Dion like Dinner - The long farewell to a dismay failure

It can be said that yesterday's news conference marked the departure of an honest man. It can also be said that yesterday's news conference ushered in additional months of ineffective and delusional leadership by a leader who has lost the "moral authority" to lead the Liberal caucus.

I am blogging about this now as it took me a few hours to calm down after all the condescending BS that came from Mr. Dion's mouth, and of course other prominent Liberals.

Mr. Dion is delusional if he is pinning most of the blame on the Conservative's superior financial position. Mr. Dion is clearly not accepting blame for his historic defeat, even in his final weeks and months as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada he is not acting like a leader, no, he is acting like a Liberal. Defuse, deflect, and blame others.

At the end of the day, it is Mr. Dion's fault they lost the election:

1. Mr. Dion failed to ignite the grassroots to support him, or the Liberal party, both in volunteers, and in donations;
2. Mr. Dion failed to reform the Liberal party's donation strategy and bring it into the 21st century;
3. Mr. Dion failed to unify the party, and bring in seasoned help from accomplished Liberal party operatives, instead relying on incompetent and unpopular supporters;
4. Mr. Dion failed to listen to advice given by his strategists and campaign teams;
5. Mr. Dion failed to create a compelling and moderate platform, instead, hitching the entire success and failure of the campaign on an unpopular wealth redistribution scheme he liked to call the "Green Shift"
6. Mr. Dion failed to have the courage of his convictions in the promotion of his "Green Shift", instead burying it and not discussing it when he realized it wasn't going to sell;
7. Most importantly, Mr. Dion failed to inspire Canadians to rally behind him, instead, he had to rely on his team to turn Liberal fortunes around. The Liberal vote has declined for 3 straight elections.

Mr. Dion has failed to take the blame, and instead blamed others. He considers his campaign performance good. I don't know what is in his koolaid.

Mr. Dion and other Liberals blame the Conservative advertising machine, instead of their policies, and their performance. He basically called Canadian's stupid, by saying that Canadians were too stupid to see through the Conservative "propaganda", he claims the "Green Shift" was an income tax cut, not a carbon tax.

When answering questions after his statement he claims his government would have been much better, and that in democracy you don't have to agree with the people, just accept their judgment. Again, he basically calls Canadians stupid. He also again links the Conservatives with the evil Americans and Australians.

I am sure the real motive behind Stephane Dion's decision to remain as party leader is a chance to have a do over at leading the Liberal's in another election. He is hoping the Government falls before the next leader is chosen, even though his image is "cemented" in the minds of Canadians.

Mr. Dion will be an ineffective leader of the opposition as he is a lame duck, and his best MPs will be crisscrossing the country on their own leadership tours. Be prepared for lots of Liberal MPs to come down with the democratic flu.

Mayor Miller breaking election laws?

Matt from "A step to the right" as a great posting about the possibility that Mayor David Miller, the mayor of Toronto may have broken election financing laws with his "One cent" campaign.

It may be worse then Matt suggests.

A third party may spend up to a total of $150 000 nationally on election advertising. Of this amount, it may spend no more than $3 000 in any single electoral district. For by-elections, the maximum is $3 000 for each electoral district.

Based on my reading of that, the total spending limit for Mayor Miller would have only been 66,000 dollars, not 150,000 dollars. Big difference.

What I don't know, and perhaps when of the readers can let me know, what is the time span that the limit covers? Is it only from the day of the writ drop to the day of voting?

I want to say the entire costs would count, but they don't count for actual advertising for the federal parties so perhaps it doesn't.

Does anyone know?

Dalton McGuinty refuses to rule out deficits

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty sent a strong signal his province will be slipping into deficit as he joined fellow premiers today for an emergency meeting on the economy.

Mr. McGuinty ruled out raising taxes and said he would be very careful before cutting spending programs on services. He suggested running a deficit is no longer a lethal toxin to Canadian politicians.

Typical Liberal. Can't make the hard decision to cut spending, he would rather spend future generations money to save him the pain of making a real decision.

Dalton McGuinty raised spending as soon as he entered office, he kept raising spending while claiming the deficit was higher then expected. Dalton McGuinty didn't balance the books until just before an election.

But, Dalton found lots of money for his friends.

One could easily argue that deficits are never good, but, I will say that deficits to keep infrastructure, education, and health are not too bad. Deficits because you don't want to cut pork and maybe lose a few votes are bad.

Premier McGuinty, grow some.

Goodale throws his hat into the ring

Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale has thrown his hat into the ring to become the interim party leader when Stephane Dion makes it official tomorrow at 2pm.

Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale is pushing hard behind the scenes to line up caucus support to become interim leader if Stephane Dion steps down Monday, party insiders say.

I don't quite understand why anyone would lobby hard to become interim party leader of the fractured, demoralized, and bankrupt Liberal Party of Canada. Your entire mandate is to be a placeholder leader, you can't make policy, you can't really make tough decisions, and you will be constantly attacked by the Government and other opposition parties as being a weak leader as you whip your caucus repeatedly to not vote and bring down the government.

Mr. Goodale is not interim leader material, he is a uni-lingual anglophone, and very partisan. The interim leader should be general seen by all opposition parties as an accomplished MP, and respected for your impeccable qualities, and credentials. The interim party leader must general been seen as impartial to all leadership contenders, and not overly belligerent with the other opposition parties or the government as when the new leader is chosen, the party may have been boxed into certian policies based on the actions of the interim leader. The interim leader cannot create new radical policies, and cannot do anything to cause the party to be boxed in and attached to a certain set of policies that maybe overridden by the new leader.

Bill Graham was an effective interim because he was generally regarded by everyone in the house as a moderate, effective MP.

Both McCallum and Goodale backed different contenders in the last leadership race, both of these contenders will run in the next one, they are considered the front runners. Having an interim leader that supported one of the contenders in the past is a recipe for another civil war.

Wait, what am I thinking? Yes, go ahead and appoint either of these MPs. Neither are good enough to be actual leadership contenders, both arguably have hidden agendas, and both apparently have an incredible desire to move into, and then move out of Stornoway. Appoint of either of these could cause an interesting civil war in the party and allow the Conservatives to continue to implement their agenda.

We live in interesting times indeed.

Yikes! Domestic Terrorism?

Domestic terrorism looks to rear its ugly head again in Canada. It is a sad, sad day for Canada.

A second explosion had shredded the earth around a nearby pipeline, sending small amounts of deadly sour gas hissing into the air, and Ms. Mazanek was asked to keep her cell phone close in case she was needed to evacuate kids from the school. Community leaders were on high alert after hearing about the blast, which came overnight about 15 kilometres from her ranch near Tomslake, a small ranching settlement on Highway 2 between the Alberta border and the northern B.C. outpost of Dawson Creek.

Let's hope this is just one lone wing nut and not an organized eco-nut-job group. Also, let us hope they don't get their hands on military grade explosives.

This May not be democracy

Where wonders never cease, Dion's biggest promoter Elizabeth May has called for a grand coalition of the NDP, Liberals, Bloc, and Greens in the next election in-order to prevent a Conservative victory.

That's right, Elizabeth May is another Margret Atwood. Tabernak!

May has described the coalition as one where Greens, Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois would carve up seats according to the candidates most likely to defeat Conservatives.

I really don't understand Elizabeth May, for a party that claims to eschew the status quo, that is committed to doing politics in a new way, an open, transparent, and democratic way, she really likes her backroom deals.

I can't believe that Ms. May is actually proposing that backroom divvying up of seats is more transparent and democratic then our first past the post system?

Someone needs to teach Ms. May about democracy.

Oh, and as a surprise, Ms. May also had this to say about Stephane Dion:
She ended with a rousing defence of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion.

"I think we may very well in the future describe him as the best prime minister we never had."

Is it any wonder that their are serious questions about her leadership.

What is the cost of a Conservative Majority?

About 45 million dollars. That culture cut was ill-timed, and cost the Conservatives a lot of seats in Quebec. That cut alone allowed the Bloc to regain their lustre and attack the Conservatives. I am glad that where the Conservatives won seats, they usually had pretty stellar margins of victory. The beachhead is secure.

I am pleasantly surprised by the Conservative results from last night. We did better then I had hoped. It was surprising to see the Quebec seats hold despite all the naysayers, and good to see some big gains in Ontario, especially the 905 area.

Newfoundland was a disappointment, but really, what could you expect. Danny Williams got his wish, and proved that he is the small man of Confederation. I am not aware of any Premier ever doing this before. Newfoundland now doesn't have a voice in government, all because they wanted special treatment.

I had said earlier that we needed to pick up 15-20 seats to make this election worthwhile, we made that. With 16 additional seats you could say that each additional Conservative seat cost the taxpayer $18,750,000. Money well spent to avoid the economic ruin that Dion and Layton would have caused.

And I would have spent 50 million to see that shameless self-promoter Turner go down in defeat! Boy I am glad he did! That made my night, I was awaiting the counting of ballots in my poll when I read that news on my Blackberry. It was a good day.

A big thank you to all volunteers!

I just wanted to send a big shout out to all the volunteers from all the parties across all the ridings for your help in making democracy work.

Without the help of thousands of volunteers across this great country, our democracy would be much weaker.

I would also like to thank the thousands of Election Canada works in all the polls across all the ridings. Until last night I had no idea what the extent of your job was, and how difficult and tedious it was.

Again, a big thank you to all the volunteers and all the works across all 308 ridings in this great country.

This Election: A waste of time?

Some bloggers disagree with my assertion that this election should be considered a waste of time, effort, and money if it results in a parliament that has about as many Conservative MPs as we have now.

If the Conservatives pick up an extra 15-20 seats then this election can be considered a victory for us. If the Conservatives pick up less then that number of additional seats then it has been a bit of a waste of taxpayers money. Note, I didn't say failure.

It has been said that Stephen Harper's hidden agenda is the total destruction of the Liberal Party of Canada and the placement of the Conservative Party of Canada as the natural governing party of Canada. The reality of the situation is that the Government of Canada's coffers should not be used for partisan purposes. If the only purpose of the election was to further drain the Liberal's weakened coffers, and force another leadership race on them then shame on the Prime Minister. This is no better then what the Liberals did to us for years.

300 million dollars is a lot of taxpayers money to spend in order to force the Liberals to spend 18 million they don't have, and to force more leadership debt on their key players.

Of course in reality the situation is much more nuanced then this. First off, we all know the the opposition parties would have forced this election on us anyway, at a time of their choosing, a time where their partisan interests would be served. Heaven forbid that the Liberals would vote based on their principles. Secondly, this election does give the winner a new mandate to pursue their agenda, this alone is very important.

So in the end I accept that we had this election even though I wish the Prime Minister had of kept his word and forced the opposition parties to vote the government down. I know that this election has strategic implications above and beyond getting a new mandate, however I can't help but wonder if our wish of principled and pragmatic conservatism wasn't sullied a little bit by ulterior motives.

In the end I will work hard to re-elect my MP, I will work hard to encourage my friends and family to vote (hopefully Conservative), and I will pray for a Conservative victory.

I know that should the Liberals win, or somehow convince the Governor General to allow a coalition government to be formed, our way of life, our economy, or futures will be put at risk. Our economy, our middle class, deserve all the help and protection we can muster.

Both nation newspapers endorsed Harper, and most of the significant newspapers around the country have endorsed Harper. That alone should tell us that we are on the right track. Thought most have commented on our hyper partisanship.

We are indeed better off with Harper, but we would be better off still with a government that was a little less partisan, and a little more conciliatory. It will help us get our coveted majority.

Patiently waiting for a Liberal apology

CTV News reported Monday that two audio experts, hired by the Liberal Party of Canada to analyze the tape, found that "the recording cannot be shown to be complete."

You can hear Mr. Richardson discuss this report here.

Last week the Liberal party tried to make a lot of hay from the first expert's report that significant portions of the tape had not been altered. They used that first report to call Stephen Harper a liar and insinuate that Harper cannot be trusted.

Now that the Liberal's own expert has come up with an contradictory opinion, one that fully backs the Prime Minister's position will Stephane Dion stand up and show leadership for his or his minions shameful attacks on the Prime Minister?

Somehow I doubt it.

Dion the typical Liberal

Chooses himself over his party. If Dion loses this election, and let's be honest, it looks like they will, Dion promises to fight to stay on as the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

While this is likely good news for the Conservatives, it is horrible news for the Liberal Party. Stephane Dion was almost no ones first choice as leader. When he was elected the leader, half the Liberals in the room turned on their heels and left.

Dion is not a leader, if he was a leader he would step aside for the good of the party. It is like his French citizenship, he would only renounce the citizenship if it would hurt his electoral prospects. By Dion staying on as Leader of the Liberal Party, he will start another civil war.

Dion's strident tone may raise eyebrows in Liberal circles where private reaction to his campaign performance has typically ranged from tepid praise to hand wringing. Dion, a political scientist and former professor of public administration, has a reputation for tenacity and a mile-wide stubborn streak.

Of course as a Conservative, I welcome this war, it will allow Harper to govern as if he has a majority even if he doesn't. However I do think it shows Dion's lack of judgement, integrity, and sense of good for the party he professes he loves.

Stephane Dion is not a leader.

May be, but May be not

We are perhaps only hours away from the complete endorsement of Dion by May. This was predicted by many weeks and even months ago.

May has sold out her party, and her candidates all so she can be appointed a Senator to sit in the still hypothetical Dion cabinet as the Environment minister.

She has told her supports to vote for anyone but the Conservatives and the Greens in 60 ridings across Canada. How very pathetic. How progressive of her.

There should be a law against two party leaders colluding like this. It basically allows the Liberals to circumvent election financing laws.

Does anyone know what the Green Party's position is on the senate?

Tories look to win at least 129 seats

Counting the projected and leaning ridings as projected here, I get 116 (plus or minus a couple) ridings in the win column.

This is a far cry from a majority. It looks like we will get the status quo.

• BC - 21
• Albert - 27
• Sask - 13
• Manitoba - 8
• Ontario - 47
• Quebec - 6
• NB - 3
• NS - 3
• NFLD - 1

Starting to look like 300 million down the drain with nothing to show for it, of course the final poll has yet to come.

Mike Duffy isn't despicable for telling the truth

Andrew Potter says Mike Duffy is a despicable human being. I guess reporting the truth makes one despicable. Andrew Potter is being dishonest with himself and his readers.

The question was simple, "If you were Prime Minister today what would you have done differently then Harper?", this is paraphrased, but the gist is correct.

The question wasn't very difficult, surely getting it explained once would have been enough for Dion, a wannabe Prime Minister. No, it was asked 3 times, even his aides got involved to try and explain it.

Was it Dion's "hearing problem"? The problem that hath no name? No! Accepting Dion's explanation a few weeks ago, it only affects him when there is a lot of noise and other conversations going on, in this case for this interview there was no other noise in the room.

The question was simple, the question was asked several times, the question was explained. Was it an issue with Dion's grasp of the English language? Maybe, but again, he had no problem in the debates, nor scrums.

It is NOT his grasp of English, nor his hearing problem. It is his grasp of economics. This interview showed once and for all that Dion's attacks on Harper are all bluster and no policy. Dion's plan to make a plan is pathetic, he will create jobs. How? When? What kind? Stephen Harper has created 107,000 jobs in September alone, I doubt Stephane Dion can match that anytime soon. Unless he opens the public's purse and hires everyone to work in the public sector.

And even if it was related to Dion's sometimes shakey grasp of the English language, it still doesn't reflect well on him. I know many francophones that say his grasp of English disqualifies him for the top job in Canada. Francophones that live in Quebec. Proud Francophones. I even defended Dion's grasp of English to them, explaining that his grasp of English has no affect on my decision, and it shouldn't on yours either. But that was before this.

If these gaffes are related to his command of English, then Dion needs to be held to the same standards as our public sector employees.

Of course if we were questioning Harper's ability to speak French the media would not be so forgiving. Being an unilingual anglophone disqualifies you for the top job, being a unilingual francophone has no such restraints.

Typical double standards.

Dion thinks we are stupid

The video speaks for itself. This has nothing to do with his command of the English Language, and nothing to do with a supposed hearing problem.

Listen to it yourself.



He was asked a clear question, and he didn't give a clear answer. Dion talked about is 30/50 plan, which has nothing to do with his supposed economic plan.

Dion clearly showed that he had nothing new to add, that despite his bluster, he has no idea what he would do if he was in Harper's place.

He had no idea, this is because Harper has done all that can be reasonably and prudently done.

Tories solidify lead in Ontario

The Conservative slide appears to be over, all the polls are showing a national lead for the Conservatives, even in vote rich Ontario.

A wide-ranging poll of Ontario voters by The Strategic Counsel for The Globe and Mail/CTV News finds the Tories enjoying a five-point lead over the Liberals in the province, erasing a five-point disadvantage from the 2006 campaign. But the increase still wouldn't provide the Tories with the seats needed to reach a majority. Conservative Stephen Harper will either have to find more seats outside Ontario or convince even more of its residents to vote for his party over Thanksgiving dinner.

These gains are not enough for a Conservative majority, but the Conservatives and to to a lesser extend the NDP are poised to pick up a few seats, the Liberals will lose seventeen seats.

Amongst visible minorities in the 905 area the Conservatives and Liberals are tied for support. This is significant as the Liberals have historically owned the visible minority vote three to one.

Conservative support has bottomed out

It looks like the Conservative support has finally bottomed out around 33%. This is pretty darn low, and depending on the regional breakdowns and vote splitting either a Conservative or Liberal minority government.

Even with the following support, here is an electoral project.

May calls for strategic voting

This really isn't a surprise to most people that actually follow politics. It was predicted months ago that this would happen.

It is unfortunate that it has come to this, obviously May doesn't believe her party actually has policies that will benefit Canadians.

Who wants to bet that if May wins her riding, and the Liberals fear-monger their way into power the May becomes Environment minister? As either a Liberal or Green Party member, or perhaps a Senator.

This endorsement by one federal party leader to another federal party leader is unprecedented in Canadian politics. I wonder what the average Canadian will think of this?

Any die-hard Green supporter was likely going to vote strategically anyway.

Canada rated world's soundest bank system

So, what will Jack and Dion say to this?

Canada has the world's soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.

The NDP and the Liberals, scaring the bejesus out of Canadians one false predication at a time.

And, lets not forget about Canada having the fastest growing GDP of the G7 nations. And yes, this includes such countries that already green shifted.

EKOS Numbers STILL Hold

The numbers from EKOS are still holding for the Conservatives. This is positive, but the rest of the pollsters still show some relative strength for the Conservatives.

• Conservative 35%
• Liberal 24%
• NDP 20%
• Green 11%
• Bloc Québécois 10%
  

But Nanos is not reflecting that, at least not yet.

• Conservative Party 33 (-1)
• Liberal Party 29 (-2)
• NDP 20 (+2)
• BQ 11% (NC)
• Green Party 7% (+1)
• Undecided 15% (NC)

And now, Harris-Decima, nationally, over the last four nights:

• Conservatives 31%,
• Liberals 27%
• NDP 20%
• Green Party 12%
• BQ 8%

The only significant difference between EKOS and Nanos is in the Liberal and Green support. How do we explain the difference? They are both daily tracking polls over three days, the only difference is the EKOS uses a much larger sampling size. Nanos has the best track record.

All three are daily tracking polls, the EKOS has the biggest sample size.

So, who do we believe?

EKOS numbers hold

I am not sure if the Conservative support has bottomed out, or something is seriously wrong with their polling, but EKOS is the only polling company still showing any significant lead for the Conservatives.

The Liberal pundits like to hold up Nanos and say since they are a tracking poll, they are the only ones that have their pulse on the electorate. Of course EKOS is also a daily tracking poll.

“As we have been saying for several days now, although we continue to see some modest shifts in public opinion that can have quite large effects on the distribution of seats due to our first-past-the-post electoral system, the underlying pattern is one of relative stability – with the parties in the same order now as they were at the beginning of the campaign,” said Graves. “And each night that passes, voters’ are hardening their decisions.”

We're better off with Harper.

The problem with being proactive

Let's be perfectly honest here, it is going to be a dog fight to the end, and the trends are not positive for a Conservative win, even a minority.

The Liberals, in excellent politics have battered the Prime Minister over plagiarism, economy, and the W.

These are all stupid, trumped up non-issues. Only in Canada can you gain points by attacking the democratically elected leader of our biggest ally and trading partner.

I find this frustrating, if Stephen Harper was announcing the contents of the 2007 Fall Fiscal Update, and the contents of the March 2008 budget as his election platform he would be winning a majority.

But, Stephen Harper and the Conservative government saw this crisis coming last year. Stephen Harper and the Conservative government took action over a year ago to protect our economy, our jobs, and our way of life.

Where Stephane Dion would take 30 days to talk to experts before coming up with a plan, Stephen Harper already planned and executed on his plan.

They took action to ensure the banks were well financed, two laggard banks were told to shape up, personal income taxes were cut, the GST was cut, transfers were increased to the provinces, measures were taken to increase our productivity, massive investments in infrastructure were put in place, 385,000 people were removed from the tax rolls, billions were put against the debt to reduce our interest payments, investments for students, improvements to SRED, help for low income seniors and many more changes.

If Stephen Harper was announcing this today, he would be seen as taking action, and decisive, but since he did it months ago to help our economy weather the storm in a proactive manner, he is seen as not doing anything.

It is said the attention span of our voters is short, we should remind them. The next ad should not be a negative ad, it should be an ad that reminds voters of all the economic measures they took months ago to proactive steer our economy through this economic uncertainty.

We're better off with Harper

Polling Trends Confirmed by EKOS as well

The EKOS numbers are out.

Conservatives
Liberals -- 33%
NDP -- 26%
Bloc -- 10%
Green -- 12%

The Conservatives have dropped a bit again.

Looking at the seat projections:
Conservatives -- 130
Liberals -- 78
NDP -- 42
Bloc -- 58
Other -- 1

Not much would change, other then the Bloc gaining at the expense of Canada.

Liberal Keith Martin Claims Canada has 500 million dollar deficit!

While watching Mike Duffy Prime tonight Liberal MP Keith Martin lies to the views and claims Canada has a 500 million dollar deficit!

During the BC panel, Liberal MP Keith Martin told the viewers that Canada currently has a 500 million dollar deficit. When Conservative Minister Gary Lunn tried to correct the record Liberal Keith Martin talked over him.

This is an outright lie! Will Stephane Dion call on Liberal Keith Martin to correct the record?

We're better off with Harper.

The most anticipated Numbers

The most anticipated numbers are now out:

• Conservative Party 34 (NC)
• Liberal Party 29 (-1)
• NDP 20 (+1)
• BQ 11% (+1)
• Green Party 6% (-1)
• Undecided 15% (+1)

This race will be decided by the undecided.

Everything within the margin of error. Harper will need to do a good job with the platform tomorrow and try and build momentum going forward.

I would say a good percentage of the undecided will stay with the Conservatives, but who knows if the Liberal attack ads will work their magic again.

We're better off with Harper.

Avaaz to target 3 Conservative Ridings

The song called You Have a Choice was recorded by several musicians including K-OS, Ed Robertson from Barenaked Ladies, Jason Collett and Sarah Harmer, plus musicians from Billy Talent and Three Days Grace.

The artists hope to draw attention to an online campaign (www.avaaz.ca) aimed at convincing Canadians to help the environment by voting for the candidate in their riding that is most likely to defeat the Conservatives.

What happens if our choice is Conservative?

Avaaz is a registered third-party in this election. They are looking to raise one hundred thousand dollars for their campaign.

They are looking to unseat 3 high profile Conservatives, including Environment Minister John Baird.

Avaaz is targeting 3 of Harper's top MPs (including Environment Minister John Baird) where it will hurt them the most -- at the grass roots. Together, we will try to stop their re-election with ad campaigns telling their constituents just how irresponsible they've been in the name of all Canadians. We'll beat them not by supporting any one party, but by appealing to all voters to help save the planet by voting for the candidate most likely to beat the Conservatives. Our ad campaign is ready to launch in these ridings, but we urgently need your help to raise $100,000 this week.

I wonder if they realize that they can only spend three thousand dollars per riding they are spending in? So, wouldn't they need only fifteen thousand dollars and not one hundred thousand dollars?

Of course in the latest polls, John Baird has the support of over 50% of the voting public.

We're better off with Harper.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Stephen Taylor has an interesting post out highlighting the crass hypocrisy of the Liberals.

I thought the whole Harper plagiarism shtick the Liberals have been playing with lately was fairly silly. Especially the second example. It smacks of desperation. And while it may help them in the polls temporary I doubt it will have any lasting affect.

It now turns out there are examples at least as good as the Harris/Harper example. I wonder what hapless staffer will be fired over this?

This is at Stephen's blog already, and I don't want to scoop him (like I could) but I bolded the at issue sections to make it easier to read.


From an article written by Charles Mandel for Canwest on March 7th, 2008:
In a major forthcoming report on Canada’s changing climate, scientists warn of everything from increased severe storm activity in Atlantic Canada to hotter summers and poorer air quality in urban Ontario. British Columbia may face retreating glaciers and snow loss on its mountains, causing potential water shortages. The Prairie provinces will continue to struggle with drought, impacting agriculture rurally and potentially causing water rationing in urban areas.

On March 14th, 2008, Stephane Dion gave a speech on climate change which included the following paragraph:
In a new report released quietly last week by the federal Department of Natural Resources, 145 leading Canadian scientists warned that Canada’s changing climate will lead to everything from increased severe storms in Atlantic Canada to drought in the Prairies. British Columbia may face retreating glaciers and snow loss on its mountains, causing potential water shortages. There will be hotter summers and poorer air quality in urban Ontario. And the Prairies will continue to struggle with drought, affecting agriculture and potentially causing water rationing in urban areas.

The whole paragraphs are very similar, with Dion's basically parroting the paragraph from the article with only a few cut and paste tweaks. I bolded the clearest, most obvious examples.

I wonder if the MSM will pick up on this? Somehow I doubt it.

Liberal's within 4%?!

Nanos has the Liberal's within 4 points. Sound the alarm?

I get that Nanos is supposed to be the be all end all of pollsters but why is he always considered right?

Nanos has the Liberals within four points, but every single other poll shows a completely different story.

Methodology can only account for so much, Harris-Decima, Angus Reid, and Ipsos Reid tell a completely different story.

Of course Nanos always polls lower for the Conservatives on weekends so I guess we will see what is going on with the polls on Monday and Tuesday.

So who do we believe? Nanos or everyone else?

We're better off with Harper.

What the hell is going on in Toronto?!

In a repeat of the disgusting antics that first showed up during the abortive by-elections in Guelph, 25 Liberal supporter homes have been vandalized.

Like in Guelph, even brake lines were cut again.

This behavior is absolutely unacceptable, the destruction of private property, and the cutting of brake lines are clear attempts at voter intimidation. This intimidation has no place in Canada's democracy.

Everyone is Canada is entitled to their opinions, and to vote for whichever party they believe best represents their interests. No group has the right to try and change that opinion though acts of intimidation.

If you have any information on whomever perpetrated these crimes please call Toronto Police Services (416-808-2222) or Crime Stoppers (1-800-222-8477).

I also call on bloggers and readers alike to denounce these acts through the comments on this blog or posts on your own blog.

These acts are absolutely unacceptable, they do not represent my values and have no place in political discourse.

What is Dion hiding?

I mean other then the Green Shift that is...

This morning while getting ready for a day out with the the family I was listening in to CTV Newsnet. Yeah, I know, big surprise. :)

So as I tune in, I see Stephane Dion giving a stump speech, switching between French and English as they are wont to do. Not really paying that much attention, Dion switches to French, the translator kicks in.

This translator is amazing, translating in from French to English smoothly, without the usual pauses and struggles for words and contexts. I point this out to my wife.

She listens for a second and says "He is reading from a speech, that is not what Dion is saying". My wife is a Francophone. They were similar, but it was definitely not the same. Both of us commented that this was the first time we had ever seen that before. Is Dion trying to pass a different message to English Canada then to French Canada?

Within a few minutes of Dion finishing his stump speech Harper comes on, he gives his speech, flowing just as effortlessly between and French and English. But, and this is a big but, when Harper is giving his speech in French a normal translator is translating his French to English.

So I have to ask myself, what is Dion hiding? Is he trying to spin a different message to French and English Canada?

Has anyone else ever seen an French stump speech given with an English speech for the translator?

We're better off with Harper

Out of the English Debates: Made In Canada?

If I remember correctly, during the English debates Elizabeth May proposed a "made-in-Canada" bill that would force the Government to only buy goods that were made in Canada.

Again, if I remember correctly Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe agreed to support this. I don't think Stephane Dion did, and Stephen Harper didn't either.

Elizabeth May used an example of knifes for the military.

Harper responded that all major purchases are required to be made in Canada or have the equivalent value distributed through out Canada through regional economic initiative.

For example, we buy Boeing planes made in the States, so Boeing had to promise to build parts, other equipment etc throughout their operations in Canada. This policy allows the government to purchase what they need from the absolute best worldwide supplier, not necessarily the best (or only) Canadian buyer.

This policy is reasonable, fair, and balanced.

The only made-in-Canada policy sounds good on paper, but fails on two separate issues, quality and price.

Most goods manufactured in Canada will cost more, this means that the tax payer is required to fork over more money to buy goods, regardless of quality, suitability, or availability. The quality may be high, but not exactly what we need, or not available in sufficient quantities soon enough.

If Canada could compete on quality, price, quantity, suitability etc they would win.

The tax payer should not be expected to pay more for goods they can get cheaper elsewhere. This should be self-evident.

Agree or disagree?

Election's Canada Counsels Liberals to Break the Law. Proof of Bias?

The news about Liberals dismantling Conservative signs around PEI is pretty big news around these circles.

And, my BT friends have done a bang up job summarizing the issues and controversy. So myself, I just thought I would add a few more questions to the pot.

1. Will the Elections Canada staffer who mis-informed Mark O’Halloran be fired? This Elections Canada worker counseled a Liberal Party staffer to break the law. This is unacceptable. It could be incompetence or conspiracy, I lean more towards incompetence.
2. Will William H. Corbett, the Commissioner of Elections Canada resign for this mistake? If this was a staffer in a minister's office the opposition and media will be calling for the resignation of the minister.
   
3. Will the cost of the broken signs be reimbursed to Tom DeBlois?
4. Whom will reimburse the cost of the damaged signs? Elections Canada? Or Liberal Shawn Murphy have to reimburse? Someone else?
5. Will the cost of replacing these damaged signs count against the election spending limit of Conservative Tom DeBlois?

Interesting questions. Anyone have anything else to add?

Maybe an enterprising blogger with good cred could ask these and other questions to Elections Canada and see if we get an answer to these?

Note: I don't actually believe William H. Corbett should resign over this controversy, but you do have to think it is a bit of a double standard.

We're better off with Harper.

Dan Gardner vs the Harper is Bush meme

Dan Gardner, no Harper lover by ANY stretch of the imagination gets tired of the left's intellectually deficient arguments and theories about Harper being a clone of Bush.

Worth a read for everyone.

Some of the particularly effective points:
- Iraq. Let's start with the obvious. Mr. Harper did indeed want to join the "coalition of the willing." But so did many others, in this country and elsewhere, who cannot possibly be described as W.'s ideological kin. One of them is currently the deputy leader of the Liberal party.

And contrary to urban legend, the Kandahar mission is not evidence that Harper is doing his master's bidding. It was the aforementioned Paul Martin who signed us up.

- Taxes. George Bush made huge cuts to income taxes, the benefits of which went overwhelmingly to the rich. This was in line with conservative doctrine on taxes, which favours reducing progressive income taxes as much as possible. The same doctrine also calls for the tax burden to be shifted to consumption taxes, which are not progressive.

Stephen Harper cut the GST, which is a consumption tax. Lefties did not cheer but they should have.

- Health care. Let's get serious. If Stephen Harper were to deliver a speech outlining his government's health care policy at a Republican convention, he would be seized and tied to a stake. Burn the witch!

- God, guns and gays. It's true that neither Stephen Harper nor George W. Bush supports gay marriage. But then, neither does Hillary Clinton or almost any Democrat you can name. And Harper did support civil unions as an alternative to gay marriage, which happens to be the position of Barack Obama.

You can read the full article here.

We're better off with Harper.

Hope-o-crisy II

The original video was "disappeared" from YouTube. After some digging around I found it again.

Enjoy!



Pass it around.

Ipsos Instant Poll: Harper Wins by May Surprises

I am surprised by this result. For Ms. May to be rated so highly clearly shows many Canadians have no manners. She was rude, interrupting, and pointing her finger. Not to mention name calling.

Duceppe should have polled better, but it is easy to see why he didn't. He had nothing to gain nor lose, so why waste your vote on him.

We're better off with Harper.

The Story behind the Canadian Flag at the Olympics

This story is now a bit dated, but still moving. For those of you who don't know the flag in the Canadian athlete's residence was from Afghanistan.

You can see the story courtesy of the CBC. Ron Mclean interviews Canada's military attache to China.

Worth a watch.

Quick Debate Thoughts

How do you determine who won the debates? Do you judge on policy or spunk? If you judge on spunk and entertainment factor then I would say Gilles Duceppe won the debates.

That's right, I said it, Gilles Duceppe won the debates. He was be far the most entertaining. His answer on what would the his first act as Prime Minister be was clever, funny, and all too true.

Jack Layton had some good lines too, but was completely smacked by the reminder of his use of a private clinic. That was a great punch thrown by the Prime Minister and picked up by the other parties.

Elizabeth May looked a bit petty, she was clearly passionate, but was constant in her attacking of Stephen Harper. I also found that she had a hard time interjecting herself in the debate without help from the moderator.

Stephane Dion had some good jabs, but I swear I thought he was going to cry at the start. He was trying to look modest and earnest, but I thought he would cry. He didn't portray any strength or leadership. And, he managed to bring his team into the debates a bit too.

Stephen Harper looks calm, cool, and collected. Again as in the french debates he looked Prime Ministerial. I think he could have been more assertive, but was likely worried about looking too adversarial and partisan.

It was expected that all four leaders would gang up and attack Harper, and they certainly did attack him. He looked a little defensive, but held his own. The one thing I liked was he responded to most attacks with his policies and views and not partisan pettiness.

We're better off with Harper.

We interrupt this partisanship for non-partisan interruption

After weeks of intense hyper-partisan attacks from all over the place. The lies, the smears, the blogs, and gotcha politics we get someone who can put the constituents above the politics.

Former Liberal cabinet minister David Kilgour is endorsing a N.L Tory candidate in his election bid.

Retired MP David Kilgour wrote a letter to a weekly newspaper in southern Newfoundland, urging people in the Random-Burin-St George's riding to vote for Tory hopeful Herb Davis in the Oct. 14 election.

In the letter to the Coaster, provided by the federal Conservative campaign, Kilgour says Davis is knowledgeable, compassionate and would represent his constituency's interests well.

Kilgour said he believed Davis would stand a good chance of making it into Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet if the Conservatives were re-elected.

David Kilgour was best know for his advocacy for intervention Darfur. He is also the consummate non-partisan MP serving as a Progressive Conservative, Liberal, and independent MP.

Even though most people vote for the MP who represents the political party they like, it is really nice to see someone advocating for the constituent.

We're better off with Harper.

Stephen Harper the only true leader

Ok, I missed the debates last night, I admit it. Instead I volunteered with youth to hopefully impart wisdom, accountability, leadership, and citizenship. Hopefully, I played a small part in helping to turn this young men and women into future leaders.

It is too bad that Stephane Dion, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe, and Elizabeth May couldn't have learned a bit of leadership, humility, and humanity. It would help them actually be a leader in the true sense of the word. Instead they are merely the heads of their respective parties.

What do I mean by this?

Each of the other opposition leaders said a few nice words and then attacked the recipient of the compliment.
"He's a professor like me. He's an honest man," Layton said looking directly at Dion. "Unfortunately his party, for 13 years, didn't have a stellar record."

May said Harper was "a good father. Your kids are lovely and I think that your efforts for Canada are based on your principles but obviously I feel your principles will change Canada and take Canada in a dangerous direction."

The most awkward moment fell to Dion, a fierce and often dismissive critic of the separatist cause, who had to say something nice about Duceppe.

"I think he does his best to help Quebecers. We disagree with the means, of course, but we're working towards the same goal," Dion said. "Mr. Duceppe is right when he says he doesn't want Mr. Harper to get a majority government but I think he's lacking ambition. We need a progressive government to work for all Canadians and that's what the Liberal party can offer."

Contrast that with what Stephen Harper said:
"I can say good things about Jack," Harper said and then rhymed off several initiatives, such as the accountability act, the residential school apology, and the motion recognizing Quebec as a nation within a united Canada, on which both leaders work. "You did a lot of good work with the government. You're honest and I do appreciate that."

No attack against Jack Layton. Just an honest compliment from an honest man.

A strong leader can see the good characteristics in their opponents, a strong leader can separate the person from the policies, a strong leader recognizes that people can strongly believe in their principles and believe that they are doing the best for their country.

A weak leader calls people names, smears them, and otherwise attacks them at a personal level.

All leaders have done this in the heat of the moment in question period, but it is good to see Stephen Harper rise above the fray and show the example and act like a Prime Minister.

We're better off with Harper

Greenshift shafts municipalities

As most of us are aware, the Liberal Green Shift shafts everyone, but it is really great to see counselors from the nation's capital come out swinging against the Green Shift.

Two Ottawa City Councillors suggest the Liberals Green Shift plan would cost Ottawa taxpayers at least an additional $3.5 million.

In a letter to Liberal leader Stephane Dion, Doug Thompson and Glenn Brooks say preliminary research into the impact of a carbon tax on Ottawa's operating budget has "alarming results."

They claim the Liberals carbon tax would increase OC Transpo's diesel fuel bill by $2.74 million, and Ottawa's fleet vehicle budget by $791-thousand.

Thompson and Brooks ask Dion if he is prepared to amend the tax to mitigate the new costs that the Green Shift plan will impose on Ottawa's "already tight budget."

The municipal budget at Ottawa is already heavily strained, there a massive property tax and surcharges raised every year. The Liberal Green Shift will only make this worse.

Say no against the Green Shift, it is bad policy and seriously bad economics.

We're better off with Harper.

Terrorism in Ottawa?

The U.S. State Department is investigating whether national security was threatened after someone broke into a secure American military procurement agency on Bank St. last week and ransacked offices before torching the place.

The RCMP and Ottawa police are also investigating the Sept. 15 arson at 275 Bank St.

This is the story from last Saturday, and to be honest, I didn't think much about it at the time. The going theory was that it was likely corporate espionage related or perhaps it was to embarrass the US and Canadian governments on the eve of their elections.

The RCMP are now involved in the investigation as well.

However, this no longer seems the case. On the way into work today it was reported that there was another fire at the same office, and this time it was more severe.

Arson investigators have been notified after firefighters battled the second suspicious blaze at a four-storey Bank Street commercial building in two weeks.

Crews were called to the building at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. Officials said the fire was limited to the fourth floor and was under control within a few hours.

To me, this is starting to sound a bit more like terrorism now. I don't necessarily mean radical Muslims terrorists, but domestic terrorism from anarchists.

Two fires within a few weeks, both that smack of arson seem to indicate something a little more diabolical then people looking to embarrass the government or steal some trade secrets.

Baird leading Pratt by 24 points!

John Baird, incumbent Conservative MP and the Environment Minister is leading David Pratt, former Liberal Defence Minister by a staggering 24 points.

OTTAWA - Conservative John Baird is cruising toward a lopsided victory in Ottawa West-Nepean, according to a poll commissioned by the Citizen.

The Compas survey, conducted Sunday and Monday, gives Mr. Baird, the incumbent MP, 54-per-cent support among decided voters.

I guess you could say John Baird owns OWN. :)

Ottawa West-Nepean was one of the ridings targeted by ABC campaigns, in fact, it was receiving special attention by environmental groups in an attempt to target the Conservative Environment Minister John Baird.

As the poll stands now, not even strategic voting by every single remaining voter will unseat John Baird. And we have seen through other polls that the Conservative support is pretty solid, and not likely to shift that much.

John Baird is widely seen as a strong MP for his ridings, his partisanship has often hurt him, but as observers have seen, in the last few months there has been a kinder gentler John Baird.

It is more fitting for a cabinet minister I think.

We're better off with Harper.