"Newspapers used to be 92 cents," said convenience store operator Antoine Cano. "In order to round up to a dollar, they jack it up to 94 cents, so consumers don't save on little things."

Canada Day also marked some income tax changes:

Canadians in the lowest personal income tax bracket will now see a slight difference in their take-home pay, now that the rate has been bumped up to 15.5 per cent from 15 per cent.

Basically, I am trying to tell you as the Canadian voters that we really need to keep in mind that this is not very beneficial to the lower income class. Is it not nieve for the Tories to think that they will be able to buy Canadian votes who are reducing GST but they are making it back on the income tax rollback, this is BS!!!!!!!!