Heaven forbid we find out Michael Ignatieff doesn't like beavers

Responding to accusations that maybe Jim Flaherty shouldn't have spent $3,000 for a double-double hours after talking about belt tightening, John Baird shot back:

[Baird] also accused Mulcair of having something "against Tim Hortons" which he called "un-Canadian."

This is in addition to other positions deemed "un-Canadian" by this government, such as wanting to know exactly what's going on in Afghanistan and proposing campaign finance reform.

You know, this made me think back to a simpler time. A time before "just visiting" adds. Here's Stephen Harper on the opening day of the 2004 election campaign:

Harper answered the criticism minutes later, accusing the Liberal Party, which has governed the country since 1993, of creating a campaign of fear. "You know, in this country," Harper said, "you can be Canadian without being a Liberal."

True.

But heaven forbid you have something against thousand dollar donut photo opps.

Always got time for Tim Hortons

Jim Flaherty's budget speech:

GOVERNMENT EXPENSES

Canadian families and businesses have accepted the need for restraint. Fairness requires that government too should have to keep costs under control.

Later that day...

OTTAWA — A day after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty promoted government restraint to balance the budget, he reportedly spent $3,100 of taxpayers' money to fly to London, Ont., in a private jet for a photo-op at Tim Hortons.

That's one expensive cup of coffee.

Only Mavericks Use Socialized Health Care

It's not good enough for Danny Williams, but the Canadian Health Care system does have one supporter:

Palin notes irony of using Canada health care
By DAN JOLING (AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Sarah Palin has been no friend lately of socialized health care.

She has criticized Canada's system, saying it should be dismantled in favor of free enterprise. And she has denounced President Barack Obama's health plan as being socialized medicine.

But during a weekend speech in Calgary, the former Republican vice presidential candidate acknowledged her family used medical care in Whitehorse, the capital of Canada's Yukon Territory, decades ago.

Well, at least she's aware of the irony. But hey, let's cut her some slack. We all did wild and crazy things in our youth we're not proud of.

Palin's just lucky her brother's burnt ankle never came before a death panel, or who knows what those socialist Canadians would have done...

Also, for a recap of Palin's Calgary love-in, check out Colby Cosh.

He voted for it before he was against it

John Baird, on the Ottawa West-Nepean by election:

“We got the message out on the impact of HST,” Ottawa West-Nepean Conservative MP John Baird said. “With 28 days, no one gave this party, no one gave Tim Hudak, and no one gave Beth Graham a chance at winning.”

And which message would that be John?

Because, you know, just three months ago John Baird voted in favour of the HST...

We Saw This Coming

From Jim Flaherty's budget preamble:

A year before the crisis, we saw the risk of a slowdown. It originated outside our borders, but we knew it would eventually affect us.

I guess you just had to read between the lines:

September 15, 2008: "My own belief is if we were going to have some kind of big crash or recession, we probably would have had it by now." - Stephen Harper

September 26, 2008: "All the fundamentals of the Canadian economy are good. It's not the time to do anything new, wild or stupid." - Stephen Harper

October 10, 2008: "This country will not go into recession next year and will lead the G7 countries." - Stephen Harper.

Budget Day

Yesterday's throne speech was merely the appetizer for today's banquet dinner. Throne speeches are by their very nature vague (as are opposition parties when they vaguely criticize throne speeches for being too "vague"). The main objective of a throne speech is to illustrate the government's direction, but this becomes far less important when we get them every friggin' year, and the direction seems to be "full steam ahead".

So that explains why we're talking about Seniors Day, volunteerism awards, and re-writing the Canadian anthem. Inspirational stuff indeed.

But budgets are not vague, and they provide a much more concrete look at a government's priorities and its focus. So what to make of today's budget?

Well, as with the throne speech, it appears to be a case of "full steam ahead". There's very little sizzle in this budget - no spending cuts, no tax hikes, no tax cuts, no surprises.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. The mood of the nation seems to be one of cautious optimism - "we're on the way out of the recession so let's not do anything rash to mess this thing up". So that's what the government did.

And politically? Well, this isn't an election budget full of popular goodies. It's an election-avoidance budget. I don't think any of the opposition parties are particularly eager for an election and, at first glance, there isn't a hint of controversy in here that will tempt them into one. Yes, the Tories have again flipped the bird at the environment, at foreign aid, at education. But I just can't see one measure in this budget that, by itself, would repulse enough voters to justify an election. Are the Liberals going to run on higher taxes or higher deficits? I doubt it.

So, on the whole, it's a bit of a snoozer. There are some welcome moves - cutting tariffs, closing tax loopholes, and at least acknowledging that innovation is, you know, important. But just as there's nothing to scream at, there's not a lot to get super excited about. And I suspect that holds true on all sides of the political spectrum.

Which begs an interesting question - if nothing has changed, why on earth did we need a three month prorogation to "recalibrate"?

After months of recalibration, refocusing and consulting with Canadians...

...Stephen Harper is offering Canadians...wait for it...SENIOR'S DAY!

From today's throne speech:

• In recognition of the contributions seniors make to society, our Government will support legislation establishing Seniors Day.

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. And we never legalized same sex marriage.

Immigration Minister pulled gay rights from citizenship guide, documents show

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney blocked any reference to gay rights in a new study guide for immigrants applying for Canadian citizenship, The Canadian Press has learned.

Internal documents show an early draft of the guide contained sections noting that homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969; that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation; and that same-sex marriage was legalized nationally in 2005.

But Mr. Kenney, who fought same-sex marriage when it was debated in Parliament, ordered those key sections removed when his office sent its comments to the department last June.

Senior department officials duly cut out the material - but made a last-ditch plea with Mr. Kenney in early August to have it reinstated.

"Recommend the re-insertion of the text boxes related to ... the decriminalization of homosexual sex/recognition of same-sex marriage," says a memorandum to Mr. Kenney from deputy minister Neil Yeates.

"Recommend the addition of 'equality rights' under list of rights. Had noted earlier that this bullet should be reinserted into the list as a means of noting the equality of all based on race, gender, sexual orientation etc ..."

In the end, however, Mr. Kenney's view trumped that of the bureaucrats. The 63-page guide, released with fanfare last November, contains no mention of gay and lesbian rights.

For those who don't think Sidney Crosby saved Canada...

The Mark publishes a cross-partisan look at 14 ways to save Canada.

I'll give a thumbs up to David Suzuki's plea for a comprehensive strategy to tackle climate change (hell, even a half-ass strategy would look good by comparison to what we've seen over the past decade) and Michael Geist's plea for a comprehensive strategy to tackle the digital era.

And I can't argue against the need to ban heckling, boost watchdog powers, hold more free votes, or to make committees mater.

Nicholas Gafuik wants Canadians to be nicer to each other so that government won't have to spend as much on social programs. That's all swell and good, but I'm not sure how he exactly expects to bring this about, and unless we can find some way to alter thousands of years of human behaviour, I think it's still up to government to help those in need.

Oh, and Robert Huish thinks we should stop paying attention to hockey. I'm not sure this week is necessarily the most opportune moment for Robert to be advancing this idea...

Calgary Grit Live From Vancouver

I went to a riot and a street hockey game broke out...