January 31, 2006

Joining the crowd

Ever see a crowd forming, a crowd you're not part of, and then start to get nervous that you are missing out on something important?

I'm starting to get that feeling.

So before my nerves are completely frazzled, I'm going to join that crowd with this official announcement:

Angry in the Great White North is not planning to run for the leadership of the federal Liberals.

There, now I feel better. I can join the crowd, made up of John Manley, Frank McKenna, and now Brian Tobin:

Another Liberal leadership prospect has dropped out of the early race to replace Paul Martin, with Brian Tobin announcing he will not be putting his name in the hat.

Tobin, a former federal cabinet minister and premier of Newfoundland, was considered the last strong candidate for the job.

Tobin's announcement came Tuesday.

Funny thing is the way the media keeps calling this a race:

Outgoing Prime Minister Paul Martin triggered a leadership race when he announced his intention to resign as Liberal Party leader as he conceded defeat to the Conservatives' Stephen Harper in last week's federal election.

Technically, don't you need at least two runners before you have a race? One runner and it's just a jog. No runners, and, well, I guess it's just a line of dirt.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:04 PM | Comments (34) | Add Comment
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More financing weirdness

I studied the money raised by Ajax-Pickering candidates Mark Holland (Liberal) and Rene Soetens (Conservative) in the 2004 federal election.

With regards to the lack of individual donations to Mark Holland, indeed it might be that those donations were made to the riding association, then transfered to him. There might be no issue here.

But the interest-free loan of $17,000 from developer Ron Halliday to Mark Holland is something else.

more...

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A Toronto Councillor and the other CPC

One of the things we all have to get used to is that there are two "CPC" political organizations in Canada:

  • the Conservative Party of Canada
  • the Communist Party of Canada

I think it's safe to say that they share little else than initials.

I bring it up because Toronto is likely to get a gas-fired power plant to help stave off rolling blackouts, blackouts created in part because of energy shortages resulting from the closure of coal-fired power plants (as opposed to upgrading them to cleaner designs) by the provincial Liberals.

That plan is going to be met with stiff opposition by Toronto City Councillor Paula Fletcher, who once led the CPC in Manitoba.

No, not the the Conservatives. The other guys.

Paula Fletcher's motto:

"Power to the workers? Nyet!"

more...

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Mark Holland, Liberal MP, and an interest-free loan [Udpated]

The election is over, but I think it is interesting to see how different the Liberals and the Conservatives operate. Financial declarations are not yet available for the 2006 election, but the 2004 election, held a mere 17 months earlier, provides a fascinating insight.

Let's look at my riding of Ajax-Pickering. In 2004, Liberal Mark Holland beat Conservative Rene Soetens.

Here's the breakdown of the money.

more...

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January 30, 2006

Looming crisis in Iran

I guess the world doesn't believe in "easing into it".

more...

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Andrew Stronach and SheTips: The main stream media and scary implications

Recall the two posts I put up concerning Andrew Stronach, brother of Liberal MP Belinda Stronach? How he seemed to be in charge of an online gambling operation involving the use of curvaceous women, elaborate computer networks to hide money trails, and offshore servers to possibly evade domestic gambling regulations?

Well, the main stream media has picked up the story.

Maclean's has added some fascinating details, details that have suggested to me a remarkable model for this operation that fits the facts as we now know them.

A model that is, frankly, very disturbing.

more...

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McKenna is out

From CTV:

Canada's outgoing ambassador to the United States, Frank McKenna, announced on Monday he won't run for the leadership of the Liberal Party, saying he's not ready to commit the next decade of his life to politics.

The rest of the article goes on about why he's not running, why he quit his job as ambassador, and so on and so forth. No mention of the whole abortion angle, though. Do you think he figured that he could never survive a leadership campaign in today's Liberal Party with that in his past?

Well, no matter. Thanks to the miracle of blogging, all that can be filtered out, and the focus can be put back on what is important -- who stands in the way of Belinda Stronach?

With McKenna out of the leadership race, there is no clear frontrunner.

However, speculation is already turning to other contenders such as former public works minister Scott Brison; recently elected Liberal MP Michael Ignatieff; former cabinet minister Belinda Stronach; and former Newfoundland premier Brian Tobin.

John Manley, the former deputy minister, and Frank McKenna, have say no. I can't help but wonder if both men came to the same conclusion -- despite the brave words, the Liberal Party is not destined to return to power anytime soon, and it would be a waste of time and ambition to be a leader of a party that has become a fixture in the opposition benches.

Think of it this way: if the Liberals had won a strong minority, and Paul Martin decided to retire a winner, would Manley and McKenna be on the sidelines today?

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Unavoidable hypocrisy?

From Ezra Levant's column in the Calgary Sun:

Needless to say, the Liberals don't want an early election either -- they're already fighting over the rules for their leadership race, and a dozen candidates are gearing up to run. One hundred leaderless, indebted, bickering Liberal MPs will support nearly any Harper initiative to avoid an election before they're ready.

Harper's official to-do list is very short -- five priorities, including the GST cut. Expect him to finish that up in early 2007, and call an election, catching the new Liberal leader unprepared. It will be Harper who chooses the termination of his minority, not his opponents.

I hate to say it, but wouldn't purposely putting forward an issue guaranteed to cause the fall of government in order to time an election when the Conservatives are in the strongest position just a bit hypocritical? From the Conservative election platform:

Introduce legislation modeled on the BC and Ontario laws requiring fixed election dates every four years, except when a government loses the confidence of the House (in which case an election would be held immediately, and the subsequent election would follow four years later).

Part of dealing with the democratic deficit was to remove from the Prime Minister's Office the ability to pick and choose election dates based on favourable polls. That power favours the incumbent, of course.

Now I suppose that in a minority situation, where a non-confidence vote is a real possibility, having the ability to manipulate the date for an election could be seen as a consolation prize for not having been given a majority by the people. But then no one is owed a majority, so that doesn't really wash.

In a perverse way, a prime minister in a minority situation has an important tool to improve his chances at re-election that is denied to a prime minister of a majority government.

I don't know how to fix this, or even if it needs to be fixed. Just seems a bit bizarre though.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:06 AM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
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Let the healing begin!

From the Hill Times (via Bourque):

Buried in a multi-million dollar debt, the once mighty federal Liberals will need to emerge united from their upcoming leadership race if they want to regain the trust of the population, several party officials said last week.

"We'll make sure that this new party will be reborn from these ashes after this last decade of infighting on the left and right," said Françoise Boivin, who lost her re-election bid in the former Liberal stronghold of Gatineau, Que., to Bloc Quebecois candidate Richard Nadeau. "It's difficult to fight against your adversaries, but it's even harder to fight when you have traitors on the inside who are trying to sink everything."

Traitors? I thought Boivin was the traitor, and those other people were fighting to save the soul of the party. At least that's what they say. Or maybe the traitors were those people on the outside sniping at the party from the sidelines.

How is the Liberal Party going to ever heal itself unless it is determined exactly who was the traitor and who was poor victim whose loss on January 23 was not their fault?

I suppose we won't really know who the traitors were until a new party leader is elected. Then the traitors will be whoever backed the losing leadership bids. Punishment can be meted out and the healing process will be complete.

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January 29, 2006

Evil Overlord of the Great White North? [Updated]

I guess you know you've made it when the torches-and-pitchforks crowd is gathering with the intention of taking you down.

more...

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January 28, 2006

Jack Layton's pragmatism: A delicate problem

Jack Layton is trying to figure out how to make to make Parliament work. More importantly, he will have to figure out how to make making Parliament work work.

Confused? Just be glad you're not Jack Layton.

more...

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More positive reviews for Stephen Harper

The honeymoon continues:

None of the people co-ordinating Stephen Harper's transition to prime minister were involved in his election campaign, and none will be involved in running or lobbying his government.

Harper's choice of transition team suggests the Conservative leader has learned from Paul Martin's example that it's a big mistake to rely on the same group of ultra-partisan advisers to run both campaigns and government, blurring the line between political and public interest.

In setting up his government, Harper appears to have recognized the value of independent advice from experienced people who have no personal stake in how the government is structured or staffed.

Team A gets Stephen Harper elected.

Team B, which has none of the baggage that Team A is carrying in the aftermath of a nasty election campaign (and all election campaigns get nasty at some point), looks to build up Team C.

Team C, made up of people not from Team A or Team B, but selected on merit, help run the government.

We could talk about Team D, but they remain essentially the same before, during, and after, the election, and are unaffected by the staffing process. They just keep blogging away.

But back to Teams A, B, and C. How does this compare with the Liberal Party model under Paul Martin?

By contrast, Martin relied heavily on a tight-knit inner circle of advisers for both political and governmental advice. His 2003 15-member transition team consisted of a number of lobbyists, including team head Michael Robinson, as well as a host of people who wound up as senior staffers in his Prime Minister's Office.

Also on board was David Herle, a communications consultant who headed Martin's leadership and subsequent election campaigns while simultaneously under contract to various government departments.

Martin has been heavily criticized, even by fellow Liberals, for blurring the line between his political objectives and the public interest. Many Liberals complain that the inner circle who helped him wrest the leadership from Jean Chretien did not have the temperament or skills to run the government.

Remember how Paul Martin kept insisting that the Sponsorship Scandal, and the kickback scheme at its centre, in which government contract money made its way in the Liberal Party bank account, the ultimate blurring of public interest and party interest, was Jean Chretien's problem, and how Martin and his government were completely exonerated?

Maybe they were exonerated, but they were on the very next train heading down the same track to exactly the same terrible crash. Thankfully, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have taken the first step to putting Canada on a different track.

If the Harper government is successful, and I think it will be, then the administration model Harper is using is likely to become the gold standard against which future governments are measured.

Look at that. Not even sworn in yet, and already Stephen Harper has a better legacy than Paul Martin.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:04 AM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
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January 27, 2006

Frank McKenna is seriously out of step with today's Liberal Party

From the Liberal Party website:

There are a number of ways in which an anti-choice government could restrict or limit choice, including:

  • Refusing to approve new contraceptives;
  • Placing restrictions on family planning agencies that receive federal funding;
  • Changing government health policy to allow provinces to opt out of funding for abortions; and
  • Changing the Criminal Code or the Constitution to give legal status to foetuses.

Mr. Harper needs to come clean and tell Canadians whether his government will move to restrict choice for women. Canadian women deserve to know.

Of course, Stephen Harper is on record as saying his views on the topic are complex, and that he doesn't want to bring any sort of abortion legislation to a vote.

Indeed, for all their digging, the Liberals can't find a single quote by Stephen Harper in which he takes an unequivocal stand on the issue. Hence they rely on the "hidden agenda" tactic.

But the same can't be said of the current front-runner for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, Frank McKenna:

Premier pledges to fight any attempt to open a clinic

The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ont.: Feb 18, 1988. pg. A.3

FREDERICTON (CP) - The New Brunswick government will fight any attempt to open an abortion clinic in the province, Premier Frank McKenna said Wednesday.

"If Mr. Morgentaler tries to open a clinic in the province of New Brunswick, he's going to get the fight of his life," McKenna told reporters.

Dr. Henry Morgentaler said this week that New Brunswick continues to restrict access by paying only for abortions that are deemed medically necessary by two doctors, and performed in approved hospitals.

Morgentaler said New Brunswick's position goes against last month's Supreme Court of Canada ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the federal law requiring abortions to be approved by hospital committees.

Morgentaler said he would fight the New Brunswick announcement and might try to open a clinic in the province.

"I see no need for Mr. Morgentaler to do that in the province of New Brunswick and we'll resist it," McKenna told reporters.

The premier, a practising Roman Catholic, refused to say how New Brunswick would fight attempts to open an abortion clinic, since there is currently no criminal restriction on abortion.

Frank McKenna's three sins:

  • trying to classify abortion as a medical procedure and so involving the medical establishment in the decision-making process, which of course is a form of restriction
  • defying the Supreme Court, the same body to which Paul Martin was going to provide the final say in all Charter matters by promising to eliminate the ability of the federal government to use the notwithstanding clause
  • following his religion (worse yet, a Christian religion, and worst of all, Catholicism, the most evil strain of Christianity -- George W Bush is a Christian, doncha know)

Frank McKenna fought the opening of clinics in New Brunswick for seven years, until finally they gave up to a court ruling in 1995. Frank McKenna was premier of New Brunswick from 1987 to 1997 -- so I think it's fair to say that fighting the unrestricted access to abortion was a mainstay of his time as a leader of government in Canada.

It'll be interesting to watch the Liberal Party leadership rivals start slinging abortion mud at each other. One wonders if they'll be doing it with the same vigour as when it was aimed at Stephen Harper. Stephen Harper was never the head of government anywhere in Canada. He has never made any attempt to restrict abortion. He has never said that he wants to.

Frank McKenna, on the other hand, was the leader of single longest sustained effort by a government in Canada to restrict abortion.

Any bets on which Liberal Party leadership rival will be the first to call McKenna a religious zealot?

Posted by: Steve Janke at 01:40 PM | Comments (41) | Add Comment
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George W Bush tests Stephen Harper

Much has been made of Stephen Harper standing up to the US on the issue of Arctic sovereignty.

Not to take away from Harper's performance, but you do realize it was a test, don't you? And I think Stephen Harper passed.

more...

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January 26, 2006

Harping on Harper

From the Calgary Herald:

Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore has accused the oil industry of financially backing the Tories and their "ultra-conservative leader" to protect its stake in Alberta's lucrative oilsands.

Canadians, Gore said, should vigilantly keep watch over prime minister-designate Stephen Harper because he has a pro-oil agenda and wants to pull out of the Kyoto accord -- an international agreement to combat climate change.

So Albert Gore wants his fans in the eco-movement to maintain a vigilant watch on the "ultra-conservative leader". Being an amateur study of classical mythology, I could not help but be reminded of figures from Greek mythology who were also tasked to maintain a watchful eye.

They were the Harpies, grotesque creatures that merge man and beast, in this case, a hideous woman's head and torso with the wings and lower half of a vicious bird.

Funny how so many of the awful creatures in classical Greek mythology were beings that were as humans that had somehow lost too much of their humanity to nature.

But back to the Harpies.

Their job? To punish Phineas by maintaining a watch over him as he was forced to sit in front of a mouth-watering buffet. When Phineas would reach for the food, a Harpy would sweep in and steal it away, befouling the plate with its own waste.

Seems appropos to me. Ever notice how liberals befoul any discussion of importance, any attempt at rational debate, any attempt to weigh the pros and cons of a decision with serious consequences, with their own verbal waste? Whether it Al Gore labeling Stephen Harper as an "ultra-conservative", or Paul Martin insisting that Stephen Harper will be a pawn of George W Bush, or the cruder works of leftist bloggers and their fans tossing out the Nazi label, the result is always the same.

The sumptious banquet of honest debate is ruined beyond recovery. Like poor Phineas, surrounded by screeching Harpies, we are left wondering what it would have been like.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 04:39 PM | Comments (45) | Add Comment
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January 25, 2006

The election result ban and the internet

With permission, I've reprinted an article appearing in today's Kingston Whig-Standard, print edition, about the publication of elections results in Canada, the law, and the internet.

more...

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Liberals altered reports to deny weapons to border guards

A farce at the border could have turned into a tragedy. What's worse, it could have been prevented had the previous Liberal governments taken the advice they had asked for and paid for, but that they ultimately ignored and hid from view.

more...

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I'm back

Hardware issues resolved. Blogging will resume.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 05:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A healthy divide

I've managed this post for today, a consideration of the divisions we have in this country, and which ones are legitimate, and which are ones of our own making.

Did I say our own making? I meant Liberal governments' making.

more...

Posted by: Steve Janke at 01:32 PM | Comments (25) | Add Comment
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No posts today

A serious hardware failure means I won't be posting much, if anything, today. I am reading emails though, so I'm not completely disconnected. I should be up and running by tomorrow night at the latest.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 12:36 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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