Youth speaks to Harper on utube

from 'the gallopimg beaver'. some great questions. one of my favourites- "whats your hair made of".

As PMO spokesthingey Dimitri Soudas pitches it somewhat awkwardly on YouTube :
Ask Your Questions to Prime Minister Harper :

Submit your questions for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his response to the Speech from the Throne and the recent budget. The Prime Minister will answer a selection of your top-voted questions in an exclusive YouTube interview next Tuesday March 16, 2010 at 7 p.m. ET.

It must have seemed like a pretty good idea at the time when they were kicking it around the PMO - avoiding reporters while controlling the message, getting down with new social media, and reaching out directly to the demographic with a solid majority lockdown on Youtubeworld - youth.
But as any working clown will tell you, teh youth are a very tough audience. A sampling of questions submitted to Steve so far :
The Galloping Beaver

Dawg's Blawg

... a new find. Very informed of the goings on of the Canadian political scene.

Never mind a "long march through the institutions": Stephen Harper and his ideological confederates far prefer the blitzkrieg approach.

Independent watchdogs have been muzzled or fired. Government ministers have meddled in the work of arms-length agencies. Respectable charities have been blacklisted with bogus charges of "anti-Semitism." And the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development has apparently been targeted for outright destruction.

Dawg's Blawg

We don't need no education

Thanks Dr. Dawg!

http://drdawgsblawg.blogspot.com/2010/01/we-dont-need-no-education.html
...but thought control is another matter.

Having barely recovered from being patronized by Stephen Harper the other night, as he patted Canadians collectively on the head and told them not to fuss about grown-up things like Afghan detainees and proroguing, I read yesterday that he's cutting off funds to yet another world-class organization, the Canadian Council on Learning.

The CCL's offence? Apparently, speaking too plainly about the state of formal education in Canada, and our ludicrously poor metrics for determining how we stack up against other countries. The Globe & Mail's perceptive Gary Mason writes:

Here's the truth: Ottawa didn't like the CCL leading the call for national standards for our postsecondary system. Didn't appreciate, either, hearing the council plead for more accountability around how billions of dollars being poured into our universities are being spent. For more information about our universities in general.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development had noted in various reports on postsecondary education that when it came to Canada it was unable to report figures for two-thirds of the information gathered by the other 39 countries covered in the survey. That would include basic information such as participation, enrolment and graduation numbers in our colleges. We don't even have complete information on dropout rates. "We are the laughingstock of the OECD," Paul Cappon, president of the CCL, said a year ago.

The OECD, in fact, took the time to write to Stephen Harper last year, praising the CCL. "It is a pleasure to pledge my personal support to CCL in its on-going work," said OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria.

And so Canada's international reputation, for everything from peacekeeping to climate change to democracy to human rights, continues to circle the drain. CCL now joins other Canadian organizations wounded by the axe of far-right ideology: KAIROS, cultural programs and producers, gay rights groups...the list of casualties is growing by the day.

Education, culture, charity, human rights: like facts, these all have an unfortunate left-wing bias. Harper prefers to give the people bread and circuses instead--even if, these days, those classic political pacifiers are better-known as tax credits, the Calgary Stampede and the Vancouver Olympics.

posted by Dr.Dawg at 11:34 AM

Canadian Government Funding Climate Change Denial Lobby Group

While the world’s attention is focused on Copenhagen for the Climate Change Conference, back at home Sierra Club Canada and the Rideau Institute are calling on Prime Minister Harper to stop funding an organization that promotes denial of climate change. The Chrysotile Institute is a registered lobby group fo

“Only a few days ago Minister Prentice told the Commons Environment Committee he believes in science-based policy. Yet, his government is paying a lobby group to spread discredited misinformation and promote climate change denial,” said John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada.

Canadian Government Funding Climate Change Denial Lobby Group | Mostly Water

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• Climate-change skeptics gain from Ottawa funding (cbc.ca)

PMO Iqaluit gaffe draws smiles, frowns

Image via Wikipedia

The Canadian Press

An unfortunate blunder by the Prime Minister’s Office has residents of Nunavut alternately chuckling and cringing.
A news release sent out Monday outlined Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s itinerary as he began a five-day tour of the North.
The release repeatedly spelled the capital of Nunavut as Iqualuit — rather than Iqaluit.
The extra “u” makes a world of difference in the Inuktitut language.
Iqaluit, properly spelled, means “many fish.”
Spelled with an extra “u,” the Nunavut language commissioner’s office says the word translates as a derogatory reference to “people with unwiped bums.”
Bloggers from Iqaluit were quickly online ridiculing the gaffe — some light-hearted, some angry.
Iqaluit was named capital of Nunavut when the territory was created in 1999.
A news release today from the PMO spells Iqaluit correctly."

Harper consistently embarrasses Canada abroad

by Haroon Siddiqui

Israel and the U.S. have well-deserved reputations for standing up for their citizens abroad. Canada, under Stephen Harper, is gaining a reputation for failing its own.

TheStar.com | Opinion | Harper consistently embarrasses Canada abroad