It's Time to Call Them Out

Okay, back to the grind. Summer is coming to a close and election fever has never been this high. It was not even this high last year, when Harper decided to call a snap election despite the promise of a fixed election date. (Although Harper called an election for personal benefit, doesn't the law still stand that the next election is October 19, 2009? But whatev.)

The funny thing is how many columnists are saying this election is unwarranted, unnecessary, and unbecoming. They blame Ignatieff of many crimes after the announcement that the Liberal Party will no longer prop up the Conservatives. This, in my own humble opinion, is exactly the right of any party elected to the House of Commons. Any party, any member, at any time does not, by default, have to vote in such a manner to ensure the government survives each and every day.

Harper has governed for far too long as if he had a majority and it should rest squarely on his feet if he refuses to cooperate with another party in a minority situation. Just because the Liberals may vote against the governement does not necessarily mean there will be a vote. Could you imagine if Harper went to the GG and said, "Yes, the bill did pass, but the Liberals voted against us. The Grits want an election, so we should have one, it's only fair." I think it is extremely misleading for any columnist to only blame Ignatieff for the government's demise. It takes more than one party to ensure bills get passed and it takes more than one party to bring the whole thing down.

These same columnists who blame Ignatieff for indicating that the Liberal party stands for better government, are the same columnists who said the Liberals looked weak by supporting the Tories and lambasted Ignatieff for not defining himself. Now Ignatieff that has said he can no longer support Stephen Harper, these columnists are saying his decision is purely selfish and that they think they're rightful place is in power. Sadly, they missed the fact that Harper thinks *his* rightful place is a leader with majority support even though he has failed at such over the last four elections.

It's no wonder that these same columinsts will probably also be critical when an election is called and they say it is horrible timing when the economy is starting to recover. How soon they forget that, if it were not for Harper's selfish ploy, we would be going to the polls on October 19th anyways.

Tough Times

So the new Tory negative ad campaign extravaganza was recently released into the wild. It is an interesting time to be releasing expensive negative propaganda which seems to indicate there is a rather interesting thought process going on in the Tory War Room these last few days. (More surprising is that there is any thought process going on at all, really.)

I want to analyze what precipitated this and what must be behind it. First, these ads comes shortly after Ignatieff was officially knighted the new Liberal leader. Of course, their first objective is to beat his reputation into a pulp (as they managed to do to his predecessor) but maybe they didn't realize he had already won by acclamation. They couldn't have missed their timing this poorly, so the delay must have intentional. Could they have been worried a negative ad campaign on Ignatieff would have freaked the Liberal party out so much, before the convention, that the Grits would be forced to find someone else, someone possibly better, possibly impeccible, if the negative ad campaign was such an instant and undeniable success?

So they waited, but the Liberals climbed in the polls, passing the CPC nationally while also leaving them in a tough situation in Quebec. Maybe it was just an outlier, but poll after poll with the same trend: Liberals rising, Tories sinking.

The Oliphant Commission is now underway and their former leader might be getting into a lot of hot water, with no certainty of the outcome and who knows where the collateral damage will hit. The Tory War Room must be thinking: it's time to clog the airwaves and the print media with how horrible Ignatieff really is. How dare he think he can even suggest he wants to be Prime Minister? A Liberal leader become Prime Minister? He must be arrogant!

All of the above, plus the economy is not soaring back to the heights it once knew. The public is not seeing results in the promised "shovel ready" spending. The Harper Government needs to change the channel and fast.

So desperate does as desperate always has - he goes back to his prior ways of finding solace in what he knows best. So the Tories find themselves, once again, paying for negative ad campaigns, spinning tireless party rhetoric, and the underlying belief that no one, not even the Liberal party, deserves to form a government more than desperate Stephen Harper.

A plan for financial disaster vs proposals for the economy

I spot that the Tories need some help with their "plan". Here's my truth-as-it-is edit:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper understands didn't expect the global financial crisis. His plan for the way forward has been clear visionless and consistent: balanced budgets deficits, lower taxes, investments to create jobs lost and keeping inflation low.

This is in stark contrast to Stéphane Dion Jim Flaherty and Jack Layton Jack Layton, who have only just realized that the economy is an issue.

Dion wants to thought about imposing a massive carbon tax that will drive up the cost of everything and hurt families emissions. Layton will increase taxes on businesses and drive jobs out of Canada.

The Liberals and the NDP are both a vote for financial disaster recovery. They have no a plan. Both parties The Tories would gamble with Canadians’ hard-earned money for short term electoral gain.

For the past year and a half, the Harper Government has been implementing a real plan to protect our economy Harper's job. The Harper Government is not really working for all Canadians who have a job to keep, a mortgage to pay and a retirement to save for.

A Conservative government will not be raising taxes, only federal debt. We will not impose a carbon tax. We will not cancel planned tax reductions for business everyone. We will not keep our spending within our means. It is that simple.

The alternative is not a plan. It is just the consequence of complete panic competence, and this government will not panic do anything at a time of uncertainty.

The Trend

I believe the recent string of polls showing the Liberals tied, or at least with a lead, over the Conservatives and it is a distinguishing mark in the never-ending story of the Liberal party. I just read the Harris-Decima results here.

After only about six months since the 40th general election, after Harper almost winning an election outright, after Dion taking the Liberals to depths of history's worst, we are left in a position no one could have predicted the morning after.

Just for a refresher, let's look at the numbers

Election Post-Liberal
Day Convention
Conservatives 38% 29%
Liberals 26% 34%
NDP 18% 15%
Bloc 10% 9%
Green 7% 11%

One striking thing about the current position is that the Liberals are above the Conservatives with a lead that is above the margin of error.

Although, the Liberals might rise in popularity in Tory hot spots, they may still be far away from overturning the local encumbant. However, they are rising in spots like Quebec, Ontario and to a lesser extent, in B.C. These are all provinces where a slight change, even within the margin of error, could result in the changing of many seats in the House of Commons.

I think this means there is an opportunity here, for the Liberals, to start showing some swagger and push Harper on his own confidence motion strategy. There is nothing that the public appreciates quite like having the local bully stood up to. And considering the amount of confidence matters Harper has bullied his way through parliament, it will be a strong statement on his own character when he has to put his tail between his own legs and doing everything he can to avoid one. Or many.

Of course, this should be expected considered the results of polls showing the opposition with the popular lead. I just think the drastic change in the polling results since Election Day is a direct comment from the people that they think the Liberal party has made the right decisions recently and wants to support the party again. I think voters will smirk when they see Harper starting to lose at his own game, at his own tactics that managed to keep his own arse afloat. The writing is being written on the wall. And I think, the message is loud and clear.

Ignatieff Wins, Tories Pissy

Watched the speeches yesterday. I thought it was fairly well done considering we all knew the outcome. The debates about how the rules of debating should be changed to reflect the ability of certain groups to influence debate, was rather, well, useless, in my mind. I know it was so that some groups could still bring certain issues forward that may otherwise be ignored. But, if they were ignored en masse, how important of an issue could they really be? And is any of this really binding on the party leader, who is the eye of the storm when it comes to party policy?

So I read a few stories today, and the comments from the anti-Ignatieff campaign are in full force. The comments are trying to slam Iggy for living in the US, for being divinely chosen to govern, and for lack of policy.

I love how quickly these party hacks forget that Harper is in government and that Harper is the failure. The Tories used to pretend that they were the rightly chosen to govern when they were in opposition, even before an election to determine that. Harper and friends are pathetically voiceless when it comes to party policy - it is his royal highness Harper, who decides what it best for Canadians and how they should suffer for it. It is laughable how Harper says there is no need for an election now, and that all parties should work together to make parliament work.

How can parliament work, when one person decides to prorogue it to save only himself? How can parliment work when one man decides to call an "illegal" election in the fall?

I think these people who freak out over Ignatieff's leadership and his speech are true signs of the change that is in the air. It is a litmus test of how scared the opponents of the Liberals really are. I think, rightly, it is a sign that another election cannot happen soon enough.

Under Rug Swept

The new story about the Conservatives giving up on killing the long-gun registry is another example of how they are the party of retail politics at its most basic. It's all about the show, the presentation, the big headline. It's never about the facts, the policies, or the small print.

It is extremely sad that the Conservatives were pushing this button (which may be their third? fourth? attempt) since the long-run registry "was part of the evidence that ultimately led to the arrest and conviction of two men" in the Mayerthorpe tragedy.

However, every day brings a new challenge for the Tories, and lately that challenge has become a game of deciding what's in it for me and how many times can we announce it?

The Tories managed to squeeze out a number of headlines when they decided to introduce a Senate bill that would gut the gun registry. But now, there is no plan to vote on this magnificently Tory blue bill. They'd rather shove this bill out the back door than confront the situation tete-a-tete.

As all of Canada has now seen, they are willing to transfer any item from their list of priorities in exchange for another day with control of the House of Commons. It's not necessarily a bad thing, to be flexible, when running the country. However, it's a different story, when you hear from certain people who continuously state that Liberals will say anything to be in power, but do these people know it is the Tories who will do anything to be in power?

As a Canuck recently said on youtube, "give your balls a tug". Or maybe they should grow a pair.

Harponomics

This is seriously on the conservative.ca website still. Still - and after all we've been through together! There are nuggets of proverbial dog doo all over that site. But what else would you expect other than a self-gratifying self-assessed pat-on-the-Tory back?

So maybe we should take the liberty to update it, so here, I'll give it a go.

The Conservative Record:

+ Highest unemployment rate in over 25 years.

+ Up to 600,000 jobs will be lost around the end of 2009.

+ National Debt has not been racked up this fast since the last time they were at the helm.

+ Secretly planning "surprise deficits" since the despised "surprise surpluses" Liberals had year after year were strategically wiped out.

+ Harper works harder each and every day to keep the conservative alliance together long enough in an attempt to fulfill his life long dream of destroying all opposition parties, especially those Liberals with no moral compass (This item is currently on hiatus.)

I'd love to continue, but I need to go recharge my Garmin MoralityMate 6000GT GPS.

Why Answer Questions

Bloggies Tories are getting giddy defending Mr. Harper for not answering questions from Canadian reporters. Blogging Tories seems to have a hate-on for the Canadian Main Stream Media, or as they refer to them, the MSM. The use of the acronym, MSM, helps to lower their stature a notch. BT must be blue in the face from all their hatred towards, what they believe, is a ridiculously biased bunch of Liberal lovers.

This BT seem to think not answering lame questions is better than not answering anything to anyone. Somehow, the BT bunch thinks the media are incredibly stupid and should not even consider asking their intellectual leader Harper any questions, since they themselves are not nearly as cognisant as the outlandishly brillant guy who almost lost power a few months ago by virtue of his own political games.

Some of the comments on BT blogs seem to be coming from a room full of ardent Tory supporters who have worked themselves into a frenzy. It's a mad house and I've been thoroughly entertained this afternoon by reading some of it.

Unfortunately, it's now an afternoon that I will never get back.

What Do Canadians Matter?

Of course, Mr. Harper, leader of accountability and all things righteous, does not want to be interviewed by Canadians. He would much rather speak with Americans. His true brethren?

From the Toronto Star:

Canadian journalists, who are paying $4,200 each to travel with the prime minister to the G20 and NATO summits in Europe next week, were told Friday they would be limited to two media availabilities with Harper over five days – each one comprised of two questions in French and two in English.

The limitation on the number of questions is a marked departure from Harper's recent past practice, when all Canadian media travelling with the prime minister were invited to ask questions.

Harper does not care about Canada as much as he adores America. This is painfully obvious in his attitude towards Canadian media. It's too bad we have a Prime Minister who has more interest in speaking with American journalists than he has with his own electorate.

Maybe he's too scared to hear the latest poll numbers about Ignatieff or how well his party is doing in Quebec. Maybe he's trying to avoid talking about the Canadian economy or what his own Parliamentary Budget Officer really thinks.

Smarmy Harper

Mansbridge interviewed Harper on the National about his "hot off the press" meeting with Obama. Harper would not stop smiling and looked horrifically smarmy. Like a school girl who just met her childhood idol. Eyes still spinning, heart still pounding. Harper said that only two leaders in an intimate setting can get to really sharing ideas. However, their meeting was as brief as one can get. Probably less time than he's spent with Ignatieff and I'd think he's lying if he said him and Iggy shared any ideas or got to know each other any better. It was a symbolic meeting, not of any substance, as Mansbridge summarized.

I'm sure Tories will rave what a great leader Harper is. How proud they are. Well done, Tory nation blue. But it was meeting that really didn't do or resolve anything. It was a meeting where Harper agrees to unify their environmental movement, but we all know the environment is not something Harper is concerned about.

He also said they need more time to discuss items. Harper needs more time? Harper needed a life line, not too long ago. Of course he will say he needs more time, he never wants to leave, he wants all the time in the world. We have seen Harper will do anything to keep his grip on to power.

And we learn Harper and Obama are now on a first name basis! Great work, Steve. Don't forget to toss in one more smarmy smile before the camera cuts out. Ah, well done!

The Conservative Record?

Straight outta Conservative Central, this is an edition of The Conservative Record? where we compare what they claim on conservative.ca, versus actual facts! Let's hold Tory smoke-and-mirrors up to the light to see what's really inside them eggs.

Note to self: I selectively cut-and-paste from the linked page because I don't have enough time in the day to argue every point that they selectively chose to make.

The Conservative Record?
> Lowest unemployment rate in 33 years.

The Truth!
> Yesterday, the Conference Board of Canada forecast that Canada's unemployment rate will boost to more than 8 per cent from 6.6 per cent last month.

The Conservative Record?
> Canadian job growth is overwhelmingly in high-quality, high-paying jobs like printing manufacturing, heavy and civil engineering construction, electrical equipment appliance manufacturing and mining.

The Truth!
> Yesterday, the Conference Board of Canada forecast that Canada will lose a net total of 175,000 jobs this year. 90,000 job losses in manufacturing is not job growth.

The Conservative Record?
> More than $37 billion of the National Debt paid off.

The Truth!
> Mr. Harper suggested the deficit could be up to $40-billion this month. With one budget, Harper more than erases years of "fiscal management".

The Conservative Record?
> Canada has the most resilient economy in the G7. And we alone in the G7 have kept our budget in surplus”.

The Truth!
> $40 billion deficit.

Thank you for listening to this edition of The Conservative Record?

Tune in next time when conservative.ca makes fiction fun again!

Taber vs Baird

Taber vs Baird, not the title fight of today's Question Period, but sort of an inverted diamond-in-the-rough of what turned out to be the Obama edition of CTV's QP.

The tenacious and fiscally-responsible? Minister of Transport, Mr. John Baird said on QP earlier today, we're spending "...literally billions and billions of dollars in each province and we're going to be doubling that." Billions in EACH province? Minimum $6 billion in Quebec (more or less?) plus at least $1 billion in each other province is $15 billion (this could easily be a lot higher, but I'm just going off Baird's words). Baird promises twice as much spending, so let's double down on that 15! Now his one department is spending another $15 billion (minimum) plus augmented spending in close ridings, I'm sure. I wonder how did Harper ever get away with pretending he would never run a deficit?

John Baird's mandate comes directly from the Prime Minister, which, as he said, is to make things happen. Which must be a variety of things, taking from how many times he used the word "variety" to describe what they are actually doing. Spending on a variety of things here and a various things there. He also wants support for the Tory agenda - yet Mr. Harper is taking a conciliatory approach for the next parliament. Maybe, Mr. Baird is no longer reading the Tory interoffice memos.

Mr. Baird, who usually never lets other people control the topic of conversation, appeared extremely nervous and was rushing through his answers. He seemed to be scared that Jane might ask him an "out of the park home-run" question, but, in her usual Jane-trademarked scripted line of questioning, she tries to stick him with some tough ones, but her rebuttals and follow-ups are weak and Lunesta-inspired.

Baird wins by split decision.

Hockey Crazy

It's been awhile since I've been writing on the chalkboard here. Working and studying too much, keeps me glued to the desk for far too long. My freedom arrived when I managed to watch a lot of the World Junior Hockey Championship! Oh glory days. I am amazed how great our Canadian boys are - they are a true inspiration. Congratulations to each of them for a well deserved victory.

Now, my return here was basically spurred on by Mr. Harper and his dismal enthusiasm while attending a fantastic game. I saw his image literally burn into my TV set and I thought wow, Mr. Funbags, the self professed "hockey nut", is taking time out of drafting the next budget to attend a photo op. That photo of him (not at the tournament) screams "proud to be Canadian" - look his son is a Leafs fan. What fun! High five.

I even found a quote on the PM's website “This event is great for the future of hockey in Canada and is a real treat for hockey fans around the world." Sure, it's great for hockey IN Canada, we're beating the crap out of other countries in our national sport. I love that the PM released this shortly *after* Canada beat Kazakhstan 15-nil; what a treat it is, to be out scored in the tournament 46-2!

Oh well - I suppose he would have actually worn Team Canada colours if they weren't so Liberal.