Steve's Senate: The Grift That Keeps on Giving

The average Canadian can be forgiven for not being able to follow all of the bouncing balls being bunted about in the PMO playHouse as Stephen Harper fancies himself the prime mimicker of everything decent and upstanding while failing to keep his senate scandal stories straight from one day to the next. Absolute control corrupts absolutely (to bastardize an old cliché).

Last week, CBC/The National's Peter Mansbridge summarized some of the history quite well in this video clip, in case you need to refresh your memory or catch up on the sordid affair. 

Caution: may leave a bad aftertaste, especially if you're a Conservative...

Two Key Dates in the Senate Story

Master of the straw man this past Friday nite, Steve proudly told Conservative convention thunderstick enthusiasts:

“Our opponents accuse us of being unfair, nasty and ruthless and portray the offenders as victims, even martyrs. Friends, in terms of such opponents, I couldn’t care less what they say.”

Well, we already knew he couldn't care less - about a lot of things. But to not care less about imaginary  ideas you've concocted about your enemies...well...that takes a certain sort of something, doesn't it? The word "strength" does not come to mind. "Delusion", maybe.

And, ironically, it is exactly the classic Martyr personality that when confronted with its own weaknesses and mistakes, blames them on anything it can shake one of those thundersticks at. He blamed the courts, the Liberals, the NDP... never mentioning the fact that Conservative senators are also opposed to the senate motion to suspend Brazeau, Wallin and Duffy without pay. Something about "due process" - a concept Steve doesn't seem to understand.

Due process, however, has now come knocking on the PMO's door:

Duffy allegations bring RCMP to PMO doorstep

They may be paying a little visit to the office of Senator Irving Gerstein any day now as well - he who let it slip out (rather loudly and in front of hundreds of people) that he was in the thick of L'Affaire Duffy.

Whoops.

The chamber formerly known as that place as sober second thought will finally vote on the fate of the senators three on Tuesday.

What's the rush, Steve? What's the rush?

No matter what, this isn't over by any stretch of the imagination. Even a delusional man can figure that out. Well, most of them can, anyway.

Election - Post-Game Thoughts

So, there we have it: the Cons have a majority government. The NDP is the official opposition. Iggy led the Liberal party to a historic low in the house. The BQ is all but decimated and, at this point, Elizabeth May of the Greens might have won a seat for her party - finally. (Update - she won.)

Polls showed last week that the Big Orange Surge towards the NDP was a force but no one predicted this tsunami.

Ignatieff, who may have lost his seat at the time of this writing, (update: he lost it) was never an inspiring figure and I've wasted several pixels on my opinion of him on this blog through the years since he was anointed by the Libs. I never saw him as a potential prime minister and now, most of the country has told him that at the voting booth. As for the Liberal party, when you stand for mushy-middle centrism, you get what you deserve: a yawn and a wave goodbye.

Layton? Not my favourite person either - especially when he propped up the Cons in the past - but he deserves congratulations for leading his party to this monumental win. The NDP has more seats in parliament than they probably imagined they could have pulled off and the stark contrast between real left and right parties will make for very interesting times.

The BQ loss in Quebec shows a sea change in public opinion. I'm not surprised that so many Quebecois chose the NDP - not after watching the constant opposition to Canada's participation in the Afghanistan war. That province has often leaned more left than most others. I have to say that I admired Gilles' Duceppe's political skills. He's been quite adept. But - he lost his seat and now his party doesn't have enough seats for minority party status. That era is over. (Update: he resigned.)

As for Steve? Haven't we had ENOUGH of him? Now that he has majority power, we may be in for some seriously authoritarian moves (okay, even more of them than he's pulled so far). He doesn't have a hidden agenda. He's just never had enough power to ram it through. Layton and his new, large band of MPs are going to have their work cut out for them. I cringe at some of the right-wing crap this government will now feel very free to foist upon Canada. But - let them do it. Perhaps they'll push it just a little too far - as some of the wingnuts have recently done in the states. They may just end up hoisting themselves on their own petard. Cons always seem to manage that when they have absolute power. (Mulroney, anyone?)
 

Harper's in bed with socialists and separatists - again

Steve, last week:

...in the candid speech given to party members in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. last week, the prime minister repeatedly stressed his aspiration to win a majority.

He warned that, without one, the country would get a Liberal government propped up by "the socialists and the separatists."

Steve, this week:

OTTAWA — The New Democratic Party will join the Bloc Quebecois in supporting the minority Conservative government in Friday's confidence vote.

Red herring alert!

NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair announced the decision Wednesday following a caucus meeting.

He told reporters it would be "irresponsible" not to support the ways and means motion, which is a confidence vote, because of the home renovation tax credit that it contains.

Ignatieff has already stated that the Liberals would make sure that if they won the next election they would preserve the tax credit.

"Mr. Harper is trying to scare Canadians with the thought that we would jeopardize the home renovation tax credit," Ignatieff said on Friday. "That’s completely false, and he knows it."

“We supported the home renovation tax credit before. Our problem is we just don’t support the government any more. But home renovation tax credit is a good measure, and it would continue under a Liberal government."

Video: Harper Busted Privately Using the "M" Word

CBC's Terry Milewski reports:



He even snubbed the right-wing press when they brought up the "M" word recently:

Harper and other Conservatives have, by and large, been reluctant for the last four years to speak publicly about the possibility of a majority Conservative government for fear it might alienate "soft" supporters who would drift back to another party.

Indeed, when Canwest News Service asked Harper in mid-August how he intended to win a majority government, he would not answer the question, saying only that he did not want an election.

Yeah...so our political scandals aren't quite as fun as the yanks' but, hey, we're Canadians. We'll take what we can get!
 

Ignatieff's Talking Tough - Again

The headline du jour coming out of the Liberal party's caucus meeting in Sudbury courtesy of Ignatieff is: "Mr Harper, your time is up; we cannot support this government any further".

Speaking after Mr Ignatieff and going further than Iggy was willing to, Denis Coderre informed reporters that the Liberals will take their first opposition day in October to introduce a non-confidence motion. That certainly remains to be seen considering the cry wolf scenario the Liberals have been repeating over and over this year.

In response to Ignatieff, Steve said:

"Going through more political games, more political instability, does not serve the country's interests right now."

Games like perogying proroguing parliament? Because that little chess game sure was fun.

The Liberal party may have the lead in the fund raising race but the party platform that Ignatieff promised when he was anointed back in the spring which he said would be released in June has yet to materialize. Ignatieff talked about their "vision" during his speech. Okay then: what is it? Because from where I sit, the talk is about being Conservative-Lite (which is basically what the party has become anyway).

It's no secret that I find Ignatieff to be incredibly uninspiring and about as exciting as melba toast. And I'm not alone in that. How the party plans to actually win an election after a year of basically being tied in the polls with Steve's government is beyond me.

I think the party missed the boat when it backed down in June at a time when the recession was a majorly stressful concern across this country. That stress has eased somewhat since then even though the economics haven't improved all that much (and are, in fact, worse in some areas). Steve's government didn't deserve to coast through the summer while being allowed every opportunity to make its case. The poll results clearly show that the summer was a write-off for the opposition parties that provided a boost for the Conservatives.

So, here the Liberals are without a clear platform and with a leader who'd do a better job of narrating lullaby books on tape than rallying Canadians to vote for him. "We can do better" is not a policy statement.

Related:

You can read Ignatieff's speech here.

In my next post about that speech, I'll expose one big lie that Ignatieff spouted. Stay tuned.

Update:

Skepticism abounds in the blogosphere:

Calgary Grit: This Time We Mean It?

Driving the Porcelain Bus: "Liberals won't prop up Tories: Ignatieff" - Hard to believe with their record

Scott's Diatribes: Ignatieff: '‘The Liberal Party of Canada cannot support this government any further’

Accidental Deliberations: On revelations

Hell, Upside Down: Iggy Applies the George Costanza Theory

BigCityLib: What The Hell Does It Mean?
 

No election - No surprise

Following the news today that Iggy has decided to commute the pending death penalty of Steve's government, BQ leader Gilles Duceppe was quick to say of Ignatieff that "he choked" and that "he looked in the mirror and saw Stephane Dion".

No doubt.

Not to be outdone in the department of flourishing rhetoric, Steve told that country via a press conference that if the Liberals decided to try to bring down his government in the fall, there would be "dangerous results for the country". Really, Steve? Do tell...

I guess if we have a fall election, the terrorists win. Or something.

Jack Layton, who missed the house shenanigans to spend time with his newly born granddaughter and whose recent poll numbers showed a bleak outcome for an election any time soon for his party anyway, was interviewed by Don Newman and stated the obvious: the fact that the new Lib/Con coalition (as Gilles called it) has decided to strike a committee to study EI reform this summer has just pushed any real changes for real people off into the sunset (my words, not his). We all know what happens when dreaded committees are sent off to study anything.

In my humble opinion, Ignatieff has blown it for his party. The latest numbers in Quebec and Ontario favoured a positive outcome for the Liberals. And with talk of this recession starting to possibly turn around by the end of this year, the Cons can coast through once again having by then picked up more support as the results of their stimulus package begin to kick in. (They surely have nothing to show in that department right now).

And, speaking of stimuli, she who should have been fired last week got the chance to try to rehab her reputation by announcing $1 billion for the pulp and paper industry today. Long overdue and an obvious move by the Cons to deflect that as a possible election issue had the campaigning actually begun at the end of this week.

When Ignatieff was anointed as party leader in May, he declared that the Liberals would release their policy agenda/platform in June. Where is it?

These guys are so quick to assert that "Canadians don't want an election right now" but, guess what? We're going to have to put up with months and months of their annoying partisan ads anyway, so what difference does it make? And when do Canadians ever really want an election?

Smoke and mirrors.

Ignatieff pretends he's The Uniter while leaving too many Canadians high and dry. I thought it was quite telling earlier this week when I saw him interviewed and he kept on using the word "I". "I" haven't decided if "I" will vote confidence in this government on Friday, etc. To use a well-worn cliché: there's no "I" in team. And there certainly isn't one in "party" either. The man is a self-centered ass.

This is what Ignatieff held the government to in January, 2009:

Text of the proposed Liberal amendment to the government's budget motion:

That the motion be amended by changing the period to a comma and adding the following:

"on condition that the government table reports in Parliament no later than five sitting days before the last allotted day in each of the supply periods ending March 26, 2009, June 23, 2009, and Dec. 10, 2009,

(a) to provide ongoing economic and fiscal updates;

(b) to detail the actual implementation of the budget;

(c) to itemize the actual effects of the budget with respect to the protection of the most vulnerable in Canadian society, the minimizing of existing job losses, the creation of the employment opportunities of tomorrow, the provision of economic stimulus in a manner fair to all regions of Canada, and the assurance that the government's deficit is not a burden to future generations or a detriment to economic recovery and finally;

(d) to provide details on any adjustments or new measures as may be required to benefit the Canadian economy."

Have the Cons held up their end of the deal?

Hardly.

So, why is Steve really being given a free pass?

Is it because there's no majority in site for Iggy? That he's not ready? That he really thinks he can cozy up to Steve and make things right for Canadians by doing so? Based on what, exactly?

He obviously needs to get out more if he thinks his new buddy isn't beyond stabbing him in the back whenever he gets the chance. But Ignatieff has chosen to play the lead role in Saving Stephen Harper - a performance that desperate Canadians won't be applauding any time soon.
 

Quote du Jour: Why the Cons are investigating Dhalla

Asked why the committee was proceeding with further investigation into the matter, Tilson told reporters bluntly: "Because you people are writing about it."

You thought they actually cared about those caregivers?
 

Quote du Jour: Let Them Eat Gruel

A blast from the past:

"In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

Fast forward to 2009:

“Our goal is to help people get back to work, and get back to work quickly in jobs that will last,” [Diane] Finley [Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development] said in an interview with Canwest News Service. “We do not want to make it lucrative for them to stay home and get paid for it, not when we still have significant skill shortages in many parts of the country.”

Compassionate conservatism at its finest.

Related:
Economy takes 3.4% dive
 

Ignatieff Puts Harper on Notice; Liberal Party Caves

In true Harvard professorial style, interim Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff announced today that (as predicted) the Liberal government will support the Cons' new throw everything against the wall and see what sticks budget as long as Harper agrees to submit 3 reports while being on probation over the next year. That begs the question: if Steve fails, will he get the strap?

So, what's this really about? Politics as usual.

Delaying a possible election until next year (really - don't expect the Liberals to vote against this government before that time) gives Ignatieff time to be rubber-stamped during the spring convention as the new Liberal leader. If the party had chosen to defeat the government now, Iggy obviously would not have any kind of track record to provide Canadians that might show what kind of PM he would be. If you listened to his press conference or read the transcript, you'll know that he referred to himself much more often that the party - a lot of "I" and very little "we". And if you really paid attention, you caught the fact that he's not all that schooled on parliamentary procedure - preferring to answer those types of questions with political philosophy or using slippery slope faulty logic such as, 'if we propose fiscal amendments to the budget, that process will never end'. Never? Really? C'mon now.

In other words, he needs time to learn what he needs to know to do his job as the leader of a party and as a possible future leader of this country.

As for the opposition coalition, as Jack Layton put it, "Mr Ignatieff has chosen to form a new coalition with Mr Harper." Duceppe called Ignatieff's "absolutely ridiculous" amendment "a smokescreen". Exactly. He's nobody's fool and formally announced, in response to the Liberal party's decision, that the coalition is dead. RIP.

As for the budget, what can you say about a finance minister who lied to the public about an upcoming surplus and who now says that the economy should show a turnaround by July? No one knows when the global economy will show real signs of recovery and the experts I've listened to are predicting possible progress in about 18 months at the earliest. In fact, today the IMF has predicted a "weaker Canadian rebound".

Referring to the IMF's 2010 outlook, Eric Lascelles, chief economics and rates strategist at TD Securities, said it is “the weakest figure we have seen, and it appears that the IMF has revised the Canadian outlook downward by the most of any ‘advanced economy.' “In the Canadian context, what is most noteworthy is that the Bank of Canada and the federal government are of the minority opinion regarding prospects for a short-lived period of weakness in the Canadian economy followed by a strong 2010 rebound,” said Derek Holt and Karen Cordes at Scotia Capital.

Throwing financial crumbs out to a starving public is no way to ensure a solid, timely recovery but that apparently doesn't bother the Liberal party enough to bring down this government. It's politics first. What else is new?
 

Meet 'Senator' Mike Duffy et al

Welcome to this week's episode of The Liberals Made Me Do It! with your host, Stephen Harper.

Never one to actually take personal responsibility for his train wreck of a prime ministership, once again poor Steve is forced to take action that goes against a campaign promise and, worse, a Conservative party principle* by seemingly begrudgingly appointing 18 senators to prove to the Liberals that their prior appointments of "cronies"** were "undemocratic" (and to punish the opposition for not supporting his legislation).

Pay no attention to the fact that Steve had parliament prorogued to avoid a non-confidence vote that would definitely have turfed him from office and that he's now biding his time by grabbing as much political power as he possibly can. He's a victim, after all.

(Yes, I know. The Conservatives' so-called logic escapes me too.)

Among those appointed to seats in the upper house were former broadcaster Pamela Wallin, Olympian Nancy Greene Raine and CTV personality Mike Duffy.

Others named include:

* Former N.L. MP Fabian Manning.
* N.S. lawyer Fred Dickson.
* Stephen Greene, former deputy chief of staff to N.S. Premier Rodney MacDonald.
* N.S. businessman Michael L. MacDonald.
* Long-time New Brunswick MLA and cabinet minister Percy Mockler.
* N.B. lawyer John D. Wallace.
* National chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples Patrick Brazeau.
* Former Quebec MP and teacher Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis.
* Director of Via Rail Canada Leo Housakos.
* Former Quebec MNA Michel Rivard.
* Nicole Eaton, member of the prominent Eaton family.
* Ontario businessman Irving Gerstein.
* Co-founder of the Corean Canadian Coactive (C3) society Yonah Martin.
* B.C. cabinet minister Richard Neufeld.
* Former Yukon MLA Hector Daniel Lang.

* Apparently, Conservatives do have principles. On paper, anyway.

** During a CBC interview reacting to the appointments, the minister for Democratic Reform apologist spokespuppet for this latest bullying, Steven Fletcher used the word "cronies" to describe past Liberal senate appointees. Whoops. Take a moment to think about that, Steven. If those unelected, partisan, Liberal senators are "cronies", what do you call this new crop of unelected, partisan, Conservative senators?

A 21st century legislature cannot remain dominated by appointees who may sit for decades, without a democratic mandate and with the ability to thwart the elected government.
- Stephen Harper, 2006

He also proclaimed during that speech: "The will of the majority in Parliament always prevails."

That Steve! What a kidder.
 

Steve's Lyin' Eyes

Quietly concerned, wispy-voiced, passive aggressive Steve left Little Angry Steve at home and showed up on teevee screens and radio airwaves this evening to lie again to the Canadian public.

"The opposition does not have the democratic right to impose a coalition," he insisted.

Wrong.

"Instead of an immediate budget...," he said, as if there was an "immediate budget" to be had from his gang of loafers who only relented under pressure of being ousted to bump up their budget date from February or March, 2009 to the end of January. That's "immediate"?

Apparently.

Pffft.

No mention of proroguing (or perogies or prerogatives - this week brought to you by the letter "P" as represented by Steve's puffy eyes). No mention of what he plans to do (because he's still in denial?). No mention of anything new (again).

In response, I draw my inspiration from the wisest of the wise (all hail Monty Python) and fling it in Harper's general direction:

"So, you think you could out-clever us French folk with your silly knees-bent running about advancing behavior?! I wave my private parts at your aunties, you cheesy lot of second hand electric donkey-bottom biters."

Oh - remember when I asked for new and more bizarre material from the Harperites yesterday?

Well...


 

It's the end of the world as we know it...

The political apocalypse has arrived, brought to you by the four horsemen: Dion, Layton, Duceppe and Jean (if she decides to grant the coalition's wish.)

Harper played chicken one too many times and now he's finally being forced off the road into the depths of hellish obscurity - where he belongs. In the meantime, pundits and various Canadians are shocked - shocked, I tell ya - that parliament has come to this while the Cons are encouraging hordes of angry supporters to man the barricades of the neocon fort.

"I think a lot of political science students are going into their university classes today asking their professors: To become prime minister of this country don’t you have to win an election?" Heritage Minister James Moore said in an interview Tuesday with CBC News.

Well no, James. That's the point. Ask your leader. He knows all about that.

Am I the only Canadian who feels some peace about this situation? I'm not a fan of Dion, Layton or Duceppe but I certainly support what they're doing. Conservatives so desperately want me to be extremely scared about what's to come. This is simply the fundamentalist version of the religion of politics - preach fear to keep people in line. Call out the sinners (like the CBC and Justin Trudeau) and use fire and brimstone to warn them that they'll all burn for this.

Albertans are talking about separating again. (That old Harper firewall letter might come in handy. Maybe Steve can become the first PM of the Republic of Alberta?) The rhetoric flying around is absolutely insane - wingnuttery at its finest. There are hints (very small admissions) that Cons know that Harper screwed himself and the party with his actions last week but that is quickly shoved aside by ridiculous fearmongering about how Canada is about to spontaneously combust. It's quite the theatre and I find it all very entertaining, to be frank.

"This is the worst abuse of the democratic process I have ever seen in this country. Ever." - Dave Rutherford, QR77 radio

Oh my!

I'm sorry, Dave, but I find that kind of ranting hilarious. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. As for democracy, those of us who voted anybody but Conservative chose people to democratically represent us in situations like this. I know. That's not your kind of democracy because only the party you vote for counts, but that's reality, baby.

The latest news today is that Steve is planning to address the country. A mea culpa? Not a chance. More bullying? You betcha. Queue slightly contrite but passively aggressive Steve as he tries to remake himself into Braveheart or some such figure.

One of the arguments in favour of keeping these clowns the past couple of days has been the fact that they've backed down on the funding and strike issues. Do Canadians really want a government ready to flip-flop at the drop of a hat like that? I thought they were supposed to be standing up for their principles - or whatever it is that they call their belief in their right to strip rights away from everybody else. Their supporters apparently don't have a problem with that. Not their problem, after all.

The only serious concern I have at this point is the potential for the upcoming public protests against the coalition to turn into civil disobedience gone wrong because of the level of rage I'm hearing expressed. And with the Con party planning to blitz the media, stirring that brewing pot of resentment, there's the possibility that things could get out of control.

Other than that, all I have to say to Conservatives is this: deal with it. Climb down off of that holier than thou pulpit, stop pretending that you're the only people who care about the future of Canada and eat the crow you deserve. And please come up with some new material. As entertaining as all of this is, showing reruns of your incompetence on a daily basis can only keep me laughing for so long. New and more bizarre stuff, people - I know you have it in you. Bring it on.
 

I'll Take 'Conservative Spies' for $500, Alex

Question: Sunday's winner of the Conservative Weasel of the Day award

Answer (in the form of a question a la Jeopardy™): Who is "the Conservative member" who secretly taped Jack Layton's caucus call?

According to the audio tape, Layton appears to take credit for the possibility of a coalition.

"Let's just say we have strategies. This whole thing would not have happened if the moves hadn't been made with the Bloc a long time ago and locked them in early," Layton says. "Because, you couldn't put three people together in one or three hours. The first part was done a long time ago."

He then goes on to say that the NDP "spotted and prepared for the opportunity and had taken the steps that were required, so that when the opportunity arose, which was when Mr. Harper made his disastrous strategic error by not providing stimulus to the economy and instead playing political games, we were able to move and things began to move very quickly."

Layton also says about the Bloc: "Nothing could be better for our country than to have 50 members who have been elected to separate Quebec...actually helping to make Canada a better place."

The standard denial was issued, of course, and legal action against the person who recorded the conversation is being looked into.

Who knew this fall session would be so much fun?

In related news, Daddy Deficit has now bumped up budget day to January 27 and John "Pit Bull" Baird announced that the Cons are backing down from taking away strike privileges. That's Baird once again acting as Steve's spokespuppet - the Transport minister. What's wrong with this picture?

How do you spell scramble? These days it's spelled C-o-n-s-e-r-v-a-t-i-v-e.

And how do you spell subpoena? Stay tuned.

Update:

Details of proposed Liberal-NDP coalition emerge

A Liberal-NDP coalition agreement that would replace the minority Conservative government was being fleshed out Sunday night, the CBC has learned.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has shown the outline of an agreement between his party and the New Democratic Party to Liberal leadership candidates Michael Ignatieff, Dominic LeBlanc and Bob Rae, the CBC's Keith Boag reported, citing sources.

"They're discussing this tonight in Toronto," he said from Ottawa.

The NDP would hold 25 per cent of cabinet positions, Boag said, adding that the finance minister and the deputy prime minister would be Liberals.

The Bloc Québécois would not officially be a part of the coalition, but the new government's survival would depend on their support, he said.

The Harper government could prorogue Parliament to block the coalition efforts, but "that'd be a very, very dramatic step given the government has taken the position there'll be a budget early in January," Boag said.

"The real obstacle to this deal going through is still within the Liberal party," Boag said, adding the deal is being negotiated by Dion, who believes he has the right to be prime minister.

But it's unclear whether the party wants him to continue, and the leadership candidates were meeting Sunday evening to discuss the matter, Boag said.

Canwest reports:

The National Post reported that Michael Ignatieff is to become prime minister in a Liberal-led coalition if the opposition parties do bring down the Conservatives in a no-confidence vote next week. It went on to say that outgoing Liberal Leader Stephane Dion would step aside and that leadership Bob Rae would receive a senior cabinet post. The Post reports that the plan will be presented to the Liberal caucus Monday afternoon.

But a spokesman for Bob Rae categorically denied Sunday night that Rae has agreed to step aside to make room for Ignatieff and said that Dion was not even at the meeting where the purported deal was said to have been hatched.

Also Sunday night, there were media reports which said that the Liberals and NDP had agreed on sharing cabinet seats, although there were conflicting reports on the number of portfolios each party would get.

Whatever's going on, the Liberals had better get their ducks in a row quickly by getting these leadership egos out of the way if what they're up to is truly for the good of the country. We've had enough politicking this year, thank you very much.

And, here's more of who might have recorded the NDP caucus call:

Harper's spokesman Kory Teneycke said the PMO was inadvertently given the co-ordinates to the teleconference call between Layton and his caucus. Teneycke said he would "leave it to others" to decide if it were ethical to tape the conversation and to distribute it.

There you go. It was the PMO's office. Busted. They wouldn't know the definition of "ethical" if it slapped them in the face. No wonder they have no shame about what they've done.
 

Conservative Talking Points Brought to you by the G&M

The Globe and Mail has published an e-mail, from Guy Giorno, Steve's chief of staff, to Con sockpuppets who need help selling the so-called economic update to the media and the public.

At least it's not 200 plus pages like the manual about how to destroy parliamentary committees. That's an improvement.

As I stated in a previous post, I listened to right-wing talk radio for a few hours on Saturday and there's no doubt that the message from on high was received.

Here are the talking points:

Mr. Giorno's message included very detailed scripts MPs are expected to follow while delivering radio interviews that include the following lines:

* We're not even two months removed from the last election, and a group of backroom politicians are going to pick who the Prime Minister is. Canadians didn't vote for this person. We don't even know who this person will be.
* Not a single voter voted for a Liberal-NDP coalition. Certainly not a single voter voted for the Liberals to form a coalition with the separatists in the Bloc.
* This is what bothers me the most. The Conservatives won the election. The Opposition keeps saying that the Conservatives have to respect the will of the voters that this is a minority and so on.
* …how about Liberals, NDP and Bloc respecting the will of the voters when they said "YOU LOSE".
* And what's this going to do to the economy. I'm sorry, I don't care how desperate the Liberals are — giving socialists (Jack Layton) and separatists (Gilles Duceppe) a veto over every decision in government — that is a recipe for total economic disaster.
* But how more phony could these guys be?
* I mean, I follow the news, virtually every single day you have Harper or Flaherty out there telegraphing exactly what they plan to do with the economy. And not once did you hear the Liberals, NDP or separatists talking about toppling the government in response.
* No — do you know what set this off. When Flaherty said he was going to take taxpayer-funded subsidies away from the opposition. Now there is a reason to try and overturn an election— because the Conservatives the audacity to say "Hey, it's a recession, maybe you should take your nose out of the trough."
* And I wish the media would be more clear on this point — the opposition aren't being singled out by this fact the Conservatives stand to lose the most money of all. The only difference is that Canadians are voluntarily giving money the Conservatives, so they don't need taxpayer handouts. The only reason the opposition would be hurt more is because nobody wants to donate to them. They should be putting their efforts towards fixing that problem.
* I don't want another election. But what I want even less is a surprise backroom Prime Minister whom I never even had the opportunity to vote for or against. What an insult to democracy.

I love the smell of desperation in the morning.

I wonder what those MPs will do now that their Dear Leader has backed off cutting the public financing of political parties. Quick! Someone needs to issue new talking points to the brainless ones pronto!
 

Memo to Cons: Blame Steve

The (self) righteous indignation of Conservative party supporters is palpable. Heads are exploding all over western Canada. Beware grey matter splatter. Dress appropriately.

Fueled by right-wing radio talk show hosts on stations like Corus Entertainment's QR77 in Calgary, the angry mobs on the airwaves have their virtual torches and pitchforks ready to go while they rail against what they characterize as an attempted "coup d'etat" by the federal opposition parties who've threatened to form a coalition government to bring down the Harper regime.

The funny thing is that radio hosts blowhards like Charles Adler and Roy Green (I'll get to him later) both admit that Steve's decision to gut federal financing of political parties was a mistake - a "weapon", as Adler put it, simply handed to the opposition at a very bad time. Steve seems to have received that message since he announced on Saturday that he's running away from that decision. Typical bully - taunt and taunt and when someone calls you on it, run as fast as you can in the other direction.

As for Green, I'm not a regular listener (thankfully) but I sure let him know that I was listening to his show today after he was absolutely rude, petulant, and childish in the way he treated MP Libby Davies, whom he had invited onto his show as a guest. He battered her with his non-stop anger and refused to give her a chance to answer. When she did manage to get a few words in though, she stayed calm and chided him for his ridiculously emotional behaviour and then went on to try to explain the NDP's viewpoint. Kudos to her.

Green was nowhere as rude to Bob Rae or John Baird (who came onto the show 2 hours late - yes, I listened to his show for 2 hours - the horror). Green was appalled - appalled I tell ya! - at the idea that the Liberals and NDP would get support from the Bloc to bring this coalition to fruition. He continually denied the fact that the Conservative party has repeatedly used the Bloc's support while it's attempted to lead a minority government because it had to. Rae was quick to point that out (as was I in an e-mail to Green). Hypocrisy might be entertaining but it's no substitute for the truth.

So much misdirected anger. Conservative supporters need to take a good, long look at the fact that their party failed to step up to the plate at a moment in time when the economic situation needs immediate action and active solutions. "Wait until Flaherty announces his new budget next year" is not acceptable. If your house was burning down, would you appreciate being put on hold by a 911 operator? No, I didn't think so. And if that 911 operator didn't effectively deal with your situation, wouldn't you want him or her fired? No doubt. Well, guess what? Canada's economy is on fire. And not in a good way. We're dialing 911 and being put on hold.

We know what "taking responsibility" looks like after watching years of Harper in office. It's simple: blame the Liberals. Blame anyone else you can. That's why there's so much right-wing anger out there today. It's so much easier to spew misplaced, red-faced rage than it is to look at your own role in your impending demise. So, be angry. The rest of us will be responsible and rational. Somebody has to be. Maybe we'll even save your house while we're at it.

Related:

G-G would have little choice but to accept coalition, experts say
Harper scrambles to retain power
Flaherty's instinct to cut out of step with world
 

How to be a Boneheaded Conservative

(Yes, I realize that phrase includes a built-in redundancy.)

Now then...let's review the past couple of days to provide Conservatives and their supporters a lesson in how real boneheadedness operates in Ottawa.

1. Announce an "economic update" in the midst of a global financial crisis.
2. Provide absolutely no stimulus to Canada's economy even though we're headed for a "technical" recession with a "structural" deficit while continually reminding people that you did stuff last year.
3. Take advantage of the national stage to strip rights away from women (no pay equity for you! Does that include Con cabinet ministers?) and workers (don't even think about striking! An old Ralph Klein idea). And throw a few dollars at seniors temporarily hoping they'll be dead in a year and won't notice that they'll still be shafted down the line anyway if they actually do survive that long.
4. And for the final coup de grace (there had to be something bilingual in there somewhere), end public financing of political parties (knowing that your party mainly benefits from private donors while leaving the opposition parties basically bankrupt, ).
5. Stand back, give yourself a big pat on the back and say you really did something today to help the average Canadian who's melting down in financial turmoil.

But wait! That's not all.

When you get wind of the fact that the Liberals aren't going to play nice this time by rubber stamping your..."creativity", shall we call it?...and that there are rumblings afoot about the formation of a coalition government ready and willing to vote your Conservative butts out of office on Monday, simply cancel any and all votes scheduled for that day and whine about how the Liberals and NDP really can't take that coalition ball and run with it, knowing full well that it's a legal possibility.

Sweat.

Stutter.

Call your mom.

Call Karl Rove.

Use that old cartoon line, "Curses! Foiled again."

And wait.

Because you know this time, they mean business.

(Are you having fun yet? I know I sure am!)

Stay tuned next week for more Conservative boneheadedness. You know they just can't help themselves.
 

Another Fine Mess

During his victory speech on Tuesday nite, Mr 'I have to call an election because parliament is dysfunctional' Harper said, "we know how to make a minority government work". Cognitive dissonance anyone? Or, more plainly said, lies?

The local CTV station reported here on Wednesday that they've been getting a lot of calls and e-mails (and remember - this is a staunchly Conservative city) asking why an election was held in the first place. They should be calling Harper for that answer. Comments in the Calgary Herald echo that anger.

CTV also showed a clip of Harper laughing about the fact that he's basically been Mr Non-stop Campaigning Man the last 6 years. That's something to boast about? After he just cost Canadians $300 million for an unnecessary and non-game-changing election?

And, once again, Alberta had the lowest voter turnout in the country. Maybe if some of those Conservative sheeple actually cared about those hundreds of millions of wasted dollars, they would have shown that by kicking out these useless bastards. But Dog forbid Canada should turn socialist - never mind that Harper is planning on sinking billions into the banks in a socialist kind of way. Cognitive dissonance abides. Maybe they should be forced to hold telethons instead.

The only bright lite in this province last nite shone from Edmonton-Strathcona where NDP candidate Linda Duncan took the seat from Rahim Jaffer. (Who can forget Rick Mercer's "will the real Rahim Jaffer please stand up?" Jaffer should have been turfed for that fraud when it happened.) CBC reports that Jaffer is asking for a "review" of Tuesday's results - not a formal recount though. Regardless, buh bye.

On the Liberal side, we now have to put up with yet another round of leadership races once Dion is convinced to step aside or is forced to do so. There's no way he'll survive this:

Stéphane Dion's future as Liberal Leader is the key post-ballot question as final results from Tuesday's election show his party sank to its lowest level of popular support since Confederation.

Ouch. Buh bye to you too, Stephane.

We all know what the next however many months until the next election will look like: continued verbal food fights in the house highlighted by willful mental constipation and verbal diarrhea. In other words, meet the new parliament, same as the old one. No one even bothered to talk about anything like "restoring dignity" to the place this time around. They all know what a farce that is. They can't help themselves so why bother? If you're really looking to invest in stocks of some kind to get through the coming recession, stock up on popcorn for Question Period. At least popcorn is still affordable, unlike so many other things.

Yes, it's just another fine mess and the "fine" descriptor is certainly questionable. Thanks, Ollie Steve.

Related:

Complete riding results from CBC.
Voter turnout lowest on record (59.1% nationally)

Update:

The Calgary Herald reports that Nfld/Labrador had the country's lowest voter turnout. Alberta was next in line.

"I don't think any of us have really clear ideas as to why that is happening," Harper said.

Seriously, Steve? Mon dieu. Talk about clueless.

 

Election Nite Open Thread & Liveblogging

So, here we are. Finally.

I asked 3 people today if they were going to vote.

The first one said she didn't think it would make any difference.

The second, a store owner, said, "I'm not happy". His main issue is crime and punishment because of the gang violence and he was quite adamant that the person whose recent gunshot blinded an innocent victim in Calgary should be forced to donate his eyes and to "live in darkness" for life. I didn't have to guess who he might have voted for and I told him that I believe in karma instead.

The third, a young clerk, said of voting, "I don't care for it. Sorry." Well, I didn't think he needed to apologize to me and I told him that not voting was his right.

I voted and, like the store owner I spoke to, I'm not happy either. I know the Conservative candidate Deepak Obhrai will win again in my riding and I actually didn't decide to vote until yesterday - not because his win is assured but because I'm not satisfied with any of the parties.

So, here we are.

I'll be following the Election Act on this site:

“No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another electoral district before the close of all of the polling stations in that other electoral district.”

In other words:



I welcome whatever's on your mind about tonite's happenings but any comments that violate that act (or the counting of the holy hand grenade) will be deleted.

Laugh, cry, yell, dance...have at it.

I'll post updates as they come in.

Reminder: There are 308 seats and winning 155 constitutes a majority.

Results:

Atlantic Canada

- The Cons lost 3 seats in Nfld/Labrador.
- Peter MacKay won his seat beating Elizabeth May, who came in second, by some 5,000 votes.
- Independent Bill Casey won his seat.
- According to CBC, the Grits and Tories are both down 4 seats (?) in the region.
- The Cons won a seat in PEI for the first time since 1984.
- Conservatives shut out by ABC campaign in N.L., make gains in N.B., P.E.I.

The Liberals were set to hold on to 17 seats out of Atlantic Canada's 32 ridings in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia as of about 10 p.m. ET.

The Conservatives earned 10 seats and the New Democrats took four. One Independent will also be going to Ottawa from the region.

In the 2006 election, the Liberals won 20 seats, the Conservatives nine and the NDP had three.

10:45 ET from Elections Canada

Leading: Cons 142; Popular Vote 36.7%
Leading: Libs 78; Popular Vote 28.6%
Leading: BQ 47; Popular Vote 7.1%
Leading: N.D.P. 29; Popular Vote 19.6%
Leading: Other 3; Popular Vote 8.0%

Total: 299; 100%

CBC projects a MINORITY Conservative government. (Take that, Steve!)

11:55 ET from Elections Canada:

Leading: Cons 143; Popular Vote 37.4%
Leading: Libs 76; Popular Vote 26.7%
Leading: BQ 50; Popular Vote 10.1%
Leading: NDP 37; Popular Vote 18.0%
Leading: Other 2; Popular Vote 7.8%

Total: 308; 100%

For comparison's sake:

2006 results

Cons 124; Libs 103; BQ 51; NDP 29; Other 1

More from Elections Canada:

Polls reporting: 61,438/69,632
Voter turnout: 11,875,370 of 23,401,064 registered electors (50.8%)

more to come...
 

Harper's Secret Bank Bailout Deal

How's this for transparency?

As Canadians go to the polls, the Conservatives have privately told the country's biggest banks they are ready to step in and guarantee new borrowing because of fears financial institutions will be frozen out of international credit markets for "months," according to people familiar with the discussions.

The extraordinary pledge was made behind closed doors after Canada's banks disclosed they were being starved of desperately-needed financing and could not continue to fund normal operations without government help, despite signs of a rebound in stock markets.
[...]
Confirmed on the eve of the election, the implicit public guarantee of private debt by the Conservatives represents a historic departure from free-market principles and signals a profound loss of confidence in the global banking system.

It means Ottawa is prepared to publicly guarantee repayment of any new money banks borrow from each other and from foreign banks, to make sure Canada's financial institutions do not fall behind their peers.
[...]
Stephen Harper, the Conservative leader, is reluctant to officially declare this policy, but is likely to do so if Washington moves first because of the detrimental impact a U.S.-only guarantee could have on Canada's financial institutions.

Before pulling the trigger, the Conservatives first aim to try and meet the funding needs of Bay Street directly by aggressively expanding a scheme to buy up mortgages from banks.

After initially putting up $25 billion of public money to buy mortgages, the Department of Finance is prepared to increase that limit as needed up to $225 billion, at which point the risk of taxpayer losses starts to rise sharply.

After spending weeks trying to reassure Canadians that "the fundamentals of the economy are solid", it's obvious that Stephen Harper has completely misjudged the impact of the global economic meltdown in our country and has lied to us about the state of our financial institutions. The fact that he and his incompetent finance minister Flaherty have chosen to use vague, lofty and nasty rhetoric to fool Canadians into believing that the Conservatives are best suited to handle this crisis is an absolute sham.

Unfortunately, the news of this secret bailout deal comes on a day when we're headed to the polls with virtually no time for fiscal, free market conservatives to examine how this might affect their support of a federal government that is violating, in their estimation, core conservative principles. It's also an insult to swing voters who've moved towards the Conservative party after being told that every other party is bound to destroy our economy.

Just one more slap in the face brought to you by Harper and the Conservatives. Whether this is a necessary move or not is debatable. What isn't, however, is the fact that this has been dropped in our laps on election day by way of leaks to the media.

Related:

Bush Defends Government Bank Investment
 
 

Canadian Election Watch - Day 37

Happy Thanksgiving, my fellow politically-disgruntled Canadians. Turkey for dinner tonite. Turkeys to vote for tomorrow. At least the dinner comes with mashed potatoes and gravy - palatable extras that we just can't seem to find in our politicians. Let's hope one of the other major party leaders makes dessert out of Harper since he fancies himself to be a fruit.

I was pondering today whether Canada needs a longer campaign season. Yes, I know that would involve an increase in the already insanely excessive election budgets of Elections Canada and the parties but as I've watched the downward trend of the Cons, I've wondered if more damage might have been done to their party if the other parties had had more time. I'm also aware that there was, apparently, a little spike upwards for the Cons over the weekend but if Steve had been given even more time to shoot himself in the foot, especially as he has in Quebec, might his fortunes have been diminished? Hard to know. Lastly, would an extended campaign season increase interest and participation in our elections as more Canadians had a longer stretch of time to really study and discuss each party's platform?

As it stands now, and as I've written before (yesterday, for example), too many people vote based on ideology that the politicians they choose don't even stand for anymore. That is a problem and is one of my core complaints about singularly devoted partisanship that forgives far too much when parties don't live up to their agendas. That's why I'm now an independent. I don't expect perfection but I do expect meaningful battles - not political games - to push for more civil and human rights and justice.

None of the current leaders exhibit anything nearing greatness. They're all very milquetoast characters who are too willing to compromise core principles for political gamesmanship. I'm not talking about rigid ideology here - just some passion for really helping Canadians to live a better life. It is our government, after all.

I'm sure as I write this that there are partisans reading who are thinking unequivocally that their leader is exactly what I've described. I've chronicled that belief in writing about the US election. We don't need shiny objects and we deserve to be treated as intelligent voters who absolutely refuse to be lied to anymore. But, if we don't demand that, as George Bernard Shaw wrote:

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

I guess we'll find out what we deserve on Tuesday nite. Enjoy your turkey(s).