From: owner-cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V15 #842 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Sender: owner-cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Errors-To: owner-cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Precedence: normal owner-cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Cdn-Firearms Digest Sunday, July 28 2013 Volume 15 : Number 842 In this issue: "Shocking rise in teachers buying stab-proof vests as ... Re: RCMP hiding Firearms Program Costs- Digest V15 #838 RE: Cdn-Firearms Digest V15 #832 Re: Small Arms Survey: Improvised Explosive Devices Canadian accused of terror links in Mauritania returns home Activist Adam Kokesh charged with openly carrying shotgun in D.C. RE: Clive, Larry and Jim discuss politics Re: GUN-GRABBERS COST BIG MONEY WITHOUT EVEN LAYING CHARGES American attacked by polar bear in Labrador Premiers have no trouble agreeing on what Ottawa should do Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette Letter: Why is the ... Grandmother From Toronto Arrested For Arms Smuggling In India Letter: Get over it - Zimmerman's not guilty Premiers have no trouble agreeing on what Ottawa should do ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 11:57:53 -0600 From: Larry James Fillo Subject: "Shocking rise in teachers buying stab-proof vests as ... ...classroom attacks soar" Great Britain? Or turning into a nation of surrender monkeys? ====================================================== Shocking rise in teachers buying stab-proof vests as classroom attacks soar • One company has seen sales jump dramatically over the last year • Department for education figures show rise in pupil attacks • Union says teachers are vulnerable thanks to reduced search powers By Sam Webb PUBLISHED: 04:06 GMT, 26 July 2013 | UPDATED: 07:08 GMT, 26 July 2013 Shocking figures have revealed a steep rise in the number of teachers buying stab-proof vests to protect themselves against knife attacks in the classroom. Terrified teachers are forking out hundreds of pounds on the protective body armour to defend against knife-wielding pupils. One company alone claims to have sold more than 100 pieces to customers who identified themselves as teachers over the past year. Protection: Anti-stab vests are used by police officers, but more and more teachers are turning to them as they fear for their lives (file picture) Oliver Lincoln, commercial director at VestGuard UK, said: 'We used to sell the odd vest here and there to teachers - certainly no more than a handful a year. 'Suddenly, in the past 12 months, we've had a significant rise in that number. 'I would estimate we've sold at least 100 vests to teachers in the past 12 months - probably quite a lot more.' Statistics show that children as young as five are increasingly being sent out of the classroom after attacking school staff Statistics published by the Department for Education show that children as young as five are increasingly being sent out of the classroom after attacking school staff. Some 37,790 pupils were temporarily suspended by state primaries in England, with offences including possession of drugs, sexual misconduct, racist abuse and theft. A spokesman for NASUWT - the largest teachers' union in the UK - said the organisation had 'serious concerns' that the rise in sales may have come as a direct result of changes in legislation which have made teachers more vulnerable to attack. Chris Keates, general secretary for NASUWT, said: 'Schools should make full and appropriate use of statutory measures to minimise potential antisocial behaviour, including effective arrangements for the detection of weapon and replica weapons and the appropriate use of pupil searches. 'However, NASUWT is seriously concerned changes in the Education Act 2011, which introduced the power for pupils to be searched by a member of staff without a witness being present, has made teachers more vulnerable. 'The increase in the number of teachers purchasing these vests may be a consequence of this change and indicates ministers are failing to make schools safer places for staff and pupils. 'NASUWT is clear searches must be conducted by appropriately trained staff and there should be no requirement or expectation that teachers should undertake pupil searches.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2378685/Shocking-rise-teachers-buying-stab-proof-vests-school-attacks-soar.html#ixzz2aAs5Chz4 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 12:57:35 -0600 From: Larry James Fillo Subject: Re: RCMP hiding Firearms Program Costs- Digest V15 #838 This is interesting. This is clearly a political decision. The Commish? The Deputy Minister of Public Safety? The Minister, Vic Toews? The PMO? Hiding the costs of the ongoing Firearms Act pogrom was Liberal ploy done with the assistance of the bureaucracy. Now the same thing is happening under the Harper Conservatives. Are the Conservatives hiding it? Maybe? Maybe not? But they need to be held responsible until it is corrected. How to make this a public issue... well there are a number of ways. This press release will be ignored by the MSM. The press release is a necessary but not in in itself a sufficient step. Until it is reformed, the administration of unreasonable Firearms laws will continue to damage the RCMP politically. It's the political responsibility of the elected government. On 2013-07-26, at 9:58 AM, Cdn-Firearms Digest wrote: > Date: Wed, July 24, 2013 4:02 pm > From: "Dennis R. Young" > Subject: NFA NEWS: RCMP KEEP FIREARMS PROGRAM COSTS WELL HIDDEN > > Canada's National Firearms Association News Release - Wednesday, July > 24, 2013 > > RCMP KEEP FIREARMS PROGRAM COSTS WELL HIDDEN > "Parliamentary spending estimates no longer report cost of Bill C-68, > the Firearms Act" > http://nfa.ca/news/rcmp-keep-firearms-program-costs-well-hidden > > A review of the last seven years RCMP Reports on Plans and Priorities > show a progressive worsening of reporting on the costs of the Canadian > Firearms Program: Federal Government Costs and Anticipated Planned > Spending Requirements. Click on this link for details: > > http://nfa.ca/sites/default/files/Firearms%20Program%20Spending%202006-2012.pdf ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 12:13:31 -0700 From: RFOCBC 1 Subject: RE: Cdn-Firearms Digest V15 #832 Jim, you state "The only winner was the United States - and its hubris would not allow it to rule with any sort of wisdom, which has doomed Western Civilization as we know it." I believe that statement succinctly sums up you view of the world. Be thankful that our Human Rights Commissions do not seem to harass American haters. KS > Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:56:41 -0600 > From: mudman1@telusplanet.net > Subject: Re: Cdn-Firearms Digest V15 #832 > > Larry - > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Larry James Fillo" > To: > Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 4:11 PM > Subject: Re: Cdn-Firearms Digest V15 #832 > > > The Germans had the capability to invade Britain successfully. > > Fortunately, > > were distracted elsewhere. North Americans were sending small arms > > just > > to arm a militia style resistance to such an invasion. > > I do not know what you know about amphibious invasions, but I refer you > to study Operation Neptune, to see the scale of what the Germans would > have needed to successfully invade and occupy Britain. The Germans had > no preparation, no resources, no control of the air, no strategic air > force, and no ability to fight off the Royal Navy's attacks on ships > which would have been required to maintain the occupation. > Jim Szpajcher ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 13:44:50 -0600 From: Larry James Fillo Subject: Re: Small Arms Survey: Improvised Explosive Devices Civilians casualties are part of the terrorist program. Demonstrating the states inability to protect civilians is part of the destabilizing strategy. Internal conflict within Islam has a side effect of distracting temporarily from it's war on the infidel. Avoiding or minimizing innocent civilian casualties ... well in jihad there are no innocents. Not in Muslim countries nor in non-Muslim ones. It's a political/religious death cult. 21,315 Islamist terrorist attacks since 9/11. On 2013-07-26, at 9:58 AM, Cdn-Firearms Digest wrote: > Date: Wed, July 24, 2013 12:01 pm > From: "Dennis R. Young" > Subject: Small Arms Survey: Improvised Explosive Devices > > From: Small Arms Survey [mailto:news@smallarmssurvey.org] > Sent: July-24-13 8:25 AM > Subject: 'Infernal Machines': Improvised Explosive Devices, in Small Arms > Survey 2013: Everyday Dangers > > Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) killed and injured at least 13,000 > civilians in 44 countries in 2011. IEDs have become the principal weapon > for insurgents who are fighting superior military forces, and are a > significant cause of civilian casualties. ╢Infernal Machines: Improvised > Explosive Devicesâ•˙, a chapter from the Small Arms Survey 2013: Everyday > Dangers, surveys the range of IEDs and tactics that are in use, the > civilian casualties that result, and efforts to mitigate the threat. > > Approximately three civilians suffered non-fatal IED injuries for each > civilian killed by the devices in 2011. The vast majority of civilian IED > casualties in that year occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan. > Militant Sunni Islamist groups, using large IEDs and indiscriminate > tactics, are responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian > casualties inflicted in IED attacks. The chapter discusses options for > reducing the impact of IEDs, including limiting access to the materials > most commonly used to make large IEDs through the disposal of military > ordnance and the regulation of commercial explosives. However, such > measures are often difficult to implement in the worst-affected countries, > largely due to corruption, lack of capacity, and porous borders. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 14:27:06 -0600 From: Larry James Fillo Subject: Canadian accused of terror links in Mauritania returns home A ticking time bomb unless he can be deprogrammed. ======================================================== Canadian accused of terror links in Mauritania returns home Aaron Yoon tied to 2 Canadians involved in deadly attack on Algerian gas plant CBC News Posted: Jul 26, 2013 11:17 AM ET Last Updated: Jul 26, 2013 3:33 PM ET Aaron Yoon, shown in a 2006 yearbook photo from South Collegiate Institute in London, Ont., has left Mauritania after being released from prison there. He returned to Canada on Friday. (Canadian Press) A Canadian man jailed in Mauritania for his alleged links to a terrorist group has returned home from the North African country. Aaron Yoon arrived at Toronto's Pearson Airport on Friday aboard an Air Canada flight from Paris. He was escorted off the plane by RCMP officers, according to a person who was on the flight. Yoon was arrested in the North African country in December of 2011, and sentenced to 18 months in jail. He was released from prison there on Tuesday. The 24-year-old Canadian was convicted of having ties to an al-Qaeda-affiliated group that operates in the North African region, and of posing a danger to Mauritanian national security. The London, Ont., man had travelled to the area with two Canadian high school friends, Ali Medlej and Xris Katsiroubas. They were later killed while taking part in an attack on a natural gas plant in Algeria last year. Thirty-seven hostages also died in the attack. Yoon has denied any link to terrorism, saying he went to Mauritania to learn Arabic and study the Qur'an. He has said he doesn't know how Medlej or Katsiroubas became linked with militants, and that he was tortured while in prison. An official with Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that a Canadian had been released from prison in Mauritania, but said the department would not be commenting further on the matter. Yoon was escorted out of the country by Mauritanian intelligence officials, CBC's Adrienne Arsenault reported. He likely went to Morocco before starting the rest of his journey home by plane, she said. It will be difficult for Canadian authorities to arrest Yoon, Arsenault said, unless they have "extremely compelling" evidence that he poses a threat to Canada. Yoon’s claim that he was tortured while in detention in Mauritania may invalidate evidence against him collected by investigators in that country, she said. Yoon is believed to be in RCMP custody but charges are not expected. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 19:49:45 -0600 From: "Joe Gingrich" Subject: Activist Adam Kokesh charged with openly carrying shotgun in D.C. http://www.wtop.com/109/3401798/Kokesh-transferred-to-DC-faces-charge-related-to-gun-loading-video Activist Adam Kokesh charged with openly carrying shotgun in D.C. Friday - 7/26/2013, 3:53pm ET WASHINGTON - Adam Kokesh, a controversial activist seen loading a gun in D.C.'s Freedom Plaza in a video posted to YouTube July 4, has been transferred from Fairfax County and charged in D.C. with openly carrying a shotgun in violation of D.C. laws. He is specifically being charged with violating the following offense: Carrying a Rifle or Shotgun (outside Home or Place of Business), in violation of 22 D.C. Code Section 4504 (a-1) (2001 ed.)) The maximum penalty for those who have not previously been convicted of a felony is a fine of $5,000 and/or up to five years in prison. Those who have been convicted of a felony could face a fine of up to $10,000 and/or up to 10 years in prison. Kokesh had been arrested and charged with drug offenses in Fairfax County earlier in July. An arrest warrant obtained by WTOP notes that U.S. Park officials executed a search warrant at Kokesh's Herndon home on July 9, where they seized several weapons, including a 12-gauge shotgun believed to be the same one used in the YouTube video. In addition, the warrants note the officials seized ammunition and marijuana, mushrooms and "other suspected narcotics." Read the arrest warrant below. An Iraq war veteran known for his controversial activism, Kokesh is seen in the video standing in an empty Freedom Plaza loading a shotgun. Kokesh was allowed to post bail and leave jail ahead of his trial for felony drug charges in Fairfax County. Bond was set at $5,000. ABC 7 reported that as part of his pre-trial release, Kokesh would be prohibited from possessing firearms. Kokesh had planned and then canceled an armed march on Washington scheduled for July 4, 2013. Participants in the non-violent event, called the Open Carry March on Washington, were supposed to be armed with rifles. The purpose of the march was to "put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated and cower in submission to tyranny," Kokesh said of the event on his website. Read the arrest warrant: Adam Kokesh arrest warrant http://www.scribd.com/doc/156224919/Adam-Kokesh-arrest-warrant ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 20:34:14 -0700 From: "Clive Edwards" <45clive@telus.net> Subject: RE: Clive, Larry and Jim discuss politics > For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a > racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now > that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, > I must face it and speak out. > Jim Szpajcher I have read "War is a Racket" and agree. I also believe most of the PTSD cases are people who went in idealistically and only later realized it was a setup - they were put in a position where killing others was the only way to keep living. It is the knowledge that one was duped into becoming a murderer, rather than someone honourably defending one's self, family, community and lastly country. When one realizes one's country, in essence, has lied and you are left holding the bag for your sins...that is what leads to mental disorder in normal moral people. If one is a psychopath or sociopath, I would suggest it is impossible to experience PTSD. 45Clive ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 08:37:47 -0600 From: cssa-cila-e-news-bounces@lists.cssa-cila.org Subject: Re: GUN-GRABBERS COST BIG MONEY WITHOUT EVEN LAYING CHARGES From: cssa-cila-e-news-bounces@lists.cssa-cila.org Sent: July-25-13 9:35 AM To: Team CSSA E-NEWS Subject: [CSSA-CILA E-News] TEAM CSSA E-NEWS - July 25, 2013 CANADIAN SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION / CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION TEAM CSSA E-NEWS - July 25, 2013 ** Please share this E-news with your friends ** COMMENTARY: GUN-GRABBERS COST BIG MONEY WITHOUT EVEN LAYING CHARGES Not good enough for the publicly-funded-by-taxpayers Crown. It is appealing Judge Abrams' decision that Boris' hearing was botched. The Crown claims that Judge Abrams failed to interpret the Criminal Code section that deals with firearms seizure for public safety. A traditional search warrant requires proof that a crime has taken place and a search of the suspect's home could produce evidence of that crime. But, the Crown says Boris couldn't stop himself from writing gun-related remarks, and therefore, can't be trusted with a gun. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello CSSA, Who is providing the instructions to "the publicly-funded-by-taxpayers Crown" to appeal? Yours in Tyranny, Joe Gingrich White Fox ------------------------------ Date: Sat, July 27, 2013 9:14 am From: "Dennis R. Young" Subject: American attacked by polar bear in Labrador American attacked by polar bear in Labrador being treated in Montreal Authorities recommend visitors camping there hire an armed Inuit guide LA PRESSE CANADIENNE JULY 27, 2013 9:03 AM http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/American+attacked+polar+bear+Labrador+being+treated+Montreal/8716697/story.html http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/American+attacked+polar+bear+Labrador+being+treated+Montreal/8716730/story.html MONTREAL - An American backpacker attacked by a polar bear on Wednesday in a park in northern Labrador is recovering in a Montreal hospital. Matt Dyer, a lawyer from Lewiston, Me., in his 40s, was attacked by the animal in the middle of the night while he was camping with a group of seven other people in the Torngat Mountains National Park. He was pulled from his tent while he was sleeping and bitten several times. The other campers succeeded in chasing the bear away by making noise. A helicopter took Dyer to a trauma clinic in George River, near Ungava Bay, and he was later transferred to Montreal General Hospital, according to the Lewiston Sun-Journal. "The Canadians did an amazing job of getting him transported," his wife Jeanne Wells told the paper. "There was a doctor in the group who took care of him right from the start. He is in very stable condition. He will make a full recovery and that is a testament to his strength." Polar bears are common in Torngat Mountains National Park, and authorities recommend visitors camping there take measures to protect themselves, including hiring an armed Inuit guide. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, July 27, 2013 9:29 am From: "Dennis R. Young" Subject: Premiers have no trouble agreeing on what Ottawa should do by Andrew Coyne QUESTION: Is this what would replace the Senate if it's abolished? Premiers focus on what Ottawa should do rather than on what they can do themselves BY ANDREW COYNE, POSTMEDIA NEWS JULY 27, 2013 5:03 AM http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Premiers+focus+what+Ottawa+should+rather+than+what+they+themselves/8716509/story.html Premiers have no trouble agreeing on what Ottawa should do BY ANDREW COYNE, THE STARPHOENIX JULY 27, 2013 http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Premiers+have+trouble+agreeing+what+Ottawa+should/8716426/story.html Premiers can agree on what Ottawa should do BY ANDREW COYNE, THE LEADER-POST JULY 27, 2013 http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Premiers+agree+what+Ottawa+should/8716218/story.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, July 27, 2013 9:41 am From: "Dennis R. Young" Subject: Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette Letter: Why is the ... ...provincial gun-registry issue before the courts? Letter: Why is the provincial gun-registry issue before the courts? THE GAZETTE JULY 26, 2013 http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Letter+provincial+registry+issue+before+courts/8711555/story.html Prime Minister Stephen Harper, while in opposition, promised that under his leadership he would respect the court and cease confrontation with the provinces. We know that the former Liberal government and current PQ government in Quebec, along with Quebec taxpayers, want to preserve data within the federal firearms registry pertaining to their province in order to create their own database. We also know that such information would be used in the context of reducing the dramatic incidents that could occur without control. So why is this issue now before the courts? To date, the only winners in this case are the lawyers. This dispute should never have gone to the Canadian courts. Rather, an amicable negotiation between representatives from both Ottawa and Quebec needs to take place. Litigations such as this poison the atmosphere between the levels of government, and, ultimately, it will increase cynicism towards politicians amongst citizens. Come on, ministers: roll up your sleeves and give us back hope that the democratic system still works. Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette Bedford, Que. http://www.eurekablog.ca/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, July 27, 2013 9:45 am From: "Dennis R. Young" Subject: Grandmother From Toronto Arrested For Arms Smuggling In India Indo-Canadian Grandmother From Toronto Arrested For Arms Smuggling In India A Mississauga woman Irene Mathias visiting family in India has been charged with arms smuggling after authorities say they found live ammunition in her luggage. Saturday, July 27th, 2013 | Posted by admin http://thelinkpaper.ca/?p=30980 TORONTO - A Mississauga grandmother visiting family in India has been arrested and charged with arms smuggling after authorities in Mumbai say they found live ammunition in her luggage, reported the Toronto Star newspaper. Irene Mathias, 59, would seem to be an unlikely arms smuggler. She works with the Canada Revenue Agency in an administrative position, volunteers with the Canadian Cancer Society and is a regular churchgoer, her son Trayson Mathias said. "She's a woman who loves her church, volunteering in her community and cooking for her family," he told the Star in a phone interview from North Carolina. "She's been in hell, sitting in a jail there." Mathias was preparing to return to Canada after a two-week visit when she was arrested July 16 at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. She was jailed for three days and had her passport seized. Out on bail, she is now staying with family in the Mumbai area. "I first heard about this Thursday morning when I got a call from my dad, Paul, saying my mom was detained at the airport in India," Trayson Mathias said. "None of it makes sense. We have no idea how ammunition got into her luggage. She's probably never bought any bullets in her life." Between 36 and 38 rounds of ammunition were found in his mother's luggage, authorities told her. Trayson Mathias said she later identified the bags, but not the bullets, as hers. Police later told Irene Mathias's husband that the ammunition found in his wife's luggage was .22 long-range Dynamit Nobel, rounds that were made in Germany for a rifle. When police asked her where the bullets could have come from, Mathias, grasping at straws, wondered if it belonged to her daughter Charlene, who lives in Ottawa and has a hunting licence. The family has since confirmed that Charlene has never owned that kind of ammunition. An employee at Al Flaherty's Outdoor Shop in Toronto said the ammunition is primarily used for target practice. "It's pretty widely available to anyone with a firearms licence," said the employee, Andy, who did not want to provide his last name. The charges against Mathias have not been proven, and a court date in her case has not yet been set, her son said. If Mathias acquired the ammunition in India, she would have been risking a potentially stern prison sentence to bring back ammunition widely available in Canada. If the bullets belonged to her daughter, who left them in her luggage, that would mean they evaded detection at Pearson airport when she left on July 1, at a stopover and in Mumbai, where bags are screened both on arrival and departure. Trayson Mathias said the charges against his mother are serious, but it's unclear the kind of jail sentence she might face if convicted. He said the family has been unable to determine the exact charges against her. A spokesperson for Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs told the Star: "Canadian officials are providing consular assistance to a Canadian citizen in India and are in contact with the appropriate authorities to gather information." Courtesy Toronto Star ------------------------------ Date: Sat, July 27, 2013 9:56 am From: "Dennis R. Young" Subject: Letter: Get over it - Zimmerman's not guilty Letter: Get over it - Zimmerman's not guilty http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/3912070-get-over-it-zimmerman-s-not-guilty/ Re: Zimmerman - victim or Lone Ranger? 'Standing your ground' in gun-happy U.S. a right - or wrong? (Opinion, July 23) 'Stand your ground' was never mentioned at George Zimmerman's trial. Zimmerman's lawyers chose to defend him under the self-defence law in Florida and decided well in advance not to introduce the 'stand your ground' defence at his trial. It is the left-wing media backing the race peddlers like the Reverend Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson who tell President Barack Obama what to preach who are blaming the 'stand your ground' laws for Zimmerman's acquittal. These people are not looking at the fact that Zimmerman had a fair trial and was found not guilty because there was no evidence to convict him of murder or manslaughter. So get over it. The left-wing media have made this case about race from the start and even coined the new phrase white-skinned Hispanic when referring to Zimmerman. Scott Thompson should report all the relevant facts on his show, not just the race-tainted comments from those who wanted a guilty verdict. Maybe if Canada had a 'stand your ground' law, the Hamilton cab driver who was brutally beaten and robbed would have been able to defend himself. Doug Wadel, Dunnville ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 10:01:47 -0600 From: "Joe Gingrich" Subject: Premiers have no trouble agreeing on what Ottawa should do http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Premiers+have+trouble+agreeing+what+Ottawa+should/8716426/story.html Premiers have no trouble agreeing on what Ottawa should do By Andrew Coyne, The Starphoenix July 27, 201 It is possible to imagine a situation in which it would be useful for the premiers to meet, just as it is possible to conceive of a reason why anyone should pay them the slightest attention. Suppose the premiers agreed, at one of their preposterous annual costume balls ("First Ministers" was pompous enough, but with "The Council of the Federation" we are in the realm of fan fiction), to eliminate all of the hundreds of inter-provincial trade barriers that still disfigure the landscape, a century and a half after Confederation. Suppose they agreed to eliminate any of them. OK, suppose they started with one - say, regulations some provinces impose barring citizens from ordering wine from out-of-province vineyards. That would be worth a selfcongratulatory communiqué or two. Suppose, in the same fantastic vein, they agreed to stop their professional bodies from discriminating against those who have received their training elsewhere. Never mind grandiose national energy strategies: Suppose they just agreed to allow each other's oil and hydroelectricity to cross their soil without being held to ransom. Suppose, with regard to health care, they agreed to collect and adopt each other's best practices - not one or two, here and there, but comprehensively, for savings that have been estimated in the billions, not the millions of which the provinces now boast. Suppose they agreed to reform the Sen - nah, I can't even say it. Oh hell: Suppose they simply agreed to put their budgets on the same system of accounts, so the public could have some idea of how much they were spending, relative to each other. These would all justify the premiers meeting. Certainly there is nothing to prevent the premiers from doing any of these. Because, you see, they all have the inestimable advantage of being within the premiers' jurisdiction. And yet somehow that is never the order of business at any of their meetings. It isn't just that they almost never agree to anything that is in their power to do - no, not even the one about the wine. They barely even talk about it. Instead, they talk about the feds: what Ottawa should do, how much money it should spend, and on what. On this, let it be said, they have no trouble agreeing. The tone of this week's meeting - or of any previous - can be gathered from the headlines: Premiers to press for new federal funding model for infrastructure projects. Premiers seek new train safety rules. Premiers urge Ottawa to consult them on jobs training, energy. Premiers urge Stephen Harper to improve disaster relief. Premiers urge cyberbullying to be included in Criminal Code. (That's a lot of urging for one meeting. Premiers, it seems, have an irresistible urge to urge.) Some of these are squarely within federal jurisdiction, as for example when the premiers demand a role in international trade negotiations, or when they issue edicts on how the federal employment insurance or the federal old age security programs should be designed. Certainly they all involve federal cash. And, of all the things the premiers might think to suggest the federal government spend more on, what do you suppose tops their list? Why yes: themselves. What the federal government trumpeted in this year's budget as a major new infrastructure commitment was dismissed by the premiers as penny ante, on the way to demanding more of it - more, that is, than the $14-billion already earmarked for provincial projects. Accordingly, the premiers announced the formation of a "working group" on "strategic infrastructure investment," or as the Maclean's website headlined it, "Provinces make late push for federal infrastructure money." Oh, and the provinces, not the feds, would decide where and how it was spent. That's the "new funding model." Yet as eager as the premiers are to assert control over an ever-larger share of federal spending in areas of federal jurisdiction, they are no less insistent that the feds spend more in their own fields as well, as in the perennial demands for more federal transfers for health care. "More" here means over and above the $30 billion Ottawa already provides them every year (plus another $30 billion in other transfers, separately labelled, though in fact they all go into general revenues and can be spent any way the provinces like), a number the feds have promised will grow no slower than the economy, more or less in perpetuity. And when they have finished all this - when they are done writing Ottawa's budget, and amending the Criminal Code, and drafting federal safety regulations, and demanding to be consulted on everything under the sun - the premiers use whatever time they have left to complain about federal interference. This is particularly incoherent when it comes to health care, where the premiers are also accustomed to demanding federal "leadership." But as that game seems to have played itself out, the focus this year was on stopping the new Canada Job Grant, with its promise of $300 million in federal funding to help employers train skilled workers, before it gets started. Why would the premiers want to do this? Because the money is conditional on the provinces (and employers) matching the federal contribution. They don't have to, you understand: It's just that if they don't, their workers and employers won't get any of the federal cash. Whereas the feds used to just hand the money over to the provinces to spend, gratis. Spending 33-cent dollars? With no right to "opt out, with full compensation," i.e., do nothing and still get the cash? Why, it's intolerable. Same time next year, everyone. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V15 #842 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca Moderator email: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca FAQ list: http://www.canfirearms/Skeeter/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://www.canfirearms.ca CFDigest Archives: http://www.canfirearms.ca/archives To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next four lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".)