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Right-wing groups now have PM's ear....

Hux

By Hux
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Hux Newbie

Hux

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You may recall a post pre-election where I mentioned that most of the power excercised by Government doesn't come down to a vote, it's more about what groups have access to those in power/decision makers...it seems that's happening.

Public child-care advocates are furious since they have not been able to meet with anyone in the Harper government, while Conservative-friendly interest groups are regularly consulted and invited to participate.

“On this issue, Mr. Harper is really exposing his right-wing, social conservative agenda,†said Kerry McCuaig, spokeswoman for the Childcare Advocacy Association of Canada.

“These were the groups that he managed to keep quiet during the election, and now there’s some payback that’s taking place [since] they have the ear of the prime minister, while organizations that have been doing this work for decades can’t get a meeting with him.â€

Taken from an article in today's Post....

Several groups fear Harper's budget axe

BY MIKE DE SOUZA

OTTAWA — Child-care researchers, aboriginal communities, affordable housing advocates, environmental activists, artists and the CBC all have something in common these days.

For more than a decade, they built bridges with the federal Liberal government to negotiate grants, funding and subsidies. Now they are at odds with Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. So long as they are standing in the way of Conservative promises to lower the GST and send out new family-allowance cheques to parents for child care, they are in danger of losing hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding.

“There’s a preference [in government policy] for financial transfers to individuals, therefore directly to citizens,†said Christian Rouillard, the Canada research chair in governance and public management at the University of Ottawa. “As for everything that supports civil society, different community groups and the social movement, they are at risk of seeing their transfers diminished or in some cases, eliminated.â€

The government has already confirmed it would eliminate 15 programs dedicated to the fight against climate change, prompting an outcry from the groups affected.

“I think it’s fine for a new government to come in and say we want to look at things a little bit. We want to rejig things a little bit, but that’s not what they’re doing. They’re cutting everything,†said Greenpeace spokesman Steven Guilbeault. “So basically we’ll have bureaucrats sitting around doing absolutely nothing, because they have no budget. There will be no programs, there will be no incentives, there will be nothing.â€

With a budget expected within weeks, the next likely targets are child-care advocacy groups, researchers and academics who have gotten hundreds of millions in research grants and subsidies over the years.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley has said all programs are under review in her department.

Meantime, Harper complained last week about “the armies of academics, researchers and special interest groups†who are taking Ottawa’s child-care money away from parents. He warned there would be no more funding for those g roups under his approach to send allowance cheques directly to parents.

He also criticized the Liberals for spending billions on environmental programs without any concrete results, and suggested his government is reviewing the effectiveness of nearly 100 programs.

Public child-care advocates are furious since they have not been able to meet with anyone in the Harper government, while Conservative-friendly interest groups are regularly consulted and invited to participate.

“On this issue, Mr. Harper is really exposing his right-wing, social conservative agenda,†said Kerry McCuaig, spokeswoman for the Childcare Advocacy Association of Canada.

“These were the groups that he managed to keep quiet during the election, and now there’s some payback that’s taking place [since] they have the ear of the prime minister, while organizations that have been doing this work for decades can’t get a meeting with him.â€

CanWest News Service

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Birdy Newbie

Birdy

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what's the big deal here? of course deals struck by a DIFFERENT gov't are going to be reviewed by the conservatives. 'for more than a decade' shit hasn't changed! looks like 'interest groups' got a little too comfy in their beds and are pissed that they might have to get back out and lobby again. no sympathy here.. that's part of the game.. do your friggin' job!

mike de souza could have fared well to leave Greenpeace out of that article. I for one won't lend sympathy to their plight.. murderers!

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ollie Newbie

ollie

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what's the big deal here?

If it's not clear by now I don't think it ever will be. I don't like a social conservative agenda. So when the current government does something to push that agenda I will react negatively. I think that's at the heart of the reaction.

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Hux Newbie

Hux

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'interest groups' got a little too comfy in their beds and are pissed that they might have to get back out and lobby again. no sympathy here.. that's part of the game.. do your friggin' job!

None of them stopped lobbying - the issue is that because they oppose the Govt's plans now they don't have that opportunity. They're happy to lobby but it's not an equal playing field as the more social-conservative groups are the only ones getting access.

Understand now?

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bradm Newbie

bradm

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How much access did the socially conservative lobbyists have while the Liberals were in power? If they had less access than the socially liberal lobbyists, then there wasn't an "equal playing field". (And, of course, if they had equal access, then there was an equal playing field.)

Aloha,

Brad

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Birdy Newbie

Birdy

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wtf?

sorry howler, i just don't like greenpeace. they seem to take things a little too far for my liking.. valuing the environment more than humanity itself. they're a pretty shady organization. or at least i think so.

If it's not clear by now I don't think it ever will be. I don't like a social conservative agenda. So when the current government does something to push that agenda I will react negatively. I think that's at the heart of the reaction.

the article isn't about them 'pushing' a socially conservative agenda though. it's about them funding the GST cut.

None of them stopped lobbying - the issue is that because they oppose the Govt's plans now they don't have that opportunity. They're happy to lobby but it's not an equal playing field as the more social-conservative groups are the only ones getting access.

Understand now?

maybe a little... but isn't it rather defeatist that they just simply give in? just because you oppose financial transfer to individuals, doesn't change the fact that there are still whales that need saving, families that are starving, unemployed people that need employment. in all of this "re-jiging", can they not "re-jig" themselves? perhaps a little re-jiging would make economically conservative, yet socially liberal people, such as myself, more responsive to their causes... that and with the imposing recession/depression that is globally predicted, maybe it is time to look at the books.

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ollie Newbie

ollie

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the article isn't about them 'pushing' a socially conservative agenda though. it's about them funding the GST cut.

I don't think the following quotation was included to be a non sequitr.

“On this issue, Mr. Harper is really exposing his right-wing, social conservative agenda,†said Kerry McCuaig, spokeswoman for the Childcare Advocacy Association of Canada.

“These were the groups that he managed to keep quiet during the election, and now there’s some payback that’s taking place [since] they have the ear of the prime minister, while organizations that have been doing this work for decades can’t get a meeting with him.â€

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Birdy Newbie

Birdy

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i don't think the act of cutting social spending falls under social agenda, but rather budget management or fiscal agenda. sometimes it's hard to tell, but conservatives can be socially aware, just as much as a liberal, but with a different idea on how to achieve the same end result.

i think Kerry McCuaig is a tad bit reactionary. Of course Harper is going to meet with and prioritize meetings with people/organizations that supported him and continue to support his ideologies over those who have been and continue to oppose him and publicly defame his government.

of course ollie, i'm not saying that any of this is right or that i agree with it, but i understand it. i'm just saying i'm not shocked.

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ollie Newbie

ollie

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...but conservatives can be socially aware, just as much as a liberal, but with a different idea on how to achieve the same end result.

Not Harper's brand of conservatism.

of course ollie, i'm not saying that any of this is right or that i agree with it, but i understand it. i'm just saying i'm not shocked.

I'm not shocked either. Friends help friends. I don't like Harper's friends.

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Dr_Evil_Mouse Newbie

Dr_Evil_Mouse

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i just don't like greenpeace. they seem to take things a little too far for my liking.. valuing the environment more than humanity itself.

Surely you know the expression "canary in the coalmine"? Greenpeace are hardly EarthFirst, the way some in the latter might be happy with the loss of humanity from the ecosystem. The GP folks are keenly aware how thin the branch we're all standing on is getting, and are doing what they do for our own sake, against government and industry, who would typically just like people to shut up and go back to pumping up the GDP.

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Birdy Newbie

Birdy

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I suppose my feelings stem from continually reading about this charge or that charge against them and repeated "seal hunt"-ish situations where good people are affected. i don't disagree that they conduct important and necessary work, just that sometimes, it goes too far.

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Birdy Newbie

Birdy

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Could you please? I'd like to read that.

Oh, I'll play too! Just so Hux doesn't think I pick on him, I've got his back on this one. (though I don't think he actually needs the backup).

i don't understand the whole 'illegitimate' argument.. or how one could even say another's views are 'illegitimate'??

i want to read the argument too!

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Birdy Newbie

Birdy

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I hope he's typing it up in Word!! Good fun today everyone. Thanks, it's good to be back posting agian... see how long I can stand it this time :)

Psyche!!!

I kid, I kid!!!

Now off to the Studio...

~W

:).

today has been fun... the politics forum has been on FIRE!

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