The Alberta attitude around this election from what I gather is who needs it and we don’t want it right now. We are busy out here in Alberta and are burned out politically. We have had a year-long PC leadership race, a provincial election and even a few folks are engaged in the Alberta Liberal leadership contest that is currently underway.
The Albertans I talk to, from all political stripes, don’t see the need for this election and don’t understand why Harper ignored his own law to call it early. Some of the Con support is determined to stay home to send a message. That happened to Klein in 2004 where 210,000 PC votes disappeared or went to the Alliance.
Looks like campaigns in all parties in Alberta are having trouble raising money and finding volunteers and there are hardly any campaign signs up. Proof positive we are not really into this election. Indifference in Alberta is only good for Harper. Money should be no problem for the Cons either. They have bags of it and are spending it like an old-style Liberal government…trying to buy the election with attack TV ads.
The Cons are ignoring the Alberta voters this election too. Looks like most of the Alberta candidates are taking their victory in Alberta for granted. The high profile Alberta Cons seem to be doing most of their campaigning for other Con candidates in Ontario. Not at home in their own constituencies. So much for “The West Wants In” spirit of the past founders of the Harper Conservatives!
I wonder if the Cons will pull the same advertising scam taking money from local Alberta candidate budgets and swapping it into the national campaign to advertise for other candidates in Ontario and Quebec. Elections Canada says that is an illegal scheme and the Cons have sued them saying it was a legal maneuver. If the Cons are so confident in their legal position, I see no reason for them not to try the same trickery again this election. In fact if they don’t use this scam again it may be evidence that they are not as confident in the legality of their actions after all.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
A Progressive Conservative Senator Speaks up on Climate Change
Here is what a Progressive Conservative thinks about climate change…and is prepared to speak up on the subject. Elaine McCoy was appointed to the Senate by Paul Martin as a Progressive Conservative, an identity she upholds even today.
Too bad Peter MacKay sold out the Progressive Conservative Brand after saying he would never do it - and then putting that promise in writing. Shameful - but not for a Harper Conservative - like he is now.
Can you imagine Stephen Harper appointing a person to the Senate from another party? He won’t even let his own MPs talk in public, never mind allowoing Cabinet Ministers to have a voice or even a thought that is not absolutely controlled by the PMO.
If Harper controls his government so tightly today, imagine what he would do with an unfettered majority!
(h/t to James Curran)
Too bad Peter MacKay sold out the Progressive Conservative Brand after saying he would never do it - and then putting that promise in writing. Shameful - but not for a Harper Conservative - like he is now.
Can you imagine Stephen Harper appointing a person to the Senate from another party? He won’t even let his own MPs talk in public, never mind allowoing Cabinet Ministers to have a voice or even a thought that is not absolutely controlled by the PMO.
If Harper controls his government so tightly today, imagine what he would do with an unfettered majority!
(h/t to James Curran)
Time for a Reality Check on Palin and Obama
This list of contextual information about Obama and Palin recently came from a friend. It has resonance and provides some serious perspective about the choices being offiered to the American voter.
* If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig, and Track, you're a maverick.
* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become cairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian. (Oops! That's McCain - not Palin. My bad!)
* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America 's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
Do we understand the context and comparisons of the capabilities and character between the options being offered in the U.S. Presidential elections better now?
* If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig, and Track, you're a maverick.
* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become cairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian. (Oops! That's McCain - not Palin. My bad!)
* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America 's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
Do we understand the context and comparisons of the capabilities and character between the options being offered in the U.S. Presidential elections better now?
Former Reformer Rips Harper a New One
So an old-time Reform Party member has gone public and is pointing out that Harper has betrayed the original values of the folks who “brung him to the dance.” Lee Morrison was a Saskatchewan based Reform MP from 1993 – 2000 and points out his discontent in a thoughtful and damning Op-Ed in the Calgary Herald last Sunday.
Morrison called the cynical opportunism of an early election call by Harper that contradicts the spirit and sentiment of member of his own government, this also “defies statute.” That is a polite way of saying Harper has no respect for the Rule of Law or Parliament. Not the qualities of character you want to hold the most important and powerful elected office in the land.
Morrison skewers Harper for hypocrisy on fixed election dates saying, “My favourite is from Harper himself: ‘Fixed election dates stop leaders from trying to manipulate the calendar simply for partisan advantage.’” OUCH!
I have been wondering when the original Reform Party members who have integrity and are principled partisans who led the charge to Ottawa with the slogan “The West Wants In” would start telling the truth about the deceit and deception of their current “Misleader.”
Morrison is the first. Not likely to be the last.
Morrison called the cynical opportunism of an early election call by Harper that contradicts the spirit and sentiment of member of his own government, this also “defies statute.” That is a polite way of saying Harper has no respect for the Rule of Law or Parliament. Not the qualities of character you want to hold the most important and powerful elected office in the land.
Morrison skewers Harper for hypocrisy on fixed election dates saying, “My favourite is from Harper himself: ‘Fixed election dates stop leaders from trying to manipulate the calendar simply for partisan advantage.’” OUCH!
I have been wondering when the original Reform Party members who have integrity and are principled partisans who led the charge to Ottawa with the slogan “The West Wants In” would start telling the truth about the deceit and deception of their current “Misleader.”
Morrison is the first. Not likely to be the last.
If Anyone is Too Risky to Rule Over Canada It's Stephen Harper
The American election is so much more interesting but not nearly as important to Canadians as our own election. The link between the Harper Con-Trolls and the Neo-Republicans in the States is becoming more and more direct.
Harper’s Americanization of political campaigning in Canada is hardly a subtle shift but one that will have profound impact on our democracy if citizens don’t show up and stop it at the ballot box this election. Harper is a clear and present danger to our Canadian democracy.
Just look at how he ignored and ran roughshod over any semblance of independence in his Supreme Court appointment just before calling the election. He made a big deal about vetting nominees before a Parliamentary Committee last time a Supreme was appointed. This time he stacked and disbanded the independent review process. Next he abandoned his own manipulated politically motivated judicial review process - and made the Court appointment all by his lonesome. Scary, unless you like a dictatorship!
If you want to know what Harper is likely to do next and how he will conduct himself, just look at the tactics and trickery of the McCain – Palin ticket for some clues. This article entitled “McCain and Palin are Trying to Take Political Lying to the Next Level” could be a sign of the Harper times to come.
As the American economy goes into meltdown, Harper will try a position himself as the master economic manager. He will continue to mislead Canadians about Dion’s Green Shift by ignoring the tax reductions that reach most of us and the shift of tax burden on those who behaved badly towards the environment.
The truth is obviously going to be the first victim in a Harper government. We need leadership we can trust and believe…that is not Harper.
Harper is a one trick phony and insists that he alone commands his universe and that he alone controls everything. Harper is the only economist of note who is out of step with the best economic minds in the country. His ideological folly like a minimal GST cut instead of income tax cuts is one example. The heavy handed ideologically driven wipe out of billions of savings for Canadians with his sneaky and stealth of Income Trust lying is another. His denial of climate change and anemic policy of deferral of any serious action until 2050 shows he is out of touch – and dangerous -he is - yet again.
Harper is not decisive he is dangerous. He is not a leader. He is a misleader. In times where trustworthiness is necessary, Harper prefers political trickery and tactics instead governance. As we move into increasing economic uncertainty we have a man who wants a Conservative dynasty and to destroy the opposition. His personal values in this campaign are based on political nastiness and mudslinging and gamesmanship instead of the truer Canadian values like peace, order and good government?
The purpose of an election is for citizens to make informed choices about who is worthy of trust and respect to lead our country and to speak for us as an entire nation, not just the Quebec nation. Harper is not that man. His record shows his penchant for bullying and bluster. He is an old-school command and control imperialist strong-man leader like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. He campaigns like a Neo-Republican that uses Bush-Rove machinations stressing emotion over information, half truths and outright misleading manipulation of facts to gain power.
If you are looking at where the real risk lies for Canadians as we decide who should govern us you need look no further than the Bush Mini-Me – Mr. Stephen Harper and vote anybody but him and his party.
Harper’s Americanization of political campaigning in Canada is hardly a subtle shift but one that will have profound impact on our democracy if citizens don’t show up and stop it at the ballot box this election. Harper is a clear and present danger to our Canadian democracy.
Just look at how he ignored and ran roughshod over any semblance of independence in his Supreme Court appointment just before calling the election. He made a big deal about vetting nominees before a Parliamentary Committee last time a Supreme was appointed. This time he stacked and disbanded the independent review process. Next he abandoned his own manipulated politically motivated judicial review process - and made the Court appointment all by his lonesome. Scary, unless you like a dictatorship!
If you want to know what Harper is likely to do next and how he will conduct himself, just look at the tactics and trickery of the McCain – Palin ticket for some clues. This article entitled “McCain and Palin are Trying to Take Political Lying to the Next Level” could be a sign of the Harper times to come.
As the American economy goes into meltdown, Harper will try a position himself as the master economic manager. He will continue to mislead Canadians about Dion’s Green Shift by ignoring the tax reductions that reach most of us and the shift of tax burden on those who behaved badly towards the environment.
The truth is obviously going to be the first victim in a Harper government. We need leadership we can trust and believe…that is not Harper.
Harper is a one trick phony and insists that he alone commands his universe and that he alone controls everything. Harper is the only economist of note who is out of step with the best economic minds in the country. His ideological folly like a minimal GST cut instead of income tax cuts is one example. The heavy handed ideologically driven wipe out of billions of savings for Canadians with his sneaky and stealth of Income Trust lying is another. His denial of climate change and anemic policy of deferral of any serious action until 2050 shows he is out of touch – and dangerous -he is - yet again.
Harper is not decisive he is dangerous. He is not a leader. He is a misleader. In times where trustworthiness is necessary, Harper prefers political trickery and tactics instead governance. As we move into increasing economic uncertainty we have a man who wants a Conservative dynasty and to destroy the opposition. His personal values in this campaign are based on political nastiness and mudslinging and gamesmanship instead of the truer Canadian values like peace, order and good government?
The purpose of an election is for citizens to make informed choices about who is worthy of trust and respect to lead our country and to speak for us as an entire nation, not just the Quebec nation. Harper is not that man. His record shows his penchant for bullying and bluster. He is an old-school command and control imperialist strong-man leader like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. He campaigns like a Neo-Republican that uses Bush-Rove machinations stressing emotion over information, half truths and outright misleading manipulation of facts to gain power.
If you are looking at where the real risk lies for Canadians as we decide who should govern us you need look no further than the Bush Mini-Me – Mr. Stephen Harper and vote anybody but him and his party.
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