stop harper

What is unreported crime?

2010-08-04T16:51:00.004-03:00

Yesterday Treasury Board Minister Stockwell Day made the claim that unreported crime has increased. At first I really didn't think much of what he was saying. In later reflection I thought what exactly is an unreported crime?

Is it....

- the dog owners who don't clean up after their dog defecates on my lawn?
- the people next door disturbing the peace at 5:00 am who make unhuman like sounds mixed with profanity while having sex?
- the old man who holds up traffic by driving his rascal down the middle of my street?

Or is it ...

- a government who breaks their own election law without a single member of that party filing a grievance or complaint?
- ministers who leave sensitive government documents lying around?

In any case I am somewhat confused by what Mr. Day was trying to establish with his statements. In the end I could not follow his logic as to how these unreported crimes demanded more prisons.

Leave your comments below of what you think an unreported crime may be...

Canadian MP Launches Petition to Stop Federal Funding of Planned Parenthood

2009-11-24T22:28:00.001-04:00

OTTAWA, Ontario, November 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "We, the undersigned residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to stop all funding of International Planned Parenthood Federation," reads a new petition being circulated by Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Brad Trost (Saskatoon-Humboldt). read more here ....

Did Some More Chequing Around

2009-10-18T08:53:00.006-03:00

Yesterday I posted some pictures of MP's with their BIG cheques who had not yet been identified as being part of the cheque-scheme.

However, there were a few more that I cam across which you will find below.

Royal Galipeau, MP Ottawa Orleans. This one is a tad vague, but you can make out his signature and name if you look hard enough.

Paul Calandra, Oak Ridges-Markham

Bob Dechert, MP Mississauga-Erindale

Ed Holder - London West

Mike Wallace, MP Burlington

This last one appears to have something in the bottom right hand corner that appears to say the Honourable ..... ? Bonus points for the person who can figure out the name. My bet is Gordon O'Connor, MP Carleton-Mississippi Mills.

More Chequing Around

2009-10-17T01:53:00.007-03:00

Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development gives out a really big cheque with the Prime Minister's John Hancock.

Guy Lauzon, Member of Parliament for Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry

Terence Young, Member of Parliament for Oakville

Laurie Hawn, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre

Laurie Hawn, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre and former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister Monte Solberg handing out a big cheque with what appears to be the Prime Ministers signature.

Colin Carrie gets in on Chequing Fun

2009-10-15T17:58:00.001-03:00

Oshawa MP, Colin Carrie

Jim's turn...

2009-10-15T09:18:00.002-03:00

The Berry Devolin Show

2009-10-15T04:29:00.005-03:00

Looks like the Member from Haliburton - Kawartha Lakes - Brock has had a busy few months...

I got bored of downloading pics... there are a ton more in his photo section.

bev oda's really big cheque from 2006

2009-10-14T22:23:00.004-03:00

Looks like the Conservatives were endorsing cheques with their own names well before the stimulus spending spree to Conservative ridings. You will notice this one is endorsed by the Prime Minister (pretty sure he didn't sign this one himself). As far as I can recall these cheques should be endorsed by the Receiver General of Canada.

new liberal ads are a proven formula

2009-09-06T22:51:00.002-03:00

the new liberal ads may not appear to be much to some (in particular political pundits). however, these ads follow a formula that has worked previously.

it may be a distant memory for some, but i can recall when dalton mcguinty was in a similar situation to ignatieff. the government of the day had portrayed him as being incapable of leading a province. negative ads attacked him throughout his first election and term as leader.

shortly before an expected election, the ontario liberals released ads that are similar to the ones focusing on ignatieff. the ontario liberal ads had the premier in the middle of a winter forest expelling what he would do for ontario. similar ads followed in the later of 2003, only with more focus on specific policy issues.

while these ontario liberal ads were airing the provincial conservatives were facing a budget crisis. ernie eves and janet ecker were facing tough questions from the media and the public about the future of the provinces' finances. the liberal ads offered hope and an alternative to the dribble that was seeping from the ontario pc machine.

to add to the above point ernie eves was not seen as a charismatic leader and his finance minister was in over her head following the magna budget. in many ways these two are like harper and flaherty with their prime time budgets and pathetic spin.

the ignatieff ads are the start of something bigger and better to come. they exhibit his personal side and give canadians an idea of where the liberal party is heading.

if anything the federal liberals are ripping a page from the provincial formula that has worked over the past two elections. positive, direct and hope filled ads can work. although it is impossible to speculate on the future themes of an election, expect similar ads with growing themes. we see some of these themes emerging in the french ads already.

on a final note... without naming names... one liberal strategist (last name starts with a k) knows what he is doing!

follow the blue brick road ....

2009-06-18T19:28:00.002-03:00

you will want to read this.... riveting revelations on the issue at parker donham's blog.

why canada needs an election

2009-06-14T14:22:00.003-03:00

It is beyond me why anyone pays attention to any of these polls about Canadians who want or don't want an election. Frankly they mean nothing. If memory serves me right we have had countless elections that have been ill timed. The most recent being the 2008 Federal Election... when you know... Harper broke his own election law and sent Canadians to the election box even though the polls indicated people did not want an election.

For those pundits who think Canadians will backlash and vote the party down who ends this Government are just plan oblivious to how Canadians think. After about a week of campaigning people will forget about how much they felt an election was not needed.

Before I go on let me revert back to Harper's little election stunt from a few months ago... was that not pure opportunism as well. Those viewing Ignatieff's motives as such should think twice and consider the Machiavellian tactics of Harper and Co.

Maybe I'm not supposed to understand why when Harper does something its not opportunism, but when Ignatieff does it ... well... he must want power? Heck I hate to be a realist and burst all these idealists in the media bubbles, but the end game of politics is pretty much that. Do people honestly think that if Layton had the chance to push his party into government he would just sit back and enjoy the comfort of the worst seats in the House of Commons?

As far as the argument goes that an election would halt or delay spending is pure hiss-posh. Is the House not adjourning for the summer next week anyways? Would this money move any faster then it already is with Flaherty at the helm? And... from what I have observed most of the economic measures from the most recent budget have been passed.

This government has had plenty of time to get money moving. Maybe they should not have tried to introduce pointless spending measures in the economic update after the Thrown Speech. Maybe if the House of Commons had not been prorogued things may have happened a little faster. Oh yeah ... and on that point anyone who says that Harper wasn't being opportunistic when he asked for a parouged parliament due to his economic measures that would have crippled democracy need to pull the remaining winter frost out of their eyes.

So what if the house falls ... MP's spend their summer months campaigning instead of working the BBQ circuit. If this government is so concerned with infrastructure spending, why are projects that were allotted funds in past budgets still not receiving funds?

Seems to me that with the recent level of displayed incompetence by this Government on so many issues that it is time for them to go.

NDP McKeever "I like the part in Schindler's List when the guard starts waxing the prisoners"

2008-10-03T10:29:00.003-03:00

Layton must explain why he continues to support Durham NDP Candidate Andrew McKeever after this statement was found on his myspace page. This is outrageous that this sort of thing is being tolerated. Local bloggers in Durham have noted that it looks like Mr. McKeever has gone into hiding. Seems to me that Mr. Layton needs to can this individual now. Andrew can be seen below with a Mickey Mouse Doll.

NDP weirdo Andrew McKeever: "I like the part in Schindler's List when the guard starts waxing the prisoners"

2008-10-02T17:25:00.001-03:00

NDP weirdo Andrew McKeever: "I like the part in Schindler's List when the guard starts waxing the prisoners"

Posted: October 02, 2008, 3:46 PM by Jonathan Kay
Jonathan Kay

From: "Media@liberal.ca"
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 14:29:03 -0500
Conversation: NEWS RELEASE: Why does Jack Layton continue to stand behind Andrew McKeever?

[LE FRANÇAIS SUIT L'ANGLAIS]

For Immediate Release
October 2, 2008

Why does Jack Layton continue to stand behind Andrew McKeever?

DURHAM - For the third time in a week, NDP Leader Jack Layton must answer for inappropriate comments made by his Durham Candidate Andrew McKeever.

"Through his disturbing and insensitive comments, Mr. McKeever has shown that he is insensitive and has shown aggression toward other people and is therefore unfit for public office," said Liberal Candidate for Durham Bryan Ransom.

On his MySpace page, Mr. McKeever is quoted as saying, among other things:

-- "I like the part in Schindler's List when the guard starts waxing the prisoners"; and
-- He lists his hero as "George W. Bush."

On his Facebook page, Mr. McKeever currently lists his political views as "Baathist" - and links to the Wikipedia entry for the political party of Saddam Hussein.

The latest comments from Mr. McKeever build on a string of distasteful comments that Mr. Layton has ignored:

"Answer a direct f**king question you c*nt. I can guarantee, if I ever see you face to face I will make you squeal for the same authority you have such a baseless disdain for."

"Boyd [a poster to his Facebook group] if I ever see you anywhere in Toronto I will kick the sh*t out of you."

The comments are available at: http://www.liberal.ca/pdf/docs/080925_facebook_mckeever.pdf

He made further comments:

July 18, 2008, 2:32 pm: "I can say anything I want on here, as long as it is predicated properly, and avoids some of the more obvious subjects.I can type what I like. I can also (as in this case) copy and save the entire body of this message to cover my ass, should you in fact choose to make an issue out of it. Which you may or may not. I would advise you not to bother.

"You people are f**king knobs. You can censor me as much as you like. I will keep posting. I will not be silenced. And, you will see, with the passage of time of course.that I will prevail. Well, not me per se, but one by one the traitorcriminaldesters will be sent back down south to dance the music."

July 20t, 6:26 pm: "Well Boyd, looks like you had your answer.

"These American Traitors have no place in my country (and I say 'my' simply because you so obviously have no respect for it).

"There are bona fide (and by that I mean REAL) refugees out there. Not American crybabies that are trying to turn this country into a hotel. Maybe that is why Krystalline Kraus is so interested in this topic . having had no real chance to get laid by any domestic male she needs to encourage others, new meat as it were."

Here are additional offensive quotes to Ms. Krystalline Kraus on her Iraq war deserter Facebook site from Mr. Andrew McKeever:

-- "You are a fascist b*tch."

-- "Why should a U.S. Soldier be kept in Canada in the first place? Are you looking for us to be occupied? Or is it simply that Krystalline Kraus needs to get laid?"

-- "Looks like the Nazis that run this f**king group have yet again deleted one of my posts."

-- "Your hero was a f**king shyster liar. You are obviously little more than a credulous stooge and perma-naysayer, sh*t I can find dozens of people like you on any street corner. They are typically crackheads begging for money."

-- "Glass is either a pretend deserter or a bona fide deserter. Geeze. This is rather interesting. Regardless he will shortly cease to be a problem in Canada (he never was a Canadian problem). Hopefully he'll be butt-stroked or something when he hits American soil."

http://www.liberal.ca/pdf/docs/080927_mckeever_facebook_2.pdf

Does Mr. McKeever represent the ethical standards of Mr. Layton's NDP?

-30-

To view Mr. McKeever's MySpace comments, please click on the following links:

http://www.liberal.ca/images/pages/081002_mckeever_01.jpg

http://www.liberal.ca/images/pages/081002_mckeever_02.jpg

http://www.liberal.ca/images/pages/081002_mckeever_03.jpg

Contact:

Liberal Party of Canada Press Office
613-783-8888

Andrew McKeever Video hits Youtube

2008-09-28T17:44:00.003-03:00

I am still in shock that Mr. Layton has not turfed Mr. McKeever. If this were a student in school he or she would be disciplined if not charged. This does not set a good example for young people and those who are already cynical at the process. If anything looks as if Mr. Layton is keeping Mr. McKeever in the race to ensure the riding association gets a rebate to live another day. Shame!

Where does Jack Layton draw the line: more offensive quotes from NDP candidate in Durham

2008-09-27T16:53:00.000-03:00

DURHAM—NDP Leader Jack Layton must finally take action and declare Durham NDP candidate Andrew McKeever unfit for public office following the revelation of further disgraceful comments by his candidate.

“Additional Facebook posts originating from Mr. McKeever's personal Facebook page have surfaced. It is clear that these offensive and irresponsible remarks were intentionally designed to silence his critics and, most importantly, occurred on more than one occasion. Given what is now known, Mr. McKeever should resign - effective immediately,” said Bryan Ransom, Liberal candidate for Durham.

Here are additional offensive quotes to Ms. Krystalline Kraus on her war deserter Facebook site from Andrew McKeever:

“You are a fascist b*tch.”

“Why should a U.S. Soldier be kept in Canada in the first place? Are you looking for us to be occupied? Or is it simply that Krystalline Kraus needs to get laid?”

“Looks like the Nazis that run this f**king group have yet again deleted one of my posts.”

“Your hero was a f**king shyster liar. You are obviously little more than a credulous stooge and perma-naysayer, sh*t I can find dozens of people like you on any street corner…they are typically crackheads begging for money.”

“Glass is either a pretend deserter or a bona fide deserter. Geeze. This is rather interesting. Regardless he will shortly cease to be a problem in Canada (he never was a Canadian problem). Hopefully he’ll be butt-stroked or something when he hits American soil.”

These comments follow revelations that surfaced earlier this week where Mr. McKeever wrote Facebook posts using obscenities and threatening violence against a woman who had a different viewpoint than his own.

So Mr. Layton, where do you draw the line on offensive conduct? Does Andrew McKeever reflect the values and positions of the NDP?

DURHAM NDP CANDIDATE IN HOT WATER!

2008-09-25T17:59:00.002-03:00

For Immediate Release
September 25, 2008

Layton must fire candidate in Durham

DURHAM - NDP Leader Jack Layton must fire his candidate in the riding of Durham over inappropriate comments he made on the internet this summer on the subject of United States war deserters.

"Mr. Layton must fire his candidate in Durham, Andrew McKeever, who threatened people who didn't agree with him with physical violence in a web posting," said Durham Liberal Candidate Bryan Ransom.

The following quotes from Mr. McKeever's Facebook posts are intolerant and demonstrate lack of fitness for public office:

"Answer a direct f**king question you c**t. I can guarantee, if I ever see you face to face I will make you squeal for the same authority you have such a baseless disdain for" [to a woman poster on the Facebook group]

"...one by one the TraitorCriminalDeserters [US war deserters] will be sent back down south to face the music"

"Boyd [a poster to his Facebook group] if I ever see you anywhere in Toronto I will kick the sh*t out of you"

"There is no room for this kind of vicious, threatening attack in Canadian politics. These comments are beyond the pale and Jack Layton must denounce them and fire his candidate immediately," said Dan McTeague, Liberal Candidate for Pickering-Scarborough-East.

The complete exchange may be found at: http://www.liberal.ca/pdf/docs/080925_facebook_mckeever.pdf

-30-

oily is back!

2008-06-18T04:05:00.000-03:00

Conservatives selling bisphenol A product?

2008-04-23T18:20:00.004-03:00

every now and again i like to take a look at each of the national party's websites. while on the conservative website i checked out their online "swag" shop. during my random browsing i noticed that they were selling a product that looks very much like an polycarbonate water bottles (nalgene bottles) that were pulled by sporting good chain mountain equipment co-op and recently cited as a health risk by conservative ministers tony clement and john baird. so heck why beat around the bush... in the press release from these two ministers:

"health canada's screening assessment of bisphenol A primarily focused on its impacts of newborns and infants up to 18 months of age; however, health risks for canadians of all ages were considered in the screening."

the question that now remains:

"are the conservatives selling a product which they are aiming to ban due to health concerns?"

cadman book leaked

2008-03-02T17:40:00.001-04:00

here is the link for the full text of chuck cadman: like a rock - click here

2007-11-18T23:18:00.000-04:00

big political news tomorrow. keep your eyes glued to newsworld and newsnet. it will rock your socks.

mpp o'toole breaks election rules... again

2007-09-30T23:29:00.000-03:00

a few days ago i posted a blog regarding john o'toole's first election regulation fault. while it appears there is a second. a banner posted on durhamregion.com also has no authorization.

bernie tanz drops disgraceful campaign literature

2007-09-28T17:56:00.000-03:00

anyone else find this terribly wrong....? if so e-mail bernie tanz (eglington-lawrence) at campaign@bernietanz.ca with your thoughts!

conservative mpp o'toole breaks election regulations?

2007-09-28T12:54:00.000-03:00

after surfing a variety of conservative websites it became noticeable that many of them had authorizations either by their riding association, chief financial agents or official agents.

apparently john o'toole, mpp (durham) thinks he is above this regulation. after carefully scanning his site i could not find a single marking indicating that his site was authorized by an official agent.

once again o'toole has disregarded the conduct needed to be an elected representative, much as he did when he flipped the bird in the ontario legislature.

broken promise in perspective

2007-09-27T15:46:00.000-03:00

i know it has been a while since i last post... i mean like a long while, but i figured i would get back into the swing of things and start to post again about the ongoing provincial election in ontario.

at the beginning of the summer i was attending a liberal function in the 905 and the guest mpp started to talk about broken promises and how he puts the health tax into perspective for people. for the longest time i had only heard crap come out of our caucus regarding the tax. this time however, it made sense and i think most people listening were able to relate. the story went a little something like this.

imagine that you had promised your family the previous spring break that next year you would be going to flordia for the holidays. all was going well for you that year. you had a bonus a raise and some money saved in the bank. then imagine that a week after christmas you were let go from work because the executives had lied to the shareholders about how well the company was doing, when in fact the company actually had no money and was so in debt it counldn't even afford to pay a severance or benefits package.

so upon learning the news you have to go back to your family and tell them the bad news. not only had you lost your job because the people that ran your company were a bunch of lie-ers, but that you would not be able to afford the vacation because you didn't know how long you would be strapped for cash.

anyways... thought it was a neat perspective on the whole situation...

more to come on the election if anyone still reads this blog.

funniest web banner ever seen.

2007-06-18T14:36:00.000-03:00

well... its been a while since i have posted.

in any event i thought i would return to the blog world by posting a screen shot of the most unintentionally funny web banner ever made.

it is from today's star. enjoy.... i wonder if anyone lost their job over this yet?

con flip flop file: using tax payer dollars for psychic

2007-04-20T02:47:00.000-03:00

Taxpayers foot the bill for PM's image guru

2007-04-18T21:19:00.000-03:00

Apr 18, 2007 07:50 PM

Jennifer Ditchburn
Canadian press

OTTAWA – It turns out that taxpayers are picking up the tab for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's personal primper.

After two days of ducking media and opposition questions, the Conservatives finally revealed Wednesday that Michelle Muntean is on Harper's government staff.

But the revelation raises two more big questions: How much is she being paid? And why is there no government record of her employment.

Harper has been travelling with his personal image adviser for major domestic and international events – most recently at ceremonies at Vimy Ridge in France last week. Muntean helps him perfect his look, including managing his wardrobe and general grooming.

News that Harper uses a style maven had the opposition both frothing and laughing.

"Does the prime minister have difficulty sleeping at night wondering whether he should wear the light blue socks or the dark blue ones?" New Democrat MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis asked in the House of Commons, to loud hoots and claps.

"Can the prime minister tell us who pays for his fashion adviser, and how much that costs?"

Liberal MP Garth Turner also took a shot at his former boss: ``It's a legitimate question. I think it's an embarrassing one to him because he likes the cowboy image and not all cowboys wear powder."

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan wouldn't say who pays for Muntean's services.

"Mr. Speaker, the prime minister maintains a tour staff, as do all prime ministers," Van Loan told the Commons.

But a government source later confirmed that taxpayers are on the hook for Muntean's services – although the Conservative party pays her expenses.

However, there is no record of Muntean as an employee of the Prime Minister's Office, according to an official at the Privy Council Office. And an Access to Information request turned up no record of contracts paid out to Muntean.

Harper, meanwhile, has demanded accountability on such matters in the past.

As an MP, Harper went after Reform Leader Preston Manning publicly for not detailing his party-paid clothing allowance. Under pressure, Manning eventually did provide an accounting of the $31,000 perk, but tensions between the two men had begun in earnest.

In a bit of synchronicity, Harper was to attend a Manning event Wednesday night.

Conservative Party president Don Plett said the matter is not one that the party's governing body would have dealt with, but rather the Conservative Fund of Canada, and said he didn't know anything about it.

Calls to both the party headquarters and to fund president Irving Gerstein were not returned.

John Williamson, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said such expenses are better paid by political parties.

"The idea that these expenses are going to be run up on the public tab and then answers aren't going to be forthcoming about how much its costing is unacceptable from a taxpayers point of view."

Muntean began working with Harper during his run for the Conservative leadership, and stayed through two federal campaigns. She hails from the world of film and television, and had become CBC's head of makeup by the late 1990s.

A warm, bubbly personality, Muntean has now become a fixture in Harper's entourage and remains the only staff member he tolerates style advice from. Sources said Harper has tried to convince her to move to Ottawa, but she remains based near Toronto.

In addition to her travels to Vimy Ridge, Muntean was also with Harper in Hanoi, Vietnam when he met with Pacific rim leaders, and in St. Petersburg, Russia for last summer's G8 summit.

income trust: cons achilles heal? part II

2007-04-16T03:13:00.000-03:00

income trust: cons achilles heal?

2007-04-15T09:47:00.000-03:00

if you liked the scott ross video... this will blow your socks off. i cant believe this was one ctv alberta!

see this post for video

fortier’s new offices – questions to be answered

2007-04-09T00:34:00.000-03:00

came across a link to minister michael fortier’s new webpage today from john lennard’s blog.

to say the least it is a cunning political manoeuvre to try and make fortier look like an “elected representative” for the riding of vaudreuil-soulanges.

now some bloggers have suggested that this site may be paid for by tax payer dollars, but it would seem to me that if it was… you would find a similar link system found at the bottom of a government website… such as this.

and not this...

frankly, what concerns me is this website portrays fortier’s offices in vaudreuil-soulanges as if they are constituency offices.

so here are some questions that i feel need some serious consideration:

1) are the staff in these offices instructed to aid in matters such as canada pension plan, employment insurance, tax issues, passports and student loans?

2) if so, are the employees working in the offices breaching privacy regulations by collecting this personal information as if they are employees of the house of commons?

3) if these employees do take this information will house of commons staff members of other conservative mp’s be dealing with these constituency files? or. will these constituency matters be dealt with by senate staff and/or minister staff in PWGS.

4) does the very opening of these offices undermine the wish of the people of vaudreuil-soulanges to have a BQ representative dealin with these matters for them.

5) will these offices be changed to campaign offices in the wake of an election?

6) following an election what would happen to any case work that is done by these employees?

7) how are these offices being funded? if they being funded by the conservative party of canada do the people of vaudreuil-soulanges not have the right to know this?

8) how are these offices being supplied?

9) through technicalities are these offices able to be supplied with recourses from the regional minister’s office, the minister’s office of PWGS and the senate?

just a few thoughts …

update: just doing some more surfing and found this little blurb on the site. i am in disbelief that this site is being portrayed as a house of commons constituency site and office.

in the words of bob fife “lame” and “crappy” ads…the story behind the “price is right” and “money” ads

2007-04-07T04:12:00.002-03:00

to say the least it has been an interesting week in the political blogging and youtube world.

so here is the story of the “price is right” and “money” ads.

over the weekend i got word cherniak was looking for liberal ads. most of the time i don’t take jason seriously, nor do i agree with his opinions or analysis of day to day issues. however, i did think he was onto something with the youtube vids. so... i sat in my underpants, with my laptop, on my bed drinking beer and made two ads on windows movie maker. nothing special…

anyways…

i was quite shocked the day after i posted the “price is right” and “money” ads on youtube that they appeared on canada am and in a feature piece that was printed on the front page of the globe and mail.

that morning my roommate and i almost laughed ourselves stupid watching the canada am clip, over and over again on the ctv website. honestly, i didn’t think more then 10 people would watch either of these things or take them seriously because they are “crappy” and ”lame”.

the above being said i felt that someone should make an ad that was saying what everyone should be hearing – harper is using tax payer money to bribe one sect of society (middle class families) into electing him a majority— it is so blatant that im surprised other canadians aren’t outraged.

as for bob fife… well he is right a lot of these ads that are out there are lame. however, i wish fife would do research before he opens his mouth. this is not the first time i have heard him gaff. just for the record… i was not instructed nor hired/paid by the party to create ads. if i was i probably would have put a little more effort into them.

in closing this week has been an example of the power of the internet. in less then a day these two videos got people talking, they got the media talking and they got bloggers talking. i think its important that we continue to make these ads regardless of the overall quality. remember this is canada and as long as we have the right to the freedom of expression and speech we should exercise that right.

thats the story … and if you have no idea what im talking about you can watch the ads here and here... enjoy and keep on youtubing...

bob fife on blog ads

2007-04-05T15:43:00.000-03:00

liblogs on canada am

2007-04-04T17:34:00.000-03:00

liblogs gets plugged on canada am this morning

watch here

(bare the car ad before the news segment)

money

2007-04-03T13:33:00.000-03:00

new stop harper ads

2007-04-03T13:32:00.000-03:00

got a little bored ... so here are some new ads

ads ads ads

2007-04-02T15:27:00.000-03:00

well the tories have their first new ad up on their website. it can be seen by clicking here.

JFK

2007-03-29T05:11:00.000-03:00

rae wins toronto centre nomination

2007-03-27T01:26:00.000-03:00

that is all...

OPP probing alleged Tory link to mayoralty offer

2007-03-26T15:21:00.000-03:00

Updated Mon. Mar. 26 2007 1:46 PM ET

Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- The Ontario Provincial Police have launched an investigation into a sworn affidavit that claims a senior Tory close to Prime Minister Stephen Harper was involved in an alleged bid to buy off an Ottawa mayoralty candidate.

"It's an ongoing investigation at this point,'' Sgt. Christine Rae of the OPP's east region headquarters in Smiths Falls, Ont., said Monday.

The affidavit, sworn out by former mayoralty candidate Terry Kilrea, names John Reynolds, the co-chairman of the 2006 Conservative election campaign, as the federal contact in a purported Parole Board appointment offer by eventual winner Larry O'Brien. In return, Kilrea was to drop out of Ottawa's 2006 municipal race.

Such an arrangement, if true, is a possible breach of both the Criminal Code and the Ontario Municipal Elections Act.

The OPP was forwarded the complaint by the Ottawa police last Friday, after a labour group -- acting on the advice of the attorney general of Ontario -- went to the local cops.

"We do have an investigation,'' Rae said Monday. "There was a complaint forwarded to us by Ottawa Police Service requesting that we do an investigation, which we have agreed to do.''

The job offer was allegedly made to Kilrea by O'Brien, a millionaire businessman who, like Kilrea, campaigned as a tough-on-crime, fiscal conservative in the crowded mayoralty field. O'Brien went on to win a surprise victory.

To date, none of the allegations have resulted in charges, nor have they been proven in court.

"It didn't happen, it's that simple,'' Reynolds said in an interview. "My point of view, I never put anything in for anybody. I don't do that kind of stuff.''

Added Reynolds: "I've talked to Larry (O'Brien), and I said, 'Larry, did you ever ask me?' He said, 'Well, we may have talked about it, but he never asked me to do anything.'''

O'Brien, who has previously denied published allegations that he offered to pay Kilrea's $30,000 of campaign debt if he quit, refused to comment Monday on the police investigation.

"We're just not commenting,'' said a spokesman for the mayor.

Reynolds, a former Conservative MP, interim party leader and currently lobbyist who meets regularly with the prime minister, said he doesn't know Kilrea "from Adam,'' but he hesitated to call Kilrea's affidavit a fabrication.

"Well, it's something in his own mind,'' said Reynolds. "People get in their own heads some days what people say.

"If Larry said to him, 'Hey, I can talk to John Reynolds and put your name in,' that would be a fair statement, a fair thing to do. But I never did (forward Kilrea's name), so I doubt that he asked me. I would have done it.''

The complaint is the latest twist in a municipal story that appears to have multiple connections to the federal Conservatives.

Then-treasury board president John Baird's unusual, mid-campaign intervention on a federal transit grant dramatically altered the course of the campaign, and ultimately helped O'Brien win by a wide margin.

Kilrea's claim that he was offered expense money by O'Brien if he would drop out was previously reported.

But Kilrea's affidavit, sworn out Dec. 20, 2006, contains a more startling allegation.

Kilrea, who did in fact quit the race last August, alleges that during a meeting last summer with O'Brien on a coffee-shop patio, he was also offered a Parole Board job.

"At approximately 2 p.m. later that day (July 5, 2006), O'Brien called to advise that my name had been put forward for an appointment to the National Parole Board,'' states the affidavit.

"When I asked how this was possible, he responded that he had spoken to John Reynolds. He then instructed me to call John Baird, President of the Treasury Board, and to tell him that my name `was in the queue' for an appointment to the board.''

Kilrea claims he then e-mailed Baird, a local MP whose federal nomination Kilrea had supported, but was told by the Treasury Board president that he knew nothing about the matter.

Four days later, Kilrea claims he was contacted by Dimitri Pantazopolous, a longtime Reform, Canadian Alliance and Conservative party pollster who is president of Praxicus Public Strategies Inc.

Kilrea alleges that after showing him polling data suggesting why he should quit the race, Pantazopolous alluded to the appointment offer but said it "would have to wait until after the (municipal) election because it was `too hot to handle' at this stage,'' says the affidavit.

Kilrea claims that in a subsequent phone conversation with O'Brien on July 19 he was told "the offer 'would not be on the table forever' and that I needed to make a decision.''

Rumours of a patronage offer surfaced last fall, but the story died when Kilrea refused to publicly call the offer a bribe and O'Brien characterized the matter as sour grapes by a political foe.

But once Kilrea's sworn affidavit fell into the hands of the Ottawa District Labour Council, the labour group sent it to Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant in the belief that important elements of the allegations were being suppressed.

Bryant responded in a letter to the council that any complaint should go through local police.

The Ontario minister responsible for the Municipal Elections Act also refused to intervene, telling the labour group in a letter that "it would not be appropriate as minister ... to comment on a matter that may come before the courts.''

Sean McKenny, president of the labour council, said that after getting a copy of Kilrea's affidavit he was immediately concerned that "the biggest piece'' of the alleged bribe had not been disclosed in media reports.

"We're following the direction, as we understood it, of the attorney general (of Ontario) and that is to drop a package off with the chief of police here in the city,'' said McKenny.

"At the end of the day, people should know: either yes or no. That's what we're trying to push for here.''

Kilrea, a local bailiff who ran unsuccessfully for the Ottawa mayoralty in 2003, is sticking to his story.

"Before I turned down the offer, (O'Brien) told me the Parole Board was a five-year appointment at $110,000 a year,'' Kilrea said in an interview.

"So, I mean, pretty tempting for a guy who's making 60 (thousand) go to a 110 for a five-year appointment -- and cash, to boot, in the offer. It was a very, very tempting offer.''

He says he ultimately turned it down, and later initially denied that he'd been made such an offer.

"Did I consider it a bribe? Looking at it now, a lot of people are saying it is,'' said Kilrea.

"It is an inducement. In the Municipal Act it's very clear that you're not allowed to offer a job or anything like that to somebody to get them out of the race. Under the Municipal Act, it looks like this is a violation.''

Reynolds maintains there's nothing sinister. He said he would be happy to put Kilrea's name forward, or any other person's, for a Parole Board appointment because not many people want the job.

"They're looking for people to go on parole boards,'' said Reynolds. "Most guys don't want the jobs. They don't pay that much.''

Kilrea said he considers himself naive.

"I know this kind of stuff goes on probably every day in the back rooms at Parliament Hill and everywhere else,'' he said, alluding to a string of other allegations of candidates being bought off with cash or appointments to either give up a seat or not seek election.

"Obviously this kind of stuff is going on all the time.''

obama operative draws blood with youtube attack ad

2007-03-21T21:30:00.000-03:00

Mystery creator of anti-Clinton ad is identified

Updated Wed. Mar. 21 2007 7:43 PM ET

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The mystery creator of an Orwellian YouTube ad against Hillary Rodham Clinton is a Democratic party operative who worked for a digital consulting firm with ties to rival U.S. Senator Barack Obama.

Philip de Vellis, a strategist with Blue State Digital, acknowledged in an interview he was the creator of the video, which portrayed Clinton as a Big Brother figure and urged support for Obama's presidential campaign.

De Vellis said he resigned from the firm Wednesday after he learned he was about to be unmasked by the HuffingtonPost.com., a liberal news and opinion Internet site.

Blue State designed Obama's website and one of the firm's founding members, Joe Rospars, took a leave from the company to work as Obama's director of new media.

"It's true...yeah, it's me,'' de Vellis said Wednesday evening.

He said he produced the ad outside of work and neither Blue State nor the Obama campaign was aware of his role in the ad.

"But it raises some eyebrows, so I thought it best that I resign and not put them in that position.''

In a statement released Wednesday evening, the Obama campaign said: "The Obama campaign and its employees had no knowledge and had nothing to do with the creation of the ad.''

"We were notified this evening by a vendor of ours, Blue State Digital, that an employee of the company had been involved in the making of this ad. Blue State Digital has separated ties with this individual and we have been assured he did no work on our campaign's account.''

The Clinton campaign had no immediate comment.

The connection to the Obama camp, however, poses a public-relations problem for the campaign. Obama has argued he is a different type of presidential candidate who rejects negative politics.

The ad was guerrilla politics at its cleverest and had become the boffo hit of the YouTube website.

The 74-second clip, a copy of a 1984 Apple ad for its Macintosh computer, has recorded nearly 1.5 million views, with an enormous surge in the past two days. The video's final image reads: "BarackObama.com.''

De Vellis remained hidden for weeks, protected by the anonymity afforded by YouTube and the absence of government regulations governing most Internet political speech.

The ad portrayed Clinton on a huge television screen addressing robotic humans in a stark, futuristic hall. A female athlete tosses a hammer at the screen, destroying Clinton's image with an explosive flash.

Then this text: "On January 14th the Democratic primary will begin. And you will see why 2008 isn't going to be like `1984.'''

De Vellis said he used footage of an updated Apple ad that portrayed the female athlete wearing an iPod. He said he used standard Apple equipment to modify the video and edit Clinton's image into the clip.

Obama, appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live'' on Monday night, said his campaign knew nothing about the origins of the anti-Clinton ad.

"Frankly, given what it looks like, we don't have the technical capacity to create something like this,'' he said.

"It's pretty extraordinary.''

the budget

2007-03-20T14:18:00.000-03:00

Yesterday I was stark mad at the budget that was brought down by Jim Flaherty. So I decided to take a day to reflect and then write a post on what I thought the main problem of the budget was.

The first is that I keep hearing this is a budget for families. I don’t mind focused budgets on specific issues providing that they do not neglect other Canadians. Lets not forget that this government was elected to represent everyone, not central Canada and working families ONLY. To me it seems like Harper has decided to buy votes via nifty tax regulations focuses on middle class families. In reality this tax relief doesn’t amount to much, but it’s enough to buy a new tv or stereo.

What this budget needed was tax relief that would help families pay down debts. Real tax cuts or a shift in the gradual tax bracket is needed.

As a right leaning Liberal I was quite disappointed. If you put serious money back in the middle class, they will stimulate the economy. With less debt people will spend more and be able to afford post secondary or continuing education, more environmentally friendly products and spending on consumer goods. These areas of spending all lead towards a knowledge based economy and prosperity for all Canadians.

I was also surprised to see spending balloon. What amazed me is that there wasn’t focused long term strategy spending on initiatives. Rather it seemed as if this budget was geared to line the Conservatives up for an election within the next year. I figured out of all parties the CONS would understand that sooner or later the market would slow and saving money for a rainy day or paying down the deficit would have been a much better idea then blowing spending and poor tax schemes and misguided views of a ‘fiscal imbalance’.

Not even going to talk about the environment because I think we can all agree this budget didn’t even address the tip of the iceberg on the issue…

Lastly I think this budget really shows a lack of long term planning. There was virtually nothing for post secondary education. I applaud the idea of revamping Canada Student Loans and investing $800 million nationally in post secondary education, but this is not a small country with small post secondary problems. What I believe was needed was tax incentives for students who continue on past their third and fourth year of education in Canada. It is statistically proven that students with higher education gain more meaningful employment with higher wages. We must ensure that we train and keep these individuals in Canada with seriously focused tax incentives and debt assistance.

kenzie mackinnon ns lib. leadership candidate misleads party faithful

2007-03-19T04:04:00.002-03:00

if you are sick of leaderships, elections and partisan bickering you probably haven't been paying attention to the current nova scotia liberal party leadership race.

the race has been underway now for the past month or so, with four candidates grinding heads for the top liberal job: diana whalen, stephen mcneil, mike smith and kenzi mackinnon.

over the past weeks these candidates have been participating in a series of leadership forums outlining their visions for the future of our party. after browsing through the candidate websites i found it quite odd that a kenzi mackinnon on his web site would suggest not being elected to office or ever being elected would be beneficial.

kenzi's argument suggests that no mla has retained a seat after being elected liberal premier in the last 100 years. which is absolutly true. however, kenzi failed to mention that out of those who had successfully been elected premier in an election, four had previous experience either in the house of commons or the upper chamber of the nova scotia legislature (no longer exists).

in the coming weeks i would think it would be ideal if kenzi decided to offer party members more then the idea of him not being elected to office as a reason to vote for him. if anything i would think kenzie needs to do two things.

1) explain why a party should elect a leader who has lost three elections in a row, one for the house of commons in 1984 and two for the ns legislature in 1998 and 2003.

2) outline a vision that is more then just utopian phrased political retoric. it is great you think nova scotia needs to be better... the question is where is the money going to come from to do it and how are you going to sell it to voters.

these are two attributes that mla's diana whalen and stephen mcneil, and mike smith (mayor of colchester county) have proven as successfully elected politicians.

rank and file deserting harp

2007-03-18T21:58:00.000-03:00

don't know if this what many cons are thinking ... but whatev's

spy vs. dion

2007-03-18T15:25:00.000-03:00

'Tory spy' outed online in YouTube video
Conservative staffer shadowed Dion at events in Ontario

ELIZABETH THOMPSON
The Gazette

Sunday, March 18, 2007

A Conservative staffer is being paid through the House of Commons budget to shadow Liberal leader Stephane Dion.

The revelation, complete with video footage of James Murray, a Conservative Resource Group senior researcher, shadowing Dion at an event last week, has been posted to the popular video website YouTube by the Liberals.

Titled Tory Spy Revealed, and set to the catchy Pink Panther theme music, the video shows Murray at the Bradley Museum in Mississauga, Ont., where he videotaped Dion's speech. The video then shows Murray, wearing sunglasses and a big green coat, beating a hasty retreat once he is spotted, only to turn and point a camera at Liberal Mick Gzowski, who was filming him.

In the script, the video focuses on the fact Murray is paid through the research budget the House of Commons allocates to the Conservatives.

"He is a House of Commons employee," the video flashes in black and white. "Your tax dollars at work. Shadowing Dion across Ontario and filming Dion in the House of Commons. The government is spying on the official opposition."

The video then cuts to a picture of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a quotation from him in December 2005: "These guys can't tell the difference between right and wrong."

The video wraps up with: "They're getting nasty things done. With your money."

The video, posted by a subscriber called liberalvideo, had been viewed hundreds of times by press time and was beginning to be talked about on the Internet as a message originating with the Liberal Research Bureau.

However, that paled in comparison with the number of viewings of the Stephane Dion attack ads that the Conservative Party posted to YouTube.

Jean-Francois Del Torchio, a spokesperson for Dion's office, said the Liberals first noticed someone was following them last week.

"We find it a bit strange for them to send someone to spy on us during our trips."

Del Torchio said he spotted Murray at a series of events where Dion was speaking last week and recognized him from Parliament Hill.

Murray has worked in Ottawa as a freelance researcher for a number of clients, including The Gazette.

While the Liberals were themselves caught hiring people to observe and record activities of Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe in 2004, Del Torchio justified it, saying it was done during an election campaign.

Reached yesterday, Murray's sole response when informed about the video was, "Oh, s--t," before referring all questions to Conservative Party communications officials.

A Tory spokesperson made no attempt to deny Murray had been following Dion, or to make any apology for it.

"An opposition researcher does opposition research," Ryan Sparrow said. "It would be irresponsible to simply rely on media reports to track the missteps of Stephane Dion."

The term "opposition research" is known in the trade as gathering information to attack one's opponents.

Sparrow refused to explain why Murray's activities were being paid out of the House of Commons research budget rather than out of party coffers.

A Conservative insider, who asked that his name not be used, said Murray's filming of Dion's appearances is just part of the Conservatives' secretive "black ops" - shadowy activities of a kind the insider said the Liberals also indulge in.

"You think they don't do this stuff?" the insider asked. "This is something that all parties do. We place our people in their events and they place their people in our events."

In fact, the Tories have been tracking Dion for some time, the insider said. The were shadowing various Liberal contenders during the leadership campaign.

"The material gets used for many different reasons and different sources," the insider said, pointing out ammunition for attack ads is just one possible use.

The insider said there are people in the Prime Minister's Office, in the Conservative Party and in the Conservative Resource Group who were aware Dion was being shadowed.

"We make sure that what he says in one part of the country is what he says in another part, and make sure there is no hypocrisy on their part."

ethompson@thegazette.canwest.com

reason to believe - diana whalen for ns liberal leader

2007-03-14T01:49:00.000-03:00

premier rodney macdonald dance'n

2007-03-10T14:49:00.000-04:00

comes a time...

2007-03-08T01:58:00.000-04:00

well i guess there comes a time in every party when "out with the old and in with the new happens"... for those of us liberals who have been involved in the party a number of years its really weird seeing familiar mp's call it quits.

in a way there are some nostalgic feelings of sort, particularly when you see former cabinet ministers decide that it is time to move on.

so who is out so far since the last election... ?

joe fontana - former minister of housing and labour

jean lapierre - former minister of transportation

paul martin - former prime minister, minister on finance

bill graham - interim leader of the official opposition, minister of defense, minister of foreign affairs

andy scott - solicitor general, minister of indian affairs and northern development

joe mcguire - minister responsible for atlantic canada opportunities agency (acoa)

jim peterson - minister of international trade, minister of state (international financial institutions)

others who may be saying goodbye to politics:
-tom wappel
-joe comuzzi
-irwin cotler
-john godfrey

with the news of bob rae, gerard kennedy, martha hall findlay and justin trudeau running ... it looks like the face of party is going to change drastically during the next election. furthermore with young guns - mark holland, scott brison, balinda stronach, dominic leblanc, ruby dhalla, tina keeper, navdeep bains... among others ... its going to be a tough team to beat!

with the dion team shaping up nicely so should a clear and decisive message that these individuals can project.... which is that the liberal party of canada is the party that can best manage the economy, sustain social programs and provide a comprehensive environmental strategy.

p.s. does anyone else think rae took the easy way out by seeking the riding of toronto centre?

bob should run in oshawa

2007-03-07T09:49:00.000-04:00

after reading a post over at the ontario liberal regarding bob rae running in a riding that is a for sure thing instead of taking on a challenging riding... it got me thinking...

when you look about an hour outside of toronto you find the city/riding of oshawa ontario. oshawa has been one of the few ridings in the 905 where the ndp have had some strength in the past federal and provincial elections. usually the ndp come up a thousand or so votes of winning a seat in the riding becasue of us pesky liberals.

in the last two federal elections and the 2003 provincial election, union king pin sid ryan has run and lost by only a marginal amount. with bob being somewhat of a political super star he should perceivably be able to take votes from the ndp and ad to what is fairly steady voter support for the liberals.

here are the numbers from the last three federal elections and the last provincial election:

Canadian federal election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Colin Carrie	20,617
	New Democrat	Sid Ryan	17,815
	Liberal	Louise V. Parkes	12,831
	Green	Adam Jobse	2,019
	Marxist-Leninist	David Gershuny	91

Canadian federal election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Colin Carrie	15,815
	New Democrat	Sid Ryan	15,352
	Liberal	Louise V. Parkes	14,510
	Green	Liisa Walley	1,850
	Marxist-Leninist	Tim Sullivan	91

Canadian federal election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Ivan Grose	16,179
	Canadian Alliance	Barry Bussey	10,863
	Progressive Conservative	Bruce L. Wright	5,675
	New Democrat	Bruce Rogers	4,203
	Marijuana	Craig James Michael McMillan	679
	Marxist-Leninist	David Gershuny	97

Ontario Provincial Election 2003
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	Jerry J. Ouellette	14,566
	New Democrat	Sid Ryan	13,547
	Liberal	Chris Topple	9383
	Green	Karen Tweedle	636
	Freedom Party of Ont. Family Coalition	Paul McKeever Dale Chilvers	518 383

if bob wants to really contribute to the party and take on a challenge ... then oshawa is the place to do it.

liberals win n.b. by-election

2007-03-05T23:13:00.000-04:00

provincial new brunswick liberals picked up a seat in today's by-election in the riding of moncton east.

congrats to mr. chris collins the new mla for moncton east.

what is most significant about this win is that it is the seat of former p.c. premier bernard lord.

here is the breakdown of the latest liberal win (it wasn't even close).

LIB - chris collins : 2,628
PC - chad peters : 1,505
NDP - helene lapointe : 373

this leaves the door wide open to speculation that lord may run in the next federal election...?

blast from the past II

2007-03-04T02:42:00.000-04:00

i remember this like it was yesterday... wonder who will challenge mr. o'toole this time?

blast from the past

2007-02-28T23:37:00.000-04:00

ignatieff in question period today kind of reminded me of a past election ad (see clips below).

im also glad to see that our party is starting to talk about the economy again. with a budget looming in the next two weeks we cannot afford to let harper take control of this issue. the economy is the only issue that liberals have an excellent track record on and we should not be afraid to remind canadains of our economic achievements while in government.

one more note for the day... hopefully tomorrow we remind canadians that there is a big difference between tax credits (so called cut) harper talks about for students, immigrants, seniors and children in sports. we need to remind canadians that a tax cut is money back in your pocket... not money that you might get if a government is fishing for votes from your demographic.

good on garth

2007-02-27T13:35:00.000-04:00

every once in a while i frequent garth turner's blog. most of the time i find a few amusing and interesting facts that he posts. however, today it wasn't his musings that caught my attention it was his mp tv segment from monday's question period (find video below). mr. turner makes a valid point in the employment questions he is asking and the government had no real answer. although the conservatives are boasting huge employment rates - do these rates take into consideration if these new employment opportunities are steady, high paying, high tech jobs, jobs that have benefits? will these jobs be able to support the families of those who are loosing well waged and what was steady work?

the government should be deeply concerned about preventing mass lay offs... as we will see in smith falls in the near future, 300 plus lay offs will inadvertently effect a community that relies on these workers to stimulate their business.

it is shameful that the government can't give a real answer to an issue such as employment. i hope mr. turner and other liberals in the caucus continue to pressure mr. dion to take back the economic and employment issue as a liberal issue. with a nearing election we need to be more then just the party that is pushing for green change. when the conservatives out poll us on economic issues we are in trouble.

lets get our heads back in the game and talk about all of mr. dion's pillars in a way that canadians can understand. in other words lets talk about a strong and innovative economy... environmental change... and social responsibility that can grow canada to face the challenges of the 21st century.

these are the liberal values that have changed canada for the better time and time again and it will take the liberal team as a whole to put this message out there together for a better canada.

harper video now on you tube

2007-02-22T19:01:00.000-04:00

and the race is on in toronto centre

2007-02-22T04:43:00.000-04:00

no sooner had the rumors become true that bill graham would not run again...

this popped in my inbox at about midnight last night http://www.supportmeredith.ca/

looks like the race is on for bill's seat.

whatever it takes

2007-02-22T01:20:00.000-04:00

after today’s events during question period I am more convinced then ever that it is time for mr. harper to go.

over the past year mr. harper has implemented a variety of policies which I have found to under mind the basic principles that we as canadians find common ground on.

he has repeatedly used divisive tactics within the house, in order to dismantle key programs that protect and promote equality, encourage innovation and increase prosperity in our country.

as an election looms and harper needs an extra boost to find majority territory in the polls… he is doing it at all costs. today he used the air india inquiry as a means of scoring political points in the house of commons. his desperation for a majority and absolute power to complete his neo-con agenda are being sought after by using the lives lost in the air india bombing and the victims families of this tragic event.

i am ashamed to be a canadian today. on most occasions I fully respect the office of the prime minister regardless of his partisan relations. however, when a prime minister decides to used an act of terrorism to divide Canadians and score political points i loose that respect.

in addition to the above political tactics, the cons and harper tried to insinuate in question period that some how the liberal party of Canada decides policy options on the bases of protecting family members of liberal MP’s. when mr. harper was questioned on this subject he simply responded that he was just reading what the vancouver sun had published. furthermore, he suggested that if the liberals had a problem with the article they should not take issue with his actions, but sue the vancouver sun.

sorry mr. harper, but when you are the prime minister of canada you should be able to do a litter better then using one news paper source as your basis for launching a partisan allegation.

once again I find it simply amusing that the canadian alliance, -> now the conservative party of canada have no shame when it comes to smearing MP’s of different political parties. if mr. harper feels so passionately about the current debate on anti terrorism legislation… he should be explaining the legislation as he sees it with canadians and not trying to discredit hard working legislators to win a house vote.

are we strong?

2007-02-20T20:44:00.000-04:00

someone sent this to me and i thought it was pretty good... so here it is.

Are we still strong
Uploaded by proudcanadian07

baird and harper get their dance on

2007-02-16T12:59:00.000-04:00

click here to watch

its the economy stupid

2007-02-13T12:12:00.000-04:00

well… its been a while since I last blogged, but i couldn’t stand by and keep reading the same thing day after day.

while we liberal bloggers continue to write about the environment, the tories are making headway on a variety of issues; Crime and justice, tax reform, democratic reform and might i dare say it even the economy.

i think out of everything i listed above the economy bothers me the most. We as government had an excellent record managing the economy. harper is on the brink of destroying what was a sound balance between social and economic policy.

instead our liberal caucus feels the need to move our party to the left without considering the consequences of harper being able to claim the center. once harper positions his party as the center party… its game over.

dion should be making the economy more of an issue in the house without trying to complicate it with the environment. if its anything that voters care about its having a job, low inflation, balanced budgets and competitive tax rates. Our party should be targeting harper for raising taxes on those who make the least in canada, releasing budget projections, and using our record of balanced budgets cutting taxes to claim this issue.

lets be blunt when the NDP are able to make john maccallum look like an idiot on CTV’s Question Period there is a significant problem. when judy wasylycia-leis is able to suggest that the NDP wont run deficits and uses saskatchewan and manitoba governments as an example we should challenge her and suggest that they only do it to hold onto power.

personally I feel this is a no brainer and a political issue we can win. if dion wants to show true leadership he will take hold of the economy as his issue. canadians already know harper cant be trusted on the environment… but can harper be trusted with the economy?

draft mike savage for liberal leader

2006-12-07T15:56:00.001-04:00

draft mike 4 ns liberal leader

oppose the "nation" resolution

2006-11-26T21:32:00.000-04:00

sign the petition here or click the image

blame canada!

2006-11-17T19:46:00.000-04:00

2006-11-13T16:49:00.000-04:00

desperation or political genius?

2006-10-23T13:59:00.000-03:00

oh ... mr. powers?

2006-10-23T00:31:00.000-03:00

Slow news day …. ?

in other news the CONS have called two by-elections for the 27^th of November… one in london north centre and the other in repentigny.

after watching a ctv news interview with tim powers … i just about puked when he suggested that this election was called because the people of these ridings needed new representation as soon as possible. furthermore, powers indicated that the liberal leadership was not relevant in the decision to call these by-elections.

i guess maybe mr. powers thinks that canadians are stupid… and wont questions the ultimate wisdom of prime minister harper. however… let it begin here…

first, if mr. harper and the CONS felt that representation was needed immediately… why didn’t they call a by-elections in mid september? each of these seats has been vacant for almost two months.

second, for mr. powers to even consider that our internal party matters are not relevant to canadians is outrageous. may i remind mr. powers that the liberal party of canada has over 100 seats in the house of commons and is the official opposition. maybe if the communist party of canada was holding a leadership it wouldn’t be that big a deal. however, the liberal party of canada has the responsibility of selecting a leader to represent those who voted liberal. what is even more startling is how mr. powers speaks about the urgency for representation... and the CONS did not even considered canadians who want the liberal part to have a leader so that their democratic voice is projected on the floor of the commons.

mr. powers then went on to ramble about how the liberals shouldn’t be worried about his by-election because they won London centre north by 6000 votes in the last election… what does this mean mr. powers? that you are writing this riding off already….? once again if you think that the liberals are going to win it... why run someone? why didn’t the CONS call this by-election a month ago? maybe the CONS didn’t call it a month ago because they knew this was the only card in the deck that could create a political opportunity for their party to take the attention of our leadership… im sure there are some other media strategies involved … but hey you can use your imagination and guess what they are.

in the middle of mid terms and essay season... so excuse this quick rant... but it needed to be said.

clinton takes on fox news

2006-09-24T19:28:00.000-03:00

click here to watch clinton spank chris wallace

Murphy declares for Brison

2006-09-06T10:45:00.000-03:00

Last Updated: Wednesday, September 6, 2006 | 7:47 AM AT

CBC News

Charlottetown MP Shawn Murphy says he's supporting Scott Brison's campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, adding it's time for a Prime Minister from Atlantic Canada.

Murphy said he's always been impressed with Brison as an MP and as a minister, and that Brison's policies are aligned with his own. Brison served as public works minister from 2004 to 2006.

Murphy notes the last Atlantic Canadian prime minister was Sir Robert Borden, a Conservative who held the job from 1917 to 1920. He says people should consider that perhaps it is the region's turn.

The leadership convention will be held in December in Montreal.

whos in and whos out?

2006-07-19T22:35:00.000-03:00

UPDATE: paper dynamite online sparks wild rumour...

Anonymous blogger sparks speculation … is mckenna in or out? who is dropping out?

imspartacus said...: Inside info or a fertile imagination? I believe people will be surprised and a little shocked at the latest development -- one of the frontrunners is dropping out next week due to 'health reasons' and will throw his support behind the former minister from Quebec.
If McKenna steps in, it's because he's got inside info on this development and will pick up many of the team's machine.

heard through the grape vine…

2006-07-13T09:43:00.000-03:00

people are making calls for frank mckenna ... could there be a return?

would the real sen. john mccain... please stand up

2006-07-06T15:51:00.000-03:00

McCain's Out-of-Control Anger: Does He Have the Temperament to Be President?

Ronald KesslerWednesday, July 5, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is considered a front-runner for the 2008 race, but does McCain have the temperament to be president?

As portrayed by the mainstream media, McCain is an engaging war hero, a man of political moderation positioned between the left and the right.

But to insiders who know him, McCain has an irrational, explosive side that make many of them question whether he is fit to serve as president and be commander in chief.

Nowhere is that sentiment stronger than in the Senate, where McCain has few friends or supporters. In fact, when McCain ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2000, only four Republican senators endorsed him.

"I have witnessed incidents where he has used profanity at colleagues and exploded at colleagues," said former Senator Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican who served with McCain on the Senate Armed Services Committee and on Republican policy committees. "He would disagree about something and then explode. It was incidents of irrational behavior. We've all had incidents where we have gotten angry, but I've never seen anyone act like that."

McCain's outbursts often erupted when other members rebuffed his requests for support during his bid in 2000 for the Republican nomination for president. A former Senate staffer recalled what happened when McCain asked for support from a fellow Republican senator on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

"The senator explained that he had already committed to support George Bush," the former Senate staffer said. "McCain said ‘f— you' and never spoke to him again."

"He had very few friends in the Senate," said former Senator Smith, who dealt with McCain almost daily. "He has a lot of support around the country, but I don't think he has a lot of support from people who know him well."

Another former senator who requested anonymity recalled an exchange at a Republican policy lunch. McCain turned on another senator who disagreed with him.

"McCain used the f-word," the former senator said. "McCain called the guy a ‘sh--head.' The senator demanded an apology. McCain stood up and said, ‘I apologize, but you're still a sh--head.' That was in front of 40 to 50 Republican senators. That sort of thing happened frequently."

"People who disagree with him get the f--- you," said former Rep. John LeBoutillier, a New York Republican who had an encounter with McCain when he was on a POW task force in the House. After LeBoutillier had openly tape recorded comments at a conference, McCain got the idea that LeBoutillier was secretly tape recording him.

"Are you wired up?" LeBoutillier quoted McCain as asking. "Of course not," LeBoutillier said.

"Prove it," McCain said.

LeBoutillier said he lowered his pants, apparently satisfying McCain that he was not taping him.

"He is a vicious person," LeBoutillier said. "Nearly all the Republican senators endorsed Bush because they knew McCain from serving with him in the Senate. They so disliked him that they wouldn't support him. They have been on the hard end of his behavior."

Andrea Jones, McCain's press secretary, did not respond to requests from NewsMax for comment.

Senators are leery of speaking on the record about what McCain is really like. Bob Smith described his behavior reluctantly. A former Republican senator listed Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, and Pete Dominici, fellow Republican senators, as being among those who had encountered McCain's outbursts, but none of them agreed to be interviewed on the subject.

Most major media outlets have been uninterested in pursuing the subject. Virtually every media outlet ran Sen. Trent Lott's comment at a 100th birthday tribute to Strom Thurmond. As a result of the criticism over his remarks, Lott stepped aside as Senate majority leader.

But only a few news outlets, like the Phoenix New Times in Arizona and the National Journal, that ran an Associated Press story reporting McCain's 1998 joke suggesting that Chelsea Clinton was ugly and Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton were lesbians.

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?" McCain said at a GOP fund-raiser in Washington. "Because Janet Reno is her father."

McCain apologized to the Clintons. But more recently, McCain said on Fox News, "You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who is still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it."

In part because he gives reporters access and charms them with his apparent openness, McCain gets good press.

"A presidential candidate is not supposed to talk at length and on the record about the rules he broke or the strippers he dated, or the time he arrived so drunk that he fell through the screen door of the young lady he was wooing," Time wrote in a Dec. 13, 1999 profile of McCain. "The candor tells you more than the comment, and reporters sometimes just decide to take him off the record because they don't want to see him flame out and burn up a great story."

"National reporters may genuflect, but local journalists cringe at the thought of covering McCain, better known in Arizona for his short temper, refusal to take calls, and attempts at media manipulation than for the ‘straight talk' he doles out . . ." a Playboy profile said in February 2000.

When people have come forward to relate their bizarre experiences with McCain, only minor publications or the foreign press have run their accounts. The favored treatment is reminiscent of the way the press turned a blind eye to John F. Kennedy's dalliances — except that voters have far more need to know about evidence of instability than presidential infidelities.

"The White House is a character crucible," according to Bertram S. Brown, M.D., a psychiatrist who formerly headed the National Institute of Mental Health and was an aide to President John F. Kennedy. "It either creates or distorts character . . . . Even if an individual is balanced, once someone becomes president, how does one solve the conundrum of staying real and somewhat humble when one is surrounded by the most powerful office in the land and from becoming overwhelmed by an at times pathological environment that treats you every day as an emperor?

"Here is where the true strength of the character of the person, not his past accomplishments, will determine whether his presidency ends in accomplishment or failure."

When asked about his temper, McCain has portrayed himself as angry about issues.

"Do I feel passionately about issues? Absolutely," McCain has said. "Do I get angry when I see pork barreling and wasteful spending? Absolutely."

But McCain's outbursts have not been directed at policy issues or waste. Instead, even if they are longtime friends, he explodes at people who disagree with him or who tell him they cannot support him.

Pat Murphy, an editor at the Arizona Republic, became friends with McCain in the early 1980s. As Murphy rose to become publisher of the paper, their friendship continued.

In 1989, Murphy and his wife Betty had lunch with McCain in the Senate dining room. They were talking about a hearing on a federal project to build a dam system designed to deliver water from the Colorado River to Arizona. Even though the project was supposed to be non-partisan, McCain told Murphy he had planted highly technical questions with a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to ask when Rose Mofford, the governor of Arizona, testified.
The idea was, because she was a Democrat, to make her squirm when she did not know the answers.

Murphy was horrified and told McCain his feelings. After that, McCain froze him out.

"What has struck me about McCain is that everybody underestimated the ability of his advisers and him to hypnotize the national media, because most of us in the media in Arizona thought of him as a guy who had a terrible temper, occasionally had a foul mouth, a guy who whined and pouted unless he got his way," Murphy said. "McCain has a temper that is bombastic, volatile, and purple-faced. Sometimes he gets out of control. Do you want somebody sitting in the White House with that kind of temper?'

Former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson, a Democrat, encountered McCain's temper when he and other local mayors briefed the Arizona congressional delegation on local issues. After Johnson spoke, McCain said, "Hold it a minute. Somebody write down everything this guy has to say.

You know what, we need to record him. It's best to get a liar on tape."

Johnson stood up and said, "Senator, if you have a problem with me, why don't we go out in the hallway and talk about it."

"You're goddamn right I have a problem with you," McCain said. "They've been treating you like a princess in Phoenix while they've been burning me over this dam deal, and I'm sick of it."

A longtime member of Senator Dennis DeConcini's staff, Judy Leiby, worked on veteran's issues and had differed with McCain on some of them over the years. After DeConcini announced he was retiring in 1994, McCain showed up in his office.

"I was standing around talking to about a half a dozen postal workers I'd worked real closely with," Leiby recalled. "And McCain came in. He walked down the line, shaking hands, and he ignored me. And one postal worker said, ‘Do you know Judy Leiby?' He said, ‘Oh, yeah, I know her.'"

McCain turned away from Leiby, trembling.

"You could tell he was so angry, he was white," she said. "He turned back to me and said, ‘I'm so glad you're out of a job, and I'll see that you never work again.'"

Of this incident, McCain said that because he didn't hold Leiby in "particularly high esteem," he thought it would be hypocritical to shake her hand. "I didn't raise my voice, didn't offer any disparaging remarks or insults," he said.

Jim Abbott, the supervisor of the Coronado National Forest, reported a similar threat by McCain in 1989. Worried about the impact on the endangered Mount Graham red squirrel, Abbott ordered a halt to construction of University of Arizona telescopes at the top of the mountain. McCain then asked to meet with Abbott and said, "If you do not cooperate on this project, you'll be the shortest-tenured forest supervisor in the history of the Forest Service."

A few days later, McCain called Abbott to apologize. Construction ultimately proceeded after McCain backed legislation to create an exemption for the project from the Endangered Species Act and other existing laws.

Democrat Marty Russo had an altercation with McCain when McCain was in the House, according to the Atlantic Monthly.

"Seven-letter profanities escalated to 12-letter ones and then to pushes and shoves, before the two were separated," according to the account.

In 1993, the Boston Globe reported that McCain "came across the Senate floor and, while mocking [Ted] Kennedy, told him to ‘shut up,' according to observers in the chamber. "A stunned Kennedy returned the comment, telling McCain to ‘shut up' and ‘act like a senator.'"

The previous year, Robin Silver and Bob Witzeman, both medical doctors, met with McCain at his Phoenix office to discuss the endangered Mount Graham red squirrel. At the mention of the issue, McCain erupted.

"He slammed his fists on his desk, scattering papers across the room," Silver said. "He jumped up and down, screaming obscenities at us for at least 10 minutes. He shook his fists as if he was going to slug us."

After Silver pointed out that his behavior was inappropriate, "He apologized and was contrite," Silver said.

Indeed, senators joke among themselves about their collection of "McCain Notes" — apologies McCain sends after he has unleashed a tirade. The question on the minds of those who know him is whether a man who seems so out of control should have the authority to unleash nuclear weapons.

"I think he is not fit to be president," said former congressman LeBoutillier.

what to do instead of shopping on sunday ...

2006-06-30T09:41:00.000-03:00

this is from today's halifax herald ...

dos and don'ts

so, rod, you don't want me to buy grocieries on sunday. i can't buy a shirt at zellers. I can't go to canadian tire or home depot.

but i can sit in a tavern and drink and play the VLT's, i can go to the cold beer store, i can sit in the casino all day or go see the strippers.

i just want to be clear on what i can or cannot do on sunday.

- mike van dine, dartmouth

CONS: ignore laws and a canadian abroad

2006-06-28T20:23:00.000-03:00

the house has only recessed for a few short days and the conservatives continue to display why they should not be in government.

early this morning ctv reported that foreign affairs minister peter mackay and parliamentary secretary jason kenny had done next to nothing to help a canadian who has been extradited from uzbekistan to china, for organizing a pro democratic party in the communist state. as a result huseyincan celil, of burlington, ontario is now facing the death penalty.

you would think that the harper government would do everything in its power to help a democratic crusader abroad. i guess when you leave things to potato pete you can’t expect much.

and then….

this evening ctv reported that the cons failed to understand the election act… looks like this one is developing… but it would appear that they have taken $2 million in donations illegally.

ns election predictions

2006-06-08T11:57:00.002-03:00

With only days before e-day… here are my election predictions for the Nova Scotia Election. I have given many of the Liberal incumbents the benefit of the doubt and have projected some pickups in the Annapolis Valley and rural Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia Halifax Regional Municipality

1. Bedford: Francis Mackenzie – [Liberal]

2. Cole Harbour: Darrell Dexter – [NDP]

3. Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage: Kevin Deveaux – [NDP]

4. Dartmouth East: Joan Massey – [NDP]

5. Dartmouth North: Trevor Zinck – [NDP]

6. Dartmouth South-Portland Valley: Marilyn Moore – [NDP]

7. Eastern Shore: Bill Dooks – [PC]

8. Halifax Atlantic: Michele Raymond – [NDP]

9. Halifax Chebucto: Howard Epstein – [NDP]

10. Halifax Citadel: Bill Black – [PC]

11. Halifax Clayton Park: Diana Whalen – [Liberal]

12. Halifax Fairview: Graham Steele – [NDP]

13. Halifax Needham: Maureen MacDonald – [NDP]

14. Hammonds Plains-Upper Sackville: Barry Barnet – [PC]

15. Preston: Keith Colwell – [Liberal]

16. Sackville-Cobequid: Dave Wilson – [NDP]

17. Timberlea-Prospect: Bill Estabrooks – [NDP]

18. Waverly-Fall River-Beaverbank: Gary Hines – [PC]

PC – 4
NDP - 11
Liberal - 3

Cape Breton

19. Cape Breton Centre: Laura Lee MacDonald [Liberal]

20. Cape Breton North: Cecil Clarke – [PC]

21. Cape Breton Nova: Gordie Gosse – [NDP]

22. Cape Breton South: Manning MacDonald – [Liberal]

23. Cape Breton West: Dave LeBlanc [Liberal]

24. Glace Bay: Dave Wilson [Liberal]

25. Inverness: Rodney MacDonald – [PC]

26. Richmond: Michel Sampson – [Liberal]

27. Victoria-The Lakes: Gerald Sampson [Liberal]

PC - 2
NDP – 1
Liberal - 6

Rural Mainland Nova Scotia

28. Annapolis: Stephen McNeil – [Liberal]

29. Antigonish: Angus MacIssac – [PC]

30. Argyle: Chris d’Entremont – [PC]

31. Chester St.Margrets: Rick Fraughton – [Liberal]

32. Clare: Paul Comeau – Wayne Gaudet [Liberal]

33. Colchester –Musquodobit Valley: Brooke Taylor – [PC]

34. Colchester North: Karen Casey – [PC]

35. Cumberland North: Ernie Fage – [PC]

36. Cumberland South: Murray Scott – [PC]

37. Digby-Annapolis: Harold Theriault – [Liberal]

38. Guysborough-Sheet Harbour: Ron Chisholm [PC]

39. Hants East: John MacDonnell – [NDP]

40. Hants West: Paula Lunn – [Liberal]

41. Kings North: Mark Parent – [PC]

42. Kings South: Ray Savage – [Liberal]
43. Kings West: Leo Glavine – [Liberal]

44. Lunenburg: Michael Baker – [PC]

45. Lunenburg West: Carolyn Bolivar-Getson – [PC]

46. Pictou Centre: Pat Dunn – [PC]

47. Pictou East: Clarrie MacKinnon – [NDP]
48. Pictou West: Charlie Parker – [NDP]
49. Queens: Vicki Conrad – [NDP]

50. Shelburne: Sterling Belliveau – [NDP]
51. Truro-Bible Hill: Jamie Muir – [PC]
52. Yarmouth: Richard Hurlburt – [PC]

PC – 13
NDP – 5
Liberal – 7

Total

PC – 19
NDP – 17
Liberal – 16

2006-05-26T09:45:00.000-03:00

personally... i would really like to know what conservative MP’s have to say about this.

ontario by-election watch

2006-03-30T22:08:00.000-04:00

liberal judi longfield (41.8%) defeated by pc christine elliott (45.7%) in whitby-ajax

update:

liberal ben chin defeated by ndp peter tabuns

liberal brian ford defeated by pc lisa mcleod

next time we will get one... fingers crossed...

ylc prez richard diamond to back brison

2006-03-23T17:17:00.000-04:00

Young Liberals prez backing Scott Brison for party leadership
(Liberal-Leadership)
Source: The Canadian Press
Mar 23, 2006 14:33

By Jennifer Ditchburn

OTTAWA (CP) The president of the Young Liberals of Canada is throwing his support behind MP Scott Brison for the leadership of the party.

Richard Diamond said he met with most of the prospective candidates and decided to back the former public works minister and former Tory.

"He's always demonstrated that he's bright, capable and energetic, and I think he speaks to a generational change that is really need right now if we are to appeal to young voters,'' Diamond said.

Diamond's support is significant because the Young Liberals make up a strong voting bloc during leadership conventions. About one-third of all delegates come from student clubs across the country.

Diamond said he would lobby fellow young Liberals to support Brison, but his endorsement doesn't automatically signal the backing of other members.

Former prime minister Paul Martin's team was very adept at securing the vote of young Liberals, many of whom ended up working with him on Parliament Hill. But his team was also criticized for setting up "paper clubs'' on university campuses clubs that only existed to send voting delegates to the convention.

Brison, and potential competitors Belinda Stronach and Ken Dryden will be trying to woo other young Liberals this weekend in Ottawa during the youth wing's executive meeting.

Diamond said Brison's relatively short history with the Liberals should not be a deterrent. Brison was a Progressive Conservative MP until 2003.

"His vision is much more Liberal than many members of our own caucus,'' Diamond said.

"In the time that he has been a member, he had demonstrated the he is a true liberal. He believes in prosperity and that should be balanced with a social conscience and a progressive social agenda.''

Brison has yet to formally announce he is running for the leadership. To date, only businesswoman Martha Hall Findlay and MP John Godfrey have revealed their intentions.

Liberals will choose their leader on the weekend of Dec. 2-3.

INDEX: POLITICS
(c) 2005 The Canadian Press

fresh take on macisaac

2006-03-22T19:15:00.001-04:00

for those of you who have read my previous post you will know that i am not a fan of ashley macisaac running for the leadership of canada’s greatest political party. but i don’t say this for some of the reasons other bloggers have brought to table i.e. his sexuality, activities in the bedroom or his career choice.

my primary concern with this fellow is that he has nothing to add to the debate. he sat on canada am and said nothing that even hinted at a vision for this country. instead he talked about a book that hasn’t even been published and his album being released in the U.S. if macisaac had sat on canada am and actually laid out some broad themes that canadians could relate to i wouldn’t have such a problem with the guy.... and considering the guy is from cape breton I thought he might have a little to say about the problems that plague that region of nova scotia, but not a peep on CB issues.

the most vital problem with macisaac is that he can’t play politics like he can the fiddle. if he knew “a one” about politics he would have got himself some sort of PR person to get him started. ultimately what this comes down to is quality candidates having to deal with someone who will dumb down the debate. can you imagine iggy, brison, rae, dion, kennedy all debating and macisaac???? I can’t and it reminds me of sesame st. “one of these things doesn’t belong”!

so if macisaac wants to be a liberal player he better start talking and acting like one because he is embarrassing the party that we all work for and respect.

omg...

2006-03-20T19:48:00.000-04:00

dear liberal party of canada executive,

i would first like to congratulate each of you on what first appeared to be a successful weekend. however, i am afraid after today i have some reservation about the entry fee of $50 000.

at first i thought it would be awesome to have lots of candidates with a variety of backgrounds and ideas. unfortunately an individual from cape breton has changed my mind. after watching what can only be described as a ‘shock and aw’ interview on ctv with this blundering fellow, i am convinced more then ever that we need to preserve the leadership for those with a tiny bit of political elitism.

herby I am asking that you raise the entry fee substantially so that this leadership doesn’t turn into a parade of losers.

worried blogger,

fresh

possible provincial election in nova scotia…

2006-03-19T20:52:00.000-04:00

the next few weeks should be interesting in nova scotia… premier rod has a by-election to call in halifax-citadel.

word is that he might just pass on the by-election in halifax-citadel and call a general provincial election.

so this leaves me to wonder... how well the liberals are going to do in nova scotia?

our leader (francis 'homer simpson" mackenzie) is weak… no doubt about it, but i wonder if he is now in a better position then the pc’s leader to make gains. i say this because with the changing of the pc guard from hamm to RodMac has altered some regional perspectives on how many nova scotians might vote. for example premier rod is from cape breaton which is traditionally a liberal stronghold… will the presence of a pc in the cape change the cb voting trends? Will it weaken the liberal stronghold? i wouldn’t be surprised. if the liberals are forced to debate rural policy with premier rod i don’t think they have much of a chance. liberal rural policy is weak and inconsistent.

the above being said... i think with a liberal leader from mainland ns could pay off against a rural-cb-pc-leader. pc ridings in the annapolis valley such as hants west, kings south and kings north could benefit. however, i am not yet convinced that a mainland leader will pay off in the city… as former liberal leader danny graham (a mainlander) was unable to capitalize in the halifax metro area, which went to the ndp in many ridings.

so what are we left with … i think this election at the moment is the ndp’s to loose… they have the opportunity to pick up some vote splitting in cb and at the same time they have the prospect of dominating the metro region.

i think if we as liberals want to be at minimum the official opposition party we need to start working on focused rural policies and get that message out. we also need to get some solid policy out in 4 or 5 planks dealing with the environment, education and health care. from what i have heard nslp has been working on a platform for months, but nothing that has come out the platform sessions has had any long term reaction from the public. this worries me.

in other by-election news judi longfield, former whitby area mp is running for the liberals in whitby-ajax. judi was an excellent mp and I would suggest that anyone from the area that is interested in helping out should stop by the campaign office. ditto on the ben chin and brian ford campaigns as well….

anyways … that’s all for now.

leadershipalooza has a date

2006-03-19T16:42:00.000-04:00

liberal leadershipalooza which is sure to attract an all-star line up of candidates ... will be held december 2 & 3 in montréal, quebec.

youth fees will be $495.

let the good times begin … and play fair everyone!

p.s. www.draftbrison.com

www.draftbrison.com

2006-03-11T19:45:00.000-04:00

well … i think its time that i declare which potential leadership candidate i will be supporting if he runs. in my mind it wasn’t to hard to figure this one out… SCOTT BRISON is the one to lead the liberal party of canada.

mr. brison is an energetic, charismatic, and intelligent individual who has the ability to lead this party. now before you jump to the comments section of my blog to tear me apart … hear me out.
since mr. brison decided to join the liberals after his party was dismantled by potato pete, mr. brison has been an avid defender of our party for a mess which he had nothing to do with. now i know your all like what about blackberrygate… well i would hope that you are all smart enough to see that mr. brison @#$% up royal, but at the same time has taken responsibility… this is real leadership … when you can admit that you screwed up and take what’s coming. i expect that this will haunt the former minister for a while… lets hope he ditches his blackberry.

so how does mr. brison overcome the ‘blackberrygate’? i think it comes down to his ideas! mr. brison is an ideas candidate. on a few occasions i have had the opportunity to sit down one on one with the former minister and i have to say his ideas on rural economic development and green technologies are nothing short but brilliant. this is what a new leader needs to have … controversial policies that will challenge people to debate the issues, rather then be apathetic as a result of uninspiring party leaders.

in addition i also tend to agree with some of the more right policies that the left of the party disagree with… such as more corporate involvement in certain public institutions and sound fiscal policies. although i have not heard a great amount of mr. brison’s ideas on these issues i will bank he has some sound ideas that will align with those of us to the center right of the party.

i’m sure there are still some sceptics to mr. brison who think that once a tory always a tory… and that’s fine … lets not forget about other federal party leaders - trudeau was a dipper, harper was a grit and jim harris was a tory. fucked up world eh? and so what!

Draft Brison!

r.i.p. canadian tire guy

2006-03-11T01:02:00.000-04:00

today canadian tire announced they would be ending the never-ending series of “canadian tire guy commercials”. you know the ones with the know it all neighbour… who has an endless supply of useless crap for lazy people.

in spirit of this glorious occasion i have decided to write a short eulogy of sorts… in memory of the “canadian tire guy”

canadian tire guy,

for eight long years you have blessed us with your maddening solutions to all of life’s problems ... with gadgets I don’t think most canadian tires sell.

i know life was tough as the canadian tire guy! i can’t imagine having to grow the same beard for almost a decade strait … somehow you managed to keep it together without killing puppies or burning down canadian tires in the middle of the night.

i remember this one commercial with the christmas lights and i thought to myself all i want for christmas this year is not to have to watch another one of these idiotic commercials. neadless to say my wish did not come true… quite the opposite occured. more commercials appeared… and for a short while i questioned my status in god’s good books… but then i realized everyone else had to endure these thirty second spots. its funny though… only us good canadian inhibiters had to endure your commercials... which I think may be the cause of some sort of cancer that you only get in canada.

anyhow … to avoid droning on like your commercials... may you rest in peace and find a less bothersome spot on tv.

RIP CANADIAN TIRE GUY!

feel free to post your own thoughts and eulogies on ‘the canadian tire guy’!

easter goes for stock

2006-03-09T13:59:00.000-04:00

politics watch is reporting that former solicitor general wayne easter is asking the rcmp to investigate stockwell day’s office... to determine whether or not the leak of brison’s interview with the rcmp came from the minister's office of public safety.

agree or disagree… i personally think that this brison thing is a political witch hunt attempting to bring a popular, progressive and controversial liberal mp down a little bit.

as for stockewell day i hope easter isn’t going on a witch hunt of his own…we all know that stockwell isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer … he’s more of a spoon… best of luck mr. easter.

doh...

2006-03-06T19:21:00.000-04:00

francis "homer simpson" mackenzie does it again...

News Release
March 1st, 2006

Francis MacKenzie Nova Scotia Liberal Leader

For Immediate Release

MACKENZIE OFFERS APOLOGY AND CLARIFICATION

(Halifax, N.S.) Liberal Leader Francis MacKenzie offers his sincere apology to Premier Rodney MacDonald and the people of Nova Scotia for comments he made to the media after the swearing in of the New Provincial Conservative Cabinet last Friday.

“I am truly sorry for saying that I would not meet with Premier MacDonald, and that he could only contact me by mail. It was inappropriate,” said MacKenzie.

MacKenzie intended to say that he is only interested in meeting about important issues that result in positive change for Nova Scotians. “There is too much work to do be done to spend time chatting over coffee,” he added.

“There are many critical issues that Nova Scotians are facing that need immediate action for example, affordable housing and daycare spaces. I am willing to work with the government if they are serious about addressing topics of grave concern. I don’t want to meet for the sake of meeting.”

MacKenzie has sent a letter of apology to Premier MacDonald and an invitation for serious discussion at his earliest convenience.

-30-

For further information, contact Nancy Sheppard, Director of Communications, Cell: (902) 483-5826E-mail: sheppanc@gov.ns.ca

brison leadership blog

2006-02-20T23:45:00.000-04:00

the moment you have all been waiting for … the release of a brison leadership blog!

a friend of mine sent this along to me and i figured i should post it on my blog… considering liblogs has not added it to its blog role yet!!!

http://teambrison.blogspot.com

more political shenanigans from harper

2006-02-19T22:50:00.000-04:00

the toronto star is reporting that tomorrow prime minister stephen harper (I die a little inside every time i write/say prime minister in front of his name) will be announcing the framework for canada’s first ever all-party parliamentary hearing to question a potential supreme court judge.

who it will be … ??? we don’t know yet, but apparently it will be from a short list that the liberals put together.

to be honest I have a few problems with the questioning of judges via a partisan panel of elected members.

the first of these concerns is obviously that as soon as that potential scc judge sits down a partisan circus begins. cheap political points are scored for political gain, at the expense of hard working and dedicated canadians, who uphold the basic principals of our democratic system.

so what can be done about this… ??? i say that when the time comes the liberals, ndp and bq refuse to sit on this committee. secondly any potential nominee should refuse to sit in front of such a body and answer no questions!

my second problem with this whacked idea is that instead of attracting judges who are well qualified and have dedicated their lives to our country, will instead shy away from sharing their talent of interpreting and upholding the law. why might they feel this??? because of the fear of being lynched by political partisans. so what kind of talent will a process like this attract? my guess is as good as any… i would say either political partisans who have an agenda or just less talented judges.

for those of us who follow politics (maybe a little to closely) we understand that we live in a democracy which is based on many indirect democratic principals. one of these being that when we cast our ballots that we subscribed to the current system in which the prime minister appoints judges … not members of parliament and/or possibly senators (yes im talking about you mr. fortier)! and i think it is quite safe to say that no prime minister has ever selected a crazy, crapy, loony, zany zealot supreme court judge. so why the change mr. harper???

if this had been an election promise/plank/pledge/idea or whatever then it would be hard to argue against what the people want… however, the citizens of this country did not ask for more political shenanigans!

in the spirit of this hallmark holiday

2006-02-14T21:46:00.000-04:00

To Helen

Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore,
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
The weary, wayworn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
Are Holy Land!

- Edgar Allan Poe

oh ezra...

2006-02-14T19:49:00.000-04:00

i can't believe this canada am clip of ezra levant, publisher of the western standard... take a look at it here and judge for yourself... there are some valid points of debate on the 'cartoon issue' but the way in which levant communicates his point of view... even i found to be offensive.

brison blasts harper

2006-02-10T13:59:00.000-04:00

Accountability means being in the House

Scott Brison
National Post

Friday, February 10, 2006

There has been justifiable disbelief and outrage at the news that an unelected Conservative organizer, Michael Fortier, has been parachuted into Cabinet as Minister of Public Works and Government Services via a patronage appointment to the Senate.

Canadians across the country have questioned Prime Minister Stephen Harper for abandoning his top campaign pledge of accountability on Day 1 in office. They have a right to be puzzled about how a man who had lobbied for an elected Senate since his days in the Reform party could jettison his principles to reward the co-chair of his leadership campaign in 2004 and his election campaign in 2006.

Let me quote from Mr. Harper's campaign platform launch of Jan. 13, 2006: "Our system itself must have integrity. A system with democratic integrity is one in which those who sit in the Parliament of Canada, including senators, are elected."

When Mr. Harper moved a motion to bring down the government on Nov. 24, 2005, he called the Liberals "corrupt" and "arrogant" for compensating the "good and loyal services" of friends with Senate seats. Of course, that was all before he became prime minister.

I am not questioning the capabilities of Mr. Fortier, nor his desire to serve his country. However, I am deeply concerned that a senator has been given the portfolio of Public Works -- a ministry that disburses vast amounts of public money -- when he will not be able to account for that spending in the House of Commons.

Public Works is a pivotal department that pays out approximately $14-billion annually on roughly 60,000 contracts for goods and services. As the contracting arm for the entire government, it is often the focus of scrutiny about transparency and accountability, as it was during the recent Gomery commission.

It's simply unacceptable to have a complex department responsible for spending hard-earned taxpayers' money being run by a minister who is unaccountable to the House of Commons -- the guardian of the public purse. Ministers given spending power and administrative authority by the executive branch must be answerable to Members of Parliament.

Public Works has been the focus of a great deal of parliamentary scrutiny in recent years. During my tenure as Minister, I answered more than 1,000 questions -- far more than anyone else in cabinet. I could not have done that from the Senate Chamber.

Mr. Harper handed out the guidelines for ministers, a document entitled Accountable Government, to the new Cabinet this past week. It states that "the Prime Minister expects ministers to place a very high priority on their House duties," and names daily attendance at Question Period as the number one expectation. Yet as a senator, Mr. Fortier will not even be able to enter the floor of the House.

Certainly, there are precedents for a prime minister turning to the Senate after the governing party was shut out of a region. But in this case, Mr. Harper had duly elected MPs from Quebec. Moreover, Mr. Fortier's appointment also raises questions about why Mr. Harper has ignored the lack of elected representatives for the city of Toronto or for the province of Prince Edward Island.

Recent precedents for appointing ministers from outside Parliament illustrates the constitutional convention that they must be able to answer for their departments in the House as soon after their appointments as possible. In 1996, then-prime minister Jean Chretien named Stephane Dion and Pierre Pettigrew to bolster his Cabinet representation from Quebec. Both immediately ran in by-elections, and were seated in the House within weeks of their appointments to the Cabinet. Yet Mr. Fortier insists he didn't want to run in the last election, and has no intention of running for a seat until the next general election -- which could be years away. From my perspective, if you want to be a Cabinet minister, you must run for office.

Stephen Harper has talked about "improving Canadian faith in public institutions," but he is now showing contempt for the House of Commons by naming an unelected and unaccountable friend to his cabinet. Canadians have the right to feel betrayed. Mr. Harper has rapidly abandoned the high ground on accountability and become a diminished politician who preaches one thing and practices another.

Scott Brison is the MP for Kings-Hants, N.S., and the former minister of public works.

fun times... fun times...

2006-02-07T14:23:00.000-04:00

from yesterday's swearing-in ceremony... looks like harper's kids are having a good time... and is that lady in the purple sleeping?

emerson joins cons... developing

2006-02-06T11:59:00.000-04:00

click here

leadershipalooza 2006... whishful thinking... draft conway

2006-02-02T01:51:00.000-04:00

everyone seems to be posting blogs about possible candidates who aren't even thinking about tossing their names into leadershipalooza 2006.

well here is my wild card ... way out there pick for LPC leader. i think that SEAN CONWAY should be given some consideration. i have met the man on a few occasions and he has impressed me everytime. conway is personable, qualified and a charismatic speaker.

for those of you who are like who the #@$% is sean conway... visit here for a profile.

harper enters pop up land

2006-01-30T14:07:00.000-04:00

after seeing harper 24-7 on the news this week... my computer has now been invaded with harper pop-up ads... see here!

where is the rope... i can't take it!

in other news leadershipalooza 2006 is heating up quickly. with the front runners mckenna and manley out... this race is wide open.

just in!

2006-01-30T12:34:00.000-04:00

mckenna is not running... developing.

goodbye paul… hello leadership 2006!

2006-01-25T23:20:00.000-04:00

im still in a state of shock that harper will be canada’s next prime minister. just the thought of that man having "rt. hon" in front of his name for the rest of his life makes me shudder... on that note the best of luck to the new pm.

as for prime minister martin … all i can say is that he could have been a great prime minister instead of a good prime minister… if he had fired his useless staff. i am truly saddened to see the prime minister step down and wish him all the best.

now back to the big political story…. LEADERSHIP!

here are the likely suspects for this race and what i think:

john manley – i expect he will be one of the first to declare or not declare. if manley does enter the race he will put forth a strong campaign… I don’t think the left of the party will buy his message… too much baggage from the chrétien years… i.e. monarchy remarks, ideas on u.s. canada relations and his speculated connections to the sponsorship scandal.

martin cauchon – he’s french so that will give him a huge boost … however, im not so sure that will be enough for this contender. here is why… 1) he was part of the chrétien years which leaves the stench of scandal on him. 2) im not so sure that he will be able to bank on the delegation from anywhere but quebec. 3) he is not a sitting member of parliament. combine these three variables and i think he is out. don’t get me wrong … he will run but im positive he will loose.

michael ignatieff – if he is smart he will stay out of this race. ignatieff is new to the party and hasn’t earned anything. his nomination was a shame and as a liberal in etobicoke-lakeshore it would be hard not to loose. i say if ignatieff has any real consideration for the party he will step up and play a role in rebuilding the party.

belinda stronach – no chance… she is an inexperienced and unproven parliamentarian and cabinet minister, doesn’t speak french well, and has not earned her ranks in the liberal party yet. like ignatieff she will need to play a role in rebuilding, rather then being ambitious.

frank mckenna – im about 99.9% sure he will run... especially after his resignation today. mckenna is obviously qualified and is a proven public official. mckenna will be a front runner in this race. however, mckenna has some setbacks. 1) premiers have dismal historic records as leaders and 2) is from new brunswick.

brian tobin – may run … i don’t think he has much of a chance. tobin is a former chretien minister (cough cough… the scandal tag). tobin also has baggage from his premiership in newfoundland and like mckenna will have a hard time overcoming the premier to leader record.

david emerson – probably a front runner if he decides to enter. emerson was an effective minister in the martin government and is a fresh face to politics, with some good ideas… this may give him an edge to emerge as a frontrunner. setbacks … not from quebec or ontario.

bob ray – may be exactly what the party needs … a new face with a vision. has a few obstacles 1) his premiership in ontario 2) not a bread in the bone liberal 3) not a member of parliament.

joe volpe – keep dreaming buddy!

consensus candidates:

carolyn bennett
john godfrey
stephane dion

other possible leadership candidates:

scott brison
allan rock

vote out vellacott

2006-01-16T22:00:00.000-04:00

http://www.voteoutvellacott.com/

also visit the cbc.ca for more on this story

cons to spend more then ndp

2006-01-13T11:22:00.000-04:00

for the first time i could have kissed bob fife. i was just watching some ctv news between class and fife pipes up that during the CON platform release to reporters was so unorganized they couldn’t even tell reporters how much their platform would cost taxpayers. according to fife they had to scramble to add up the numbers during the press conference that no cameras were aloud to. furthermore, fife told ctv newsnet that monte solberg, the CON finance critic, who he is normally really impressed by didn’t score a high grade in his books today. continuing with the theme of disillusionment fife reported that for a party that wants to be government that they need to get there act together.

clearly this should be no surprise that the CONS don’t care about the numbers. They just want to get elected at any cost … ANY COST! goodbye surplus …. hello deficits. some of the numbers that are being thrown around of how much the CON platform will costs are about 75 billion... which is expected to be more then the ndp's platform!!!!!!!!!!!!

the b word and such

2006-01-11T09:48:00.000-04:00

it seems that i only have time to blog at the most inconvient times … usually when i really have nothing to say… so for the sake of posting and keeping the site looking a little less neglected i have written a little post.

it seems as if some people are living in the clouds about bourque. i have read a few comments about this on my blog. so i will attempt to clear the air for those who cant figure this one out for themselves… first he does misinform the public by presenting what appears to be a non partisan site with only pro CON stories. if your objective is to support the harper party then make it know don’t sugar coat your shame. secondly, bourque’s little blurbs that appear are quite unfounded… particularly ones pertaining to party organizers and so called leadership contenders. i have no idea where he comes up with this stuff but he should come back down to earth.

as for negative ads… at no time have i stated that i do not agree with them. what i did allure to is that if your going to go negative don’t try and cover it up like the conservatives did. as far as im concerned if someone said something or did something its fair game for public debate, but misconstruing facts like a certain party ;) is unacceptable.

ANOTHER NEW NEG CON AD

2006-01-03T23:04:00.000-04:00

flying home today I was able to take advantage of my flight’s onboard satellite tv… and what should appear… another negative CON ad. This one was not the one which I cought yesterday, but the one which was posted by Liberal 4 Life... and what network did it appear on???? TSN… during the pre game show for the canada game. I figure the ad aired around 6:15. I assumed this ad would be out eventually, if it was real. what I found shocking is that at the end of the ad and no where in the ad was there was an authorization from an official agent for the cons… i‘m not an expert on election law… but that doesn’t seem quite right? i could be mistakend ... maybe the small tv in the back of the airplane seat cut it off but im about 99.9% sure about this.

On another note... this ad is not on the conservative website, just like the last negative ad and i expect the more blogging that is done on the ad the sooner it will be up on their site.

anyhow … the past twenty four hours have been interesting… this site has received more hits then it has in the last four weeks. i would like to attempt to give the links to those who referenced my blog…. Cherniak on Politics, Red Tory and Andrew Coyne. if i have left you out please let me know and i will make sure i give you a link.

CONS CON VOTERS WITH NEW NEG AD!

2006-01-02T16:50:00.000-04:00

i was just watching the senator’s game on TSN and what should appear… a CON ad. not the one with the prime minister martin in black or white, but one which pounds the ears of the voter with the message corruption, corruption, corruption. It includes clips of dingwal with his infamous 'entitlements' phrase as well as the prime minister saying “the liberal party is not corrupt”. the pm’s phrase is re-dubbed throughout the commercial, while people in a restaurant look at a tv st in disgust. I wish i could write a more detailed analysis of the spot, but it caught me off guard because it is not yet on the CON website and because of the CON “they’ll go neg” ad.

just another example of tory hypocrisy and deceitfulness.

big thanks to mark ... you can see the ad on his blog @ http://nottawa.blogspot.com/

charest support for harper … good for martin

2005-12-22T01:54:00.000-04:00

I can’t believe that the media isn’t giving the charest endorsement of harper’s crazy plan a closer look.

Here’s why…

first if you look at the polls meticulously… the liberals and the bloc have been fairly steady in their support levels (bloc 50% - libs 30%... give or take a few points). the conservatives have hovered around the 10% mark. secondly we must consider that the spike in support for the bloc happened after the sponsorship scandal was exposed. immediately liberal support went to the bloc… so where are the CONS going to get their support from??? not the liberals… their support has been robbed like the quickie mart… its not going any lower! The CONS will get their votes from the dissatisfied federalists who are reluctantly supporting the bloc.

so let’s say there are some gains for the CONS (and that is a big if), its not going to be at the expense of the liberals. applying what I have mentioned above one can logically speculate that the support for the CONS will come from the bloc and actually help the liberals in tctc quebec ridings, by means of increased vote spliting.

regardless of what CON spinners are saying… the charest support for harper's policy announcment is not a testemate to harper’s brilliance … rather his stupidity for nipping the bait.