A few words on fundraising. In the first three months of this year the Liberals raised $850,000 and the Conservatives raised $4.9 million. The reaction was predictable. The Tories crowed. The media found people to blame Stephane Dion.
While I have nothing to do with national fundraising, other than to offer stunningly good and staggeringly innovative ideas (yet to be implemented), this should be noted: As insufficient as those Liberal donations were, they represented a 62% increase over the same period a year earlier. Plus, the number of donors more than doubled.
But why did the Harper party raise five times as much?
The simplest answer is the Conservatives have an awesome, and expensive, money-sucking machine. The party does non-stop email solicitations using a database of more than 2.5 million names, many of them gathered through those irritating MP mailers. It has a full-time telemarketing arm, and spends a huge amount on printing and postage for its direct mail campaign. It is estimated that the raw cost of this is over $6 million a year, or enough to wipe out the last quarter’s donations.
The Liberal fund-raising machine is essentially volunteer and relies on local riding associations to do the heavy lifting. The database is puny and the efforts to aggressively expand it are less than impressive. That any money at all was raised kinda surprises me.
The bad news for Conservatives is that this is going to change. Trust me.
In addition, Mr. Harper is in power and there’s nothing like the scent of seats to seduce people into opening their wallets. Finally, policy. The Conservatives raise money from people who like it that the federal government puts oil sands over the environment, wants to screw up immigration, destroyed the income trust sector, eviscerates Liberals and seeks to recreate Canada as a moral majority kind of place. The Libs, meanwhile, have yet to ignite their natural base of support.
I say that with no malice to Mr. Dion, who has held back on substantive policy initiatives since they just feed the kleptomaniacal and idea-starved Tories. But the time has come to change that, too. The leader can hardly expect a nation to turn its back on a two-year-old government, no matter how pathetic it becomes, without a clear alternative to embrace. I have every indication that moment is at hand.
By the way, operators are standing by, 24/7, at www.garthturner.com. Call in the next three minutes and you’ll qualify for cream to shrink whatever’s bothering you.
175 comments ↓
That picture scares the bejeebus outta me.
Garth
Mr. Dion is not a one trick pony. He has, throughout his tenure of 17 months, as Leader of the Opposition, presented positions on many topics and the economy. His tenacity with the Clarity Act and as Environment Minister has shown his determination and courage.
But the darn frustrating thing about politics is spin, polls and dare I say it money.
Voters will react to situations in the public domain that concern them
The wild card is voters will react to issues as they unfold in an election
Money buys elections
I was desperate to see action on climate change then..
So if Garth is going to honest about his short lived tenure as a Harper M.P. in 2006 I will admit my voting record in the last election. When the RCMP announced an investigation into the Income Trust and named Ralph Goodale as the prime suspect during the election I turned to my husband and said I cannot vote Liberal “this is the last straw”.
I voted Green. To that end it had no consequence on my riding results but I had lostfaith in the Liberal Party and their honesty. ^Ralph Goodale was cleared of all allegations after the election*
Fast forward to today. Conservatives, Canadians have expressed their distain if your only defence for skirting national advertising limits is “every party does it”. It is inconceivable you cannot see the difference between ethics and technicalities. If Elections Canada wins their criminal case you will pay a high price for your blind ambition.
Even if you win you lose.
posted by Garth Turner on 05.04.08 @ 9:56 pm
… Mr. Dion, who has held back on substantive policy initiatives….. But the time has come to change that, too. The leader can hardly expect a nation to turn its back on a two-year-old government, no matter how pathetic it becomes, without a clear alternative to embrace. I have every indication that moment is at hand.
Soooo Garth … are we heading towards a Spring election now that you are strongly hinting that Dion is finally going to elucidate some Liberal government policies if elected??
You did say:
Answers in a few days. — Garth
.. in your response on your previous article concerning ‘tax shifting’ …. so shall we keep a keen watch-out for Dion’s message from the mount and hopefully a non-confidence vote on the Budget/Immigration legislation and an election on June 16th …???!!!!!
Good evening, Mr. Turner:
I’ve been an interested reader of your blog for quite some time but I believe this is the first time I’ve ever commented.
I am a fundraiser by both trade and personality inclination. I am trying to be active with my riding association here in BC. I’ve been elected as a delegate to the LPC- BC policy convention in a couple of weeks.
I’m working hard to help the party make the money it desperately needs to take on the Cons in the next year (or less, I hope!)
However, I’m concerned that the Liberals are trying to fight the next election the same way it’s fought pretty much every election it’s ever fought in my lifetime. That is, by pointing out the differences in policy and procedure. That got the party several straight majorities… but I fear it’s not going to work this time.
For the first time in modern politics in Canada, my party is faced off in a battle of ideologies, and I am not sure that the party is ready for that.
I love the policy stuff, but this is so much bigger this time and Sideshow Steve is going to pull out all the stops to prey on people’s fears, prejudices, and biases in this next election.
I hope that the party can raise enough capital, both financial and creative, to stop that.
I look forward to any response you might have.
Garth,
You seem to know some of the sums from the innards of the PC-money-machine (PMM). Answer this question.
What internal controls, programmatic or subsequent review, ensure that PMM is collecting from real citizens?
I mean, among other things, if you’re spewing marketing over a 2.5 million database, how do you know that the payment received is connected to a citizen who will be willing and pleased to declare the donation on his or her tax return.
I mean, there’s something phony about the citizen who makes a poltical donation but fails to claim the tax credit. I mean, maybe the citizen isn’t a real citizen?
Does anybody check these things?
I couldn’t stop laughing at the caption. Oh frig that’s funny.
I think you should look at those numbers another way. They’ve got to be very depressing for the Liberals.
Mar ‘05: $2.246 Million from 5409 contributors for $415/ donor
Mar ‘06: $1.332 Million from 6493 contributors for $205/ donor
Mar ‘07: $589k from 4365 contributors for $135/ donor
Mar ‘08: $880k from 10169 contributors for $86/ donor
Consistantly donors to the Liberal party are giving smaller and smaller amounts. That trend should scare the $hit out of Liberals.
And I’m sure people will be waiting for your brilliant fund raising ideas just like they’ve been waiting for the election you’ve been promising for lo these many months.
We’re waiting with baited breath /sarc off
Electronic voting machines are still open to the same fraud that threw the U.S. election, by tampering with memory cards and other methods. Last week Harper ordered the implementation of those same machines by next year in Canada. The U.S. gov expects the same tampering in their next election.
Does the fish continue to rot, because there’s an odour in that air. So maybe we should just cook it, before it overpowers us.
Some people are still living in a dream world, hanging onto the ideals of conservatism and projecting their dreams into this Harper government, not realizing that reality is totally different. So they still donate cause their conservative dreams may yet come true. Plus they get bombarded with poop mail and being busy individuals still haven’t taken the time to realize the lies they are being fed. And it is nice for a large organization to send you a receipt with all those flattering words on it. Makes you feel that only you are making a difference.
Me, I’ve been busy and not really donating cause I know the Liberal party is in good hands. So I missed a quarter. I’ll still exceed my last year’s donation this year. And when you don’t blow your money on poop crapola, you don’t need as much
To All Income Trust Investors Who Experienced The Treachery And Treason Of Harper, Flaherty & Their CON Cohorts:
I respectfully urge you to make a thankful donation to The Liberal Party Of Canada and/or its MPs or candidates.
The Liberals are the one electable party that has stood by trust investors, seniors and retirees – and promise to bring back justice – against this CON-induced devastating and despicable matter.
A $100 donation will only cost $25 after receiving a $75 federal tax credit. A small price to pay for JUSTICE.
Please, put your money where your mouth is, as they say.
FIGHT FOR THE BRIGHT.
NOT THE CONSERVATIVE BLIGHT.
DONATE AND VOTE LIBERAL!!!
AND TAKE BACK CANADA!!!
I think you mean “heavy lifting” not “heavy listing”…
“Call in the next three minutes and you’ll qualify for cream to shrink whatever’s bothering you.”
Posted by Garth Turner on 05.04.08 @ 9:56 pm
———–
What, no vial of “Holy Oil” or a “Prayer Cloth”?
I hear that’s what Stevie Harper, Rob Nicolson, Stockwell “Doris” Day and their buddy Charles McVety are offering.
As for Z .. he can draw pictures, but he certainly can’t spell worth a sh!t .. which reveals his adolescent state of mind..!!!
Both of you wankers are not worth spit, and when Harper wins his majority government as he surely will … I will look forward to applying the coupe de grace to your miserable carcasses …!!!
By Harry S on 05.04.08 5:28 pm
Oh poor, poor Harry. Harper is no position to win a majority, and neither are the liberals, not when both parties are sitting at 30 to 33 percent in the polls.
As for my spelling Harry, did you miss what the mathead of blog reads?
“Where truth and honesty come only second to our spelling and grammar”
But I guess the humour of that is lost on very simple minds like yours.
PS, you are still a LIAR!!!
Now that Flaherty’s financial competence or lack there of has been fully exposed c/w $122,000 speech writing non tended contract coupled with one of few (?) possible election schemes (In and Out) I would think the money pit could run dry. Now having said that what could be lurking in the minds of those worker at CPC election collection agencies? hmmmmmmmmm
Addendum
How many old and new supporters are willing to continue to do so now that 67 plus people have been CONed by the CONservatives and could find themselves in court (names have been published and saved who knows where) will be willing to do so?
Garth
If you want a big bang for your buck during the next campaign , all you have to do is insert the following video into a single add—-I can guarantee you that Mr Harper has misjudged his ability to cover up the crime of the century & that those harmed will be there to support Mr Dion with everything we have at our disposal.
Stephen Harper: “When Ralph Goodale tried to tax Income Trusts … don’t forget, don’t forget this …they showed us where they stood. They showed us about their attitudes towards raiding seniors hard earned assets and a Conservative government will never allow either of these parties to get away with that” Stephen Harper on Global TV, December 02, 2005
http://youtube.com/watch?v=U9mibZYpVPY
Dr Mike Popovich—former life-long Conservative.
The election rules say that if a party’s local riding has raised excess funds that it has not used, it can transfer them to the national level for their use. In the case of the Conservatives, they selected ridings that had unused capacity at the local level, transferred funds in the amount of that unused capacity, then turned around and transferred the money right back out again. The distinction here is that no matter how the Conservatives try to twist it, those funds were not raised at the local level for local use. It was premeditated, orchestrated subversion of the rules. And that is fraud.
For their criminal case, Elections Canada has recognized this distinction and intent: fraud is crime. To make things worse, in this case highly organized.
Wow, you have liberal whining reduction cream?
“The simplest answer is the Conservatives have an awesome, and expensive, money-sucking machine.”
So really what you’re saying is the conservatives actually see an opportunity and work towards their goal while the liberals sit aside and wait for someone else to do it, therefor the conservatives actually see results. I don’t understand your complaining. Maybe you should pass some legislation that takes away more freedoms, that’ll learn ‘em.
Time to Stop Prime Ministers From Ruling Like Kings, Expert Says
Define roles of politicians, public service in Constitution: professor
Kathryn May, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, May 05, 2008
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=42acc6a7-2523-42ff-8b27-5abeb908f633
Charles McVety in Harper’s halls of power Posted on Monday 14 April 2008
By Dennis Gruending
Reverend Charles McVety says that he has many friends among the Harper Conservatives who govern in Ottawa. This week he will testify before the Senate banking committee in support of legislation that he says occurred partly as a result of his lobbying. It would deny tax credits to films that the government deems offensive. It’s a move that critics say is an affront to freedom of speech and a threat to the Canadian film industry
http://dennisgruending.ca/pulpitandpolitics/?p=58
.. in your response on your previous article concerning ‘tax shifting’ …. so shall we keep a keen watch-out for Dion’s message from the mount and hopefully a non-confidence vote on the Budget/Immigration legislation and an election on June 16th …???!!!!!
By Harry S on 05.04.08 10:31 pm
Here he is…this blogs best answer as to why you should vote against the CPC….aggresively trying to pin down anyone in sight…surely he must realize that the CPC has so much baggage and that his fearless crooked leader who was in charge of a party that tried to buy a vote from an MP and got himself caught on tape admitting it, just might not be around for the next election….where he could be going, he won’t be holding it, he will be it!
I almosty forgot,
CPM drools
over Harpers stools
The caption to that photo should be changed to:
“Pass the Ketchup”
Consistantly donors to the Liberal party are giving smaller and smaller amounts. That trend should scare the $hit out of Liberals.
And I’m sure people will be waiting for your brilliant fund raising ideas just like they’ve been waiting for the election you’ve been promising for lo these many months.
We’re waiting with baited breath /sarc off
By Reid on 05.04.08 11:51 pm
Not to worry, I am sure the Liberals will gain some momentum when the results are out for Naftagate, Cadscam, the “in & out scheme” ….and so on…
Electronic voting machines …… Last week Harper ordered the implementation of those same machines by next year in Canada.
By Barb the proof-reader
on 05.05.08 12:21 am
Can’t find anything about that on the net, Barb.
Got a link?
So really what you’re saying is the conservatives actually see an opportunity and work towards their goal while the liberals sit aside and wait for someone else to do it, therefor the conservatives actually see results. I don’t understand your complaining. Maybe you should pass some legislation that takes away more freedoms, that’ll learn ‘em.
By Traciatim on 05.05.08 6:12 am
No, that is what you are saying!
A U.S. think tank has sent more than 11,000 brochures and DVDs to Canadian schools urging them to teach their students that scientists are exaggerating how human activity is the driving force behind global warming.
“The Chicago-based group, the Heartland Institute, said its goal is to ensure that students are provided with a “balanced” education about “an important and controversial issue.”
But critics, including a leading climate scientist, described it as a campaign of misinformation.”
NOTICE THE NEO-CON USE OF THE WORD BALANCED – HARPER GOVERNMENT’S NEW MANTRA
In this story MP Wallace claims he had a public meeting.Does anyone have record of this?
The Hill Times, May 5th, 2008
Dion plans cross-country summer tour, party polls low in Quebec
Conservatives lack options, likely to go negative, and to launch massive air war in next election campaign, predicts Kinsella.
By Abbas Rana
But Mr. Wallace said that in the next election, his party will run on their record in government and as for ethical issues he said that he recently had a public meeting in his riding and there was not one question asked on ethical issues.
“We have a great record to be running on in the next election. There’s not one of our top five promises that they could point to that we did not move on. And on the ethics issue, in my public meeting, not one question on those issues. We have been running a solid clean proactive government since we were elected in January 2006,” said Mr. Wallace.
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=2008/may/5/summer_tour/&c=2
There were 18 people at Mr. Wallace’s meeting, according to those who attended. — Garth
Garth, very fine spinning on this very fine morning. Spin, spin, swirl, flush.
I did not see that picture of the Prime Minister before. Looking at it, it makes me feel like I’m looking at a man I can trust. The kitten is totally relaxed in his hands, and the way he supports the kitten by cupping his hand around it, screams security, faith and trust.
On Mr. Dion and the Liberals…you and I both know if the LP regained power, absolutely nothing of significance would change…except, if Mr. Dion did implement his many promises we would see huge deficits.
People donate generously to the CPC because they know it’s the only way to ensure that our crime issues are dealt with. We still have long way to go on that, but a majority would speed things up.
I have two major issues…crime against children and house arrest for those crimes and second; I hate free trade. The CPC passes on the first and fails on the second. So far, no one is showing me a party that would make the changes I feel we desperately need on free trade.
Leasa
Not to mention, the CPC are based on ideology and there’s nothing like pushing ideology when raising money.. just look at the tele-evangelists in the US. All idoelogy, little substance.
“Get me $18 million by the weekend, so I can build that theme park, or put gasoline into all my limosenes…. Would I lie to you?” – Genesis.
BTW… are you being sneaky, Garth? We only QUALIFY for the problem shrinking cream …. when’s the draw…. and what’s the catch?
Garth, you are confused. Don’t you remember that McGuinty is supposed to be the kitten eater?
By Paully on 05.05.08 7:27 am
And here I thought he was the “Liar”!
On Mr. Dion and the Liberals…you and I both know if the LP regained power, absolutely nothing of significance would change…except, if Mr. Dion did implement his many promises we would see huge deficits.
By Leasa…
Yes we all know that the CPC is the party of huge deficits, and the Liberals have to bail them out when they regain power…
History me lady….history….
You could raise BILLIONS Garth with that cream that shrinks what ails ya! I’ll be the first to order a case load of Harper/Flaherty ego deflating cream.
By keith phibbs on 05.05.08 6:25 am
That is the best link I have seen here, Mr Savoie is bang on with his PM’s ruling like Kings and that goes for all parties…if it continues it will lead to a dictatorship if it isn’t already. NO MATTER WHO IS IN POWER!!!!
“Last week Harper ordered the implementation of those same machines by next year in Canada.”
By Barb the proof-reader
on 05.05.08 12:21 am
“Can’t find anything about that on the net, Barb.
Got a link?”
By Northern PoV on 05.05.08 6:32 am
Hi Barb, I, as well, would like to know where I can find this information.
I’ve been following the issue of voter suppression and vote manipulation by Republicans, for some time. It doesn’t surprise me that the Harper Conservatives would want to push evoting in Canada.
Thanks a lot,
-R
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2008/05/05/5470956-sun.html
‘Decent’ label puts MP on spot
Mon, May 5, 2008
The headline on the two-page spread in the latest Maclean’s magazine just hitting the streets calls London MP Glen Pearson the “last decent man in Ottawa.”
And, as would be expected of a decent man, Pearson admits he was embarrassed by that.
“It’s been hard because the title has been a bit damaging,” he said. “I think some parliamentarians resented that a bit, because they see themselves as decent as well. I really agree with them. I am not the last, but I am probably the one who is recognized for bucking the system.”
The profile in the national newsmagazine paints the member for London-North-Centre as a principled, honourable man unhappy at the extreme partisanship in Ottawa and the zoo-like conditions during question period. “I don’t play well when it’s mean. And I find a fair bit of meanness here,” he is quoted as saying.
Indeed, about a year after his 2006 byelection win, Pearson openly suggested the atmosphere and working conditions might drive him out.
But today, a mellower Pearson said, constituency work in London has sustained him and helped him overcome doubts about his future in Ottawa.
“The behaviour is worse. You can ask any senior MP — and the Speaker here has called it anarchy,” he said.
“It’s not the fact that I’m steeling myself more toward it and able to handle it better,” Pearson said. “I think it is more in the riding . . . about 95 per cent of my work is about London. That has been rewarding for me.”
Pearson said he likes working with people locally, trying to find creative solutions to global problems like the environment. And sharing his concern for the plight of southern Sudan about which he has spoken and raised awareness across the country.
The Maclean’s piece talks about the respect Pearson engenders among his fellow MPs of all stripes and the “almost unnerving” silence that greets him when he rises to speak in the Commons.
Pearson acknowledges he does seem to have the ear of his colleagues.
“Usually when I stand in Parliament there is great respect, because I came here with a background of helping people,” he said yesterday from his Ottawa office. “I will always get notes saying, ‘Well done,’ and signed by so-and-so.
“Yesterday, people got their Maclean’s and I got four notes. All of them are unsigned. That’s the way Parliament has become and they don’t want to be seen by their own parties as looking positive. We have to get past that stuff. That’s how silly it gets here.”
He did get a kick out of one thing about the Maclean’s article, embarrassing headline and all.
Pearson pointed out his wife, Jane Roy, his co-director of the London Food Bank and similarly dedicated to helping southern Sudan, made it to the pages of Maclean’s a few years back. She was on the cover for her work in freeing slaves in Sudan.
“I finally got in Maclean’s but I didn’t make the cover,” Pearson said, laughing. “I’m just not as good as she is and I’m not as good looking, either.”
Well now we know the Liberals are gathering more “decent” members every day. A good sign for Canada.
When is your “hope” brochure available Garth?
Within one week. — Garth
I have no sympathy for the Liberal Party and its fundraising woes. This was the party that, when it had a majority, enacted legislation designed to prevent the formation or success of new parties by biasing the law against them and in favour of the established parties. Today a party like The Reform Party or the Green Party could not have gained adequate financial support to become viable.
Smaller parties and independents face major discrimination under the law enacted by the Liberal Party. The current government went to court to make sure the Liberal law was enforced.
While the major parties get taxpayer money based on their share of the popular vote, small parties and independents and their supporters have their equal rights taken away under the law.
If you support The Green Party or a smaller party remember that if you loan the Liberals your vote in the next election you could be ensuring that your party will not survive.
The Liberals made the law and they need to understand its implications.
This link not working
Update:
Controversy rages over Turner’s tribulations
posted by Garth Turner on 05.04.08 @ 9:56 pm |
The Hill Times, May 5th, 2008
Feds draft policies without knowledge of officers of Parliament: Marleau
Liberals want to know: ‘Why is the government at war with Canada’s democratic institutions?’
By Cynthia Münster
The government has been quietly drafting about 25 government policies that impact on the rights of officers of Parliament, and it has been happening without their knowledge or input, Information
Commissioner Robert Marleau told The Hill Times last week.
He said Parliamentary officers need to be consulted when the government drafts such problematic policies—such as submitting communications strategies to the Privy Council Office for approval—and that independent officers of Parliament need amendments to the Financial Administration Act to prevent government policies from reaching their offices.
“I think what [Auditor General Sheila] Fraser raised this week was the fundamental issue that while we are even talking about this, some of these new policies are being developed. We are not being consulted. We find them out by accident. One this week on contracting was that very issue, and it came to me totally out of nowhere and probably these were an afterthought in many of these policy developments and then we have to roll the rock back up the hill in order to get the right kinds of amendments,” said Mr. Marleau.
Part of the problem is that officers of Parliament are not identified as a separate, independent group under the Financial Administration Act, and should be listed under a separate “schedule,” he said.
“All of us who are autonomous Parliamentary agents should be listed in one schedule. It would be apparent to everyone. Treasury Board would have to take that into consideration within issues of policy, because right now it says: every department that’s in schedule six, this policy applies to [them]. Well, we are all in schedule six, that’s the problem,” said Robert Marleau, Canada’s Information Commissioner told The Hill Times in an interview last week.
Last Tuesday at a meeting of the House Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Auditor General Sheila Fraser raised concerns about a draft communications policy from Treasury Board that would require all communications strategies from those departments and agencies listed under schedule 1.1 of the Financial Administration Act to be vetted by the Privy Council Office.
Ms. Fraser stated that officers of Parliament have identified about 25 government policies, of which the communications policy is one, that “we believe there are certain conditions that are problematic that have a role for a minister or a central agency that we think is inappropriate and we are working with the secretariat and hope we can resolve it with them.” Ms. Fraser stated that there was “no way” she would have her hospitality expenses signed by a minister, for instance.
The issue was brought up last Thursday in Question Period by Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion (Saint-Laurent-Cartierville, Que.), who asked, “Why is the government at war with Canada’s democratic institutions?”
Government House Leader Peter Van Loan (York Centre, Ont.) answered, stating that the communications policy applies to government departments, not to independent agents of Parliament, and that “this government has no intention of requiring those independent agents of Parliament to vet their communications through the government in any way.”
The response appeared to appease some concerns, but it’s not enough, said Mr. Marleau. He said that a working group of officers of Parliament are studying the issue.
“It’s comforting to hear the minister publicly acknowledge that the autonomy of the Parliamentary agents is going to be respected. The fact remains though that we are looking, all of us from the working group, and we are looking at many policies of Treasury Board, past, present, and those that are in development. The wording of many of these policies doesn’t translate very well the words of the government House Leader, so we are hoping to clarify that in the next little while,” he said.
Mr. Marleau said that one of the problematic draft policies, for instance, is on contracting, which is being developed and in essence would subject all contracts for expert advice to the vetting of the Department of Public Works.
“I take the same position as the auditor general: there is no way, in her words, that I would submit communications strategies to Privy Council or any other government department. So I would be in violation of an expressed policy. Now the government has said it doesn’t want it to apply to us. That’s fine, and I think the problem is solved, but the contracting is a statutory regulation that is being drafted. Once it becomes proclaimed, once it becomes published in the Canada Gazette, it becomes law, and I’m caught by it and so are the other agents. I’ve raised this issue with Treasury Board and I’m pretty sure we can work it out. But see, there is a specific case where the law was being changed without our knowledge, without us being informed, without us being consulted, and five Parliamentary agents are impacted by this,” he said.
Paul Thomas, the Duff Roblin professor of government at the University of Manitoba, said he thinks the problem was an oversight rather than the government being overzealous in its centralization of communications.
“I just think it’s so inappropriate, out of line, that I would tend to write it off as an oversight. I mean if they thought they could do that, they wouldn’t get away with it and so they would pay a price. So to say it’s an inadvertent error and we never meant the policy to apply to these unique entities that are outside the administrative framework of the regular departments, I think, is probably the truth …. They wouldn’t have wanted to get into a fight with say Sheila [Fraser] or with the information commissioner, and I mean, [Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.)] has already picked fights with independent and semi-independent entities of various kinds. He doesn’t want to keep adding to the lineup of organizations that he picks fight with,” said Prof. Thomas.
Prof. Thomas said that in Ottawa, spin and communications have developed into an art form and there are advantages to keeping a unified message, to “sing from the same song-sheet.” Nevertheless, it would not be tolerable for PCO to vet Parliamentary officers’ communications strategies. Prof. Thomas warned, however, that Parliamentary agencies need to find the right balance between independence and accountability.
Christina Van Loon, a spokeswoman with the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet, told The Hill Times last week that the various offices of agents of Parliament are “working with our counterparts on these issues and that basically we’d like to see a clarification or some kind of clear indication that some aspects of policies developed by the government don’t apply to agents of Parliament, and that’s because we agree that sometimes the policies can include clauses not necessarily in line with the independent role of an agent of Parliament.”
Mike Storeshaw, communications director to Treasury Board President Vic Toews (Provencher, Man.), said the independence of agents of Parliament is established by law and “a policy can’t trump the law.”
“Any time a Treasury Board policy has come into conflict with their independence, what we’ve always done is basically just read it [in a way] that that policy doesn’t apply to them. So when it comes to having to, for instance, send communications materials to PCO, it’s just not something that’s ever been required of them, because it would conflict with their independence,” he said.
“What we are doing right now is going through all of our Treasury Board policies, through the policy suite renewal process, and that includes the communications policy, so we are discussing ways to make these things more simple, more targeted, more accessible … Even if we were to strengthen or make the role for the Privy Council Office for coordinating communications more comprehensive, it still wouldn’t apply, because it still would conflict with the auditor general’s independence,” he said.
Mr. Storeshaw said that, currently, the Treasury Board is working on the issue on a case-by-case basis, but the agency would be willing to consider other ways of dealing with agents of Parliament, such as establishing a different schedule for them, as suggested by Mr. Marleau.
Hmmmm………..
That poor kitten – doesn’t look very happy. The look on Harper’s (pretend smile) is creepy. He looks like he’s going to squeeze the kitten to death – oh ya, that’s a bully thing isn’t it. No way that man gets near my kitten.
My dear Leasa,
I am so glad that you are back to your old partisan form. You had me worried lest your recent skepticism regarding all politicians signalled a clinically- significant change of personality, or a disastrous disappoinment in the policial gods you had worshipped so fervently.
Since you are riding the CPC tough-on-crime hobby horse, let me link you to a column in to-day’s Ottawa Citizen that explores this CPC policy set out in an MP’s flyer and should be right up your alley:
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/columnists/story.html?id=b868893e-8a5e-4a48-a6a9-6e30a1d8fe79
Your devoted non-partisan conscience,
Garth,
Just to clarify the point. Is it possible that the Liberals are actually getting the majority of their contributions sent directly to the local ridings, where they will do the most good for the local candidate, and therefore the national figures are not reflective of the actual contributions made?
If that is the case it clearly illustrates the fact that Liberals understand we do not vote for the PM unless he/she happens to be in our riding. It also clearly illustrates that the CRAP are centrally controlled, while the Liberals represent the Canadian people.
I will look back later…busy this morning on some reports.
Oh, yes, you say things are going to change. Yes, they certainly are per this news article Time to Stop Prime Ministers From Ruling Like Kings, Expert Says
Canada’s Constitution should be opened to rein in the power of prime ministers who rule like monarchs surrounded by a tight circle of courtiers, a leading scholar on public administration says.
Donald Savoie, a political economist at the University of Moncton, said Canada’s political institutions are so broken that the role of the prime minister, ministers and the public service should be defined in the Constitution, rather than by unwritten constitutional conventions that haven’t been working for years.
“There are no effective checks and balances from cabinet, the civil service or Parliament to protect prime ministers from grabbing power and abusing it,” he said. “We now need to go farther and define in law the role of prime minister, ministers and the civil service.”
We certainly do!
From the Hill Times – re: Polievre and the In and Out Scandal:
NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.) said last week that Mr. Poilievre’s cocky style fits directly with the way the government has handled the controversy.
“These are really serious issues here,” Mr. Angus said, and any suggestion by the government that Elections Canada has a kind of partisan bias crosses far beyond the lines of governing responsibly. He said Mr. Poilievre may come across as funny with “the young neo-con university crowd,” but not in Parliament. “The Prime Minister for whatever reason has decided to bring in the circus master,” he said.
“I think youthful enthusiasm is great…. But what concerns me with Pierre Poilievre is that element that there’s always a smirk on his face. I don’t know if he always gets the gravity of the situation, of what we deal with in Parliament,” Mr. Angus said.
It’s said that, on occasion, Mr. Poilievre has been criticized even by his caucus colleagues for being too forceful or consistent in his attacks, which if made inopportunely, can backfire. “Pierre can be a little bit smarmy. That doesn’t always rub people in your own party well,” the Conservative source said, especially when the Tories are already facing criticism that the party lacks warmth. “He’s young, he’s cocky, he’s aggressive, and he sees himself as a bit of a ball biter.”
You know, there is truly a lot of immaturity in the CPC caucus. They are an embarrassment. They need adult supervision – what a bunch of clowns.
Interesting – the link doesn`t work. Maybe they blocked access. If you click on the blue link the site doesn`t exist. If you click on the picture you get a blank page with a header.
When you actually find the site via another route the article must be buried somewhere – can`t find it. Maybe they got rid of it.
I had coffee with a very good friend who is a strong C. It was explained to me that our area (Ontario) is just not used to 10%ers, that they are quite the norm in other provinces. Really. Apparently all the parties do it, they just, for some reason, have not been sending much out.
OK. I did mention the four I have received lately are a bit of an insult to one`s intelligence. My friend will mention this to the higher up`s, it is not the CPC`s intention to insult Canadians. Really.
I respect my friend so I didn`t mention that the current government is an embarrassment to most Canadians. Partianship is like a religion to some and this friend is like Leasa, only a much kinder, gentler version.
This friendship is not worth losing over politics or religion or a discussion on 10%ers.
Mr. Garth TurnerMP,
‘But great countries don’t allow such financial stress. They don’t ignore the environment. They don’t blindly follow others into costly armed-conflicts. They don’t jack up spending to record levels when things are slower, leaving the cupboard bare.’
Have our ‘so-called’ leaders been seduced and manipulated by the dark side, to sign away our Countries Sovereignty and Independence, through NAFTA, the SPP & other dealings???
Have they signed away today’s and tomorrows leaders ability to do what is best for the common good, long term???
Even what would be best for there own children?
Corporations were formed to maximize profit, sort term. NOT to look out for the long tern common good of all human beings, like YOU and your family!
Who is benefiting short term?
Fallow the money!
And watch out for brown paper bags full of cash!!!
Are you well informed
and a critical-thinker?
Hello Mr. Garth TurnerMP,
‘When is your “hope” brochure available Garth?
Within one week. — Garth
By Bonnie L on 05.05.08 8:13 am’
Do you or Mr Dion have T-shirts and buttons for sale?
Is any one selling t-shirts of Steve in a red suit with horns and shaking the 3 amegos hands???
Something wicked this way comes, step by step, going forward…
New Brunswick to use automated counting machines. I saw this first in my Municipal election. You fill out a ballot using pencil and then it is fed into a scanner and the results are sent to a central tabulating machine.
I asked one of the election officials if the results were ever cross-checked to the paper ballots. “No”, she said, “why should they be…this isn’t the U.S. you know.”
The savings….a bit of time but I think Democracy is worth waiting for.
To the people who who think it’s ok if you the source code is open for review….how do you know what’s programmed into the chip?
OH GARTH … I hope this is not all that’s going to happen this summer … and you trumpeting some kind of resurrection of Dion. The country desperately needs an election by June 16th, and now all that Dion is going to do is go on a rubber-chicken tour of the country … give me a break ..!!!???
___________________________________________________________
Dion plans cross-country summer tour, party polls low in Quebec
Conservatives lack options, likely to go negative, and to launch massive air war in next election campaign, predicts Kinsella.
The Hill Times, May 5th, 2008
Liberal Party Leader Stéphane Dion, whose party is polling seven points behind Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Quebec and who raised only $846,000 in the first quarter while the Conservatives raised $5-million, is unlikely to trigger a spring election, but plans a cross-country tour this summer to meet with Canadians, talk about his vision and explain how his party would lead the country differently from the minority governing Tories on the issues of the economy, the environment and social issues, say Grits.
Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez (Honoré-Mercier, Que.) who is the mentor of all the Quebec Liberal candidates, told The Hill Times last week that in addition to Mr. Dion’s tour he and Liberal MP Denis Coderre (Bourassa, Que.) are planning to blitz all 75 Quebec ridings.
Moreover, he said Mr. Dion’s cross-country tour will give Mr. Dion another opportunity to let Canadians get to know him better.
More at:
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=2008/may/5/summer_tour/&c=2
………………………………………….
If this is all that you Dion Liberals have planned for the Summer, why not just have another leadership convention and get it over with … Dion is dead meat politically now.
There is something somewhat puzzling in Mr. Turner’s latest post.
The conservatives are better at fund raising than the liberals. The method of fund raising and the amount, another attempt to criticize the tories?
Rather than lament your perceived injustice at the efficiency of the CPC, why not try some innovative ways to raise money. Your mantra, “its not fair” is getting lame.
Here’s a thought, maybe the cons are raising so much money from Canadians because they see them as the government of the future, not Dion and his team of retreads.
Now I know there are your little puppets who will jump on this with their “troll” comments etc. but that is simply denial. You can slander me all you want but the facts are in the bank account. Remember, gone are the days of huge corporate donations so the money is coming from the commoners.
Here’s another thought, why not come up with a vision for Canada that involves something more substantive than taxing gasoline. Oh, I know, the stuff is in the satchel waiting for the writ to be dropped. Well, let me put it to you simple, harding working middle class Canadians won’t invest in something that they do not see as having a return.
So at this point, it appears the tories have a marketable product and the grits are still trying to sell pet rocks.
The Liberals made the law and they need to understand its implications.
By C. B. Innes on 05.05.08 8:29 am
‘
Say C.B.
Do you have a link or can you please identify what this law is?
I would like to read it to understand the implications as your post has no details.
Hey Garth,
This article sounded a bit weak and worried. Are the finances that bad?
The Conservatives are well organised and aggressive at getting cash; their recent “in and out” scandal demonstrates the depth and detail in that regard-pathetic but true.
Liberals need to raise money and do it in an honourable way.
I will be helping out in some way when I get back to Canada this October.
Perhaps just in time for the next election.
Daryn
Money, money money…
From what I have seen so far:
The Cons get more money per donation than the Liberals. Could this mean their party appeals more to the wealthy who have money to burn and less to the middle class who have less and less disposable income?
The Libs trends from above posting seems to have more people making donations, but less money from each. Could this mean more and more people are doing what they can to dump the Cons, but since the economy is tanking, good jobs disappearing to be replaced by low waqe service jobs, each donor cannot pay as much?
The Cons are generating more cash flow but is the bottom line affected by the cost for running their marketing company?
If you took away the “freebies from the taxpayer”, how much would the Cons be spending from their own bank account?
I wonder how the NDP and Green are doing in their fundraising efforts… hmmmm…
So far, the ONLY party with my email is the Greens. I subscribed to their list to be sent their updates and policy information as I would really like to support them if they started to look more like a national party. Guess what… most of what I get is “please send us money”. This is a bit of a turn off, but expected.
It seems that as “our” government moves farther away from local representation and becomes more incorporated in concept, the efforts of local offices and campaigns are lessened in effect. Instead of local people promoting and supporting a local candidate best suited to represent them, we now are pushed into support of a “god-like leader” whose responsiveness to the electorate is less and less.
How can we, the “little guy/girl” take back out democratic rights?
Money, money, money…..
Hi keith phibbs on 05.05.08 6:52 am,
‘But Mr. Wallace said that in the next election, his party will run on their record in government and as for ethical issues he said that he recently had a public meeting in his riding and there was not one question asked on ethical issues.’
I was at the meeting. To ask him, tell him what I really thought of the NONE clean air plan and ask about peak-oil! See past post if you want to know what I tolled him.
I found out he worked for a Large Oil Company!!! He told us at the meeting.
He was asked about the Cadman (sp?) tape! If that’s not an ‘ethical’ question, I’m not sure what is!
He gave the PMSH CPC standard answer.
I’ve heard the tape. I don’t believe PMSH and his gang of MP’s.
(Past Bloggers here have posted links to the tape so you can hear to your self!)
When ask about growth by a person at the meeting.
Mr. Wallace also said, that HYW 407 is a permanent barrier to grow in North Burlington, because there are no water and sewage lines in place before they built the HYW 407.
I didn’t call him on his statement,
But latter I thought, is this guy for real?
Does he have a functioning brain?
Is he ignorant, or just a liar!?
The HYW 407 is NOT a permanent barrier to growth!!! New Water, sewage, hydro, phone lines etch. Are often run under the QEW, 401 and every other road in the country! Even the new water line to Milton went under the QEW and other road up to Milton!
Stolen elections.
Voting Machines.
Read David Griscom, linked below.
He has written a new book with Mark Crispin Miller.
Stay with the paper ballot.
Barb The Proof Reader, Look for me on Friday at Calgary Federal Court.
http://www.impactglassresearchinternational.com/index.html
Voters are very worried about Dion’s hidden socialist agenda. This makes fund raising difficult, and the lack of large corporate donations doesn’t help either.
my my
C-46 finally made its way back onto the order paper.
fwiw, a quick and dirty read of the Elections Canada financial reports reveals the Conservatives keep around $3M less in assets at the riding level than the Liberals.
Election is on the horizon: Ignatieff; Liberal in Collingwood for fundraising dinner
The Barrie Examiner – May 5, 2008
The “hour draws nigh” for the federal Conservative government to face an election, says the deputy-leader of the Liberal party.
Speaking to reporters after a speech to Simcoe-Grey Liberals on Saturday night at the Blue Mountain Golf & Country Club, Michael Ignatieff said the timing for a federal election is drawing close.
However, that can also only come at the call of one person – Liberal leader Stephane Dion.
“(He’s) the only person in Canada that can make that decision,” Ignatieff said. “(But) we’re not afraid of an election when it comes.”
“Canadians are realizing… (that Prime Minister Stephen Harper) has betrayed the promises he made to run an honest and clean government,” he added.
Ignatieff’s visit to Collingwood at a fundraising dinner for the presumptive candidate, Andrea Matrosovs, was the final stop in a day-long, four-riding blitz across central Ontario that began in Peterborough.
While the Liberals intend to raise issues such as the Chuck Cadman affair and the Conservative Party’s current dispute with Elections Canada, the possibility of a stagnating economy -especially in Ontario – has come to the fore, he said, especially in central Ontario.
“We will be raising (concerns) about the honesty and integrity of this government, but it’s also very clear that there is enormous economic anxiety out there,” he said. “People are really worried about their jobs, especially in manufacturing, and anybody who is employed in auto parts manufacturing are really just clinging by the fingernails.”
Ignatieff laid some of the blame for the province’s economic miseries on Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who has had a running war of words with the provincial Liberal government on the best way of strengthening the economy and saving jobs.
The senior Liberal called central Ontario the “battleground of the next election,” and predicted the Liberals would make gains in what has traditionally been a Conservative bastion.
“I don’t accept the premise that this is a Conservative riding,” Ignatieff said.
More at:
http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1014031
……………………………………………………………………….
Soooo Garth … who do you follow, Ignatieff or Dion ??? ……. the Summer Rubber-Chicken Tour with Dion , or an election on June 16th with Ignatieff … who who who … hohoho ..!!!!
No, that is what you are saying!
By pjw on 05.05.08 6:37 am
Actually PJW, that is exactly what he was saying:
“The [CPC] does non-stop email solicitations . . . It has a full-time telemarketing arm . . . printing and postage for its direct mail campaign”
“The Liberal fund-raising machine is essentially volunteer and relies on local riding associations”
This explains the huge disparity, the CPC tries itself and the Liberals expect others to do it for them.
Odd actions by an “Open and accountable” government…
Tories kill access to information database
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/05/02/cairs.html
What SH will do and will not do.
HE WILL…
This past Wed, SH dropped into Calgary’s Bow Valley Club, the surprise guest at a National Citizens Coalition dinner.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=485689
HE WON’T
The Prime Minister, the guy who’s job it is to represent us at these things refused to attend. The Canadian cabinet refused to attend. And why? Because these scientists, who – I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this or not – won the Nobel Peace Prize, had the gall to do it by formulating a plan to fight climate change.
http://www.rickmercer.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/2/20/Circle-the-wagons–science-is-coming
Beware of stolen elections.
Beware of voting machines.
http://www.impactglassresearchinternational.
com/images/LOSER_TAKE_ALLfnl.JPG
Inevitable or not, hiring permanent full time professional fundraisers is crass although I will concede its viability to be a fair indication of what’s become of democracy.
Hi Garth.
I sent you a donation today. This is to acknowledge your contribution to public debate.
Here is another link to the book on stolen elections. Please defend Canada from voting machines.
http://www.impactglassresearchinternational.com/images/LOSER_TAKE_ALLfnl.JPG
Garth
So I would expect Liberals dispatched Scott Reid to the Obama campaign to understand the media and website strategies and will launch a similar model for all ridings. There is nothing like a little networking to develop a campaign that would suit Mr. Dion.
Now before my fellow bloggers go ballistic about me looking to an American campaign – it is the best model and because the next election is so important you borrow all the best aspects. Please, just look at what is coming down the pipe:
School climate mailout ‘alarming’
Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, May 05, 2008
OTTAWA – An American think-tank has sent more than 11,000 brochures and DVDs to Canadian schools urging them to teach their students that scientists are exaggerating how human activity is the driving force behind global warming.
CALGARY, Alberta, April 30 (Reuters)
Altius Minerals Corp , one of the backers of the
proposed $4.6 billion refining project on Newfoundland’s
Placentia Bay, said in a release that John Baird, Canada’s
environment minister, had “announced a positive decision
regarding the company’s Southern Head marine terminal and
associated works.”
The environment minister concluded that the 300,000 barrel
per day refining project won’t need to provide additional
information and the terminal is unlikely to cause significant
adverse environmental effects, the release said.
The refining project’s backers also include Dermot Desmond,
founder of Dublin-based International Investment and
Underwriting, Scottish financier Harry Dobson, and Stephen
Posford, the former head of European operations for investment
bank Salomon Brothers.
($1=$1.01 Canadian)
(Reporting by Scott Haggett; editing by Rob Wilson)
UNLIKELY TO CAUSE SIGNIFICANT ADVERSE ENVIROMENTAL EFFECTS??????
WTH?
Correct me if I’m wrong but it sounds like Baird to the delight of the two main foreign investors , didn’t spend a whole lot time on this file.
I have made my political donations for the year. Some were to Members of Parliament who I felt were doing a good job overall or excelled in dealing with issues that mattered to me.
None of my donations were because of advertising I saw, whether it was paid for by abusing parliamentary privilege or by some unsavoury spam campaign.
By Barb the proof-reader
on 05.05.08 12:21 am
Don’t have time to read through to see if anybody answered this already.
The Feasibility of Electronic voting in Canada
http://www.elections.ca/eca/eim/article_search/article.asp?id=92&lang=e&frmPageSize=&textonly=false
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting_in_Canada
http://papervotecanada.blogspot.com/
This one looks neat: http://www.social-informatics.net/evoting.htm
Zorph is there anyway you can makeup an Ad with the Faces of Turner,Casey,Warner and Good Old Danny Williams and saying something like “Remember when All Conservatives where this PROGRESSIVE” ???
I think if these men are put forward and Loudly proclaimed as the Progessives that they are, b/c I don’t think that by joining the Liberal party Garth or Mark became suddenly “Liberal” they just wanted to be a part of a Party that would Allow thier Progressive Views to be heard. But that’s just a GED Grad’s opinion. :>)
By MJH on 05.05.08 10:49 am
Funny that showing care for Canadians by simply having a social agenda suddenly makes someone a socialist.
Not the same thing.
Cute kitty. Shame about the guy holding it.
—–
I think we must resist the move to voting machines. They’re just too easily hacked. After a demonstration in Maryland before the last presidential election, their error rate, failure rate and hackability caused the state to remove them from the system.
The results from Ohio may have been stolen twice.
We’re in no hurry. Count them, keep them and make them available to be counted again, if necessary.
I saw that the Quebec (?) supreme court decided that the referendum ballots could be destroyed. They never did allow an investigation into possible voter fraud. All those areas with 98% voter turn-out (truly amazing) and also the fact that the question was such an important one that it caused thousands of voters to rise from the dead just for the occasion.
——
A podcast from Australia concerning a book about the changing nature of the Victoria Cross – formerly the highest military honour it was possible to bestow. This line caught me, though.
“Whatever the merits or otherwise of the change [in the tradition of the Victoria Cross], some universal and immutable truths remain: the best VC is the one that is never awarded, because war is the last – and the worst – resort. Its greatest heroes will always be those who hate it most and wish to end it quickest. And their stories will forever be a treasured part of our national heritage.”
Robert Macklin
April 28, 2008.
History of the Victoria Cross in Australia
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/perspective/stories/2008/2229005.htm
What more can I say?
—–
One of our citizens is still in Guantanamo Bay. Whatever you may think about the Khadr family, Omar Khadr was a kid and his crime was having parents who were imbeciles. If and when we kick the Cons out of office, one thing we should do is to offer Commander Kuebler, his military lawyer, an honorary Canadian citizenship. He’s standing up for the guy in the kangaroo court that is Guantanamo.
And just in case you think the whole Guantanamo thing couldn’t get any worse, just have a look at this.
Greetings from Guantanamo Bay … and the sickest souvenir shop in the world
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=563791&in_page_id=1811
———
And because of the high cost of food and fuel, the “Zero-mile diet” is blooming in B.C. The heritage seed people can’t keep up with the orders.
‘Zero Mile Diet’ Blooms in BC
Return of the ‘Victory Garden’?
‘Dramatic’ rise in food gardens, say seed vendors.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/05/05/ZeroMileDiet/
I’ve got tomato and pepper plants growing in a south-facing porch waiting to go out in the garden.
…If it ever stops snowing. Northern Ontario – take note. I know where it’s coming from.
I know that climate-change deniers will scoff at the efforts of many people to make a difference – low-energy bulbs, small cars, driving less etc. Many people doing small things can make a difference.
And one strong, honest central government (not the one running the show at the moment) can do the heavy lifting on the big stuff. That’s what it’s there for.
Say C.B.
Do you have a link or can you please identify what this law is?
I would like to read it to understand the implications as your post has no details.
By maybe Rhino? on 05.05.08 10:13 am
I think you should find the answers in the below link:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/prb0579-e.htm
In order for a registered political party to be eligible for the per vote funding they must meet at least 5 per cent per riding. No independent gets that kind of public funding and in addition they are not permitted to receive funds for electoral purposes prior to the dropping of the writ.
This gives the established parties that enacted the laws a major advantage. Only The Green Party, which reached the threshold before the new financing laws came into affect, have supported the smaller parties.
The level of per voter funding for the smaller parties does not represent a great deal of money to the federal government. A change in the law would be required to change a system which makes supporters for these parties and independent candidates second class voters by giving their votes the same value as those who vote for the establishment parties receive.
Those who vote for minor parties and independent candidates are taxpayers just like all other voters but the establishment protects the system for themselves.
Soooo Garth … who do you follow, Ignatieff or Dion ??? ……. the Summer Rubber-Chicken Tour with Dion , or an election on June 16th with Ignatieff … who who who … hohoho ..!!!!
By Harry S on 05.05.08 10:58 am
Here is the child again with his little spoon trying to stir it up again…you are the joke of this blog and the best advertisement not to vote for the CPC…in fact, you have a lot of the characteristics of your leader, you both lie a lot and you both campaign 24/7…too bad either of you wouldn’t grow up for if you had, Mr. Harper could have had his majority but he blew it…now he can have his cell….greedy, greedy….
So really what you’re saying is the conservatives actually see an opportunity and work towards their goal while the liberals sit aside and wait for someone else to do it, therefor the conservatives actually see results. I don’t understand your complaining. Maybe you should pass some legislation that takes away more freedoms, that’ll learn ‘em.
By Traciatim on 05.05.08 6:12 am
Actually PJW, that is exactly what he was saying:
“The [CPC] does non-stop email solicitations . . . It has a full-time telemarketing arm . . . printing and postage for its direct mail campaign”
“The Liberal fund-raising machine is essentially volunteer and relies on local riding associations”
This explains the huge disparity, the CPC tries itself and the Liberals expect others to do it for them.
BY TRACIATIM ON 05.05.08 11:05 AM
Seems like these two posts are not the same…sorry Pal….you may imply the content is…but that is your take on it in post one, post two you learned how to copy and paste like I do…
So at this point, it appears the tories have a marketable product and the grits are still trying to sell pet rocks.
By Janice on 05.05.08 10:10 am
STEPHEN HARPER…
HE LIED TO INVESTORS ON INCOME TRUSTS.
(Hurting seniors near or on retirement as they don’t have the time frame to recuperate their losses)
ADMITTED ON TAPE he was aware of a financial offer to Cadman. (looks very much like vote buying)
ADMITTED THE CPC used the “IN & OUT SCHEME”
in their campaign financing.
His chief of staff, most likely under instructions from Harper, tried to INTERFERE in another country’s election process.
NAFTAGATE: (Probably doing a favour for his idol Bushie)
He tried to SMEAR Liberal MP Bains in the House of Commons.
(The character of Stevie exposed, like the smear against Martin as favouring child pornography and Liberals supporting the Taliban)
He ran on having an ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT, then immediately appointed an unaccountable minister.
(Hiding Michael Fortier in the Senate, the same senate he opposed as unelected, then appointed Fortier)
HE SAID HIS GOVERNMENT WOULD BE DIFFERENT from the dishonest Liberal government, they are the same if not worse.
(too many scandals to get them on one post, Baird, Day etc. etc..)
He MUZZLES HIS MINISTERS and only allows them to talk in public after the content has been cleared with the PMO. Now he wants to muzzle all government offices by having them clear everything with the PMO before releasing information.
Then he has scraped the Co-ordination of Access to Information Requests to deny access to Canadians to millions of pages of once secret documents.
He BROKE HIS WORD on the Atlantic Accord.
He SENDS HIS SMALL MINDED FINANCE MINISTER out to pick a fight with Ontario, the same finance minister that left Ontario with a $5.6 billion deficit and claimed it was balanced.
(Now we will have another problem with small minded Jim, if the
federal finances slip into deficit, will we know?)
And of course, Mr. Flaherty has problems with his untendered contracts….
Meanwhile the CPC is hell bent on TAKING AWAY ONTARIO’S representation based on population.
(Obviously the CPC is not interested in Ontario voters)
Remember that poor MILITARY WIDOW in the Maritimes that Harper promised she would get her pension, did she ever get it?
NOW we have the RCMP VISITING the CPC headquarters with a warrant? What illegal action has taken place?
COULD IT BE DEFRAUDING THE TAXPAYERS?
HIDES BEHIND PARLIAMENTARY PRIVLEDGE TO LIE ABOUT LIBERAL APPOINTMENTS!
Poor Stevie Harper…seems to be a DISHONEST & UNETHICAL leader!
Yes a remarkable marketable leader…
Liberals suck.
That’s why they can’t raise any money.
Geez, those are some teeny-tiny hands on the rather large body of harper, aren’t they? Does he als have tiny feet? Oh well, everything is better with a kitty involved, even photos of steve harper.
BASIC EXPLANATION ON THE CONS “IN & OUT” SCHEME
IT WOULD BE LIKE YOU SENDING $1000 TO THE CPC, ALONG WITH A REQUEST TO RETURN YOUR $1000 WITH A TAX RECEIPT SO YOU COULD CLAIM THE DONATION ON YOUR INCOME TAX RETURN. (Thank you Judy)
HOW DO YOU THINK REVENUE CANADA WOULD VIEW THIS?
DO YOU THINK THIS IS FAIR TO OTHER TAXPAYERS?
Beware of stolen elections.
Beware of voting machines.
http://www.impactglassresearchinternational.
com/images/LOSER_TAKE_ALLfnl.JPG
By John Duddy. on 05.05.08 11:53 am
http://tinyurl.com/4ywm5g will get you to John’s link
Give this URL a go to read about the US:
http://www.impactglassresearchinternational.com/Political.html
I followed the bouncing ball from the dead link above and found what may be the desired point of interest. From Red Tory’s blast at some guy who calls himself trusted tory, I found trusted tory. I also found Halton John. The good news is, the Village has found it’s Idiot and brought him home.
So Garth, what’s it like to be such an important person in the small minded world of Tory bloggers anyway? Man they got a thing for you. Did you call the dog catcher and turn them in for being loose without a license or something??
In case I’m on the wrong track, I won’t dignify the site with a link.
Thanks John Duddy, Brammer & Ron P for the links. And Geiseric for the info…
When RCMP – named Ralph Goodale – prime suspect – during election – turned to my husband and said I cannot vote Liberal
- and Ralph Goodale was cleared of all allegations after the election
BY BONNIE N BC ON 05.04.08 10:19 PM
Hi Bonnie! My best friends were duped too, and many others. That unprecedented mid-campaign fax, DID taint democracy – misleading otherwise open minds. In Calgary we knew what Harper has been up to, but still, they believe the spin nonetheless. I’ll explain in separate post.
Can you post more about Foggy Bill C 20 Poison Pills, specifically – #3 Elections Canada must enact yada yada – within 2 years – is there a link to that?
Zorph is there anyway you can makeup an Ad with the Faces of Turner,Casey,Warner and Good Old Danny Williams and saying something like “Remember when All Conservatives where this PROGRESSIVE” ???
I think if these men are put forward and Loudly proclaimed as the Progessives that they are, b/c I don’t think that by joining the Liberal party Garth or Mark became suddenly “Liberal” they just wanted to be a part of a Party that would Allow thier Progressive Views to be heard. But that’s just a GED Grad’s opinion. :>)
By SUE on 05.05.08 12:52 pm
I’ll see what I can do. I have been rather busy of late with IT projects and new client projects. So much so I have had to hire a new employee to help me with some of the day to day monkey work.
I have had one idea kicking around in my head about the latest “In and Out” Scandal.
I now I haven’t been as productive as of late with the photoshopping, but that is price you pay when you run your own business.
By pjw on 05.05.08 1:14 pm
PJ, everything you say may be true. The bottom line is, Canadians don’t seem to care and are speaking with their money in large numbers donating to CPC.
The problem Garth has is he complains about it, again, thinking Canadians care. They don’t.
The liberals need to come up with something that will ignite voters and cause them to a) donate to the libs, and b) vote for the libs.
Right now we see abstension, whining, complaining, fear mongering. It isn’t working.
So here’s a plan that might work. Inspire Canadians through vision, not fear and partisan accusations. Taxing motorists fuel consumption aint gonna do it though.
Thanks Herb for the link. I copied & Pasted the following from the article. Isn’t it funny because the discription of the man is exactly what I perceive Harry to be. A nothing sleaze bag.
In the photo, Mr. Galipeau’s alleged dirt bag is slouched on a tacky flowery motif couch you’d find at a garage sale. Or in a criminal’s lair. Or my basement 15 years ago.
He wears a sleeveless undershirt, has scraggy, oily hair and an unkempt beard. One hand loosely holds a beer bottle, the other a cigarette. His eyes appear glazed and empty.
*****
If this is all that you Dion Liberals have planned for the Summer, why not just have another leadership convention and get it over with … Dion is dead meat politically now.
By Harry S on 05.05.08 10:00 am
Harry, you are a very unstable man. Time to shut the hell up & get help. If that’s why your here on this site, you are not going to get any sympathy here. Be a good boy & just leave okay?
Soooo Garth … who do you follow, Ignatieff or Dion ??? ……. the Summer Rubber-Chicken Tour with Dion , or an election on June 16th with Ignatieff … who who who … hohoho ..!!!!
By Harry S on 05.05.08 10:58 am
Is that how you interrupted your 10:58 post? You really are out of control. Time for a straight jacket. Harry, it sounds like you could use a few slaps on the side of the head with that rubber chicken.
Good Day
Choose your headine:
“More taxpayers’ money down the drain”
“Flushed with success”
“P*ssing our money away”
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/421442
sry about the muliple, wordpress went nuts on this one
Oops, wrong word used. Should of read,
Is that how you interpreted your 10:58 post?
Regards
So here’s a plan that might work. Inspire Canadians through vision, not fear and partisan accusations. Taxing motorists fuel consumption aint gonna do it though.
By Janice on 05.05.08 1:58 pm
When the election comes, we will see if Canadians care. I think they do and I think many Liberals switched to the CPC on the basis of Harper’s promise of tarnsparency, honesty and accountability, I am not a Liberal but i must admit I bought into it…you only get to scam me once though and I think many others feel the same way.
Scary thought but could it be…….?
Not possible is it? Could Harry & his beloved leader be the same man? They both lie through their teeth, they both want an election so bad it makes them panic, they are both afraid of Mr. Dion so therefore keep pushing Iggy or Rae out. They are both liars, egotistical maniacs, control freaks, just not very nice people in general.
Well, it was just a thought.
Cheers
What I heard from my Prime Minister today…Yes, all parties are taking advantage of the taxpayer, why wouldn’t they if it’s perfectly legal.
Mark it well fellow Canadians, it’s the new morality. If it’s not legal, laws are altered at breakneck speed to make it so. Witness the U.S.A. where Habeas Corpus, a right to justice established in the era of the Magna Carta, has been removed during the reign of just one Presidency.
Unblanced, unchecked power cannot be tolerated.
Do you have a link or can you please identify what this law is?
I would like to read it to understand the implications as your post has no details.
By maybe Rhino? on 05.05.08 10:13 am
I tried to post this earlier but something went wrong. Hopefully this will answer your question.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/prb0579-e.htm
This is an excellent example of how law can be designed to destroy equality under the law.
So here’s a plan that might work. Inspire Canadians through vision, not fear and partisan accusations. Taxing motorists fuel consumption aint gonna do it though.
By Janice on 05.05.08 1:58 pm
Just one other thought Janice, in my 47 years of voting, I have rarely seen an election won. Normally they are lost and the public is fed up with that party. Especially if the parties are at equal strength (polls)
House of Commons shut down by water shortage. A break in the infrastructure – now there’s a piece of symbolism.
By Barb the proof-reader
on 05.05.08 1:33 pm
Foggy Bill C-20
Sorry the link is very convoluted – government website you know.
The easiest way to navigate is to Google it on google.ca – select pages from Canada button
Type C-20 legislative committee house of commons
Click on the first search result
On the upper right hand corner ensure you are in the “39th Parliament 2nd Session”
The default sometimes comes up as the previous session…
Select “Meetings” on left website bar and then click on Evidence for April 9, 2008 meeting.
To navigate through the document select the arrow button and you will see his testimony.
You may be the “Proof Reader” I guess I’m the researcher. Yes my dear, you will learn Conservatives plan to introduce electronic voting machines.
I agree with the speaker that MP Turner’s question in the house was the waste of parliament’s time and these people are suppose to be adults in the house.
What are you talking about? — Garth
Tamil terror group’s manual revealed
Tap politicians, Tamil Tigers’ guide dictates
Graeme Hamilton And Stewart Bell, National Post
Published: Monday, May 05, 2008
MONTREAL – Inside the school auditorium, the Tamil Tiger flag had been raised in a solemn ceremony and the audience of 600 people had heard a taped address from the terrorist group’s leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Then an undercover RCMP officer watched as “a Caucasian male” approached the podium.
“The male praised [Foreign Affairs Minister] Maxime Bernier and spoke about the position of the government, which is to favour the nonviolence, diplomatic solutions to the conflict, etc.,” says an RCMP affidavit made public on Friday by the Federal Court.
When the speaker drove his Mercedes away from the Martyrs Day celebrations organized by Montreal’s World Tamil Movement last Dec. 1, a surveillance officer noted the licence plate. It belonged to Maurice Brossard, the Conservative candidate in the riding of Brossard-La Prairie on Montreal’s South Shore
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=492287
By pjw on 05.05.08 1:19 pm
BASIC EXPLANATION ON THE CONS “IN & OUT” SCHEME
IT WOULD BE LIKE YOU SENDING $1000 TO THE CPC, ALONG WITH A REQUEST TO RETURN YOUR $1000 WITH A TAX RECEIPT SO YOU COULD CLAIM THE DONATION ON YOUR INCOME TAX RETURN. (Thank you Judy)
HOW DO YOU THINK REVENUE CANADA WOULD VIEW THIS?
DO YOU THINK THIS IS FAIR TO OTHER TAXPAYERS?
………………………………..
Need I remind you that the BQ, the NDP, AND the Liberals have been doing the exact same thing in previous elections … and Elections-Canada looked the other way …???!!!
Perhaps you need to be reminded of the facts from time to time because your age dementia seems to be acting up on you … particularly since you are repeating yourself over and over and over again … a baaaad sign of decline …!!!!
Btw … stop shouting … unless your vision is also failing you and you need “BIG PRINT” for reading your tiny monitor.
Hey Garth, maybe I missed something.
I find it ludicrous that anyone can actually claim a political party is “good” or “successful” because it raises a lot of money. I just can’t connect those dots.
Sure, the Harper Conservatives are good at raising money. But so are the Republicans, Hamas, Hezbollah and the CIA.
Sure, the Harper Conservatives have been successful at staying in power.
But, by any other measure, accountability, honesty, vision, empathy, providing for the basic needs of Canadians, they’re underachievers.
At least in my book, they are.
-R
2nd try, I’m not sure it went though.
Hi Barb the proof-reader
on 05.05.08 12:21 am,
‘Electronic voting machines are still open to the same fraud that threw the U.S. election, by tampering with memory cards and other methods. Last week Harper ordered the implementation of those same machines by next year in Canada. The U.S. gov expects the same tampering in their next election.’
Does anyone have a link to this story/report?
I missed see it last week.
If it true, and ‘they’ get away with it,
We’ll all be F****D!!!!
New World Order here we come.
The near future could end up looking
a lot like the book ‘1984′ by George Orwell.
Never vote or have your vote counted on a machine!!!! You have heard of HAKERS!
And foreign controlled powers!
How to take over a country with out firing a shot? Rig the vote count for your guy to get in!!!! Make the vote counts appear close to reduce suspicions, of the miss informed masses. Do you really think the Corporate controlled mass media is there to tell use what we really need to know? Who said and why do we need instant election results???
The Election of past we’re, Free, Fair and used paper ballots and were counted by hand!
Is this perhaps why PMSH is having it out with election Canada now???
Harper is a Traitor to Canada’s Sovereignty, freedoms, and democracy!
When will the RCMP take action? (Remember the Cadman tape!)
Remember SPP secret dealings.
Now electronic voting machines, BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD, idea!
Only vote on paper and help count the votes by hand!!!!
Are you paying attention?
Are you well informed?
What kind of world do you want you and your family to live in?
You need/must see talk below!
And tell all your friends to watch!
Talk by Naomi Wolf author of “The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot” given October 11, 2007 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington
The best 48min. talk you’ll ever see, in time to try and stop ‘them’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc
Btw … stop shouting … unless your vision is also failing you and you need “BIG PRINT” for reading your tiny monitor.
By Harry S on 05.05.08 3:23 pm
It is okay Harry, you can go to your room now.
Let’s make sure everyone is fully armed on this point too, about Goodale, so there’s no gaps:
It was speculative trading that caused a spike, NOT suspicious trading. The speculation was based on the anticipation of what the Nov. 23 announcement might be:
An announcement that there would be an announcement at the end of a trading day is normal, to keep everyone informed in an open and fair way. And speculative trading that day was normal.
Brokers were on the phones to clients, doing what they’re supposed to do. They were speculating that the announcement was going to be that income trusts are not going to be taxed, since there was a looming election. Any broker would call it a “Buy”. They did – 99% of the trading was speculation.
And, just give this your thoughts as well: If someone knew, they wouldn’t spread it. They’d do their dirty deed for themselves, not others.
Let’s get this one straight: The political – opportunistic SPIN – that a leak could account for the normal spike – does not follow logic nor any professional opinions.
BNN has an interview -the next day – that confirms that. After 3 requests to BNN – they haven’t replied.
If you want to get into Nadeau, just remember, he’s the guy still there at the centre one year later when the Conservatives DID TAX. That guy seemed to be working his own thing, but his widespread DAMAGE came when he worked with the Conservatives and 36 billion later…. thanks to those Cons.
The new and underhanded politics are Con work start to finish. Trolls, you will be blamed and scorned by your families and loved ones one day, if you don’t get your heads out of whatever they’re in, and help us all. I’m not going to bother saying please anymore. Smarten up.
Barb. 05.05.08 12:21 p.m.
“Last week, Harper ordered the implementation of those same machines (electronic voting..)by next year, in Canada.”
This is scary. Who is involved in making these decisions? Will this be another fight with Elections Canada, whom they are trying so hard to discredit now?
Where did you hear this, Barb.?
Here’s an older article that is of interest. It would seem that Al Gore had Deceivin’ Stephen’s number quite some time ago. He sure called it accurately.
http://tinyurl.com/8top5
Anybody wanna bet that Elections Canada gets involved in yet ANOTHER controversy with the LIAR in Ottawa soon?
By C. B. Innes on 05.05.08 8:29 am
Do you really believe that the old ways of corporate donations to parties and limitless donations by organizations were better than the $500 limits we see now combined with something like a $1.75 per vote we see now? Please tell us why it is that you believe a govy handout based on votes is a bad thing for Greens or any other start up party.
You really might wanna think hard about what donations were like “before” those Liberal changes to the current MP campaign financing system we have now. Are you suggesting we should go back to the old ways? And while you’re at it, maybe you can mention gag laws and advertizing particulars if you would like to get more technical.
In the meantime, I would sincerely like to hear what it is that you have in mind as a better solution. I personally favor the donation limit being increased from $500 to $2000 for independants myself with full public disclosure as to which organizations if any donated… you know… like it used to be before Harper had such disclosures reppealed in the Alta court of law (Yeah, Harper vs. Canada, not much has changed) as an offered example in the case of independants as independents are in an uphill battle to be sure. But as for what the electorial donation system we had “before” and “after” the Liberal changes to campaign donations and financing, please tell us what you would have done to improve on what we have now. Otherwise, I hear complaint without reason with no solution to follow and that is, well, what it is.
And as for someones comment on strategically voting for Libs will come at the financial cost of the party they really want to support so don’t do it… is that someone saying they are too cheap to donate or can’t care enough to bother?
Most voters will spend 5 times on gas to vote compared to what their vote is actually worth to a party. Seriously, if one wants to support two parties, they can vote for one, donate to the other, or donate to both… like I do. I’m sorry, but the the arguement is baseless unless one is really, really, really, really cheap or broke.
I would really like someone to explain to me why, outside of being really cheap or broke, a mere vote is the best way to financially support a political party.
By Janice on 05.05.08 10:10 am
Your post is too full of double standards to bother with a reasoned rebuttal. Seriously.
And finally…
As for the Libs took in this much and the Cons took in that much and it all means something, here’s what it really means.
The majority of corps, organizations like the NCC and their mysterious 40,000 strong supporters and church groups specifically, (explains why Cons, like Republicans are such unholy rollers) donate more to the Cons than Libs. Garth is also right in the sense that a governing party does tend to raise more. But most importantly, the Libs are rebuilding despite what rabid partisan opposers have to say. They’ve got a Lib party prez that is a week old for cryin’ out loud! Quebec has some problems. Organization health and key players… this takes time. And as much as someone like myself wants the U.S. multinational NCC lobbyist Stephen Harper and corrupt Con party gone from govy rule, the Libs need to be the best they can be to actually run this nation in a way that make Canadians proud.
I’m convinced that the Libs could form a better government if there was an election tomarrow and that they would get a small minority if they did that would only grow as a new minority Lib gov faces new challenges and future elections. But would it be the best thing for this nation to elect a rebuilding party as opposed to a rebuilt one? We just had that with these New Con rookies and retreads. Do we want a knee jerk repeat?
And the risk to this nation by the damage done by Con stinker bills, policy foreign or domestic and PR is high in keeping them in power, tis’ true.
But…
This party is rebuilding. The Libs are close to being at their best. In some provinces like Ontario, I’d say that they are already there. Atlantic Canada? Already there. Financing? War chest? Its there. State of ready? Not in Quebec. Mabye not even out west in places. How long will it take? I don’t know. Only the party itself truly knows.
I do know this. I’ve never been patient. And I don’t know the timelines or deadlines of the bills that can do the most damage, like the immigration amendment to the budget or the one that will kill the Canadian film industry. And I don’t know what the senate can do to stall or change or toss it back to the house after the fact or what kind of timelines there will be with these truly stinker Con bills. Maybe the summer at the latest? And maybe its enough time for the Libs to find their mojo in Quebec and believe again. I don’t know.
But instincts tell me the house will fall in the summer and an election will come at the turning of the leaves to the seasons of change. And change in the commons will be a very, very, very good thing.
Mabye Dion is right. Practice some patience… and put the best possible team on the field instead of another knee jerk same old same O.
I am not a Liberal but i must admit I bought into it…you only get to scam me once though and I think many others feel the same way.
By pjw on 05.05.08 2:14 pm
So who do you pick now.
The liberal caucus is full of MPs that are knowledgeable and perhaps complicit in the adscam scheme. Just read Stevie Cameron’s book “On the Take” to see how corrupt Garth Turner’s PCs of the 80s were.
How about captain Jack? Remember he’s the guy that called Paul Martin a murderer because of the plight of the homeless. He’s that guy that thinks negotiations with Taliban and Al Qaeda will bring world peace. You can’t get much more extreme than he.
So, PJ, you’ve been duped, a number of times. If you think anything has changed because Garth Turner keeps saying Dion is da man, well, you’ve been duped again.
By Harry S on 05.05.08 3:23 pm
Perhaps you need to be reminded of the facts from time to time because your age dementia seems to be acting up on you … particularly since you are repeating yourself over and over and over again … a baaaad sign of decline …!!!!
PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES, SHOULDN’T THROW STONES.
I was shouting because old fella’s suffering from Alzheimer’s like you, don’t always hear so well.
By Harry S on 05.05.08 3:23 pm
Typical CONbot bluster. There is absolutely no evidence that any party other than the CONs have undertaken the In and Out scheme.
What will Canada be in for soon? Elections Canada must enact voting machines within 2 years, a back-door in Bill C 20.
More on e-voting, and getting thrown in jail for being a Democrat in the U.S. coming up.
Check the blockbuster allegations of election fraud against Rove and the Bush Justice Department that go way beyond what he said on CBS’s 60 Minutes last month.
Thom Hartmann interviewed Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman on April 29 for an hour on Air America. Listen to the audio here. which also has full transcript.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thom-hartmann/interview-with-former-ala_b_99338.html
[Don Siegelman]: “You have it right. They electronically shifted votes from my column to my Republican’s column.”
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
Flooding the country with 10% ers at a rate never before experienced in the history of Canada, at the taxpayers expense.
Running a couple of polls a day to the tune of 31 million, when the former government averaged 18 million.. And when caught by their own appointee decided to reduce it to 21 million. All this on the taxpayers tab.
Running an “in & out” scheme designed to defraud the taxpayers of Canada.
In the affidavit to support the search, an executive for Retail Media, the agency that purchased broadcast advertising on behalf of the Conservative campaign, is said to have raised doubts about the veracity of an invoice used to back up one Ontario Conservative candidate’s expense claim for $39,991.
Marilyn Dixon, chief operating officer of the agency, “speculated that this invoice must have been altered or created by someone, because it did not conform to the appearance of invoices sent by Retail Media to the Conservative Party of Canada with respect to the media,” according to the sworn affidavit of investigator Ronald Lamothe.
Mr. Lamothe also notes in his affidavit that invoices on Retail Media letterhead filed by nine Conservative candidates outside Quebec bear the same invoice number and each contain the same typographical error — spelling “invoice” as “nvoice.” A similar typo appears on other invoices, the affidavit says.
By Greg W., Oakville on 05.05.08 3:26 pm
Say it isn’t so!
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE KIND OF LEADERSHIP THIS COUNTRY HAS UNDER STEPHEN HARPER:
On Wednesday, April 9, Ontario Conservative MP Jeff Watson (Essex) just prior to Question Period, the last of the Statement of Members.
“Mr. Speaker, 16 months ago, the so-called leader of the Liberal Party said that he was “a hero” but the self-proclaimed hero has in fact turned out to be a zero. The only one who has had a worse year than the Liberal leader is Britney Spears. In a desperate effort to rebuild his image, the Liberal so-called leader has turned to his best friend for advice. No, not the Liberal deputy leader and, no, not the Liberal member for Toronto Centre, but to his dog Kyoto, and he has followed Kyoto’s advice with lethal effect.
Kyoto says “down boy” and the Liberal leader responds by driving his poll numbers in Quebec way down. Kyoto says “sit” and the Liberal leader responds by having his caucus sit vote after vote after vote. When Kyoto says “roll over”, the Liberal leader obliges on every significant matter of policy and confidence in our government.
However, the Liberal so-called leader is saving Kyoto’s best advice
for last. In the next election, which Liberals now pretend they will call in the
dog days of summer, their so-called leader will finally play dead.”
(Copied from Hansard)
————————————————————————————————
All the while, Conservative MPs roared and jeered.
Ottawa Citizen political columnist Susan Riley, who was in the House for the attack, noted that Dion’s wife, Janine Krieber, had been in the public gallery but “didn’t stick around to see her husband savaged further… In the pungent, locker-room ethos of Parliament Hill, verbal pile-ons, puerile attack ads and wildly embroidered smears are theatre… But there is a personal edge — a cruelty almost — to the Harper style that hits new lows… You don’t have to be a fan of Dion’s, or a Liberal, to be sick of it.
On Canada decision not to enter the Iraq conflict…
“Canada remains alienated from its allies, shut out of the reconstruction process to some degree, unable to influence events. There is no upside to the position Canada took.”
Stephen Harper
All the other parties submitted falsified documents that weren’t even asked for?
I find that hard to believe. got a link?
. . . their party appeals more to the wealthy who have money to burn and less to the middle class who have less and less disposable income?
How can we, the “little guy/girl” take back out democratic rights?
Money, money, money…..
By maybe Rhino? on 05.05.08 10:30 am
Good post, Rhino.
The saying, “If you can’t dazzle ‘em with brilliance, then baffle ‘em with bullshit” covers the first part nicely, with “‘em” being us taxpayers.
By making a big song and dance about (unnecessarily) lowering a consumption tax (GST) to 5%, harpo and dimjim have conveniently turned peoples’ attention away from what would have been a much better plan — lower income tax rates, then increase the GST.
This would give folk much more disposable income, which is what a majority would probably like to have — less tax taken off paycheques and then increase the GST, so the feds. would have had a lot more daily / weekly / monthly income coming in, and would have left Canada is far more stable situation than it currently is.
The rich don’t give two hoots about a GST cut — they simply move their investments around to get the best rate of return possible — but in the long-term, the middle class would have appreciated a lower income tax rate.
All harpo and dimjim have done is to help the rich get richer, while eroding the middle class, albeit at a much quicker rate.
Other than having a revolution, which I am too old and decrepit for now, the one thing will be to finish CRAP off at the election, which is going to happen anyway.
This is where PJW and Bonnie’s posts of what CRAP has and is doing to TROC will be very helpful, as they can be printed out on 8 1/2 x 11″ sheets of paper, then posted — where legal — so undecideds can make up their own minds and who to vote for.
As for the ultra, and super-rich — “LET THEM EAT CRUMBS!” — Courtesy Marie Somebody or Other
****************************************
Today’s WW from the KDC, which Garth may understand:
“It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea.” — Robert Anton Wilson
Translation: Coke/Pepsi — what’s the dif.?!
The Dog days of summer or the Kitty days of fall?
Many anxious Liberals and more importantly concerned voters want to go now and have an almost summer election. The other thought is let the Conservatives hang out to dry over the summer and have a fall election.
What are you thinking Liberal Caucus? Canadians will be on vacation and screaming about gas prices and no matter how articulate the carbon tax plan is it will not be well received because the voters suffered all summer long. There is already a backlash in BC over our provincial carbon tax.
Liberals will hand the Conservatives a wedge issue no matter how correct the carbon tax program policies are if they wait until fall.
Secondly, the spin machine will have all summer to explain the Elections Canada In and Out scheme.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Don’t’ play to their strengths – play to their weakness!!!!!
So, PJ, you’ve been duped, a number of times. If you think anything has changed because Garth Turner keeps saying Dion is da man, well, you’ve been duped again.
By Janice on 05.05.08 3:48 pm
Thank you for your intelligent response, you can join Harry in his room.
“Canada remains alienated from its allies, shut out of the reconstruction process to some degree, unable to influence events. There is no upside to the position Canada took.”
Stephen Harper
By pjw on 05.05.08 4:20 pm
He conveniently forgets about the downside being experienced by all those who did invade Iraq!
BTW. What’s the name of the vanishing cream, Garth. “Preparation H” has already been taken.
Parliament shuts down due to lack of water
OTTAWA–A parched Parliament was forced to cancel meetings and shut down early today because of water woes.
Taps ran dry and toilets backed up in mid-morning after maintenance work on a city water line supplying Parliament Hill reduced pressure to a trickle.
The disruption prompted some MPs to quip about “things piling up.” Odours began circulating in the centre block.
Government House Leader Peter Van Loan eventually announced an early adjournment.
Well, this is NO SURPRISE! all the CRAP the Harperites have been flinging finallycaught up with them ,e? They picked the PERFECT SPOKESTHING to make the announcement too…Peter Van Loan.
He said the sergeant-at-arms had determined the lack of water was a threat to the health and safety of employees and MPs.
LMAO! Threat to the MP’s? Ever heard of BOTTLED WATER? the biggest threat of the HoC is to CANADA. Maybe they will grasp what the poor Third World countries experience DAILY!
Oh, how about OUR water and the Great Lakes? Any of them in the Goobernment make that connection? Probably NOT!
It’s good to see the ‘gnatsies’ experiencing real life!
Bill, get a grip. The fire suppression system in the Parliament Buildings does not work without water. These are national treasures and any sane manager would not allow business as usual without the ability to protect them. MPs did not make the decision. You are over the top on this with your anti-establishment rant. — Garth
Need I remind you that the BQ, the NDP, AND the Liberals have been doing the exact same thing in previous elections … and Elections-Canada looked the other way …???!!!
By Harry S on 05.05.08 3:23 pm
I understand that the Bloq did indeed use this scheme in previous elections. At that time, the practice was allowable.
However, the Libs. closed the loophole. So in the last election, the practice was not allowable. Thus the excuse that other parties had done it in previous elections is invalid.
Ignorance is no excuse. But I suspect the CPC brass knew In/Out schemes were no longer allowed; but like a petulant child, tried it on anyway.
Is Garth’s “hope” brochure the same “Plan” we’ve been hearing of for some weeks now? Is it safe to assume that someone in a position of authority in the Liberal caucus has given it the stamp of approval or is Garth freelancing again? Having a “plan” without any ability to make it work is underwhelming
Seek a stamp of approval? Moi? You jest. — Garth
Possibly I do, although I am looking forward to actually seeing the meat and potatoes of the “Plan”. A plan that’d resolve just about every problem a nation of 33 million people has, socially progressive, fiscally conservative, yadda yadda.. is likely a sight to behold. Hopefully it’ll be more than hyperbole.
By brain on 05.05.08 3:43 pm
….. Maybe the summer at the latest? And maybe its enough time for the Libs to find their mojo in Quebec and believe again. I don’t know.
But instincts tell me the house will fall in the summer and an election will come at the turning of the leaves to the seasons of change. And change in the commons will be a very, very, very good thing.
Mabye Dion is right. Practice some patience… and put the best possible team on the field instead of another knee jerk same old same O.
…………………………………
Sooo brain … What do you think about Dion visiting all 75 Quebec ridings this summer in a last-ditch attempt to win back the francophone vote?? Do you think Dion has the credentials to rise from his 8% popularity with francophone Quebecers, or is he “morte-vivante” as reported in LaPresse several weeks ago .. a “zombie” …LOL
If Dion is unable to shift popularity back to the Liberals in sufficient numbers to warrant an election in the late summer/early fall … should Dion just admit that he doesn’t have the leadership royal jelly to lead the Liberals into an election, and just gracefully resign??
After all, somebody who only garnered 17% Liberal grassroots popularity going into the leadership convention after 12 months of campaigning, and was then ’selected’ as the compromise candidate for leader, shouldn’t surprise anybody if he just gives up and goes away.
To me it looks like Ignatieff is going gung-ho after the Liberal leadership, while Rae is just sitting there and expecting the Liberal leadership to be handed to him …. just like at the Montreal convention after he walked out in a petulant huff after losing to Dion and Ignatieff.
I suspect Dion’s Summer Rubber-Chicken Tour will be his only hope and last hurrah to rally Canadians to his disasterous leadership of the Liberal party. If the polls don’t show Dion and the Liberals over Harper and the Conservatives … I suspect that Dion will also be “morte-viande” as far as Canadian politics is concerned.
Bill, get a grip. The fire suppression system in the Parliament Buildings does not work without water. These are national treasures and any sane manager would not allow business as usual without the ability to protect them. MPs did not make the decision. You are over the top on this with your anti-establishment rant. — Garth
…………………………………
Good post, Garth. – Harry S
Sockitoem .. he’s just an obfuscating, pedantic, knowitall, blowhard soaking up too much forum bandwidth with his pompous pontificating aimed at us pastoral Canadians.
Hey Billy-Marine … take a one week timeout .. or better yet a one month timeout and go enjoy springtime in the Muskokas ..!!!
By Harry S on 05.05.08 5:59 pm
Here is Harry the coward pontificating again…go take your meds…Harry
CPC SCANDALS:
WHAT IS AN “IN & OUT SCHEME”
It is when a political party such as the CPC engages in the altering of documents (Retail Media Invoices) to gain taxpayers money to offset their overspending in the election process.
WHAT IS NAFTAGATE?
It is when a government such as the CPC tries to interfere in the election process of another sovereign nation.
WHAT IS CADSCAM?
It is when a government such as the CPC tries to unduly influence an independent member of Parliament to vote with them by offering a financial incentive. (PM on tape)
THE ATLANTIC ACCORD?
The Prime Minister makes promises during the election of 2006 and then reneges once elected.
INCOME TRUSTS:
Lies to investors and in particular to seniors on fixed incomes.
OPEN, TRANSPARENT, ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT
One of the pillars of Stephen Harper 2006 Election campaign.
1. Appoints an unaccountable Minister to the Senate.
2. Blacks out income trust explanation.
3. Muzzles Ministers.
4. Hides behind Parliamentary privilege to slander his opposition.
5. Canadian Military involved in Iraq?
HANDBOOK FOR COMMITTEES:
The CPC issued a 100 plus page booklet to its’ MPs to disrupt and close down the democratic process in committees.
And I think the real problem that we’re facing already is that the government doesn’t accept that it got a minority.
Stephen Harper
Yes we all know that the CPC is the party of huge deficits, and the Liberals have to bail them out when they regain power…
History me lady….history….
By pjw on 05.05.08 7:32 am
So speaking of history, who actually got the deficits rolling quite nicely in 1970’s – why it was Pierre E. Trudeau. Oh and he was a Liberal Prime Minister.
I suspect Dion’s Summer Rubber-Chicken Tour will be his only hope and last hurrah to rally Canadians to his disasterous leadership of the Liberal party. If the polls don’t show Dion and the Liberals over Harper and the Conservatives … I suspect that Dion will also be “morte-viande” as far as Canadian politics is concerned.
By Harry S on 05.05.08 5:59 pm
If you think Dion is dead meat, what are you going to do with your guy in jail…
STEPHEN HARPER…
HE LIED TO INVESTORS ON INCOME TRUSTS.
(Hurting seniors near or on retirement as they don’t have the time frame to recuperate their losses)
ADMITTED ON TAPE he was aware of a financial offer to Cadman. (looks very much like vote buying)
ADMITTED THE CPC used the “IN & OUT SCHEME”
in their campaign financing.
His chief of staff, most likely under instructions from Harper, tried to INTERFERE in another country’s election process.
NAFTAGATE: (Probably doing a favour for his idol Bushie)
He tried to SMEAR Liberal MP Bains in the House of Commons.
(The character of Stevie exposed, like the smear against Martin as favouring child pornography and Liberals supporting the Taliban)
He ran on having an ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT, then immediately appointed an unaccountable minister.
(Hiding Michael Fortier in the Senate, the same senate he opposed as unelected, then appointed Fortier)
HE SAID HIS GOVERNMENT WOULD BE DIFFERENT from the dishonest Liberal government, they are the same if not worse.
(too many scandals to get them on one post, Baird, Day etc. etc..)
He MUZZLES HIS MINISTERS and only allows them to talk in public after the content has been cleared with the PMO. Now he wants to muzzle all government offices by having them clear everything with the PMO before releasing information.
Then he has scraped the Co-ordination of Access to Information Requests to deny access to Canadians to millions of pages of once secret documents.
He BROKE HIS WORD on the Atlantic Accord.
He SENDS HIS SMALL MINDED FINANCE MINISTER out to pick a fight with Ontario, the same finance minister that left Ontario with a $5.6 billion deficit and claimed it was balanced.
(Now we will have another problem with small minded Jim, if the
federal finances slip into deficit, will we know?)
And of course, Mr. Flaherty has problems with his untendered contracts….
Meanwhile the CPC is hell bent on TAKING AWAY ONTARIO’S representation based on population.
(Obviously the CPC is not interested in Ontario voters)
Remember that poor MILITARY WIDOW in the Maritimes that Harper promised she would get her pension, did she ever get it?
NOW we have the RCMP VISITING the CPC headquarters with a warrant? What illegal action has taken place?
COULD IT BE DEFRAUDING THE TAXPAYERS?
HIDES BEHIND PARLIAMENTARY PRIVLEDGE TO LIE ABOUT LIBERAL APPOINTMENTS!
Poor Stevie Harper…seems to be a DISHONEST & UNETHICAL leader!
Stevie hides behind parliamentary privilege:
SMEAR:
Harper said in the House:
We are putting in place a new selection system so we do not have what we had before like the member for Westmount Ville-Marie appointing her former husband as a member of the board, like the husband of the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine as a member of the board, and a number of members who were under serious allegations and criminal charges”
FACT:
THE TORONTO STAR REPORTED
If either (accusation) were true, it would represent a serious ethics breach, especially on Robillard’s part, since she was the minister responsible for the board.
In fact, Robillard’s ex-husband, Jacques Lasalle, was appointed to the board in 1990 when Brian Mulroney was prime minister, and Jennings’ husband, Luciano del Negro, joined the board in 1996, before his wife was first elected to the Commons in 1997.
“As insufficient as those Liberal donations were, they represented a 62% increase over the same period a year earlier. Plus, the number of donors more than doubled.”
And both 2007 and 2008 for same period (Jan to Mar) were MUCH, MUCH less than 2006 (Jan to Mar) – actually 62% DECREASE from the 2006 figures.
According to Elections Canada, the Liberal raised
Total amount of contributions ($) 1,328,515.12
Total number of contributors 6,493
Compared to 2007 and 2008:
Total amount of contributions ($)
(2007) 531,141.12 (2008) 846,129.37
Total number of contributors
(2007) 4,365 (2008) 10,169
Seems Garth, you and your Leader have a long way to catch up with even the 2006 figures.
But, I do commend you Garth for trying to defend a sinking ship. It’s got to be tough.
Mr. Harper could have had his majority but he blew it…now he can have his cell….greedy, greedy….
By pjw on 05.05.08 1:06 pm
Prove it pjw!
That poor kitten – doesn’t look very happy. The look on Harper’s (pretend smile) is creepy. He looks like he’s going to squeeze the kitten to death – oh ya, that’s a bully thing isn’t it. No way that man gets near my kitten.
By slg on 05.05.08 9:00 am
Slug, what do you have animal foster care? The Harper are huge proponents for the Humane Society program. In fact, Stephen Harper has been a cat lover since his days in University.
Something that I doubt that you, slug, would even bother with. You should be ashamed of yourself.
If you want to be a government in a minority Parliament, you have to work with other people.
Stephen Harper
I like this post from the other day. Any thoughts on the “coward” comment Harry?
“This is your basic problem Harry, 90% of your posts contain insults, you somehow believe this makes you masculine, which you obviously have a problem with…
On the other hand, you are a creative writer, but never let the facts get in your way, you just pull off your little tirades of emotion probably because there is no one in your life.
If there is, you have probably so alienated them, they now remain silent.
I also suspect you are a coward, you would not dare make the comments you have on this blog in person I am sure you are a little man in all ways, especially emotionally.
Any real man would have some sense of compassion and fair play, which you obviously are lacking in spades. Now I realize Harry, that my “copy and paste” repetitive posts are annoying to you, however, where we differ is mine are based on fact and not the fiction you spew on here.
I do hope you continue with your creative garbage, you are the best advertisement for a vote against the CPC.”
By pjw on 05.04.08 5:54 pm
Bill, get a grip. The fire suppression system in the Parliament Buildings does not work without water. These are national treasures and any sane manager would not allow business as usual without the ability to protect them. MPs did not make the decision. You are over the top on this with your anti-establishment rant. — Garth
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.05.08 5:38 pm
Whoa, Musky got a slap down.
Garth, Billy is your biggest cheerleader and you talk to him like that? He might just move back to good ole U. S. of A and join the Obama sectarian campaign.
By brain on 05.05.08 3:43 pm
Thanks for the clarification, Brain, about that “Liberal Law”. Seems CB was not interested in giving me the info.
Is this what the “non-partisan C.B. Innes” was referring to? If so, I must agree fully with your comments.
IF – and I do mean “if” someone would prefer anonymous donations from large corporations to political parties, well, I think they are more for elitism than popularism.
Somehow, we must get the “old boy/girl networks out of everyday politics. Sure, there will always be some of it, but the move limiting corporate donations and making everyone accountable is part of a “transparent government”.
I really have to wonder where the CPC support really comes from. They have already shown affection for money laundering, and a willingness to steal from the average taxpayer to fill their party coffers. Folks that “smart”, have probably also found ways of getting big business money into their revenue streams.
I highly doubt that big business would support a small, or growing party like the Greens or independents, as they will most likely invest where there is a better chance for return on their “investment”. So, they will go after POWER – just like Harpo & the clowns.
For “strategic voting”, I, for one, will probably vote Liberals this time. They have the best chance of REMOVING THE CPC. For the most part, they are also offering a better pluralist vision for Canada that I can support.
The past is past. The LPC team is evolving. We need to look to the future, rather than wallow in hatred of things past. Something the trolls here have not figured out yet.
Bill, get a grip. The fire suppression system in the Parliament Buildings does not work without water. These are national treasures and any sane manager would not allow business as usual without the ability to protect them. MPs did not make the decision. You are over the top on this with your anti-establishment rant. — Garth
Glad you commented on the situation Garth. I was hoping you would.
I have been there, recall the horrid fire that detroyed everything but the Library.
Now, let’s expand on the ‘Why?’ this happened please? Was it a fault with the City of Ottawa’s water system? Was it a failure to look after the infrastructure (which we see across Canada, but this time it hit home). Was it due to a poor contractor busting a water line?
I think you must agree, the way it was reported did not disclose any of the points? That is why I, and so many others fail to have compassion or trust in this Parliament. I am Pro-Canadians, not pro-power perverts.
You do a great job, but this is another example of the public being treated like bloody mushrooms on the real details.
For instance, are the Stand Pipes Live or Static? If they are Static (meaning DRY) then the Fire Department would merely hook up their feed lines to the system externally.
That also raises the question why Parliament has not mandated fire sprinkler systems in all buildings, especially multi-unit residential and nursing homes? Are MP’s more valuable than citizens?
Those are very valid questions to me. Look at the news reports of how many people have DIED because of a lack of fire prevention in their rental or condo units. Here in the Muskoka we almost lost about 100 souls week before last at a local nursing home. No sprinklers, and the Fire Alarms did NOT function. Fortunately, two brave police officers from the Hamilton (enroute to pick up a prisoner for transfer from Huntsville) saw the flames, rushed in and got people evacuated. The staff was unaware of the fire. Had they not seen the fire in time, the tragedy would have been horrific. Where is the leadership for public safety in Ottawa?
Retirement home destroyed in blaze
Sounds like a Private Member’s Bill to me? Want to sponsor and write it?
Thanks for the critque mon ami.
Who cares? — Garth
Expert wonders why feds killed information registry
Updated Mon. May. 5 2008 7:01 PM ET
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The Conservative government has killed a flawed but workable information registry rather than open itself to real public scrutiny, says an academic who was quoted glowingly Monday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The Conservative party line backfired when Alasdair Roberts — “a leading expert on access to information law,” according to Treasury Board President Vic Toews — trashed their talking points moments after the daily question period
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080505/info_requests_080505/20080505?hub=Politics
What is to prevent any person from cheating with the maximum donation limit from an individual Canadian.
When I make a donation to a political party all I need is a name and address, at the end of the year I get a tax receipt, it doesn’t contain a social insurance number.
So if I wished to cheat (sorry I don’t have the spare cash) all it would require is another name and address either real or imaginary.
As long as the mail is not returned no one is any wiser, even if it was is any one keeping a record of these things? what happens to the funds in a case like this?
Now I am sure no political party not even the CONs would organise something like this but what is to stop a few over zealous supporters getting carried away?
Sure its illegal but what are the chances of getting caught?
Not good when Bill, usually the voice of reason,
lets his obsessive anti-Con worldview overload. As Turner points out this had nothing to do with a Conspiracy and everything to do with commonsense safety precautions. Take a deep breath, Bill.
A minor apology to CB
Why is it, sometimes I get different postings when I get to the blog?
Why, sometimes I find folks talking about postings I never see?
Maybe it is just me.
CB – I appreciate your response. Believe it or not, it was seen AFTER I saw Brain’s comment on a differing aspect to the law you mention, and your comment only popped up with my posting response.
I still think there is some partisanship going on, but, hey, this is a political blog.
TTFN
By C. B. Innes on 05.05.08 8:29 am
Do you really believe that the old ways of corporate donations to parties and limitless donations by organizations were better than the $500 limits we see now combined with something like a $1.75 per vote we see now? Please tell us why it is that you believe a govy handout based on votes is a bad thing for Greens or any other start up party.
By brain on 05.05.08 3:43 pm
Why should you be able to give $1.75 per annum to the Liberal Party simply by voting for it and I can’t do the same by voting for my party? The total amount an individual can donate is $1100 which is nothing compared with what is expended by corporations through the back door.
Not only does your party, because it is an established old line party, get the $1.75 per vote but it can also claim 60 per cent of its elections expenses from the public purse because it is an established party and gets the required per cent of the vote and the donors get most of the donation back in tax rebates.
A new party, trying to establish itself get none of those advantages.
When Liberals start telling Green Party to vote for them to beat Harper they are a serious threat to the Green Party since if it falls below the 5 per cent it, like the other smaller parties, will get no public funding.
The changes in the rules have not really changed much. Now corporate money is simply being filtered into a series of “think tanks” that promote the corporate agenda of the party. The number of think tanks that promote the agenda of one of the major parties have suddenly mushroomed such as the military think tanks that promote the war in Afghanistan or the anti-environmental organizations.
The Liberals tried to be “too cute” by eliminating the threat from new parties and it has backfired. When it comes to the Liberal party their partisans just can’t see that the kind of manipulation of the electoral system that their party imposed when they expected it to give them an advantage could, down the road, come back to bite them.
Don’t think that the Liberals were not forewarned about what they had done. They were told but refused, when they had a majority, to do anything about it.
Harry: When you call yourself “pastoral”, do you mean you live the life of a shepherd?
I’ve never seen the adjective “pastoral” to describe a nationality? And definitely not “Canadians” as a group.
If I am not mistaken CB, this is what you are not happy about:
PUBLIC FUNDING OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND CANDIDATES
“Individual candidates are also entitled to reimbursement of electoral expenses if they receive 10% or more of the valid votes cast. The maximum amount that may be reimbursed is the lesser of 60% of the candidate’s paid election and personal expenses, or 60% of the maximum the candidate is allowed to spend in an election under section 441(3) of the Canada Elections Act (section 464).”
I must agree with these stipulations, and can see why you may think that strategic voting could affect an independent or minor new party.
However,
No one should enter politics seeking public money refunds. If you do not enter to win, you should not be there. If you are in politics to make a statement, then you should be ready to pay for the privilege.
The costs to administer an election would skyrocket if every person seeking publicity for a “cause” decided to run for office. Ballots would become long documents, and it would add to voters’ confusion. Somehow, you need to separate the serious from the pontificator.
If your case/cause is so weak that you cannot even garner 10% support, then you should have thought about entering politics more seriously in the first place.
Thanks for the link though. VERY interesting reading. Worth posting again:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/prb0579-e.htm
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/canadianC-51bill27apr08.shtml
JOHN DUDDY ON 05.05.08 10:34 AM
John – - see you there!
Bill C-51 allows binding laws to be created in secret
Trojan Horse Legislation – bills normally take months to pass – not weeks – Gov. is fast tracking bill before anyone has a chance to challenge it
Owners of pharmaceutical giants are behind it — the shape of things to come.
Eliminates the Ability of our Elected Officials to Protect Us ?Section 30(7) of Bill C-51
It’s not about Safety – it’s about Big Pharma
http://www.stopc51.com/
what can be done
http://www.stopc51.com/c51/what_you_can_do.asp
“Preparation H” has already been taken.
By James- Chatham on 05.05.08 5:22 pm
That would be the ointment for a Harry S? LMAO!
For all you polling fanatics:
Ya gotta love history…
“Canada Day Poll
Jul 01, 1996″
“For example, the 1993 and current vote results can be combined to create a profile of Canadian voters. The results suggest that 30% of Canadian voters can be classified as Core Liberals (voted Liberal in 1993 and would currently), 12% as Liberal Defectors (voted Liberal in 1993 but would not today), 8% New Liberals (did not vote Liberal in 1993 but would today), and 50% Non-Liberals (did not vote Liberal in 1993 and would not today).”
By Compass Inc.
Remember, Harry & others, the Liberals were in a MAJORITY government here – and stayed that way for quite some time. These figures look awful similar to today, eh?
http://www.friends.ca/News/Polls/polls07019601.asp
Rally Against Bill C-51 also
Edmonton – May 10
http://tinyurl.com/4my27c
Vancouver – May 10
http://tinyurl.com/44q329
Parliament Shuts Down
Hmmmmmmmm?
Since much of the heritage building doesn’t have a sprinkler system the decision to shut down seems to have much more to do with the state of the washrooms on some of the upper floors of the building which I am told are not for the faint of heart at the moment.
Sprinklers are just one of the upgrades that insiders say are badly needed in the Centre Block. However, the logistics of doing the work are enormous and some experts have estimated it <b?will necessitate the House of Commons moving out of the building for two years. While I’m sure that two years without those pesky questions from the opposition would suit Prime Minister Stephen Harper just fine, sooner or later they will have to identify an alternate location to house Parliament while the work is done.
How about Montreal? Whoops. Forgot. Been there, done that.
Aha? No sprinklers in the Centre Block, eh? Well, there goes the Fire Hazard reason I think?
Is this evacuation in Harper’s book on ‘How to Disrupt Committee Meetings’? Seems the real Fire Hazard was his (Harper’s) arse being meltdown. LOL God does work in mysterious ways it would seem. Two years? How about permanently, send all of it back to the provinces, let them fulminate the issues, then meet for one or two MONTHS in a premiere’s conference and write a Canada wide law. Then they GO HOME!
Switzerland, the oldest confederaion, works that way. Perhaps it is OUR time? That could save Canadians $350 million per election to send 308 basically Do-Nothings to Ottawa, and certainly would lead to more being accomplished than the past TWO YEARS of pissing into the wind to gain poll points. GAWD!, Am I anti-establishment? No, anti-pathetic government!
Did I use the word ’sprinklers’? — Garth
BASIC EXPLANATION ON THE CONS “IN & OUT” SCHEME…
IT WOULD BE LIKE YOU SENDING $1000 TO THE CPC, ALONG WITH A REQUEST TO RETURN YOUR $1000 WITH A TAX RECEIPT SO YOU COULD CLAIM THE DONATION ON YOUR INCOME TAX RETURN. (Thank you Judy)
HOW DO YOU THINK REVENUE CANADA WOULD VIEW THIS?
DO YOU THINK THIS IS FAIR TO OTHER TAXPAYERS?
Did I use the word ’sprinklers’? — Garth
No Sir, you did not…I did! So, what was the ‘fire hazard’ that was so imminent? Seriously, I would like to know because the news reports indicate more of a panic over overflowing toilets. LOL
We all know how much Hot Air is generated, but that is well below the ignition temperature of wood…unless Harper, Van Loan, and Baird all spoke at the same time, eh? LOL
Hi Garth.
I sent you and the Prime Minister a copy of my email to my MP.
Hi, Lee Richardson MP.
Please scroll down to Arizona Republican Senator Karen S. Johnson saying
9/11 2001 was an inside job.
This is up-to-date, May 2nd. 2008.
Canadians Politicians can now call for an investigation into the murder of
24 Canadians.
I visited your office a few days ago and asked your staff to set me up with an appointment so I can give you more compelling documents.
John Duddy.
http://patriotsquestion911.com/
By maybe Rhino? on 05.05.08 7:33 pm
Look at the economic realities New Zealand experienced under the neo-cons and you will find Harper’s, Flaherty’s and the CRAP Game Plan! Flaherty already tried it here in Ontario. Same results…societal FAILURE, but elitist success!
The ‘Collapse of Globalism’ By J.R. Saul:
[Selected Romantic Enthusiasms
So great a revolution as the rethinking of the world through an economic prism required more than mere trade to build its structures. Dozens of supporting theories and experiments were initiated.
New Zealand. the petri dish. the troian horse.
New Zealand is a small, highly centralized democracy. Until the mid 1990s, it followed the first-past-the-post parliamentary system, and anybody who won a majority held almost unquestionable power. The upside of this was that governments had the ability to take clear political risks. And so early in the twentieth century, New Zealand had led other countries both in legislating women's rights and in experimenting with public programs.
In the early 1980s, the international economic problems that had struck people around the world combined with some overly enthusiastic spending by the governor in Wellington to produce a financial crisis. A labour government won an election in the midst of this, and quite unexpectedly its minister of finance responded aggressively to the crisis with intense economic rationalist - that is, neo-conservative - policies, none of which had been mentioned during the campaign. This included the full range of trade and financial liberalization; broad deregulation; the selling-off of state corporations, in majority to foreigners; heavy tax cuts; a shifting of the tax burden from the top to the bottom. And so on.
It is hard to know if the crisis was quite as bad as the minister, Roger Douglas, claimed. Some feel that the senior finance department bureaucrats - themselves converts to neo-conservatism - had decided in advance what measures to recommend. Unexpectedly, they found themselves with a true believer as minister. Together they rushed ahead, Douglas shouting that there was no alternative, panicking people, including the rest of the cabinet, few of whom knew much about such policies. The idea was to create a fait accompli before anyone could work out what was happening.
One of the treasury officials, Roger Kerr, resigned in order to take over a corporate lobby group, the Business Roundtable. It became the public voice, organizer and indirect source of funding for the reform movement's ideology.
There should be no doubt that the economic crisis was real. The constant questions were simply, was there such a need to panic, and were there other alternatives for dealing with it? Douglas, Kerr and their allies were so certain and so driven that the non-believers never had the time
to work out what other alternatives there might be. The members of both major political parties were in constant reaction. As the historian Michael King puts it, "By the time they had concluded that the social cost of the policies was too high, it was too late: the policies were entrenched."
These included the Public Finance Act, which integrated government accounts with private sector methods. The State Sector Act involved running government departments as if each were a separate private corporation, with a CEO hired on a performance-related contract. Government research was mainly put on a commercial basis. Forty stateowned corporations were sold off. Some said the overall fiscal approach resembled an IMF (International Monetary Fund) recovery program.
Overnight, New Zealand became the world's poster boy for Globalization and neo-conservatism. There were strong claims over the next fifteen years that this was a successful model. The most immediate financial crisis retreated. International market standards were applied on all fronts. In 1996 New Zealand was ranked third in international competitiveness by the World Economic Forum. Inflation was defeated.
On the other hand, poverty soared - a shock in such a middle-class country. The international debt also soared. Twenty percent of workingage adults were dependent on benefits. Real wages dropped. By the end of the century median wages for young people had dropped from $14,700 to $8100.
Roger Douglas and his most impassioned successor, Ruth Richardson, took the long view. They felt that only part of their task was done.
Looking back on those fifteen years, the New Zealand economist Brian Easton summarized it as an artificial choice between the threatening whirlpool in 1984 and the way in which Douglas and Richardson "almost smashed us on Scylla's rocks" with their absolute solutions. But the Business Roundtable continues to repeat that the reforms were all about taking the long view and "paying attention not [to] the particular nuts and bolts but the overall framework. Only a sound, consistent framework, and continuous improvements to it will allow New Zealand to become a high-productivity, high-income, high-employment economy:’
Or as international cheerleaders like The Economist put it, “[T]he longer New Zealand’s reforms are allowed to bear fruit, the harder it will be for others to ignore their message.”]
Is that what we want for Canada?
Actually, the point here is we are seeing the effects of crumbling infrastructure in our cities.
I would hazard a guess that the water mains in the vicinity of Parliament Hill are long overdue for replacement – and probably the daily water consumption on the hill has doubled at least since the mains were installed so the capacity needs to be increased as well.
Garth would probably be able to answer this at first hand – are the plumbing fixtures in the House modern low consumption ones, or are they too a generation behind? If modernization is needed, I would not oppose spending some of the surplus in the federal treasury to fund this – far better than many other places it gets frittered away.
For those accustomed to the mini-clips the MSM media feeds us, her is how real news is done by we Hicks in the Muskoka, thanks to Metroland North Newspapers, a Division of TorStar:
Retirement Home fire, and other coverage
And some think Canadians no longer care? No, we do…very deeply, about each other.
Thanks to the BRAVE Policemen from Hamilton who sounded the alarm and truly did Serve & Protect!
The result? There were 56 residents saved, unnumbered staff, and 84 firefighters with 14 units battled the blaze through wee hours of the night. Donations to the residents can be made at an TD Bank.
The local Zellers gave them $360 worth of underwear FREE! People have joined together to make sure these Senior Citizens have their remaining years as normal as possible. They are True Canadians.
This is the Canada I love and respect. How about you?
Is that what we want for Canada?
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.05.08 8:47 pm
………………………………….
What “we” want for Canada is a majority Conservative government to eliminate the endemic corruption and inefficiency that has made our central government a failure after so many Liberal (and PC) regimes that created a dictatorial-based civil service.
What “we” want for Canada is a rationalized central government that has shed it’s social engineering tentacles that costs the Canadian taxpayer Billion$$$ in services of no value for anybody but the chosen few.
What “we” want for Canada is a rebuilt, renewed Liberal party that has eliminated it’s corrupt and criminal element that hides behind Dion’s leadership .. and if it takes 4 years sobeit.
Above all, what “we” want for Canada is a constitutionally fair Canada that brings Canadians together and is not exploited by power-hungry Liberal politicians who want to return Canada to their private signeury, robbing us of our money with over-taxation Liberal-style .. dishing out the money to their friends in Canada and overseas.
Also, “we” Canadians don’t need to be lectured to by a nutbar American draft-dodger.
LMAO at Harry the neo-con Troll. He sounds like a scratched vinyl LP, same track all the time…SCRITCH!
‘We’ refers to his MPD characters, all the same Hairy, but unable to communicate with one another. Poor Hairy. Was he the son of the Austrian, locked in the basement for decades?
Tsk, tsk, such a sham of a personality, berift of all sense, and so desparate to rule a kingdom, any kingdom, he needs a Throne. A white one would be the first choice…with a flip up seat.
Good night!
Something that I doubt that you, slug, would even bother with. You should be ashamed of yourself.
By Catherine on 05.05.08 6:30 pm
Oh, but Catherine – you are so, so wrong my dear it’s laughable. I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of – always worked hard, paid my taxes, never got in trouble with the law. And, you have absolutely no idea what I do or don’t do charitably – you silly, silly pathetic partisan.
Sorry, my dear, but I really don’t get excited because Harper has kittens. I really have more important things in my life that concern me. Na, Harper and kittens isn’t exactly a Nobel prize winner.
Harry S – talk about criticizing Bill Muskoka about taking up space – how many responses did you enter today alone?
Canadians Politicians can now call for an investigation into the murder of
24 Canadians.
I visited your office a few days ago and asked your staff to set me up with an appointment so I can give you more compelling documents.
John Duddy.
http://patriotsquestion911.com/
By John Duddy. on 05.05.08 8:41 pm
You know – all this conspiracy stuff upsets people – my girlfriend lost her only son in 9/11 (one of the 24 Canadians). Aaron was on the 106th floor at a breakfast meeting – he was vapourized. She lost her husband a few years prior and other than her daughter–in-law and 2 grandkids, she’s all alone. I don’t think you realize how upsetting this conspiracy nonsense can be.
The victims’ families have a right to try to move on – dredging it up constantly is cruel.
“raises the question why Parliament has not mandated fire sprinkler systems in all buildings, especially multi-unit residential and nursing homes? Sounds like a Private Member’s Bill to me?” Who cares? — Garth
BY BILL-MUSKOKA ON 05.05.08 6:54 PM
I care.
I was an underwriter and before that an adjuster 20 years ago. One would have thought we would have mandated such fire suppression system laws long ago, particularly for the elderly. My 90 year old father is moving into a residence this month, nearer his 94 year old brother.
I care and thanks for bringing that up Bill.
Good night!
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.05.08 10:12 pm
………………………………….
Who cares?-Harry S
Btw .. how does if feel to be bitch-slapped by a backhand ..??!!!
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
The proof of the LPC Leader Stephane Dion is in the campaigning he better start soon.
Oct 2009 is too late !!
The Press is onto the CRAP and its leader and many MPs. They cannot expect the free ride they got in the 2005/2006 campaign.
Th e LPC says the campaign equipment is under control. Now is the time to get as many candidates as possible who will generate as many votes as possible. And at $ 1.75 per vote that will help the LPC’s financial situation.
During the campaign the Liberal candidates an Dion should not be shy about asking for contributions.
Time for action is now !!!!
Conservatives raise money from people who like it that the federal government puts oil sands over the environment, wants to screw up immigration
Insulting comments like that are what the Liberals are all about. You are a good fit Mr Turner.
Sorry SLG.
Please take the time to research below links.
Gov. Jesse Ventura, two Republican Senators, many distinguished people world wide, Japanese and European parliamentarians, architects, engineers, pilots, military, intelligence officers, all demanding answers.
http://www.patriotsquestion911.com/professors.html
http://www.forward-usa.org/id4.html
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7878893233073706081&hl=en
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/48057
By C. B. Innes on 05.05.08 1:05 pm
Apologies, C.B. I completely missed your link for some reason and had a faulty memory to boot. (wouldn’t be the first time)
I also didn’t realize there was a 5% plus national pop vote to meet as well, since the Greens were under that percentage in the last election and were still funded.
Thanks for the clarity, your points are well taken and for what its worth, I agree with you completely on the subject.
Personally, I’d like to see donations by organizations and corporations come to an end all together, along with the lowering of the 5% cut to 2%… maybe even less.
Again, thanks for the clarification. Sucks to be me right now. I’m rushed for time and am back at the farm in Sask with a slow dial up connection so I just can’t surf for facts like I used to.
Again, thanks for the clarity!
Hmmmm… got to digging. Something just wasn’t right. I looked at your link with greater scrutiny C.B. and realized that it wasn’t the true goods, but a report someone wrote passing for the real thing. The $2.11 per vote was the gamblers tell. This link is far more telling and descriptive.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/bills_ls.asp?lang=E&ls=c24&source=library_prb&Parl=37&Ses=2
So lets clear the air. Firstly, lots changed with this bill introduced by Cretien (not Martin) in 2003. Major limits to campaign contributions on all entities, be they private individuals, unions, organizations or corporations were broad and sweeping. As well, 1.75 per vote to national parties that registered more than 2% of the national vote or more than 5% per riding also ground breaking.
While the whole link is worth the read, I’ll offer a clip:
Bill C-24 contains significant public financing measures. The intention appears to be to compensate parties for the removal of corporate and union donations, which are largely made at the party level rather than to individual candidates or constituency associations. Political parties are at the heart of a modern political and electoral system and, arguably, are essential to a vibrant and viable democratic system. Whether this should entail public funding – directly or indirectly – and, if so, what level is appropriate, is an important philosophical and policy debate. At present, registered political parties are publicly funded through the tax system (deductions for contributions) and through the partial reimbursement of election expenses. Candidates are also reimbursed for a proportion of their election expenses, while contributors can take advantage of the favourable tax treatment of political donations. Bill C-24 proposes to enhance and extend this regime.
Currently, registered parties can be reimbursed for 22.5% of their election period expenses. The rate of reimbursement of electoral expenses for candidates is currently 50%. Bill C-24 proposes to raise to 60% the reimbursement rate for registered parties’ election expenses. With respect to individual candidates, the bill proposes that the percentage of votes that a candidate must obtain in his or her riding to qualify for reimbursement of electoral expenses be lowered to 10% from the current 15% (proposed section 430; amendment to proposed section 464(1); see also clauses 48, 52, 53).
The bill provides for an annual allowance to registered parties in the amount of $1.75 per vote received by the party in the previous general election, provided the party has received in the last election either 2% of the valid votes cast nationally or 5% of the votes in the ridings where the party ran candidates (proposed section 435). The figure of $1.75 was raised by the House of Commons at Report Stage from $1.50 and is now also to be adjusted for inflation. This $1.75 per vote amount is apparently based on the calculations of potentially lost income to parties as a result of the changes in the eligibility of donors, and is designed to be revenue-neutral. It appears that several provinces in Canada provide allowances to registered parties based on their electoral results.
As an incentive to encourage contributions by individuals, the bill also introduces amendments to the Income Tax Act to double the amount of an individual’s political donation that is eligible for a 75% tax credit, from $200 to $400, and to increase accordingly each other bracket of the tax credit, to a maximum tax credit of $650 for political donations of $1,275 or more. The Income Tax Act amendments in the bill (clauses 73-74) will apply to the 2003 tax year and beyond.
In summary, C.B.:
I was hasty to praise you for clarity. After reading this bill and understanding what went into it and why, I also fail to see why democracy would be undermined if a party was not publically funded for coming up with less than 2% of the national vote or less than 5% of the riding. Your very arguement that the Greens were exempt from this Bill is moot. The Greens are in fact, an example of a party pulling off success in mustering more than 2% of the national vote its first time out. I’ll also argue just as easily with you as well that the changes to electorial financing were not minor. They were major and in some ways, ground breaking. The policy is sound. The only things that could possibly be tweaked in the future is the numbers themselves, adjusted for inflation.
My advice to you C.B., (and I am of no exception to my own advice) is to find better links or sources of information before jumping to false conclusions. Far too often, things aren’t what they seem. The sword (truth) after all, is mightier than the pen.
Sorry, my dear, but I really don’t get excited because Harper has kittens. I really have more important things in my life that concern me. Na, Harper and kittens isn’t exactly a Nobel prize winner.
By slg on 05.05.08 10:25 pm
Maybe fostering cats isn’t Nobel prize. But, why is it a bad thing? Does everything you do needs to be spectacular? Can’t it be small things that make you a better person? Slug, it’s a shame that you don’t understand that. It’s not winning the prize that makes you a good person, it’s all the small everyday things that makes you a good person.
By C. B. Innes on 05.05.08 7:04 pm
One of, if not the best post I have seen here. Get’s down with the essence of the problem with the 2 Old guard parties. It’s their game and they will do what is necessary to keep it that way.
That is why I say change how we elect our representatives. Take the control of the multi millionaires and billionaires out of the process and create democracy.
With the Green Party running around 12% in the polls, the old guard is uncomfortable. That 12% represents a lot of young people, a core element of voters of the future and it is also offering a real alternative for NDP voters. Put that together with some Red tories and disgruntled liberals and the Greens will be a problem for the oldies.
I think one of the things that makes the Greens appealing is that they can focus on ideas, instead of focusing most of their effort on trying to indicate that the enemy across the divide in the HoC has more skeletons than they do. Skeletons are accumulated in a system based on individual interests.
Hand picked candidates and unelected ministers speak loudly about the current concept of Democracy.
Just saw your Tribulations Update garth and I have to agree with the Speaker that your question was a waste of parliament’s time. I can’t believe that we actually pay you over a $100K a year for such trivalities.
Once again, what are you talking about? — Garth
Darn it, I had a long winded rebuttal to my own post last night, but I must not have sent it with so many windows open (wups). I’ll have to recant my praise for your views, C.B. as the true facts have changed my mind The reason for the change of mind is this:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/bills_ls.asp?lang=E&ls=c24&source=library_prb&Parl=37&Ses=2
Its a far better link than the less than peer reviewed “report” you offered, C.B.. After reading this link, I find nothing wrong with the bill at all introduced by a majority Chretien government.
You, probably more than anyone, C.B., need to read the provided link. If you do, you’ll note that candidates are eligable for a 60% rebate of campaign expenses with more than 5% of the riding vote, and national parties are eligable for the rebate with more than 2% of the national vote, not 5% of the national vote as you suggest. Your ascertion that the bill is unfair to new parties or independents is moot as the Greens by their own example will attest in making the 2% cut the first time out.
The ascertion that this bill hasn’t changed much is also moot. The changes were major and in some ways, ground breaking. Its put major limits on campaign contributions on all entities, and paved the way for contributions directly from the government based on 1.75 per vote.
A clip:
Bill C-24 has several general components or themes:
a ban (with minor exceptions) on political donations by corporations and unions;
a limitation on individual contributions;
the registration of constituency associations, with reporting requirements;
the extension of regulation to nomination and leadership campaigns;
and enhanced public financing of the political system, particularly at the level of political parties.
The particulars are in the link, there are no devils in the details and I suggest everyone reads it before people get confused and feel foolish as I did. Believing it was a Martin bill or a scheme to keep the political system to a two party system and such tripe.
The lesson is simple (to which I of all people am not exempt). Find accurate information and don’t fall for sucker links that pass themselves off as such.
Sometimes nothing is what it seems. The sword (truth) after all, is mightier than the pen.
Just saw your Tribulations Update garth and I have to agree with the Speaker that your question was a waste of parliament’s time. I can’t believe that we actually pay you over a $100K a year for such trivalities.
Once again, what are you talking about? — Garth
By Van on 05.06.08 11:10 am
And you are a wasty of bandwidth .
Canadians helping out other Canadians, and others, happens all the time, irrespective of which party is in power.
There’s nothing special about any one particular event.
HARRY @ 9:39pm- “We, Canadians don’t need to be lectured to by a nutbar American draft-dodger” Wha? Are you DAFT man?!? Seriously, Harry…we, our future and the blood of our people and the people of the occupied nations…is being shed for two wars based on LIES and DECEIT! By two of the true dodgers- BUSH & CHENEY!! the war-mongering COWARDS…I hear Paraguay used to be a nice refuge for war criminals…and Bushs’ daughters’ land deal may be useless now, due to a change in government there. Please, correct me if I’m wrong. Whatever purpose you are trying to achieve here Harry, unless you are determined to present yourself as a raving, often fixated, lunatic – you have failed. I do find reading you though troubling, very insightful. You’re a solid example of your cause, Harry. Thank you. Garth- I can’t begin to imagine what DOESN’T get printed here- such ugly, disgraceful…ugliness. People (con-bots) should check their smalldeadanimal mentality at the door. Better yet, lose it altogether.
By linda on 05.07.08 2:39 am
If you’re still there, Linda, try to be more specific in your unwarranted accusations .. otherwise you may be accused of just blurting out your pathetic feeeeelings as you suffer in your obvious angst over Dion’s disasterous leadership of your beloved Liberal crooks. I want to see a rebuilt, renewed Liberal party under leadership that is not shielding the old dog Liberal crooks who still inhabit the party … they must be purged or else we will fall back into the corruption-infested party of the past.
You must direct your analysis to the current failed Liberal party and acknowledge that Dion is NOT a leader in which Canadians can have confidence. He’s not worth the risk.