Well, my first day volunteering for the illustrious Ed Broadbent -- and not a bad start. HQ's bumping, propaganda literature looks good and the signs have already started moving out the door. Broadbent's drawing in great people, but more than that he's drawing in a lot of people. People on the street are asking where they can sign up. A couple of Saturdays ago, there were 130 people out canvassing. Today there were a dozen volunteers gearing up at the campaign office, while Mahoney's o...
Did The United States " abduct " Jean-Bertrand Aristide? "Aristide told CNN Monday he was forced to leave Haiti in a 'coup d'etat' by the United States. 'I was told that to avoid bloodshed I'd better leave.'"
On the sponsorship scandal : "But now testimony has surfaced that raises new questions as to how far below the surface the worm could have been. It confirms that there was senior political involvement in the day-to-day handling of the sponsorship program. Cabinet ministers as well as top executives of crown corporations had a direct say in its implementation."
Puzzling and repetitive non-sequiturs from Belinda Stronach. In a debate outside her own party -- with people who weren't concerned about being 'nice' to each other -- she'd be eaten alive. (2:46pm)
The Conservative Party's two leading candidates have clear cases to be made in today's debate. Stephen Harper must make the case that, with election actually in play, the party must select an experienced leader that can be Prime Minister. Belinda Stronach must make the case that, with election actually in play, the party must select a moderate leader that can attract moderate voters. Things are more difficult for Tony Clement. As 'everybody's second choice' Clement must try to c...
Don at Revolutionary Moderation takes care of this , so I don't have to: "Klein ... said he is willing to step outside of the Canada Health Act to control health costs even if it means being denied federal health care dollars." --via The CBC "Would you consider permitting people who wanted to step outside the publicly funded system to avail themselves of private care, if they so chose?" "'I do respect Canadians' freedom to choose, and it's something we could ...
Read it here : "[T]he Prime Minister's advisers have settled on the unprecedented strategy of sending Martin to the front line rather than take evasive action, or let foot soldiers bear the brunt of the assault." "It is a high-risk gambit that has some shaking their heads in dismay, including many Liberals. Their recent body language, to put it mildly, has not always been in sync with that of the Prime Minister."
Cybergeeks may know Ian Capstick best as the blogger at Stick & Stones -- know him now as a New Democrat: "Capstick says he's defecting because he's among thousands of disaffected left-wing Liberals." "'I know Liberals from coast to coast to coast, and they're unhappy with the way the government has moved into things such as national missile defence.'"
In a stunning oversight I failed to link to Ed Broadbent's campaign blog. Well folks, better late than never.
Chantal Hébert has this : "The Quebec federalist network is a tightly knit clan. As in every family, very little happens without everyone eventually getting wind of it — especially when it continues, like the sponsorship program, over so many years and on such a costly scale." "In time, Canadians will have to choose between believing that Martin — who cultivated every Liberal grassroots connection in sight during his multi-year bid to unseat Chrétien — existed in a bubble when it...
This part from MP John McKay, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance with special emphasis on Public-Private Partnerships: "There are many situations where the government knows of problems which require action, especially in the area of large infrastructure projects, but would have difficulty funding the high costs involved without raising taxes." And then this part from an Ottawa Citizen story quoted by Warren Kinsella : "The federal government's top pu...
Kevin Drum (Calpundit) may have just blown this wide open: "The first listed date is October 29, not November 29 as we had theorized before. But George Bush was still in Alabama in October. What exactly was he getting attendance credit for?..." "As we all know, Bush failed to show up for his annual physical in July 1972, he was suspended in August, and the suspension was recorded on September 29. He was apparently transferred to ARF at that time and began accumulating ARF po...
Actually, the problem with this is that it favours liars : "Whether or not Bush's budget proposal is, in fact, likely to reduce the deficit in half over five years is a question of fact, and the answer is 'no.' Whether it will improve the long-term fiscal outlook is a question of fact, and the answer is 'no.' By relegating factual conclusions about budgets and macroeconomics to the opinion section, newspapers throughout the country have created an all-pervasive bias in favor of...
Did we really expect anything better than this ? "The budget released yesterday, which projects a $521 billion deficit for fiscal 2004, is no more credible than its predecessors. When the administration promises much lower deficits in future years, remember this: two years ago it projected a fiscal 2004 deficit of only $14 billion. What's new this time is that the administration has decided to pay lip service to conservative complaints about runaway spending."
From The Globe and Mail: Renewal : "[T]he overriding theme was renewal..." "The Liberal plan calls for “significantly more” free votes, enhanced roles for MPs and Parliamentary Committees, and more active roles for Parliamentary Secretaries." Wow, more power for backbench MPs and Parliamentary Secretaries! That's exactly what all the laid-off High-Tech workers and minimum wage labourers in this country are looking for! And more from The Globe and Mail: Recycled...