Panglossian Notes

The Globe and Mail: Ottawa warns U.S. of risk to NAFTA

The Globe and Mail: Ottawa warns U.S. of risk to NAFTA :

So where to go in practical terms. Everyone gets to scream outside for sometime but not negotiating and screaming doesn't get you too much.

So where to?

Maybe a Minister has his shorts in a knot but who would really know, eh.

He could be lunching over the weekend with the very characters that mean to screw us down the line.

Jesus H Christ can you maybe point out a direction Martin?

I'm getting really feed to death with the BS coming out of the PM PM group.

Martin's Unsureness

I guess we'll see what unfolds in the new session which starts today.

PM PM has made a major speech which named about 10 areas he and his government thinks need to be dealt with over the coming years in order to position Canada in this new century.

I've yet to comment on the speech in detail but the underling weaknesses in PM PMs present Cabinet and the Liberal's unsureness about winning an election don't really provide me with a sense that any plan for the future they have can actually be brought to life.

The Goodale - Martin Dithering Team

The on again off again reduction in corporate income taxes seems to be off again for a little longer. It wouldn't have started until 2008,so what's the problem? Uncertainty, which translates into potential delays in investment decisions. A comfort letter from Federal Finance that the measure will be introduced when the political tea leaves are arranged correctly is no reason to begin a significant investment.

The Liberals look, according to the polls, as if they could form a majority. So why the caution?

The NDP has staked out its usual ideological stance and opposes reductions in corporate income taxes. So even though Goodale announced, in the summer, that he would reintroduce the tax measure during the fall sitting it seems that Liberal's inferior complex will mean dithering for the time being.

I guess the Liberals don't want to challenge the fates with high gasoline prices which would give the NDP a great plank to hit them with during a fall election.

I'm waiting now for some measure to deal with gasoline prices and I'm really hoping whatever is offered up will be reasonable sensible.

More Mulroney stuff

I had missed this column by Chantel Hebert on the "secret" comments by good old Brian M on Kim Campbell.

I think Ms Campbell responded almost immediately to BMs stuff and in a very measured manner - i.e. Kim set the record straight, for those to young or who may have forgotten what was actually going on at that time, in a concise unemotional way. I'll find the link to her letter and provide.

Good for Chantel, this needed to be said. Sorry none of the male pundits made the point.

Too funny for words!

The Globe and Mail: Clarkson memoir to pull few punches, source says:

This is just funny. Guess we know now what the GG has been doing in the residence across from 24 Sussex for at least some of the time.

So now we are to have the benefit of inside stories from our make-believe royalty. Nice twist.

Another book I'll wait to show up on the remainder table, if it is actually published.

In general, I thought Clarkson was a good GG. She had the right mix, I think, of sophistication and acquired elegance to raise the symbolic level of this mostly penultimate graveyard for political elephants. I even like Saul and mostly try to read everything he writes. Besides, eh, those hats are priceless. [If he'd wear funny shirts and white suites he be a more thoughtful Tom Wolfe.]

But can't you spare us the hurt feelings about PM PM (Prime Minister Paul Martin) and his crowd.

State of Alaska follow up to Alberta's windfall dividend

State of Alaska - Permanent Fund Dividend Division:

Just a follow up. This years dividend a bit less than last years.

Also you may want to read the rudepundit's comments on Alaska's commitment to the Union

Fiscal federalism raises its head in the USA. Boy!

PM PMs grand plan

PM PM (Prime Minister Paul Martin) gave a speech yesterday that we are likely to hear a lot about over the coming week and months.

I'm tired just thinking about what we must do as a nation.

1. Canada must invest heavily in child care and education, from early childhood to university and beyond, to produce a more highly skilled and innovative workforce.

2. We must welcome skilled immigrants who can fill jobs vacated by older workers.

3. We must upgrade language training and credentials recognition to compete with other countries for immigrants.

4. We must invest heavily in Canada's cities to turn them into world-class magnets that attract the best and brightest from places like China and India, and that attract foreign investment.

5. We must encourage private sector investment and job growth in innovative sectors.

6. We must capitalize on our comparative advantage in supplying energy to a resource-hungry world.

7. We must provide world-class health care to an aging population.

8. We must stake out our claims to the North, and its untapped resources.

9. Canadians must strive to be good global citizens by promoting growth and development, thwarting terror, battling climate change, curbing pandemics and challenging those who disrupt international peace. These trans-boundary issues affect us all, as our ties to the rest of the world become ever tighter.

10. And Canadians must do it all in a fiscally responsible way through balanced budgets, and a gradual paring down of the national debt. We do not want to saddle future generations with a crippling bill.

The Toronto Star
PM's clear vision of Canada's future
Sept. 21, 2005

Over the next couple of days I plan on commenting on most of the 10 points separately but just now a quick concern.

Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 are mainly or clearly in the realm of provincial governments which means more federal money and raises the whole spectrum of fiscal interaction between the 2 orders of government.

Since the agent to effect most of these items will not be the federal government, there are no guarantees that any one item will be successful. There also isn't any assurance that a particular item won't stir up a horns nest in the always fun federal/provincial/territorial fiscal relations arena.

Good vision. Now how do you turn it into something tangible. That's the trick, eh.

More to come later .... .

Follow up to quick assessment yesterday

Toronto Tory member calls for Harper's ouster:

I still think it's an error for the Conservatives to change leaders again. The timing, no matter what Harper's failings maybe, is just not good.

There isn't enough time, I don't think, to clearly establish the party's credentials with Canadian voters between now and the potential election call sometime in April 2006.

On the other hand, if this is a sign of the type of internal battles that can be expected over the period up to the dropping of the writ, it's a guarantee that the Conservatives are going to be even more marginalized then they currently appear to be.

Does leave you wondering, however, about the leadership qualities of poor Harper though.

Every Albertan to get $400

Every Albertan to get $400, boy looks like Ralph may have taken a small leaf out of Alaska's approach to dealing with some of its oil wealth.

The Alaska bounty is considerably higher though, US $914.84 for 2004 with 2005s to be announced likely soon.

Now if the Gov't of Alberta did it every year, would it be reason enough to move there?

I'm curious: what are the federal and provincial personal income tax implications of this scheme.

In Alaska it is really clear. The State dividend is taxable and individuals are warned about the consequences of not including it in their taxable income.

I hope the Premier has considered all the income tax implications.

Hate to say it but a great way to churn petrodollars around also.  Was it Ralph who said he wouldn't share.  If they are taxable then he just has in a very direct way.

Quick assessment of the choices

So after the summer not much has changed. Harper seems stalled and although some factions are unhappy and want to change horses again there isn't really anyone who stands out to take the reins even if they were offered. Not to mention that voters would wonder what was going on with another change.

The NDP, what's to say about these people, it looks like they don't actually want to form a government or at least be considered as serious contenders for power any time soon. I know they maybe making some head way down East in Nova Scotia at the provincial level. Could this help them picked up a couple of more seats next time around federally, always questionable.

But, on the whole, I can't shake the impression that they always want to simply be on the side and don't want the actual responsibility of forming a government. I know they are the ones with the social conscience, but most times, more than simply being able to point out what's unfair or wrong is required. In this country it seems you need to be able to put together some reasonable policy that makes sense fiscally as well as from a socially responsible view. This usually means taking into account the fact that you are working fundamentally in a society and economy driven by markets both domestically and internationally. I never have had a sense that the federal NDP has absorbed this fact.

Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer the NDP as the official opposition. I think they have more party credibility than the new Conservatives which is a mishmash of other failed parties. I just don't think NDP policies are designed to have the broad appeal needed to be considered as serious contenders for forming a government. They are however, right now, doing a good job, I think, at pointing out where the Liberal's are not dealing with matters very successfully and where they are not yet answering grass root concerns. See Jack Layton's speech which offers a pretty complete litany of concerns coming out of the summer.

The Conservatives, I think, are simply not trusted yet. There is a general uneasy feeling about them that they and their last 2 leaders have not been able to shake-off. The new party has been to many different things in the recent past. Not enough time has passed for them to have congeal into a coherent structure. According to their website they have 7 issues highlighted that they would deal with more effectively then the Liberals. Have a look if you want, they closely mirror the Liberals issues.

Finally the Liberals. They win by default because, bad as the last months have been, they are currently in charge and none of the other 2 would seem a vast improvement. Not much of an appraisal for them I know.

Gomery expects to publish his report by February 15, 2006. This means, if the Liberal government can survive that long in the House and PM PM keeps to his word, the next federal election will be on or around the middle of April (PM PM indicated he'd drop the writ about 30 days after Gomery reported which is the middle of March. Then there's 36 days of campaigning.).