Cornwall ON – Double standards and disobedience in the Conservative ranks as Quebec Conservative MP Maxime Bernier spoke against government support for a new NHL Franchise in Quebec which is the exact opposite of what Stephen Harper has stated recently.
Good thing Max isn’t a woman or he’d be Guergisised before you could say “skid marks”.
“But dreaming does not make the hard financial reality go away. It’s nice to have dreams, but when you use borrowed money to achieve them and act as if money grows on trees, you may have a brutal awakening. For all these reasons, I cannot in good conscience support this project.”
This “funding” also raises certain questions as Mr. Peladeau owns Quebecor and is building “Fox North” a conservative news station, and his relationship with the Harper government.
It all rings of “PORK” and pandering for votes in Quebec with Canadian tax
dollars; something many in Canada already complain about.
Mr. Peladeau attempted to purchase the Montreal Canadiens and failed leaving Mr. Peladeau with a cable network and no major local sport to offer his viewers.
With the Charest Liberals and Harper Conservative low in the polls many feel that this is gross pandering.
What do you think Canada? You can post your comments below.
I am not too familiar with the validity of Fox North. What is apparent is that appears to irk liberal owned and run crown corporation CBC media and affiliates.
Is Fox North really that bad for Canadians or just misrepresented in order to maintain our French Liberal inbreeding in ownership of everything Canadian?
Canadian Media resources have controlled what is printed, I even have proof of some cases. In other instances people were fired for writing articles not supporting the liberal party.
So the tomâto To, tomäto, this change maybe just what is needed to break our issues and expenditures with Quebec.
Smee the only thing that irks Canadians is that the government is attempting to give the new station a spot where you’re forced to pay for it instead of with the other specialty channels. I hate paying for channels I don’t want. Believe me the government wouldn’t be so supportive or helpful if it was a non-conservative channel.
Looks like Harper has screwed up (again) on the issue of having taxpayers building sports palaces in cities where he needs more votes. If people like Bernier and other Cons are speaking out about the insanity of this idea, you know the knives are out for Harper. Even in Alberta people are shaking their heads.
These tactics are different then what is used by the liberals, NDP or t he Greens.
One of our past MP’s passed on business to the Kingston area hoping to gain support for his liberal counterpart in that riding.
The difference in this situation is Harper is open about it, or more so then the liberals ever were.
Or maybe it’s just a ploy to get votes in Quebec by wanting an arena, but then having a popular Quebec politician pooh pooh it? The Cons get the honey without having to spend the money?
Not sure about that Jamie. If that was Harper’s plan, it seems to have backfired beautifully. Most people out west hate the idea of Quebec getting favours. Also, now every city will want a new taxpayer funded sports palace.
As an aside, why is Harper even talking about building these things when there is such a desperate need for affordable housing? How obscene is that?
admin
The whole cable and satelite package forces content on us, This is just another unfortunate scenario created by media and the people investing in their programmming via commercials
smee says:
September 11, 2010 at 8:55 am
“[Harper’s] tactics are different then what is used by the liberals, NDP or t he Greens.”
You may be right about the Liberals and NDP, and I certainly won’t get into an argument about it, but why are you accusing the Greens? After all, I believe you yourself very recently claimed that there were no Green incumbents?
It’s OK to make a point, or criticise a politician, but why lie about it? That’s what we’ve unfortunately come to expect from the “transparency in government” Reform Party, or some of the Evil Fundamentalist Preachers.
You do not have to be an incumbant to share a political tactic.
Thanx for reposting, I missed a word in that line
“[Harper’s] tactics are no different then what is used by the liberals, NDP or t he Greens
On another perspective has Bernier suggested a better option to achieve the goal or just complain.
Also Have any considered hpw many people it will employ during and after construction? Is it money wasted or invested in future employment?
I’m Green and I have no “tactics”.
Why would they build an NHL sports arena in Quebec City? They have no NHL team anymore since they sold the Nordiques which became the Avalanche in the US. Or perhaps this is a “build it and they will come” scenario….
Harper is a huge hockey fan. The more pro hockey teams there are, the happier he’ll be.
Not sure about the logic but it will create revenue and a stimulus for the area.
As for the Nordiques, they have proven that you MUST leave Quebec to win a stanley cup!
Sure you do Stan and you are applying it in this discussion. It is clearly stated in your post. Freewill
“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”.
I cannot say anything about the logic of building a new team in quebec city other then it is a potential long term econonmic stimulus for the area.
As for the Nordiques, well they have proven you MUST leave quebec to win a stanley cup
Can you just imagine if the billion odd dollars squandered in Harper’s G8/G20 three day sleepover had been spent on building affordable housing for low income families? Not only would it employ a pile of tradespeople for quite some time, but it would provide decent housing for families that now are in desperate situations. And now this heartless jerk wants to blow countless billions more on shiny new military toys and sports palaces!
As usual, Furtz is right on the money. As for clothes-horse Bernier, he sense a moment to come out of mothballs.
The previous Liberals under Jean Chretien commissioned the F35 “military toys”, Stephen Harper is just going along with that good idea. Hopefully we won’t have another fiasco like the cancellation of the helicopter deal by Jean Chretien just to get back at Brian Mulroney……our forces are still suffering with those Cormorants instead of the better state-of-the-art EH101’s ordered by the Conservatives. Lets face it, our armed services should have the very best equipment to operate with. We owe it to those brave servicepeople who put their lives on the line every day…..for us!
and for the liberal justified expenditures, and just imagine the run off monies not mentioned here
Senior government officials running the federal government’s advertising and sponsorship contracts in Quebec, as well as five Crown corporations – the RCMP, Via Rail, Canada Post, the Business Development Bank of Canada and the Old Port of Montreal – wasted money and showed disregard for rules, mishandling millions of dollars since 1995.
More than $100 million was paid to various communications agencies in the form of fees and commissions, Fraser found. In most cases the agencies did little more than hand over the cheques.
Thanks PJR. I must admit that I get really pissed off watching our wealth being handed over to the wealthy. How many more multi-million dollar/year hockey players do we need? How many more billions of dollars should we be handing over to the American war machine companies? We have a serious homelessness situation in Canada that both Chretien and Harper didn’t and don’t consider a problem. It boggles my mind that we continue to elect these absolutely cold-hearted “leaders” that seem to care only for their business friends.
It’s sort of interesting that whenever Harper is criticized on this forum, the usual neo-cons can only come up with “Chretien was a jerk too”. I agree that the Libs screwed up big time on a lot of things, and that list is long. Now we maybe should consider what is happening today? For what it’s worth, and it’s not much, I was never a fan of Chretien or Martin. That was then. Today is now. If Smee and Stan think Harper is doing a fine job, that’s ok. I just happen to have a different opinion.
Hey Smee,
Talking about governments squandering money, didn’t the feds just spend a billion dollars (i.e. 10 times what you say they spend in Quebec) in Toronto this summer? Obviously, they need to spend more money in Quebec, especially in marginal ridings, just to keep things fair. I mean, the $2m spent on the lake could have paid an NHL player’s salary for almost a whole season.
Oh, and by the way, Smee, thanks for using a spell check. Other readers besides me really appreciate it!
And this is why people don’t vote. The majority says no, but, the government say, the hell with them. My 80 year old father, who has voted conservative in every level of elections since he was old enough to vote said last night, he isn’t going to vote. That is what politicians stole from us,……….our democracy.
and our money!
democracy *l* is the purest form of socialism/Marxism.
smee, If a man who has never missed voting in an election since 1949 can see there are some serious issues within our elected official, why can’t an educated man like yourself not see this. It just boggles my mind.
willies boggled
oh willie you mis understand, I fully understand and support your dad. He can see the truth behind our democracy. It has nothing to do with the people.
sorry democarcy has nothing to do with what is best for the people