What Phil Gets Paid By The Taxpayers To Do

Some of us wonder what Phil gets paid a healthy six-figure income (plus pension!) to do.  Here's how one of Canada's best-known political journalists recently summed it up on Twitter:

(If you're curious, here's the link to Phil's whole speech.)

"SO31s" refers to Standing Order 31.  In Parliament, sometimes an MP wants to mention a prominent member of their community, or a local sports team that has made the MP's riding proud.  The S.O.31 allows the MP to make a short speech about these topics in Parliament.

Phil McColeman, however, has chosen to use his S.O.31 for the same tired rhetoric churned out by his party on a daily basis.  Phil, this is why people are tired of politics.  Even David Akin found it ridiculous, as evidenced by his clearly sarcastic tweet.

So this is what Phil spends his time doing while the taxpayer pays him six figures a year.  This is pretty embarassing for anybody who lives in Brant.  We here at this non-partisan blog are simply disgusted.

Phil may eventually decide to grow up and stop this nonsense.  But not likely because he's been doing this type of thing for years.  More likely, it is time for Brant to Dump Phil!!

Lazy Phil Takes a Vacation

While native land claims and unemployment continue to be top political issues in Brant, Phil McColeman somehow thinks that he can justify taking a two-month vacation. Stephen Harper has yet again prorogued Parliament, and this is what McColeman has to say:

The Liberal Party of Canada will certainly continue to make accusations suggesting that this decision will waste time for Parliament, while the opposite is true. The Liberal Party has been wasting the time of all Parliamentarians for months by using the Liberal-controlled Senate to gut vital legislation that has already been approved by the House of Commons. However, through this move, the Conservative government will put an end to Michael Ignatieff`s opportunistic political games and be able to take a majority position in the senate. This will allow us to take important bills that have been blocked by the Liberal Senate and get those bills passed, for the benefit of all Canadians.

If we want to talk about "opportunistic political games," how about undermining democracy yet again just because Harper doesn't want to face questions about abuse of Afghan detainees. Shutting down Parliament in a recession is irrational and cowardly; justifying the decision by saying that it will allow the Conservatives to stack the Senate is basically stating that democracy should be put on hold so that the Conservatives can consolidate power. It's like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Except that Harper is cutting the nose off the face of Canada, to spite the Liberals.

Dr. Phil’s Formula for Economic Recovery

Renovate houses.


That's basically it. And build some other things, like a few roads. Never mind that property values in Canada are falling as fast as Conservative poll numbers.

In his maiden speech in Parliament, Phil meandered on about his years spent working in construction, and how every Canadian wants a bigger house. Then he proclaimed the virtues of a new construction tax credit, and infrastructure investment. You could almost see the gears slowly turning in his head:

1. I like construction!
2. But housing sales are falling…
3. People can renovate their houses instead!!

Since then, Phil has been rushing around to get Brantfordians building. He went to Brantford city council and told them to 'pick an infrastructure project, any infrastructure project.' Then he did the same thing in Paris. He announced funding toward a new ice arena. He let us know that he's been having lots and lots of meetings with Infrastructure Minister John Baird (who must be pretty darn patient to put up with all Phil's pestering).

All of this is good news for Brantford. But if it stops there – and it does – it is not nearly enough.

In his Parliamentary speech, Phil noted a similar initiative in the early 1990s that kept workers working. It is true that in the recession of the 1980s/90s there was a lot of federal money coming into Brant projects – that's how we built the rail trail, for example. But it was a band-aid solution: Brantford continued to deteriorate throughout the '90s, the downtown crumbled, unemployment stayed high. Why? Because at the end of the day, when the federal money dried up, the workers had the same unmarketable skill-set, and the same reliance on heavy industry that continues to leave town.

What we need to do is invest in retraining our workers with marketable skills, not just keeping them busy for a little while. Invest in people, not just in edifices. We need a government that will invest in sustainable, long-term solutions, such as wind and solar energy manufacturing, and building more hybrid/electric autos. The Conservatives' unimaginative economic plan, on the other hand, says, "Here's a hammer, get to work until the money runs out again."

Brantford is less-educated and poorer than average. This is a huge turnoff for investors choosing where to place their money, and renovating houses isn't going to change this. Let us remember that the single greatest factor for downtown Brantford's turnaround was the construction of a university campus in 1998. That's the type of forward-thinking investment that's needed, in addition to building houses and roads.

In a weary voice, a downtown businessowner once told me, "Brantford's always been a day late and a buck short." That, in as many words, perfectly describes the economic plan of Phil McColeman and the Conservatives.