Despite the government’s talk about the “skills mismatch” that is affecting our jobs sector, there is no actual evidence to support this, says TD Economics. And a big part of the problem is that we don’t actually have good data to track these kinds of things, apparently, nor are we tracking underemployment figures either. It also doesn’t appear that there is a real demand for jobs in the resource extraction sector despite the government’s promises of yet more jobs there – but hey, without the data, they can claim whatever they like. Meanwhile, medical specialists not being able to find jobs upon graduation is another problem being recognised and hopes to be corrected with more data on the part of the Canadian Medical Association as they try to steer students to sectors facing more of a crunch in the near future.
What’s that? Leona Aglukkaq’s office severely edited an Environment Canada document about climate change and how they were taking it seriously, to turn it into a partisan attack against the Liberals? And they use metrics on reductions that don’t actually exist in reality, such as comparing non-reductions to theoretical increases? You don’t say! We’ve never seen that happen before ever!
A “secret” memo talking about the consolidation of Fisheries and Oceans libraries details “culling” materials. While that sounds ominous, I’d take it with a grain of salt. As someone who has done records management in the past, that “culling” could very well be getting rid of excess copies of the same materials, or getting rid of materials that no longer have any value going forward. You’d be surprised the amount of crap that gets collected in these department libraries that have little to no purpose any longer, but are taking up the space. It’s all well and good to light our hair on fire about everything the government does, but I’m not convinced that this is the kind of “educational genocide” that some people have decried to date.
Laura Payton writes about the “fabulous blue tent” of gay Conservatives who are becoming well known within the grassroots of the party (caucus still with only one out lesbian Senator and one quasi-out-but-media-shy minister). It should be stated, however, that while these gay Conservatives brag that they’re speaking up about queer rights on the world stage, they’re only advocating that gays and lesbians abroad not be put to death or imprisoned for being gay, which is a far cry from championing equal rights for everyone.
On cue, there’s John Baird denouncing Russia’s anti-gay laws. But note that the language is about “we don’t imprison or kill people for acts committed freely between adults,” and nothing about actual equal rights.
Tobi Cohen talks to the contingent of Independent MPs in the Commons (Hyer since joined the Greens) and spoke about their particular challenges, but their sense of freedom not being tied up in party business any longer. That said, Hyer has some pretty ridiculous notions to “improve” democracy, such as proportional representation – which gives parties more control and not less – and having party leaders choose senators for single terms based on proportion of vote – eliminating long-term perspective, the regional balance of the Chamber, its inbuilt concern for minorities, and most of the protections for its institutional independence. That’s some improvement!
Refits for our frigate fleet are causing slowdowns in training and supply chains for the navy, while the botched Sea King replacement procurement has meant that the refitted ships – which were in part to make changes for the newer helicopters that still haven’t arrived – means even more limited helicopter capabilities. In spite of this, however, they did have a good year for high seas drug busts, so that’s something, at least.
90 new appointments to the Order of Canada have been announced.
The father of the Canadian flag passed away this week at the age of 96. Stephen Harper tweeted a tribute, and also noted his role in the creation of the Order of Canada.
And my column this week looks at how illusory the supposed power to control the Senate really is, and why Harper can’t count on it always doing his bidding – especially if he continues to treat them like a punching bag.