See? Liberals DO have foresight!
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.
A Very Simple Case of The Proof is in the Pudding
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.
Signs Bob Rae Has Gone Off the Deep End
Candidate Bob Rae issued a warning that Layton and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May are robbing votes from the Liberals and as a result, are actually strengthening the Conservatives’ chances.
Bob, you’re all on the left, and judging by the debates, you’re all battling a common ‘enemy’! Of course you’re “robbing votes” off each other. All parties are constantly “robbing” votes off each other. There are not any more voters now than 20 days ago. It is the same pool. They go from party to party. That’s how the system works!
“We know for certain that if Stephen Harper had been Prime Minister five years ago we would have troops in Iraq,” Rae said.
Um, if Ignatieff was the leader of the Liberals 5 years ago, we’d be there too.
And if you were Prime Minister, this country would be bankrupt within the year.
Election 2008 – Day 25
Just replace “Climate Change” with “The Economy” and you can just reuse your speeches!
I have found a new way to save some money for the LPC: you can just reuse old speeches by replacing the words “Climate Change (formerly: Global Warming)” with “The Economy”:
You can change:
“In times of the climate change crisis, it is imperative that a government offers a plan to Canadians and takes action,” Mr. Dion told the Montreal Chamber of Commerce. “The risks from inaction are too great. Doing nothing is not an option.”
To:
“In times of economic crisis, it is imperative that a government offers a plan to Canadians and takes action,” Mr. Dion told the Montreal Chamber of Commerce. “The risks from inaction are too great. Doing nothing is not an option.”
Election 2008 – Day 23
President Ken Lewenza of the CAW, Canada’s largest private sector union, asked his members to vote strategically to stop a Harper majority from becoming a reality.
“Stopping a Stephen Harper majority is one of the most important challenges progressive Canadians have ever faced” — Ken Lewenza
In this story, it is obvious he blames the Tory Government, rather than the fact that people do not want trucks and SUVs anymore, for closures in the Ford plants, GM plants and numerous auto parts plants.
He wants his members to vote Liberal or NDP depending on your riding. Hmm.. Liberals want to put a carbon tax on every auto plant out there, making cars more expensive (read: layoffs). The NDP wants to tax “big corporations”, like, say, GM and Ford (read: layoffs). The Conservatives are the only ones proposing tax cuts for corporations, so I don’t really see his motivation here.
I said it before, the closure of those plants has nothing to do with government: it has to do with the lack of foresight and market research by the ‘big three’: Ford, GM and Chrysler. They did not realise people were switching to smaller, more fuel efficient cars until it was too late. Toyota and Honda, on the other hand, clued in a long time ago, and are actually building new plants in Ontario.
Election 2008 – Day 19
“Now is not the time to do something new, wild or stupid” (Stephen Harper).
Dion finally gets it: it’s all about the economy. A full 18 days AFTER Harper started talking about the economy, Dion is finally on the same page, and then has the audacity to say “It’s the economy, ” [waives hands] “Stephen”. Is this guy not embarrassed? Who does he think he’s fooling?
Jackie proposes a brand new, expensive to run, Ministry of Consumer Affairs. Is this what Harper means when he says “new, wild and stupid”?
Five Ottawa Liberal candidates ganged up on Ottawa-West candidate John Baird yesterday, saying he meddled in municipal affairs by intervening in the Light Rail project. They say the Federal Government should not meddle in municipal affairs, and then, in an ironic twist, proceeded by laying out THEIR terms for the Ottawa Light Rail project.
Another good day for conservatives: a great economic speech by Harper, an embarrassing moment for Dion, Layton talks kitchen tables, Gilles stands by his “fresh meat” comment, and May hasn’t been heard from.
Election 2008 – Day 15
Trains, Planes and Automobiles. And ponies.
Jack Layton is talking (again) about kitchen tables and being Prime Minister. Talk about being a one trick pony. He did put in a good dig about Liberals not following up on their promises in past elections and taking a promise off the table during the current election.
Finally a pet peeve of mine gets addressed: the naming of serious offenders of 14 years old and over. It always was very frustrating to see these young punks ‘protected’. And not a minute after Harper announced this new measure, and the bleeding hearts are already complaining how teenagers do not have a developed enough brain and can’t be blamed for their actions. And how the death penalty is not far behind and how Harper is turning us into the United States. We don’t need the death penalty. Just stick them in jail for a really long time. I’d be happy with that.
Breaking News from the Liberal Camp
Oh my God!
I read the most terrible news on the Liberal website this morning, it nearly made my heart stop:
The Conservative plan to use trucks to carry partisan billboards throughout the province of Quebec during this election campaign is a perfect example of the harmful effect the Harper government has had on Canada’s environment, Liberal Candidate for Vaudreuil-Soulanges Brigitte Legault said today.
Can you imagine that? They are using TRUCKS throughout the province of Quebec to carry partisan billboards around!
Election 2008 – Day 13
Dion’s New Creed: Ditch the Shift, Pitch The Team.
Yes, Dion has ditched the widely unpopular and poorly understood Green Shaft plan, and is pitching a newly minted “team approach” on the campaign. Apparently, Ignatieff is doing the announcements now. At least we can understand what he is trying to say: over $80M for the auto industry. I don’t hear Jackie complaining about this ‘corporate bailout’… Oh, in the “Another Day, Another Billion” file: another $1B or so for farmers. Since we ran into one on the campaign trail.
Election 2008 – Day 11
Free University Education, Anyone?
The Liberals promised to make University virtually free for most students. Yes, in a country with a crumbling health care system, crumbling infrastructure, crumbling Military, we need to make universities free for most people. Students can’t possibly be expected to work to make about $6000/yr to pay for tuition & books. That means, well, you’d have to work two nights a week and an entire Saturday! And you can’t go out and drink anymore! We can’t have that, so we’re all gonna pay their tuition for them. Nice. You know, we already have extremely low tuition fees. Name me any other country where you can get a year’s worth of quality University education for under $5000. They promise 300,000 grants and bursaries of $3,500 – $4,000 each. That’s around $1,200,000,000 ANUALLY. That is in ADDITION to the $25B education endowment fund. I suppose our carbon tax will pay for that. Oh wait, it was going to pay for those fisheries announcements earlier. Or income tax cuts. Wait, I’m confused…
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