Sister Sage's Musings

Posts Tagged ‘Michael Ignatieff’

Susan Delacourt is one of the few columnists who has been not only printing the facts about Iggy’s bus tour, but has actually remained positive about it. I only wish some of the more Liberal leaning columnist would have (and would) followed her lead rather than to continue nitpicking and lamenting him. After all, while Iggy may not be the first choice for leader of any federal political party due largely in part to his long absence from the country and many other reasons anybody could think of, he is here to stay and we should make the best of it. Anything less only helps keep Stevie spiteful in office longer to continue doing his damage; perhaps even get a majority.

If I may sidetrack for just a moment, his latest slap in the face to the civil service and by extension, to Canadians; particularly, vulnerable Canadians, he has just laid off 600 employees who work for Service Canada; employees who work for EI and Pensions. It becomes more ridiculous on the radio when we hear that the reason cited is because “the economy has improved”. No joke! The newscaster on the radio said that was the reason for the cuts. Never mind that folks are still losing their jobs. Never mind that the aging baby boomers are retiring, thus an increasing demand for CPP payments is looming.  Stevie Spiteful must gut the civil service for his own amusement.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I had seen a poll from Harris Decima earlier yesterday reflecting that the bus tour has provided modest gains in Liberal polling numbers (they’ve broken 30% for the first time in a long time), but unfortunately, Iggy’s approval numbers have not improved, according to Allan Gregg.  Now, how could this be?  Michael Valpy over at the Grope & Fail has recognized changes in Iggy:

There’s no doubt at all that a new political Michael Ignatieff is on stage. And no doubt at all – after 27,000 kilometres travelled and 110 events staged across the country this summer, with more to come on a tour intended to reintroduce Mr. Ignatieff to Canada – that the people he meets are responding to him with what looks to be a lot like enthusiasm.

His robotic body language has gone, along with most of his leaden phrases. He speaks with a lively cadence; he has lost the faux dropped g’s. He can be genuinely funny. He shows a keen curiosity in what people tell him and feeds back what they say in his speeches.

He now sounds like the 17 books he has written, warm, engagingly anecdotal and authentic.

I tell him on the final day of the B.C. tour that he has changed so much since I first wrote about him as a politician four years ago. He says: “A lot of it is storytelling, a lot of it is connecting to something I always used to do. I’ve been a storyteller all my life, and I had to recover, get back to that stuff. Nothing else was working.”

So, who has Gregg been polling? Folks in Calgary West or in other Harpercon strongholds?  I realize that Gregg, like  John Wright of Ipsos-Reid, is nothing more than a Harpercon shill, but, as I’ve pointed out, time and again, at the end of the day, those polling numbers, along with those columns are pretty much all those politicians have to work with before they make decisions. It’s the reason why I suggest to folks to write their MPs.

It’s also the reason why I’m thankful for social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook and blogs. If not for social media, we would only get the skewed version of how much of a failure the bus tour was. We didn’t. We got to see crowds warmly receiving Iggy. We got to hear him answering questions without missing a beat.  We saw him more relaxed and yes, having fun. There are those from the Blogging SupposiTories and even some Prog bloggers still determined to hate him who chided him for not being himself, but yanno, I think he was probably more himself over the summer than he has been since he joined the Liberal Party. I got that vibe when I saw him at the Papineau event.

By the interviews Iggy has been giving as of late and the vibe folks who have attended events on the stops of the Liberal bus tour seem to have been picking up, it seems to be that Iggy is in no hurry for the tour to end.  I remembered the NattyPo’s Kelly McParland lamenting earlier in the summer about Stevie’s summer of needless crisis in his column.  He sort of gave some simple advice to Iggy, although, I think he meant it more as a joke; sarcasm at the time:

If I was Michael Ignatieff, I’d stay on that bus tour until Christmas and leave the government alone. At the rate it’s going, it should have completed its self-destruction by then.

After reading Susan Delacourt’s column last night, it looks like Iggy is, at least in part, taking McParland’s advice to heart and extending the bus tour into the fall.

“I’ve got a job to do in Parliament, I will do the job in Parliament, because that’s what folks pay me to do. But I will also be out on the road a lot, because I enjoy it and Canadians are responding to it and they want to see their politicians up close and personal and they want to ask them questions.” The Liberal leader has made no secret of his joy at being out of Ottawa over the summer, often calling it an antidote for the toxic, partisan climate of Parliament under Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government.

Oh dear, and now, given that Stevie spiteful’s pitbull, John Baird, is the new government house leader, count on the ambiance in parliament being even more toxic than before.  There is also the problems with the mass firings, demotions, potential firings and non renewals of contracts of public servants as of late. With such heated issues waiting such as Mullet-head Hoeppner’s scrapping of the long gun registry and the census scrapping (Liberals are introducing a new private members bill to reinstate it, minus the threat of jail time which is sure to pass among all three opposition parties) and of course, the threats of unreported criminals, Canadian Idol rejects and “Russian spy planes” in the north.

It’s great that touring the country, meeting and greeting Canadians suits him so well as the tour has achieved one of its’ goals; to prepare Iggy for the rigors of an election campaign.

If the tour is going so well for him and he is still getting positive responses, why not continue for at least awhile longer? Parliament doesn’t sit until later next month anyway.

Given the polling numbers that have improved the numbers for the Liberals, but not that of Iggy, maybe the strategy of Iggy continuing the road show and having his MPs do the politicking in Ottawa might have some logic to it on the surface.  However, like everybody else, he will eventually have to go back to work and yes, his true test will be how he handles himself once parliament is back in session. That, I suspect will be make or break for him. If  his newfound confidence can be seen in action in parliament, perhaps we may well see his approval numbers go up as well.  However, that is a two way street. It’s one thing for him to be more confident; to be more oppositional. However,  given the Harpercon friendly corporate media, with the latest addition of the wingnutty efforts of Fox North, as well as some of the nay sayers of the few more Liberal leaning columnists and opinion writers,  can he be more oppositional without getting smacked to the point where his polling numbers plummeting across the board to the point Stevie Spiteful’s  teeter around majority territory yet again?

Another test for Iggy will be how will he counter not only Stevie Spiteful’s attack ads, which as we’ve seen are doozies, and I’m sure, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet, but also those from the NDP;  Layton and Mulcair have shown to be more than capable of of attacking them sometimes (it seems)  even more often than attacking Harpercons, as well as those of Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc. While the Liberals may have begun to make some inroads in Quebec, given that Duceppe is slowly reviving the sovereignty movement with some modest degree of success and with the troubles of the Jean Charest Liberals as of late, I  wouldn’t be surprised to see Duceppe resurrect the Sponsorship scandal. That will be an uphill climb indeed. Dion couldn’t counter the attack ads, neither could Paul Martin before him.  Iggy had been lacking confidence to do so since that violent reaction from Jane and Joe Canuck and the pundits when he dropped the gauntlet last September.  Let’s hope he can draw from his new found confidence coming off the bus tour to effectively counter these attacks.   He will also have to go more on the offensive. Sadly, taking the high road will get him nowhere.

The Harpercon shill, Allan Gregg did point out an interesting fact I think we’ve all noticed:

Pollsters have discovered that the Conservative vote is much more resilient than the Liberal vote. That means when the Conservatives get in trouble, their support drops, but in the absence of trouble it springs right back again. The same isn’t true for the Liberals.

Why is that? Why are folks so much more forgiving of Stevie spiteful than they are of Iggy? It seems to me that Stevie Spiteful could put his own grandmother out on the street and most (from his own base, anyway) would hardly bat an eyelash, but the Liberals, with, or without Iggy can take forever to be forgiven for far less?

After writing all that, perhaps Kelly McParland was right all along: Iggy, stay on that bus and let your MPs take care of the rough and tumble in parliament.

Well, it’s official now. Jack Layton will not be whipping his caucus into voting against Mullet head Hoeppner’s Bill c-391, the scrapping of the long gun registry which will no doubt, set the precedent for Stevie Spiteful to go the way of no gun control, just like Texas and Arizona. Way to go Jack! Furthermore, Jack doesn’t want Canadians to blame the NDP if c-391 passes.

“In terms of where the fate of the gun registry lies, there’s an enormous Conservative caucus right there that is going to be responsible if this thing is not carried on,” he said. “Let’s be absolutely clear where this initiative is coming from. This is coming directly from Mr. Harper, and it goes way back to the Reform days.”

Hmmm, this kinda sounds familiar. Didn’t Jack and other NDP MPs accuse the Liberals of cowering when propping the Harpercons when they claimed “it was the Harpercons idea”?  This doesn’t come to me as a surprise, though. For sometime now, I’ve had a distrust for Jack Layton and the NDP and have expressed it before.  How, they too, have cozied up to Stevie spiteful in the past.  They are no longer the party of Ed Broadbent.

Layton goes on to say:

Despite the mostly rural NDP MPs who want the registry scrapped, Layton said there is a “very large” contingent in the NDP caucus that wants to keep the registry, albeit changed significantly to decriminalize non-compliance.

Yes, that is true, I’ll give them that. Very much the same way Iggy and the Liberals found most of the shit they either reluctantly voted with or abstained from voting on quite hideous. However, during those days, the Harpercons’ polling numbers were teetering in majority territory despite the stranglehold on Quebec Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois hold. We all know how dangerous and unthinkable that would be, especially after the actions of Stevie and his sock puppets and pit bulls as of late.  That is not the case today. Besides, Bill c-391 is not a confidence motion. No one would have gone to an election on this. So, Jack, what is your reasoning behind this then? You’re willing to risk losing a great many urban ridings including whatever inroads you started having in Montreal for the sake of a handful of rural ridings? That makes no sense.  More importantly, you claim to lead the only party that really cares about the needs of Canadians above all, including partisan politics. Shouldn’t the safety of Canadians by means of strong gun control laws fall into that category?  The Bloc Quebecois MPs  for the most part represent rural ridings; hunting country; folks who love their guns just like the rest of rural Canada, yet they,  no doubt are being whipped by Gilles Duceppe, are  going to vote against Mullet head Hoeppner’s bill for the greater good. Why can’t you?

So, Jack, why shouldn’t we blame you if the long gun registry is killed? You had no problem blaming the Liberals when the Harpercons passed other insidious motions and legislation when a Harpercon majority was potentially looming.

I also have to ask the question, if the Liberals do come out with more confidence from their bus tour and if the polling numbers for Steve continue to remain weak and those of the Liberals remain stable or even go up some, and they do actually vote against the Harpercons, will the NDP actually cooperate with the Liberals or will they vote with the Harpercons just for the sake (what it seems like) of being contrary to the Liberals?  I often wondered if the Liberals hadn’t voted so often with the Harpercons, would the NDP have stepped in their place and voted along with Steve?

Too bad, Jack, the NDP was a party I used to support wholeheartedly many years ago. But since 2004, I have become increasingly distrustful. I became a reluctant liberal voter,  largely in part because of close polling numbers with the Harpercons but also, my increasing distrust. Now your refusal to whip your caucus to voting against a bill authored by a redneck who sports a mullet has cinched it for me.  You accuse the other federal parties of being partisan.  It’s true that they are. Guess what? You’re no better.

Shit! Is there any way we can get the Liberals and the NDP to cooperate with each other (cooperate, no coalition) to bring down the Harpercons sooner rather than later? Otherwise, we’re going to be stuck in never ending Stevie Spiteful shit.

H/T Cowboys for Social Responsibility & Let Freedom Rain

Yes, we all knew this day was coming; Jean Charest would shuffle the cabinet. With his Quebec Liberals polling at all time lows given the last budget was chock full of user fees and the party is still mired in scandals, Charest is doing what many are calling  “shuffling the lawn chairs on the Titanic”.  Sadly for him, that is exactly what he is doing,  as it won’t likely help him or the Quebec Liberal Party.

That last budget of Raymond Bachand was probably the last straw that broke the camel’s back, though.

The scandals are nothing more than a distraction. Particularly the construction industry and whatever links they may (or may not) have to organized crime and the contracts awarded to ‘em. Pauline Marois of the Parti Quebecois can shriek all she likes about a public inquiry which she and the other opposition parties are pressuring Charest to have, but the truth is the Parti Quebecois’s hands wouldn’t be that clean neither.   Construction-organized crime-kickbacks: Bienvenue a notre belle province! Hell, I used to make jokes when folks asked me if I watched “The Sopranos”; to which I would I answer something like, “why watch them on TV when you can get the live show on the 6 o’clock news?”  But I digress.

Anyhow, amidst all that shuffle talk, Jacques Dupuis who was the government house leader until he recently resigned, citing ‘personal reasons’ (Sure, whatever. More like he probably knew what was coming and left before bossman Charest could can him; publicly) is now going to be replaced by Jean-Marc Fournier who held that same post in 2007 during the time Charest had a minority with the Mario Dumont show in opposition. Fournier was also appointed justice minister, replacing Kathleen Weil who now moves to immigration.

Well, well, well. Somebody is desperate and ain’t afraid to hide it and is chanelling it through none other than Jane Taber it would seem. Fournier,  up until recently, was Iggy’s advisor and principle secretary.  The Harpercons haven’t wasted any time preparing the attack ads regarding Iggy and Quebec; speculation that Fournier couldn’t escape Iggy fast enough.

“Fournier saw first hand that Ignatieff doesn’t respect Quebeckers,” the Conservative memo says. “For example, he saw that Ignatieff doesn’t acknowledge Quebec’s distinctiveness, that he can’t differentiate Quebec from Minnesota, that he was firmly opposed to Quebec getting a seat at UNESCO, and so forth.”

Oh there is more, but you get the idea. Sure didn’t take ‘em long, dinnit? Couldn’t be further from the truth. Odds are if Charest is bumping the current  minister of Justice, Kathleen Weil, a sitting MNA to make way for the incoming Fournier, who has not yet a seat in the National Assembly, something tells me Charest asked Fournier to come aboard his sinking ship and not Fournier desperately running away from Iggy.  According to an interview the CBC’s Nick Gamache had with Fournier not long ago, one gets the sense that he misses being on the front lines of Quebec politics in spite of his rather dismissive answers with Gamache.

In spite of Taber and the Harpercon’s best efforts, as well as the upcoming efforts of  the Kory Klan and Natty Po’s Tasha Kheirridin who is their  (self) designated Quebec ‘expert’ (she told me that in an email once) to start pumping their Harpercon sunshine no doubt on this debacle no doubt, it appears that Fournier is leaving Iggy’s office on good terms.

Iggy, you may want to hold off on filling Fournier’s position in a hurry, though. Fournier still has to win a by-election. While he will be running in Jacques Dupuis’s old riding of St-Laurent, normally a ‘safe’ Liberal seat, something tells it’s not going to be quite the lock Charest and Fournier think it will be.  Many folks are pissed with the Liberals and the Parti-Quebecois is gaining.  The Liberals would do well to learn from that 2009 federal by-election in Montmagny-l’Islet-Kamouraska-Riviere du Loup when everyone thought the Bloc Quebecois would still manage to squeak past Stevie spiteful’s ‘star’ candidate, Bernard Genereux. If the Parti-Quebecois find a ‘star’ of their own to run against Fournier, it could get pretty interesting.  I wonder if Charest  has a plan B?

As for Iggy, while the loss was something he could do without, he didn’t lose an MP. With all due respect to Mr. Fournier, he wasn’t really helping Iggy make traction in Quebec. Sadly, I don’t think any federal Liberal could at this time.  For the same reason Charest’s scandals are blown more than they should be (I pointed out earlier that the Parti-Quebecois would have the exact same problems when awarding construction contracts; nature of the beast in La Belle province), no federal liberal leader will make any traction in Quebec while the sovereignty movement is in vogue. 

It’s rich for the Harpercons to accuse Iggy of not understanding Quebec when recent pollsters have been predicting bloodshed for them in Quebec; that they would lose most if not all their seats in La Belle Province.  Funny how Harpercons choose to care about our “distinct” society now when it conveniences them.

Sadly, most will only believe the Harpercon attack ads over actual facts.

Both EKOS and the usually Harpercon friendly Ipsos-Reid polls have Harpercon numbers slipping and those of the Liberals rising somewhat bringing them to a near tie with, of course, the Harpercons  hanging on to a slight advantage.  If Steve was really planning to get an election off the ground this fall, his plans for that backfired and now is backing off this idea. In fact, even his rabid pit-bull, John Baird, Steve’s newly minted Government house leader called for more cooperation with the opposition parties on TV last week. Well, logically, every opposition party should come out and say too little too late for that, except their polling numbers don’t permit them to do so.

Frank Graves of EKOS is of the opinion, that in spite of the Liberals’ low numbers, they may well attempt to trigger an election, while John Wright of Ipsos Reid disagrees:

Mr. Wright does not believe there will be an election any time soon because no one can win a majority government at this time. “The reality is that if everybody knows that all you’re going to get is a minority you can take your time.”

The Bloc is just too strong in Quebec to free up seats necessary for either the Conservatives or Liberals to form a majority government, Mr. Wright added.

But Mr. Graves has a different take: “Wow! To be blunt, I was concerned about our poll, as it came in the summer, and it was a pretty abrupt shift,” he told The Globe on Tuesday morning.

“The Ipsos poll suggests that our poll did catch a major shift in voter sentiments. What is remarkable about this shift is that it comes in the midst of the summer, a period when the public are typically blissfully unconcerned with politics. This might suggest that the negative effects of the census decision on the government may be muted to this point.”

If this is true, he said, the chances of a fall election “have now shifted to more likely than not.”

And that is because the opposition could sense that this “new shift for the PM” could represent a “critical mass of frustration within the electorate and in particular a growing fatigue amongst the more educated portion.”

Tricky; very tricky indeed and one where the opposition, particularly the Liberals must tread carefully, given their poll numbers and what happened last year when Iggy attempted to drop the gauntlet and act, well, oppositional. Remember when Iggy said that he was no longer going to be supporting the Harpercons last September? All the Timmy Hortons’ Crowd crying and screaming “I don’t wanna go to the polling stations again!”   Steve launched a poison pill in a ways and means motion that Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe ended up swallowing and Canada was saved from a Harpercon majority.  And remember, Stevie spiteful’s numbers shot up well within majority territory and Iggy’s plummeted.

In fact, since then, there would be a number of times Stevie spiteful’s polling numbers from any given polling firm would hover around majority territory, thus, those who blame the strong presence of the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec for preventing a majority government for either party; their argument falls right there. Majorities are still possible, in spite of the heavy Bloc presence in Quebec. It just simply means that they have to fight harder in Ontario and British Columbia.

What is scary is that some polls in the past year has shown that Canadians want a majority government and more than likely, if they believe one is not possible, good ol’ Canadian trademark apathy will take hold yet again and stay away from the polls, which does contribute to a Harpercon majority as well. It worked for Jean Charest and his Liberals in the Quebec election in 2008. Low turn out largely contributed to his majority.

Iggy could well still be gun shy from last September’s reaction to his dropping the gauntlet.  A few ridings still need candidates. A friend, Pascal Zamprelli is running for the nomination in Jeanne Le Ber in the south west of Montreal, currently held by the Bloc. Of course, Peter Milliken’s will also need to be filled amongst others. They’re going to need to hurry up to fill those nominations.

I believe Steve will also put out a budget this fall. What will he do? Will he attempt to pull the per vote subsidy for political parties again? Will he play Santa Clause? Or will he attempt another hard shift to the right yet again? Perhaps a combination of all of the above, which I find most likely, given his precedent (hello Bill c-9); those poison pills Steve is so well known to serve up.  A frightening thought.

Also, there is the NDP, who more often than not, will do just the opposite of whatever the Liberals do.  If the Liberals support the Harpercons, the NDP go against it and vice-versa.  And of course, the Bloc continue doing their own thing if it plays to the agenda of Quebec’s good according to the vision of Gilles Duceppe or to Quebec sovereignty which is now back on the front burner these days.

Iggy would most certainly want to wait until he thinks Canadians would be willing to vote out the Harpercons; to wait for his numbers to go up further.  His bus tour helped, I think.  Yes, there were critics who felt he was not being himself. But I think those are the same people who may have the ridiculous notion that Iggy won’t even open his front door to pick up the newspaper without putting on a suit and tie first. Whether or not he was himself (let’s face it; on some level, every politician plays a role; uses some form of method acting); he did something every politician should do and that is, going out in the country he wishes to govern and meet the people; real people and to hear their concerns and questions. I’m sure it must have helped him, his party and his confidence on some level, but I don’t think it’s enough for him to want to trigger an election by voting against whatever Stevie spiteful is cooking up next.

Then, there is Stevie spiteful, himself.  If there is no election, he and his flunkies have more time to sell his little utopia with no StatsCan; no census.  Stevie is down right now, but he has a propensity for bouncing back as he has demonstrated in the past.   This makes holding off a federal election a crap shoot. One Stevie could probably win given his numbers are still, however slightly, in his favor.

Progressives out there, whether you’re NDP or Liberal supporters, it’s time for us to take action. Write your MPs (provided of course, you’re not living in Harpercon riding; if so, then try to write the NDP and Liberal candidates if you know who they are; if there are candidates at this time; or write both Iggy and Jack Layton).     Now is the time to vote Steve out of office, or at the very least, reduce his minority significantly.  If Steve needs two or even all three parties to get anything through instead of just one party right now, not only is Steve’s power significantly reduced, but the games of  one opposition party doing something simply because another one isn’t would perhaps cease; it’s not helpful.

Many bitch and moan when the Liberals have propped up the Harpercons, but no one supported them neither, their polling numbers had reflected that. Iggy says that Canadians don’t want an election. When we hear the Timmy’s crowd screaming and whining about going to the polls, it’s hard to ignore.  They are loud, particularly about protecting their own apathy as that whole demonstration against prorogation last winter proved.

So, the only way for us to prove to both Iggy and Jack that we do indeed want an election sooner than later is to write them and their MPs and if we can find their candidate’s emails or find them on Facebook, Twitter or another social networking site to let them know this; to urge them to cooperate with one another (I did say cooperate not coalition); not that usual game where Jack goes and does the opposite of what the Liberals do; but working together toward a common good and vote to bring down whatever bill, motion or budget (most likely this Fall) Steve brings to the table, regardless of how much good there will be in it, because as we all know, there will be poison pills packed into them.  It is time for us to take action.

The group, Canadians Rallying to Unseat Harper is still coming up with ads and raising funds to put these ads in the newspapers.  Keep up the good work!

Catch 22 is also working at unseating Harpercon MPs.

Apathy doesn’t cut it. Waiting for Iggy to go or waiting for better candidates isn’t going to cut it.  Time is a luxury we don’t have and now is our window of opportunity.   Let your MPs know you want an election, NOW!

Indeed. I found this letter over at Susan Delacourt’s blog. We should be amused at this letter, the arguments are just that tired and old and seriously, just don’t reflect today’s reality and in all likelihood, shouldn’t deflect an angry base from why they’re pissed with the Harpercons-the abolition of the census.  It smacks of desperation. In spite of the best efforts of  Sun Media, Natty Po, Blogging SupposiTories and other Harpercon cheerleaders, the Liberal bus tour is getting positive response and Master Steve is worried and it appears to show more and more.

Here is the letter with the feeble arguments that should be scaring us …or amusing us…

Sent: Fri, July 30, 2010 4:11:33 PM

 Subject: Getting things done. 

Getting things done… In English |  Friday, July 30, 2010

 Dear XXXX, 

The “dog days of summer” are with us, and Michael Ignatieff’s “Just Visiting Express” is making its way across the country. It’s clear Ignatieff is on the road for one reason only…to improve his image. He is desperately trying to change his image from elitist visiting professor to man of the people. 

But while the Liberal leader grasps at style, your Conservative Government is focused on getting things done. We’re working hard to bring prosperity, security, and a bright future for Canadians through our efforts at home and abroad. In recent weeks we’ve announced: Investments to deliver our armed forces with the tools they need to get the job done overseas. Agreements with the US, strengthening our commitment to open borders and free markets with our largest trading partner. Strategic investments in research facilities and equipment at colleges and polytechnic institutes across Canada. Improvements to our security by imposing increased sanctions against Iran. Re-affirmed support for abolishing the long-gun registry. The launch of a review of affirmative action hiring practices to ensure federal hiring is fair. Continued strategic investments across the country to create jobs now, and jobs for the future. 

While Mr. Ignatieff continues his awkward pursuit of photo ops, Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues his solid leadership. His steady hand has already brought us through an economic crisis that swept the entire world. His continued leadership means a united Canada with low taxes, freedom, and prosperity at home and a higher standing in the international community. 

The alternative is almost too scary to think about-a Coalition government in Ottawa. Canada would be put in the hands of socialists, separatists, and Liberals, “led” by a visiting professor after 34 years away. Meddling government, high taxes, and weak leadership would be just the beginning. There’s only one way to prevent this nightmare from becoming reality-a Conservative majority government. And there’s only one way that this can happen-through the support of Canadians like you. The stakes are high and your help is crucial. Please, make a contribution of $200 or $100 right now by following this link. Your support is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Irving R. Gerstein, C.M., O.Ont. Chair, Conservative Fund Canada Conservative Party of Canada 1204-130 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4

I thought it needed some work so I took the liberty of reworking it some:

Dear XXXX,

Here we are in the middle of summer and the Liberals are out travelling across Canada meeting average Canadians, you know, the kind we just don’t care to listen to?  That’s the real reason why we axed the mandatory long form census, you know. 

It looks like that Ignatieff is here to stay, so we can’t use the “Just visiting” ads anymore and we’re running out of ideas for attack ads, so we’re hoping we can continue using the old ones and that Canadians will be gullible enough to still fall for them.

Yes, that Ignatieff, he’s going to form a coalition with the Russians and the Chinese!  Can’t you all see what a traitor he is!  You can’t trust a guy with one eye-brow!

Yes, we’re going to raise your taxes, but look at it this way, your tax dollars won’t go on those wimpy social programs that are a total drain on Canadian society like health care, pensions ane employment insurance.  No, no,  we still have to pay off the G20 police for doing such a bang up job for removing all those hooligans, thugs and anarchists and breaking  down that spirit of defiance.   How dare they show disrespect toward their king!  W

We also have to pay for those beautiful shiny new fighter bombers so we can be at war alongside our betters, the United States of America.

I will also need to hike taxes to push other items on our conservative agenda to make Canada a respectable place.

Speaking of  our superiors, the Americans, we need to be more respectful of  our superior friends, the Americans, better free trade with them, that means, we give them the keys to Canada. I know what you’re thinking,  but that Kenyan Marxist won’t be in charge for long. Soon enough, the Alaskan beauty queen will be in charge and gentlemen, she has legs to boot! Whooeee!

And yes, remember those pesky polling stations that would open up in your communities where you would have to fill a ballot about every four years? That thing Canadians scream about not wanting to go? Well,  a Harpercon government will put a stop to that wasteful excercise. Who needs it?  Only an election when  the king dies or gets tired.

Only King Stephen can keep you safe from the Communist Muslim boogie men that hide under your bed, and yes, they are hiding under your beds and in your closets..  That’s why he wants to scrap gun control.  We get rid of the long gun registry to start and then proceeding to get rid of gun control will be that much easier!  The liberals want you to adopt them as pets.

Not to mention, only a Harpercon government can get crime back down the way it was before 1862.  In fact only a Harpercon government can bring life back the way it was before 1862. No abortions, when women were barefoot and pregnant and simply squatted in the fields to give birth and the kids didn’t do anything blasphemous like go to school, they worked on the farm. Let’s bring those good ol’ days back.

Protect Canada from anymore progress! Let’s go back to the  good ol’ days when blacks were kept in their places and ignorance was bliss! Donate now, or that Russian  one eye-browed spy is going to further corrupt Canada!

Remember what happened when Eve ate the apple! We’ve seen the evil it causes when our children are taught things like math, science and languages.

HELP NOW!

See? That was easy.

On a serious note though, due to the media being mostly slanted to the right, will those tired old “just visiting” and “coalition with the separatists and socialists”  attack ads still win out in the end? Sadly,  given that many are content to not think for themselves and allow the likes of Natty Po and Sun Media do their thinking for them, that could well happen.

Reckless! Simply Reckless, I tell you! Iggy! How could even suggest such foolish ideas as to attempt to bring Canadians together!  Yes, to the Harpercons, concepts like National Unity are “disturbing trends”.  

“Michael Ignatieff and his team recklessly throw around the term ‘national unity,’ ” the Tories charge. “If Ignatieff hadn’t spent 34 years away from Canada he might understand that elevating policy differences into ‘national unity’ issues is playing with fire.”

Yes Iggy, that is indeed disturbing.  Why, before you know it, such radical things might happen like promotion of federalism in Quebec and gawd only knows what other such blasphemy might come from the Iggy camp.

Most of all, that crazy idea of attempting to contrast Master Steve’s game of divide and conquer which has worked so well for him, that is, until now; the census fiasco:

“[Stephen Harper] doesn’t want to know what the real country looks like (census), he doesn’t want the civil service to be representative of the real country (affirmative action), he doesn’t care about the urban-rural divide, and so forth and so on,” a senior Ignatieff official told The Globe.

“Only the Conservatives, with their twisted priorities, would think that wanting to have a strong and united Canada is a problem.”

Poor Stevie.  He does appear to have to come up with a plan B, now. I wonder how insidious it will be?

Criticizing the National Unity talking point; is that the best the Harpercons can come up with these days to compensate for their latest failings and the increasingly good reviews of  Iggy’s bus tour? Wow! Give that new communications director a raise! What a find!

Speaking of which: Some of us have one question these days: Where is Stevie? Wait! Tony, you better go save him!

Here is the latest sunshine the Kory clan had to pump today:

No sooner was the sanitizer flying off the shelf than we received a harsh letter from Liberal MP David McGuinty — brother of Ontario’s Pinocchio Premier — taking us to task for the tone of our critique.

“Maybe your newspaper(s) should give Ignatieff’s bus tour a chance instead of writing it off before it starts,” wrote McGuinty. “What’s required is a little less anger and a lot more journalism.”

Really? For here’s McGuinty’s assessment of the raison d’etre of Ignatieff’s mid-summer’s dream.

“Where the Conservatives want to build more prisons,” wrote McGuinty, “Liberals want to help more kids go to college.

“Where the current government wants to add another $6 billion in corporate tax cuts to their record $54-billion deficit, a future Liberal government wants to reduce the deficit and help caregivers care for loved ones at home.”

Quick, someone on the bus pass us their Gravol.

McGuinty can mix apples and oranges all he wants — prisons and schools, like corporate tax cuts and home care, do not belong in the same sentence — but don’t try to pass this nonsense off as if Ignatieff has answers.

Schools and home care. I thought that crowd was always criticising the Liberals of having no ideas.  Now they present some and they still get chastised. But things like schools and home care; things that real Canadians like Jane and Joe Six pack can really get behind, probably much more so than prisons and corporate tax cuts,  just ain’t what the Kory clan think is sexy enough for average Canadians (Translation: Prisons and corporate tax cuts are better for Joe and Jane six pack in Master Steve’s world than schools and home care).  Hell, who needs a long census form when we have Kory and Sun Media and not to mention, of course, the rest of the Harpercon cheerleaders doing our thinking for us?

He’s making it up on the fly. There’s no substance.

This six-week dupe show is all about Ignatieff’s image being in the tank, and the Liberal Party plummeting in the polls.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Ask any journalist on the bus.

This glowing optimist doesn’t even sign his/her masterpiece.

Rob Silver over at the Grope & Fail  actually picks out Brian Lilley’s name (whether it was really at random or not is irrelevent here; what’s more relevent is that Mr  Congeniality who wrote that drivel obviously doesn’t communicate with his own colleagues as Silver so astutely points out).

Here’s a quip from the new darling of  the Kory clan, himself:

“If the crowds and the stump speeches on the rest of this tour turn out as well as Monday’s, the Conservatives may want to start checking over their shoulder.”

As many of my readers know, I actually did show up at the Town Hall in Papineau when Iggy came with Justin Trudeau. You can read about my positive experience here.

It is because of this experience I tend to look at those who continue to view Iggy as the arrogant, condescending  professor who is disconnected from real Canadians;  and the even more shallow still who seem to think he’s just too ugly to be PM, as extremely judgemental.  It is also quite laughable. They would also be quite disappointed if they ever got the chance to meet him in person or at the very least, get the opportunity to share common space with him; to watch and listen to him in person.  He is actually a very engaging, personable and approachable man. You look at him in person when he speaks, one can tell he is well intended.  As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, he answered many questions as time constraints allowed for,  clearly and fluidly without stumbling.  He never missed a step.

People have been accusing Iggy of not being able to connect to real Canadians. Well, he is attempting to do that now on that bus tour. Now he gets chided by the Harpercon cheerleaders for attempting to do so. Is it because he may well be succeeding and they just don’t want him to?  Which is it?

Friends and family in other parts of Canada who have had the chance to see Iggy during his bus tour have told me the same thing about him and the mood of the people who showed up. Commenter, Penlan had a chance to see Iggy in her riding yesterday; catch her remarks here. and they were similar to mine as well as everybody else I’ve been hearing from.

We’ll see how this translate into polling numbers.

I also have heard many outside of Quebec, as well as inside speak quite highly of Gilles Duceppe. That he has the most integrity out of the leaders. That may well be true, and maybe not. Yes, he will do what is best for Quebec and you would get no argument from me. But if one really thought  outside the box, they would also see that he plays games with both the Liberals and the Harpercons and knows how to further pit them against each other as if they needed help with that in the first place. Not trying to nit pick, I’m just sayin’ that things aren’t always as they seem.

I have met Gilles Duceppe awhile back at another event and he is the least approachable man one could come across. He could barely utter the word “bonjour” if  he passed you.  A very anti-social man. One can have off days, but I was told by a few friends who had met him in the past that that is his natural demeanor.

In all fairness, I have never met Steve, but his policies and his actions do speak louder than words, thus proving he has ice water running through his veins; that he is a very cold hearted man.

In addition, Deborah Grey, who was his boss and did work closely with him said  a long time ago what we pretty much already know today:

“People skills? He was more fond of policy. Constituency work seemed like a grind for him.”
- Long-time Reform and Alliance MP Deborah Grey on Conservative leader Stephen Harper.

But before anyone calls me a hypocrite, if  Steve were to come to Montreal to an event that wasn’t members only or 500$ rubber chicken dinner, but an actual  event like a town hall, yes, I would make a point of going, not only to see for myself what makes him tick, but to attempt to ask him some very difficult questions.

Oh and Frmgrl, you shrieking shrew prude you;  average middle class men don’t earn 6 figure salaries  and do you call buying fighter jets and turning major urban centers into police states  relating to average Canadians?  Deborah Grey above ended your little argument there.

It goes without saying that I would also grab the opportunity to meet Jack and Dizzy Miss Lizzy.

The lesson, here folks, don’t believe everything the media and the pundits tell you. If your MPs and the Leaders of any of the parties show up in your town holding public events, make the time to go to them and meet them for yourself. At the very least, watch & listen to them in person. It’s a whole other perspective than watching them on the big TV screen or listening to them on talk radio; much less so reading about them.

And yes, from the questions Iggy and his MPs have been answering on the tour and in the speeches; there are ideas and policies. One just has to stop reading things like Sun Media and start listening to Iggy and team Liberal themselves.

Something tells me Steve is getting nervous though, regarding the census long form and perhaps even the positive response Iggy is getting with his bus tour; the attacks have resumed yet again; new ones.  I only hope Iggy can avoid falling in Steve’s trap for the rest of the tour.

Yes, your’s truly played hooky from work today to attend. Well, no, I actually got permission from my supervisor to get the day off, but you get the idea. It’s nice to take a day off for a reason other than one of my migraines or a medical appointment, actually. I was kind of thinking and dreading a low turn out, but actually, the venue was too small! Many last minute stragglers.

To say the least, my arrival was dramatic. I was talking to my husband on the cell and all of a sudden, I tripped on a crack of the sidewalk a few feet behind where the Liberal tour bus was parked. I hurt both  my feet and one of my knees and I stubbed my toe on a sewer grate as well as broke a flip-flop. Let’s just say that my language was colourful as it usually is in these situations. Two of the volunteers or officials came rushing to my aid as I was in too much pain to get up on my own. Oddly enough, my cell phone survived. The officials were very helpful, I appologized for the language I used and they were perfectly understanding.  The TVA camera truck was just behind me and if anyone catches a fat chick in a black t-shirt and black sun hat  taking a  fall with her cell phone flying, it’s your humble scribe.

I went inside the restaurant and some people had to squeeze a place in for me.  The place was packed! The restaurant became standing room only! Hell crossing the room to go to the bathroom was an adventure that took 20 minutes. The media with their cameramen and other aids came in and the aids and volunteers for the Liberal party as well as Justin Trudeau’s secretary came in first and worked the room for about 20 minutes before the men of the hour walked in to a standing ovation. People grabbing them, literally! Hugging and kissing them! I can’t help but wonder if Iggy would have had as much of a warm reception without Justin though.  I swear, everybody in that room loved him; they hugged and kissed him. A very approachable, friendly man.

I couldn’t help but get a good laugh though. I thought Iggy would have been done with the plaid shirts after the Calgary stampede. I guess he now has a penchant for them.  Who knew? I also found out that he likes black sun hats after I bumped into him when I tried to cross the room.

I think Iggy is getting the hang of speaking to crowds though. He’s  losing the university professor persona and is less condescending. He certainly had the crowd’s attention and had a positive response. Although, one can tell that he does have difficulty with French although he gives it a valiant effort.  In the western part of Papineau where it’s mainly immigrants from Greece, India, Pakistan, Bengladesh, and other such places, the second language is mainly English. I don’t think too many people noticed, except for perhaps the French media, but I think they know that already. If Iggy is to gain traction in Quebec and try to steal votes from the Bloc Quebecois, he will need much help from French speaking star candidates in Quebec. There were no anti-Iggy conbot trolls in that room though. I was kind of expecting them.

Iggy did mention that centrist alternative; the big red tent. Ooh a damned if you do; damned if you don’t situation. Trying to please everybody. Hmmm. However, with the majority center being shifted rightward, thanks largely in part by media outlets like talk radio and CTV,  and his polling numbers going down at the gain of the Harpercons and not the NDP, nor the Greens, nor the Bloc,  I don’t see where he has a choice. Plus, between the volunteers, candidates, staffers and of course, MPs there is quite an assortment. I can provide two examples.

A young man, Matthew, who is a volunteer for team Justin, one of the officials who helped me after my fall, took a few minutes to talk to me.  I got the feeling he leaned a little to the right. He is for a stronger military in Canada and more fiscal conservatism.  I wanted to ask a question I didn’t get a chance to ask during the question period, but couldn’t because Justin was finally having his lunch.  A very nice young man, but I don’t think he would have much of a stomach for my blog.

I also met an aquaintance from the planning committee from CAPP (Canadians against proroguing parliament), Pascal Zamprelli (also one of my readers) who is hoping to be nominated in the riding of Jeanne Le Ber.  Oh yeah! That is a story in itself it would seem. Remember all the hoopla surrounding the comeback of Martin Cauchon and the coronation of that ‘star’ candidate, Nathalie Leprohon Denis Coderre wanted to put in Outremont? That hoopla that led to Coderre’s temper tantrum.  We all thought that Ms Leprohon would take the nomination in Jeanne Le Ber. Turns out something that MSM either never bothered to cover or gave a quick blurb in the back pages or somewhere else obscure. Ms Leprohon’s political career, it would seem, is finished before it even started. She turned it down. The riding is now open and the nomination should take place this Fall according to Pascal.

Pascal is clearly progressive. He is for a full inquiry into what happened at the G20. He is for maintaining universal health care.  He understands the concerns of the aging boomer population when it comes to pensions in spite of his young age.   He, like Iggy and Justin, don’t agree with Steve’s new purchases of military bad -assed toys like F-35s. Jeanne Le Ber is mainly a working class and lower income riding in south west Montreal, by the Lachine Canal. Currently, there is a Bloc MP there. I don’t think anyone there holds any particular attachment to him. I think Pascal would make a great candidate for Jeanne Le Ber, so I wish him all the best and I will surely be blogging about  him further as time goes on.

Matthew and Pascal (although, not yet a candidate, but a member) are just two examples illustrated as to how diverse the Liberal party make up is.

Anyway, moving right along. In spite of that snafu last winter with his socon element like Paul Szabo, Iggy seems determined to ensure that women’s reproductive rights are always maintained. I’m not surprised though. No one in the room really reacted though, but then, keep in mind, I was in a room full of immigrants with old values instilled in them.  No, Iggy didn’t waffle.

He spoke of the importance of green jobs and of Stephen Harper’s waste like those F-35s

It wasn’t a long speech at all. It was obvious that long speeches weren’t part of the agenda.

It was more of a working the room, people with their cameras trying to get their pictures taken with Iggy and Justin, getting their cards signed by them, you get the idea, and the question period, of course.

I think the largest problem was crowd control. They took questions. But it was hard for the officials to see anyone at the back of the room or the sides of the room, it was so crowded. Naturally, due to the particular demographic, most of the questions pertained to immigration and affirmative action. There, Iggy was concrete. Suffice to say, Jason Kenney and Sara Landriault and all the Harpercon cheerleaders would turn 10 shades of purple. Too bad they weren’t there. I would have loved to have watched their reactions. First off, they want to keep employment equity programs in place in the civil service. Iggy says there is no reason to hire qualified people while at the same time hiring people who represent Canada’s multi-cultural population; no matter what colour they are.

They also said that Canada’s future depends on more immigrants. A few of them were showing frustration about being doctors back home but only working as taxi drivers and work like that.  That it was difficult to access courses to gain accreditation, especially when we hear of shortages of doctors and nurses here.  Iggy says better plans to mainstream these accreditation processes are needed.

Then there were frustrated Haitians with the Harpercons regarding aid in Haiti which I didn’t quite get.

I kept trying to advance so I can ask a question about universal health care that no one, surprisingly, (given the fact most of the room was filled with aging people) was asking about.  But I just couldn’t get close enough.  Dear readers, if and when Iggy and his bus stop in your town and if you go to the event, can anyone ask about his plans about maintaining universal health care? We already know Stevie spiteful will Americanize it.  I addressed this with Pascal, but since he is not even a nominee yet, he doesn’t have any inside knowledge.   He, too, was surprised no one asked about it, given the amount of elderly at the event.  He was also surprised no one asked about pensions, another issue that is a great concern, or at least should be.

The objective was clearly to get to know who Canadians were.  To meet and greet. Speeking for the town hall in Park Ex. I think that was accomplished.

They’re far from perfect, but hell, as I said, getting Stevie spiteful out of office should be our number 1 priority.

Thanks again Matthew and the other volunteers for helping me after my fall.

With all the blogosphere talking about the potential for Stevie scrapping the long census form; one should stop and ask a few questions. This is, after all, Stevie, the master tactician. One must question the timing of all of this. Not only is it the middle of summer. This is basically happening on the heels of the senate passing  Bill c-9; Steve’s near perfect storm. Yes, folks were talking about it before, but not as much as they are now and the Harpercons are only now calling emergency meetings to deal with the debacle. I can’t help but wonder, had all the senators shown up and the bill had been defeated, and Steve got his election call, would we even be discussing the potential abolition of the manditory long census form? I’m not inclined to think so.

In spite of a rocky start, Iggy’s bus tour is starting to get some positive reviews.  There are some who are even starting to say he may even pull this off. Steve and his cheerleaders had to have been paying attention to this.  Steve figures it’s time to knock the wheels off that bus tour.  It has been put on hold  until Wednesday.  Yes, Steve couldn’t risk Iggy possibly starting to make inroads with Canadians or even some of the media couldn’t he?

Ex-Lax Bernier has already drawn the line in the sand:

“The opposition will have to explain to Canadians why they want the state and the government of Canada to know lots of details from their private lives. They will have to answer that question,” Conservative MP Maxime Bernier told The Canadian Press.

The question becomes, how does Iggy counter this one?  I know many prog bloggers think this is a no brainer. It ain’t that simple.  All a Harpercon and one of their tea-baggers has to do is utter the word “nanny state” and everybody at Timmy Horton’s may well be in an uproar.  I mean, a campaign slogan like, “If elected, I promise to put Canadians back in jail if they don’t provide private info about themselves”.  Eeek! 

It seems that getting Canadians to register their firearms is an all out invasion of privacy; imagine a long census form. 

Funny how that works; they don’t mind cops inventing their own laws as they go along, busting into people’s homes at 4Am without a warrant (or refusing to show one), but balk at  answering a government questionnaire.  They have no problem with the Americans having all info about Canadian travellers simply flying over the US without even landing on their soil. They love their police state.

Yes, Steve will more than definitely send Iggy spiralling down yet again over the census.  I’m not saying Iggy can’t overcome the challenge. It’s just he’s going to have to be careful.

Reality is that since Evangelical Christians, Steve’s best friends and co-parishioners as well as Jewish groups, who Steve is currently pandering to to steal votes away from the Liberals, wants to keep the manditory census long form; I imagine Steve will relent and keep the damned thing as he needs every one of their votes to get a shot at that majority. But not before he sends Iggy spiralling yet again.

Case in point: we haven’t heard all that much from Camp NDP on the subject, yet we know that The NDP has also spoken against the scrapping of the Manditory long Census form, yet I haven’t found anything indicating that they will be at this emergency pow wow called by the Harpercons, how come? Is it because we haven’t heard from Jack, himself? Or even Deputy leader, Mulcair the mouth?

As for the Bloc Quebecois, we haven’t heard from them, but, Quebecers, like with any federal bureaucracy probably don’t really care about the census and feel that it is irrelevent to them.

Ok, all together now; YUCK!!!

I caught this piece over at  Montreal Simon’s, complete with cheesy photo (when it comes to Master Steve, is there any other kind?) of him flipping rather oddly shaped pancakes at a Calgary Stampede Breakfast, complete with plaid shirt.  I was going to comment over at his place, but decided to comment at my own place instead, because I had too much to say for comment board and it would be more appropriate for my blog instead.

Prorogation to run away from the truth.

Embarrassment by an MP being married to a toad.

Having a heart attack, running around like a chicken with his neck cut off, feverishly attempting to block Karla …Leanne …. Homolka…Teale…whatever she calls herself these days from obtaining a pardon as if that would correct the crown’s blunder over 20 years ago — must have raised that blood pressure.

Holding his breath, hoping no one will notice when he pushes Bill c-42, an insidious bill, that once again, further cedes our sovereignty to the U.S.

Yes, there is no rest for the wicked after getting European leaders to scrap their social programs we can only envy as well as other painful austerity programs on the backs of the working class and society’s most vulnerable after the U.S. deregulates their banking industries, banks lending money that never existed in the first place and world leaders can continue feeding their fat cat friends.

It must be so tiring ducking many who are demanding an inquiry into why vandals got away with what they did in Toronto and why 900 innocent people got arrested and held under such substandard conditions that made those of common criminals look like the Ritz Carlton, after stripping so many of their basic human rights.

It must be daunting after stacking the senate with with Harpercon candidates who couldn’t win their ridings fair and square only to still have enough senators go uppety demanding Bill C-9 be modified or split into smaller bills only to have a hissy fit and threaten an election over it.

I would say Steve got his feelings hurt when Iggy made reference of the stench of sulfur resonating from him, assuming he had any feelings, that is, which we all know, he doesn’t.

All that and Steve’s best comeback was that dastardly coalition, complete with Bloc Quebecois and all, despite the fact that poll after poll had reflected that (ok, it was without the Bloc) the math just simply wasn’t in favour with an NDP/Liberal coalition or merger.

Montreal Simon seems to believe  Master Steve the tactician is afraid of this big bad coalition as do the commentators over there.

I have to disagree here, given the math. Steve is too smart to not notice the math. As usual, he is counting on Jane and Joe Canuck to not stop and do the math. Remember his demand to Canadians: “I want you to not care” and sadly, it is working like a charm.  Let’s get the Timmy’s crowd to forget things like police corruption, fake lakes with unicorns flying above them, billion dollar security details that concentrated mainly on protecting inanimate objects like fences over people, bills that further cede our sovereignty to the Americans at  their whims,  etc…etc…Like the skilled hypnotist that would swing something shiny back and forth; get them worked up and scared over something that would probably never happen, at least, not in the near future anyway.

If truth be told, that coalition thang is a convenience he can fall back on anytime he thinks he’s in trouble, much like a child’s imaginary friend if you will. He ain’t scared of mergers/coalitions; he wishes they would do it. It pushes him that much closer to his totalitarian regime majority.  One must remember, Steve would easily gain new sitting MPs without working too hard for them. Hello Blue Grits.

It should also been noted, yes, pesky reality, AGAIN!! The unification of the right (yeah, the one where Petey McKay sold out) was more like a disfunctional family reunion of sorts out to make more and more Canadian families disfunctional, than a merger of different parties.

More about Master Steve’s red herring and flap jack breakfast here.

“They’re moving ever closer together…”

He says in reference to the Bloc Quebecois, the NDP and The Liberals.

Really? That does sound delusional.  Theatrical.

I shouldn’t have to point out the obvious, but I will.  These 3 parties couldn’t be further apart these days. Liberals go one way;the NDP go another, more often than not, they simply to do the opposite of the Liberals.  The NDP, particularly Layton and Thomas Mulcair the Mouth can’t help taking pot shots at the Liberals any chance they get. In fact, they slam the Liberals as often as they do the Cons, if not, perhaps even more. The NDP may even prefer the Harpercons to win the next election over the Liberals. One example would be that  the Liberals will be whipped into vointing against C-391. The NDP are proving that gun control isn`t all that important. There’s a major issue right there.

As for the Bloc, well, they do their own thing. They’re back on reviving Quebec sovereignty.  Sovereignty is a now or never kind of deal and campaigning and mounting enthusiasm for it must start now as far as they’re concerned. Those who wish for the coalition know full well that the only way the math could work is with them involved in some kind of arrangement with the NDP and the Liberals. But, with the sovereignty movement growing, I have already pointed out the obvious; that for them to get into bed with the other two federeralist parties not only sends mixed messages to federalists and sovereigntists alike, but it’s counterproductive in so many ways.

The Bloc Quebecois voted with the Liberals to compromise with Steve regarding the Afghan detainee documents. That fateful vote the Liberals were chided for by many, but virtually, no one really spoke of the Bloc going along with them too. They have been even remarkably silent throughout the whole G20 fiasco in spite of the hundreds of Quebecois arrested.

If anything, the Bloc may be hoping for Harper majority as that will probably be their best chance for the yes side to win in the next sovereignty on referendum, so I can see them perhaps making some kind of pre-election deal.

But a Lib/NDP/Bloc coalition; really! It just ain’t happening! And of all the red herrings Harper could have served up with those Calgary Stampede pancakes, he sure could have done far better. Even Chretien eventually came out to the media denouncing such coalitions. Time to move on folks to more important matters at hand.

Another thing,  this merger talk is missing something; it assumes that Steve’s new stuffed shirt moving into Rideau Hall come September will accord a coalition. Since I’m convinced he sold his soul to the devil Steve for the perks that go along with that new job…

As for Nick Clegg’s statement regarding politics of the future, again, we have to stop comparing ourselves to the British. We are more like Americans than British culturally and mentally, generally speaking.  Also, it should be noted that the Cameron/Clegg honeymoon will more than likely end sooner rather than later.  Also worth noting, Clegg selling his soul to the devil isn’t paying off for him according to his plummeting polling numbers.