The not very lean but very mean budget

Far and Wide calls it the Vendetta Budget.  Yes, it is that, with cuts to Elections Canada, wiping out the Katimavik program, butchering the CBC, and now we hear starving the Information Commissioner who "is currently in the midst of a comprehensive review of alleged interference with access to information requests by political staffers, a self-initiated inquiry that followed her investigation into similar allegations against Sebastien Tognieri, a former aide to then-Industry Minister Christian Paradis, but soon mushroomed to include other departments, including Foreign Affairs and PCO. "

It is also a mean budget.

Jim Flaherty axed the National Council of Welfare in Thursday’s budget.  The independent, federally-appointed body was created by an act of Parliament in 1969 to advise the minster of human resources on poverty in Canada.  But since the Harper government was elected in 2006, it has ignored the council’s research and advice on how to address growing income disparity across the country, activists say.

“Many non-governmental organizations . . . provide quality independent advice and research on poverty-related issues,” said Alyson Queen (spokesperson for Human Resources Minister Diane Finley).

Sure, but they don't report regularly to a federal department and they don't work for the public.  The CONs blend their meanness and vendetta tactics in cancelling The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy and claiming that "it can now get this advice from the Internet and stakeholders."

Right. Advice from the Internet.


In both cases, harper saves himself the trouble of hiding embarrassing - but accurate reports that clearly point out his policies are dangerous and costly.  He then gets to pick whatever "advice" suits him and present it as credible.  Hell, he can even make up his own advice.

No wonder he wants to silence all independent agencies that produce impartial reports for the public.

“So, I guess we don’t want to know anything about poverty or how to solve it,” said NDP MP Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina).  “Without the information, no one will be able to report on how many people this Conservative government is leaving behind,” she added. “It’s called out of sight and out of mind. And don’t get in the way.”

But pay your taxes.  Oh yes.  That they will track.  And your online activities.  And whether or not you are one of those dangerous Canadians that forced the harpercons to create the Building Resilience Against Terrorism strategy which seeks to protect law abidin' hard workin' Canadiuns from “low-level violence by domestic-based groups remains a reality in Canada… revolving around the promotion of various causes such as animal rights, white supremacy, environmentalism, and anti-capitalism.”

And all this, for the 1%