It all started when Barack Obama included “Buy American” language in his economic stimulus plan coming out of congress. That built tension worldwide after an $825-billion stimulus plan was passed last week by the House of Representatives requiring the sole use of U.S. made iron and steel in public projects. The protectionist messages being relayed by the US are especially a concern for Canadians, given that the US is our largest trading partner.

In a panicked response, the governments of both the European Union and Canada sent letters to Congress urging that the provision must be dropped.

But Canadians nervous about a trade war with the US heard reassuring words from Obama after he realized the extent to which nations worldwide were panicking. “I think it would be a mistake … at a time when worldwide trade is declining for us to start sending a message that somehow we’re just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade,” Obama stated. He also assured the world he did not want to send a protectionist message.
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Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff Will Support the Federal Budget With Conditions

As we’re all probably aware of by now, (since NOTHING else has really happened in Canadian politics for the past month…yawn) Michael Ignatieff has decided to support the Conservative budget that was unveiled 2 days ago. But not without an interesting twist:

The Liberal party will only support the minority Conservative government’s federal budget if Prime Minister Stephen Harper agrees to an amendment calling for a “clear marker” of regular updates to Parliament on the impact of economic stimulus projects, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said Wednesday.

By supporting the budget, Michael Ignatieff is passing on an opportunity to take down the Conservative government and in doing so, trigger an election or enter into a coalition with the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois. Many Liberals are obviously not happy. The last thing they wanted was for their leader to abandon the coalition. But it’s all part of Ignatieff’s long-term agenda to seize power.

So what’s really behind Ignatieff’s demand that Harper provide regular updates to Parliament? An interesting Liberal strategy – I call it the Waiting Game.
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Finance Minister Jim Flaherty Presents Government Budget

Today, the federal government revealed its highly anticipated budget and stimulus plan for pulling our sagging economy out of recession. To sum up in one sentence, the Tories are going to spend tens of billions of dollars to try and pump money into the economy, and Canada will have to weather large deficits along the way. Whatever it takes to keep our economy moving was the message from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

A deficit of $33.7 billion for the 2009-10 fiscal year and $29.8 billion the following year is predicted. For 2011-12, the red ink would diminish to $13 billion, followed by a deficit of $7.3 billion for 2012-13. Keeping the Conservatives’ track record regarding their forecasts of budget deficits/surpluses in mind, it seems like these numbers could turn out to be much, much larger. Just months ago, Harper was predicting small surpluses for the coming years, then altered his forecast to small deficits, and now massive ones. That leads me to believe these deficits could turn out to be much larger that we think. If the economy worsens beyond what is expected, this would certainly be true. “If they get worse, we will do more,” said Flaherty, speaking about economic conditions in Canada.

The budget dealt with many different aspects of the economy and Canada, but here is an overview of the major categories:
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Today's Speech From the Throne

There’s no doubt the last few weeks in Canadian politics have been fairly boring and uneventful, especially relative to the recent coalition fiasco. But things sure look like they’ll be picking up again, fast.

Today’s Speech From the Throne paved the way for what is sure to be an exciting week in Canadian politics. Although today’s speech was only 4 pages long compared to the controversial November 19th speech 16 pages in length, it was jam-packed and heavily focused on our sagging economy. The exact details of the stimulus plan will be announced tomorrow, but according to today’s speech, massive efforts will take place to boost the economy through deficit spending.

Here’s what we do know about the stimulus plan to be announced tomorrow thanks to leaks from the Conservatives:
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As reported by Michael Sheps, MPPs were summoned to Queen’s Park today in order to attempt to pass a bill that would immediately send York University strikers back to work and resume classes for 50,000 students. The strike will soon enter its 82nd day, and both York and CUPE 3903 union representatives are at a deadlock.

The back-to-work legislation could have ended the strike at York University, but the NDP’s eight members voted against early passage, arguing that an end to the 11-week-old labour dispute should not be forced by the government. They argued that the bargaining process should still be given a chance.

So what happens next?
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When I first heard about the Canadian do-not-call list a few months ago, I was ecstatic. Finally, I thought, I would be able to get rid of the endless, annoying and constant telemarketing calls that put me past the point of frustration. At the time, I was getting around 2-3 calls per day. It was unbearable. So without thinking twice, I signed up.

For those of you who don’t know, the Canadian do-not-call list allows Canadians to decide whether or not to receive telemarketing calls. Signing up takes about 5 minutes, and upon doing so, a large portion of telemarketers will be forbidden from calling you. If they do, they can face up to a $15,000 fine.

But it’s not all that rosy.
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The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics are Brewing Constroversy

With the 2010 Winter Olympics just about a year away, controversy plagues the city of Vancouver. The reason? Mismanagement of the Vancouver Olympic Village which has led to a “financial crisis” for the city.

To sum up in one sentence – Vancouver Olympic organizers screwed up, and the citizens of Vancouver are expected to pay for it. It seems like ordinary citizens paying for others’ failures via tax dollars is a recurring theme nowadays.

In a move that seemed reasonable at the time, and in line with what other past Olympic hosts have done in the past, the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Organizing Committee decided to build an Olympic Village that would be later sold as apartments or condos. The project was to be built by Millennium Development Corporation and financed by Fortress Investment Group (FIG), a U.S. hedge fund. The project was budgeted at $750 million and construction was to be finished by November 2009.
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Terrorist Goose!

After a short, yet substantive joint investigation conducted by the FBI and CIA, the Bush administration has finally confirmed that terrorist birds were responsible for taking down US Airways flight 1549 into the Hudson River. Canadian Geese, grown, raised and trained in Canada by Al-Qaida were able to miraculously infiltrate the Canadian-U.S. border to conduct their attacks. It remains unclear how the birds were able to penetrate one of the most heavily protected borders in the world.

Bush wasted no time reacting to the terrorist attack, further showing his quick response rate to disasters and his ability to protect America. Fearing a second terrorist bird plot, FBI agents have been ordered to detain all Canadian geese found on U.S. soil. All detained geese will be sent straight to Guantanamo Bay pending an unfair trial. The move is expected to increase Bush’s approval rating as he nears the end of his term.
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In another embarrassing study conducted by the Dominion Institute, Canadians simply don’t know much about Canada or Canadian politics. A national survey has found that approximately 2 in 5 Canadians don’t know who our first prime minister was. For you 40%, it was Sir John A. Macdonald.

I’m not really surprised. Right after the recent fiasco that took place in our government, another study was released that showed a majority of Canadians don’t know we don’t directly elect our Prime Minister, who our head of state is, or how to describe our system of government.  Let me be even more specific for you: 51% of Canadians were unaware that we don’t directly elect our Prime Minister. 51%! No wonder this past federal election recorded the lowest voter turnout in election history, no one cares about Canadian politics! If you’ve ever bothered to exercise your democratic right to vote, you’d notice that nowhere on the voting ballot is the name of any of the Prime Minister’s running for the position.
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Israeli Warplanes Strike Gaza

As fighting in the Gaza Strip continues into its third week, the United Nations Security Council passed a ceasefire resolution in an attempt to bring a halt to the violence. The vote was passed 14-0-1 with the US abstaining. Unfortunately, the cease fire agreement makes no sense for either party, reiterating their inability to truly understand the Middle East conflict.

On the Israeli side of the conflict, the ceasefire resolution inadequately addresses Israel’s security concerns. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated that Israel “has never agreed to let an external body decide its right to protect the security of its citizens,” and that the proposed ceasefire agreement is simply “unworkable.”

The ceasefire agreement calls for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and for monitors to deploy along the Philadelphia Corridor to ensure Hamas does not continue to smuggle weapons from Egypt. It’s pretty obvious why Israel finds this resolution “inadequate.”
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