The first cabinet:

The 26-member cabinet (27 including Harper) is one of the smallest in years, which Conservatives say should allow for more efficiency in Parliament.

“My smaller Cabinet and more streamlined Cabinet structure are designed for work, not for show,” said Harper in a statement released Monday.

The second cabinet:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled a newly expanded cabinet Thursday, moving Rona Ambrose out of her environment portfolio as he tries to recover political ground lost in the debate on climate change.

In all, five new junior cabinet positions were created and eight ministers took on new roles or switched posts as Harper moved to overhaul his minority government with the threat of a looming spring election.

The third cabinet:

In total, Harper expanded his cabinet from 31 members to 38.

So Harper’s third cabinet is 46% larger than his first. Does that mean it’s 46% less efficient and designed more for show?

The National Post editorial today is advising Prime Minister Harper to avoid running deficits by slashing spending. One of the measures they suggest is trimming the number of federal employees. So I thought I’d begin assembling a list of the number of federal employees and where they work so that conservatives can point to the ones they believe need to go.

Number of federal employees: 403,000

Department of Defence: 107,000 (62,000 regular, 23,000 reserve, 22,000 civilian)
RCMP: 24,578
Correctional Service of Canada: 10,000 (prison guards, parole officers, etc.)
Department of Justice: 5,000 (judges, crown attorneys, clerks, etc.)
Canada Border Services Agency: 12,000 (border guards, custom agents, etc.)

Of the 403,000 federal employees, nearly 170,000 (42%) of them are employed to protect the public’s safety. I wonder if conservatives will point their finger at any of these.

Note: These numbers are based on the best information I can find and while they may not be 100% accurate or up to date they should be sufficient for our purpose.

Who in their right mind would let an 8 year old fire an Uzi submachine gun? These people should be horsewhipped for letting their gun culture fanaticism override their common sense.

According to what I’ve been reading on the blogs of many right whingers, Conservative Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper is a socialist who likes to maintain government monopolies.

A federal lawyer says maintaining the government’s monopoly on medical marijuana is the only way to provide a safe and reliable supply.

It’s strange that supposedly free market conservatives would have voted for a socialist in the federal election earlier this month.

Bonus fun:

Justice Department lawyer Sean Gaudet warned a Federal Court of Appeal panel today that quashing the monopoly would lead to an industry that develops without safeguards.

What happened to the belief that the private sector can police itself? I guess that’s been chucked to the curb next to balanced budgets.

According to what I’ve been reading on the blogs of many right whingers, former Conservative Premier of Alberta Ralph Klein was a Marxist who liked to spread the wealth.

Finance Minister Shirley McClellan confirmed Tuesday that virtually every man, woman and child will get a $400 tax-free cheque from the government’s projected surplus of $6.8 billion.

It’s strange that supposedly conservative Albertans would continually re-elect a Marxist government.

I Know Right Where To Start
Jim Flaherty says;

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the government is reviewing its spending commitments to determine whether it can afford them in the current economic downturn.

Good idea, Jim, and the best place to start is with Jim Flaherty’s salary. The government can’t afford it in the current economic downturn especially when you consider that the Canadian taxpayer isn’t getting good value for their money.

Shoot Me Now
Has anyone else been following the national story about runaway teenager Brandon Crisp. It’s been absurd enough from the beginning but now it’s ventured in uncharted absurdity.

Inverse Correlation
The homocide rate in Canada continues to decrease which of course means the shrieking from right whingers about getting tough on crime will continue to increase.

There’s Never A Free Screecher Around When You Need One
The God groupies are acting crazy again.

A devilishly mischievous Canadian boy who mocks a central Christian ritual on YouTube has caused an international stir and earned the wrath of the Catholic Civil Rights League, which has called for his offensive, and popular, videos to be removed from the Internet.

So Muslims get ridiculously upset over cartoons and Catholics get ridiculously upset over a cracker and both sets of God groupies will bore you to tears explaining why we must join their side.

Liberal MP and possible leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff says;

Quebeckers walk around with this fantasy of how different they are, but they are just North Americans who speak French…They take the minor difference and magnify it.

If you don’t like the show you’re watching you need to change the channel.

The current crop of liberals haven’t learned that simple lesson and because they haven’t learned that simple lesson we’re still talking about Stephane Dion and the Liberal Party’s troubles when we should be talking about Stephen Harper and his gross mismanagement of our nation.

I wonder how many right whingers have already jerked off to this picture of Conservative MP Helena Guergis.

Unbelievable.

Canada will give $100 million to developing countries to fight climate change, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Sunday.

Okay, so he isn’t spending a hundred million taxpayer bucks to capture Bigfoot. But if you’re a climate change denier is there a difference?

So why aren’t the climate change deniers steamed about this? And why for that matter, do we rarely see right whingers complain about any of Harper’s megaspending?

Please note that these are rhetorical questions. We already know that the answer is right whingers have no principles.

The first dot.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he’s still confident the federal government will run a surplus for the current fiscal year.

But like his boss, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Flaherty is shying away from any predictions about the longer term.

The second dot.

The Conservative government is considering selling a stake in Canada’s federally owned nuclear vendor, industry sources say.

Industry executives involved in talks with Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn say Ottawa is mulling a public-private partnership for Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.

The connection: Jim Flaherty is once again trying to hide a deficit by selling off everything that isn’t nailed down then prying up everything that is nailed down and selling it too along with the nails.

Shorter Toronto Star: Proportional Representation is bad because 20,000 scary Christian Heritage Party voters might seize control of our nation. It’s better to deny nearly 1 million Green Party voters representation in Parliament so we don’t have to confront our childish, unfounded fears.

The Liberal Party is so screwed up that some liberals believe their salvation lies in selecting an anti-choice leader like Frank McKenna. The Liberal Party is so screwed up that some liberals would willingly throw women’s rights under the bus in exchange for power. That’s how screwed up the Liberal Party is.

I would like to thank all the Canadians who voted for the Liberal Party of Canada in Tuesday’s election. You remained loyal to your party even in the face of the reality that it was headed for a defeat.

Sure, you could have helped elect an NDP opposition that is strong and organized instead of helping elect a Liberal opposition that is weak and fractured just like it was after the previous election. You could have helped elect an NDP opposition united behind an already successful leader instead of helping elect a Liberal opposition desperately trying to find a new party leader just like they did after the previous election. You could have helped elect an NDP opposition that is ready to fight Stephen Harper’s regressive agenda instead of helping elect a Liberal opposition that is more interested in fighting itself just like they were after the previous election.

But you didn’t. You decided that party loyalty were more important than a strong, united opposition that is ready to stand up to the Conservatives. It takes courage to stand by your party even if their troubles will drag the entire nation down with them. For that I salute you, the Liberal Party voters of Canada.

It’s only a matter of time before these two lines cross.

Click on image to enlarge.

Ed speaks, you listen.

It’s time Canadians got the governments we vote for, not the ones our outmoded electoral system continues to regurgitate. It’s time our Neanderthal journalists and politicians started telling the truth about our lack of democracy and how most democracies have electoral systems much more effective, representative and stable than our own.

The NDP wants proportional representation in the House of Commons and the Conservatives want elections in the Senate. Maybe it’s time for Mr. Layton and Mr. Harper to have a little discussion about reforming our democracy. I’m sure they could hammer out an agreement that would be acceptable to both dippers and tories.

I’m going to be the first out of the gate to endorse a candidate for the upcoming Liberal leadership race. Bob Rae is the clearly the best choice for the Liberals. Go Rae, go!

Update: The Liberal Party says Dion won’t be resigning tomorrow.

Harper Gambled And Lost

I don’t care how much lipstick conservatives try to smear on these results. Harper gambled that he could get a majority that would allow him to ride out the approaching economic storm. He failed and now he’s at the mercy of the opposition parties who will pull the rug out from under him when he can least afford it. Hasta la vista, baby.

Dion Deserves A second Chance

As a partisan dipper I would love nothing more than to see the Liberals tear themselves apart for another two years. However, a weak, disorganized Liberal Party will give Harper free reign to implement his regressive agenda. Aside from that, Dion is not a lost cause. He showed resilience in the face of a massive two year conservative campaign against him and his minor defects can be worked on over the next two years.

Go Away May
If we had a system of proportional representation I’d cheer on Elizabeth May and the Green Party. But we don’t. Until we do Elizabeth May and the Green Party are hindering the progressive cause.

I don’t know what to say about the NDP’s campaign other than it was a solid one. While they didn’t hit a home run with it, they did advance the runners and for me that is more than acceptable.

A number of people–mostly sourpuss libfloggers–have pointed out that Layton failed to match Ed Broadbent’s best numbers. Of course what they fail to mention is that it took Ed thirteen years to lead the NDP to its all time height. Jack Layton has nearly managed to match the NDP’s best results in just 5 years and he’s had to compete with more parties than Broadbent did.

I do have two gripes about the campaign. The first is that the NDP’s penchant for waiting until the writ is dropped to field a full compliment of candidates bit them in the ass this time. Candidates can’t be properly vetted in the midst of a campaign. This problem needs to be addressed before the next election.

The second gripe is with the strategy of putting so much time and effort into Quebec. One seat was not worth that much effort when you consider there were dozens of seats ripe for the picking in other areas of the country. Until the NDP attains official opposition status and is then within reach of forming the government their focus should be on the areas of the country where they can win enough seats to reach that point.

Other than that, all I have to say is congratulations to everyone who worked on yet another successful NDP campaign.