Best Liberal Express Outtakes

This evening's poll question, what has been the biggest gaffe or worst image to emerge thus far from Ignatieff's summer tour? He started with the sulphur joke, and then a few days later the bus broke down. He claimed talking to children and riding a bike is living dangerously. We have the dancing Queen routine on the sidewalk, the Chretien presser, the Traverse "declining years" comment, or perhaps the $55 a plate breakfast at the Calgary Stampede. I will post the poll in about an hour, I just want to leave this open for a bit to make sure I'm not forgetting anything.  When all is said and done the Tories will have accumulated some excellent clips and sound bites for future campaign commercials.

Georges Laraque: Lizzy's New Deputy

A man who has taken thousands of bare knuckle punches to the head is now the deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada? This seems like an odd political play, but given that she has been busy trying to stomp out a mutiny within her party, I suppose it makes sense to bring in a goon on her flank to keep those detractors in line. I have always been a fan of Georges work on the ice, but repeatedly exchanging punches to the head over a long period of time hardly qualifies someone for political life. Joining the Green Party is one thing, but the deputy? That means theoretically if anything happens to Lizzy May, Georges would become the leader of a federal political party. If you have ever listened to this man speak about something important, the evidence of possible brain damage is quite apparent. He's almost like a francophone Rocky Balboa. It is virtually impossible to take thousands of bare knuckle punches to the face without sustaining some level of brain trauma.

I like you Georges, but not in politics. As a Conservative I am not concerned that this might be successful; rather I should want this celebrity appointment to attract more voters to the Green Party. Liberal and NDP voters are far more likely than Tories to defect to the Greens. Yet I have a strong suspicion that this is going to backfire on Elizabeth May.

Why We Need An Air Force

The Russian air force feels that it is prudent to deploy bombers on practice runs towards the Labrador coast, requiring Canadian fighter jets to scramble and shadow the Ruskies. According to the agenda being set by Jane Taber et all at the Globe and Mail, using this incident to justify the need for new fighter jets is just a shameless PR campaign. Honestly, the Russian desire to send bombers towards Canadian soil is absolutely a justification for us maintaining an active air force, and our current fleet is as old as I am and crashing at air shows. It isn't just partisan politics to declare the obvious, unless the agenda you're trying to set is that everything the Tories do is wrong.

When somebody finally tells Russia that the cold war is over and they don't need to send their bombers on runs to the Canadian coast, then perhaps the need for a modern air force will be diminished. It would seem to me that they are testing our response times and readiness, and it is imperative that we pass the test and discourage them from deploying them on actual bombing missions in the future. I support Canada having a modern air force and if that makes me a blind partisan puppet, then so be it. Ring a bell, and I'll salivate...

China Infiltrating Canada?

I just finished listening to Rosemary Barton interview Tory MP Rob Anders who had some interesting things to say about China potentially bribing Canadian politicians in an attempt to gain political favour. Granted this is coming from the same politician who voted against honourary citizenship for Nelson Mandela because he believes Nelson to be a communist and a terrorist. These allegations also come on the heels of the CSIS boss claiming that China has infiltrated our political class, remarks that caused a firestorm of controversy.

If Rob has directly witnessed any Canadian politician (Liberal or Conservative) accepting favours from the Chinese presumably in exchange for votes in the Commons, then he should report that to the appropriate officials. That is not the kind of information that you discuss for the first time with Rosie. He said that he had not talked to the Prime Minister about his allegations, but it is okay to talk about them with Rosie on the CBC? He should be talking to the police, not an amateur like Rosemary Barton.

RCMP Chaos?

Next time Scott Brison tries to blame the Government for a breaking controversy, he might want to check with his own party to see if they supported the decision when it was made (credit John Ivison). This week he blamed Stephen Harper for appointing a civilian to lead the RCMP which is responsible for a so-called revolt of senior RCMP officers; yet when the appointment was made, the PM received strong bipartisan support from the opposition Liberals, even the NDP. Now Brison is saying that Harper created chaos by appointing a civilian, who was supposed to "shake things up" in the senior ranks which were widely viewed as flawed, if not corrupt. Everyone agreed that the RCMP was broken and needed to be fixed. These same senior officers currently "in revolt" were opposed to civilian leadership, much less one with the mission statement to clean up inefficiencies.

Is it a coincidence that people strongly opposed to a civilian being hired as their boss are now the same people revolting? The commish was hired to shake things up, not make friends. And Scotty Bryson jumped the gun with blanket condemnation of the Prime Minister before even checking to see the Liberal party's position when the appointment was made.

Canadians Split On Long Form Census

I had been under the impression that there was widespread grassroot opposition to the Government's proposed voluntarization of the long form census. Don't let the CBC fool you, because according to Ipsos Reid Canadians are split about 50-50. The Globe and Mail did a survey asking if readers thought the long form census questions are too intrusive, and the results were split 50-50. As it turns out public opinion is not as unanimous as some of the doomsayers in the media have been proclaiming. Personally I support the big census being mandatory, but with a fine not jail time. But while I might oppose the Tories on this change, I hardly believe that it is such a grievous foul as to warrant a recall of Parliament or an election. The census just isn't very high on my list of political priorities.

It just isn't as big a deal with Canadians as the Kady O'Malley's of the world would have us believe. At the rate she's writing on this issue, she'll have enough blog posts to fill a book by the end of the summer.

Jimmy The Deficit Slayer

All hail Jim Flaherty and Stephen Harper for their magnificent fiscal leadership during this so-called "Great Recession" (at least that's what Don Newman called it). Today it was announced that our deficit reduction is going so well that we are expected to be back in surplus a year ahead of schedule. Of course Jane Taber did not mention this latest news when she was setting the Globe and Mail's agenda today. The PM's Chief of Staff speaking at a legal seminar signals the sky is falling, but God forbid she set the Globe's agenda to actually report news that reflects favorably on our Government.

I seem to recall Ignatieff not wanting anything to do with the responsibility of dealing with this "Great Recession" when it was in its infancy. I found a great video where Iggy actually says in early 2009 "we are living in an exceptional, extraordinary period which is Mr Harper's responsibility alone." Other than demanding a stimulus package, the leader of the Liberal Party wanted nothing to do with sharing in the fiscal governance of our country, despite our minority parliament, so now he can't share any of the glory for the remarkable performance.

Somehow I expect some of the video below to find their way into campaign commercials whenever we get back to the polls...

The Audacity Of Vacations

Jane Taber sets the agenda at the Globe and Mail, and since returning from her vacation she has been a busy little bee. Today's agenda is complaining that the Prime Minister has taken the last week to spend time with his family. It is okay for Jane to take a vacation because all she does is set the agenda, where the Prime Minister has the responsibility of governing the country. Yesterday's agenda was complaining that the Tories were shadowing the Liberal Express, and today it is complaining that the top Tory is not shadowing enough. The audacity, errr hypocrisy, of vacations! I'm sure Liberals never take vacations (how much time has Ignatieff spent at his villa in Europe over the last 4 years?) At least the PM stays in the Ottawa area getting daily briefings such that he can continue governing the country. It should also be noted that the PM very rarely takes vacations, certainly when compared to his Liberal counterpart.

"RCMP Chaos Harper's Fault"

Thank you for that headline CBC. The Commissioner of the RCMP is regarded by his employees as an asshole, which in and of itself constitutes chaos at our national police force, and it is all Stephen Harper's fault... or so the headline asserts. This particular CBC headline was derived from an interview with Liberal Scott Bryson. I suppose Scotty is writing headlines for CBC.ca these days where Kady O'Malley generally sets the agenda. With Taber setting the agenda at the Globe and Kady setting the agenda at CBC.ca, which is more biased? A difficult question to be sure, but worth asking.

The complaints against the bossman refer to him as "verbally abusive" and "insulting", which describes about half of the bosses I have ever had in my life. Over the course of his 3 years on the job, he was subject to the disdain of officers for being a civilian, and thus it is not a surprise that the underlings have turned on the boss. Personally I don't know enough about the man to render a judgment about whether or not he is good at his job. To me the measure of success is not how happy his assistants are, but how effective he is at his job. I do not have the necessary information at my disposal to make that assessment. I will trust the government to evaluate his job performance and make the appropriate decision.

Tories Stalking Liberal Express

Peter Donolo and Jane Taber set the agenda at the Globe and Mail, and today it was the conspiracy theory that the Tories are shadowing and stalking the Liberal Express this summer. I don't know why Ignatieff would need to hire a blogger to follow him around on tour when Taber provides virtually the same service free of charge. He Tarzan you Jane. She even produced a top secret leaked invitation to a Tory event and they wouldn't reveal their source (conspiracies abound). Honestly this smells like paranoia, as Liberal MPs would prefer to have the summer spotlight all to themselves and the fact that the Tories are hosting any events must surely be a signal that they are stalking the Libs trying to steal their sunshine. Fortunately for Donolo he has Taber just a phone call away from setting his agenda. He has his head so far up her ass that it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins; may as well call her Tabolo.