Ottawa Minute

I'm in Ottawa, just finished a work-related seminar. Nevertheless, it's surprisingly non-partisan here in the nation's capital. No smearings of campaign slogans or MP posters or missing documents. I guess I had assumed Harper and the choir would be painting the town red, so to speak.

I've been buried in the books since Sunday, so I am just emerging in to the current state of the federal campaign. Here are my impressions of what has happened since the writ was dropped:
1. May was voted off of the election island (2 voted against her out of a possible 4?)
2. Harper crapped on Dion, quickly wiped it off, then apologized for it.
3. Dion said he doesn't listen to English music very well.
4. Harper promises to cut a tax on burning fossil fuels - claiming David Suzuki wanted it this way.
5. May gets re-introduced to the Big Brother household by a surprise twist in the election rules!
6. Politics on CBC states Harper has run a very careful and strategic campaign so far.

Now, I may be slightly off on all of the above 5 items, but why did Don Newman let his press gallery "puff" up Harper without interjecting about ignoring his own (election) law, the Puffin Incident, or the fact that Harper's lying when he says that "Dion will increase the GST and eliminate the child care benefit"? The Tory campaign seems to be struggling to control the agenda, as they so desperately need to do, yet it's only 72 hours old?

I think Harper will be cleaning up a lot more off himself soon enough.

Tories Bury Negative News

FICTION: Conservatives are making government more accountable to build a stronger, safer, better Canada.

FACT: Tories slammed for burying negative reports

OTTAWA -- The Harper government's timing for the release of some unflattering reports has critics scratching their heads over the Conservatives' concept of transparency.

The Tories took office promising clean, open governance and vowing not to practice the same old politics as previous governments. But they've stuck to one tried and true tactic -- releasing negative news when it will get the least media attention

Last Thursday and Friday -- on the eve of a holiday weekend -- three major reports were released late in the afternoon, leaving the opposition scrambling to respond.

The latest release -- at 5:30 p.m. Friday -- was a Foreign Affairs report on the misplacement of government documents by former foreign minister Maxime Bernier.

from
The Canadian Press

Harper Gets Rejected

Jasbier Sandhu with the Professor Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation says the brief announcement was not at all what the Sikh community was looking for.

"As soon as he spoke, he left. The Indo Canadian community right away rejected it with their hands up in the air. They totally rejected the apology that was offered."

Of course, Harper is only apologizing in local ridings to each individual community so he can try to win over votes across the country. Apologizing for the right reasons, and that reason in this case is what was done is incredibly unacceptable. However, apologizing on a regional basis only, not a national stage, which is quite apparently, only to try to win over votes in the Sikh community, is simply unacceptable.

Harper shoves his foot in his mouth, while Jason Kenney quickly tries to pull it out. Harper no longer can do his own dirty work. Harper quickly changes colours.

O Canada

I noticed on our national birthday, the Government of Canada's main web page has a splash graphic that is absurbly Conservative blue. Is the sky really that shade of blue or has it been changed?

Just to compare, here is an image from the Conservative web page and the Government of Canada splash image:

Green Day

Well - it's finally released. And I tried watching Politics with Don Newman today, but I found it very difficult to watch.

1. First batter, was Dion, who while came across as extremely confident, but also slightly unprepared for a few of the questions.
2. Second hitter, the CD Howe Institue, with a somewhat flattering opinion of the Green Shift but overly enthusiastic.
3. Third up, Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney, who says he is outraged! that Dion thinks Canadian are going to buy his tax tricks. His argument is that the Green Shift is a ploy to pay for all of the unbudgeted promises Dion has made.

Now I don't mind so much the anger and hatred Mr. Kenney pretends to have for Dion's plan. The kicker, for me, is that this opposition to the plan started before they heard of any details. The Conservatives are getting off quite easily considering that they showed their hand before any cards were dealt.

Dion was given the ability responded to their arguments (i.e., having the Auditor General monitoring tax neutrality) before the plan was revealed. Now, for anyone to believe the arguments the Conservatives make regarding this plan, should not soon forget that they made their bed before the Green Shift hotel was even open for business.

Some in the media are saying Dion will live or die by this plan -- he's walking through a door, as they paint the picture... it's just not known yet if he is walking into the room, or out from it.

Tax Freedom

How funny - the Conservative Party put up some facts about Tax Freedom Day.

The posting is copied below, but the basic Tory spew-a-thon is based upon the shampoo debate. Lather yourself in self-indulgent lies, rinse yourself of any accountability, repeat until your point of view is actually considered to be factual.

Even on the Conservative Party website, I love how often they mention the Liberals. I also find it funny how the first couple "facts" have dates associated with them. The implication being that they are real facts. And then the list gradually becomes questions. Since when were questions considered facts? Is this a fact? Some tidbit advice to Harper: Facts do not have question marks associated them.

...

Today the Fraser Institute announced that Tax Freedom Day will fall on June 14th this year, four days earlier than last year. Tax Freedom Day now falls 11 days earlier for hard working Canadians than it did under the Liberal government:

The facts:

• Tax freedom day - the day average Canadians have paid off the year's tax load and begin working for themselves - arrives Saturday, according to the Fraser Institute, which means Canadians are keeping four days' worth of earnings more than last year (Canadian Press, June 13, 2008)
• Thanks to the reduction of the goods and services tax and trimming of various provincial taxes, this year's tax freedom day falls four days earlier than in 2007. That in turn was five days sooner than in 2006, which followed a two-day gain from the June 25 in 2005 - under the Liberals (Canadian Press, June 13, 2008)
• The Conservative government is reducing taxes from a record high by cutting sales taxes, personal taxes and corporate taxes.
• Our tax plan will reduce Canadian federal taxes to their lowest level since the 1960s
• Actions taken by the Government since 2006 are providing $21 billion in incremental tax relief to Canadians and Canadian businesses this year alone. This is significant and substantial economic stimulus, equivalent to 1.4 per cent of Canada’s GDP
• Under the Conservative government, hard working Canadians are seeing the benefits. They are keeping 11 more days worth of their earnings compared to under the Liberals
• Actions taken by the Government since 2006 are providing $21 billion in incremental tax relief to Canadians and Canadian businesses this year. This is significant and substantial economic stimulus, equivalent to 1.4 per cent of Canada’s GDP
• If Stephane Dion and the Liberals had their way, how much later would Tax Freedom Day be?
• After the Dion Tax Trick, with his planned carbon tax and his musings about raising the GST, how much more of their hard earned money would Canadians being paying in taxes to pay for Dion’s numerous uncosted promises?

Duffy vs @#$*!

Mike Duffy Live 5:51pm EDT

Duffy: I raised the question earlier on whether today was Nixon to China. Stephen Harper a staunch conservative... person who has... uh, strong conservative ideologies, take someone like that and be able to reach out... uh, and in effect not have, not come on to attack because he is... so strong?

Fife: Well, I think we know that the, uh, the Reform Party, of which he was one of the original founders, uh, uh, and, and, as he was conservative there was a lot of native people who were very suspicious of the conservatives and about Mr. Harper and whether they, he actually cared about their conditions. Well, clearly, what he did today and what he spoke today, uh, puts a lie to that. He does care.

Duffy: I'm told he was in tears in the caucus.

Fife: I heard that too.

Duff: ..and of course, and he has young children. So he, I'm sure, can imagine what it's like to take those young children and send them off with strangers.

Cut! CUT! CUT!

*He* is so STRONG? *He* CARES?! *He* can imagine what it's like to take *those* young children and send 'em off?

With that lack o' thought pattern, then if he didn't have kids, I'm sure he wouldn't have a clue of what it would be like to send *those* kids off in random directions. But thank goodness, he is so great, and he does have kids. His own, in fact! Quelle surprise! He's a dad, and it's almost Father's Day.

Oh, I started (I tried. I am still trying...) to watch a complete episode of Duffy on PVR without skipping forward 10 minutes at a time because his interviews are so painful in the worst places. Most episodes I've watched seem to last about 8:13... and that includes watching the commercials.

Well, it turns out, this is not an interview, but rather a mutual foot rub over how great our Great Conservative Leader really is. Too bad we never really got to talk about Madame Couillard.

There's always hope. There's always another episode.

Fascination Street

I take an unusual delight in copying (innocently) photos of politicians (especially when they are throwing axes) and improving the photo so it speaks more about the character of the politician, and not the quality of the camera.

I will release these images on occasion, trying to release them either due to their relevance, or just as my uncontrollable humour may find them, funny.

Reid Recovered

This is, for once, pleasureable news to read - especially on the eve of the Apology in Ottawa tomorrow.

The RCMP detachment involved in this investigation have been able to save irreplaceable art by an irreplaceable artist. To have their recovery in such a short time, before they could be melted down, is an absolutely outstanding result.

I applaud the Mounties involved!


(NEWS1130) - RCMP say no charges have been laid yet, despite the recovery of 10 of the 12 Bill Reid gold art pieces stolen last month from the UBC Museum of Anthropology. And RCMP are asking for the public's help in recovering the last two items, which they believe are still in the Lower Mainland.

Poilievre and a Glass of Chardonnay

After watching the segment on CTV Newsnet regarding the Conservative Attack Ads, I now have a true distaste for the blatant smugness that Pierre Poilievre exhibits. However, this seems typical across most Conservative MPs, yet they used to accuse the Liberals of being smug a disappointingly countable number of years ago.

The new Attack Ads are smart in that they are defining the message of what Dion's proposal is all about, before Dion has even really explained what he plans to do. I do not blame the Conservatives for jumping in, when they were so feverish to define Dion as a non-Leader, this is just a natural progression for their party.

I could go in so many different directions right now about why their party has become the non-Leading party, or why the culture of the Conservative Party no longer means trying to govern towards a better Canada, but rather governing such that every item for view by the public eye, however few, is completely motivated to (attempt to) enhance the Conservative party's image rather than improving our country.

The decision to release another set of Attack Ads is partly motivated by an attempt to bully the other parties, not only trying to bash the messenger but also to thump their chest with the depth and velocity of political contributions to their party.

The fact that their ads do not have the Conservative Party logo on them means they are pretending to represent an unbiased point-of-view. Kind of like paying for your own experts to tell you something that you want to hear. I'd laugh to know who actually believes the Attack Ads are not purely the Conservative opinion and actually unbiased.

Enough for now, there is a glass of Chardonnay with my name on it.

Libby Davies Responds During Question Period

March at Dawn

The beginning of a new dawn. The genesis of a new day. A light upon which new ideas and new directions will be shawn.

But for now, I must rest.

For tomorrow, greatness awakes.

(Ye olde test post.)