Saturday, December 31, 2005

 

Happy 2006

Drive safe. Posting will return with a greater degree of frequency on Jan 4, 2006.

 

Caption It

My *musty* sure comes in handy up North!!

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

 

Caption It

Can I get some new advisors, Santa?

 

While you were egg nogging....

... the Liberal war room was busy trying to erode whatever lead they have amassed. Moldy has written on more than one occasion that Mr. Dithers is surrounded by a bunch of thugs who can't govern, but sure can scare the shit out of people. Herle, Reid and now Michael Klander are goons, nothing more.

You can't access Klander's blog since it has gone dark, however, Stephen Taylor has been keeping tabs on the creep for awhile and has some great nuggets on his blog.

Hopefully this adds some wind to the sails of all the other parties.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

 

Economics vs Politics

Why does the *supposed* party of small government and no business subsidies want to complicate Canadian lives with a tax credit for anything that moves and transfers to business in another name - i.e. agriculture and fisheries?

Do we need a more complicated tax code and more employees at the Customs and Revenue Agency? Or do we just need lower personal and corporate tax rates and a simplified system?

It was interesting to hear Stephen Harper profess his love for all things rural today when you know as an economist he doesn't believe in much what he speaks. I must profess to not know enough about the Wheat Board and many of the supply management issues, but what I do know is that the Conservatives are wanting engineer the market and that sounds like socialism to me - a word that is now dreaded in most parts of rural Canada. Interesting what stances parties will take to win seats. It sounds very similar to the Liberal gun pledge.

 

Extreme Survival Quiz

Here is hoping that you never need to use some of these skills.

 

Canadian Olympic Team

Today is the big day when the Team Canada brass makes a series of tough decisions and the world finds out who will wear the red and white in Italy. As a request to my good buddy Sal I am taking a stab at predicting who I believe should be on the team -parenthesis indicates those who will make it - i.e. safe choices.



Goal

Martin Brodeur
Curtis Joseph
Marty Turco (Roberto Luongo)

Defense

Scott Niedermayer
Chris Pronger
Robyn Regher
Rob Blake
Wade Redden
Ed Jovanoski
Dan Boyle (Adam Foote)

Forwards

Joe Sakic
Jarome Iginla
Vincent Lecavalier

Dany Heatley
Joe Thornton
Simon Gagne

Brad Richards
Rick Nash
Shane Doan

Brendan Shanahan
Sidney Crosby
Jason Spezza (Martin St.Louis)

Todd Bertuzzi (Ryan Smyth)

Taxi squad

Martin St Louis (Jason Spezza)
Roberto Luongo (Marty Turco)
Dion Phaneuf (Phaneuf)

Either way my prediction is Gold. Your predictions, as always, are welcome.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

 

Election Day 21

I think the campaign is about to go negative!

 

Caption It


 

Jon Stewart would be *proud*

Our media maybe, according to Peter Kent and other Conservatives biased - insert Toronto Star, CBC and Globe and Mail, however, at least in our country journalists are still free to write stories. They are, in fact, free of propaganda.

Bush's team seems to believe that Amercians are fools that can be fed bullshit and they will like it.

I join the millions of Americans who countdown the days until they can get some real leadership in the White House, not some puppet of the neo-conservative movement. I think Cheney and the gang have done enough damage to the country for one lifetime.

 

Is this our future?

It seems like we are destined for at least one more minority government before Canadians find a leader and a party they can embrace.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

 

Election Day 19



Liberals

If it weren't for candidates in Calgary, would anyone have attended the "rally" yesterday? At least Paul went there, however, a trip to Edmonton would be better for him, the party and Anne.



NDP

Can Jack get a bounce or any momentum from the debates? They are really only competitive in about 30 ridings now and even there they struggle. The party needs to recapture support in Saskatchewan, gain ground in Ontario and come up the middle in Ontario ridings. No small feat.

Are there any other blasts from the past they could convince to run? Phil Edmonston - the only NDP MP ever elected in Quebec? Nelson Riis - the man who should have been leader?

Bloc

Gilles had a rally at the Spectrum in snowy Montreal. He really is playing the rock star card.

Conservatives

Common man Stephen Harper doesn't know the price of eggs and milk? Nine times out ten it wouldn't matter, however, when you play the "We are just like you card" it matters.

Harper continues to campaign like it is 1979. Charter of Rights and Freedoms, what Charter?


Julie Bélanger has been added to the blog list. She is based in Moncton and is providing me with some excellent - I think - analysis of the campaign. Her best post is why everyone should register their domain names. This is really a generational issue and the older generation can't understand why this isn’t a crime?

 

Gob maybe back

Arrested Development may get a second chance. At least somebody in the entertainment business has some brains. This is easily one of the best shows ever on television. The writing and actor are super!

 

A bad week for the Simpsons

Ashlee collapsed in Japan amidst the pressure of promoting her new album with no ability to carry a live tune and zero talent. There is no truth to the rumour that her fans stayed at the event to hear the rest of the concert on tape.

FYI - The divorce papers are in. Nick can now resume his career on "Dancing with the Stars 3: Floor Ballet" or as a Sidney Crosby look-a-like.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

 

Debate the Sequel

Election Day 18 and counting.

The first English debate offered a few highlights. The debate was better than the product that aired on Thursday.

A quick scorecard:

Duceppe: C-

His performance was weak even if you factor in the 2nd language issue. He stumbled on the negotiation for a new Quebec and made a big gaffe - which no leader took advantage of - by stating an issue should be left alone when previously dealt with by the majority. Does this sound familiar? Sovereignty, nope same sex.

Harper: B

A calm and disciplined performance. He sure knows there platform and can score points with the line that all Canadians will see the benefit in the reduction of the GST. He is still in a dream world on the notion of a free vote and the not-withstanding clause. Constitutional experts and lawyers agree, however, he continues to double speak.

He also scores well on the need for a fresh start. He needs to emphasize more what strengths the country has and where we are going.

Layton: B+

It is easy to score big when you are a bit player. Jack is getting better at landing blows. He is completely ignoring Harper and has targeted Martin. Layton is at his best when he calm and focusing on social injustice. He does, however, tend to get long winded and ends up sounding like a yappy, annoying dog.

He is correct to point out that the NDP wants to make the House of Commons work and they have a proven track record. He does not to state that a vote for the NDP will send a NDP MP to Ottawa. I think everyone knows how politics works and we don’t need a Politics 100 lesson.

Martin: B-

The Prime Minister can take a breather, finally. After two solid nights of the other 3 leaders ganging up on him, he managed to score a few blows himself. He threw a couple of jabs Harper's way on same sex and Iraq.

His best line, scripted or not, was the passionate defence of Quebec. I bet we will hear more of that in the days to come. He actually sounded like a leader.

Martin, however, also has some serious weaknesses though. He waves his hands around way too much and it makes the viewer dizzy. Also, he can’t answer how much money the average Canadian will save with his tax cuts.


 

University of Sextern Ooooontario

The University of Western Ontario is investigating an incident in which a female first-year student performed a full striptease and lap dance in October for several males in a residence bedroom. Readers probably are yawning at this point, however, the ivory tower is not amused since graphic photos soon were distributed and are now over the Internet.

This is every university's worst nightmare even though there is no way of preventing this behaviour. Individuals attending universities are adults and making their own decisions. This does not, however, help the parental insecurities about residences and does little to dissuade select opinions about higher learning institutes. A student(s) getting caught doing something undesirable on campus and having it hit the various media outlets is bad news.

On the other hand, Orientation 2006 should be interesting at UWO. Prospective male students will likely not grumble too loud about the living conditions in residence and some fathers, uncles and neighbours may visit students - more than little Johnny wants or needs.

The pics are here.

Read some of the news coverage here.

Friday, December 16, 2005

 

Hors La Loi

President George W. Bush is under the gun again south of the border. The President stands accused of trampling civil liberties in his country on his pursuit of every bogeyman in the closet.

On Friday, The New York Times broke a story claiming that Bush secretly signed an order authorizing the National Security Agency (NSA) to eavesdrop on Americans who were communicating with individuals overseas to determine if they had terrorist ties. Bush, without confirming or denying the report that he OK'd eavesdropping on U.S. citizens in 2002, defended his actions since September 11, 2001, saying he has done everything "within the law" to protect the American people.

The 2nd term for George Bush has been an overwhelming failure. Every poll, spare one (likely conducted in Crawford), indicates the President's job approval, vision for the country and plan for Iraq are all wrong.

The Senate has compounded the Bush Administration's problems by rejecting efforts to renew expiring provisions of the Patriot Act, dealing a major blow to both Bush and the Republican leadership.

 

Leo, you will be missed

West Wing actor John Spencer, 58, died of a heart attack today.

 

The two hour snoozer - Election Day 17

Is it just me or did the debates actually get worse? No leader came out of there with a leg up. All performed reasonable well and all had their small errors and strong comments. The format, however, was a sleeper.

My suggestion for the next election is to scrap the French debates. The two, separate language discussion sessions just do not work for a federal election. A new format with the "language of your choice" would work way better and here is why.

One, the French language debate is really a debate about 1 province (although there were questions from outside Quebec and questions about minority language outside the province) and that isn’t fair. The party leaders pandered all night to the voters in a single province where two parties will win seats. A single debate would not disallow French or English to be spoken but would actually ensure some sense of fairness to the discussion.

Second, one or two less language debates free up time to have policy discussions. Why not have the party leaders draw names and have them debate each other for one hour on a range of issues up to 3 times. Each of the leaders go one on one for one hour with a set of questions and see who has the best vision for Canada.

Here is hoping the major television networks realize that the debates are meant to inform voters not put them to sleep.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

 

I love this Northern European welfare state

Appearing at Yuk Yuks nightly - Stephen Harper. Here are some highlights you can expect to hear.

"Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States."

"In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance."

"The important point is that Canada is not a bilingual country. It is a country with two languages. And there is a big difference."

"Let's take the New Democratic Party, the NDP, which won twenty-one seats. The NDP could be described as basically a party of liberal Democrats, but it's actually worse than that, I have to say. And forgive me jesting again, but the NDP is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men."

"The leadership of the Conservative Party was running the largest deficits in Canadian history. They were in favour of gay rights officially and officially for abortion on demand."

Try the veal.

read full text of the speech here.

Tim Powers and the Conservatives can try to spin this anyway they want, however, they are just wrong to say these comments aren't relevant. First, Harper wants to be Prime Minister and his previous writings, speeches and beliefs matter. He is entitled to change his mind, however, he hasn't indicated that he has done that.

Second, anyone who reads the speech can see that it is not "tongue in cheek" as Powers suggests but one man's personal opinion. There was no humour intended in it. The speech was designed to be informative.

Finally, if the Conservatives weren't concerned about it why, after the story became public Wednesday night, did the icon on the council web site that had provided a link to Mr. Harper's speech disappear?

 

Election Day 16

All parties prepare for the debates in Vancouver and Saskatchewan residents, especially those in Battlefords-Llyodminster, rejoice as Jim Pankiw is back and attempting to return to Ottawa as an independent.

Liberals

A good game of verbal tennis with the American Ambassador.

Bloc

Gilles wants to reach out to Anglophones in Quebec and believes they have a place in an independent Quebec. FYI - still no sign of an English version of their website. Your future English Quebec, second class citizen with a pad and paper.

NDP

The NDP has apparently recruited former Governor General and Manitoba Premier Ed Schreyer to run in the Selkirk/Interlake riding, which is just north of Winnipeg between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis in the west and Lake Winnipeg in the east.

Interesting, not likely to win or make a difference, but interesting none the less.

Conservatives

Harper, see previous post, gets in trouble for a previous speech discusses his, hmmm, love for this country.

Ezra Levant is in the news. A nice college photo is posted on the Liberal website discussing Stephan Harper's double speak. Harper has come out in favour of democratic reform, however, it is a little rich coming from a guy who was parachuted into his current riding and pushed Levant aside. Levant is a good sport about the photo that was used and has never really complained publicly about being strong armed out. The best part is that he has posted on the Western Standard's blog that he actually looked like that.

 

Too hot for TV

Elton John's new show, the Red Piano, in Vegas has been designed and directed by David LaChapelle. The show blends together Elton's incredible music (pre-Disney sell out) and showmanship with David LaChapelle’s creativity.

The show, which can be seen next season in Vegas, is coming to the small screen. NBC, however, has declared that some portions of it are too hot for television. Pamela Anderson appears in few sequences wearing next to nothing (which is nothing new, is there anyone who hasn't seen her naked?) and dancing with the assistance of a pole. The network, not impressed, has pulled that portion. This is yet another example of American hypocrisy - guns and violence on television are ok. Sex (or any reference or hint) of it is taboo or indecent.

See the clips here.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

 

Sad, but true

Further proof that not everyone should be encouraged to have children. Two women in in Indiana went to Kokomo's Big Daddy's strip club early Sunday morning and get shit bombed. While that's not a crime, the fact the ladies left Eagle's 22-year-old newborn son in an unheated car for several hours outside the floor ballet is.

Local police reported the temperature outside at about 32 degrees at 3 AM, when they were called to the scene after a bar patron spotted the unattended baby, who was later examined at a local hospital and appeared unharmed.

Is the one on the left a Kristen Dunst look-a-like?

Read the full police file here.

 

But can it mow my lawn?

Is there anything an iPod can't do? You now have to strike finding a date off that list. Everyone knows that it can be difficult, especially if you don’t have the time to go out or a good wingman, hence the rise of speed dating and lava life. Now, however, finding a date, maybe a wheel scroll away. It have never been easier now that iPods are equipped with video.

PodDater is a service that lets you look, listen, and watch videos for someone who could possibly be your perfect match. The service is the first of its kind, bringing the online dating experience together with the popularity of an iPod.

Getting in on the action is simple. Just go to the site, join, look for potential matches, and download their videos straight to your iPod. You can even create your own video profile so that special someone can find you. The whole thing is free, for now.

 

Election Day 15

Conservatives

The Conservative Party continues their policy announcement-a-day pace. Their commitment on defense is a real national issue. It is not clouded in provincial-federal relations and is clearly a federal responsibility.

The Conservative party would boost Canada's ability to project its values around the world with more military aircraft and a new airborne battalion. Harper said the new battalion and large strategic lift aircraft would be based. The Conservatives would also buy planes to replace the military's aging fleet of Hercules aircraft. This is the main difference between the Conservative stance and the previous Liberal announcements.

Harper had the best line of the early election. Harper, in Trenton, ON, said that hitchhikers get to their destination, but they don't get to pick the route or the timing," he said, referring to recent missions in which the Canadian military had to rely on U.S. or Russian aircraft.

NDP

Trotting out Shirley Douglas and banging the healthcare drum. Desperate times call for dreadful measures.

Liberals

Paul Martin supports an elected senate, IF, there can be regional balance attained. He is just waiting for someone who could set the ball rolling on that debate or begin the decision making process, hmm, like the Prime Minister. Or, some guy who promised to address the democratic deficit.

The US Ambassador tears a strip off Paul Martin and Martin jumps in the polls. See story tomorrow.

Monday, December 12, 2005

 

Election Day 14

The BC NDP supporter is not routing web surfers landing on various Canadian policeforces to the federal NDP site. Instead he know brings them to a page dedicated to ensure all individuals know the Conservative party are "religious nuts."

Liberals

The wine in Southwestern Ontario is great and we love tradespeople.

Bloc

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe says a sovereign Quebec would be spared the fallout of any future cases of mad cow disease in Canada.

Duceppe speaking to farmers in eastern Quebec said that during the most recent mad cow crisis, Mexico was spared international bans on its beef because it is a separate country from Canada and the United States.

A wonderful geographic tip from Duceppe. Maybe the Quebec dollar would worth more than the peso?

New Democrats

More money for kids. There a few differences between this announcement and the Liberals. The one or two subtlities need to be explore. First, the NDP have no regard for federal-provincial relations. Damn the Constitution!

Next, the party would introduce a Child Care Act to ensure that federal funding for child care is targeted at licensed, high-quality, non-profit child care. They would invest $1.8 billion next year, with annual increases of $250 million for the next three years. This would create 200,000 additional spaces in the first year, with another 25,000 spaces annually after that.

Finally, they are calling for an increase in the federal child tax credit of $1,000 phased in over four years in order to help lower-income families cover child care costs and meet other essential expenses.

Conservative

Another day, another tax credit. This time the credit is targetted at getting young Canadians off the couch and active. This innitiative is well meaning, however, the delivery of the benefit is off base. It is true that Canadian youth need to put down the playstation controller and pick up a skipping rope or lace up hockey skates, however, this tax credit will do little to ensure this happens.

The Conservatives once again do not understand that the problem with youth inactivity is not lack of money. They are falling victim to the common belief of the left that the major barrier preventing individuals and families from activities is financial. This tax credit will just lower the taxes of the middle and upper income earners.

The real problem with these tax credits is that the Conservatives are loosing the niche of the smaller government. Each announcement further complicates the tax system and makes the tax system harder to understand. Lower taxes and simplified rate is the way to go.

The latest polls seem to show the Liberal gun annoucement working. Hmm, who know?

Sunday, December 11, 2005

 

Loyality is priceless

Scott Reid will never lose his job with Mr. Dithers because he is too stupid and too faithful to recognize problems. This election alone the PMO spokesperson has let a few wonderful statements slip:

Telling Alberta to blow him!

Indicating that Canadians will blow the $1,200 baby bonus from Stephen Harper on beer and popcorn. This comment was brought up on Question Period this morning, however, there is no evidence floating around on the web. TIPS are encouraged.

This is the same guy who was locked in the Grewal mess, has made a series of other errors and is just a poor communicator for a Prime Minister.

Scott Reid, the prime minister's director of communications, reportedly said in an interview that the Conservative childcare plan of giving households $1,200 per year for each child under six would just be spent on beer and popcorn.

John Duffy, appearing for the Liberals on Question Period, stood by Reid’s statement and did a good job a recasting the issue.

"The fact is there is absolutely nothing to stop somebody from pocketing Stephen Harper's $1,200 supposed child care baby bonus and spending it however the heck they want," he said. He went onto to say that the Liberal plan will create more daycare spaces.

This issue is much the same as post-secondary education theere is no shortage of demand for childcare spots (education spots), however, in most of the country there is a shortage of supply.

On a policy level, what's the best way to for governments to assist parents (students): By providing more daycare (classroom) space or through direct financial aid to parents for them to spend as they see fit?

 

Best shootout goal of the new NHL

Wow.

 

Northern Ontario pollster predicts Conservative majority

Sudbury pollster Paul Seccaspina is predicting that the Conservatives will win a majority government in the Jan. 23 federal election. This notion goes against all the national, regional and local polls and pundits who are predicting a minority for either the Conservatives or Liberals.

But, it got Gregory D. Morrow thinking about what exactly would it take to form a Conservative majority government, and whether that is even possible. So, he ran a few simple scenarios through my election forecast model. I simply asked, holding all other parties constant, at what percentage shift from Liberal to Conservative, applied equally across all regions (including Quebec), would result in the Conservatives getting 155 seats? It is a theoretical calculation, of course, but it is a rough approximation.

The answer: The Conservatives would have run the table outside Quebec and see almost a 9 point pure shift from Liberal to Conservative across every region from the 2004 election. This is going to be virtually Impossible.

This would produce the following seat count:
Conservative 155
Liberal 71
Bloc Quebecois 59
NDP 23

This would correspond to the following support levels:

NATIONAL
Conservative 38.1%
Liberal 28.2%
NDP 15.7%
Bloc Quebecois 12.4%

ONTARIO
Conservative 40.0% - 58 seats
Liberal 36.2% - 35 seats
NDP 18.1% - 13 seats

QUEBEC
Bloc Quebecois 48.9% - 59 seats
Liberal 25.4% -12 seats
Conservative 17.3% - 4 seats
NDP 4.6% - 0 seats

BRITISH COLUMBIA
Conservative 44.8% - 30 seats
NDP 26.5% - 3 seats
Liberal 20.1% - 3 seats

ALBERTA
Conservative 70.1% - 28 seats
Liberal 13.5% - 0 seats
NDP 9.6% - 0 seats

SASKATCHEWAN/MANITOBA
Conservative 48.8% - 21 seats
NDP 23.5% - 3 seats
Liberal 21.9% - 4 seats

ATLANTIC CANADA
Conservative 39.0% - 15 seats
Liberal 37.7% - 14 seats
NDP 19.8% - 3 seats

These seat numbers are not credible in Quebec - the Bloc is way stronger and the Conservatives are still in single digits and will not win a single seat. The numbers in both the Atlantic and BC are just comical.

Two other election prediction sites to read:
Democratic space - Leger polling results in Saskatchewan for early December predicted 7 Liberal seats is - insert descriptive here - laughable.

Jord.ca

 

Campaign low light

Is Calgary growing at such a clip that it now includes Richmond, BC? Not likely, so why is Calgary West Conservative MP Rob Anders sending mail to that riding? This just one of a few questions that voters are left to ponder.

Anders has sent out a householder - fully paid for by Canadian taxpayers - asking their views on same sex-marriage, crystal meth and crime. The survey bears a masked man with a gun on the front, under the question: "Are you concerned about the impact of the Crystal Meth epidemic in your community?"

The mailer concludes: "Tell Paul Martin to get tough on crime by filling out this questionnaire."

There are four survey questions:

- Do you like the way Paul Martin spends your taxes?

- Are the Liberals doing enough to fight crime?

- Do you support homosexual sex marriage?

- Do you think more should be spent on the military?

Regardless of a person views on same sex relations, it is not a criminal offence. What is even more amazing is that Anders refers to the same sex marriage question as "homosexual sex marriage". What does that entail? Is that a same sex marriage biggie sized?

This is not the first time Anders has caused a stir in federal politics for all the wrong reasons. The Nelson Mandela incident serves as an excellent example. In 2001, the Federal Government decided to give Mandela honorary Canadian citizenship, making him only the second foreigner to receive such an honour. Deepak Obhrai, the Conservative MP for Calgary East, announced that Mandela was "Not only...an international symbol of resistance to prejudice and injustice, but...also a symbol for peace and forgiveness."

Nelson Mandela is the man widely hailed for inspiring the peaceful collapse of the apartheid regime in South Africa, under which whites and nonwhites were forcibly separated from one another, and a white minority ruled over the oppressed majority of the population. Elected deputy National President of the African National Congress in 1952, he advocated non-violent resistance to the apartheid regime. However, the regime viewed him as a threat, and after the military massacred peaceful demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960, the ANC launched the MK, a paramilitary wing to fight the oppressive regime. Although the MK only attacked symbolic targets under Mandela's watch, Mandela was arrested, and spent 27 years in jail. In 1991, he was elected President of South Africa, and continues to serve as an eloquent statesman, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Rob Anders disagreed, calling Mandela, "a communist and a terrorist," decrying Mandela as "the politically correct Left-lib poster boy of today", and predicting that he would be forgotten in 30 years.

"Would you want to live in Johannesburg today?" he asked, implying that South Africans, 75% of whom were stripped of their rights for half of a century, would have been better off under the apartheid regime.

Mandela, famous for his willingness to reconcile with his oppressors, apparently then attempted to phone Anders to smooth things out, but Anders refused to take his call.

Rob Anders has to be the worst MP in all of Canada. Even Conservative pundits have little use for the man. Don Martin wrote this about Anders in 2002 - "In a Commons loaded with lightweights, Calgary West's MP almost defies gravity." The Calgary Herald, January 13, 2002. p. A9.

 

You will be missed

Groundbreaking comedian Richard Pryor died Saturday of a heart attack at the age of 65. He was one funny man and helped take stand-up comedy to new heights. Plus, he paved the way for other African-American comedians like Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

 

Campaign Day 12

The NDP

NDP attack ads are up. They are as hard hitting as the dippers are going to get, however, they are not bad, just a little shy on facts. Canadians aren't getting shutout from the Liberals - major investments in early-learning and productivity were announced in the past 18 months. Plus, personal taxes are on the way down.

The more important error is that they continue to rail against corporate tax cuts. Canada needs a strong business community and the current tax rates are too high. Business - small, medium and large, is a good thing. It isn't the government’s job to create jobs, just to create the economic and social condition for this to happen.

Liberals

We are not anti-American, only anti-Bush. We love Clinton.

We love cars and the environment. We would like to produce more cars to pollute the environment. It is all ok because Buzz likes us and has a new "hugging" thing for Grandpa Martin.

The Liberals believe in half-ass gun control. Goodale's aid should be among the 7% of Canadians now looking for work.

Hélène Chalifour-Sherrer, a former Liberal MP and current candidate in Quebec City, is wallpapered by the Bloc for telling the truth. Apparently campaigns aren't the time for honest discussion. Sherrer politely mentioned to Quebeckers that they are dependent on Alberta and Ontario for transfer payments.

Gilles Duceppe pounced on this stating that Quebec is not a province of beggars and this is yet another reason why they need to be a sovereign state. Is there a better offer out there? Quebec is DEPENDENT on federal transfers and Gilles that is a bad thing. Check your math, independence doesn't erase that. In fact, it likely makes it worse.

Per capita, they are no are not nearly as bad as Manitoba, however, they are dependent.

PS - The party has an English only blog up and running. Have they really written off the entire province of Quebec, half of New Brunswick, northern Ontario and enclaves in western Canada?

Bloc Quebecois

Gilles is campaigning in, wait for it, Quebec.

Conservatives

Another day, another policy announcement. Today's is money for Cancer networking. $50 million dollars per year for 5 years to enhance the information sharing of cancer agencies.

Yesterday saw Harper role out the Senior's plan. Harper unveiled tax cuts for seniors designed to allow them to keep more of their money. A valid and smart policy move. It was his last announcement that raises some questions.

The Conservatives are a party that believes in less government, correct? So why pander to seniors by promising a national seniors council to act as a sort of go-between to pass seniors concerns along to the government. This is a waste of time and money. Every citizen has their various stories about getting the "run around from government" and why should seniors have an intermediary to assist them. It appears like Harper was looking for *something* for the old people.

Students often get poor treatment on their quest for loans and grants, do they not deserve a council? Recent immigrants have a difficult time making the transition to Canada, is a council their answer?

 

Best Election Photoshop to date

Election Night in Canada by Doug Webber vai Mercer

Friday, December 09, 2005

 

Does your police force not support corporate tax cuts?

Are they against the war in Iraq? For same-sex marriage?

That is what David Bedford, a BC resident and NDP supporter, would have you believe. The police forces, are to say the least, not impressed.

Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Windsor and Edmonton forces are all being directed to www.ndp.ca by the school boy prank. It is worth mentioning that the real websites still work and the chances of someone searching the web during an emergency are slim to none - 911 is a tad quicker.

It is funny that the NDP makes no mention of this on the website, however, they encourage Mr. Dithers to stop the "stunts" and take action. The party should at least issue a release to distance themselves from this.

 

Arrêtez-le

The Bloc Quebecois' publicly stated goal of 50% the popular vote in Quebec needs to be stopped dead in its tracks for two reasons. One, a number that high will further add wind to the sails of separatists. The provincial government is weak and no national federal party is an option.

Last election far too many federalists voted Bloc because it was a safe protest vote. This time the protest stakes are too high. Don't send the wrong message with your anger; vote for any of the other national parties.

Second, each vote the Bloc gets is $1.75 in the bank for the sovereignty movement. The election financing laws reward parties on their support.

 

Cancel the invite to the Freak Show Dinner Party

Gary Glitter admits to sharing a bed with a ten-year old girl. The one-hit wonder (Rock & Roll, Pt. 1) Glitter has confessed to his lawyer he has shared his bed with a 10-year-old girl. His Vietnamese lawyer also revealed his client has admitted to showering with small girls, but insisted he treated them as a grandfather would.

Glitter's one hit was constantly played in sporting venues in the 1980s and 1990s. It is now the ubiquitous sports anthem. In fact, all his songs sound the same - a heavy drum with short, interludes of background singers and minimal vocal from GG.

This is not his first run in with the law for these types of offences. He pleaded guilty in Britain in 1999 to 54 charges of child pornography after kiddie porn was found on his PC. Glitter ended up serving two months in prison and was placed on a child sex offender list. After his release, he went underground, turning up in such easy-to-find locals as Cuba and then Cambodia. He was expelled from the latter, though no charges were ever filed or any crime was alleged to have been committed, and eventually settled in Vietnam.

Gary Glitter now will get what is coming to him - life, or what is left of it, in a Vietnamese prison.

 

(Bare)foot in the mouth

The early part of the election has seen various candidates (and leaders) make their share of verbal gaffes - e.g. Lapierre, Ducceppe, etc.. Today, however, marks the first day when a politician has made a punishable error. Conservative candidate (and two-term MP) Brian Pallister, when asked about his leadership aspirations, indicated that he is giving a "women's answer". This is perplexing on a host of levels.

Pallister is running for re-election Manitoba. But he's also testing the waters for a possible run to become the next leader of the provincial Progressive Conservatives.

"I am copping what's known as a woman's answer, isn't it? It's a sort of fickle kind of thing," he said, responding to criticism that a federal election campaign is no time for a candidate to be examining other job prospects.

Pallister comments just entrench the notion that the Conservative Party is "scary" and is a party of angry, white males. Also, it is unclear what exactly he gains by shooting off his mouth (as he did during the David Dingwall affair). The Conservative party has worked hard to soften their image and their recent ads *attempt* to reach out to female voters.

Women have difficulty securing roles and nominations in political parties. For example, why is a Liberal star candidate Deborah Coyne asked / encouraged to run against NDP Leader Jack Layton while the other star Toronto candidate, Michael Ignatieff, runs in a rather safe riding in Etobicoke?

The Liberals were smart enough not to vote for a candidate, and former provincial cabinet minister, who made sexist comments in Newfoundland. The Conservatives appear to still be learning.

FYI - Brian can be reached for comment here.

 

Who knows the number for child services in LA?

The Spears - Federline offspring is just 3 months old and already the two idiots are musing about divorce. He can't stop partying with the guys and she has no time for this. She often strikes back by partying with the gals. A little tit for tat.

I am sure that there are thousands of Americans who would happily adopted that child since these two children don't seem fit to raise their arms.

 

Election Day 10.5

The debates are one week away in Vancouver.

Various polls continue to show the Liberals with either a small, medium or insurmountable lead. There is one important thing to keep in mind all the Conservative campaign activity, it could have a delayed effect on polls. Once all their policy is released, people may take a more permanent, positive view of the party and leader.

The New Democrats

A solid announcement on health care funding. More money for primary and home care. This is not a vote grabber, but rather a necessity for the party that claims to be the champion of public health care. Also, not a bad strategy to target seniors since they actually vote.

Troop pullout of Afghanistan - Not sure this does anything but solidify the peaceniks.

Bloc Quebecois

Gilles enjoyed a wonderful 5 a 7.

Conservatives

The party unveiled another plank of their social policy platform and it is chalked full of, wait for it, tax credits. There are credits for tools, books (a $500 credit - max - at 16% is $80; about 10% of what the average student actually spends on textbooks) and equipment but no plan to increase non-repayable grants for students. Tax credits are bad social policy for two reasons: One, they are universal and everyone gets them; even those who don’t have financial need. In post-secondary education policy this is important since there is such a wide gap between high and low-income participation. Therefore, the majority of these credits will go to middle-to-high income students. Not good policy and definitely not going to remove a single barrier to access.

Second, tax credits are backend social policy. The student and family get access to the money during tax season, not when it is badly needed during school.

A promise to make the first $10,000 of scholarship and bursary exempt so, as Peter MacKay says, they will be easier to get. This will help a small collection of grad students or exceptional gifted students with enormous scholarships - see second last paragraph above to see who this will largely help.

The fact that the Tories addressed education is impressive and I give them full marks for including trade and apprenticeship, however, this is platform will not do anything to address the majority of the problems facing post-secondary education in the country.

Liberals

Gun control and the Liberals? Do you really want to go down that road Paul? The idea of gun control is fine, however, the registry has been an absolute disaster. So now it is so long Anne, we needed those seats in Ontario and Vancouver more.

An outright ban on handguns; how 1970's, when it was actually first made illegal. Classic Liberal non-sense. Announce something that is already law and provide an out clause for those who legally use them (target shooters) and hope that nobody knows the difference. Collectors (and other "bad guys") can keep their guns if they become target shooters. Provinces can opt out. So, basically, nothing changes. Please go about your business.

There was more money promised for police and security which is a good thing. The Investing in law enforcement, including $225 million over five years for an RCMP Advanced Community Safety and Rapid Enforcement Team, $10 million a year for 10 years to increase the number of graduating RCMP officers, $50 million over five years for a Rural Community Safety Plan to provide resources for crime prevention initiatives in communities with less that 100,000 residents, and investments to stem the illegal smuggling of firearms into Canada.

FYI - The income trust issue seems to be an axe to grind gone wild. Apparently, the accusation seems to have started with Warren Kinsella who, for some reason, “mused” on his website that “a seniors organization had been actually briefed by Ministerial aides on what was coming before it did”. He later cited CARP as the organization. CARP issued a stern denial.


Tomorrow, watch for Paul Martin and Bill Clinton in Montreal, it will be in all the Saturday papers. A nice touch for the Liberals.

 

Don't let the door hit you on the way out

Axe Body Spray has been banned in a New Brunswick school because it stinks. Young boys see the sexist ads and think that they are going to be more attractive to women; when in reality they end up smelling like a rotten pile of trash.

There are great stories about the misconceptions of Axe in the New York Daily News and Macleans. Although, campus papers refer to the product as men's cologne.

The old adage has never rung more true - Buyer beware!