Yeah, I know it's a bizarre subject for a post but when you are in my business, the bizarre is normal sometimes.
Lynda is one of those TV reporters who doesn't routinely edit herself into her reports. We often don't get to see what she looks like. There doesn't seem to be any particular reason for it other than her personal preference.
During the national coverage of the Labrador by-election, Lynda got to do some live hits with whoever was hosting the news. You know the format: reporter stares into camera and gives a live comment on what is happening.
Well, every time Lynda was on air - looking very professional, smartly attired and giving some meaningful insights - I just couldn't stop noticing her hand movements.
They were jerky and a bit exaggerated.
I am not sure if they were the result of her being uncomfortable and nervous. Maybe she had just finished one of those training courses for on-air presentation and was introducing hand-movents into her presentation style.
Maybe it is just the way Lynda gestures when she speaks.
Whatever it was, it got very distracting.
and yes, I know. I need a life.
26 May 2005
The Perils of Polls
It's interesting to notice the Labrador result in light of the Telelink poll done for NTV in St. John's a few weeks ago.
Telelink reported a 42% undecided/don't know/no answer rate, but among decided voters, the Liberals were ahead with 29% and the Conservatives came in with 23%.
Telelink spokesperson Cindy Roma said the results were "too close to call". As I said when the poll was released the results seemed a little bit off to me.
If you look at the actual numbers - not the percentages of decideds, what Telelink actually got was something like this:
Liberal: 13.92%
Conservative: 11.04%
Und/DK/NR: 42%
Essentially, the answer with those numbers was not that it was too close to call. Nope. The answer actually was: we don't have a freakin' clue what will happen because our poll results don't give us data on which to make any conclusions.
Since Telelink didn't probe the undecideds at all, they couldn't even get a sense of which way people were leaning and try to pick some sense out of it on that basis.
If you look at the provincial district breakouts Telelink did, their confidence interval jumped up to something like 10 to 12%. Those results are completely useless and should never have hit the air.
As you will recall, I did contact NTV to get a copy of the research report. I was advised my e-mail had been passed on to higher management.
To date, I haven't received a reply from NTV. I haven't had the time to follow-up on it, but I will do so because the whole thing just gets me even more curious the more I think about it.
There are probably good answers to what questions I do have and the answers might also help people who aren't familiar with polls to appreciate why MUN political scientist Michael Temillini wound up making some off-the-wall comments on Canada AM yesterday based on the Telelink data.
I'll keep you posted.
Telelink reported a 42% undecided/don't know/no answer rate, but among decided voters, the Liberals were ahead with 29% and the Conservatives came in with 23%.
Telelink spokesperson Cindy Roma said the results were "too close to call". As I said when the poll was released the results seemed a little bit off to me.
If you look at the actual numbers - not the percentages of decideds, what Telelink actually got was something like this:
Liberal: 13.92%
Conservative: 11.04%
Und/DK/NR: 42%
Essentially, the answer with those numbers was not that it was too close to call. Nope. The answer actually was: we don't have a freakin' clue what will happen because our poll results don't give us data on which to make any conclusions.
Since Telelink didn't probe the undecideds at all, they couldn't even get a sense of which way people were leaning and try to pick some sense out of it on that basis.
If you look at the provincial district breakouts Telelink did, their confidence interval jumped up to something like 10 to 12%. Those results are completely useless and should never have hit the air.
As you will recall, I did contact NTV to get a copy of the research report. I was advised my e-mail had been passed on to higher management.
To date, I haven't received a reply from NTV. I haven't had the time to follow-up on it, but I will do so because the whole thing just gets me even more curious the more I think about it.
There are probably good answers to what questions I do have and the answers might also help people who aren't familiar with polls to appreciate why MUN political scientist Michael Temillini wound up making some off-the-wall comments on Canada AM yesterday based on the Telelink data.
I'll keep you posted.
25 May 2005
Election preview
With the Liberal win in Labrador, here's a thumbnail sketch of the next election, as it stands right now.
Out of seven seats, five are safely Liberal. The Connies couldn't find contenders in at least two of them. In central, they have chosen a decent guy with no profile to carry the Big C into battle. Fabian manning has made it clear it won't be running, so unless Loyola Sullivan decides to try federal politics, Avalon is another safe Liberal seat if John Efford runs again.
If Efford doesn't run again, I'll toss Captain Sid Hynes name into the ring for consideration. He's tough, competent and agressive; just the dose of clear-headedness we need around here.
In St. John's, the Connies have a problem. Loyola Hearn sounded kind of wishy washy in Jonathan Crowe's interview this evening when he was asked about running again.
Ed Byrne may step up in St. John's South Mount Pearl.
But if Hearn goes again, he will have an uphill fight. He came with 750 or 800 votes of losing the last time. He did a lot of damage to his support with his backing of Stephen Harper instead of the province.
Ditto for Doyle.
Curiously enough, the only seats that offer any chance of a race the next time out are all on the Avalon peninsula. The CPC actually has a problem with the two they hold now.
Now, let me just seal this in a mason jar and bury it in the garden to be opened the day the writ drops next.
Out of seven seats, five are safely Liberal. The Connies couldn't find contenders in at least two of them. In central, they have chosen a decent guy with no profile to carry the Big C into battle. Fabian manning has made it clear it won't be running, so unless Loyola Sullivan decides to try federal politics, Avalon is another safe Liberal seat if John Efford runs again.
If Efford doesn't run again, I'll toss Captain Sid Hynes name into the ring for consideration. He's tough, competent and agressive; just the dose of clear-headedness we need around here.
In St. John's, the Connies have a problem. Loyola Hearn sounded kind of wishy washy in Jonathan Crowe's interview this evening when he was asked about running again.
Ed Byrne may step up in St. John's South Mount Pearl.
But if Hearn goes again, he will have an uphill fight. He came with 750 or 800 votes of losing the last time. He did a lot of damage to his support with his backing of Stephen Harper instead of the province.
Ditto for Doyle.
Curiously enough, the only seats that offer any chance of a race the next time out are all on the Avalon peninsula. The CPC actually has a problem with the two they hold now.
Now, let me just seal this in a mason jar and bury it in the garden to be opened the day the writ drops next.
Libs take Lab
Undoubtedly, there'll be a lot of Wednesday morning quarterbacking and punditry but, I'll just leave it to the vote count.
Todd Russell of the Liberals took 51.5% of the vote with 83/85 reporting at around 2334 hrs Newfoundland Daylight Time.
Graham Letto of the Conservatives had about 32% with the remainder being spread across the three other candidates.
Turnout was up from the last election in 2004.
Count on the Connies to be playing up the fact they doubled their percentage of the vote. Fair enough, cause it is true. The growth in vote is all Connie. Basically the Liberal is virtually intact.
But don't stretch that too far. The Connies would have to count on pulling another couple of thousand people to the polls next time in order to barely squeak by in the seat. Given Labrador's historic turn-out this would be very hard to do. Look at it: everyone who voted Liberal last time turned out to vote Liberal again, with the exception of a mere 120 people.
The only way the Connies could win is to wipe out all the other parties, significantly collapse the Liberal vote or do some combination on the two.
That's a tall order for a seat that is basically Liberal and where voters don't change allegiance very much.
Now if you look to the northeast Avalon peninsula, you'll see a much bigger Connie problem.
They only won those supposedly safe seats by a handful of votes (relatively speaking) the last time out.
Voters on the northeast Avalon include a larger number of swingers - it would only have taken about 751 switched voters in St. John's South-Mount Pearl to have caused Loyola Hearn to head to the unemployment line last year instead of booking a return flight to Ottawa.
There's something to keep a Connie strategists in the province awake at night.
Todd Russell of the Liberals took 51.5% of the vote with 83/85 reporting at around 2334 hrs Newfoundland Daylight Time.
Graham Letto of the Conservatives had about 32% with the remainder being spread across the three other candidates.
Turnout was up from the last election in 2004.
Count on the Connies to be playing up the fact they doubled their percentage of the vote. Fair enough, cause it is true. The growth in vote is all Connie. Basically the Liberal is virtually intact.
But don't stretch that too far. The Connies would have to count on pulling another couple of thousand people to the polls next time in order to barely squeak by in the seat. Given Labrador's historic turn-out this would be very hard to do. Look at it: everyone who voted Liberal last time turned out to vote Liberal again, with the exception of a mere 120 people.
The only way the Connies could win is to wipe out all the other parties, significantly collapse the Liberal vote or do some combination on the two.
That's a tall order for a seat that is basically Liberal and where voters don't change allegiance very much.
Now if you look to the northeast Avalon peninsula, you'll see a much bigger Connie problem.
They only won those supposedly safe seats by a handful of votes (relatively speaking) the last time out.
Voters on the northeast Avalon include a larger number of swingers - it would only have taken about 751 switched voters in St. John's South-Mount Pearl to have caused Loyola Hearn to head to the unemployment line last year instead of booking a return flight to Ottawa.
There's something to keep a Connie strategists in the province awake at night.
24 May 2005
Ghost of Joey in Labrador By-election
Check national websites today and the Labrador by-election is the lead story just about everywhere.
Comment by Labradorians though seems to reflect the legacy of Joe Smallwood. He dominated provincial politics between 1949 to 1972 to the point that people can't distinguish between things that are St. John's fault and the things Ottawa is responsible for. The same guy used to show up with both the local candidate and the one heading to Ottawa.
No surprise therefore that roads, water and sewer, and the Young Royal Commission are high on the list of things people in Labrador are supposedly ticked about. There is a feeling of being taken for granted that runs throughout all of Labrador. But hey, those are all provincial issues, not federal ones.
See this CTV story which, sadly relies on one lone reporter in Labrador for perspective. But the water and sewer is likely a bigger issue on the south coast, one of the four distinctly different regions within Labrador.
On the north coast, I'd venture the future of the LIA land claim is a hot topic as the Inuit people transition to self-government.
In western Labrador, it is the future of the mines.
The future of military training at Goose Bay is the dominant issue in central Labrador. The local citizen's committee has been sitting on its backside for the past decade waiting for Ottawa to fix its problem- low level training has had its day and few of the historic visitors to the base's facilities are coming back. The committee then blames government for failing to bring back the Nazis or the Commies or invent an enemy in Greenland to justify massive spending at Goose Bay "like in the old days" from someone like the Americans.
The committee moans and complains but has done nothing to look seriously at alternatives. Addicts have a hard time breaking a habit and the Connie promises are like OxyContin. No surprise therefore that the ideas floated by Gordon O'Conner - especially the ludicrous plan to base an infantry battalion at Goose - are being snapped up. Conservative candidate Letto's connections to the local committee didn't hurt on that score; it's also easy for the party out of power to promise the moon in exchange for votes.
The race is reputedly close - extremely close.
The irony of the vote today is that the future of the offshore revenue deal - highlighted in the CTV story as primarily benefiting the island portion of the province - might rest in the hands of Labrador's MP.
Comment by Labradorians though seems to reflect the legacy of Joe Smallwood. He dominated provincial politics between 1949 to 1972 to the point that people can't distinguish between things that are St. John's fault and the things Ottawa is responsible for. The same guy used to show up with both the local candidate and the one heading to Ottawa.
No surprise therefore that roads, water and sewer, and the Young Royal Commission are high on the list of things people in Labrador are supposedly ticked about. There is a feeling of being taken for granted that runs throughout all of Labrador. But hey, those are all provincial issues, not federal ones.
See this CTV story which, sadly relies on one lone reporter in Labrador for perspective. But the water and sewer is likely a bigger issue on the south coast, one of the four distinctly different regions within Labrador.
On the north coast, I'd venture the future of the LIA land claim is a hot topic as the Inuit people transition to self-government.
In western Labrador, it is the future of the mines.
The future of military training at Goose Bay is the dominant issue in central Labrador. The local citizen's committee has been sitting on its backside for the past decade waiting for Ottawa to fix its problem- low level training has had its day and few of the historic visitors to the base's facilities are coming back. The committee then blames government for failing to bring back the Nazis or the Commies or invent an enemy in Greenland to justify massive spending at Goose Bay "like in the old days" from someone like the Americans.
The committee moans and complains but has done nothing to look seriously at alternatives. Addicts have a hard time breaking a habit and the Connie promises are like OxyContin. No surprise therefore that the ideas floated by Gordon O'Conner - especially the ludicrous plan to base an infantry battalion at Goose - are being snapped up. Conservative candidate Letto's connections to the local committee didn't hurt on that score; it's also easy for the party out of power to promise the moon in exchange for votes.
The race is reputedly close - extremely close.
The irony of the vote today is that the future of the offshore revenue deal - highlighted in the CTV story as primarily benefiting the island portion of the province - might rest in the hands of Labrador's MP.
23 May 2005
Belinda Stronach Pictorial!
Bizarre things pop up when you google.
Like this Macleans photo slide show of Belinda Stronach from the Connie policy convention. Check it out here, under the title "On the trail of Belinda Stronach".
There's a striking picture of Belinda and Peter in which she is looking at him as he turns away. There really isn't much of a connection from his standpoint. His body language suggests he's already off to job two, although he is maintaining physical contact with his hand on hers. She, on the other hand, is looking at him as he goes, although there is something about that smile that makes me wonder.
My favourite shots are the ones of her hand (with a gorgeous ring), her pearl necklace and two shots of her shoes. They are favourites just because I can't figure out what in the heck the shooter is trying to show me - other than maybe his foot fetish.
Strange things turn up when you google.
Like this Macleans photo slide show of Belinda Stronach from the Connie policy convention. Check it out here, under the title "On the trail of Belinda Stronach".
There's a striking picture of Belinda and Peter in which she is looking at him as he turns away. There really isn't much of a connection from his standpoint. His body language suggests he's already off to job two, although he is maintaining physical contact with his hand on hers. She, on the other hand, is looking at him as he goes, although there is something about that smile that makes me wonder.
My favourite shots are the ones of her hand (with a gorgeous ring), her pearl necklace and two shots of her shoes. They are favourites just because I can't figure out what in the heck the shooter is trying to show me - other than maybe his foot fetish.
Strange things turn up when you google.
Monte Solberg, MP
Flip over to Monte Solberg's little blog when you need a laugh and see his musings posted as he flew off to be with his family over the long weekend.
I don't know what this guy did before he got into politics, but this is as good a lede as I have ever seen:
"This week will long be remembered in Conservative annals as the week that truly sucked."
Yep. That's about the size of it.
Now, Monte, ask yourself why it sucked.
The answer lives at Stornoway. The guy who resides there may be an eminent political tactician, but, by definition, a guy good at tactics sucks when it comes to strategy.
I hope Monte had a good a weekend with his family as I did with mine. And, for the record, no, Dad, I did not get any gardening done.
Who needs comments sections on a blog when your own family is full of people who pick up on every little thing?
I don't know what this guy did before he got into politics, but this is as good a lede as I have ever seen:
"This week will long be remembered in Conservative annals as the week that truly sucked."
Yep. That's about the size of it.
Now, Monte, ask yourself why it sucked.
The answer lives at Stornoway. The guy who resides there may be an eminent political tactician, but, by definition, a guy good at tactics sucks when it comes to strategy.
I hope Monte had a good a weekend with his family as I did with mine. And, for the record, no, Dad, I did not get any gardening done.
Who needs comments sections on a blog when your own family is full of people who pick up on every little thing?
Loon magnet
A couple of weeks ago, I shut down the comments section of this collection of e-scribbles for two reasons:
1. The ones I got were from people who refused to sign their name to their comments. That's usually a sure sign of someone masquerading. Anyway, the short answer is no guts, no glory for those types.
2. There weren't many comments anyway.
Over at Andrew Coyne's little collection of way-more-popular-than-mine e-scribbles, seems he has had to shut his comments section down as well.
As Andrew notes: "But they [Ed. - the people with a brain and a sensible comment to make] have been drowned out by all the other crap -- low-brow, insult-filled, intolerant of opposing views, and unspeakably tedious. I have no desire for this site to serve as a clubhouse for hard-right wackos, usually anonymous, with way too much time on their hands."
Coyne's blog is one of the most widely read one sin the country and rightly so. Agree or disagree with him all you want, the fact remains his comments are thoughtful and insightful. Heck, Andrew even had the good sense to be the brother of a woman who would make a fine member of parliament. Her choice of party may rankle her brother's sensibilities, but hey, life's a bitch sometimes.
For those of us who read Coyne's stuff on a regular basis, it is annoying that Andrew has become the favourite site of a bunch of what he describes as "western separatists, Bilderberg conspiracy theorists and various other cranks."
At least he understands what blogs are about: "self-promotion and vanity."
Leave 'em with a laugh, I always say.
1. The ones I got were from people who refused to sign their name to their comments. That's usually a sure sign of someone masquerading. Anyway, the short answer is no guts, no glory for those types.
2. There weren't many comments anyway.
Over at Andrew Coyne's little collection of way-more-popular-than-mine e-scribbles, seems he has had to shut his comments section down as well.
As Andrew notes: "But they [Ed. - the people with a brain and a sensible comment to make] have been drowned out by all the other crap -- low-brow, insult-filled, intolerant of opposing views, and unspeakably tedious. I have no desire for this site to serve as a clubhouse for hard-right wackos, usually anonymous, with way too much time on their hands."
Coyne's blog is one of the most widely read one sin the country and rightly so. Agree or disagree with him all you want, the fact remains his comments are thoughtful and insightful. Heck, Andrew even had the good sense to be the brother of a woman who would make a fine member of parliament. Her choice of party may rankle her brother's sensibilities, but hey, life's a bitch sometimes.
For those of us who read Coyne's stuff on a regular basis, it is annoying that Andrew has become the favourite site of a bunch of what he describes as "western separatists, Bilderberg conspiracy theorists and various other cranks."
At least he understands what blogs are about: "self-promotion and vanity."
Leave 'em with a laugh, I always say.
Hearn continues deceit
Personally, I am long since past the point of giving Connie Loyola Hearn, the pretend member of parliament for St. Johns-Mount Pearl, any consideration when it comes to telling - deliberately telling - falsehoods.
The man also known as Blarney the green dinosaur from up the shore has got to know that what he is saying is a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts - a giant coprolite. You can't be around politics as long as Hearn and be as powerful and influential as he claims to be, without knowing when you spout garbage. The man is hoist yet again by his own petard.
Hearn even has the gall to call the prime minister a liar. Hearn is the Typhoid Mary of pinocchiosis. He ought to know a lie when he sees one.
Hearn will say anything - regardless of veracity or accuracy - in order to advance his partisan cause.
He proves it every single time he opens his mouth.
I am speaking here of an FAQ on Hearn's web page that tries to explain the parliamentary procedures involved in passing bills. All this is in aid of getting the heat of his backside over the offshore votes.
Anyone listening to the radio on Friday heard a nonstop litany of callers who told Hearn to back off plans to defeat the government before the budget bill passes. The heat is on, but apparently Hearn in unrepentant in his approach of putting Harper and Hearn before province.
Anyway, for the record, here is the link to the offending FAQ.
Hearn says the fastest way to get the offshore money is to split the bill or have an election.
1. Bill C-43 and a stand-alone offshore bill have to go through exactly the same seven steps to become law. There is no way to speed that process up without unanimous consent. Realistically, the budget has to be passed soon or the government lacks the legal authority to spend money.
The budget measures will likely be clear of the House before the end of June, barring another Connie-inspired confidence shakedown in the House.
2. Another election would delay not speed up the bill. Read Hearn's first question and answer: No money until the whole process is complete.
If we have to wait until after another election, who knows how long it will take for the money to flow? Incidentally, this nonsense about last year's budget passing last week is just that: nonsense. Here's the progress of bills section from the parliamentary website. I dare anyone to find a supply bill from last year that passed in 2005, let alone passed in May 2005. Bill C-33 is called a second act for good reason: it makes some amendments to last year's authorization for administrative and other purposes.
But make no mistake:
Budget 2004 was passed in its entirety in Fiscal Year 2004. Here's the link confirming that Bill C-30, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget was tabled in March 2004 and:
Maybe Mr. Hearn can't remember what year this is.
I can assure you the current budget will be longer than the end of June, but only if Stephen Harper and Loyola Hearn get their way.
Given that this release was issued by Hearn's office this week, I think Kevin and the Fair Dealers need to target Mr. Hearn to make sure he votes for this province on the subsequent budget votes due to come before this province collects the offshore money from the Williams-Martin deal.
Let's see if a thousand e-mails an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for three months gets the facts through Hearn's noggin.
The man also known as Blarney the green dinosaur from up the shore has got to know that what he is saying is a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts - a giant coprolite. You can't be around politics as long as Hearn and be as powerful and influential as he claims to be, without knowing when you spout garbage. The man is hoist yet again by his own petard.
Hearn even has the gall to call the prime minister a liar. Hearn is the Typhoid Mary of pinocchiosis. He ought to know a lie when he sees one.
Hearn will say anything - regardless of veracity or accuracy - in order to advance his partisan cause.
He proves it every single time he opens his mouth.
I am speaking here of an FAQ on Hearn's web page that tries to explain the parliamentary procedures involved in passing bills. All this is in aid of getting the heat of his backside over the offshore votes.
Anyone listening to the radio on Friday heard a nonstop litany of callers who told Hearn to back off plans to defeat the government before the budget bill passes. The heat is on, but apparently Hearn in unrepentant in his approach of putting Harper and Hearn before province.
Anyway, for the record, here is the link to the offending FAQ.
Hearn says the fastest way to get the offshore money is to split the bill or have an election.
1. Bill C-43 and a stand-alone offshore bill have to go through exactly the same seven steps to become law. There is no way to speed that process up without unanimous consent. Realistically, the budget has to be passed soon or the government lacks the legal authority to spend money.
The budget measures will likely be clear of the House before the end of June, barring another Connie-inspired confidence shakedown in the House.
2. Another election would delay not speed up the bill. Read Hearn's first question and answer: No money until the whole process is complete.
If we have to wait until after another election, who knows how long it will take for the money to flow? Incidentally, this nonsense about last year's budget passing last week is just that: nonsense. Here's the progress of bills section from the parliamentary website. I dare anyone to find a supply bill from last year that passed in 2005, let alone passed in May 2005. Bill C-33 is called a second act for good reason: it makes some amendments to last year's authorization for administrative and other purposes.
But make no mistake:
Budget 2004 was passed in its entirety in Fiscal Year 2004. Here's the link confirming that Bill C-30, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget was tabled in March 2004 and:
Budget 2004 passed on May 14, 2004
Maybe Mr. Hearn can't remember what year this is.
I can assure you the current budget will be longer than the end of June, but only if Stephen Harper and Loyola Hearn get their way.
Given that this release was issued by Hearn's office this week, I think Kevin and the Fair Dealers need to target Mr. Hearn to make sure he votes for this province on the subsequent budget votes due to come before this province collects the offshore money from the Williams-Martin deal.
Let's see if a thousand e-mails an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for three months gets the facts through Hearn's noggin.
Grewal cops to crime: admits to CTV he solicited bribes
Alright it's Monday and I am back.
CTV is reporting this morning that Connie member of parliament Gurmant Grewal is saying two things about the supposed offer from the government related to his vote:
1. That he wanted to prove how low the Liberals would go so he endeavoured to entice someone into an influence scam; and,
2. That while he has FOUR hours of tapes, he has only released a few minutes worth of tape at the request of the Connie comms department.
Now then, ladies and gentlemen, we are starting to see some interesting aspects of this little escapade.
First of all, to set about to enduce someone into what is, by any definition, a criminal act, is a criminal act in and of itself.
This is in addition to his solicitation of a bribe - if you accept his version of the story.
Second, as stings go, the intention to prove that people are corrupt, usually undermines the whole concept of a sting operation. If you plan to see how low someone will go, where is the line between a sting operation and, say framing someone? Grewal had motive and intention in his actions. I'd say that makes him suspect.
Third, the rest of the tapes are relevant to the entire accusation. Keeping them secret suggests the story we are getting is only a teensy bit of the whole thing. Under the circumstances, I think Grewal and the Connie comms people are hiding relevant information. I don't really care what the rest of the tapes say: let's get them into the open and deal with the whole mess.
Fourth, if Grewal is found to be telling whopping great fibs, then he needs to be sacked.
Fifth, any Connie party officials in on this caper get the sack along with Grewal.
and here is the biggest one of all:
Six - I think the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have sufficient evidence to begin an investigation into the matter. We have one member of parliament who has admitted to contacting other members of parliament to discuss obtaining some form of reward in exchange for his vote in parliament. The CTV interview is a confession. Let's get at it, Mountie detectives.
Here's the exact quote straight from the interview: "I wanted Canadians to know how low this government can sink, making these offers to members of Parliament to buy out their votes." The words you are looking for are prime facie.
Grewal's motivation is not relevent at this stage.
Let the Queen's Cowboys sort that out.
I am thinking it will wind up in criminal court.
The person or persons in the dock will not be Liberals.
CTV is reporting this morning that Connie member of parliament Gurmant Grewal is saying two things about the supposed offer from the government related to his vote:
1. That he wanted to prove how low the Liberals would go so he endeavoured to entice someone into an influence scam; and,
2. That while he has FOUR hours of tapes, he has only released a few minutes worth of tape at the request of the Connie comms department.
Now then, ladies and gentlemen, we are starting to see some interesting aspects of this little escapade.
First of all, to set about to enduce someone into what is, by any definition, a criminal act, is a criminal act in and of itself.
This is in addition to his solicitation of a bribe - if you accept his version of the story.
Second, as stings go, the intention to prove that people are corrupt, usually undermines the whole concept of a sting operation. If you plan to see how low someone will go, where is the line between a sting operation and, say framing someone? Grewal had motive and intention in his actions. I'd say that makes him suspect.
Third, the rest of the tapes are relevant to the entire accusation. Keeping them secret suggests the story we are getting is only a teensy bit of the whole thing. Under the circumstances, I think Grewal and the Connie comms people are hiding relevant information. I don't really care what the rest of the tapes say: let's get them into the open and deal with the whole mess.
Fourth, if Grewal is found to be telling whopping great fibs, then he needs to be sacked.
Fifth, any Connie party officials in on this caper get the sack along with Grewal.
and here is the biggest one of all:
Six - I think the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have sufficient evidence to begin an investigation into the matter. We have one member of parliament who has admitted to contacting other members of parliament to discuss obtaining some form of reward in exchange for his vote in parliament. The CTV interview is a confession. Let's get at it, Mountie detectives.
Here's the exact quote straight from the interview: "I wanted Canadians to know how low this government can sink, making these offers to members of Parliament to buy out their votes." The words you are looking for are prime facie.
Grewal's motivation is not relevent at this stage.
Let the Queen's Cowboys sort that out.
I am thinking it will wind up in criminal court.
The person or persons in the dock will not be Liberals.
21 May 2005
Play your bit in building this blog
As a last little comment before I shuffle off to tend the garden and other such relaxing stuff, let's have a look at the readership of this blog for a bit, in light of the Top Canadian Blogs postings that have been taking place on this site and elsewhere.
The audience is comparatively small, but incredibly faithful, from what I can gather. They have been spreading the URL and it is always a surprise to bump into someone on the street who reads this stuff and comments on it. Every once in a while I get an e-mail from some place like Qatar or on the mainland from someone who stumbled across the site by accident.
Anyway, for the faithful out there, here's are some ideas I have been kicking around:
1. Next week, send an e-mail to someone on your contact list who you haven't already told about the Sir Robert Bond Papers but who might be interested in it.
After a week or so, I'll report back on any changes in my stats.
2. In the meantime, I have also been considering some Robert Bond merchandise or, to use another marvelous word, tchotchke.
I haven't got any definitive ideas, but this might be something to distinguish you out there as loyal readers of these scribbles.
I'll keep you posted as the ideas flow.
3. Send me an e-mail or gimme a call if there is a subject area you'd want me to have a go at. Is there something in the Bond Papers that I have forgotten to get back to or is there something you'd like to see. A little audience feedback on the Papers would be welcome.
Just remember to flip the URL to as many as you can.
And on that note, I am off to ponder the drizzle of a typical May 24th weekend.
The audience is comparatively small, but incredibly faithful, from what I can gather. They have been spreading the URL and it is always a surprise to bump into someone on the street who reads this stuff and comments on it. Every once in a while I get an e-mail from some place like Qatar or on the mainland from someone who stumbled across the site by accident.
Anyway, for the faithful out there, here's are some ideas I have been kicking around:
1. Next week, send an e-mail to someone on your contact list who you haven't already told about the Sir Robert Bond Papers but who might be interested in it.
After a week or so, I'll report back on any changes in my stats.
2. In the meantime, I have also been considering some Robert Bond merchandise or, to use another marvelous word, tchotchke.
I haven't got any definitive ideas, but this might be something to distinguish you out there as loyal readers of these scribbles.
I'll keep you posted as the ideas flow.
3. Send me an e-mail or gimme a call if there is a subject area you'd want me to have a go at. Is there something in the Bond Papers that I have forgotten to get back to or is there something you'd like to see. A little audience feedback on the Papers would be welcome.
Just remember to flip the URL to as many as you can.
And on that note, I am off to ponder the drizzle of a typical May 24th weekend.
Dump Harper old news
Paul Wells is linking to a piece in the Toronto Star that raises the idea there is a Dump Harper movement forming.
Members of the cabal are reputed to be David Orchard, Sinclair Stevens and David Asper.
Wells rightly dismisses this as sarcastically as he can, not because it is untrue but because it is not very surprising.
A couple of days ago, I offered up the link to Stevens' new website called Bloc-Harper. Orchard is the guy Peter MacKay, DDS screwed by dumping him for Stephen Harper.
As an aside, Peter is understandable distraught that he has been screwed and then dumped in the recent defection of Belinda Stronach. He whispered through an interview with Anthony Germaine on Saturday morning, obviously emphasizing the level of his emotional angst over Belinda. [Shades of Warren the K at Gomery - whisper for dramatic effect - but I digress even further.] Maybe Peter is concerned about the way he was screwed and then dumped as opposed to screwing by dumping. That's the only difference I can possibly see by examining Peter MacKay's relationship management history.
Anyway...
The Star piece is a penetrating insight into the obvious. The only thing mildly amusing is the reminder that Peter MacKay's Dad, with whom the erstwhile Connie dentist sought solace in Belinda's wake, was at the heart of the Dump Joe Clark movement in the early 1980s.
Enjoy the weekend. Unless something truly inspiring occurs, you humble scribbler will be taking some much deserved rest for a couple of days.
Members of the cabal are reputed to be David Orchard, Sinclair Stevens and David Asper.
Wells rightly dismisses this as sarcastically as he can, not because it is untrue but because it is not very surprising.
A couple of days ago, I offered up the link to Stevens' new website called Bloc-Harper. Orchard is the guy Peter MacKay, DDS screwed by dumping him for Stephen Harper.
As an aside, Peter is understandable distraught that he has been screwed and then dumped in the recent defection of Belinda Stronach. He whispered through an interview with Anthony Germaine on Saturday morning, obviously emphasizing the level of his emotional angst over Belinda. [Shades of Warren the K at Gomery - whisper for dramatic effect - but I digress even further.] Maybe Peter is concerned about the way he was screwed and then dumped as opposed to screwing by dumping. That's the only difference I can possibly see by examining Peter MacKay's relationship management history.
Anyway...
The Star piece is a penetrating insight into the obvious. The only thing mildly amusing is the reminder that Peter MacKay's Dad, with whom the erstwhile Connie dentist sought solace in Belinda's wake, was at the heart of the Dump Joe Clark movement in the early 1980s.
Enjoy the weekend. Unless something truly inspiring occurs, you humble scribbler will be taking some much deserved rest for a couple of days.
20 May 2005
Vickers Vimy on the way to recreate historic flight
Here's the link to the official website of the team planning to recreate the famous trans-Atlantic flight by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown from St. John's to Ireland in 1919.
The Vimy left California yesterday and is due to arrive in St. John's around the first of June. Plans are to attempt the ocean crossing in the second or third week of June.
The only model kit I can find of the Vimy is this one, available only by special order from Eastern Express.
The Vimy left California yesterday and is due to arrive in St. John's around the first of June. Plans are to attempt the ocean crossing in the second or third week of June.
The only model kit I can find of the Vimy is this one, available only by special order from Eastern Express.
Friday Funny
No, I don't mean John Crosbie getting yet more national airtime to work out his peculiar view of history.
Someday, I'll reprint his ancien bon mots about Stephen Harper.
Nope.
For Friday before the Great Newfoundland Shiver in the Woods, I thought I'd generate a Team Martin sign of my own.
The Connies and Warren the K are using the site it for their purposes.
Here's mine. I figure the skid marks on the lawn were made by the Connie election bus as everyone fought over who was driving.
Go make your own sign at this spot.
Someday, I'll reprint his ancien bon mots about Stephen Harper.
Nope.
For Friday before the Great Newfoundland Shiver in the Woods, I thought I'd generate a Team Martin sign of my own.
The Connies and Warren the K are using the site it for their purposes.
Here's mine. I figure the skid marks on the lawn were made by the Connie election bus as everyone fought over who was driving.
Go make your own sign at this spot.
The Why Incision
Over the past few months, readers of The Sir Robert Bond Papers have been treated to jabs aimed at Conservative members of parliament (MP) Norm Doyle and Loyola Hearn.
They have heard about cases of pinocchiosis inflicting one or the other and of both of them scoring zero on the Cred-o-Meter (r) on several occasions.
All fine, humourous and undoubtedly as annoying as those comments were to Hearn and Doyle supporters, they are rooted not so much in partisanship as in an acknowledgement of the fundamental gap between what these gentlemen have said in the past and what they have done in the present.
The entire Fair Deal for Newfoundland campaign to pressure Hearn and Doyle, the calls to call-in radio shows, all have their origins in the vocal chords of the two MP.
Here are some samples of what they said on the issue of the offshore revenue deal and how a member of parliament should vote:
"I'’m there to look after Newfoundland, and the six other MPs also, and if we’re not we shouldn’'t be there."
- – Loyola Hearn, July 4, 2004
"We're sent to do a job; we'll stand up for Newfoundland regardless of who's for us or who's against us."
- – Loyola Hearn, November 13, 2004
"Never again do I expect to see the members from our province in such a position of clout. It would be a terrible shame if that clout were squandered by not using it at all."
–- Norm Doyle, October 26, 2004
"Why can we not, just once, stand united for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador? Why can we not, just once, stand on guard for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador?"
–- Norm Doyle, October 26, 2004
These two gentlemen never hesitated for one second to conjure the spirits of nationalism and populism when they could be directed against their target: John Efford. They reveled in the damage the demons inflicted inflicted, making a very difficult issue intensely personal.
Mr. Hearn, in particular, proved that perceptions of him as a kind and decent fellow were utterly false. His deeply personal remarks, at times, were nothing short of scurrilous. They were hardly becoming of a former provincial cabinet minister, let alone a member of our national parliament and a potential federal cabinet minister in waiting.
It should be no surprise therefore that some people took delight in his predicament over bills C-43 and C-48. No surprise, therefore that the populist was hoist with his own petard.
The problem for Hearn and Doyle, however, is not a partisan one.
The tragedy of Doyle and Hearn is that they represent an old-fashioned approach to politics which has past. These men learned their politics in the 1960s and 1970s, practiced it through the Peckford insanity and then stumbled into Opposition in the 1990s. They slipped back behind the scenes only to re-emerge in the federal legislature where they sat largely unnoticed until recently.
Events of the past six months have shown both Doyle and Hearn to be mere relics of a style of politics that took voters for granted, that treated them as ignorant, that saw no problem with saying one thing and doing another.
Consider Hearn's recent post office nonsense.
Consider Hearn issuing a constituency flyer before the last election saying that Equalization clawbacks were contrary to the Atlantic Accord, while the clawbacks that existed were exactly the ones he voted to support in 1985.
Consider Hearn's attack on a fisheries matter in another jurisdiction that did not affect this province at all, yet was whipped into an Open Line Crisis. The ship in question, leased from a foreign owner was subsequently bought by the Canadian company thus giving the lie to Hearn's accusation that a Liberal government in Ottawa was letting foreigners take our fish.
Consider Hearn lately explaining how one bill must go through six stages before cash could flow (there are actually seven) taking upwards of a year while another bill could seemingly float magically through the same process in mere weeks.
Consider just within the past week, Hearn and Doyle flanking their Leader as he explained that they had developed a confidence two-step which, as Stephen Harper admitted, was merely a device to prevent Hearn and Doyle from being accused of voting against their province. This sham did not last to see the light of the next day.
Did they really think people were so gullible, so completely stupid?
To be fair, parliamentarians serve many masters with different interests. It is unreasonable to expect that they always side with their constituents, their party or their leader. Our democratic system is built on the expectation that parliamentarians will learn to balance the competing interests and ultimately exercise their best judgment on our behalf.
But here is where the modern democracy differs from the version that Hearn and Doyle practice. Modern democracy is a dialogue. Voters expect that politicians will speak frankly and reasonably. They expect to have discussion and disagreement. They expect that a politician will tell them what he or she plans to do and explain why in plain English.
The jibes to one side, the main reason why these electronic scribbles have poked at Hearn and Doyle is because they failed to measure up, not to their self-imposed standard of populist nonsense but to the baseline for modern democracy in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Hearn and Doyle had ample opportunity to state exactly what they were going to do on Thursday and explain why they thought it best for the country and the province. Let their Leader be hysterical and angry. Seasoned politicians can be strong-minded but relentless in their explanations.
What we got instead from Hearn and Doyle was spin - misrepresentations, half-truths and in some cases contradictory answers from one question to another.
What we got from Hearn and Doyle was weak through and through and relentless only to the extent they both regurgitated their talking points over and over.
Not once did they even pretend to hold an intelligent conversation with their constituents.
To make matters worse, Hearn in particular picked fights - needless fights - with Premier Williams. His "neophyte" crack, if said in the heat of the moment could have been easily forgiven with an apology. Instead, Hearn made the matter worse with further insults, backed, a few days ago by the ever-charming Mr. Harper. To his credit, the Premier displayed restraint when asked to reply.
Hearn and Doyle together persisted in their implausible positions to the point where even their own supporters in the provincial Tory caucus were openly talking of deserting them. Whatever shred of credibility they had even with the most stalwart of Tory supporters, must surely be stripped from them by now. As some have said, how can they go door to door with these guys and sincerely ask voters to support them?
Taken all together, it would be very surprising if either Hearn or Doyle survived to the next election.
Both Hearn and Doyle barely won their seats in the last election. Hearn, in particular, had counted on an easy win in a safe seat; instead he found that a neophyte came within a hair's breadth of defeating him. His weak position in the riding has grown steadily weaker since the last election and in the past several days, one can see that whatever pillars served as his support have been demolished with his own jawbone.
When they stood to vote against the federal government's budget, Hearn and Doyle were seen as voting against their own province and their own people. Neither Doyle nor Hearn bothered to explain themselves to the very people whose support they needed. They left that perception to become reality and it has been their undoing.
Norman Doyle and Loyola Hearn represent a style of politics long since mouldering in the ground.
It remains now for someone else to write the epitaph.
This has been merely a political autopsy.
They have heard about cases of pinocchiosis inflicting one or the other and of both of them scoring zero on the Cred-o-Meter (r) on several occasions.
All fine, humourous and undoubtedly as annoying as those comments were to Hearn and Doyle supporters, they are rooted not so much in partisanship as in an acknowledgement of the fundamental gap between what these gentlemen have said in the past and what they have done in the present.
The entire Fair Deal for Newfoundland campaign to pressure Hearn and Doyle, the calls to call-in radio shows, all have their origins in the vocal chords of the two MP.
Here are some samples of what they said on the issue of the offshore revenue deal and how a member of parliament should vote:
"I'’m there to look after Newfoundland, and the six other MPs also, and if we’re not we shouldn’'t be there."
- – Loyola Hearn, July 4, 2004
"We're sent to do a job; we'll stand up for Newfoundland regardless of who's for us or who's against us."
- – Loyola Hearn, November 13, 2004
"Never again do I expect to see the members from our province in such a position of clout. It would be a terrible shame if that clout were squandered by not using it at all."
–- Norm Doyle, October 26, 2004
"Why can we not, just once, stand united for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador? Why can we not, just once, stand on guard for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador?"
–- Norm Doyle, October 26, 2004
These two gentlemen never hesitated for one second to conjure the spirits of nationalism and populism when they could be directed against their target: John Efford. They reveled in the damage the demons inflicted inflicted, making a very difficult issue intensely personal.
Mr. Hearn, in particular, proved that perceptions of him as a kind and decent fellow were utterly false. His deeply personal remarks, at times, were nothing short of scurrilous. They were hardly becoming of a former provincial cabinet minister, let alone a member of our national parliament and a potential federal cabinet minister in waiting.
It should be no surprise therefore that some people took delight in his predicament over bills C-43 and C-48. No surprise, therefore that the populist was hoist with his own petard.
The problem for Hearn and Doyle, however, is not a partisan one.
The tragedy of Doyle and Hearn is that they represent an old-fashioned approach to politics which has past. These men learned their politics in the 1960s and 1970s, practiced it through the Peckford insanity and then stumbled into Opposition in the 1990s. They slipped back behind the scenes only to re-emerge in the federal legislature where they sat largely unnoticed until recently.
Events of the past six months have shown both Doyle and Hearn to be mere relics of a style of politics that took voters for granted, that treated them as ignorant, that saw no problem with saying one thing and doing another.
Consider Hearn's recent post office nonsense.
Consider Hearn issuing a constituency flyer before the last election saying that Equalization clawbacks were contrary to the Atlantic Accord, while the clawbacks that existed were exactly the ones he voted to support in 1985.
Consider Hearn's attack on a fisheries matter in another jurisdiction that did not affect this province at all, yet was whipped into an Open Line Crisis. The ship in question, leased from a foreign owner was subsequently bought by the Canadian company thus giving the lie to Hearn's accusation that a Liberal government in Ottawa was letting foreigners take our fish.
Consider Hearn lately explaining how one bill must go through six stages before cash could flow (there are actually seven) taking upwards of a year while another bill could seemingly float magically through the same process in mere weeks.
Consider just within the past week, Hearn and Doyle flanking their Leader as he explained that they had developed a confidence two-step which, as Stephen Harper admitted, was merely a device to prevent Hearn and Doyle from being accused of voting against their province. This sham did not last to see the light of the next day.
Did they really think people were so gullible, so completely stupid?
To be fair, parliamentarians serve many masters with different interests. It is unreasonable to expect that they always side with their constituents, their party or their leader. Our democratic system is built on the expectation that parliamentarians will learn to balance the competing interests and ultimately exercise their best judgment on our behalf.
But here is where the modern democracy differs from the version that Hearn and Doyle practice. Modern democracy is a dialogue. Voters expect that politicians will speak frankly and reasonably. They expect to have discussion and disagreement. They expect that a politician will tell them what he or she plans to do and explain why in plain English.
The jibes to one side, the main reason why these electronic scribbles have poked at Hearn and Doyle is because they failed to measure up, not to their self-imposed standard of populist nonsense but to the baseline for modern democracy in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Hearn and Doyle had ample opportunity to state exactly what they were going to do on Thursday and explain why they thought it best for the country and the province. Let their Leader be hysterical and angry. Seasoned politicians can be strong-minded but relentless in their explanations.
What we got instead from Hearn and Doyle was spin - misrepresentations, half-truths and in some cases contradictory answers from one question to another.
What we got from Hearn and Doyle was weak through and through and relentless only to the extent they both regurgitated their talking points over and over.
Not once did they even pretend to hold an intelligent conversation with their constituents.
To make matters worse, Hearn in particular picked fights - needless fights - with Premier Williams. His "neophyte" crack, if said in the heat of the moment could have been easily forgiven with an apology. Instead, Hearn made the matter worse with further insults, backed, a few days ago by the ever-charming Mr. Harper. To his credit, the Premier displayed restraint when asked to reply.
Hearn and Doyle together persisted in their implausible positions to the point where even their own supporters in the provincial Tory caucus were openly talking of deserting them. Whatever shred of credibility they had even with the most stalwart of Tory supporters, must surely be stripped from them by now. As some have said, how can they go door to door with these guys and sincerely ask voters to support them?
Taken all together, it would be very surprising if either Hearn or Doyle survived to the next election.
Both Hearn and Doyle barely won their seats in the last election. Hearn, in particular, had counted on an easy win in a safe seat; instead he found that a neophyte came within a hair's breadth of defeating him. His weak position in the riding has grown steadily weaker since the last election and in the past several days, one can see that whatever pillars served as his support have been demolished with his own jawbone.
When they stood to vote against the federal government's budget, Hearn and Doyle were seen as voting against their own province and their own people. Neither Doyle nor Hearn bothered to explain themselves to the very people whose support they needed. They left that perception to become reality and it has been their undoing.
Norman Doyle and Loyola Hearn represent a style of politics long since mouldering in the ground.
It remains now for someone else to write the epitaph.
This has been merely a political autopsy.
Liveblog: Dead Man Talking on CBC
Hearn continues to spin despite being politically dead.
1. First person to raise the offshore revenues clawback problem in Ottawa 15 years ago (not 5):
Clyde Wells
2. First National Leader to reject the Williams proposal:
Stephen Harper
This guy is absolutely amazing.
Proven wrong again and again and again and he still sticks to the same spin.
1. First person to raise the offshore revenues clawback problem in Ottawa 15 years ago (not 5):
Clyde Wells
2. First National Leader to reject the Williams proposal:
Stephen Harper
This guy is absolutely amazing.
Proven wrong again and again and again and he still sticks to the same spin.
19 May 2005
Two "C"s to thank
Two members of parliament deserve the thanks of every Newfoundlander and Labradorian for helping push forward the government's budget bill:
Chuck Cadman and Carolyn Parish. The Two "C"s.
The other two C's, Conservatives Hearn and Doyle abandoned their province to side with their own personal and party interests. They followed their master's orders.
The Midnight Shuffle about voting for one bill but against the other never survived the light of the next day as commentator after commentator explained that it was procedural gobbledy gook. It was a pack of nonsense and easily seen as such.
Finance minister Ralph Goodale explained the silliness of the Doyle Hearn two-step to Open Line audiences next day.
And if that wasn't good enough, Premier Danny Williams made it plain how he viewed it.
So bad was the Doyle/Hearn position that, as stated here several days ago, the two local Connies had even alienated their base of local workers. Local Progressive Conservative friends of the pair have said openly that they will have a hard time knocking on doors for Doyle and Hearn.
So thanks, Chuck and Carolyn. If Conservatives live to their word, they will back off their plans to topple the government. The budget will be passed and offshore revenue cash will flow by the end of the current session - in June. For the record that is at least a full year before Stephen Harper's personal best estimate of when he might have been able to deliver something following an election.
In the meantime, Doyle and Hearn have shown their true colours.
Not pink white and green as Hearn likes to pretend, nor the red, white, blue and gold of the current provincial flag.
Nope.
Norm and Loyola are deepest of deep blue.
They are true Reformatories.
Voters will remember who delivered the offshore revenue money.
That's why Norm and Loyola are still running scared.
Chuck Cadman and Carolyn Parish. The Two "C"s.
The other two C's, Conservatives Hearn and Doyle abandoned their province to side with their own personal and party interests. They followed their master's orders.
The Midnight Shuffle about voting for one bill but against the other never survived the light of the next day as commentator after commentator explained that it was procedural gobbledy gook. It was a pack of nonsense and easily seen as such.
Finance minister Ralph Goodale explained the silliness of the Doyle Hearn two-step to Open Line audiences next day.
And if that wasn't good enough, Premier Danny Williams made it plain how he viewed it.
So bad was the Doyle/Hearn position that, as stated here several days ago, the two local Connies had even alienated their base of local workers. Local Progressive Conservative friends of the pair have said openly that they will have a hard time knocking on doors for Doyle and Hearn.
So thanks, Chuck and Carolyn. If Conservatives live to their word, they will back off their plans to topple the government. The budget will be passed and offshore revenue cash will flow by the end of the current session - in June. For the record that is at least a full year before Stephen Harper's personal best estimate of when he might have been able to deliver something following an election.
In the meantime, Doyle and Hearn have shown their true colours.
Not pink white and green as Hearn likes to pretend, nor the red, white, blue and gold of the current provincial flag.
Nope.
Norm and Loyola are deepest of deep blue.
They are true Reformatories.
Voters will remember who delivered the offshore revenue money.
That's why Norm and Loyola are still running scared.
The sad state of politics and journalism...
in this country is revealed by the excessive attention on The National and elsewhere over the relationship between Belinda and Peter MacKay, DDS.
I'd hate to see Pete go through the breakup of a relationship that lasted longer than a handful of months. Get a grip, man.
As for the journalists, try doing a series of stories on shallowness among the country's scribbling class as revealed by the reporting on the Stronach business.
Jane Taber, for example, is starting to sound like Joan Rivers without the wittiness of that decidedly unfunny bauble-hawker.
I'd hate to see Pete go through the breakup of a relationship that lasted longer than a handful of months. Get a grip, man.
As for the journalists, try doing a series of stories on shallowness among the country's scribbling class as revealed by the reporting on the Stronach business.
Jane Taber, for example, is starting to sound like Joan Rivers without the wittiness of that decidedly unfunny bauble-hawker.
18 May 2005
Sinc the Slasher - Crusading Tory
While leisurely scrolling through the raft of news release on Canada Newswire, I came across this curious thing about something called Bloc-Harper warning that Stronach's defection was the start of something big.
Anyway, here's the full release.
Then you can find your way to the full site here.
The domain is registered to one Sinclair Stevens, former cabinet minister in the Mulroney government who has been fighting relentless against the assimilation of the old Progressive Conservative Party by the Borg-like Reformers.
He is apparently going to have merchandise to flog.
While mainstream media will likely never cover something like this, its sheer quirkiness makes it perfect for the land o' blogs.
Unlike John Crosbie, Sinc's old cabinet mate, Stevens knows the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada is dead.
Anyway, here's the full release.
Then you can find your way to the full site here.
The domain is registered to one Sinclair Stevens, former cabinet minister in the Mulroney government who has been fighting relentless against the assimilation of the old Progressive Conservative Party by the Borg-like Reformers.
He is apparently going to have merchandise to flog.
While mainstream media will likely never cover something like this, its sheer quirkiness makes it perfect for the land o' blogs.
Unlike John Crosbie, Sinc's old cabinet mate, Stevens knows the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada is dead.
Meanwhile on Crap Talk...
John Crosbie, former gauleiter of Newfoundland, and Bill Rowe, former envelope chucker and perpetual crank, are engaged in a mutual massage-fest dissecting current goings on.
Crosbie talks about a signed contractual document namely the offshore deal and why it should be a separate bill like the Real Atlantic Accord.
Simple answer, since John's memory is failing, is that the Real Accord represented some major policies that affected federal legislative jurisdiction. The bill took two full years to get through the House and Senate.
The current document is merely authority to spend money and doesn't amend any other legislation, the Accord implementation act included. Including it within C-43 is the fastest way to get it done.
Meanwhile, since John said he never turned his back on this province, I draw your attention once more to the vicious comments Mr. Bumble...err... Mr. Crosbie made in the fall of 1990 when the provincial government asked him if they might have the revenue portions of the Accord changed. Check out here and look for "John Crosbie and hand-biting".
It took a Liberal government in Ottawa (Paul Martin as finance minister and then Paul Martin as PM) to help people who Mr. Crosbie considered to be ungrateful wretches biting the hand that fed them.
Oh by the way, JC is Atlantic co-chair of the Conservative Party campaign, not the Progressive Conservative Party campaign. The latter was killed off in the Reform take-over that spawned the Harper party currently in Opposition.
Now come to think about it, that would make this John Crosbie's third political party, not counting the work he did for the anti-Confederate movement in the National Referenda.
Now it all comes back to me. Crosbie bolted from the Liberal Party after failing to win the party leadership in 1968. He then joined the Tories, became a cabinet minister, and boosted the deficit and debt to then-record heights through spending including buying up the Upper Churchill project before rushing to Ottawa in 1976.
Then he tried for the Tory leadership and hung around long enough to be a successful, albeit cranky, cabinet minister.
To paraphrase one long-time acquaintance of the former gauleiter, Crosbie has wanted to be leader of everything he has ever been part of since the Boy Scouts.
Come to think of it, ambition plus floor crossing makes Mr. Crosbie eminently qualified to comment on Ms. Stronach's recent actions. The only problem for JC is that the bricks he chucked via Bill Rowe's new show Crap Talk are likely to rebound against the glass walls of Mr. Crosbie's current abode.
Crosbie talks about a signed contractual document namely the offshore deal and why it should be a separate bill like the Real Atlantic Accord.
Simple answer, since John's memory is failing, is that the Real Accord represented some major policies that affected federal legislative jurisdiction. The bill took two full years to get through the House and Senate.
The current document is merely authority to spend money and doesn't amend any other legislation, the Accord implementation act included. Including it within C-43 is the fastest way to get it done.
Meanwhile, since John said he never turned his back on this province, I draw your attention once more to the vicious comments Mr. Bumble...err... Mr. Crosbie made in the fall of 1990 when the provincial government asked him if they might have the revenue portions of the Accord changed. Check out here and look for "John Crosbie and hand-biting".
It took a Liberal government in Ottawa (Paul Martin as finance minister and then Paul Martin as PM) to help people who Mr. Crosbie considered to be ungrateful wretches biting the hand that fed them.
Oh by the way, JC is Atlantic co-chair of the Conservative Party campaign, not the Progressive Conservative Party campaign. The latter was killed off in the Reform take-over that spawned the Harper party currently in Opposition.
Now come to think about it, that would make this John Crosbie's third political party, not counting the work he did for the anti-Confederate movement in the National Referenda.
Now it all comes back to me. Crosbie bolted from the Liberal Party after failing to win the party leadership in 1968. He then joined the Tories, became a cabinet minister, and boosted the deficit and debt to then-record heights through spending including buying up the Upper Churchill project before rushing to Ottawa in 1976.
Then he tried for the Tory leadership and hung around long enough to be a successful, albeit cranky, cabinet minister.
To paraphrase one long-time acquaintance of the former gauleiter, Crosbie has wanted to be leader of everything he has ever been part of since the Boy Scouts.
Come to think of it, ambition plus floor crossing makes Mr. Crosbie eminently qualified to comment on Ms. Stronach's recent actions. The only problem for JC is that the bricks he chucked via Bill Rowe's new show Crap Talk are likely to rebound against the glass walls of Mr. Crosbie's current abode.
Guess Norm thinks I am effective, but won't pay me
Here's the CBC Radio online version of the story featuring Norman Doyle.
I was struck by one line in particular:
"Doyle blamed 'Liberal spin doctors' in St. John's for creating the impression that the Atlantic Accord will be wrecked if the government falls."
Mr. Doyle is rather specific about where these nefarious people - Liberal "spin doctors" - actually live. He says St. John's, not Ottawa or even Aurora-Newmarket.
Nope.
Norm said St. John's.
Now, truthfully, I don't think for a moment Norm would stoop to calling me anything. I have no reason to believe he knows I am still alive.
I just thought the line was cute.
I was struck by one line in particular:
"Doyle blamed 'Liberal spin doctors' in St. John's for creating the impression that the Atlantic Accord will be wrecked if the government falls."
Mr. Doyle is rather specific about where these nefarious people - Liberal "spin doctors" - actually live. He says St. John's, not Ottawa or even Aurora-Newmarket.
Nope.
Norm said St. John's.
Now, truthfully, I don't think for a moment Norm would stoop to calling me anything. I have no reason to believe he knows I am still alive.
I just thought the line was cute.
Where do I send the bill, Norm?
Meanwhile, the other beleaguered Connie incumbent in this province, one Norman Doyle told CBC Radio that the offshore deal is agreement between two governments and is therefore safe no matter what happens.
Regular readers will recognize two things:
1. The fact that this date (May 18) marks the very first time Doyle has said anything even vaguely like this about the offshore deal; and,
2. The stunning similarity between Doyle's new position and the one I posted here on Monday, May 16 under the title "Norm Doyle: Connie talking points change.
Here's a snippet - "In the meantime, the Connies - for some bizarre reason - have been consistently avoiding the most obvious position:
"The Accord is a deal between two governments. Whether we implement the current agreement or replace it with a much better deal - the Harper Equalization changes - a Conservative government will deliver for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador."
Ok, Norm.
Where do I send the bill for my consulting services?
I may have put that comment out there in a public forum but if you used it, you'd better pay for it. Since you only used half the comment, I'll only charge you half my usual rate.
Regular readers will recognize two things:
1. The fact that this date (May 18) marks the very first time Doyle has said anything even vaguely like this about the offshore deal; and,
2. The stunning similarity between Doyle's new position and the one I posted here on Monday, May 16 under the title "Norm Doyle: Connie talking points change.
Here's a snippet - "In the meantime, the Connies - for some bizarre reason - have been consistently avoiding the most obvious position:
"The Accord is a deal between two governments. Whether we implement the current agreement or replace it with a much better deal - the Harper Equalization changes - a Conservative government will deliver for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador."
Ok, Norm.
Where do I send the bill for my consulting services?
I may have put that comment out there in a public forum but if you used it, you'd better pay for it. Since you only used half the comment, I'll only charge you half my usual rate.
Hearn pinocchiosis reaches terminal stage
In comments on CBC radio today, Loyola Hearn said that he could not stand for spending outside the budgetary process.
He might want to tell us what that is.
The agreement with the New Democrats is obviously within the budgetary process since a bill authorizing the expenditure is currently before the Commons.
Mr. Hearn either doesn't understand how our system of government works or he simply says whatever comes into his head to justify his actions.
He might want to tell us what that is.
The agreement with the New Democrats is obviously within the budgetary process since a bill authorizing the expenditure is currently before the Commons.
Mr. Hearn either doesn't understand how our system of government works or he simply says whatever comes into his head to justify his actions.
Harper's rolling thunder of (self-)destruction
Speaking at a scrum in Ottawa, Conservative leader Stephen Harper has confirmed that the Conservative Party will vote in favour of Bill C-43, the budget measure containing the offshore revenue. However, they will vote against the second measure, which includes the agreement with the New Democrats.
As a result, the government would fall if it lost the vote on bill C-48.
The vote for C-43 - and the offshore money - in that context would be completely disingenuous. This new caucus manouevre is a cynical attempt at political manipulation of the likes the Conservatives have resorted to repeatedly.
The Conservatives and economist Stephen Harper are mired in a technocrat's argument, talking endlessly about process, often doing so as if they had no idea what the process actually was. Their arguments about separate bills for the offshore passing quickly or the absurd idea that the budget for 2004 was only passed last week are cases in point.
None of those arguments resonate in the public. Voters are are only concerned about results. Conservatives have increasingly been talking in terms that only they can hear or care about.
For the past six weeks Harper's Conservatives have sustained a shrill strategy focused almost exclusively on pushing up Liberal "negatives" in polling. They have done nothing to boost their own "positives". This explains very easily the persistent problem the Conservatives have been having in translating their approach into any meaningful gain in opinions polls.
Their latest effort - the radio spots - just reinforce a screeching message that people other than Connie loyalists started tuning out weeks ago. They continue an unproductive approach that had already begun to alienate voters by the time the spots hit the air.
Conservative references to mafioso and Liberals in the same breath are are part of same dog-whistling approach that appeals only to their own hard-core members. It does nothing to draw new supporters. In fact, it alienates a great many people the Connies would need to win.
Last week's antics in the Commons were seen by many as the childish tactics of those bent merely on destroying the Liberals, rather than presenting themselves as an alternative. The approach actually reinforced negative attitudes toward Stephen Harper and the Conservatives. It was a clear case of a series of self-inflicted wounds.
While national pundits could easily predict we will head to the polls if Harper has his way, what they consistently miss is that the Conservatives are stuck in the mud. Andrew Coyne's comments on the eastern edition of The National were a case of whistling past the political graveyard. The Connies, said Coyne, were building up in the polls from where they finished the last election. The problem Coyne avoided was that over the past few weeks, the Connies have been yo-yoing up and down. They are not on the way up.
For a party which has been engaged in an incestuous conversation with itself, today's defection by Belinda Stronach has produced even more damage, again, much of it self-inflicted.
Belinda Stronach's defection today highlighted all the worst things from the Conservative perspective:
- Obvious internal divisions over policy, reputed to be fairly significant, between the Reform wing and the Progressive Conservative wing.
- Internal leadership challenges and hence heightened speculation that Harper's push to the polls was motivated by self-preservation. Harper's comment to his wife said more about his own nervousness than about Belinda's overweaning desire.
- Harper's predictable reaction to the defection - as noted in Minister Stronach - was negative and at times catty and sexist. In every respect, the Conservative reaction to l'affaire Stronach pushed potential middle-of-the-road voters away from them. Sexist references by everyone from Harper on down reinforce the suspicion in the minds of many voters that the Connies are either not ready or not fit to govern or, worse, that they have a hidden agenda just waiting to be implemented.
- Stronach's defection was worth at least a five point boost in the polls for the Conservatives. With their margins close across the country and with their recent Ontario numbers looking dismal, going to the polls would be a case of political suicide.
- Expect the attacks on Stronach, like this one, or this one, or this one, to boost her worth by another five points. Consider, as well, these comments by a western Conservative who stops an inch short of calling Stronach a dumb blonde. This man is cabinet material?
The twisting approach - vote for C-43//vote against the NDP agreement portions - will only further damage Conservative credibility. It will be seen as a cynical and transparent effort to play games with matters that are fundamentally important to people. Stephen Harper is so genuinely concerned with what Newfoundlanders and Labradorians think that he will lie to their faces about what he is actually doing, let alone about what his intentions are. Stephen Harper the anti-democrat, the elitist, the sexist shines through his every word.
One need not take my word for it. As CTV is reporting, Harper wasted no time in his scrum announcing the budget two-step to lash out, as CTV puts it, at the Progressive Conservavtive premier Danny Williams. The budget dance may fool some of the provincial Conservavtives but the ongoing war of words with the Premier will suppress local party workers on whom both Doyle and Hearn will depend to vote for them and to get out their vote. For a man who won his seat by the thinest of margins, Loyola Hearn cannot afford to be alienating any more provincial Tories. [Note: If you missed David Cochrane's report this morning, here's a link to the full Harpoer scrum. It requires Windows Media Player.]
Doyle and Hearn have stood with their leader, but increasingly one must wonder what they are standing for. It surely is not the best interests of the country, let alone the province. Surely, they cannot seriously contend that Stephen Harper is the very best this country can produce to be prime minister at this time.
Pushing the country into an election the people of the country don't want was never a smart idea. It reflects the belief that politics is a game and that term has been bandied about with too much regularity lately by Conservatives. Politics as a game is explicit in Harper's reliance on game theorists to develop strategy. It is further evidence that they are fundamentally out of touch with the majority of Canadians.
The Conservatives may succeed in forcing an election now, after all that has occurred, and after doing a quick zig-zag for part of the budget and against part of it. One can only expect that the united right experiment will fly apart under the strains of running an election at full throttle. Debris will be scattered over a far greater area than an incoming Titan missile on the Grand Banks.
It will not be a pretty sight.
The rolling thunder you hear will be the disintegration of a political party glued together in an effort to gain power in Ottawa. The glue of individual ambition grows quickly brittle.
The Conservative party will have fallen apart as a result of a strategic approach as fundamentally unsound as the one used to develop the original Rolling Thunder.
Neither war nor politics is a game.
As a result, the government would fall if it lost the vote on bill C-48.
The vote for C-43 - and the offshore money - in that context would be completely disingenuous. This new caucus manouevre is a cynical attempt at political manipulation of the likes the Conservatives have resorted to repeatedly.
The Conservatives and economist Stephen Harper are mired in a technocrat's argument, talking endlessly about process, often doing so as if they had no idea what the process actually was. Their arguments about separate bills for the offshore passing quickly or the absurd idea that the budget for 2004 was only passed last week are cases in point.
None of those arguments resonate in the public. Voters are are only concerned about results. Conservatives have increasingly been talking in terms that only they can hear or care about.
For the past six weeks Harper's Conservatives have sustained a shrill strategy focused almost exclusively on pushing up Liberal "negatives" in polling. They have done nothing to boost their own "positives". This explains very easily the persistent problem the Conservatives have been having in translating their approach into any meaningful gain in opinions polls.
Their latest effort - the radio spots - just reinforce a screeching message that people other than Connie loyalists started tuning out weeks ago. They continue an unproductive approach that had already begun to alienate voters by the time the spots hit the air.
Conservative references to mafioso and Liberals in the same breath are are part of same dog-whistling approach that appeals only to their own hard-core members. It does nothing to draw new supporters. In fact, it alienates a great many people the Connies would need to win.
Last week's antics in the Commons were seen by many as the childish tactics of those bent merely on destroying the Liberals, rather than presenting themselves as an alternative. The approach actually reinforced negative attitudes toward Stephen Harper and the Conservatives. It was a clear case of a series of self-inflicted wounds.
While national pundits could easily predict we will head to the polls if Harper has his way, what they consistently miss is that the Conservatives are stuck in the mud. Andrew Coyne's comments on the eastern edition of The National were a case of whistling past the political graveyard. The Connies, said Coyne, were building up in the polls from where they finished the last election. The problem Coyne avoided was that over the past few weeks, the Connies have been yo-yoing up and down. They are not on the way up.
For a party which has been engaged in an incestuous conversation with itself, today's defection by Belinda Stronach has produced even more damage, again, much of it self-inflicted.
Belinda Stronach's defection today highlighted all the worst things from the Conservative perspective:
- Obvious internal divisions over policy, reputed to be fairly significant, between the Reform wing and the Progressive Conservative wing.
- Internal leadership challenges and hence heightened speculation that Harper's push to the polls was motivated by self-preservation. Harper's comment to his wife said more about his own nervousness than about Belinda's overweaning desire.
- Harper's predictable reaction to the defection - as noted in Minister Stronach - was negative and at times catty and sexist. In every respect, the Conservative reaction to l'affaire Stronach pushed potential middle-of-the-road voters away from them. Sexist references by everyone from Harper on down reinforce the suspicion in the minds of many voters that the Connies are either not ready or not fit to govern or, worse, that they have a hidden agenda just waiting to be implemented.
- Stronach's defection was worth at least a five point boost in the polls for the Conservatives. With their margins close across the country and with their recent Ontario numbers looking dismal, going to the polls would be a case of political suicide.
- Expect the attacks on Stronach, like this one, or this one, or this one, to boost her worth by another five points. Consider, as well, these comments by a western Conservative who stops an inch short of calling Stronach a dumb blonde. This man is cabinet material?
The twisting approach - vote for C-43//vote against the NDP agreement portions - will only further damage Conservative credibility. It will be seen as a cynical and transparent effort to play games with matters that are fundamentally important to people. Stephen Harper is so genuinely concerned with what Newfoundlanders and Labradorians think that he will lie to their faces about what he is actually doing, let alone about what his intentions are. Stephen Harper the anti-democrat, the elitist, the sexist shines through his every word.
One need not take my word for it. As CTV is reporting, Harper wasted no time in his scrum announcing the budget two-step to lash out, as CTV puts it, at the Progressive Conservavtive premier Danny Williams. The budget dance may fool some of the provincial Conservavtives but the ongoing war of words with the Premier will suppress local party workers on whom both Doyle and Hearn will depend to vote for them and to get out their vote. For a man who won his seat by the thinest of margins, Loyola Hearn cannot afford to be alienating any more provincial Tories. [Note: If you missed David Cochrane's report this morning, here's a link to the full Harpoer scrum. It requires Windows Media Player.]
Doyle and Hearn have stood with their leader, but increasingly one must wonder what they are standing for. It surely is not the best interests of the country, let alone the province. Surely, they cannot seriously contend that Stephen Harper is the very best this country can produce to be prime minister at this time.
Pushing the country into an election the people of the country don't want was never a smart idea. It reflects the belief that politics is a game and that term has been bandied about with too much regularity lately by Conservatives. Politics as a game is explicit in Harper's reliance on game theorists to develop strategy. It is further evidence that they are fundamentally out of touch with the majority of Canadians.
The Conservatives may succeed in forcing an election now, after all that has occurred, and after doing a quick zig-zag for part of the budget and against part of it. One can only expect that the united right experiment will fly apart under the strains of running an election at full throttle. Debris will be scattered over a far greater area than an incoming Titan missile on the Grand Banks.
It will not be a pretty sight.
The rolling thunder you hear will be the disintegration of a political party glued together in an effort to gain power in Ottawa. The glue of individual ambition grows quickly brittle.
The Conservative party will have fallen apart as a result of a strategic approach as fundamentally unsound as the one used to develop the original Rolling Thunder.
Neither war nor politics is a game.
Stephen Harper defends Doyle and Hearn
Stephen Harper from his post-caucus scrum:
"What is the next thing [after passing the budget]? We are going to be asked to have a bunch of mafia people working for the government because it might get Danny Williams money a couple of weeks earlier?"
The effectiveness of the recent campaign by Fair Deal for Newfoundland can be seen by the presence of Norm Doyle and Loyola Hearn on either side of Stephen Harper during the scrum. These guys have likely never been under such intense political pressure in their long political lives.
Neither Doyle nor Hearn looked very happy.
Guess what? This little budget fiddle won't ease the pressure at all.
More to the point, Harper's stupid remarks aimed at Danny Williams will actually ramp up the pressure on the lone Conservatives on the island portion of the province.
Incidentally, in French, Harper said that this plan was the Consewrvative attention all along. They kept it secret for undisclosed tactical reasons. Maybe their constituency offices needed practice handling gajillions of e-mails. Maybe Loyola and Norm don't sweat enough.
In English, Harper said this approach would prevent Liberals from saying that the Conservatives had voted against the provisions of Bill C-43. This is at odds with statements made by Conservatives, including Stephen Harper, over the past two weeks that they opposed the government and the budget.
Apparently, Harper is prepared to vote against C-48 which contains money for children and students, but in favour of money for children and seniors because C-43 conforms to the Conservative Party principles. That sounds to me like a convenient bit of spin as the Connies focus on process and tactical navigation rather than strategic thought.
"What is the next thing [after passing the budget]? We are going to be asked to have a bunch of mafia people working for the government because it might get Danny Williams money a couple of weeks earlier?"
The effectiveness of the recent campaign by Fair Deal for Newfoundland can be seen by the presence of Norm Doyle and Loyola Hearn on either side of Stephen Harper during the scrum. These guys have likely never been under such intense political pressure in their long political lives.
Neither Doyle nor Hearn looked very happy.
Guess what? This little budget fiddle won't ease the pressure at all.
More to the point, Harper's stupid remarks aimed at Danny Williams will actually ramp up the pressure on the lone Conservatives on the island portion of the province.
Incidentally, in French, Harper said that this plan was the Consewrvative attention all along. They kept it secret for undisclosed tactical reasons. Maybe their constituency offices needed practice handling gajillions of e-mails. Maybe Loyola and Norm don't sweat enough.
In English, Harper said this approach would prevent Liberals from saying that the Conservatives had voted against the provisions of Bill C-43. This is at odds with statements made by Conservatives, including Stephen Harper, over the past two weeks that they opposed the government and the budget.
Apparently, Harper is prepared to vote against C-48 which contains money for children and students, but in favour of money for children and seniors because C-43 conforms to the Conservative Party principles. That sounds to me like a convenient bit of spin as the Connies focus on process and tactical navigation rather than strategic thought.
17 May 2005
Minister Stronach - (updated)
In light of the move by Belinda Stronach to cross the floor and sit with the government, it is interesting to look more closely at the cracks appearing in the Conservative Party. [Update: Links added]
Update: For those who not know what Belinda looks like, here's a shot from Greg Locke's blog. Greg shot Belinda on several occasions for different publications and I wish he'd create a page of the shots. Notice the guy to the right in this one.
The Lampoon this morning caused Connie hearts to skip a beat with the possibility that Doyle and Hearn might cave under political pressure and vote for the budget.
Update II: Don't count on it. Loyola is doing the usual talking points on CBC Radio, calling the prime minister's comments "down-right lies". I'll leave it to you to judge who is saying things that aren't true. Loyola knows full well that if the government is defeated before any bill gets to the Royal Assent stage - stand-alone or budget - the offshore bill won't get passed and no money flows to the province until a bill is passed.
Update III: The Conservative House Leader is confident all his members will vote against the budget bill(s). The local boys are just being cagey.
Original post resumes: Now the woman reputedly involved romantically with the Connie deputy leader has abandoned the good ship Connie-pop. This cannot be good for Peter MacKay DDS, on any level.
The likely response of the Harperites (the Reformers in the party) will be to look more closely at the former Progressive Conservatives in their midst. Every word will be dissected for signs of disloyalty. There will be no room for dissent.
Therefore, the impact of Stronach's departure from the Connie ranks will be determined solely by the Connie/Harper response.
Criticize her as a self-interested whore - to use a popular Connie phrase - and, well, predictably her stock will go up and the Harper stock will, at least, not rise. Magnanimity is a sign of a leader. Meanspirited vindictiveness looks like the mark of a very small individual.
If the Connies pull the reigns tighter, then dissident members may well decide to join Belinda, not because they want to but because they are not being welcomed.
The situation for local Connies Doyle and Hearn just got much worse.
As national caucus chairman, the Harperites will be looking to Doyle to toe the line; he will need to be more zealously anti-Liberal than ever before. He cannot vote with the government on the budget without risking being pushed from caucus.
For Hearn, one of the architects of the Unite the Right experiment, the situation is equally dark. To buck the Harperites invites sanction. He has nowhere else to go. To buck the Harperites and open the division suggests that maybe his earlier action on bringing MacKay and Harper together was a mistake.
Politically, they cannot vote against their party and expect to move forward in glory as future Connie cabinet ministers.
Politically, they cannot buck the party line and expect to get re-elected. Over 13, 000 e-mails in a three day span and countless hours of Open Line and other media scrutiny is obviously causing the pair great difficulty.
Having insisted they are voting to bring down the government, they cannot suddenly switch positions and vote for the budget without damaging their credibility. The fact that Hearn and Doyle can argue any side of anything at any time really doesn't endear them to their constituents beyond the hard-core of the local Connie team.
If Hearn suddenly switches his vote - for the third time by my count, we have yet one more example of where Hearn said something emphatically that turned out not to be true.
Politics is always an entertaining sport to watch or to play.
Today's' events prove that to a tee.
Update: For those who not know what Belinda looks like, here's a shot from Greg Locke's blog. Greg shot Belinda on several occasions for different publications and I wish he'd create a page of the shots. Notice the guy to the right in this one.
The Lampoon this morning caused Connie hearts to skip a beat with the possibility that Doyle and Hearn might cave under political pressure and vote for the budget.
Update II: Don't count on it. Loyola is doing the usual talking points on CBC Radio, calling the prime minister's comments "down-right lies". I'll leave it to you to judge who is saying things that aren't true. Loyola knows full well that if the government is defeated before any bill gets to the Royal Assent stage - stand-alone or budget - the offshore bill won't get passed and no money flows to the province until a bill is passed.
Update III: The Conservative House Leader is confident all his members will vote against the budget bill(s). The local boys are just being cagey.
Original post resumes: Now the woman reputedly involved romantically with the Connie deputy leader has abandoned the good ship Connie-pop. This cannot be good for Peter MacKay DDS, on any level.
The likely response of the Harperites (the Reformers in the party) will be to look more closely at the former Progressive Conservatives in their midst. Every word will be dissected for signs of disloyalty. There will be no room for dissent.
Therefore, the impact of Stronach's departure from the Connie ranks will be determined solely by the Connie/Harper response.
Criticize her as a self-interested whore - to use a popular Connie phrase - and, well, predictably her stock will go up and the Harper stock will, at least, not rise. Magnanimity is a sign of a leader. Meanspirited vindictiveness looks like the mark of a very small individual.
If the Connies pull the reigns tighter, then dissident members may well decide to join Belinda, not because they want to but because they are not being welcomed.
The situation for local Connies Doyle and Hearn just got much worse.
As national caucus chairman, the Harperites will be looking to Doyle to toe the line; he will need to be more zealously anti-Liberal than ever before. He cannot vote with the government on the budget without risking being pushed from caucus.
For Hearn, one of the architects of the Unite the Right experiment, the situation is equally dark. To buck the Harperites invites sanction. He has nowhere else to go. To buck the Harperites and open the division suggests that maybe his earlier action on bringing MacKay and Harper together was a mistake.
Politically, they cannot vote against their party and expect to move forward in glory as future Connie cabinet ministers.
Politically, they cannot buck the party line and expect to get re-elected. Over 13, 000 e-mails in a three day span and countless hours of Open Line and other media scrutiny is obviously causing the pair great difficulty.
Having insisted they are voting to bring down the government, they cannot suddenly switch positions and vote for the budget without damaging their credibility. The fact that Hearn and Doyle can argue any side of anything at any time really doesn't endear them to their constituents beyond the hard-core of the local Connie team.
If Hearn suddenly switches his vote - for the third time by my count, we have yet one more example of where Hearn said something emphatically that turned out not to be true.
Politics is always an entertaining sport to watch or to play.
Today's' events prove that to a tee.
John Crosbie - some background
As I headed off to work this morning, I caught the former imperial Tory governor of Newfoundland - one John Crosbie - defending the Connie cause by attacking Liberals.
Here are a couple of observations, since Mr. Crosbie found it necessary to blame the Liberals for the whole offshore mess.
1. John Crosbie negotiated and signed the original offshore deal in 1985 complete with the clawback - by one assessment - of 97% of offshore revenues through the Equalization program. [I am merely presenting the situation as Crosbie himself would have to admit it, given that he now believes in clawbacks.]
As provincial cabinet ministers, Loyola Hearn and Norm Doyle supported 97% clawbacks, too incidentally.
2. In 1990, Crosbie savagely opposed any changes to the clawback, arguing the provincial government was biting the hand that fed it.
3. In 1993/94, then-finance minister Paul Martin improved the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore revenues by changes to the Equalization protection offered.
4. In January 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin accepted the provincial government's proposal for changes to the offshore Accord as the basis for discussions.
5. In January 2005, Prime Minister Martin reached an agreement on behalf of the Government of Canada with Premier Danny Williams on offshore revenues.
John Crosbie might want to look at the record objectively before he starts spouting off.
He has a lot to answer for in the dock of historical judgment.
Here are a couple of observations, since Mr. Crosbie found it necessary to blame the Liberals for the whole offshore mess.
1. John Crosbie negotiated and signed the original offshore deal in 1985 complete with the clawback - by one assessment - of 97% of offshore revenues through the Equalization program. [I am merely presenting the situation as Crosbie himself would have to admit it, given that he now believes in clawbacks.]
As provincial cabinet ministers, Loyola Hearn and Norm Doyle supported 97% clawbacks, too incidentally.
2. In 1990, Crosbie savagely opposed any changes to the clawback, arguing the provincial government was biting the hand that fed it.
3. In 1993/94, then-finance minister Paul Martin improved the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore revenues by changes to the Equalization protection offered.
4. In January 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin accepted the provincial government's proposal for changes to the offshore Accord as the basis for discussions.
5. In January 2005, Prime Minister Martin reached an agreement on behalf of the Government of Canada with Premier Danny Williams on offshore revenues.
John Crosbie might want to look at the record objectively before he starts spouting off.
He has a lot to answer for in the dock of historical judgment.
Doyle and Hearn caving?
The National Lampoon is reporting this morning that Norm Doyle and Loyola Hearn are now waivering in their commitment to the Harper cause.
Here's the link to check out the story.
Wait 'til they hear the radio spots.
I can bet though that they won't be as negative as the Connie ones.
When will these guys learn that American style Connie anger just won't play well in Canada? Already the Connies have had to abandon their spoiled child tactics from last week.
Now they are trying radio spots.
Ok.
So they have been pounding their messaging for something like six weeks now and as far as I can tell, every single national pollster is reporting that Harper's personal numbers haven't moved. Ontario is back in the Liberal camp and overall, the numbers are too close to call.
Here's a clue for the game theory dweebs Harper is relying on.
Politics is not game theory or economics.
It isn't Alice in flippin' Wonderland where a word shall mean what I want it to mean.
Winning means winning.
It is not, as the Connie "strategists" seem to think a case of merely making the other guy lose.
The result of goof-ball strategising by game theory dweebs has led to six weeks of utter political paralysis and all for nothing.
This is politics by the guys who brought you Vietnam.
Oh yeah.
Let's base our strategy on the losers.
Here's the link to check out the story.
Wait 'til they hear the radio spots.
I can bet though that they won't be as negative as the Connie ones.
When will these guys learn that American style Connie anger just won't play well in Canada? Already the Connies have had to abandon their spoiled child tactics from last week.
Now they are trying radio spots.
Ok.
So they have been pounding their messaging for something like six weeks now and as far as I can tell, every single national pollster is reporting that Harper's personal numbers haven't moved. Ontario is back in the Liberal camp and overall, the numbers are too close to call.
Here's a clue for the game theory dweebs Harper is relying on.
Politics is not game theory or economics.
It isn't Alice in flippin' Wonderland where a word shall mean what I want it to mean.
Winning means winning.
It is not, as the Connie "strategists" seem to think a case of merely making the other guy lose.
The result of goof-ball strategising by game theory dweebs has led to six weeks of utter political paralysis and all for nothing.
This is politics by the guys who brought you Vietnam.
Oh yeah.
Let's base our strategy on the losers.
USCGS Eagle - background
It has been nice neeing the United States Coast Guard Ship Eagle in port again. She visits here periodically although this time, there is a bit of a cloud with the accident at sea that injured four of her crew.
Nonetheless, it might be interesting to see some background on the Eagle.
Here's a link to the official profile.
The Eagle was war booty and represents rehabilitating a ship named after a Nazi thug and turning it into a proud vessel which is a fine symbol of one of the best natioanl coast guards in the world.
Nonetheless, it might be interesting to see some background on the Eagle.
Here's a link to the official profile.
The Eagle was war booty and represents rehabilitating a ship named after a Nazi thug and turning it into a proud vessel which is a fine symbol of one of the best natioanl coast guards in the world.
16 May 2005
Harper's motivation?
One of the persistent rumours floating across the country is that Stephen Harper is pushing an election out of fear that others are eyeing his seat as Leader Opp. After all isn't' this going to be his fourth or fifth kick at the election cat?
Take a gander at this little link to The Hill Times, courtesy of Bourque Newswatch.
Maybe the rumours are true.
Take a gander at this little link to The Hill Times, courtesy of Bourque Newswatch.
Maybe the rumours are true.
Conservative supporters in Newfoundland play name that tune
Interesting to see a couple of Newfoundland Connies who keep blogs - namely Damian Penny and Barry Stagg - agree that voting for the federal budget and the offshore money is a case of being bought off. Or being welfare bums.
At least, they seldom use the word "explosive" or "whore" as most Connies seem to do. Maybe one day there will be a dog-whistle breakdown and these guys will run around calling everyone an explosive whore. I shudder to think what that would involve.
Back to the point, this is a complete turn-around for two individuals who last year were hammering away at the federal government to fork over cash to the province.
Here's a link to Penny's blog and here's a link to some comments by the transplanted Tory, Stagg. Read'em for yourself.
Barry Stagg is particularly adept at tossing around the anger words that seem to motivate Conservatives.
Stagg even seems to find Margaret Wente's views to be appealing:
"The Fair Deal For Newfoundland web site reveals a sorry tendency to traffic in welfarism by backing the Liberal nastiness."
That's from his own blog, "The Boswarlos Daily".
At least, they seldom use the word "explosive" or "whore" as most Connies seem to do. Maybe one day there will be a dog-whistle breakdown and these guys will run around calling everyone an explosive whore. I shudder to think what that would involve.
Back to the point, this is a complete turn-around for two individuals who last year were hammering away at the federal government to fork over cash to the province.
Here's a link to Penny's blog and here's a link to some comments by the transplanted Tory, Stagg. Read'em for yourself.
Barry Stagg is particularly adept at tossing around the anger words that seem to motivate Conservatives.
Stagg even seems to find Margaret Wente's views to be appealing:
"The Fair Deal For Newfoundland web site reveals a sorry tendency to traffic in welfarism by backing the Liberal nastiness."
That's from his own blog, "The Boswarlos Daily".
Norm Doyle: Connie talking points changed
Talk about holding two contradictory ideas in your head at the same time.
Norm Doyle told Peter Gullage of CBC Radio that if the budget passes the feds can't flow money right away to the province because of the lengthy process involved in passing federal legislation.
This contradicts the Connie talking point - up to now - that if the deal was done as separate legislation, the money could flow quickly.
Then, in another classic case of pot and kettle, Doyle accuses John Efford and others of "telling fibs".
As my daughter used to say when she first started talking: "Oh deeuh".
In the meantime, the Connies - for some bizarre reason - have been consistently avoiding the most obvious position.
"The Accord is a deal between two governments. Whether we implement the current agreement or replace it with a much better deal - the Harper Equalization changes - a Conservative government will deliver for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
I think they are avoiding because it simply isn't the Harper/Connie plan for the offshore deal.
Are Norm and Loyola telling lies? Nope. That assumes a level of malice I just won't say without proof. There is no proof and - contrary to what Connie partisans have been saying elsewhere - I think both Norm and Loyola are decent guys trying to do the best they can.
I think they are sticking to a line because that's all they have. They know some of the things they say aren't true, but Leader Harper just has his own ideas and his own agenda.
What a hideous place to be in for any politician, let alone the two guys who played up patriotism as a way to hammer away at federal Liberal politicians from this province.
Go look up the word petard and the associated quote about being hoist by one's own clever device.
I just keep thinking the real issue here will be how high will these two gentlemen be hoist, or worse, how big will be the hole into which they might fall at the polls.
Norm Doyle told Peter Gullage of CBC Radio that if the budget passes the feds can't flow money right away to the province because of the lengthy process involved in passing federal legislation.
This contradicts the Connie talking point - up to now - that if the deal was done as separate legislation, the money could flow quickly.
Then, in another classic case of pot and kettle, Doyle accuses John Efford and others of "telling fibs".
As my daughter used to say when she first started talking: "Oh deeuh".
In the meantime, the Connies - for some bizarre reason - have been consistently avoiding the most obvious position.
"The Accord is a deal between two governments. Whether we implement the current agreement or replace it with a much better deal - the Harper Equalization changes - a Conservative government will deliver for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
I think they are avoiding because it simply isn't the Harper/Connie plan for the offshore deal.
Are Norm and Loyola telling lies? Nope. That assumes a level of malice I just won't say without proof. There is no proof and - contrary to what Connie partisans have been saying elsewhere - I think both Norm and Loyola are decent guys trying to do the best they can.
I think they are sticking to a line because that's all they have. They know some of the things they say aren't true, but Leader Harper just has his own ideas and his own agenda.
What a hideous place to be in for any politician, let alone the two guys who played up patriotism as a way to hammer away at federal Liberal politicians from this province.
Go look up the word petard and the associated quote about being hoist by one's own clever device.
I just keep thinking the real issue here will be how high will these two gentlemen be hoist, or worse, how big will be the hole into which they might fall at the polls.
Cry havoc! And let loose from their nylon restraining devices the moderately-sized canines of annoyance
Guess what?
The offshore revenue issue is back with a vengeance.
When this site started I could count on a big spike in hits - people visiting the site - whenever there was something controversial on a given day or if people were really hungry for some background detail.
As I started posting at the Fair Deal site and some other bloggers started linking to me, I could see more people paying a visit.
Well, they're back.
Normally weekend hits drop by more than 40% whether I post or not.
Yesterday - Day Two of the renewed Fair Deal campaign brought me more hits on Sunday than I got on Friday, normally a busy day. My hit counter looks like a saw.
Oh well.
Once more into the breech dear friends.
The offshore revenue issue is back with a vengeance.
When this site started I could count on a big spike in hits - people visiting the site - whenever there was something controversial on a given day or if people were really hungry for some background detail.
As I started posting at the Fair Deal site and some other bloggers started linking to me, I could see more people paying a visit.
Well, they're back.
Normally weekend hits drop by more than 40% whether I post or not.
Yesterday - Day Two of the renewed Fair Deal campaign brought me more hits on Sunday than I got on Friday, normally a busy day. My hit counter looks like a saw.
Oh well.
Once more into the breech dear friends.
Hit counter inflation test
sex
stephen harper
nude
norm doyle
welfare
danny williams
neophyte
michael jackson
whore
loyola hearn
petard
fair deal for newfoundland
kevin mccann
paul martin
gomery inquiry
liberal scandal
blogging tories
john efford
rob antle
titan IVB
international fund for animal welfare
atlantic accord
iceland
bjork
britney spears
While this may appear to be a shameless attempt to see what this does to my google search results, I challenge anyone to fit those words into a paragraph that makes any sense at all.
Most of these are actual terms people have used to somehow find a google hit for this blog.
stephen harper
nude
norm doyle
welfare
danny williams
neophyte
michael jackson
whore
loyola hearn
petard
fair deal for newfoundland
kevin mccann
paul martin
gomery inquiry
liberal scandal
blogging tories
john efford
rob antle
titan IVB
international fund for animal welfare
atlantic accord
iceland
bjork
britney spears
While this may appear to be a shameless attempt to see what this does to my google search results, I challenge anyone to fit those words into a paragraph that makes any sense at all.
Most of these are actual terms people have used to somehow find a google hit for this blog.
15 May 2005
A little perspective would be nice
On Day Two of the revamped Fair Deal campaign, over 7, 000 e-mails have been sent to Norm Doyle and Loyola Hearn pressing them to vote for the offshore money on Thursday - put province above party.
I just caught Loyola Hearn desperately trying to avoid dealing with that core issue.
It is everyone else's fault, says Loyola, not mine that I must put party above province.
Let's take a little time out for perspective.
A few short months ago, a motion cam before the House - from Loyola I believe - condemning the Prime Minister in strong language and pressing the government to sign a deal on the offshore.
Some Liberal MPs voted for the motion, something I don't mind telling you I thought was despicable given that the Pm was obviously trying to conclude some sort of deal. I even went so far as to e-mail one of them saying that he should resign.
Well, in hindsight, I will say that I was wrong. Those Liberal members of parliament actually took a stronger stand since they voted on a mere motion which, even though it criticized the prime minister, had little weight. It still took guts to do that.
By contrast, now when the cash is on the line, when it is meaningful and serious, it is clear that both Doyle and Hearn are putting party before province.
A few months ago those Liberal MPs could have sided with the prime minister and voted against the motion knowing full well a deal would be done and the vote would come before the House. The difference between the two positions could not be any more stark.
As a closing point, here is what Stephen Harper said in the Commons last week when he failed to get unanimous consent to split the offshore deals from the rest of the budget bill:
"The government House leader and the Chair will of course know that by what he has done he has ensured no vote on the Atlantic accord for at least a year."
Now what exactly did Mr. Harper mean by that, in light of Mr. Hearn's assurances that a Conservative government would bring the bill before the House shortly after the next federal election?
Credibility gap?
Rampant pinocchiosis?
Take your pick.
I just caught Loyola Hearn desperately trying to avoid dealing with that core issue.
It is everyone else's fault, says Loyola, not mine that I must put party above province.
Let's take a little time out for perspective.
A few short months ago, a motion cam before the House - from Loyola I believe - condemning the Prime Minister in strong language and pressing the government to sign a deal on the offshore.
Some Liberal MPs voted for the motion, something I don't mind telling you I thought was despicable given that the Pm was obviously trying to conclude some sort of deal. I even went so far as to e-mail one of them saying that he should resign.
Well, in hindsight, I will say that I was wrong. Those Liberal members of parliament actually took a stronger stand since they voted on a mere motion which, even though it criticized the prime minister, had little weight. It still took guts to do that.
By contrast, now when the cash is on the line, when it is meaningful and serious, it is clear that both Doyle and Hearn are putting party before province.
A few months ago those Liberal MPs could have sided with the prime minister and voted against the motion knowing full well a deal would be done and the vote would come before the House. The difference between the two positions could not be any more stark.
As a closing point, here is what Stephen Harper said in the Commons last week when he failed to get unanimous consent to split the offshore deals from the rest of the budget bill:
"The government House leader and the Chair will of course know that by what he has done he has ensured no vote on the Atlantic accord for at least a year."
Now what exactly did Mr. Harper mean by that, in light of Mr. Hearn's assurances that a Conservative government would bring the bill before the House shortly after the next federal election?
Credibility gap?
Rampant pinocchiosis?
Take your pick.
Indy backs Harper, Hearn and Doyle over province's cash
Not surprisingly, I suppose, managing editor Ryan Cleary's editorial in this week's Indy supports bringing down the federal government by defeating the budget bill - and the offshore money - because, as Ryan believes, the cash is safe.
Funny thing is, Stephen Harper said just this week that it will take more than a year to get an offshore revenue bill back before the House in some form. Am I the only person who heard that clip?
Ryan tries to link the Premier's pressure on Loyola Hearn to the fact Loyola backed Fabian Manning.
I'll just repeat a simple comment:
If the money was so safe or if Harper was potentially offering a better deal, then why exactly would Danny Williams risk ticking off a future PM by siding with the current one? That just doesn't make sense on any level.
I have a simple way of settling the whole matter, especially since Ryan Cleary puts great stock in the Harper letter:
Let's see the letter.
What does Harper actually say?
I am betting - and there is a whole $10 bill riding on this - that the letter isn't quite as unequivocal a commitment as Ryan and others would have us believe.
In the meantime, it is obvious Ryan Cleary hasn't read bill C-43, the one he criticizes. Otherwise he would notice that it is a pretty straightforward piece of legislation that gives money to seniors, children, cities and provinces.
Apparently Ryan believes that parliamentarians can only handle one topic and one bill at a time. An omnibus bill seems to overtax their brains, if you follow the Cleary logic.
Here's another simple suggestion, this time for Ryan Cleary - actually read bill C-43 and see just exactly how uncomplicated it is.
After reading it, Ryan you should be able to see how sweet it would be for people in this province to get their money and then defeat the government - if that's their wish - rather than put Harper in the PM's office and wait for the cash.
Why exactly can't we do the Fair Deal option, Ryan?
Funny thing is, Stephen Harper said just this week that it will take more than a year to get an offshore revenue bill back before the House in some form. Am I the only person who heard that clip?
Ryan tries to link the Premier's pressure on Loyola Hearn to the fact Loyola backed Fabian Manning.
I'll just repeat a simple comment:
If the money was so safe or if Harper was potentially offering a better deal, then why exactly would Danny Williams risk ticking off a future PM by siding with the current one? That just doesn't make sense on any level.
I have a simple way of settling the whole matter, especially since Ryan Cleary puts great stock in the Harper letter:
Let's see the letter.
What does Harper actually say?
I am betting - and there is a whole $10 bill riding on this - that the letter isn't quite as unequivocal a commitment as Ryan and others would have us believe.
In the meantime, it is obvious Ryan Cleary hasn't read bill C-43, the one he criticizes. Otherwise he would notice that it is a pretty straightforward piece of legislation that gives money to seniors, children, cities and provinces.
Apparently Ryan believes that parliamentarians can only handle one topic and one bill at a time. An omnibus bill seems to overtax their brains, if you follow the Cleary logic.
Here's another simple suggestion, this time for Ryan Cleary - actually read bill C-43 and see just exactly how uncomplicated it is.
After reading it, Ryan you should be able to see how sweet it would be for people in this province to get their money and then defeat the government - if that's their wish - rather than put Harper in the PM's office and wait for the cash.
Why exactly can't we do the Fair Deal option, Ryan?
CPC attacks populist offshore website - update
Anyone who has been following the Fair Deal campaign on Loyola Hearn and Norm Doyle will see that the Connies have pulled out all the stops in an effort to blast him with their own messages.
The whole thing has caught Paul Wells' attention.
As of about 8:00 AM this morning, more than 5, 000 e-mails have gone to Hearn and Doyle encouraging them to vote for the budget and then bring down the government later. It's a sensible idea, especially since the Connies like to tell us that a separate bill could pass quickly. Well, N & L, try voting with NL.
Much more interesting though are the comments posted to Kevin McCann's blog itself. While there are a few Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, there are way more mainlanders criticising the campaign, pointing out - mostly backed up with complete nonsense - that the offshore money isn't in jeopardy, Harper is the only way to get the money, Harper proposed the deal first etc. etc.
One post from a woman named merely "Julie" advises that we should vote Conservative down here because of all the money stolen from us by "Liberal governments" over the past 50 years. Talk about someone spouting prepared talking points, Julie: the original offshore accord was a Tory deal, clawbacks and all. She pressed the lever and earned her little pellet, though. The end of her post is a link to the CPC national website.
Then there's the mainland Connie nomination-seeker who claims he supported this deal the last time. Here's a link to his own website.
As if that wasn't rich enough some guy with the pseudonym "springer" is also wading into the discussion and lambasting us all for being weak. So some guy who feels inspired by - presumably - the daily trailer-trash parade on the TV show of the same name is presuming to lecture others. Oy vey!
My personal favourite is the e-mail from Paul Brown - Loyola Hearn's aide or former aide - although Brown doesn't identify himself.
It's a lovely long-winded post as to why Hearn and Doyle shouldn't be getting e-mails. He uses the word disingenuous, yet proceeds to be the most disingenuous poster of all. (Most of the CPC posts are long; one cut and pasted Hansard!!!) After all, if Paul has to answer those e-mails his opposition to getting them is more about self interest and typers' cramp than anything else.
UPDATE: Paul finally posted back to the Fair Deal site to say he actually works now in the private sector. So let's update that lil tidbit.
My all time favourite mainlander post is from some woman named Michelle. She was succinct in her dismissal of us all. She just called us "whores".
Scan the postings, especially the mainlander ones. Lots of talk about corruption. Lots of use of the word "whore". Lots of anger.
There are some very angry people out there and they sure don't like it when you oppose them.
After Michael Harris' column on Friday, and then this, I wonder what the Open Line crowd will do as they return to the airwaves tonight?
The whole thing has caught Paul Wells' attention.
As of about 8:00 AM this morning, more than 5, 000 e-mails have gone to Hearn and Doyle encouraging them to vote for the budget and then bring down the government later. It's a sensible idea, especially since the Connies like to tell us that a separate bill could pass quickly. Well, N & L, try voting with NL.
Much more interesting though are the comments posted to Kevin McCann's blog itself. While there are a few Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, there are way more mainlanders criticising the campaign, pointing out - mostly backed up with complete nonsense - that the offshore money isn't in jeopardy, Harper is the only way to get the money, Harper proposed the deal first etc. etc.
One post from a woman named merely "Julie" advises that we should vote Conservative down here because of all the money stolen from us by "Liberal governments" over the past 50 years. Talk about someone spouting prepared talking points, Julie: the original offshore accord was a Tory deal, clawbacks and all. She pressed the lever and earned her little pellet, though. The end of her post is a link to the CPC national website.
Then there's the mainland Connie nomination-seeker who claims he supported this deal the last time. Here's a link to his own website.
As if that wasn't rich enough some guy with the pseudonym "springer" is also wading into the discussion and lambasting us all for being weak. So some guy who feels inspired by - presumably - the daily trailer-trash parade on the TV show of the same name is presuming to lecture others. Oy vey!
My personal favourite is the e-mail from Paul Brown - Loyola Hearn's aide or former aide - although Brown doesn't identify himself.
It's a lovely long-winded post as to why Hearn and Doyle shouldn't be getting e-mails. He uses the word disingenuous, yet proceeds to be the most disingenuous poster of all. (Most of the CPC posts are long; one cut and pasted Hansard!!!) After all, if Paul has to answer those e-mails his opposition to getting them is more about self interest and typers' cramp than anything else.
UPDATE: Paul finally posted back to the Fair Deal site to say he actually works now in the private sector. So let's update that lil tidbit.
My all time favourite mainlander post is from some woman named Michelle. She was succinct in her dismissal of us all. She just called us "whores".
Scan the postings, especially the mainlander ones. Lots of talk about corruption. Lots of use of the word "whore". Lots of anger.
There are some very angry people out there and they sure don't like it when you oppose them.
After Michael Harris' column on Friday, and then this, I wonder what the Open Line crowd will do as they return to the airwaves tonight?
Smell the rot of desperation
Aside from Andrew Coyne pointing out the obvious as the Connie's try desperately to inch their way into power, the surest sign that the Conservatives are willing to do anything for a vote is this release issued today from the Connie command bunker.
Here's the release with my comments and notations, as appropriate. Try to keep a straight face as you go through it. I had a hard time doing it and I like retired zipperheads. Really I do.
LABRADOR WILL HAVE RESOURCES NEEDED TO CREATE NEW JOBS AND FOSTER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UNDER A STEPHEN HARPER GOVERNMENT, SAYS O'CONNOR
For immediate release: Saturday, May 14, 2005
HAPPY-VALLEY GOOSE BAY -- Today, Gordon O'Connor, MP for Carleton Mississippi Mills and Official Opposition Critic for National Defence visited the Graham Letto campaign in Happy-Valley Goose Bay and made an important announcement regarding how a Conservative government led by Stephen Harper would treat several issues critical to the future economic growth and prosperity of Labrador and its communities.
O'Connor said, "The people of Labrador have told us they are tired of lip service and tokenism and the Conservative Party of Canada is listening. There is a yearning in the land for integrity, leadership and a new direction. A Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will put decision making power back in your hands so that the people of Labrador can create new jobs, and foster economic development."
Comment: The CPC may be listening but they ain't hearing much based on the lip service Labrador voter's backsides pick up in this release.
O'Connor announced that a Conservative government led by Stephen Harper would:
- Renegotiate the revenues sharing from Voisey's Bay.
Comment: Gordo has been banging his brain housing group inside a tank without proper headgear obviously. The federal government has no revenue sharing arrangement to renegotiate. Everyone in Labrador knows this.
Either Gordo is telling a giant fib or the CPC research bureau is full of stupid people or most likely scenario: Gordo is telling us that the CPC government would be resurrecting its plan to remove nonrenewable resources from Equalization.
Kiss the offshore deal goodbye, ladies and gentlemen.
- Share in the completion of the Trans-Labrador Highway.
Comment: It's been years coming and the federal government has already committed to this. See Andrew Coyne for a further discussion of how the CPC will be all the things the Liberals are when it comes to spending without being Liberals. Why buy a fake Liberal when the real one is already there?
- Help develop the Lower Churchill Falls as a power source.
Comment: The PM already made that commitment this time last year and repeated it several times. The only hang up has been that the Williams government was temporarily sidetracked with other issues.
- Ratify the Inuit land claims agreement.
Comment: Thanks for nothing Gordo. The deal is already signed. All someone needs to do is put it through the House. Oh. But wait. The Labrador Inuit would have to wait at least a year - just like Harper said about the offshore - in order to see their land claim finally settled. The reason? Stephen Harper needs to be Prime Minister before anything else happens.
- Ensure the employment at CFB Goose Bay does not decline. Comment: How? No answer. This sounds like both Conservative lips are servicing fully.
- Encourage increased flying training operations at CFB Goose Bay. Comment: We can "encourage" 'til the cows come home. The allies don't need to train at Goose, so the Connie promise is meaningless.
- Establish a Regular Force rapid reaction army battalion at CFB Goose Bay. Comment: Gordo the retired tank driver didn't promise to base a tank regiment in Goose Bay. (He still wants to get invited to armoured corps functions, after all.)
So instead he promises an infantry battalion, and a rapid-reaction one at that.
Small problem for Gordo. Where is the battalion going to come from? Valcartier? Gagetown? Petawawa? Winnipeg? Edmonton?
If they don't come up with some cockamamie idea of doubling the size of the army and making a whole new battalion (Hint for Gordo - DND has recruiting problems), I'll venture the battalion will be relocated from the one place where the Connies don't have to worry about losing votes by shifting millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs from a base. I am talking Valcartier.
The Vandoos hit Goose Bay.
Newfoundland and Labrador nationalists start sweating.
Film at 11.
Oh. There's another small problem. The army doesn't have plans for a rapid-reaction battalion, whatever that is supposed to be. The new formation being created as an adjunct to Joint Task Force 2 needs to be close to the main guys, so I am guessing they will be in Petawawa.
- Establish an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron at CFB Goose Bay. Comment: Five big bucks says this already on the drawing board. UAVs were already trialed at Goose. A small presence is needed to give support to the UAVs doing coastal patrols. A squadron sounds about right.
Here's the release with my comments and notations, as appropriate. Try to keep a straight face as you go through it. I had a hard time doing it and I like retired zipperheads. Really I do.
LABRADOR WILL HAVE RESOURCES NEEDED TO CREATE NEW JOBS AND FOSTER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UNDER A STEPHEN HARPER GOVERNMENT, SAYS O'CONNOR
For immediate release: Saturday, May 14, 2005
HAPPY-VALLEY GOOSE BAY -- Today, Gordon O'Connor, MP for Carleton Mississippi Mills and Official Opposition Critic for National Defence visited the Graham Letto campaign in Happy-Valley Goose Bay and made an important announcement regarding how a Conservative government led by Stephen Harper would treat several issues critical to the future economic growth and prosperity of Labrador and its communities.
O'Connor said, "The people of Labrador have told us they are tired of lip service and tokenism and the Conservative Party of Canada is listening. There is a yearning in the land for integrity, leadership and a new direction. A Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will put decision making power back in your hands so that the people of Labrador can create new jobs, and foster economic development."
Comment: The CPC may be listening but they ain't hearing much based on the lip service Labrador voter's backsides pick up in this release.
O'Connor announced that a Conservative government led by Stephen Harper would:
- Renegotiate the revenues sharing from Voisey's Bay.
Comment: Gordo has been banging his brain housing group inside a tank without proper headgear obviously. The federal government has no revenue sharing arrangement to renegotiate. Everyone in Labrador knows this.
Either Gordo is telling a giant fib or the CPC research bureau is full of stupid people or most likely scenario: Gordo is telling us that the CPC government would be resurrecting its plan to remove nonrenewable resources from Equalization.
Kiss the offshore deal goodbye, ladies and gentlemen.
- Share in the completion of the Trans-Labrador Highway.
Comment: It's been years coming and the federal government has already committed to this. See Andrew Coyne for a further discussion of how the CPC will be all the things the Liberals are when it comes to spending without being Liberals. Why buy a fake Liberal when the real one is already there?
- Help develop the Lower Churchill Falls as a power source.
Comment: The PM already made that commitment this time last year and repeated it several times. The only hang up has been that the Williams government was temporarily sidetracked with other issues.
- Ratify the Inuit land claims agreement.
Comment: Thanks for nothing Gordo. The deal is already signed. All someone needs to do is put it through the House. Oh. But wait. The Labrador Inuit would have to wait at least a year - just like Harper said about the offshore - in order to see their land claim finally settled. The reason? Stephen Harper needs to be Prime Minister before anything else happens.
- Ensure the employment at CFB Goose Bay does not decline. Comment: How? No answer. This sounds like both Conservative lips are servicing fully.
- Encourage increased flying training operations at CFB Goose Bay. Comment: We can "encourage" 'til the cows come home. The allies don't need to train at Goose, so the Connie promise is meaningless.
- Establish a Regular Force rapid reaction army battalion at CFB Goose Bay. Comment: Gordo the retired tank driver didn't promise to base a tank regiment in Goose Bay. (He still wants to get invited to armoured corps functions, after all.)
So instead he promises an infantry battalion, and a rapid-reaction one at that.
Small problem for Gordo. Where is the battalion going to come from? Valcartier? Gagetown? Petawawa? Winnipeg? Edmonton?
If they don't come up with some cockamamie idea of doubling the size of the army and making a whole new battalion (Hint for Gordo - DND has recruiting problems), I'll venture the battalion will be relocated from the one place where the Connies don't have to worry about losing votes by shifting millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs from a base. I am talking Valcartier.
The Vandoos hit Goose Bay.
Newfoundland and Labrador nationalists start sweating.
Film at 11.
Oh. There's another small problem. The army doesn't have plans for a rapid-reaction battalion, whatever that is supposed to be. The new formation being created as an adjunct to Joint Task Force 2 needs to be close to the main guys, so I am guessing they will be in Petawawa.
- Establish an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron at CFB Goose Bay. Comment: Five big bucks says this already on the drawing board. UAVs were already trialed at Goose. A small presence is needed to give support to the UAVs doing coastal patrols. A squadron sounds about right.
-30-
As a public relations professional, I just love news releases that tell people they are tired of bulls**** and then spew cow manure instead.
Gord O'Connor.
Loaded the charge.
Forgot the sabot round.
Ask a tank guy what happens when the commander yells "Fire!" in that case.
Big noise.
Bright flash.
F*** all else.
Gord O'Connor.
Loaded the charge.
Forgot the sabot round.
Ask a tank guy what happens when the commander yells "Fire!" in that case.
Big noise.
Bright flash.
F*** all else.
14 May 2005
Fair Deal website targets Hearn and Doyle
The Fair Deal for Newfoundland website has targeted Norm Doyle and Loyola Hearn in its reinvigorated efforts to secure the offshore revenue deal for Newfoundland and Labrador.
"Members of Parliament Loyola Hearn and Norman Doyle have a clear choice: put their party first — or put their province first. By voting against the federal budget, they put all of our efforts at risk by bringing down the government and breaking the Atlantic Accord. By voting for the federal budget they make the deal a reality, but can still move to take power at a later time. This choice is clear: Doyle and Hearn need to put their province above party politics."
Maybe they just need to follow the example set by Sir Robert Bond, one of the greatest prime minister in our history.
He routinely put people and principle before party.
"Members of Parliament Loyola Hearn and Norman Doyle have a clear choice: put their party first — or put their province first. By voting against the federal budget, they put all of our efforts at risk by bringing down the government and breaking the Atlantic Accord. By voting for the federal budget they make the deal a reality, but can still move to take power at a later time. This choice is clear: Doyle and Hearn need to put their province above party politics."
Maybe they just need to follow the example set by Sir Robert Bond, one of the greatest prime minister in our history.
He routinely put people and principle before party.
Top Secret Argentia site - the facts
Friday's Telegram had an editorial which screamed for some clarification.
It spoke of a top secret building at the base, hinting that this might be the place a former Marine Corps soldier said was used to store nuclear weapons. The editorial made it sound like people didn't know what was going on there.
Piffle. That building was known as the "T" Building and is located at the south side of the base. It housed the data processing centre for a section of the Sound Underwater Surveillance System or SOSUS. This was a collection of hydrophones strung across the seabed that listened for Soviet submarines. To the best of my knowledge the T Building is not the building the former Marine is talking about.
In 1963, data from the Argentia SOSUS station was used to help pinpoint the location of a United States Navy submarine that had disappeared after leaving Spain on its way home.
The T Building was a highly sensitive facility since SOSUS was part of the front line defence against Soviet ballistic missile submarines. Not much of a surprise therefore that it was highly guarded and the Americans looked suspiciously on anyone who inquired about it. Does anyone remember Stephen Ratkai? Maybe that's a name for the "Newfoundland and Espionage" posting.
The top secret research facility everyone has been talking about was the SOSUS station - top secret underwater acoustic research.
Were nuclear weapons present at Argentia?
Yes.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, complete nuclear weapons were deployed to Argentia. This is one of the major facts that led the federal government to negotiate an agreement with the United States specifically governing American nuclear weapons deployments to Argentia.
At other times, nuclear weapons components were there. That is, the base housed everything except the cores of fissionable material that would produce the atomic explosion of the thing worked properly.
There has been no report of any unusual radiation levels at Argentia. This undermines the story that the site housed large numbers of weapons, that these weapons were improperly stored and that there is a major environmental catastrophe at Argentia being covered up by the US government.
Of all the buildings at Argentia, the T Building was retained in American control after Argentia was closed out. It was refurbished and two large white radar domes were mounted on top as part of the US Air Forces range instrumentation system for the Cape Canaveral launch facility. The T Building continues to be used today, including during the recent Titan 4B launch.
Now you know the facts.
Make up your own mind.
It spoke of a top secret building at the base, hinting that this might be the place a former Marine Corps soldier said was used to store nuclear weapons. The editorial made it sound like people didn't know what was going on there.
Piffle. That building was known as the "T" Building and is located at the south side of the base. It housed the data processing centre for a section of the Sound Underwater Surveillance System or SOSUS. This was a collection of hydrophones strung across the seabed that listened for Soviet submarines. To the best of my knowledge the T Building is not the building the former Marine is talking about.
In 1963, data from the Argentia SOSUS station was used to help pinpoint the location of a United States Navy submarine that had disappeared after leaving Spain on its way home.
The T Building was a highly sensitive facility since SOSUS was part of the front line defence against Soviet ballistic missile submarines. Not much of a surprise therefore that it was highly guarded and the Americans looked suspiciously on anyone who inquired about it. Does anyone remember Stephen Ratkai? Maybe that's a name for the "Newfoundland and Espionage" posting.
The top secret research facility everyone has been talking about was the SOSUS station - top secret underwater acoustic research.
Were nuclear weapons present at Argentia?
Yes.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, complete nuclear weapons were deployed to Argentia. This is one of the major facts that led the federal government to negotiate an agreement with the United States specifically governing American nuclear weapons deployments to Argentia.
At other times, nuclear weapons components were there. That is, the base housed everything except the cores of fissionable material that would produce the atomic explosion of the thing worked properly.
There has been no report of any unusual radiation levels at Argentia. This undermines the story that the site housed large numbers of weapons, that these weapons were improperly stored and that there is a major environmental catastrophe at Argentia being covered up by the US government.
Of all the buildings at Argentia, the T Building was retained in American control after Argentia was closed out. It was refurbished and two large white radar domes were mounted on top as part of the US Air Forces range instrumentation system for the Cape Canaveral launch facility. The T Building continues to be used today, including during the recent Titan 4B launch.
Now you know the facts.
Make up your own mind.
13 May 2005
Anonymous posts and the challenge of integrity
As some of you will notice, I have removed the public comments section from this blog.
When I started the Bond Papers in January 2005, I set it up so that people could make comments in the hope that there could be an informed and frank exchange of views on some of the things posted here. The idea of this blog is to be provocative and to ground the comments as much as possible in fact.
The Papers didn't attract much comment in public although I do get regular e-mails from people seeking additional information or challenging some of my comments. Fair enough. The result has been very useful for me and hopefully led to a greater understand of the point I was trying to make. Certainly some of my correspondents clarified the other perspectives on issues and helped me to appreciate those points of view more than I may have.
The odd comment that did appear during the offshore fracas was invariable anonymous and at times merely focused on trivial side issues rather than substantive ones.
In the past couple of days yet another anonymous poster using the name "Biddy" has taken to filling up the comments page with little more than partisan talking points. Curiously, the posts appear at the times when a parliamentary IP address is accessing the blog. I am drawing a logical conclusion that "Biddy" is a CPC staffer since I happen to know the other member of parliament staffer who checks my blog from time to time. He doesn't post things here.
I have no problem with a well-constructed partisan argument. What I do find offensive is that the individual chooses to hide behind some pseudonym. This approach betrays a fundamental lack of respect for me and the other readers of this blog such that I refuse to tolerate it. Were that not enough, since the individual lacks any obvious sense of humour there really isn't much point is hosting the comments anyway.
For the time being, I will withdraw the comments section and save bandwidth as a result. If people using it can't display some integrity or display some common courtesy by properly identifying themselves, then I do not feel obliged to give them a platform.
Anyone who wants to berate me or engaged me in further discussion can feel free to send me an e-mail.
When I started the Bond Papers in January 2005, I set it up so that people could make comments in the hope that there could be an informed and frank exchange of views on some of the things posted here. The idea of this blog is to be provocative and to ground the comments as much as possible in fact.
The Papers didn't attract much comment in public although I do get regular e-mails from people seeking additional information or challenging some of my comments. Fair enough. The result has been very useful for me and hopefully led to a greater understand of the point I was trying to make. Certainly some of my correspondents clarified the other perspectives on issues and helped me to appreciate those points of view more than I may have.
The odd comment that did appear during the offshore fracas was invariable anonymous and at times merely focused on trivial side issues rather than substantive ones.
In the past couple of days yet another anonymous poster using the name "Biddy" has taken to filling up the comments page with little more than partisan talking points. Curiously, the posts appear at the times when a parliamentary IP address is accessing the blog. I am drawing a logical conclusion that "Biddy" is a CPC staffer since I happen to know the other member of parliament staffer who checks my blog from time to time. He doesn't post things here.
I have no problem with a well-constructed partisan argument. What I do find offensive is that the individual chooses to hide behind some pseudonym. This approach betrays a fundamental lack of respect for me and the other readers of this blog such that I refuse to tolerate it. Were that not enough, since the individual lacks any obvious sense of humour there really isn't much point is hosting the comments anyway.
For the time being, I will withdraw the comments section and save bandwidth as a result. If people using it can't display some integrity or display some common courtesy by properly identifying themselves, then I do not feel obliged to give them a platform.
Anyone who wants to berate me or engaged me in further discussion can feel free to send me an e-mail.
Nutty Norm and Michael Harris
Norm Doyle has snapped completely under the strain of people wanting him to put province first, while Norm himself is putting his party before all.
In an interview with VOCM, Norm insisted that had the government supported a motion to split the offshore money from the budget bill, the province would have had its money right away.
Norm is now confirmed as being willing to say anything at all in a desperate bid to prop up his position.
Even if the bill got through the House before Norm and his fellow Conservatives defeated the government, the province can't get a nickel until the bill passes the Senate and gets Royal Assent.
Ok. I just thought about it again.
Maybe Norm isn't nuts after all.
Maybe what Norm is saying is that if we can get the bill out of Harper's clutches and into the Liberal-dominated Senate it will pass irrespective of who wins the next federal election.
Maybe what Norm and the Premier are telling us is that if Norm Doyle's party brings down the government our offshore money is history. But if we could possibly get it past Harper then maybe it would be safe - but only because Liberals are steadfastly behind the deal.
Norm Doyle: pinocchiosis-induced insanity or disloyal to his leader? Geez. This is getting harder to read with every passing moment. What will Norm say next?
Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, Michael Harris has decided to kick the crap out of Danny Williams.
Here's a link to his column in the Sun chain.
It contains such comments as:
"First of all Danny, you are the premier of Newfoundland, not Napoleon. There are limits to a local potentate's powers, even one as rich as you are personally. Last time I looked, the province's MPs took their marching orders from Martin and Harper, not you."
or this one:
"He [Williams] even had the cheek to describe his ugly fiat to all provincial MPs as non-partisan. What could be more partisan than supporting a government and party that have made your corner of the world more prosperous while corrupting the highest public institutions in the land?" [Emphasis added.]
Mike, I got a question for you. Did you ever write screeds for John Crosbie? I do know you wrote a fawning book about the former federal governor of the former poorest province.
Maybe Mike has been inhaling Charlie Lynch columns by the snoutful.
But man, Mike's anti-Danny invective in this column will make people appreciate Margaret Wente for her frankness.
In an interview with VOCM, Norm insisted that had the government supported a motion to split the offshore money from the budget bill, the province would have had its money right away.
Norm is now confirmed as being willing to say anything at all in a desperate bid to prop up his position.
Even if the bill got through the House before Norm and his fellow Conservatives defeated the government, the province can't get a nickel until the bill passes the Senate and gets Royal Assent.
Ok. I just thought about it again.
Maybe Norm isn't nuts after all.
Maybe what Norm is saying is that if we can get the bill out of Harper's clutches and into the Liberal-dominated Senate it will pass irrespective of who wins the next federal election.
Maybe what Norm and the Premier are telling us is that if Norm Doyle's party brings down the government our offshore money is history. But if we could possibly get it past Harper then maybe it would be safe - but only because Liberals are steadfastly behind the deal.
Norm Doyle: pinocchiosis-induced insanity or disloyal to his leader? Geez. This is getting harder to read with every passing moment. What will Norm say next?
Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, Michael Harris has decided to kick the crap out of Danny Williams.
Here's a link to his column in the Sun chain.
It contains such comments as:
"First of all Danny, you are the premier of Newfoundland, not Napoleon. There are limits to a local potentate's powers, even one as rich as you are personally. Last time I looked, the province's MPs took their marching orders from Martin and Harper, not you."
or this one:
"He [Williams] even had the cheek to describe his ugly fiat to all provincial MPs as non-partisan. What could be more partisan than supporting a government and party that have made your corner of the world more prosperous while corrupting the highest public institutions in the land?" [Emphasis added.]
Mike, I got a question for you. Did you ever write screeds for John Crosbie? I do know you wrote a fawning book about the former federal governor of the former poorest province.
Maybe Mike has been inhaling Charlie Lynch columns by the snoutful.
But man, Mike's anti-Danny invective in this column will make people appreciate Margaret Wente for her frankness.
Friday catch up
Since it is Friday and nothing truly exciting is happening - watching Norm and Loyola melt doesn't count - I thought I'd give a quickie update on a couple of promised posts.
First, on the Telelink poll, I have received nil response from NTV save for an e-mail that the request had been passed up to the proper authorities.
For my own part, I need to call Telelink directly and see what I can find.
Second, I will post on game theory over the weekend. Part of that will involve my digging into a paper I wrote about 16 years ago. As well, I have had a couple of useful chats with a friend of mine who is into game theory - poor sod. He has raised some points that I really should consider before dismissing the whole thing as economics.
Other than that I can't recall any promised follow up posts. Perhaps faithful readers would be good enough to jog my memory on stuff that isn't stale and outdated by now.
First, on the Telelink poll, I have received nil response from NTV save for an e-mail that the request had been passed up to the proper authorities.
For my own part, I need to call Telelink directly and see what I can find.
Second, I will post on game theory over the weekend. Part of that will involve my digging into a paper I wrote about 16 years ago. As well, I have had a couple of useful chats with a friend of mine who is into game theory - poor sod. He has raised some points that I really should consider before dismissing the whole thing as economics.
Other than that I can't recall any promised follow up posts. Perhaps faithful readers would be good enough to jog my memory on stuff that isn't stale and outdated by now.
12 May 2005
Norm Doyle is nuts
Norm Doyle just told Mary-Lou Findlay that the only way he'll vote for the budget bill (C-43) is if the Prime Minister renegs on his commitment to pass the offshore money bill.
Is there a psychiatrist in the House? Norm is obviously cracking under the strain.
Either Norm is absolutely crackers or he has no regard whatsoever for the intelligence of his electorate.
As I am listening to Norm he just spouted another falsehood claiming that Danny Williams wanted to see the offshore money in a separate bill from C-43.
Wow, Norm. The pinocchiosis virus is obviously now in full bloom. Danny said as recently as yesterday what he has said all along: pass the bill with offshore money in it. Get it done. A vote against the offshore money - i.e. the budget - is a not in the best interests of the province.
As for the theme of "unauthorized spending" that the Norm and Loyola show are spreading, every deal like the offshore one is technically unauthorized until the House of Commons gives legislative approval.
Does anyone smell an "out" here? A Harper government refuses to honour any of the provincial deals because they are "unauthorized" and set a bad precedent and the country can't afford them. Then on the offshore, Harper just goes back to his plan to change the Equalization formula.
If Norm gets elected, we are gonna be supporting some extra staff to help move his nose around. Pinocchiosis is a modern scourge among some politicians far more debilitating than any other condition.
Maybe Brian Mulroney could host a telethon.
Is there a psychiatrist in the House? Norm is obviously cracking under the strain.
Either Norm is absolutely crackers or he has no regard whatsoever for the intelligence of his electorate.
As I am listening to Norm he just spouted another falsehood claiming that Danny Williams wanted to see the offshore money in a separate bill from C-43.
Wow, Norm. The pinocchiosis virus is obviously now in full bloom. Danny said as recently as yesterday what he has said all along: pass the bill with offshore money in it. Get it done. A vote against the offshore money - i.e. the budget - is a not in the best interests of the province.
As for the theme of "unauthorized spending" that the Norm and Loyola show are spreading, every deal like the offshore one is technically unauthorized until the House of Commons gives legislative approval.
Does anyone smell an "out" here? A Harper government refuses to honour any of the provincial deals because they are "unauthorized" and set a bad precedent and the country can't afford them. Then on the offshore, Harper just goes back to his plan to change the Equalization formula.
If Norm gets elected, we are gonna be supporting some extra staff to help move his nose around. Pinocchiosis is a modern scourge among some politicians far more debilitating than any other condition.
Maybe Brian Mulroney could host a telethon.
Hearn and Doyle keep on squirming
Aside from the sudden appearance of anonymous postings to the comments section of my blog from someone spouting Conservative talking points, I was almost floored to see Norm Doyle on NTV this evening and read Loyola's comments in the Telly. Things must be getting hot for the Reformatories if they are sending what looks to me like their paid staff onto blogs in order to spread what is really nothing more than piffle.
On NTV, Norm kept repeating a call for Liberals to promise the offshore money is safe is the Liberals are re-elected. He seemed to lose focus at one point and just kept rambling on and on.
Let me put it this way: Liberals will be voting for the deal their prime minister signed whether the thing is in bill C-43, a stand alone bill or delivered baked in a pizza and written in mandarin Chinese.
The Liberal commitment on this point is clear. Except for desperate Connie partisans flailing around for excuses, the main issue is what the two Conservative members of parliament will do when the real vote comes on the offshore money.
Remember that the vote the Liberals sided with before was just a hollow partisan gesture by Doyle, Hearn and a few others. They picked province over party and PM and they never suffered a bit.
This time it matters, Norm and Loyola. That's why everyone expects you to stand up and state what you plan to do rather than weasel around as you have been doing.
So which way are you going to vote, Norm: Party or Province?
Meanwhile over in the Hearn bunker deep in the heart of Renews (not in the riding he nominally represents), the wannabe fish minister is spreading some nonsense of his own.
He is trying to pretend that the Connies were going to vote for the budget but can't do it now because of all the new spending. For further detail see the Telly story in today's edition on page A4.
Here are the facts - something Loyola has a historical problem with irrespective of the subject -
1. The Conservative Party has never indicated it would vote for the government's budget. Their initial objection was because of the bill's Kyoto provisions. They were removed and so then the Connies decided to object to the offshore money being included in what they called a "complex" piece of legislation.
Mr. Hearn's line of argument is nothing more than an effort to divert attention from the truth.
2. The reason Messrs Doyle and Hearn are nervous is because their party is soft on the offshore deal.
- Their leader rejected the Williams proposal in his written reply to the Premier almost a year ago. Harper also promised to sell the federal Hibernia shares on the open market " for the benefit of all Canadians".
- No one has seen this recent letter from Harper so we don't know what it says. Apparently, the Premier is concerned about it to the point where he is willing to start again from the beginning to negotiate with a Harper government. So much for a done deal.
- Danny Williams has also said he would welcome re-opening the deal to make it better.
- Flip over to Andrew Coyne's website and you'll see the Connie view of the offshore deals reflected in some of the comments on the site from Coyne readers.
3. Danny Williams now considers voting against the offshore money to be "not in the best interests of the province."
A few short months ago, Loyola was praising Danny. Today's Telly has the premier making a stark, negative comment on Hearn's intentions. All is not well in the Connie camp.
To switch back to my own interpretation, I'll toss this on the table. Hearn is going to have a hard time getting workers in the next federal election. It was bad enough that traditional Tory supporters abandoned him to work for Norm Doyle last time.
The Osborne machine deserted him because of some serious disagreements on policy - like the death penalty and Hearn's role in the shotgun wedding with the Reformers.
Added to all that will be Hearn's turning his back on Newfoundland and Labrador. How can any provincial Tory work for Doyle or Hearn in this instance when they plan to put Stephen Harper ahead of their province's interests?
Loyola remembers very well that he only won St. John's South Mount Pearl by a mere 4.5% last time over political newcomer Siobhan Coady. Slightly less than 40% of the electorate supported the Renews-based Hearn. Coady polled 35% and the New Democrats' Peg Norman polled 24%.
Loyola ducked every possible opportunity to debate his opponents and was decidedly miserable and ungracious in his victory. That didn't win him any new friends.
Peg may not run again and in a stark contest between the Connies candidate Hearn, backed by the likes of Stockwell "Culture of Life" Day and Peter MacKay, DDS, I would lay odds on NDP supporters holding their noses and voting Liberal just to keep the Reformatories from taking power.
Add to that the spectre of a country run by a majority federal party with no or almost no support in one of the country's most populous provinces.
Gomery and the $100 million pilfered by what most Canadians consider a bunch of bad apples will rapidly drift off the minds of most Canadians when they start to consider which party would make the best government for the country.
On NTV, Norm kept repeating a call for Liberals to promise the offshore money is safe is the Liberals are re-elected. He seemed to lose focus at one point and just kept rambling on and on.
Let me put it this way: Liberals will be voting for the deal their prime minister signed whether the thing is in bill C-43, a stand alone bill or delivered baked in a pizza and written in mandarin Chinese.
The Liberal commitment on this point is clear. Except for desperate Connie partisans flailing around for excuses, the main issue is what the two Conservative members of parliament will do when the real vote comes on the offshore money.
Remember that the vote the Liberals sided with before was just a hollow partisan gesture by Doyle, Hearn and a few others. They picked province over party and PM and they never suffered a bit.
This time it matters, Norm and Loyola. That's why everyone expects you to stand up and state what you plan to do rather than weasel around as you have been doing.
So which way are you going to vote, Norm: Party or Province?
Meanwhile over in the Hearn bunker deep in the heart of Renews (not in the riding he nominally represents), the wannabe fish minister is spreading some nonsense of his own.
He is trying to pretend that the Connies were going to vote for the budget but can't do it now because of all the new spending. For further detail see the Telly story in today's edition on page A4.
Here are the facts - something Loyola has a historical problem with irrespective of the subject -
1. The Conservative Party has never indicated it would vote for the government's budget. Their initial objection was because of the bill's Kyoto provisions. They were removed and so then the Connies decided to object to the offshore money being included in what they called a "complex" piece of legislation.
Mr. Hearn's line of argument is nothing more than an effort to divert attention from the truth.
2. The reason Messrs Doyle and Hearn are nervous is because their party is soft on the offshore deal.
- Their leader rejected the Williams proposal in his written reply to the Premier almost a year ago. Harper also promised to sell the federal Hibernia shares on the open market " for the benefit of all Canadians".
- No one has seen this recent letter from Harper so we don't know what it says. Apparently, the Premier is concerned about it to the point where he is willing to start again from the beginning to negotiate with a Harper government. So much for a done deal.
- Danny Williams has also said he would welcome re-opening the deal to make it better.
- Flip over to Andrew Coyne's website and you'll see the Connie view of the offshore deals reflected in some of the comments on the site from Coyne readers.
3. Danny Williams now considers voting against the offshore money to be "not in the best interests of the province."
A few short months ago, Loyola was praising Danny. Today's Telly has the premier making a stark, negative comment on Hearn's intentions. All is not well in the Connie camp.
To switch back to my own interpretation, I'll toss this on the table. Hearn is going to have a hard time getting workers in the next federal election. It was bad enough that traditional Tory supporters abandoned him to work for Norm Doyle last time.
The Osborne machine deserted him because of some serious disagreements on policy - like the death penalty and Hearn's role in the shotgun wedding with the Reformers.
Added to all that will be Hearn's turning his back on Newfoundland and Labrador. How can any provincial Tory work for Doyle or Hearn in this instance when they plan to put Stephen Harper ahead of their province's interests?
Loyola remembers very well that he only won St. John's South Mount Pearl by a mere 4.5% last time over political newcomer Siobhan Coady. Slightly less than 40% of the electorate supported the Renews-based Hearn. Coady polled 35% and the New Democrats' Peg Norman polled 24%.
Loyola ducked every possible opportunity to debate his opponents and was decidedly miserable and ungracious in his victory. That didn't win him any new friends.
Peg may not run again and in a stark contest between the Connies candidate Hearn, backed by the likes of Stockwell "Culture of Life" Day and Peter MacKay, DDS, I would lay odds on NDP supporters holding their noses and voting Liberal just to keep the Reformatories from taking power.
Add to that the spectre of a country run by a majority federal party with no or almost no support in one of the country's most populous provinces.
Gomery and the $100 million pilfered by what most Canadians consider a bunch of bad apples will rapidly drift off the minds of most Canadians when they start to consider which party would make the best government for the country.
Coyne's readers comment on the Premier
Grab that mouse and click on over to Andrew Coyne's blog.
Note especially the comments posted thus far. I like the last one from some guy who wants to give the premier a "talking to" for daring suggest that all members of parliament from this province should support bill C-43.
Note especially the comments posted thus far. I like the last one from some guy who wants to give the premier a "talking to" for daring suggest that all members of parliament from this province should support bill C-43.
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