Elections

Bob Green Innes, Candidate for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek in Federal Election 2011

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Candidate Details (top)

NameBob Green Innes
ElectionFederal Election 2011
AreaHamilton East-Stoney Creek
PartyCanadian Action Party
Votes0
Email BobGreenInnes@votecap.ca
Website http://votecap.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=105:robert-innes-hamilton-east&catid=39:ontario&Itemid=254
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Business905-296-8874
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Responses to Questions (top)

QuestionBrief ResponseFull Response
Please explain how the Prime Minister and cabinet are formed in the Canadian Parliamentary system. Yes Prime Minister Harper was formed from stubborn stone, which was then surrounded by stout sticks, forming an impenetrable Cabinet.

Seriously, the present system of having civil servants write legislation that is rammed down the throats of hapless backbenchers only serves the entrenched money interests. The Canadian Action Party is the only party to address this deplorable situation with a complete program of democratic reform as outlined in my first answer.
Do you believe global oil production is at or near an historic peak? If so, what will your party do to prepare Canada for declining oil production? If not, why not? Yes The almost certain peaking of oil, which puts pressure on price, will be confused with the simultaneous debauching of the US Dollar, which will have the same effect. Canada has choices because of our oil resources. We can let our dollar rise, as it is doing (perhaps $1.50), but this will kill a lot of manufacturing, especially in this area, or we can, by lowering interest rates, let our dollar fall with the USD. The latter would cause inflation and/ or pressure on farm and commodity incomes (in USD), but will also encourage the return of manufacturing to Canada/
North America, which we favour.

As noted, we feel that Canadians should be masters of our own destiny and advocate a complete review of our trading treaties. Many in CAP call for outright abrogation of NAFTA, which seems drastic to contemplate immediately, but make no mistake, increasingly folks are being squeezed out of the economy. They are angry. We want their vote so the public will finally see the depth of the outrage that exists in Canada. I hope this can result in renegotiation before more drastic action must be taken.

My own view is that Canadians are living an unsustainable lifestyle based mainly on our excessive suburbanization. One way or other the price of oil is set to increase, which will cause a reversal of the dynamics that led to this situation. Inner cities will begin to be more attractive than exurbs, which in turn, will strengthen systems for public order and support. This I would encourage, and while tax burdens are presently too high, a judicious shifting of taxes may serve to strengthen urban intensification, so long in waiting.

As for promoting green technologies, judicious research and development is worthwhile in certain cases, but grand subsidy schemes are just a way to take money from the poor and give it to the rich. For example, my own unsubsidized solar collectors are financially efficient, but this efficiency has been hurt by time-of-use hydro rates - my fans need to run when the sun shines, which coincides with the peak cost period. My free solar heat isn't so free anymore, and my low cost concept might have to give way to the high cost subsidized systems favoured by the Greens. Serious diseconomies can result in net job losses instead of gains, despite all the wild promises of solar and wind cowboys, who are really subsidy farmers. Green initiatives like the lightbulb ban are stupid beyond belief. In self defense, I now have a lifetime supply of cheap incandescent bulbs which are the only environmentally and financially proper choice for certain applications! This is absurd.

The Canadian Action Party policies will also reduce oil consumption by encouraging locally grown food and better waste / packaging policies. Also, we must reverse perverse policies which tax conservation and recycling systems while subsidizing resource extraction industries with free public infrastructure.

To summarize the above, I have full faith that Canadians will adapt to future realities with confidence and resolve, if not with foresight. We do not need a nanny state full of expensive bureaucrats messing around with green elephants.
Will you always vote along party lines, or are you prepared to vote your conscience on a matter in which you disagree with your party's position? No Our party is a young party which recognizes both regional and economic disparities which the present whip system cannot. The above parliamentary reforms give voice, not only to dissenting party members, but to all House members in drafting legislation. Thus, I intend to vote in the best interest of both Hamilton and Canada.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has recommended that CBC's annual parliamentary grant be raised from $33 per Canadian to $40. Will you support this recommendation? Why or why not? If so, will you advocate for a Hamilton-based CBC radio station? Yes A $7 increase is a little more than 20% extra when the little guys we are focusing on, are having to tighten their belts to pay higher prices, but on the same or lower wages. The Commons Committee must be Standing at the lounge because they don't understand that higher taxes always translates to higher cost throughout the economy. That being said, the Canadian Action Party believes that public works are suffering because taxpayers are subsidizing bankers instead of utilizing our own Bank of Canada. That's $57 billion PER YEAR that could be used for this or any other purpose such as eliminating student loans. See our website for details.

Personally, I enjoy certain CBC radio programs, usually via their excellent podcast service.

A CBC Hamilton station might help to counter the horrible effects of both the Spectator and commercial radio. I think historians will recognize how these outlets generally bamboozle Hamiltonians into voting for money interests (suburbia, malls, cars) instead of what is best for the city. While CBC might help, I have my doubts since CBC has its own bias toward left leaning Keynesian (big government) solutions.

I will also never forgive CBC for its role in almost costing us Quebec. While CAP is fiercely nationalist, there is something about CBC that undermines what Canada was, and could become again. Ordinary Canadians don't need a bigger nanny CBC to tell us what to think.

I guess that means my short answer is NO!
Will your party take steps to make sure the foreign purchase of Canadian companies does not cost Canadian jobs? If so, what will you do? If not, why not? Yes The Canadian Action Party intends to promote jobs in Canada by undertaking a critical review of the entire NAFTA and free trade systems which seem to have morphed into conduits for siphoning wealth into secrecy bound tax havens such as Delaware and the City of London. For example Google, of do-no-evil fame, uses the Irish Sandwich and Double Dutch technique.

Not only is there extreme anger in our ranks over such things as National Treatment Clause and Chapter 11, which arguably diminishes our ability to protect our natural and economic environments, but there is no doubt that the playing field is tilting dangerously toward complete corporate abdication of any responsibility toward the jurisdictions in which they operate. Please sign my petition to end or isolate tax havens.

Whether such jobs end up in Hamilton depends on whether the city can become more competitive, relative to its neighbours. While the fact that Hamilton has shouldered more than it's share of social services and other public entities should be redressed, I believe that Hamilton must work diligently on management problems that are beyond the purview of the Federal Government.

Further, while CAP has no policy on the matter, my own belief is that the unnecessary and ill timed Pan Am Games, and any similar undertakings should be canceled forthwith until such time as the global financial problems have been resolved, our recommended Monetary System Reform has been implemented and other pressing priorities have been dealt with, such as fixing the education boondoggle which sees too many new grads hobbled by excessive student debt. The entire practice of the federal government trying to control everything through funding only serves to disconnect the taxpayer from the equation.
Do you believe human activity is contributing to climate change? If so, what should we do about it? If not, why not? Maybe Human activity is contributing to a plethora of environmental problems, many of which have obvious solutions which are being ignored in the furor over so-called Climate Change, which is less arguable than Global Warming. No doubt the climate will change as it always has, but why are we delaying action on no-brainer problems?

If larger fish are depleted and the ocean bottom scoured of life giving organisms, is it not obvious what needs to be done? If the oceans are developing dead zones due to eutrophication caused by fertilizer runoff, is it not obvious what needs to be done? If Amazonian trees are all cut, will a desert form like the Sahara? Should Canadians object when we are happily clear cutting? All these obvious questions have gone off the table thanks to the globalist-green CO2 agenda.

The renaming of life-essential CO2 into a pollutant has clouded common sense, and we take sharp exception to the policies set out by the Green Party. We believe that most (but not all) carbon capture concepts are doomed to futility - few people have any idea of the sheer magnitude involved. Our depleted oil well recovery industry had early proposals to use CO2 to enhance practical oil recovery, before the Conservatives' Flaherty killed the entire industry, all by his Keynesian self.

In the excitement over ocean acidification, now blamed exclusively on CO2, we seem to have forgotten that half a century ago, we identified sulphur as the main cause of acid rain. Coal burning is a primary source of sulphur and brand-new coal power plants are going into service weekly, even as we are rapidly depleting low-sulphur coal. Ocean research money is being plowed into the CO2 side and forgetting the SO2 side. Why? Al Gore found a way to circumvent democracy, get rich , tax the world for carbon use and put the common man in penury, which is the real driver of this globalist agenda.

The Canadian Action Party is more concerned that any taxes levied, be they on pollution or not, be based, not on international tribunals we do not vote for, but on sovereign, made-in-Canada decisions, subject at all times to the will of the people.
Do you support Vrancor's attempt to remove heritage protection from 150 Main Street West (the old Revenue Canada building)? Why or why not? Yes Generally, I favour heritage protection, but Hamilton voters have not seen fit to elect politicians able to focus on wealth generation, instead of on ways to divert our wealth into the pockets of their friends. Warm and fuzzy concepts are easily affordable when things are going well. They aren't, and we are about to make things a whole lot worse by burning through our $500 million in reserves (= almost a year's revenue) for grandiose schemes (stadium, etc.), instead of returning as much money as possible to citizens by lowering taxes. Impatiently I say: Hamilton get on with it.
Do you believe the Federal Government needs to do more to support cities? If so, what needs to change? If not, why not? Yes Please see my previous answer as to how the Canadian Action Party proposes to enable more beneficial public programs by restoring the Bank of Canada to its rightful place and eliminating the gradual enslavement of the Canadian people to the banks through ever larger public debts and interest payments. If we want to support cities financially, we should be able to.

Generally however, I am utterly opposed to having the federal gummerment meddle in the financial affairs of every city, town and village. This is only a way to skim money at all political levels while disconnecting the taxpayer from the equation. It encourages overspending and politically motivated handouts - there is no direct taxpayer pushback since oh well, the feds are paying. It's a beggar thy neighbour situation. We are already indebted horribly, which is going to turn out badly once bond buyers begin to wonder if they will ever be paid back.

As I said earlier, the way to get what we want for Hamilton is by focusing on allowing people in Hamilton to create wealth, which really means creating exportable products or services. To this end, the Federal Government should be lowering taxes and transfers, allowing cities to raise more of their own taxes and removing red tape in order to release the energies of Canada's cities and citizens.

Another issue I'd like to bring to voters' attention is how short selling in stock markets is destructive of pensions, RRSPs and businesses and non transparent/ dishonest for investors. Please have a look at the information at this website and consider signing the linked petition to abolish the practice.
Do you believe parliamentary rule has been eroding in Canada? If so, what will you do to reverse it? If not, why not? Yes Yes, here is the list of reforms we believe are necessary:

The Canadian Action Party (CAP) has 5 pillars in its election platform: 1) democratic reform, 2) restoration of full sovereignty, 3) restoration of traditional civil rights, 4) Monetary system reform, and 5) preservation of the environment against corporate excess.

CAP's democratic reform comprises 5 elements: 1) Swiss style referendum system, 2) open government 3) ban electronic voting machines, 4) 'Jury' selected Senate system and 5) Parliamentary reform. Parliamentary reform includes British Question Period system (rotating), all party legislation system, all party campaign advertising, citizen initiatives/recall, and proportional representation.

We are convinced our policies are the right solutions for Canada, and had they been in place, we would not be in the situation we are in where the party of big business, party of big gummerment and the party of big unions, support corporate friendly policies, leaving the little guy to get squeezed by ever higher taxes and prices but lower wages and more regulations.
Will your platform promote the growth of manufacturing jobs in Hamilton? If so, how? If not, why not? Yes The Canadian Action Party intends to promote jobs in Canada by undertaking a critical review of the entire NAFTA and free trade systems which seem to have morphed into conduits for siphoning wealth into secrecy bound tax havens such as Delaware and the City of London. For example Google, of do-no-evil fame, uses the Irish Sandwich and Double Dutch technique.

Not only is there extreme anger in our ranks over such things as National Treatment Clause and Chapter 11, which arguably diminishes our ability to protect our natural and economic environments, but there is no doubt that the playing field is tilting dangerously toward complete corporate abdication of any responsibility toward the jurisdictions in which they operate. Please sign my petition to end or isolate tax havens.

Whether such jobs end up in Hamilton depends on whether the city can become more competitive, relative to its neighbours. While the fact that Hamilton has shouldered more than it's share of social services and other public entities should be redressed, I believe that Hamilton must work diligently on management problems that are beyond the purview of the Federal Government.

Further, while CAP has no policy on the matter, my own belief is that the unnecessary and ill timed Pan Am Games, and any similar undertakings should be canceled forthwith until such time as the global financial problems have been resolved, our recommended Monetary System Reform has been implemented and other pressing priorities have been dealt with, such as fixing the education boondoggle which sees too many new grads hobbled by excessive student debt. The entire practice of the federal government trying to control everything through funding only serves to disconnect the taxpayer from the equation.
Will you call for a full public inquiry into the 2010 G20? Why or why not? Yes Not only is an inquiry into the G20 fiasco necessary, but it is essential that wrongdoing be punished and the Civil Liberties of Canadians restored. There is much to restore. CAP is particularly concerned about provisions that have, or will erode our civil rights. These include preventative detention, arbitrary arrest, investigative hearings, suspension of the right to remain silent and the principle of innocence until proven guilty (especially within new & proposed domestic/ foreign tribunal systems), use of agent provocateurs, warrantless seizures, foreign determination of regulations, negating law of trespass, and withholding access to legal representation. That's a long list.
Do you support some form of proportional representation instead of first-past-the-post voting? If so, what will you do to promote it? If not, why not? Yes The Canadian Action Party (CAP) has 5 pillars in its election platform: 1) democratic reform, 2) restoration of full sovereignty, 3) restoration of traditional civil rights, 4) Monetary system reform, and 5) preservation of the environment against corporate excess.

CAP's democratic reform comprises 5 elements: 1) Swiss style referendum system, 2) open government 3) ban electronic voting machines, 4) 'Jury' selected Senate system and 5) Parliamentary reform. Parliamentary reform includes British Question Period system (rotating), all party legislation system, all party campaign advertising, citizen initiatives/recall, and proportional representation.

We are convinced our policies are the right solutions for Canada, and had they been in place, we would not be in the situation we are in where the party of big business, party of big gummerment and the party of big unions, support corporate friendly policies, leaving the little guy to get squeezed by ever higher taxes and prices but lower wages and more regulations.
Do you believe the Federal Government is doing everything it can to complete the cleanup of Randle Reef? Why or why not? No As noted, I prefer that the federal gummerment not meddle at all in municipal affairs and should not treat serious problems like Randle Reef as a pork barrel project to be trotted out at election time. All this transferring of money back and forth distorts the democratic process, an example of which we saw when, prodded by Provincial and Federal money, we decided to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a stadium that will do nothing to change Hamilton for the better.

That being said, Hamilton should not be shortchanged compared to other communities and if the Feds helped clean up other toxic sites, then they should help Hamilton too. CAP believes that projects like this cost far less than the $57 billion we pay the bankers every year in interest instead of using the Bank of Canada as it was intended by Mackenzie King, our wartime PM. It's not money that is missing, it is patriotic policy.

Hamiltonians, in being swayed by dangling carrots, instead of just getting on with the cleanup have shot their bolt poorly, in my opinion, and will come to regret it before their bauble is finished and all the cost overruns tallied up and unions paid off. Many real needs are being swept under the media carpet while everyone bamboozles taxpayers into thinking that developer-centric mega projects are oh-so-essential. Gotta have developer's adverts or the Spec will sink, no?

Oh well, in a few years, we should have a raging monetary breakdown hyperinflation to contend with, (not discussed on MSM debates) which will derail many plans, thanks to the inability of Canadians to break their habit of electing the same old parties who only look out for the big multinationals, their trade (& climate) treaties and tax havens. Anytime you're ready voters, you can vote for substantive change. Are you ready?