Canadian Politics

[Jacquie]

1 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

Manitoba has the worst wait times in Canada.

Manitoba has over 10,000 kids in care.

Manitoba has the second highest rate of child poverty in Canada.

Manitoba students score the lowest on standardized tests across Canada.

Manitoba has an acute lack of care home beds.

Manitoba has a lack of medical services outside of Winnipeg.

Tell me again what the PCs are going to destroy.

How exactly are the PCs going to address all that and still tighten the belt?

 

Some of those things are a bit misleading as well.

The wait times info the PCs referenced is specifically about ER wait times, not all medical wait times. They were also using information from a survey of about 160 hospitals - some provinces/territories weren't included. Also, as has already been discussed, if people would stop going to ERs for non-emergencies the wait times would be a lot lower. 

That is too many kids in care. The problem is the numbers don't tell us whether the kids are better off in care or with their parent(s). It really is a damned if you do, damned if you don't thing when it comes to kids in care (that's true regardless of what political party is in power).

Child poverty is not just a provincial responsibility. The feds have a lot to do with it too (ie the rampant poverty on too many reserves). All levels of government (regardless of political ideology) need to do more. Having guaranteed income levels would do a lot to reduce the numbers since the children of working poor families make up a big percentage of kids living in poverty. 

Standardized testing is a political tool and not a true indication of what is going on in schools.

I think you will find that the lack of care home beds is pretty much a Canada-wide issue. I seem to recall our Alberta posters commenting on the PCs there totally ignoring the need. 

What type of medical services are you referring to? That is such a broad statement.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Jacquie

[bigg jay]

21 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

The anyone but Cons people like to ignore the inconvenient truth of what 16 years of NDP have done.  They couldnt even make a dent in their biggest promise from 16 years ago.  Ill give the PC's plenty of time before I start complaining.

Hopefully Pallister gets more than the 10 days or so Trudeau got before people started complaining about his new policies.

[Jacquie]

4 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Hopefully Pallister gets more than the 10 days or so Trudeau got before people started complaining about his new policies.

And that's about 9 days more than what Notley got in Alberta. 

[IC Khari]

Pallister has said he won't cut frontline services and I hope he keeps that promise, however as far as I'm concerned he can cut as many useless NDP/cronie beuracrats as is humanly possible in the shortest amount of time ...

[sweep the leg]

1 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

Manitoba has the worst wait times in Canada.

Manitoba has over 10,000 kids in care.

Manitoba has the second highest rate of child poverty in Canada.

Manitoba students score the lowest on standardized tests across Canada.

Manitoba has an acute lack of care home beds.

Manitoba has a lack of medical services outside of Winnipeg.

Tell me again what the PCs are going to destroy.

I think the bolded issues are due to our demographics more than NDP policies.

[bigg jay]

2 minutes ago, IC Khari said:

Pallister has said he won't cut frontline services and I hope he keeps that promise, however as far as I'm concerned he can cut as many useless NDP/cronie beuracrats as is humanly possible in the shortest amount of time ...

I know a few people who started packing their stuff last week!  

I also know there was a bit of a push to find/create openings that people with appointments could apply for so if/when they got the job (there would be pressure to hire them specifically regardless of who the best candidate was) they would then be protected by the no layoff clauses.  A few managers I know of begged people to not retire/quit until after the election so they didn't get stuck with someone like that.

[The Unknown Poster]

42 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Hopefully Pallister gets more than the 10 days or so Trudeau got before people started complaining about his new policies.

Has Trudeau actually done anything since the election?  I'd say that's a step in the right direction.

[The Unknown Poster]

12 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

I think the bolded issues are due to our demographics more than NDP policies.

To a degree.  But CFS is definitely something in need of over-all.  A lot of incompetence there.  And racially motivated decisions that put politics and blame ahead of the best interests of children.

[kelownabomberfan]

7 hours ago, Jacquie said:

You've totally misread that. 

 

No I didn't misread it.  The BCTF was given the right to determine class size and composition in 1998.  Which is a total conflict of interest.  Imagine in the real world, a business hands over all hiring decisions to the union.  Suddenly they are hiring tons of guys and the business goes bankrupt, as they can't bear the weight of the extraneous workers.  This is what was happening in BC with teachers until the Liberals took away this right, that the BCTF claimed they had "bargained for".  Yeah right.  Whenever a government union "bargains" with an NDP government, they are bargaining with themselves.  

[kelownabomberfan]

2 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

Manitoba has the worst wait times in Canada.

Manitoba has over 10,000 kids in care.

Manitoba has the second highest rate of child poverty in Canada.

Manitoba students score the lowest on standardized tests across Canada.

Manitoba has an acute lack of care home beds.

Manitoba has a lack of medical services outside of Winnipeg.

Tell me again what the PCs are going to destroy.

I believe that Manitoba has the highest rate of child poverty, but BC is a close second.  I do like how the NDP here in BC scream about this all the time, and yet when it's pointed out that Manitoba has high rates too, it's suddenly a federal responsibility.  

[kelownabomberfan]

1 hour ago, Jacquie said:

How exactly are the PCs going to address all that and still tighten the belt?

 

Job one for me would be to determine where all of the current government spending is actually going. Manitoba has been running giant deficits for years.  And yet nothing seemed to be getting better on the social services side.  So where is all of the money going?  It has to be going somewhere.  In BC, the new government found there were 8,000 (I am going on memory here) government workers hired by the NDP that were completely unnecessary.  So they let them go.  I saw a great example of this.  My company received a hiring grant from the provincial and federal government, and every month two bureaucrats came to the office and made us sit through a tedious meeting to "discuss" how the $5,000 we received that month had been spent.  What a waste.  As soon as the Liberals took over, the provincial guy was canned.  He was really bitter about it, in the last meeting we had with him, but we said to him "welcome to the real world now".  The party was over.

[kelownabomberfan]

another thing I noticed - in the past few months I've been in contact with business development offices of various provinces.

- BC guy returned my call in two hours

- Alberta person returned my call in three hours

- Saskatchewan guy actually answered the phone

- I left three voicemails for the Manitoba contact line, over the course of two weeks.  No one ever called me back.  Time to get some business friendly people back working in the Manitoba government.

[The Unknown Poster]

I suspect there is a lot of uncomfortable people at Hydro today.

I wonder if there will be a proper investigation into IGF.  There should be an investigation into a lot of things, especially considering the rumors of massive paper shredding and removal of hard drives from government offices recently.

I know an RN who voted PC and was particularly angry that her Union repeatedly tried to convince members to work for the NDP campaigns.  This happened to be once too.  We were in a negotiation during a provincial election and I attended a meeting about the contract negotiations where the Union leadership implored us to do everything we could to get the NDP re-elected.

[nate007]

Speaking of no-layoff contracts, MPI employees voted on a new four-year contract last month with a no layoff clause. The union told people that this was a take it or leave it offer, and if it was rejected, they'd have to roll the dice re-starting negotiations again after the election. Doesn't take a genius to figure out who the MGEU would rather negotiate with...

[sweep the leg]

41 minutes ago, kelownabomberfan said:

another thing I noticed - in the past few months I've been in contact with business development offices of various provinces.

- BC guy returned my call in two hours

- Alberta person returned my call in three hours

- Saskatchewan guy actually answered the phone

- I left three voicemails for the Manitoba contact line, over the course of two weeks.  No one ever called me back.  Time to get some business friendly people back working in the Manitoba government.

I tried to call somebody with CRA during the Harper years and he didn't answer. I blame the Conservatives.

[Jacquie]

1 hour ago, kelownabomberfan said:

No I didn't misread it.  The BCTF was given the right to determine class size and composition in 1998.  Which is a total conflict of interest.  Imagine in the real world, a business hands over all hiring decisions to the union.  Suddenly they are hiring tons of guys and the business goes bankrupt, as they can't bear the weight of the extraneous workers.  This is what was happening in BC with teachers until the Liberals took away this right, that the BCTF claimed they had "bargained for".  Yeah right.  Whenever a government union "bargains" with an NDP government, they are bargaining with themselves.  

According to BC government documents, the average class size (K-12) is 20-26 students. Unless you learned your math in Saskatchewan that isn't 3 students per teacher.

[kelownabomberfan]

26 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

I tried to call somebody with CRA during the Harper years and he didn't answer. I blame the Conservatives.

Not sure why you would do that, or what relevance this comment has, whatsoever, other than to be snarky, but what else is new.  Anyway, to each their own.  I just found it interesting and sort of sad that no one in the Manitoba government could be bothered to call me back, especially when the reps from the other provinces were quick to respond.  Especially with Manitoba having all of those extra redundant employees.

[Brandon]

I finally learn who the Liberal was running in my section..... on election day....  on the ballot.   Was shocked to see their was one riding.

PC had a thing on my door knob and also gave me a call to remind me today was election day....  the lady won in my area by around 4000 votes.  

NDP is a lock in certain areas (usually poverty stricken areas) so I can't imagine them ever being shut out  like the Liberals pretty much were... 

 

[Jacquie]

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

To a degree.  But CFS is definitely something in need of over-all.  A lot of incompetence there.  And racially motivated decisions that put politics and blame ahead of the best interests of children.

It's more understaffed than incompetence. Too many cases, not enough case workers. Ted Hughes recommended a ratio of 20 files per social worker. The average about a year ago was 28. With about 90% of the children in care being native, First Nations CFS needs to do a better job managing the situation.

[kelownabomberfan]

13 minutes ago, Jacquie said:

According to BC government documents, the average class size (K-12) is 20-26 students. Unless you learned your math in Saskatchewan that isn't 3 students per teacher.

Uh...Jackie, I don't want to get into a battle with you, but yeah the average class size now, with the union not having the power to hire more teachers anymore, is 20-26.  Yup.  The 3 students per teacher was an exaggeration.  Anyway, it's clear where your loyalties lie, and from this post, it's clear you either don't understand what I am saying, or are deliberately spinning to make your beloved NDP look better.  Whatever it is, I don't think its worth going much further with you.

Facts are:
1998 - the BC NDP which was in government at the time, gave the BCTF the power to determine class size and composition.  This was a ridiculous outrage and a blatant conflict of interest, as it essentially handed the union the right to hire as many teachers as it saw fit.  So naturally, they started hiring and running the budget completely out of control.

2001 - BC government comes in and rips up the contract that the BCTF had "bargained" with the BC NDP. 

2001 - 2016 - millions of dollars have been spent in legal fees as the BCTF has tried to get this action deemed unconstitutional.  They found a judge in BC dumb enough to agree with them, but that judge's ruling was over-turned at the BC Supreme Court level, with the justices actually admonishing the judge for her terrible ruling.  Never seen that before.  Now the ruling is being appealed to the Canadian Supreme Court.  I really hope the BCTF loses.

2017 - all of this legal wrangling may be moot if the BC NDP get in again, as they no doubt will just hand the same power over to the BCTF again.  Right now the BC NDP isn't doing well in the polls, as they are opposing all economic development, and so even the union vote is leaving them.  I really hope the NDP become the third party in BC, as we need another alternative here.

 

[The Unknown Poster]

Just now, Jacquie said:

It's more understaffed than incompetence. Too many cases, not enough case workers. Ted Hughes recommended a ratio of 20 files per social worker. The average about a year ago was 28. With about 90% of the children in care being native, First Nations CFS needs to do a better job managing the situation.

Trust me, there is incompetence too.

[sweep the leg]

Just now, kelownabomberfan said:

Not sure why you would do that, or what relevance this comment has, whatsoever, other than to be snarky, but what else is new.  Anyway, to each their own.  I just found it interesting and sort of sad that no one in the Manitoba government could be bothered to call me back, especially when the reps from the other provinces were quick to respond.  Especially with Manitoba having all of those extra redundant employees.

I was pointing out the absurdity of using anecdotes about returning phone calls to disparage a province's civil service. I think the relevance of our stories was comparable.

[Jacquie]

Just now, The Unknown Poster said:

Trust me, there is incompetence too.

There's incompetence everywhere.

[kelownabomberfan]

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

I suspect there is a lot of uncomfortable people at Hydro today.

I wonder if there will be a proper investigation into IGF.  There should be an investigation into a lot of things, especially considering the rumors of massive paper shredding and removal of hard drives from government offices recently.

I know an RN who voted PC and was particularly angry that her Union repeatedly tried to convince members to work for the NDP campaigns.  This happened to be once too.  We were in a negotiation during a provincial election and I attended a meeting about the contract negotiations where the Union leadership implored us to do everything we could to get the NDP re-elected.

Here in BC last election there was blatant abuse by the unions. They really angered a lot of members with their constant badgering to go and support the NDP and do campaign work.

[The Unknown Poster]

Just now, kelownabomberfan said:

Here in BC last election there was blatant abuse by the unions. They really angered a lot of members with their constant badgering to go and support the NDP and do campaign work.

Drives me nuts that my union dues are spent on political parties.  I'd prefer they refund that portion of my dues or let me choose which party it goes to.  And give me the tax credit for the donation.