Nanos Poll: Environment Trumps Prosperity for Oil Sands Development

If one focuses on a topic for long enough, there can be all sorts of EMOTIONAL responses. Yes, the oil sands extraction process is a significant polluter but it a way down the list compared to air travel. Is anybody aiming at the really BIG world polluter---those flying machines???? Is somebody advocating return to exclusive ship and rail travel ???? Every manufacturing process pollutes and so do the cows in the field--Ho Ho. I believe the most important question is CAN the manufacturing process be cleaned up so the pollutants are NOT the health hazard they are today and will the consumers then be willing to pay the price for those products.

Look at the negative effects on residents down wind of petroleum refineries and metal refineries and down stream from pulp and paper mills. How about the Sidney tar ponds that now have to be cleaned up by the taxpayer and not the manufacturer??? How about all the arsenic laden tailing ponds from the gold mining industry? It is the manufacturing process that has to be cleaned up. If all the polluting industries were to shut down, there would be far louder screams from the populace.

Also, alternate energy sources must be brought on stream with hydro generating potential expanded----and that will cause screams. Atomic generation in one sense is a non polluter when the waste product is stored safely but that will bring on screams. Solar power may not be too applicable to Canada but there is some potential. Tidal power has a contribution to make on the East and West coasts. Geothermal has some potential. Wind power has potential as long as it is "not in my back yard" Many things have to go hand in hand or we will have to accept living in cold houses and riding bicycles and that will go over like a lead balloon.

Like Al Gore, if you beat the drum long enough, you can get many people to follow on that single issue. Canada will be judged by how it handles the polluting manufacturing process ----extracts in a clean healthy fashion through strict regulation where necessary.

[updated Fri Mar 27 04:07:39 EDT 2009]

It's encouraging to read these results as they demonstrate high Canadian awareness of dirty oil's effects on our environment as well as our international reputation.

National Geographic's recent spread settled the controrversy over whether the industry is in fact a cesspool of pollution - page after page confirms the industry damage to it's surroundings.

Will it take an American threat to refuse to import this dirty oil before we get serious about cleaning up it's production?

[updated Fri Mar 27 05:49:03 EDT 2009]

Nobody would argue that we should make the country more environmentally sustainable. However, I could care less what the international community thinks about us. We could find lots wrong with their industries that we don't like if push came to shove.

It is amazing that most Canadians would put their economic welfare i.e. jobs and livelihood behind the environment. That to me sounds idealistic but not very practical. What if we said the same thing about the auto industry. In other words lets close down the auto plants because they produce cars that are not environmentally friendly and are affecting our international reputation. I wonder what the good people of Ontario would say about that. We could go across the various regions of the country and pick on particular industries. Let's say we close all the coal fired plants in Canada because they are not environmentally friendly and the world doesn't approve of them. I think we know the answer.
The fact is Canada has relied on the prosperity generated by the oil sands for a number of years now and to worry that our international reputation is being negatively impacted is plain silly.

Nik this is kind of a silly poll. The country is falling apart in a hand basket and you pick our international reputation on the environment in respect to the oil sands. Come on lets get real.

[updated Fri Mar 27 06:45:54 EDT 2009]

Nik, this is a necessary poll. More important than those dealing with the buffoons running around the country trying to project themselves into leading the country and their pseudo important issues that they espouse with bombast.

I've always said that Quebec people are more tuned in to the real political and social issues. I was disappointed that Ontario don't appear to be and surprised with the Atlantic Canada response.

No doubt the oil sands development is hurting our reputation to some extent, but not as great as other issues. Our close ties to US foreign policy, for example. Our real important issue is the environment itself, regardless of what others think of us.

I don't believe for one second that you can't have both a maximizing economic prosperity and limiting environment. It's the environment that gives us the economy and by protecting the environment we can ensure if not increase our economic prosperity.

[updated Fri Mar 27 07:57:58 EDT 2009]

Harper government wants to raise taxes on consumers, Flaherty's wife does not.

KAREN HOWLETT AND STEVEN CHASE

From Friday's Globe and Mail

March 27, 2009 at 4:28 AM EDT

TORONTO and MONTREAL — The Ontario government's plans to harmonize the provincial sales tax with the federal goods and services tax has led to an awkward split on the home front for federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and his wife, Christine Elliott, a provincial Progressive Conservative MPP and potential leadership candidate.

Mr. Flaherty acknowledged in Montreal last night that his wife has come out against the harmonization plan, along with other members of the provincial Conservative caucus.

Earlier yesterday, Ms. Elliott told reporters at the Ontario legislature that the provincial Tories do not favour a tax hike for consumers at this time, because their finances are already stretched thin enough.

[updated Fri Mar 27 09:48:44 EDT 2009]

Harper no longr top pick as PM. The slow slide continues. When will the CPC wake up and get a new leader.

JOHN WARD
The Canadian Press
March 27, 2009 at 12:56 PM EDT

OTTAWA — People seem to be gradually warming to Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, but many still have a love-him-or-hate him view of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a new poll suggests.

The Canadian Press/Harris-Decima survey indicates the two men have similar levels of support, but Mr. Harper's negative ratings are much higher.
It found that 44 per cent of respondents had a favourable view of Mr. Harper, while 45 per cent were negative.

Mr. Ignatieff got a favourable rating from 45 per cent, but only 26 per cent held a negative view.

Pollster Jeff Walker says the findings suggest that the Prime Minister remains a polarizing figure, while there's room for the freshly minted Liberal Leader to increase his support.

“His favourability numbers could end up being quite significantly better than Harper's over the next few months.”

[updated Fri Mar 27 15:21:06 EDT 2009]

I was actually surprised and encouraged that after Quebec, it was Western Canada that had the clearest idea that Canada's reputation abroad was being hurt by the perception that Oil Sands Development was environmentally damaging.

I say perception because although I believe it to be true on the whole, I find the issue to be an emotional rather than logical one. The whole issue needes to be studied dispassionately by Scientists, economists and environmentalists, and conclusions drawn about the best way to move forward.

There is actually a window during this time of depressed demand and prices to properly do this work now, and find the best balance between the economics and environmental concerns. Too bad the Harper and Stelmach government show little inclination to take advantage of it.

[updated Fri Mar 27 15:34:35 EDT 2009]

Harper goes back on Foxnews after calling foe a boycott of Fox. His real stripes are showing again. Is he promoting himself down south for his next career move??? He's not going there on official buisiness.

BRUCE CHEADLE
The Canadian Press

March 28, 2009 at 9:13 AM EDT
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper travels to the United States this weekend for another series of American media interviews, including one with the Fox News network that disparaged Canadian soldiers last week.

The only detail provided by the Prime Minister's Office was that Mr. Harper will be doing a live interview on Fox News tomorrow morning and a CNN interview on Monday.

The Fox interview comes less than a week after some Conservatives called on Canadians to boycott the network because of an offensive late-night talk show that disparaged Canadian military efforts in Afghanistan.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay called the Fox program "disgusting" and "crass," and a Conservative strategist said he hoped Canadians would cancel their Fox News subscriptions and that Canadian advertisers would stop doing business with the network.

Mr. Teneycke played down the controversy yesterday, noting Mr. Harper's interview is with a prominent Fox News personality. "There is a big difference between an interview with Chris Wallace - one of the most respected journalists in the Washington gallery who is a very substantive and tough interviewer - and a comedian, so-called comedian, with a show at 3 a.m. on a cable channel. It's different."

[updated Sat Mar 28 18:03:25 EDT 2009]

More Harper government embarrassment.
Quebecers 'illiterates' on English, Tory MP says
Petit draws fire

Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service Published: Monday, March 16, 2009

SEBASTIAN WILLNOW/AFP/Getty Images'Whether in elementary or secondary [school], English is practically swept under the rug [in Quebec],' Mr. Petit, 60, said last week at the House of Commons official languages committee. 'At the ...

OTTAWA -- A backbench Tory MP from Quebec City has has done it again by describing Quebecers as a bunch of "illiterates" when it comes to the English language.

Speaking about education at a parliamentary hearing, Daniel Petit, the Conservative MP for Charlebourg-Haute-Saint-Charles, said his assessment was based on a comparison with the Alberta school system where he lived in the past. He explained that his four children studied both in Quebec and Alberta, but that the latter province invested more in its education system.

An aide in Mr. Petit's Ottawa office said the MP was very busy, and would not likely have time for an interview to explain his comments.

I'll bet Mr, Petit knows how to spell idiot.

[updated Sat Mar 28 19:28:32 EDT 2009]

Utopian Politics vs. In-Your-Face Reality.

Wouldn't it just be nice to live up on Mount Olympus with the gods. What a contrast, to exist in a clearly etched black and white world where universal truth is self-evident and not subject to political distortion or nuance. In this reality, environmental policy is priority number one while economic conditions below the clouds are nothing but a secondary consideration. Forgive me, but I don't happen to live in a land driven by the classical concepts of Homer, Plato and Aristotle.

This week, I found out that Rick Mercer is a true idealist who theoretically belongs in such a world. Mercer says Michael Ignatieff is devoid of public policy and has yet to demonstrate why he should assume the office of prime minister. Hasn't Mercer heard of the Liberal five priorities?

Perhaps we need to refresh his memory: Protecting the vulnerable; Preserving the jobs of today; Creating the jobs of tomorrow; Regional fairness and Preventing a legacy of debt. Was Mercer out of the country when Michael hammered away day after day on the urgent necessity to eliminate the two-week waiting period for obtaining employment insurance benefits? (In the United States, benefits arrive after a one-week delay in many jurisdictions.)

Mercer also does not like a Vancouver convention next May that will be long on symbolism and short on substance -- public policy. Does he need to be reminded that even today's tangibles are now quite unexpectedly intangible!

Take the pronouncements of the Prime Minister as a prime example: prior to the election Harper saw a sound economy in a surplus situation -- that eventually morphed into talk of a possible world-wide depression and Canadian recession. These days, Harper is poo-pooing talk of structural deficits (David Dodge and Kevin Page) and dismissing the possibility of eventual tax hikes. The PM has us going in last and pulling out first of the recession, probably in 2010.

All of this to say that as Donald Rumsfeld might say: we know what we know (the knowns), we know what we don't know (the known unknowns) but we don't know what we don't know (the unknown unknowns)...in other words, without a crystal ball capable of adapting to a fast moving and unprecedented economic situation, no party can cast its full policy dimension in stone and hope to properly and successfully weather the economic storm.

Defining Michael Ignatieff is Ignatieff's job. Michael is not waiting for those Conservative ads. He is quite systematically introducing himself to the Canadian people and recent polls are proof that he is being received favourably by voters. Our Prime Minister is wrong -- he is not dealing with Dion II. He won't be able to manipulate people in the next election, the way he so successfully did in the last. If present trends continue, Harper will not best Ignatieff in the months to come. Harper can forget the possibility of a trifecta: Blake, Dion and Ignatieff. Canadians are smarter than that.

Mercer will see Liberal policy fleshed out even further as we near the election tipping point. As an alternative government, Liberals will be obliged to show the way forward to voters prior to the next campaign. I'm all for putting up the Liberal targets for Conservatives and others to shoot at. All in good time but not today. In my opinion, because Michael is such a good listener, he will instinctively know when the moment is right -- and Canadians, fair-minded as they are, will give him the benefit of the doubt and return the Liberal Party to power in that election.

[updated Sun Mar 29 15:52:37 EDT 2009]

More Harper hyocracy and self advertising for his second career in the US.

Harper blows it on Fox News Norman Spector, today at 11:16 AM EDT

Like Mr. Zakaria, Chris Wallace is a significant player in the Washington policy process, and he came well prepared for the interview. The son of CBS' legendary Mike Wallace, he's the most respected of the Fox News personalities and certainly no Rush Limbaugh. But the reality is that he invited Mr. Harper onto his program hoping to serve up some conservative views-even moderately conservative ones--to his largely conservative audience. You could almost see the disappointment on his face when the Prime Minister refused to criticize President Barack Obama's tax increases-the same increases that Mr. Harper had criticized at a conservative forum in Ottawa.

One can understand that Mr. Harper would not have wanted to criticize Mr. Obama's domestic policies. One can also understand that he is bound by a parliamentary vote on Afghanistan. What is less understandable is why the Prime Minister and his advisers accepted Mr. Wallace's invitation to appear on his program in the first place.

[updated Sun Mar 29 16:11:05 EDT 2009]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090329.wharper0329/BNStory/politics/home

What a whopping untruth. Harper says the only reason we are in deficit is because of stimulus spending. He already racked up a sizable deficit before he allocated even one red cent of stimulus funding. When will we rid ourselves of this bogus charlatan.

[updated Sun Mar 29 16:16:48 EDT 2009]

The Harper slide continues

Liberals take slight lead in Leger poll
Posted: March 30, 2009, 11:52 AM by Jeremy Barker, National Post
OTTAWA — The opposition Liberals have gained a slight lead in popular support over the Conservatives amid increasing unhappiness over how the government is tackling the economic crisis, according to a poll published Monday.

“There is no good news at all in this poll for the Conservatives. A government always has difficulties during an economic crisis and this is confirmed [by the survey],” Leger pollster Jean-Marc Leger told Le Devoir.

[updated Wed Apr 01 09:31:10 EDT 2009]

Conservative in-fighting caused by Harper. Let the circus begin.

Mulroney not a Tory any more?

CAMPBELL CLARK
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
April 1, 2009 at 12:00 AM EDT

Ottawa — Brian Mulroney called a senior Conservative Party official, upset about a public inquiry into his financial dealings, and demanded to be removed from all the party's lists about two months ago, the Harper Conservatives say.

The Harper government has certainly sought to distance itself from Mr. Mulroney, banning government ministers from contact with him.

[updated Wed Apr 01 10:31:12 EDT 2009]

Even when caught out, keep repeating the falsehoods.

Tory MP admits he broke elections law

BILL CURRY
Globe and Mail Update
April 1, 2009 at 12:32 PM EDT

A Conservative MP recently admitted to breaking Canada's elections law, even as a Tory minister boasted last week that his party always follows the rules.

The Commissioner of Elections Canada posted a public statement last month from Bev Shipley, the Conservative MP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, that his successful 2006 campaign exceeded Elections Canada spending limits by more than $4,000.

The declaration would appear to contradict a definitive statement made last week by Heritage Minister James Moore.

“Mr. Speaker, in the last campaign and in every election campaign, this Conservative government always follows the rules and the regulations, absolutely,” Mr. Moore said last week in the House of Commons.

Mr. Shipley did not return a request for an interview, while a spokesperson for Mr. Moore said “the minister's comment stands.”

[updated Wed Apr 01 18:32:07 EDT 2009]

"Legislative capacity", My Ass!

Well, well, nice to see the great chess master has found time to pull another rabbit out of his hat, while in Europe no less. There's something rotten in Denmark and it isn't Stephen Harper.

Public Security Minister Peter Van Loan announced today the tabling of a government bill in the Senate aimed at abolishing the long-gun firearms registry. Two previous bills were introduced in the House of Commons but never came up for a vote.

Van Loan says the government's manoeuvre is simply due to a legislative bottleneck in the Commons. Yeah right. The Prime Minister has dropped the first veil hoping to embarrass the Senate knowing that the "other place" is not likely to kill a government bill on the order paper. Harper is hoping the bill will clear the Senate and then come up for a vote in the Commons.

I sense the dropping of another veil -- the one that precludes too much monkey business initiated by Senators - so much for sober "first" thought by the upper chamber. And then there is the matter of the hidden veil: as a government bill, it is not explicitly a matter of confidence unless the government declares it so. I'll bet my last dollar that Harper will lay down his cards in the coming days.

If I'm right, we'll be heading to the polls at lot sooner than anyone had planned.

[updated Wed Apr 01 21:43:21 EDT 2009]

More hypocracy and dishonesty from Harper. And why is Teneycke talking for Harper so much these days?

Harper opens up gap between himself and Obama

BRIAN LAGHI
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
April 1, 2009 at 6:15 PM EDT

LONDON — Try as he might to hold Barack Obama close, Stephen Harper enters the main meeting of the G20 Thursday having opened a crack of daylight between himself and the U.S. President.

Since Mr. Obama came to office, Mr. Harper has made it a habit of bear-hugging the President in matters ranging from carbon reduction to auto-bailout policies and the prosecution of the Afghan war. His efforts are not surprising, given that Mr. Obama happens to be the most popular leader on Earth.

At some point, however, political circumstances and the PM's very different support base will get in the way of these two men being Best Friends Forever, and the initial crack appeared this week as meetings of the G20 began.

While Mr. Harper has been talking openly to the foreign media about his support for Mr. Obama's idea for more stimulus spending on the economy – he repeated it on CNN Wednesday – his backing for the idea has been more muted at home.

Asked last Friday whether the Harper government is ready to commit to more funding to help resurrect the economy – as suggested by Mr. Obama – the PM's advisers said Canada has already done its share. Indeed, argued Mr. Harper's spokesman, Kory Teneycke, the country has exceeded the targets set out at last November's previous G20 meeting, and it's now up to other nations to pull their weight.

Contrast Mr. Teneycke's comments against Wednesday's remarks from Mr. Harper, who said nations need to overact rather than underact in dealing with the crisis, and one would be forgiven for wondering what the policy really is. Is the Prime Minister calling for more stimulus above the amount already pumped into the economy – overacting, as he calls it? Or has Canada done its part?

[updated Thu Apr 02 01:06:41 EDT 2009]

Tories spilitting up, Liberals uniting. Harper's divisiveness is now backfiring.

Don Martin: Liberals make their move
Posted: April 01, 2009, 10:15 PM

Don Martin

It used to be that federal Liberals did their best fighting against Liberals. Loyalists from the Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin prime ministerial camps regularly attacked each other with far greater vitriol than the level of animosity aimed at their parliamentary opposition.

But the old Liberal party of division has reunited and the new Conservative party that reunited is embracing division as it completes a nasty severance with its most successful leader.

In the same week as the Liberals under Michael Ignatieff staged the party’s most lucrative fundraiser since the family feud died down, the bad blood between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former mentor Brian Mulroney went irreparably toxic.

In what sources say was an authorized leak from the top, Mr. Harper’s office revealed Mr. Mulroney had terminated his membership in the Conservative party he led under its earlier incarnation.

Nonsense, Mr. Mulroney fired back through his various fronts. He’s still a member and will stay that way until the day he dies. He told friends he merely declined to give bagman Senator Irving Gerstein a top-tier party donation, noting that was a bit much given he’d been declared a pariah by Mr. Harper two years ago.

If the Liberals have a better idea for combating economic mayhem or climate change or crime, they’ll save it for the campaign. But Conservatives should take note their Liberal nemesis is listening to crowds across the country and making new friends while their leader is alienating old party faithful and fixated on foreign affairs.
Of course they insist they’re not at all nervous. Perhaps they should be.

[updated Thu Apr 02 07:55:08 EDT 2009]

Harper craps out at G20 summit!

CTV.ca News Staff Robert Fyfe

Forget the economy, the big question Thursday at the G20 summit is: Where was Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the group photo?

Was he really, as his staff claims, being briefed by his officials on the draft G20 communique?

BBC's Stephanie Flanders also wrote: "The official explanation is that Mr Harper was in the bathroom, but given what I said yesterday about Canada's squeaky clean record I suspect foul play. They'll be putting him behind a pot plant for the next one."

"All of the leaders were having a good laugh at Mr. Harper's expense."

However, Fife said Harper and his staff didn't appear to be making light of the reports.
"This story is spreading all over this summit, there's at least 1,500 journalists here and everybody's talking about it," he said.

[updated Thu Apr 02 10:56:45 EDT 2009]

PMO, Otherwise Known As Desperation Central.

No doubt about it, the Prime Minister's Office is now in full containment mode -- panic has set in as it finally begins to dawn on political staffers that the Harper era is rapidly coming to an end.

Some rank amateur came up with the idea that the best defense would be a good offense. A classic changing the channel move with former prime minister Brian Mulroney in the starring role as the unknowing and unwilling scapegoat. Talk about cheek.

One can either love or loathe the former PM (there seems to be no one in Canada who holds the middle ground) but this latest not too clever attempt at a drive-by smear says more about the Conservative Party and its leadership than it says about Brian Mulroney.

And now to the exquisite rub: you know that Stephen Harper's run is just about up when cabinet ministers deliberately go out of their way to defy the PMO. As news leaked out alleging that Mulroney was no longer a CPC member, two ministers quickly came to the former PM's defense. Peter MacKay and Jean-Pierre Blackburn left no doubt where they stand on Mulroney's place in Conservative history.

Finally, Stephen Harper has found common ground with his arch nemesis Premier Danny Williams of Newfoundland and Labrador: the former for having his people put Mulroney squarely in the "Progressive" Conservative camp and the latter for acknowledging that he is in fact a Progressive Conservative premier. (Probably the first and last time that those two minds will agree on anything...)

Hopefully, CPC Senator Irving Gerstein will be issuing a statement soon to clear the air -- or at least reduce the fowl-smelling cloud hanging ominously over the PMO.

Kicking Brian Mulroney when he's in fighting form is never a smart idea. Watch for the return kick -- chances are that it will be more than memorable.

[FULL DISCLOSURE: I questioned Brian and Mila Mulroney at a press conference in 1983.]

[updated Thu Apr 02 22:53:13 EDT 2009]

Yet more economic hypocacy and incompetance from the Harper government.

Ottawa can't provide update on stimulus cash
STEVEN CHASE and TU THANH HA
Globe and Mail update
April 2, 2009 at 7:58 PM EDT

OTTAWA and TORONTO — The Canadian government says it can't report any progress yet in striking deals with provinces and cities for matching funds required to deliver the full economic stimulus package it announced more than two months ago.

The Harper government's Jan. 27 budget plans to fight the recession quickly were premised in part on getting $11.6-billion from provinces and municipalities to jointly fund infrastructure and housing projects.

But a senior government official – asked for an update on commitments to obtain matching funds – told a Parliamentary committee he had nothing to report on the matter. That's despite the fact the Conservatives have urged haste in enacting stimulus spending amid record rates of job loss and the fact the infrastructure projects announced in the January budget were selected because they were “ready to start construction.”

[updated Fri Apr 03 09:23:21 EDT 2009]

Harper said today in and interview that he might lose his job. Now this in the National Post of all places. Bye bye Harper, good riddance. Bring on the leadership race.

Posted: April 03, 2009, 6:02 PM by National Post Editor

Whispers still circulate that a frustrated Stephen Harper, believing he’ll never win a majority, won’t fight another election.

That guarantees Conservative leadership speculation will continue to swirl.

Two of the names being floated-- Jim Prentice and Jason Kenney - are solid Calgary MPs but geographically eliminated as successors to Calgary’s Harper. Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s tire-kicking at a NATO secretary-general job suggests he sees few leadership prospects in Ottawa. As for Bernard Lord, well, see above.

[updated Fri Apr 03 19:37:09 EDT 2009]

What a stupid statement. Yah, and it was also worse when we were cavemen. These guys are incompetent fools.

STEVEN CHASE

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

April 3, 2009 at 9:26 PM EDT

OTTAWA — Canadians may think they have it rough today, but federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says people should realize this is a "relatively ... mild recession" posing "relatively mild challenges" compared to hardships such as disease and poverty faced by early immigrants.

[updated Sat Apr 04 11:41:53 EDT 2009]

More nonsense from the PMO. The economy is not so bad, you could be dead?????
Boo hoo hoo Harper is losing sleep over the polls and his future unemployment and is now trying to get sympathy votes. How desperate can you get?

PM worries recession will imperil soldiers
'As bad as losing a job is, it doesn't compare to losing a life, especially losing a life of a Canadian soldier,' Harper says

CAROLINE ALPHONSO

Globe and Mail update

April 3, 2009 at 8:54 PM EDT

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he's kept up at night by a feeling of helplessness over the global recession and the number of Canadians losing their jobs. But what worries him more is that a slumping economy will lead to global unrest and more Canadian military casualties in Afghanistan.

“As bad as losing a job is, it doesn't compare to losing a life, especially losing a life of a Canadian soldier. ... There is a real risk, as this recession continues and if it deepens, that we will have an explosion of global security concerns, threats across the world. That is a big worry,” Mr. Harper said in an interview with BNN yesterday.

[updated Sat Apr 04 11:45:25 EDT 2009]

Conservative fighting over Harper's tactics. Even some of the CPC are now heckling Harper apologist Marjorie LeBreton

ALEXANDER PANETTA

The Canadian Press

April 5, 2009 at 10:57 AM EDT

OTTAWA — The Conservatives' iron-clad discipline suffered several cracks last week as party members bickered behind closed doors over Brian Mulroney — the former prime minister who divides them still.

MPs and senators feuded privately over the Harper government's treatment of the former leader. Some are now going public.

Sources in the Conservative caucus have told The Canadian Press that their meeting last Wednesday was pocked with bitter exchanges about the man who delivered the last Tory majority government.

Several MPs pointedly criticized the way Mulroney was being treated by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's staff.

Senator Marjory LeBreton, seen in this file photo, was reportedly heckled at a caucus meeting earlier this week, CP reports. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)

One outraged Mulroney supporter strode into the caucus room and straight to the podium to address fellow Conservatives after consulting with the former PM by phone.

By the end of the altercation, the Conservative House leader glumly buried his face in his hands.

[updated Sun Apr 05 11:34:32 EDT 2009]

P R O R O G A T I O N.
The gift that just keeps on giving...to the Liberals.

No wonder Prime Minister Stephen Harper can't get any shut eye. He certainly has a lot to worry about: an economy mired in recession, Canadian soldiers bravely fighting and dying in Afghanistan as women are flogged publicly and have their most basis rights denied. The above are indeed good reasons for considerable sleep depravation.

But in political terms, nothing tops the spectacle of HMCS Harper as it slowly begins it final trek toward disaster coming apart at the seams with each passing day and week. The uproar which struck with glorious abandon right in the center of last Wednesday's CPC caucus meeting is symptomatic of the discontent building in the party and the caucus over the PM's leadership.

Some will claim all this has to do with the alleged conduct of the former PM - a convenient scapegoat relegated to a Florida hospital with food poisoning. Many are hopping mad at the prospect of having to endure further testimony from Brian Mulroney and others before the Oliphant Commission as a companion piece to ongoing pronouncements on other matters coming from the government of the day. And they thought politics was fair.

Make no mistake about it -- this is a classic case of transference. Many in caucus have been building up quite a head of steam since the prorogation crisis with Stephen Harper as the object of their dwindling affection. The dissenters know they can't take him on directly hence the eventual frustration expressed on a wide variety of others issues including the recent PMO treatment of the former PM.

This leaves Michael Ignatieff with much to smile about: Conservatives in a no-win situation as they tear their guts out internally. (Remember what that did to the Liberals.) The government is bound to be distracted and off course as it attempts to effectively address the serious economic malaise plaguing the nation.

Even the NDP are unwittingly moving to boost Ignatieff's fortunes as poll after poll illustrates how the left is slowly but consistently turning toward the Liberals with prominent union leaders muttering publicly ( or in some cases under their breath) that Jack has to go to stop the hemorrhaging toward those dreaded Liberals.

Stephen Harper does indeed have much to worry about. Most of his personal pain is surprise, surprise, self-inflicted. Ah, the delicious irony of it all -- watching a man who has never shied away from the brass knuckles receiving a considerable dose of the same treatment.

They say Brian Mulroney is up and on the mend. Stephen Harper is not looking like a guy these days who will be as fortunate, at least, politically speaking...

[updated Sun Apr 05 18:44:53 EDT 2009]

Those Poor Conservative Dolts.

Canadians are a good-natured bunch. We recognize all too easily the common foibles afflicting our fellow mere mortals populating this earth. That's how we instinctively knew that Stephane Dion was an honourable and decent man but somehow not cut out to lead this country toward greener pastures.

Stephen Harper and his merry band of minions would have us believe that it was the despicable ads that did it -- that Canadians swallowed their distasteful election crud hook, line and sinker. I beg to differ.

Summer will soon be upon us replete with another round of mind-numbing ads from the party that has neither shame nor conscience. Perhaps George Santayana said it best: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Our Prime Minister, having long ago lost the confidence of the electorate is determined to leave no deed undone to hold onto to power. Again, Santayana comes to the rescue: "The highest form of vanity is love of fame."

Harper, long warm and cozy in his job means to keep it -- at any cost. Perhaps he should reflect on the lot of his fellow Conservatives. The PM might take a gander at homelesscons.com to get a glimpse of his political future. (Of course, the present incarnation of the Conservative Party should bolt out the door and quickly reserve the domain name cluelesscons.com, but I digress.)

It won't be pretty -- especially in Quebec -- where after the next election, Maxime Bernier will be able to chair meetings of the provincial caucus in any friendly neighbourhood phone booth. Nothing like a quorum of one. Keeps things simple and straightforward. If only Harper had a caucus as disciplined as that.

Yes indeed, times they are a changing. Insanity is indeed doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting -- in this instance, the same results...

[updated Tue Apr 07 23:02:42 EDT 2009]

down, down goes Harper....Ontario and Quebec are not falling for his crap
Tories down 3% Liberals up 3% nationally
Tories down 9% Liberals up 9% in Ontario

Federal Liberals vault past Tories in Ontario
BRIAN LAGHI
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
April 8, 2009 at 12:44 AM EDT

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals have opened a wide gap over the Conservatives in seat-rich Ontario as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's post-Obama shine fades among Canadian voters.

The political survey shows that the Liberals lead the Conservatives nationally, 34 per cent to 32 per cent, after trailing the Tories last month, 35 to 31. The most startling results are in Ontario, where the Liberals have jumped eight points to 45 per cent of decided voters, while the Tories have dropped to 32 per cent, from 41 per cent.

While the national numbers are a virtual tie – and within the margin of error – Mr. Donolo noted that, “the trend line since the election has been bad news for the Conservatives and good news for the Liberals.”

[updated Wed Apr 08 13:41:01 EDT 2009]

That Precious Moral Compass.

It's so reassuring to know that at least one person in Ottawa is deemed qualified to judge his political counterparts...some leaders are quite obviously infinitely superior to the others -- earning them the right to hold sway over political events and contentious moral dilemmas.

I feel so inadequate as person, not being of such a calibre. However, I can go to bed at night content in the knowledge that all will be right in the world as long as previously dispensed sage advice is not only listened to but also followed.

Thank God for such a man and for the opportunity to allow this unique moral arbiter to pronounce upon the major issues of the day.

[updated Thu Apr 09 11:08:56 EDT 2009]

Quebec Conservatives: Let The Tail Chasing Begin!

I've had a good political day. It started out great reading Joël-Denis Bellavance's piece in La Presse. It seems Quebec Conservatives are on the march in ridings they do not hold across Quebec. Quebec Political Operations Director Claude Durand, a defeated Conservative candidate in the last election, has instructed riding executives to strike a committee to search for potential candidates in the next election. Conservatives expect an election this fall believing the Liberals will move to defeat the government.

Conservative candidates could be quite busy during that time -- filling out the fifty-page questionnaire designed to root out undesirables.

Now, let's see if I have this straight -- the provincial organizer confirms that she is leading a recruiting effort but refuses to take questions on her organizing plans. All inquiring minds are referred to the office of Public Works Minister Christian Paradis, the Quebec lieutenant.

Again, correct me if I'm wrong: the head organizer who has drawn up Conservative battle plans for the province is either not willing or capable of answering questions pertaining to that undertaking? This must be the impressive Conservative bench-strength that has been building while we were all otherwise preoccupied...well, at least the Conservative Party is nothing if not consistent as regards its selection of a provincial organizer.

Doug Finlay might want to start munching on a bunch of nails just about now. Some have previously suggested that the CPC has put an "X" on Quebec, which they have denied for the record.

Quite frankly, as I watch them "prepare" for battle, the only thing that immediately comes to mind is that you could have fooled me.

[updated Thu Apr 09 21:01:51 EDT 2009]

Don Plett Says Mulroney Has To Pay To Join.

Conservative Party President Don Plett says there is only one membership category in the CPC -- the paying kind, pointing out that both the Prime Minister and himself paid for their membership cards.

Plett says the party has no plans to change that following an alleged phone call from Defense Minister Peter MacKay asking that consideration be given to a life-time party membership for Brian Mulroney.

The above was reported by Canadian Press tonight.

This is an interesting wrinkle to the story. On the one hand, one would think that a former two-term Conservative majority prime minister is a logical candidate for such a mark of respect. Conversely, Stephen Harper, the once teflon Prime Minister, is going out of his way to make sure that nothing that comes out of the Oliphant Commission could possibly stick to his government.

That puts Plett in the unenviable position of being damned if he does and damned if he doesn't! Plett suddenly finds himself in a "no-win" situation politically.

Being a party president has its ups and downs. This hot potato strikes me as one that Don Plett would do well to quickly kick upstairs.

[updated Thu Apr 09 22:48:24 EDT 2009]

Sitting Out The Next Election In Quebec - Conservative-Style.

Was anyone really surprised to learn that while in Europe the master tactician signed off on plans to diss Brian Mulroney? It seems the actual details of this political farce were in the hands of Guy and Kory -- Canada's new team of reality tricksters.

Mulroney played his best card through his spokesperson Robin Sears (yes, THAT Robin Sears, formerly of the NDP) who announced that at the founding convention of the Conservative Party in 2003, it was decided that all former leaders would be entitled to a life-time party membership. (No one was taken aback when Joe Clark declined the privilege.)

Sears pointed out that if the rules of the game were changed, no one bothered to inform or even thought it was appropriate to contact the former prime minister.

You may wonder how all this is playing out in Quebec. What I'm hearing from Conservatives is that the next campaign will be an all-Alliance production in Quebec. I can't tell you how many Conservative members who have told me that they intend to sit out the next one.

Their reaction to this latest piece of character assassination orchestrated by the PMO has ranged all the way from disappointment through indignation to outright hostility. No one thought Harper was on the right track on this issue.

I don't envy the twin Conservative senators. Embarrassment will be the name of the game for them on election night. But the Alliance can be counted on to carry on prior to the next vote: the Paradis', Verners, Berniers, Gourdes, Blaneys et al. will do their duty albeit reluctantly, against the juggernaut.

Thank you Stephen Harper for doing more than either the Liberals or the Bloc could to sideline Red Tories and provincial Liberals in the next campaign. I'm more than grateful. Come on Alliance, keep up the good work!

[updated Sat Apr 11 13:36:48 EDT 2009]

Nanos Readers: Time To Speak Up!

With the future of Canada in the balance, it's time for each of you to take a more active part in influencing public opinion in our country.

It's no secret that our political leaders -- across party lines -- are active readers here. Perhaps it is not my place but I for one feel you need to get more involved in shaping the future destiny of Canada.

Please speak up -- for Canada -- and more importantly, for yourselves.

[updated Sat Apr 11 14:24:34 EDT 2009]

Harper continues to sink in polls. Please resign today!

Fortunes have shifted substantially for Stephen Harper's Conservatives since December, with Michael Ignatieff's Liberals enjoying an upsurge, says a new poll from EKOS released exclusively to CBC News.

Asked which party they would support if an election were held tomorrow, 36.7 opted for the Liberals while 30.2 per cent chose the Conservatives. About 15.5 per cent supported the NDP, while the Green party was the choice of 8.1 per cent and the Bloc Québécois was backed by 9.4 per cent.

Ignatieff's leadership is up and Harper's is down.

[updated Thu Apr 16 19:04:30 EDT 2009]

So Long Stephen Harper: Liberal Majority Government In The Offing.

As a proponent of the shifting ground political theory, I believe that voting patterns as demonstrated in a number of polls are coalescing around the Liberals. What does that mean? It suggests that Stephen Harper has finally worn out his welcome with Canadians and will be on the way out as soon as we go to the polls.

The Ekos poll is the latest that demonstrates the worst case scenario for the Liberals -- a minority government will be elected barring any catastrophic mistake made by the Liberal team in the next campaign. In other words, I believe the consensus view should be that the next election is Michael Ignatieff's to lose.

What makes me so certain? Harper has burned his bridges with voters beyond repair in my view due to a number of factors, the most prominent of which was the self-created prorogation crisis. The Prime Minister has crossed the point of no return and will no longer be given the benefit of the doubt by Canadians.

I believe the Liberals can't lose -- they don't have to bear the burden of incumbency during exceedingly difficult economic times nor do they have to suffer from the tin ear syndrome affecting the present government. Harper is seen by many Canadians as totally out of touch with the pulse of everyday Canadians.

Let's take a close look at the Ekos numbers: 37% for the Liberals is in minority government territory but depending how the vote breaks down, a few points more could translate into a majority win, theoretically speaking. (This pet theory works best when translating Conservative support because of their huge lead in the West. Unfortunately for them, they are sinking so fast in both Ontario and Quebec that they are unlikely to succeed in pulling it off on election night.) A seven-point lead in the national numbers is hardly inconsequential.

In Ontario, at 42 percent, the Liberals hold a ten-point lead over the CPC with the NDP at 15 and the GP backed by 11%. In Quebec, the Bloc leads with 40, followed by the Liberals at 33, the NDP at 12 -- the CPC is in fouth place with 11 while the Greens trail with 5%.

On a personal level, Harper's numbers are simply devastating: 54% unfavourable vs. 38 favourable while Ignatieff has a favourable rating of 50 and an unfavourable number of only 28%.

Finally, the government's popularity has nosedived: only 38% support vs. 49% who disapprove of the Harper government's performance.

All of this to say that Liberal momentum is building. I expect a future Nanos poll will confirm this trend. Again, I see a Liberal wave gaining strength and if Ignatieff runs as good a campaign as Harper did in 2006, I'm calling for enough of an NDP drain to the Liberals to put them over the top with a majority win.

[updated Thu Apr 16 20:42:35 EDT 2009]

Something To Think About For Michael Ignatieff.

Walter Mondale accepting his party's nomination for president in 1984:

"Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."

In November, Ronald Reagan went on to win forty-nine states.

[updated Thu Apr 16 22:45:24 EDT 2009]

Channeling Jack and Gilles.

I like it when Tom Flanagan decides to get a little mischievous: writing in the Globe and Mail, he suggests that Michael Ignatieff will have to whistle up the ghost of the coalition to defeat the Harper government in the House of Commons. He goes on to suggest that this will provide Conservatives with a big stick to beat him with.

Flanagan does not see much enthusiasm for an early election coming from either the NDP or the Bloc. He hints that the NDP is just about broke while the Bloc might be content to force concessions out of the Conservatives this fall as a price for propping up Harper.

Flanagan has it backwards -- Canadians don't want a revival of the coalition -- they don't want union government following the next vote. However, the public mood will happily settle for a three-way-alliance that will dispatch Harper in Parliament.

Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe are old political hands who can read the tea leaves. Both of them know that in the minds of most Canadians, JOB ONE is the defeat of Stephen Harper. They have their eyes on the ball and yes indeed, they are prepared to run with it.

No one hates the Conservatives more than the New Democrats. If looks could kill...Jack knows the next campaign is his last as leader. If the NDP goes down, they will go down fighting in a blaze of glory, content in the knowledge that they were instrumental in ridding Canada of Harper and his government. No small achievement.

As for Gilles Duceppe, the time has long passed for accepting crumbs from Stephen Harper. Duceppe knows he will be picking up most of the Conservative seats in Quebec next time. He also is aware that the Liberals will be making inroads in and around Montreal but no one expects a Liberal sweep in Quebec, at least not next time.

Duceppe can recognize terrible optics when he sees them -- the sight of the BQ potentially keeping Harper in power is like scheduling and then attending your own political execution. Quebecers, by and large, loathe Harper and everything he represents. Duceppe would never be stupid enough to risk his political capital in Quebec. You don't go out of your way to destroy your own bread and butter, courtesy of generally favourably disposed electors and a generous federal treasury.

Bring on the Conservative big stick: watch as Canadians beat the incumbent government to a pulp with it at the polls. It's no longer a matter of if, it's now only a question of when.

[updated Sat Apr 18 11:56:05 EDT 2009]

Conservative Fortunes: Going Past Distress And Depression To Despair.

As a former Conservative, I have some sympathy for the Tory rank and file. These are not easy days to be a Conservative die-hard. Stuck with an increasingly erratic Prime Minister who seems bent on his own political destruction, glum is the order of the day in Conservative circles.

In the reign of Louis XV it was prophesied: "Après moi, le déluge." Sounds just about right for the CPC under the failed leadership of Stephen Harper.

Coupled with this is the prospect of no eventual political relief: you may wonder who is out there to rescue Conservative Christendom from itself? Answer: no one.

Lawrence Martin makes the point in the Globe and Mail that Jean Charest is the great CPC hope, at least in some quarters. But that argument does not carry water for several reasons: Charest went out of his way to take on the Harper government in the last federal campaign. Talk about smart Quebec politics -- nice way to get back your majority but not an ideal strategy for a man said to be interested in the top spot in Ottawa...

If we know one thing about Reformers it's that they have long and good memories. Charest's performance was viewed by many as a betrayal coming from the former leader of the Progressive Conservatives. If he runs, and I don't think he will, Charest can count them out when it comes to putting him over the top in the next leadership race. To reverse the words when paraphrasing John Crosbie: "short-term gain, for long-term pain."

This brings us to the next obvious candidate: gentleman Jim Prentice of Calgary, he, made of staunch PC cloth. Martin reminds us that funding in central Canada is likely to dry up if another Albertan inherits Harper's mantle as CPC leader. No question that Prentice could hold the line for Conservatives in a post-Harper world but making gains and returning to power is another matter altogether.

Moving on to Peter MacKay. As a former PCP leader, MacKay knows the ropes and has the gravitas to do more than fill the chair. But he also has negatives: viewed with suspicion by Reformers while at the same time remembered by Progressives as the man who orchestrated the merger that left PCs largely sitting in the back seat of the car. In short, bound to be a polarizing figure.

That leaves only Bernard Lord -- the erstwhile premier of New Brunswick, now resident in Montreal. Widely regarded as coming out of the same mould as Brian Mulroney (that can be either a good or bad thing depending on your perspective) Lord is seen as a man who can effectively get his point across in both official languages. However, everyone also remembers how matters finished up in Fredericton -- not exactly going out with a bang.

After the best of times, now comes the worst for the CPC. I'm putting my money on Lord but won't be surprised if it's Prentice. Either way, it appears things are destined to go only in one direction -- downhill from here.

[updated Sat Apr 18 13:15:44 EDT 2009]

I heard Tim Powers on CTV Power Play say that the recent poll had a ray of light. It had the Liberals at 42% in Ontario and the last poll had them at 45% so the CPC gained 3%.

Harper is truly screwed if that is his ray of hope!

[updated Sat Apr 18 17:55:33 EDT 2009]

It is this disconnect that is Harper's biggest weakness, not a strength. He can't even admit to changing his mind! It is the personal masked as political strategy.

JEFFREY SIMPSON

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

April 18, 2009 at 12:00 AM EDT

BEIJING — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is stubborn. Everyone knows that by now.

Those who work with him report that it takes a lot of arguing before he might change his mind. Even then, he doesn't give people the satisfaction of saying he actually has changed. It just comes out in new policy directions without any admission of change.

[updated Sat Apr 18 19:25:11 EDT 2009]

Ok, I heard on the news today that there won't likely be an election for possibly three years because Harper is going to throw multi-billions at Quebec to get the BQ to keep him in power indefinitely. What do you think of this scenario?

[updated Sun Apr 19 20:02:38 EDT 2009]

There are all sorts of rumours around the oil patch that the Tories will fund oil sands major projects rebirth via loan guarantees if oil falls below a certain threshold price. They may also choose to fully subsidize "green costs' in any new projects.

Those types of subsidies will certainly be reflected at the pump somewhere down the road.

[updated Mon Apr 20 04:06:23 EDT 2009]

Stop the presses. Flaherty announces we are in a serious recession.

Hellloooooo Anything in side that skull of his. Pathetic.

[updated Mon Apr 20 18:15:08 EDT 2009]

Tearing Down Stephen Harper One Poll At A Time.

With the release of the latest Canadian Press-Harris/Decima poll, it's apparent that momentum continues in the same direction as Canadians prepare to give the Harper government its walking papers. The national numbers show the Liberals in the lead with 32% with the Conservatives three points behind. The New Democrats are at 16% and the Greens at 11%.

In Ontario, the Liberals hold a nine-point lead over the Conservatives. They are at 40 and 31% respectively. The NDP is at 15%, one point ahead of the Greens.

In Quebec, the Bloc leads with 40% with the Liberals nine points behind. The Conservatives are supported by 12%, the NDP has 9% with the Greens at 5%.

In British Columbia, the NDP leads with 29% with the Conservatives and Liberals both receiving 26% while the Greens bring up the rear with 16%.

In Atlantic Canada, the Liberals lead the Conservatives by 14 points while the Conservatives are still in first place on the Prairies.

I hope someone in the PMO remembered to put up the old Aislin René Lévesque cartoon with the caption: "Okay everyone. Take a Valium."

They are going to need it...

[updated Wed Apr 22 21:44:53 EDT 2009]

Omar Khadr: Watching The Ever-Predictable Stephen Harper In Action.

Our poor Prime Minister just doesn't get it. Seemingly everyone else in Canada is capable of recognizing a losing political issue but him -- in light of Federal Court Justice James O'Reilly's ruling that Omar Khadr should be repatriated to Canada as quickly as possible.

Justice O'Reilly found that Khadr's fundamental justice rights under section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms have been violated by Canada's consistent refusal to request his return.

In Question Period, Stephen Harper responded true to form confirming that the government will consider an appeal. Talk about sputtering in the face of logic. I would hazard a guess that neither the Federal Court of Appeal nor the Supreme Court is likely to reverse today's decision.

Picture the Liberal ads: Stephen Harper -- a man who denies Canadian citizens their fundamental Charter rights even in the face of court rulings! Talk about Manna From Heaven. Please, by all means, make my day and appeal.

[updated Thu Apr 23 21:48:57 EDT 2009]

Transitioning from "Garth Who?" to "Stephen When?".

The clever fellow is at it again. Can't help but wonder if the guy was smart enough to think of it himself or was it enthusiastically fed past his willing throat by an all-knowing PMO?

I thought I would project forward in time, to a point where the history books will be written. To a period when academics will put a squandered prime ministership under the microscope for study. A tale of an overreaching control freak obsessed with power and his blind attempts at manipulating and intimidating people. A story of opportunities lost and and mind-numbing pettiness found. An era of stifled goodwill and playing off one against the other. Such is the Harper political doctrine.

What crowning achievements will flow from this prime minister's terms in office? What will historians point to as the legacy of the Harper years? Allow me to suggest the following:
on reflection, Stephen Harper's short run as prime minister will be viewed as a time when the worst instincts of Canadians were amply demonstrated and enthusiastically promoted by the PM in power. In the light of hindsight, Harper will be seen for what he was -- a relatively insignificant prime minister of minor accomplishment. A man who single-handedly did all that he could to self-limit his own term of office. In the final analysis, Stephen Harper will be remembered for little of consequence. His most proud accomplishment will have been to serve as a glaring example for future prime ministers -- of exactly what not to do -- to stay in office and bring out the best in both Canada and Canadians.

[updated Sat Apr 25 11:08:56 EDT 2009]

Ontario and British Columbia: The King-Maker Provinces?

A Toronto Star/Angus Reid Poll reveals that Conservative support is on the rise in both Ontario and British Columbia with the national numbers showing a tie, with the Conservatives and Liberals both pegged at 33% support. New Democrats garner 15% while the Bloc Québécois is backed by 10%. The Greens have 6% nationally.

In Ontario, the Conservatives lead the Liberals by three points with 38 and 35% percent respectively. The NDP are supported by 17% while the Greens bring up the rear with 7%.

In BC, the Conservatives have a five-point lead with 36% while the Liberals come in at 31% with the New Democrats at 23%. The Greens trail with 10%.

In the other regions, the Bloc is in front in Quebec, the Liberals in Atlantic Canada and the Conservatives in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

What remains to be seen is whether this poll is a lagging indicator of a previously established political trend (Conservative deflation) -- or the first indication of a Conservative turn-around. What can be said with certainty is that the Conservatives are finished in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

Both Conservatives and Liberals will continue to concentrate their efforts in the two battleground provinces and pour in resources -- watch what type of rebound effect will result following the BC election. A provincial Liberal re-election could benefit New Democrats in Ottawa while a surprise NDP win could do the same for the federal Liberals.

This poll is reason to show pause. One thing is for sure -- Harper is down on the ropes but he isn't out, at least not yet.

Hoping the next Nanos poll will have an over-sized sample in both of these provinces. That would certainly help to chart the way as we head toward a probable federal campaign this fall.

[updated Sat Apr 25 19:04:35 EDT 2009]

Watching Stephen Harper Fume and Squirm.

These are definitely not Stephen Harper's days of wine and roses as prime minister. I can't help but watch in amusement as the Prime Miniser stalls for time -- trying to figure out a way to square the circle, the Khadr circle that is.

I think we get it that Stephen Harper does not like terrorists, alleged or otherwise. I think that we also get it that the PM has taken a hard line on Khadr since 2006 -- basically previously parroting the Liberal policy and convenient fig leaf implemented by the Martin government.

But those days are gone with the repudiation of their previous policy by the Liberals. It is obvious for all to see that Harper would rather spend an eternity in the dentist's office rather than bend to the will of those who want Omar Khadr back in Canada. The man is not known for climbing down easily...he does not like to appear wrong -- or worse yet, weak.

Thirty days and counting. We're all waiting for Harper to reluctantly bow to the inevitable. There is no easy way out of this one for him politically. Time for him to cut his losses and request repatriation. Let the Canadian justice system deal with Khadr when he arrives home.

As the trademark says: "Just Do It."

[updated Sun Apr 26 10:06:27 EDT 2009]

Hey Canadian, Is The Water Getting Too Hot For You?

Funny, I thought you would have apologized to Nik by now to get back in the game. You know things haven't been the same around here since you "left".

What about your allied surrogates -- Westerner and MRM -- are they going to throw in the towel as well? Weren't you guys supposed to bury us in the next election with all that crowing about your brilliant victory last October -- and how the numbers would not only hold up but increase.

Remember Canadian, you said up to twenty more seats -- a majority with less than forty percent of the vote. You said 160 seats, easy.

We're all waiting.

[updated Sun Apr 26 11:23:51 EDT 2009]

Maxime Bernier.

Being in the political doghouse takes some time getting used to. Maxime Bernier has been on his personal visit to purgatory ever since he resigned from cabinet. If politicians have learned one thing in Ottawa it's that pillow talk can sometimes be a very dangerous thing.

I'm hearing that key to the Conservative strategy for the next campaign is the political rehabilitation of Maxime Bernier. The party has finally recognized that as so goes Max, so go party fortunes in Quebec. Does this mean that rumours of a return to cabinet prior to the next election are well founded? Time will tell.

[updated Sun Apr 26 14:38:56 EDT 2009]

Bloc And Liberals Rejoice As Conservative Daggers Are Brandished Inward.

It's interesting to watch the Conservative Party tearing itself apart at the seams in Quebec. The latest volley comes from former Louis-Hébert MP Luc Harvey who has launched a broadside against Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Josée Verner. Harvey blames Verner in part for the party's poor showing in Quebec. He says she did not respond to pleas to change policy regarding federal cultural funding cuts in the province.

Harvey granted an interview to The Hill Times.

[updated Mon Apr 27 10:59:33 EDT 2009]

Omar Khadr: Expect An Appeal.

The world of intelligence "sources and methods" is a murky one. Sometimes it becomes necessary to protect individuals involved in intelligence operations abroad. I'm thinking of two distinct intelligence operations. I suspect it's not in the national interest for these details to be made public since these operations resulted in both death and capture. As a result, I'm convinced that the Harper government will appeal the Federal Court decision.

[updated Mon Apr 27 14:02:33 EDT 2009]

Cameron-Envy.

Conservatives are known to be good drinkers. They would have to be these days with party fortunes on a down slope. And if they needed anything else to remind them of their misery, their UK cousins are set to cruise back into power, potentially with one of the largest majorities ever seen in Great Britain. Ouch.

Conservative leader David Cameron must be in seventh heaven -- his party holds an incredible nineteen-point lead over Labour's Gordon Brown. It is projected that Conservatives could conceivably win with a 186 seat majority in the House of Commons.

A second poll mirrored the latest one, pegging the Conservative lead at eighteen points.

Cameron-envy is now the order of the day. At least Canadian Conservatives can drift off to sleep to escape political reality. Things should look a tad better in the morning -- unless of course, they happen to dream of Stephen Harper...

[updated Mon Apr 27 21:29:27 EDT 2009]

The Employment Insurance Federal Election.

Well folks, it's all but inevitable in my book. With an 8 per cent unemployment rate -- a seven year high, it doesn't take a Mensa member to figure out that we will be on the hustings this fall. Unemployment is up across Canada.

The Conservative government has extended benefits by five weeks while the opposition has decried the two-week delay before receiving a first EI cheque. Some have argued that the self-employed should be eligible during this economic recession while others say part-time workers should also be covered.

In fact, the NDP will introduce a bill in the Commons in the coming days to allow women who are laid off upon returning from maternity leave to receive EI benefits. That is not permitted under current legislation.

That clenches it for me: the Liberals along with the NDP will be pushing employment insurance issues hard. That sounds like a winning issue in the current economic climate. Watch for the Bloc to also get on board as economic conditions continue to deteriorate.

If this isn't an election maker, I don't know what is.

[updated Tue Apr 28 20:41:19 EDT 2009]

Forgotten Again This Year...

I must confess to a little disappointment this morning. It seems the Prime Minister forgot my birthday card again this year. (You know what they say about the morning after.)

But don't fret too much. I won't forget his birthday tomorrow. I plan to post a little something tonight for him to think about on his special day.

Happy Birthday, Stephen!

[updated Wed Apr 29 09:37:13 EDT 2009]

The Mark Of True Leadership.

Stephen Harper is a man who does not get much sleep. He's tense, stressed, anxious and perhaps a little angry. Remember the old Conservative mantra? "Stéphane Dion is not a leader."

The Conservative Party re-election was largely accomplished thanks to the demonizing of the unfortunate Mr. Dion. Was that a true test of leadership? No one I know thinks so. It was simply cheap politics -- crude but effective.

I thought I would ponder the nature of leadership: a leader is not only a person who seemingly comes out of nowhere to claw his or her way to the top of the party. That person must then move on and wrestle power from the incumbent government.

Next comes maintaining oneself in office, by hook or by crook, if necessary. Stephen Harper has shown himself to be a master at staying in power.

But the ultimate test of leadership is not revealed until the chips are down. Lose the confidence of Parliament -- that is when a leader is made or destroyed. A real leader has no choice but to go into a campaign that may not be won, even from its outset. A veritable leader knows that the music has to be faced, and does so. Country and party are placed ahead of personal interest or destiny. That is the mark of a genuine leader.

Watch to see how Stephen Harper measures up in the coming weeks and months.

[updated Wed Apr 29 21:57:55 EDT 2009]

Fifty Pink Flamingos...

I hope the Prime Minister had a nice birthday party. Turning fifty is indeed a personal milestone. I for one was pleased to see what a nice warm relationship he has with Rachel and Ben.

But his PMO staff really goofed with those flamingos: now that we are learning about the bent of the PM's pending political strategy, it quickly becomes apparent that the political symbolism is all wrong. Staffers should have filled the front yard with fifty grey dumbos to appropriately reflect the quality of Harper's recent tactical machinations.

Please allow me to be the first to enthusiastically urge the Prime Minister on! Go out there and do a deal with Gilles and "the separatists", devil to devil (or so the Conservatives until recently, would have had us believe).

If Gilles thinks he is vulnerable now, that is nothing compared to where his party will stand once the sovereignist faithful get wind of his alleged political intention to prop up this government. He will have to have a clear head next time he shows his face in the province of Quebec. Keep a keen eye out for that splendid Ignatieff grin. It should start showing up more frequently and more broadly in future. I won't be counting sheep to get to sleep -- I'll just contemplate all those Bloc seats that will be turning Liberal.

And if that wasn't enough -- just think how it will make the base shit back in the solid West. We all know how Westerners love to see the Harper government catering to Quebec and especially Quebec sovereignists. That should get a good collective root canal going among rank and file Conservatives across the West.

Come on Stephen. I'm pulling for you. Please, please, make the deal as quickly as possible. The impending generalized upchuck will make the tissy over the coalition look like a sunny day at the beach.

[updated Thu Apr 30 23:44:46 EDT 2009]