Kyoto Komix

This cartoon is clipped from a federal government propaganda piece called Superkids.

Note the scare tactics employed. If we don't stop "wasting" oil there won't be enough left to drive a car in ten years.

Well, here's the kicker. This particular Superkids comic was published way back in 1976! Now, I'm no math genius but by my calculation that means we must have run out of gas in 1986.

So much for government predictions.

Makes you wonder what all those doom and gloom predictions about global warming will look like 30 years from now.

H/T Janet Neilson

Income Mistrust II

OK, I am sure there are lots of reasons why it made fiscal sense for the Conservative government to break its promise not to tax income trusts.

So why is Finance Minister Jim Flaherty justifying the government's move with weak left wing arguments that could have come straight out of the NDP or Liberal playbook?

Here's a couple Flaherty quotes to illustrate my point:

* "After all, someone has to pay the taxes for health care and education, all the good things we love as Canadians."

* "If corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes, this tax burden will shift ... This is simply not fair.''

Huh? I thought the Tories were about making taxes lower not fairer.

Sure the editorial board of the Toronto Star might applaud this approach, but when election day comes around they sure as heck won't be voting Tory.

A Brief History of the Universe

Have you ever wondered about the 10th dimension?

No me neither.

In fact, I thought it only went up to the Fifth Dimension.

But check out this cool site, which tries to explain the wonky concepts of quantum physics. (Click the link "Imagining the 10th dimension" on the left hand side of the screen.)

Full confession: I got completely lost after the ant and the newspaper analogy.

Kerry's Gaffe

One of the reasons Senator John Kerry's gaffe, where he seemed to suggest American soldiers in Iraq were uneducated rubes, is that it reminds voters of something, the Democrats would like to keep under the rug: left-wingers generally hold the military in disdain.

It's like that here in Canada too.

Recall during the last federal election those anti-military TV ads the Liberals put together "Soldiers in our streets . . . Soldiers with guns!"

And just as those ads ended up hurting the Liberals, Kerry's idiotic "joke" will end up hurting the Democrats.

But it probably won't be enough to head off what seems to be an impending Republican Götterdämmerung.

Income Mistrusts

Well we are about find out how good the Tories are when it comes to communicating their policies.

Because after their decision to tax income trusts, the Conservatives are going to need all the communicating skills they can muster.

The Liberals, of course, will have a field day accusing the Conservatives of breaking a key election promise and of flip-flopping on an issue that’s extremely important to seniors and Bay Street companies.

The challenge for the Tories will go beyond just convincing voters their change of heart makes fiscal sense, they will also have to work hard to explain why they changed their minds.

It’s what you might call the Dalton McGuinty Syndrome.

Kids and Work

My 14 year old son is at work with me today.

That’s because today is Take Our Kids to Work™ day, a national program which allows “students to job shadow a parent, relative or volunteer host and to experience first hand some of the career options that will be available to them.”

“Job shadow” of course really means your poor kid will be bored out of his skull sitting in some empty boardroom folding company reports into paper airplanes.

As far as I can tell the only benefit of this program is that it will give high school teachers a day off.

Now if you will excuse me I have to go teach my son some valuable workplace lessons – such as how to write cynical blog entries.

Mein Kat

OK here's a site that might give even the most ardent cat lovers pause (or is that paws?)

Top Political Minds

My friend Matt Bufton has started his own blog, which I urge everyone to check out.

If you do check it out you will notice that his profile claims "Matt is #3 on Gerry Nicholls' list of Canada's Top 5 Political Minds."

I will neither confirm nor deny Matt's ranking as my list is a closely guarded secret.

However, I will say that Matt did show extraodinary political judgement when he invited me in the Spring to speak at the Windsor Liberty Seminar which he organized.

Oh and he is from Windsor which also gives him bonus points.

End the Wheat Board Monopoly

A government task force is recommending the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly be phased out.

All I can say is, what took them so long!

The National Citizens Coalition has been pushing for an end to the Wheat Board monopoly for more than 10 years.

What it boils down to isn't economics or wheat or trade. It's about individual freedom.

Simply put, western grain farmers should have the freedom to market their own crops to customers of their own choice.

Discretion is the Better Part of Valour

The House of Commons Justice Committee is going to study the federal government's decision to axe the Court Challenge Program, and I was invited to give my perspective on the matter at one of its hearings.

I refused.

OK, I know what you're thinking.

"Gerry you're one of the top five political minds in the country. It's your duty to appear at these hearings and give the MPs the benefit of your political wisdom."

But take it from me. These hearings usually degenerate into anti-NCC smear attacks.

Here's what would have happened, had I agreed to appear before the Justice Committee:

Me: Well, Mr. Chairman this is why I think the Court Challenges Program is a waste . . .

Some outraged MP: Excuse me Mr. Nicholls, before you go on, can you please tell us why the National Citizens Coalition is a super-secret, right wing group that wants to overthrow the government.

Me: The NCC is ....

Some Other Outraged MP: And isn't the NCC the group that ran newspaper ads comparing me to a fat ugly pig!!!

Me: Well to be fair it was actually a cute litte pig but . .

Outraged MPs: Arrest him!

Me: !!

Yeah, it's much better if I pass on these type of affairs.

Real Scary game kids!

Here's a little Halloween game that's fun for the whole family, that is if you don't mind sarcastic skeletons!

Tigers Lose! Say it Aint So

Well my Tigers played like kittens in the World Series.

It's hard to take, but I will get over it . . . by April.

There is also something wrong with a World Champion only winning 83 games in the regular season.

Still I'm sure the Tigers will win the next time they make it to the Series in 2026.

Update:

As usual Paul Tuns has some insightful analysis of the World Series.

We Told Bob So

Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae now admits his fiscal policies as NDP Premier of Ontario -- high taxes, huge budgetary deficits -- were wrong.

I guess that's another way of him admitting the National Citizens Coalition was right!

After all, during his disastrous term as Premier, the NCC -- through its project group Ontarians for Responsible Government -- hammered away at his ruinous economic agenda.

He didn't listen, of course, and got swept out of power.

Now I hate to be the guy who says, "I told you so", but we did in fact tell Rae so.

It would be nice of him to now acknowledge the NCC's wisdom.

Lively Seven Going to Court

The Lively Seven's fight for workplace freedom is about to proceed to the next level.

Who are The Lively Seven and what is their fight about?

They are seven female bank employees who live and work in Lively, Ontario, which is near Sudbury.

About a year ago, the United Steel Workers of America unionized them against their will.

These women don't want to be unionized, they don't want to be forced to pay union dues.

In fact, during the certification drive, they sought intervenor status with the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to make their voices heard.

But the Board didn't give them a chance to have their say.

So now, with the help of the National Citizens Coalition, they are taking their case to a federal court, arguing, among other things, that their right to due process was denied.

To learn more about this important fight for work place democracy go here.

Harper, Gag Laws and the Wheat Board

The Winnipeg Free Press quotes me in a story concerning Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Canadian Wheat Board.

Part of the story concerned Prime Minister Harper's move to prevent the Wheat Board from spending money on advertising to defend its monopoly.

The reporter, Paul Samyn, asked me if I thought such a move was hypocritical given that Harper opposed election gag laws when he was president of the National Citizens Coalition.

Here's how the Free Press reported my answer:

But Nicholls said there is no inconsistency between Harper's concerns about advertising limits during the CWB elections and those his government has now imposed on the CWB. Nicholls said what Harper was upset about while at the NCC was advertising restrictions that made it a crime for people to spend their own money to influence the board elections. By comparison, Nicholls said, the cabinet order is only there to ensure the CWB doesn't use its own resources to advance its own agenda.

But that's only half of my answer.

I also told Samyn the big difference is the election gag law prevents citizens or groups from spending their own money to promote their own political ideas.

The CWB, on the other, hand was spending other people's money to promote its agenda, an agenda many Western grain farmers oppose.

When he was our President, Stephen Harper always opposed forcing citizens to finance political agendas they opposed -- he opposed, for instance, using forced union dues for politics.

In other words, Harper's stance regarding the Wheat Boards and gag laws is perfectly consistent.

Happy St. Crispin's Day

Today marks the 591st anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt.

The National Post features an excellent article to commemorate this milestone called "Day of the Longbow".

Check it out.

Ontarians Want Change?

There's an interesting poll on the Ontario political scene that seems to contradict itself.

The poll says the Ontario Liberals have a sizable lead (41-34) over the Progressive Conservatives but that 47 percent of Ontarians also believe it's time for a change in government.

How can this be?

Well the short answer is Ontario voters do want a change, but they don't see PC leader John Tory as representing change.

And no wonder.

Tory has done little to distinguish his party from the Dalton McGuinty Liberals in terms of policies.

So the voters are likely saying, if we have to choose between a real Liberal Party and a pseudo-Liberal Party, might as well choose the real deal.

Revamped NCC Site

We have jazzed up the National Citizens Coalition website.

You can check it out here.

And for future reference the URL for our website is now www.nationalcitizens.ca

We also have a new ad campaign, which you can check out here.

Things I Just Learned

My wife injured her back recently and me being a good husband picked up the slack around the house.

And in doing so, I learned many things.

For instance:

* When doing laundry you should always make sure to separate the dark clothes from the white ones.

* When cooking a meat loaf always resist the temptation to press buttons on the stove just because you want to see what will happen.

* You need a masters degree in engineering to figure out how to open the lids on certain cleansers.

* The container for laundry detergent looks an awful lot like the container for orange juice.

I also learned that it's better for me not to do too much around the house.

Heartless Need

Just to let everyone know, I am currently writing a trashy novel called Heartless Need.

It’s all about a government secret agent named Dirk Warren who with the help of beautiful scientist Arlene Julia, seeks to stop Geneshare, an evil high-tech company which is selling the toxic drug Zitrel to terrorists.

Ok none of the above is true.

I just found a cool website called Name-O-Rama which generates names for companies, novels, bands, drugs and boys and girls, and I was just fooling around with it.

But you know, now that I think about it maybe Heartless Need would make a good novel.