74 MPs will qualify for pension if election delayed until July 2010

By Mike De Souza, Canwest News ServiceSeptember 13, 2009 10:16 AM

OTTAWA -- One out of five MPs in the House of Commons can boost their chances of receiving a lucrative pension by preventing a fall election and ensuring the current Parliament survives at least until July 2010, reveals a survey by Canwest News Service.The survey examined the number of MPs who were first elected in June 2004 and are less than a year away from having the six years of service required to qualify for a government pension that can kick in at age 55.

It found that 74 MPs with several years of experience could find themselves without a pension, if they fail to hold onto their seats, and in the same boat as those elected for the first time in the 2008 election.But if there is no election before next summer, 36 Conservatives, 16 Bloc Quebecois MPs, 14 Liberals and eight New Democrats can qualify for a pension that would give them at least $25,000 a year based on the minimum MP salary that now stands at $157,731 per year. MPs who hold special positions in their caucus, on parliamentary committees or in cabinet, would have higher salaries and as a result would be eligible for larger pensions upon retirement.

The list of MPs who are less than a year short of qualifying for their pension:

Bloc Quebecois: 16 MPs or 33 per cent of caucus

Conservatives: 36 MPs or 25 per cent of caucus

Liberals: 14 MPs or 18 per cent of caucus

NDP: Eight MPs or 22 per cent of caucus

-------

Reposting of 09/13/09 Article.

Bloc asks Ottawa for surtax on wealthiest Canadians

By David Akin, Canwest News ServiceOctober 5, 2009 10:02

OTTAWA — The Bloc Quebecois is calling on the federal government to drastically shrink the civil service and to impose a special surtax on the income of the wealthiest one per cent of Canadians as a means to eliminate the deficit.The BQ, like the other opposition parties, said Monday that the plan sketched out by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to eliminate Ottawa's deficit over the next five years involves keeping employment insurance premiums artificially high.

"This is a tax on working people and we're completely against it," said Bloc MP Jean-Yves Laforest, his party's finance critic.The BQ plans to make its deficit-fighting ideas a centrepiece of the two byelections underway in Quebec.Voters in the Quebec ridings of Hochelga and Montmagny-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Riviere-du-Loup go to the polls Nov. 9. (more)

The BQ said the federal government should drastically reduce the size of the federal civil service, replacing every three workers that retire over the next five years with just one worker. Reducing the federal payroll that way could eventually cut Ottawa's annual spending on its own workforce by billions each year. It also said Ottawa could chop the $3 billion it spends annually on "professional services," money paid to outside consultants for advice on everything from communications to policy decisions to temporary help.

Laforest also said Ottawa should do what U.S. President Barack Obama has done and ask the country's wealthiest citizens to pay a greater share in income tax to eliminate the deficit. The Bloc suggests those Canadians with a taxable income of $150,000 a year should pay an additional one per cent in income taxes. That measure, the BQ calculates, would affect about 450,000 Canadians and could net Ottawa an additional $1.5 billion a year.

Harper set to call 4 byelections

Sunday, October 4, 2009 CBC NEWS:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to call four byelections on Sunday to fill vacant seats in the House of Commons. The byelections would be held for two vacant seats in Quebec, one in British Columbia and one in Nova Scotia.The Quebec seats in Montreal and the eastern Quebec region of Rivière-du-Loup are considered Bloc Québécois strongholds, with the Bloc party candidates winning well over half the votes in 2008.The Nova Scotia riding was held by independent MP Bill Casey, a former Conservative MP who was ejected from the caucus after he broke ranks and voted against a bill to implement the federal budget. He was re-elected as an independent but has since resigned his seat.The B.C. seat was held by former New Democrat MP Dawn Black, who left to run for a seat in the provincial legislature.Black beat her Conservative candidate by more than 1,000 votes in last October's federal vote. The Tories held the riding as recently as 2004.

The byelection call comes as recent opinion polls put the Tories ahead of the Liberals by at least six points.Harper's minority government survived a Liberal no-confidence motion last week with help from the NDP, averting an election.The Liberal motion was defeated after the NDP decided to abstain.NDP Leader Jack Layton had earlier said his party is propping up the Conservative government to ensure the speedy passage of legislation extending employment insurance benefits.

Federal Candidates Lacking

Peter McIntyre Friday, 02 October 2009 06:26 107.5 KISSFM:

With the chance of a fall federal election dimming, local Liberals are in no hurry to find a candidate. However, Association spokesman Rod Drennan admits they're having trouble finding a candidate. Drennan says their candidate in 2008, Janna Francis, has told officials she won't be seeking the nomination. He says they can't deny they're having issues attracting candidates. Drennan says it's just not a convenient time for some.

The Green party has nominated Huguette Allen as its candidate while the Conservatives have done likewise with current MP Colin Mayes. The NDP's Alice Brown says she'll not run again, and as yet the party hasn't chosen a candidate.

Allen confirmed as Green Candidate for Okanagan Shuswap.

Media Release Vernon, September 30th, 2009

More than 100 people confirmed the nomination of Huguette Allen as the next federal Green Party candidate, Saturday September 26th, in Armstrong. Speaking at the annual Green Garden Party, Ms. Allen said “40 years ago voters wanted medicare & they got it. Today voters want government with a green agenda. We’ve got it & voters can get it, when the next election is called.” Enjoying an old fashioned corn roast with local organic food, Huguette Allen spoke about exciting times in BC with Elizabeth May running in Saanich Gulf Islands. She noted writer William Deverell will soon be in Okanagan-Shuswap on a cross-Canada book tour in support of the greens.

Ms. Allen is encouraged to have been elected to the national governing council of the Green Party. She pointed out that the other political parties have become irrelevant by ignoring the biggest challenge on earth. “Only the Green Party’s economic plan addresses the fundamental question: how to live without destroying our nest".

Ms. Allen praised the Green Party plan to tax pollution instead of income. "The Green Plan includes $36 Billion of income tax cuts including income splitting. It reverses the trend to ballooning deficits faster than Harper's give-a-way to badly managed corporations. The Green plan reroutes multi-billion dollar tax payer bail-outs for failing companies like GM, to emerging green industries. Our plan builds on innovation that will create jobs in Canada. Our plan supports family values & social responsibility. It will build sustainable communities that enable us to live within our financial and environmental means, and not burden future generations."

Jim and Diane Duenow, Californians who recently moved to Canada and were active in the Obama campaign, told the audience that electing Greens will depend on grassroots effort. They stated that the time is right for significant change in Canada and encouraged voters to make the link between the urgent environmental & economic issues we face, and voting Green.

Music was provided by harpist Linda Khandro and guitarist Manfred Harper.

You Need 6 Years to Vest your pension in Ottawa !

Bloc support for Tories to avert election call

CBC News:

The Bloc Québécois will support the Harper government's budget motion on Friday, averting an election call this week. The government is bringing forward a financial ways-and-means motion, which includes the popular tax credits for home renovation. It is considered a confidence issue, and its defeat could trigger an election.The Tories need support from either the NDP or the Bloc, as the Liberals have already stated they will vote against the government on any confidence motion. The Bloc's support means the minority Conservative government will survive at least until the first week of October, when the Liberals plan to introduce a no-confidence motion.

WHEN PIGS FLY !

In reference to Flaherty's statement that the deficit will be eliminated in 2015, Ignatieff offered a simple rebuttal: "If pigs can fly."

Budget officer prices Grit EI reforms at $1.2B: MP

By Juliet O'Neill, Canwest News ServiceSeptember 9, 2009 1:54 PM

OTTAWA — Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page has tagged the cost of proposed Liberal employment insurance reforms at under $1.2 billion — even less than the $1.5 billion estimated by the Liberals themselves, says Montreal MP Marlene Jennings.

Jennings told Canwest News Service the finding shows the Conservative government "wildly overestimated" the cost of a proposal to ease access to insurance benefits. The government had said it would cost $4 billion during bipartisan discussions that recently broke down.

Everything old is new again

Salmon Arm Observer Editorial Sept 8:

When you are in politics, you can’t pass up any way of getting mileage with voters, even if it means taking credit for the same project once, twice, even three times. The Shuswap was the latest target of some political dog-and-pony shows as Okanagan-Shuswap MP Colin Mayes trotted around dispensing money for projects that have already been completed — and which have already made the rounds in the press months ago. This includes upgrades to the roof of the Sicamous Recreation Centre and for bleachers and washroom improvements to the Sunwave Centre. So a few dignitaries get trotted out and the PR reps make a barrage of phone calls to the media hinting that the “new” announcement is a really big deal, but refusing to divulge the secret. The moment better be captured in print, so they will have something for their clipping files or election campaign literature.

Exactly who benefitted from the staged “announcement” of funding for a series of projects that are already in place? The whole thing seems like a waste of time, speeches, cookies and coffee — especially when there are much more significant issues facing our region. Apparently it’s more important for politicians to look like they are doing something... even if it is the same something over and over again.

Mayes Stays

Tue, 2009-09-08 08:50. Kate Bouey - Vernon 105.7 Sun FM

The Conservatives in Okanagan-Shuswap won't be holding a nomination meeting ahead of a possible federal election this fall. MP Colin Mayes says members rejected that route when asked about it by letter last May. He says similar letters were sent to Tory constituencies across the country.Mayes says he'll be the Conservative candidate if there is an election although he hopes it doesn't happen. Conservative members in the region were asked if they wanted him to stay on and 80 percent said yes. He says it's too expensive and the Tories have done well despite the troubled economy.

Ready for Election ?

Bloc pensions stand in the way of election

There are 16 reasons why there won’t be an election this summer, and probably won’t be one before next summer. Sixteen is the number of Bloc Québécois MPs first elected with the class of 2004, who will qualify for their parliamentary pensions six years to the day later. On June 28, 2010.

National Post June 5: Full Comment, L. Ian MacDonald, Canadian politics

Those 16 Bloc members need to be in Parliament until then for their pensions to vest. Should any of them lose their seats in an election first, they would also lose their pensions. This is no small consideration in keeping the House going until then. Consider: MPs’ pensions vest at 3% per year of their salaries for the first six years. That’s 18% of $155,000 (MPs’ base salary) per year, or $27,900 a year. Indexed. For life. No seat for six years, no pension.

Election may put some Pensions at Risk !

Different seat, new pain in butt for Green leader

Joanna Smith Ottawa Bureau The Star:

May moves bid to get elected to B.C., but faces dirty-tricks allegation – and must beat minister.

OTTAWA–Elizabeth May is moving her quest for a seat to the West Coast, and although her campaign has yet to begin, there is an allegation of dirty tricks.The Green party has confirmed its leader has filed nomination papers to run against Gary Lunn, the Conservative minister of state for sport, in the British Columbia riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands."There has been a tremendous amount of encouragement from people in the community to move there and to run there," was all May would say about her decision yesterday because she did not want to pre-empt a formal announcement planned for early next week.

But Stuart Hertzog, an environmental and social justice activist and website publisher from Victoria, is also entered in the Sept. 19 nomination contest and the Star has learned he has filed a complaint with Elections Canada. The complaint accuses the Green party of pouring central money into the local riding association to support the May campaign and deny him a fair chance."I don't believe I can compete on a level playing field," Hertzog said in an interview.

He said he originally decided to put his name forward in the Vancouver Island constituency to protest what he called an anti-democratic shift in the party from grassroots to the leader and executive.Now, in a complaint Hertzog said he filed Thursday, he alleges the party's federal council illegally transferred $62,000 from a special fund it set up to get May elected – after it decided this spring that winning a seat for the leader would be the priority in the next campaign – to the electoral district association, and that it is being used to finance the nomination campaign. Elections Canada refused comment on the matter.

May said the fact the party hasn't simply appointed her as the riding candidate proves Hertzog is wrong about any anti-democratic shift."You obviously can't imagine any other party in Canada where the leader would be even contemplating running in a riding where someone would say – just to make a point – the nomination would be contested," May said. "He's making a very strong case that we are in fact a grassroots party that is not top-down."

The party yesterday disputed the amount of money and its purpose."Not one cent of the money has been used for anything," said John Fryer, May's campaign manager in Saanich-Gulf Islands.Fryer said the money from the fund to get May elected is being held in Ottawa and has not been touched. He said the party lent the riding association $50,000 as seed money to mount its campaign after May wins the nomination."In the event that Stuart Hertzog defeats Elizabeth May at the Green party nominating contest, I guess wiser minds than I will decide what happens next – to that money or anything else – because I certainly won't be working on Stuart Hertzog's campaign," said Fryer, who dismissed the challenger as something of a gadfly who, like May, does not currently live in the riding. "His parachute is a little smaller than Elizabeth's," he said.

Meanwhile, the party is getting ready for its next campaign. (more)

Who will Drive the Clown Car This Time?

CBC News:

The Liberals are tied for support with the Conservatives as the possibility of a fall federal election looms, a new EKOS poll released exclusively to CBC News suggests.Asked which party they would vote for were a federal election held tomorrow, 32.6 per cent of respondents said they would cast their ballots for Stephen Harper's Tories, while the same percentage opted for Michael Ignatieff's Liberals, EKOS said.

Stage set for fall election showdown

SUDBURY, Ont. — Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has set the stage for a fall election, warning Prime Minister Stephen Harper: "Your time is up."

But the minority Conservative government could yet survive thanks to an unlikely ally - the NDP now says it may prop up Harper if he's willing to work with them.Ignatieff delivered a fiery, campaign-style speech to his caucus Tuesday, announcing that the party will no longer support the Tories.

"Mr. Harper, your time is up," he told cheering MPs and senators in Sudbury."The Liberal party cannot support this government any further ... We will hold Stephen Harper to account and we will oppose his government."Liberal MP Bob Rae later said the party will present a motion of non-confidence at the first opportunity, which will come the first week of October.That seemed to seal the fate of the government - and set the stage for a November election - given that the Tories would need the support of the NDP or Bloc Quebecois, both of whom have consistently voted against Harper.

But New Democrat MP Thomas Mulcair immediately offered an olive branch."What I'm saying is: the last thing Canadians want is a fourth general election in five years and we'd better have a bloody good reason for forcing a fourth general election in five years."So if Mr. Harper goes about being provocative as he has been in the past, going after key things that Canadians hold dearly like women's rights and the environment, then we'll throw him out of office because he'll have provoked it. "If, on the other hand, Stephen Harper comes into Parliament with a willingness to work in the public interest, then we're going to take it on a case-by-case basis. Our caucus will decide."

PM dares rivals to force election

By Renata D'Aliesio And Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald

P rime Minister Stephen Harper dared opposition parties on Saturday-- namely Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff--to topple the Conservative minority government, arguing it will trigger an election Canadians don't want and leave voters with a stark choice at the ballot box. "Let the opposition parties threaten to get together to defeat us and replace us," Harper told about 800 Conservative supporters during a barbecue at Heritage Park. "Canadians have been clear that they do not want another election." Harper and Ignatieff, both in Calgary for Stampede events, have been engaging in electoral brinkmanship for weeks, with the Liberals threatening to defeat the government over issues such as fiscal management and employment insurance eligibility requirements.

---------------

All 3 Anglo leaders at Stampede yesterday.

Green party predicting fall election will be called

James Miller 2009-07-04 Kelowna Daily Courier:

Adriane Carr, deputy leader of the federal Green Party of Canada, fully expects an election will be called in the fall, and she‘s in the Okanagan this weekend to prepare the troops. Carr, a former B.C. provincial leader and the federal candidate in the riding of Vancouver Centre, spent Friday with Green party members in Penticton. She will be in Kelowna today to meet with candidate Angela Reid and attend a fundraiser in the evening. “We‘re expecting an election in the fall. (Liberal Leader Michael) Ignatieff and the other two opposition parties have boxed themselves into a corner. None of them want to be the party that props up the Conservatives. It will be like a game of chicken.” Carr, a former teacher, said the Green party will attempt different strategies in the next election, with its main focus being to elect leader Elizabeth May.
“We‘ve developed a very clear plan and set of goals, and No. 1 is to have our leader elected. Elizabeth May has been open to doing polling where the most likely riding is to elect her, and it‘s not breaking news that Saanich Gulf Islands is one possible riding. We‘d love to have one person in each riding across the country offer to help pitch in and get Elizabeth elected.”

Carr admits financing is always a problem for her party, but jokes, “we‘re not putting money into attack ads. We are doing training in fundraising, and I‘m out doing the barbecue circuit – good old grassroots fundraising, but the reception we‘re getting is good. Young people ages 18-34 are strong supporters. For some reason, traditionally, we have more support among women, but we have all walks of life. We have grandmothers concerned about the future for their grandchildren.” As for strategic voting, she believes it will soon come to an end. “How do you feel good about yourself voting for a party that you thought had the best chance of defeating the party you hate the most based on a poll you read? With strategic voting, it‘s really the voter who loses out.”

Carr said although the Okanagan is traditionally strong Conservative territory, her party has established a presence. “In the Interior, where it‘s traditionally been Conservative territory, people who‘ve thought about voting Green can do so with more freedom than in the tighter ridings. We have strong numbers in the Okanagan, and it may not be a breakthrough in the next election, but part of what we‘re training our candidates for is multiple elections.” She rhymed off several strong performances, including Penticton, where first-time candidate Dan Bouchard collected 13 per cent of the vote. As for the recent provincial election in which the Greens failed to elect a single candidate, the former provincial leader said she was more disappointed to see the Single Transferable Vote lose. “It‘s sad after all the work that went into it to see that it didn‘t pass. We need change to our electoral system. The federal Green party collected almost one million votes in our last election, yet didn‘t win a single seat. The Bloc collected 1.3 million votes and won 49 seats.”