Yes, we need more special days to celebrate the 434th European, or 1,674th citizen of the World to “discover” America.

This is the first election I’ve heard the opposition parties say: If the Conservatives win a strong minority or a slight majority that means they got 40% of the vote which means 60% of Canada did NOT vote for them. 60% of Canadians DO NOT WANT them. That means 60% of Canada voted for US and so we should govern.

So I did some research into past elections and, applying the above ‘rule’, where you don’t have the Canadian people’s blessing to govern if you don’t get more than 50% of the vote, the history of our country would have been quite different: read more…

Jack Layton sent me another email (calling me his friend, I’m so lucky) containing the following quote:

Every vote for a New Democrat elects a New Democrat MP and stops Harper. And every vote for a New Democrat will spark the change that’ll move Canada forward.

“Every vote for a New Democrat elects a New Democrat MP”?!? I hope Jack Layton is running 6.4 million candidates, if he gets 20% of the vote, he’ll need them!

The Liberals have thought themselves up a new slogan:

Always there for you.

This reminds me of the old Seinfeld show:

JERRY: Good question. (More to himself than to Elaine) Why are we calling?

ELAINE: Oh! I’ve got it! I’ve got it! We’re calling just to say, “I’m there for you.”

JERRY: (Nodding, trying it out) “I’m there for you.”

ELAINE: Then, after a period of being “there for you”, we slowly remove the two words “for you”, and we’re just (Makes a “ta-da!” gesture) “there”.

Yes, the Ottawa Citizen endorses Harper . Not because he’s such a great guy with a great party, but they feel we need to keep the steady course. Congratulations on finally getting it!

This comes in stark contrast to its columnists who have tried very hard in this campaign to ween us away from the Conservatives:

Randall Denley: Harper just pandering to voters with crime policies, Harper’s problem is not lack of empathy, but lack of credibility, Harper fails to lose bully image

Janice Kennedy : Putting families on the ballot, National unity? Who cares?

Just a post to redirect you to an excellent post by clangmann.net. Spread the word.

Hypothetical scenario:

Minority Conservative Government. First vote of confidence will be on Tough on Crime for Young Offenders. It will (obviously) be defeated. Liberals, NDP, Bloc and Greens will go to the Governor General, and form a new coalition government. We’ll get:

1. Prime Minister Stephane Dion
2. Minister of Finance: Bob Rae
3. Minister of Defense: Jack Layton
4. Minister of the Environment: Elizabeth May

If this doesn’t scare anybody I don’t know what this country is a-comin’ to.

And this is a VERY REALISTIC scenario. The Bloc, Greens and NDP have already said they’re open to it. Dion has REFUSED to rule out putting May in his cabinet, indicating he’s open to a coalition. The only way to stop this is by electing a majority Conservative government.

h/t to Lowell Green‘s radio show

This is from Greg Weston’s column in the Ottawa Sun:

HALIFAX — It was one of those unfortunate technical glitches that eventually bedevils every election campaign, a teleprompter that failed to roll at the start of Stephane Dion’s speech to the chamber of commerce here yesterday.

No fault of the Liberal leader, the miscue nonetheless provided a much needed reality check on this week’s dubious outbreak of Dionmania.

“Thank you to welcome me in the chamber of commerce of one of the most successful city of Canada and certainly the most resilient Halifax,” Dion began ad libbing as he waited for the teleprompter.

read more…

Announcing a hearing problem just before the election campaign was an incredible foresight of the Liberal party. It’s a kind of a catch all for any bad answers given during the campaign.

And it came in handy today.

In this week’s edition of the Lanark County EMC is a “Meet the candidates” section for my riding, Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington. It profiles the four major candidates with a little biography and a blurb that was obviously sent in a good while ago to meet the deadline.

Here are the candidates:

Dave Remington, Liberal. Napanee Mayor… blah blah blah… business community… blah blah blah… ah, the good stuff: Most important issue this election: The Green Shift. Other issues of importance: education, health care, agriculture, the environment.

Sandra Willard, NDP. Home health worker. Most important issue: global warming, jobs, keeping health care private, supporting single parents and keeping uranium mining out of the riding.

Chris Walker, The Green Party. Renovation contractor, renewable energy consultant. Most important issue: the environment. Other issues: the arts, health promotion, renewal in faith in the democracy.

Scott Reid, Conservative. Incumbent. Seeking fourth victory. Most important issue: THE ECONOMY. Other issues: state of our local rural economy.

read more…