Budget 2012

[The Bread Guy]

The military is boarding up an intelligence office on the West Coast less than two years after the navy argued it needed more surveillance in a region considered a prime thoroughfare for human smuggling.

The Acoustic Data Analysis Centre at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, B.C., will close as part of a three-year drive to carve $1.5 billion from the budget of National Defence.

Operations will be transferred to a similar centre in Halifax, which has been in the middle of a continuing spy scandal involving navy intelligence officer Sub-Lt. Jeffery Delisle.

The navy refused to discuss specifics of the closure, declined interview requests and issued a terse statement that the centre's loss would not have an impact.

"This consolidation will achieve cost savings for the Canadian taxpayer while having no impact on the ability of the Canadian Forces (CF) to meet operational objectives in the delivery of naval intelligence capability," said the statement, issued to The Canadian Press.

As the navy attempted to beef up intelligence during the last two years, it determined that two centres — one on each coast — were important to "divide the world in half for intelligence analysis," said a Sept. 1, 2010, presentation involving the director of maritime strategy ....

The Canadian Press, 18 Apr 12

 

[Colin Parkinson]

We were discussing over morning coffee the cycle or rubberband of "centralize" and then "de-centralize" resources, for some people this is their 3rd go around.

 

[Kirkhill]

Funny.  I was talking about that with a guy currently employed by a company/bureaucracy I used to compete with.  We had both been around long enough to see our management centralize/de-centralize a number of times - usually in rhythm with managers being promoted on the backs of "promoting change".

How did the Admiralty manage to survive between Samuel Pepys and Horatio Nelson with the same structure?

 

[Old Sweat]

Far distant ships worked pretty well with general directions and wishes of bon voyage, thus allowing the Lords of the Admiralty plenty of leisure time.

 

[The Bread Guy]

The latest alleged cuts....

There could soon be less spring in the step of those at National Defence as the department considers halting the decade-long practice of distributing free Viagra to the troops.

Also under consideration is the cancellation of taxpayer-funded transgender medical procedures for members of the military.

Defence sources say both programs — worth over $2 million a year — have been offered up for elimination by the department twice in the last two years as part of the strategic review process and the departmental spending review.

The suggestions were rejected once, but are now back under consideration as part of the $1.5 billion in defence cuts mandated over three years as part of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's March 29 budget, officials said.

A senior defence source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said decisions on the future of both programs will be made after the budget is formally adopted later this spring.

Asked whether either health initiative faced elimination, National Defence responded with a terse statement saying the military's health services branch "is focusing on its core mandate" of providing high-quality care.

The statement noted that the only cuts as part of the strategic review involved massage therapy and a health information line, but carefully left the door open to further reductions.

"Once changes to the Military Healthcare System are known, they will be communicated to all (Canadian Forces) personnel," said the written response ....

The Canadian Press, 27 Apr 12

 

[GAP]

There could soon be less spring in the step of those at National Defence as the department considers halting the decade-long practice of distributing free Viagra to the troops.

uh.....who knew!!  ;D

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Considering the belt fed Confirmation Of Combat Knowledge that some people claim to constantly receive, you knew there had to be some sort of, issued, sex enhancement drug involved. 

 

[GAP]

Considering the belt fed c**k that some people claim to constantly receive, you knew there had to be some sort of, issued, sex enhancement drug involved. 

oh.....I thought that was the Tac Vest.......silly me..... ;D

 

[aesop081]

The Canadian Press, 18 Apr 12

This is a funny one........

The military is boarding up an intelligence office on the West Coast less than two years after the navy argued it needed more surveillance in a region considered a prime thoroughfare for human smuggling.

ADAC(P) has nothing to do with this.

Operations will be transferred to a similar centre in Halifax, which has been in the middle of a continuing spy scandal involving navy intelligence officer Sub-Lt. Jeffery Delisle.

That event had nothing to do with ADAC(A).

 

[CountDC]

seems National Defence likes to issue terse statements:

"The navy refused to discuss specifics of the closure, declined interview requests and issued a terse statement that the centre's loss would not have an impact."

"Asked whether either health initiative faced elimination, National Defence responded with a terse statement saying the military's health services branch..."

They must mean smoothly elegant. 

They could say brief but it doesn't have the same impact of giving a negative impression like terse does.

shhhh CDN Aviator - wouldn't want the press to actually get something right now would we.

 

[The Bread Guy]

As pointed out by one of the Mods here on the CP health story....
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/105663.0.html
.... for once, the comments are actually sometimes helpful in explaining more of the story.

 

[Brad Sallows]

My recollection is of a 3-ringer (or was it 4?) wearing a snake explaining that the funding of some trans-gender medical issues was simply because some provinces covered some of those issues - DND should provide its dependants something approximating the coverage of Canadians elsewhere, being the thinking.

Given that not all services are listed (funded) by all provinces, I see nothing controversial in DND deciding to list some of what provinces offer, but not all of it.  Political correctness and party ideology have nothing, and should have nothing - for or against - to do with it.

 

[bridges]

The latest on the passage (or not) of this bill through the House:

From globeandmail.com, by GLORIA GALLOWAY
Posted on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 12:32PM EDT
Reproduced in accordance with the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/tories-refuse-to-split-up-budget-bill-in-face-of-ndp-sabre-rattling/article2427636/

New Democrats are promising a strong reaction to the Conservative government’s refusal to split an omnibus budget bill into a number of parts to allow for more thorough debate.

“This is not a good day for democracy,” Opposition House Leader Nathan Cullen told reporters after his Conservative counterpart publicly rejected a proposal to divide the 420-page bill – much of which involves major changes to environmental law – into at least five pieces.

“The government has chosen arrogance over negotiations, has chosen to shut Canadians out further from the plans that they have for this country,” Mr. Cullen said.

Earlier Wednesday, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair threatened that his party would engage in a number of unspecified hard-line tactics if, after two days of negotiation, the government decided not to compromise.

The NDP response will become apparent in the next hours and days, Mr. Cullen said. “This is a result that the government brought upon themselves. This was not out intention. This is not why we proposed what we believed to be a reasonable solution to the impasse.”

The bill is its sixth day of debate in the House of Commons. The government has imposed time limits which will see the legislation before the House for just two more days before it is sent off to the Commons Finance Committee.

There had been rumours Tuesday the Conservatives might be willing to cede some ground in the request to divide the bill. But Government House Leader Peter Van Loan put those to rest Wednesday at a brief news conference of his own.

“We have set out a fair process for considering this bill that includes the longest second-reading debate of any budget in at least the last two decades,” Mr. Van Loan said, pointing out the government has already agreed to allow a special sub-committee to take at look at the environmental measures.

It is unclear just how far the NDP will go to thwart the government’s plan to push the bill through Parliament.

Already, Mr. Mulcair’s MPs have entered motions at 20 different Commons committees asking that sections of the budget bill that are germane to each committee’s mandate be extensively examined. The intent is to force the government to publicly reject, over and over again, the proposal for further study.

Mr. Mulcair said his party will no longer put up with tactics that shut down debate and close the door on public scrutiny. “You are going to see a crescendo of reaction to the government's actions.”

And that reaction will apparently not be limited to the handling of the budget legislation, the NDP Leader said.

“They have been trying to move parliamentary committees behind closed doors, frustrating the ability of Canadians to know what's going on in their own government,” he said. “The press is being kept out but the public is also being kept out. So that's not going to go on for very long.”

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Well we were hoping that any changes to my job will happen next budget year, but it seems that we might get dragged into the next June 29th announcement, hope we are reading the tea leaves wrong.

 

[GAP]

I'm amazed that nobody in the media has picked up on the EI changes.

They are killing, abeit slowly, the perpetual cycle of work a few weeks, collect many more....especially in the Maritimes. The Liberals brought in the changes, mainly to get votes, but to overcome the fishing/fish plant workers doing short term seasonal work, then having nothing much for the rest of the year.

The EI system changes allow workers to get less of a clawback while they draw for part time work....great. It gives more incentive for the people to find at least, part time work. I suspect that the changes will also work towards doing away with the endless cycle of one claim after another. I'll wait and see, but it maybe the first nibble of many to bring the system back to an employment insurance program rather than a social program.

Crowley: EI causes chronic unemployment in Maritimes
May 19, 2012
Article Link

Critics of Ottawa’s plan to press workers on employment insurance (EI) to accept available work remind me of Captain Renault walking into Rick’s Nightclub in the film Casablanca. They are shocked — shocked, mind you — to discover that there is gambling going on in this establishment.

Renault knew perfectly well what was going on in Rick’s; he was a regular there himself. But it became a convenient excuse when he needed to close the place down.

Where EI is concerned, the critics are shocked at the suggestion we might need EI reform because after all highly qualified engineers shouldn’t be forced to sling fries at minimum wage. True. But it is also a herring of the deepest red hue. We need EI reform to end the shameful damage it has caused in many communities, particularly throughout eastern Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

Having lived in that region for 20 years, I saw the damage close up. This is what it looks like on the ground.

A friend of mine moved from B.C. to Lunenburg and got a job in a restaurant. She was stunned to learn the restaurant closed outside the tourist season. The owner said it wasn’t because she didn’t want to stay open, but she couldn’t get people to work in the winter once everyone was “stamped up” (i.e. qualified for the maximum annual EI benefits).

My friend said she was willing to work all year long. Once word of this got out, she got calls from employers all over town fighting to hire someone willing to work over the winter.

One year in Petit Rocher, New Brunswick, the fish plant closed for lack of fish; the locals demanded a provincial make-work project until they could get fully stamped up. When the fish plant in the next town offered them work, and a free shuttle bus service to get there, the workers angrily refused — until the province told them if there was work available there would be no make-work.

The Ocean Choice fish plant in Souris, P.E.I., has to bring in temporary workers from as far away as Russia and Ukraine in a province with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney finds this inexplicable. Look no farther than EI for that explanation.
More on link

 

[GAP]

EI recipients expected to accept work within an hours’ drive
BILL CURRY AND CARYS MILLS OTTAWA— Globe and Mail Tuesday, May. 22, 2012
Article Link

Canadians on EI will be expected to stomach a long commute under new rules the Conservative government is preparing to announce.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley will soon outline the details of her government’s Employment Insurance reforms, as her fellow ministers add to the confusion over what exactly the Tories are planning.

About half a dozen cabinet ministers have offered hints at the new policy, making various, sometimes contradictory statements about the government’s new expectations for EI recipients. The latest to weigh in is Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield, who represents the riding of Fredericton.

“People that can find employment within an hour’s drive of their home, that would be reasonable in our opinion,” Mr. Ashfield told CBC Radio. The average one-way commute in Canada is 26 minutes. The minister was then specifically asked whether new regulations would allow EI recipients to take a pass on a job offer it is more than an hour away from their home.

“Yes. That’s exactly true,” Mr. Ashfield replied. Yet Conservative officials later said the minister was speaking in “generalities” in an effort to make the point that EI recipients will not be expected to move. Officials acknowledged the rules will aim to quantify the criteria around how far and wide EI claimants should be job hunting.

Currently, an unemployed worker’s decision to restrict a job search to a specific geographic region is dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Disputes have been resolved by an independent board and the Federal Court.

The Conservative government has triggered intense speculation about the future of Canada’s EI system with the release of its omnibus budget bill, C-38. The legislation erases key sections of the Employment Insurance Act dealing with the criteria unemployed workers can cite for refusing an available job on the grounds that it is not suitable.
More on link

 

[Nemo888]

EI is insurance and makes a profit every year as the payroll deductions are more than what is paid out. The excess is then funneled into the general coffers. Since it is more than self sufficient why make people take jobs they don't want for collecting on the insurance they paid for? When my house insurance pays for a hotel for me to stay in while my house is being rebuilt they don't make me move to the first available house within an hour drive of my original house.

Essentially this is a backdoor to raise taxes with the (hopefully)unintended side effect of forcing down wages. In the USA right now, even though there are hundreds of thousands more jobs than there have ever been, tax revenue is down due to lower salaries. Lower wages decreases demand which slows the economy which causes more job losses.

If the problem is regional unemployment just give out a one time 2000$ movement allowance for people in those areas. Since they would probably be on EI a shorter period it would likely be cost neutral and very helpful. I was once trapped in a small town when a plant laid a few thousand of us off. I would have been packing my car the next day if they offered for me to move.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

EI is insurance and makes a profit every year as the payroll deductions are more than what is paid out. The excess is then funneled into the general coffers. Since it is more than self sufficient why make people take jobs they don't want for collecting on the insurance they paid for? When my house insurance pays for a hotel for me to stay in while my house is being rebuilt they don't make me move to the first available house within an hour drive of my original house.

Essentially this is a backdoor to raise taxes with the (hopefully)unintended side effect of forcing down wages. In the USA right now, even though there are hundreds of thousands more jobs than there have ever been, tax revenue is down due to lower salaries. Lower wages decreases demand which slows the economy which causes more job losses.

If the problem is regional unemployment just give out a one time 2000$ movement allowance for people in those areas. Since they would probably be on EI a shorter period it would likely be cost neutral and very helpful. I was once trapped in a small town when a plant laid a few thousand of us off. I would have been packing my car the next day if they offered for me to move.

You can call it whatever YOU want and define it the way YOU want. You're welcome to your opinion.

Personally, I see way too many healthy, but lazy sods, sitting around on EI and welfare spending needlesly, what I see and define as my hard earned tax payments.

I work in an industry where I see plenty of EI recipients, in an area (greenhouses) that has to import workers from Thailand, Jamaica, Viet Nam and Mexico because the people in this area won't take the work themselves.

Then they have the balls to complain when local businesses start to cater to the immigrant workers instead of them.

I say it's about time they were cracked down on. It's supposed to be a 'safety net' not a 'security blanket' that the Libs and NDP turned it into.

That's my hard earned  :2c: .............that I don't want to give to someone that doesn't want to earn an honest living.

 

[dogger1936]

With no catch phrases being sent out telling working Canadians they will save by not paying so much into EI with the new rules being implemented. I can't help but think someone is looking to skim off the extra in the fund as the liberals did years ago.

I also wonder what this will do to the Conservative backing in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan where EI has been on the rise now for 6 months or so.

I keep hearing "east coast" brought up in this discussion however EI seems to be dropping off in the east and rising among Ontario (due to the manufactring sector collapse) and the prairie provinces.

 

[Jed]

If EI is on the rise in the prairie provinces something smells. There is no reason for people to be unemployed here. Sounds like we have imported and / or developed some home grown lazy sods over the past few years.