Rita

Quote of the Day: “Although the basic principles of economics are not very complicated, the very ease with which they can be learned also makes them easy to dismissed as “simplistic” by those who do not want to accept analyses which contradict their cherished beliefs. Evasions of the obvious are often far more complicated than the facts. Nor is it automatically true that complex effects must have complex causes. The ramifications of something very simple can become enormously complex.” Thomas Sowell

On Thursday, I talked about how bankrupt our so-called health care system is. The simple reason for this is because (as noted in the random quote above), sound, rational, economic principles are not applied to our major problems. Liz Monteiro, in her Front Page article today, talks about some of the issues facing our hospitals. She interviews a number of hospital admins but for some unknown reason, she doesn’t mention the major reason for staff shortages – Bill 124 that passed in 2019. This bill limits the amount of raises various sectors of the public service can receive in a year – mainly nurses. So, nurses wages are capped. So why wouldn’t young nurses go to Alberta, BC or even the U.S. where they are paid more? I like a lot of what Doug Ford has done in the last four years, but whenever you ignore economic realities, it will come back to bite you.

Quote of the Day: “When laws and policies make honesty increasingly costly, then government is, in effect, promoting dishonesty. Such dishonesty can then extend beyond the particular laws and policies in question to a more general habit of disobeying laws, to the detriment of the whole economy and society.” Thomas Sowell

The Letters to the Editor (LTTE) part of the Insight (Huh?) Page has always been a bit of a joke. It seems that most of the LTTE just repeat Editorial talking points. I suspect that most writers only want to see their name in print and agreeing with TheRecord Editorial writers is the most likely way of doing that. I’m reminded of the famous line in a song by Dr. Hook: “Gonna buy five copies for my mother…”. Full disclosure: Not one of my LTTE have every been published. Am I a bit jaded by this fact when I read the LTTE? Maybe. But sometimes, my little heart rejoices when I read a letter that actually has something intelligent to say – and it goes against the standard progressive opinion of some columnist or editorial. Today, we have three LTTE. The first letter (the highlighted letter – it used to be call the Letter of the Day), simply paraphrases an Editorial about getting your COVID vaccinations, blah, blah, blah… But the other two letters actually offer the readers of TheRecord some insight. Gee, how remarkable. The first letter is from Wayne Martin – a regular LTTE contributor I believe. I’m copying his entire letter here: “On the subject of the provinces asking Ottawa to increase health-care transfer payments, I am insulted. It is a tired old mantra that Ottawa has a large cache of money stashed somewhere that it won’t spend. The idea that the feds have a secret “money tree” is idiotic. We, the people, are the “money tree” and either the government takes more of our money from us to pay for stuff, or they borrow or print it and we pay the price. There is only one taxpayer and that is us, no matter which level of government takes your money. To add insult to injury, no level of government seems to be able to run a lemonade stand without 47 regulations and a deficit.” Mr. Martin, in four sentences has said more that four hundred Editorials in our Favourite Family Journal could ever say. Excellent. The other LTTE is from Tom Fitzsimmons – who also is a regular writer. He takes issue with an op-ed on Wednesday (that I didn’t cover), by reminding readers that the two most proficient contributors of GHG are India and China. Great comment from his LTTE: “For the record, India gets 55 per cent of its power from coal-fired plants and also has 455 new plants under construction. Also, India is close to being the world’s biggest coal consumer, next to China which somehow didn’t make it anywhere on the list of bad guys. Am I the only person who doesn’t understand this?” No, you are not. But you are the only one with the honesty to remind readers about these facts. Paging Susan Koswan. Please pick up the green courtesy phone…

Quote of the Day: “You cannot measure opportunities by outcomes.” Thomas Sowell

The intelligence threshold for getting your op-ed published in TheRecord these days is rapidly approach zero. For example, look at the what five students at Laurentian University managed to spew out of their little minds today on the Editorial Page. While the entire medical system in Canada is bankrupt – both fiscally and morally, patients are dying in hallways, these kids want to remove an anesthetic from the operating room because of GHG emissions. Well, I guess these kids are getting their perverted little wish due to the massive amounts of surgeries that have been cancelled over that last few months. What a pathetic op-ed.

Quote of the Day: “Systemic processes tend to reward people for making decisions that turn out to be right – creating great resentments among the anointed, who feel themselves entitled to rewards for being articulate, politically active, and morally fervent.” Thomas Sowell

Geoffrey Stevens, in his Monday op-ed tells us that: “Likeability still counts in politics”. Wow. Who would have ever thought that??? He phones it in by pumping out a bunch of sentences that could have come from some automatic report writer. But then he comes up with this gem: “I have a personal litmus test. Would I invite this politician to my home for dinner? If my answer is yes, I might well vote for their party. “ Yea, vote for someone based on personality and ignore their policies??? Really Geoff??? He then gives us his list of people who he would never invite home for dinner – and guess what? Oh, they are all Conservatives. Shocking!!! And this guy gets paid for this???

Quote of the Day: “Even when ‘both sides’ are presented in the media, seldom are the reasons for each side presented.” Thomas Sowell

Geoffrey Stevens must have slept in yesterday because his usual Monday column was missing. Oh, but don’t despair, it’s on today’s Editorial Page. And in keeping up with all of the recent anti-Poilierve Editorials, columns, op-eds, articles and cartoons that TorStar has been dumping on its readers, Stevens jumps right in today with his latest. He complains that Poilierve is drawing support from the “the right-to-life crowd, anti-vaxxers, Trudeau-haters and the rest of the ’freedom” movement’” – and oh, here is a new one, the “Christian right churches in rural areas”. As if this is a bad thing… Stevens suggests that: “When – not if – he wins on Sept. 10, the Conservative Party of Canada will face its Armageddon.” But this is something I don’t get. As I’ve mentioned before, Stevens hates all things conservative or Conservative. Each and every one of his columns expound on that viewpoint. So, why is he so worried about Poilierve? If he thinks that the Liberals will trounce Poilierve in the next election – and this is what he clearly wants, then shouldn’t he be promoting Poilierve? Ya, right…

Quote of the Day: “Too many disastrous laws get passed because those who pass them win political points for their good intentions and nobody bothers to check up later to see what actually happened.” Thomas Sowell

Last week, I mentioned all of the anti-Poilierve columns TheRecord was dumping on its readers. Well, guess what? Bob Hepburn, a politics columnist at the Toronto Star has a column on the Editorial Page today titled: Canada’s most dangerous politician. Gee, I wonder who that is? I was just going to dismiss this nonsense, but instead I’m going to go over his column line by line and let’s just see how Poilierve is somehow the worst person in Canada. Hepburn starts off his column by saying: “Pierre Poilievre has always appalled me.” Well, at least he states his biases right up front. Of course, Hepburn doesn’t really mention just exactly why he is “appalled”. Let me guess – maybe it’s because Poilievre is a conservative and this sharply conflicts with Hepburn’s socialist, woke agenda. Hepburn tells us that “Poilievre unreservedly supports” the “’freedom’ protests on Parliament Hill”. But this isn’t exactly true. Poilievre has mentioned that he supports the overall issues that the truckers have – the vaccination mandates, etc., but to suggest that he “unreservedly supports” the blockades is just nonsense. He tells us that: “Clearly, right-wing extremism and populism is gaining acceptance in Canada — and Poilievre is enthusiastically milking this gathering storm.” Of course, no one at TorStar has ever defined what exactly “right-wing extremism” is – and for good reason. If you actually define what this term means, then your readers can test whether “right-wing extremism” is actually growing and if this is actually some bad thing. And I’m rather curious what Hepburn suggests that “populism” is some kind of a “gathering storm”. Poilievre has clearly gone out of his way to talk to various groups, to align with people who are frustrated with overbearing Ottawa – but Hepburn finds this offensive. “Clearly, there is profound discontent, unhappiness and anger among frustrated rural residents, minimum-wage workers and small business operators who are starting to vent their rage against Ottawa, against ‘elites’ and against ‘the privileged.’ Canada should rightly be anxious about this populist anger simmering in many parts of our nation.” When Hepburn mentions “Canada” here, he is really talking about Trudeau and his Liberal friends. “This unrest comes not just from the fringes, but now from the centre, from ‘leaders’ such as Poilievre, and is allied with the movement of the resentful anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists, anti-government anarchists and Trudeau-haters”. Hepburn here gets to the main point of his column. Trudeau has lost the “centre” because of his policies and Poilievre is not only acknowledging this but using this to his advantage. He talks to people and I think, genuinely feels their frustrations. Trudeau does not. “Most Conservatives appear to like Poilievre, his reckless policies and his support for this movement and disruptive ‘freedom’ rallies. But the consequences of empowering a politician like Poilievre could be devastating and long-lasting.” And Hepburn is right of course – it will be devastating to the Liberals, liberals and TorStar columnists.

Quote of the Day: “The swirl of their buzzwords – ‘access’, ‘stigma’, ‘progressive’, ‘diversity’, ‘crisis’ etc. – shows a discernible pattern. What these innumerable buzzwords have in common is that they either (1) preempt issues rather than debate them, (2) set the anointed and the benighted on different moral and intellectual planes, or (3) evade the issue of personal responsibility.” Thomas Sowell

As I mentioned before, TheRecord and other TorStar controlled papers have been putting out a barrage of anti-Poilierve Editorials, columns, op-eds, articles and cartoons. Most of the columns lack any details about all of his sins – but continue to focus on his oft repeated theme of “freedom”. They imply that Canadians have all kinds of freedom and why would we want anymore? On the Editorial Page today, Jay Goldberg from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation very nicely and coherently lays out just what a disaster Bill C-11 is and exactly why Canada needs a leader like Pierre Poilierve. Everyone should read this column.

Quote of the Day: “The beauty of doing nothing is that you can do it perfectly. Only when you do something is it almost impossible to do it without mistakes. Therefore people who are contributing nothing to society, except their constant criticisms, can feel both intellectually and morally superior.” Thomas Sowell

Atif Kubursi is Professor Emeritus of Economics at McMaster University. Dr. Kubursi in a column on the Insight (Huh?) Page today that: “But with a recovery fuelled by generous, if necessary, benefits and support programs, including lavish quantitative easing (printing money) that pushed borrowing costs to near zero, the demand for goods and services has increased, while output has lagged, pushing prices higher.” Exactly. And how to fix it? “How long it takes to fix this mess depends on how aggressive central banks will be in pushing for higher interest rates and how long they will stay the course on restraint.” Yes.

Quote of the Day: “One of the big differences between economics and politics is that politicians are not forced to pay attention to the consequences that will come after the next elections. An elected official, whose policies keep the electorate happy until Election Day, has a good chance of being reelected, even if those policies have disastrous consequences for years to come. There is no ‘present value’ for making political decision makers today take into account future consequences, when those consequences will come after the elections.” Thomas Sowell

Once again, if you have a computer, have a left wing, woke agenda and can string a couple of English sentences together, you too can have your very own op-ed in TheRecord. Today, we have Alan Joseph, who it appears, meets the above criteria. His bio says he is a “recent graduate” but it doesn’t say from where. I’m suggesting Grade 8. His opening line of the op-ed states: “It’s time we seek a multifaceted approach to dealing with inflation: solutions that transcend partisan politics and party lines.” Yup – the current government, who caused much of inflationary polices and problems, are now going to save us. I don’t think so. But Joseph has a plan: “In a time of a crisis, bold action is needed and no option should be left off the table, including a temporary nationalization of the fossil fuel industry, rebuilding and reimagining Canada’s supply chain, doing away with quantitative easing policies to rescue markets, and being fiscally more conservative while raising taxes across the board for the wealthy and corporations.” Oh my.

Quote of the Day: “Massive role of government in the economy has made politics the preeminent route to prosperity, as well as power-whether for individuals, tribes, or regions.” Thomas Sowell

A very good Editorial today regarding the pathetic situation with the Waterloo Region District School Board’s suspension of trustee Mike Ramsay. Well worth the 3 minute read. The Editorial’s conclusion: “The Record believes the Ontario Education Ministry should review the local public board of trustees’ handling of the complaint against Ramsay, start to finish. Ministry officials should read the integrity commissioner’s report, assess the seriousness of what Ramsay did, then say whether Ramsay’s suspension should stand, be reduced or overturned. Those officials can also say whether the integrity commissioner’s report should be made public.” Exactly.