Taking sloppy liberal thinking and tearing it a new one -- but always with a touch of class.
Weekly Archive: May 08, 2005 - May 14, 2005
May 14, 2005
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From the Ottawa Citizen:Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals have suddenly plummeted in public support -- particularly in their traditionally loyal regions of Ontario and Atlantic Canada -- and would likely be defeated if an election were held now, a new...
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You know the Liberals have decided to toss in the towel and prepare for an election. How can you tell? Because it's time to smear the opposition:Federal Immigration Minister Joe Volpe has asked the RCMP and Federal Ethics Commissioner to...
May 13, 2005
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From the Globe and Mail:"It's still the Governor-General," Ms. [France] Langlois [spokeswoman for the Governor-General] said, citing the 1947 letters of patent of King George VI, which transferred all the duties of the head of state of Canada to the...
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I've written about my frustration that the Liberals keep saying that "experts" support their decision to continue to govern and spend money despite last week's non-confidence vote. See here and here. But leave it to David Frum to tell us...
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In no small part because of the the offer by the NDP to twin for ailing Conservative MPs who might miss the budget vote, Stephen Harper has told Darrel Stinson to go home and prepare for his surgery on Wednesday:Conservative...
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The Prime Minister Paul Martin and his Liberals are still playing the shocked dismay card at the suggestion that they want to delay the budget vote until after one or both of the two Tory MPs stricken with cancer leave...
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I wrote that despite Ed Broadbent's announcement that he would retire, the elder statesman in this Parliament might be called to perform one last service as our government spirals into chaos. It looks like I was right:Adding to the uncertainty,...
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From the Strategis website:The Internet public application for the Lobbyists Registration System (LRS) was created as a result of the new Lobbyists Registration Act which came into force on January 31,1996. Prior to this, registrations were done manually.I had heard...
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Again, the mysterious experts are quoted:Hon. Tony Valeri (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, as I have said over and over again in the House, a reasonable proposal has been put forward that the...
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Canadians suffer from an addiction, and for many people, this addiction is what defines us as Canadians. Anyone who suggests it is an unhealthy addiction is un-Canadian and should be run out of town....
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Andrew Coyne has the skinny on the Liberals and the care with which they plan the dates for the confidence votes. Apparently, an unnamed Conservative has alleged that Liberals have been calling around British Columbia in an attempt to gain...
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From the CBC:Elections B.C. is having a hard time keeping up with a boom of bloggers who are publishing partisan messages during the current election campaign. They're supposed to register themselves as advertising sponsors if they post a partisan position...
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Rumours of a deal, between the NDP and the Conservatives:Studio 2. 8pm tonight. Talks with NDP suggest that if our sick MP can't be there, one NDP would refrain from voting.This is a fascinating development, if true. What is behind...
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Just spreading the word:Take back the Hill! The Liberals have decided that they are going to ignore the fact that they have lost the confidence of the House. I guess they need a little boost to get them to do...
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CTV has the scoop:Former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano is asking for another chance to testify at the sponsorship inquiry, CTV News has learned. The central figure in the sponsorship program has asked Justice Gomery to allow him to take...
May 12, 2005
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We might be coming to the end of this craziness in Ottawa:Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson has spoken with Prime Minister Paul Martin and consulted constitutional experts this week as Parliament descends into chaos. "The Governor General is monitoring the situation...
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Well, almost. Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper's speech to the House of Commons yesterday (11-March-2005):Hon. Stephen Harper: The Liberals have undermined Canadians' confidence in our political system and even manipulated our judicial system. The Liberal Party of Canada, like the...
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The Prime Minister has been winging his way across this country, signing deal after deal with provinces, promising billions in pre-election spending, in anticipation of an election. This includes the deal with New Brunswick for child-care funding. I hate to...
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From the Kuwait News Agency:A number of Canadian legislators from both the Senate and the House of Representatives Said on Thursday they were "impressed" with the work of the Kuwaiti National Assembly and the democratic system in Kuwait. Describing the...
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Canada is in the big leagues, news-wise:Canada's two main opposition parties shut down the House of Commons for the second day running on Thursday to try to demonstrate that the minority Liberal government no longer has the confidence of Parliament....
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Outrageuous!Conservative Leader Stephen Harper and one of his two cancer-stricken MPs are accusing the Liberals of delaying a non-confidence vote in hopes that illness will reduce Tory numbers in the House of Commons. The Liberals expressed outrage at the accusation,...
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Earlier I expressed some happiness that the allegations in another potential scandal turned out not to be true. I may have spoken too soon:Today, Democracy Watch called the first investigation by federal Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro biased and flawed. The...
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Independent MP David Kilgour is being actively courted by the federal Liberals in an attempt to get his vote next week when the budget bill comes to the floor. His price? A Canadian military commitment to do something about the...
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In other news, the Parliamentary Channel has announced a change in format -- all rock videos, all the time.
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From back on April 29, a detail that I don't think was reported in the English language press. With regards to the appointment of lawyers to the bench in Quebec, Benoit Corbeil had alleged in a press interview that such...
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From Reuters:A pizza shop owner who forced former Canadian immigration minister Judy Sgro to resign by claiming she had offered to help him avoid deportation has admitted he lied and has apologized, Sgro said on Tuesday.Am I getting soft on...
May 11, 2005
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Hey, maybe it's true:Michael Jackson has secretly sold his Neverland Ranch for $35 million, The National Enquirer can reveal. The scandal-plagued superstar is so wracked by financial troubles he can no longer afford to keep his trademark fantasy estate in...
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When dealing with organized crime, often the most effective tactics have been to attacked the syndicate in the wallet. The most famous case was the prosecution of Al Capone for cheating on his taxes. Responsible for countless murders, but insulated...
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I'm joining in the fun:Stephen Harper and his Opposition Conservatives aren't the only party circling Prime Minister Paul Martin's injured Liberal caucus these days. Premiers from across the country and even some interest groups have been poking and prodding the...
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A television program in France crosses the line, and gets punished for it. Well, it's supposed to be a punishment....
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Daniel Dezainde has today fingered Jean Chrétien buddy Jacques Corriveau as the man who set up the kickback system in Quebec:[Daniel Dezainde] said Mr. Corriveau told him: "In the past, I set up a system of kickbacks with communication agencies...
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From the Prime Minister:"On Thursday, May 19, I will be in Ottawa," [Paul Martin] said. "I am proposing that there will be on that day a vote on the budget bill and that vote will be a matter of confidence....
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Just who exactly runs the Quebec arm of the Liberal Party?...
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Cast your minds back to those heady days in September of 2004. Country music fans were listening to "Live Like You Were Dyin'" by Tim McGraw. Suits were making a fashion comeback in America's boardrooms and offices. And the American...
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An open thread for people to discuss the non-confidence votes, its validity, and what you think the next steps should be....
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Finance Minister Ralph Goodale has had a bad couple of weeks. He has been shown by his own boss, Paul Martin, to be a joke. Hired to put together a budget, he delivers. But when the Gomery Inquiry heat started...
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Hopefully it's true....
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From CTV:Prime Minister Paul Martin will call a budget vote for next Thursday -- one that could decide the fate of his government, CTV News has learned. The Liberal minority government held an emergency cabinet meeting this morning before its...
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From Warren Kinsella's musings on May 11:The House of Commons is the voice of the people, or at least it used to be. And, last night night, the people said enough is enough. Enough! If they had left any sense...
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The wisdom has been that the longer the Liberals wait before calling an election, the more likely they can fight an election on something other than Adscam. Instead, the Liberals could campaign on the budget, or against the Conservatives "hidden...
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Was it a confidence vote? This professor says, yes, absolutely. If he's right, Canada is being ruled by an illegitimate government.
May 10, 2005
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Briefcases filled with cash, going back to 1997:Jean Chrétien's hometown was the drop-off point for a briefcase packed with $60,000 in cash for eastern Quebec Liberal candidates in the 1997 federal election, the sponsorship inquiry was told Tuesday. Former party...
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Canada is ruled by a party that has shown itself least suited for the role. There is a word for this sort of government: a kakistocracy.
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An offer has been made to the opposition parties:The Liberals are offering the opposition three days at the end of the month when they can try to topple the government in the Commons. House Leader Tony Valeri said the government...
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Check it out....
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I can't add anything to this. For an analysis of the confidence vote tonight, including the first use of the word "doo-doo" by a serious political scientist (suggesting to me that my 4-year-old daughter could to this job), check out...
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I've added a new book to the list of recommended reading -- "First Nations? Second Thoughts" by Tom Flanagan, a major thinker within the Conservative Party. It tears apart all the comfortable assumptions we have about how to treat First...
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The Gomery Inquiry's mandate does not extend to cover judicial appointments. We might need another inquiry, and I'd like to suggest some details.
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Telling a political operator he'll lose his friends is like telling a piano player that he's gonna get his fingers broke.
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From the Toronto Star:Premier Dalton McGuinty's much-celebrated multi-billion-dollar deal with Ottawa to address Ontario's funding complaints began to unravel yesterday. Most of the $5.75 billion promised the province by Prime Minister Paul Martin is money that was already slated to...
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The Red Ensign has been raised at the London Fog....
May 09, 2005
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A first class crisis is the one that is as big as a locomotive, just as noisy, and that somehow you had no idea was sneaking up on you. We've got one of those in the works for tomorrow:The House...
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Stephen Taylor has today's oddest post. Apparently the same Liberals who are trying so hard to swing David Kilgour to vote in support of the government, spent a great deal of time bad-mouthing him to the Conservatives. And they did...
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"I would caution the member not to go on one more time with unsubstantiated allegations. The reality is there are process in place to look at these things. We will listen to the evidence, talk to the individuals, and make...
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Check out this excellent polling analysis by Stephen Taylor....
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The list of names of people Benoit Corbeil testified took envelopes stuffed with cash. Three of them are senior staffers to cabinet ministers in Paul Martin's cabinet.
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A look at the numbers, using the latest information, on a potential non-confidence motion. And what is in store for tomorrow?
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Politics Watch has put up a tease post:Benoit Corbeil, the former director of the Liberal party in Quebec, told the Gomery inquiry on Monday he handed out $50,000 in cash payments in envelopes to nine Liberal party officials before the...
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The testimony of Benoit Corbeil has been keenly anticipated, and he has begun to corroborate allegations that the Liberal Party executive in Quebec was handing secret cash payments out to support of candidates in stiff fighters against opposition parties:A former...
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Paul Martin can be castigated by Liberal supporters, and still he'll get their votes. They want him to get his act together. Or else. Or else what? They'll thrust the ballot they cast for the Liberal Party in the next...
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It has been suggested (including by yours truly) that the decision by Prime Minister Paul Martin to send troops into Sudan was motivated more by the desire to secure the support of ex-Liberal (now independent) MP David Kilgour rather than...
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From the National Post:A number of "jihadist returnees" have arrived back in Canada from other countries and some may intend to commit acts of terrorism, according to a declassified intelligence report.Back in Canada? Who let them back in, if we...
May 08, 2005
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...just to keep track of all of this. As we all know, the Liberals and the NDP have entered into a deal. In exchange for NDP support for the budget and against any non-confidence motions, the Liberals took their carefully...
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Here's a scenario. Let's say on May 18, a non-confidence vote is held, and the opposition wins, and the government falls. But as pointed out, the Liberals have threatened to ignore such a result, and Canada is thrown into a...
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John Aimers of the Monarchist League is working hard to protect the upcoming Royal Visit from being disrupted by a potential election:The head of the Monarchist League of Canada is warning Canadian politicians not to turn the Queen's visit this...
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Focus this week will be on Benoît Corbeil, who has already given a great deal of his story to the press in interviews. It was from him that we first heard of bench appointments being given out as rewards for...
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