There has been no news or announcement as far as I can tell.  Another NDP candidate, Arif Jinha, has quit.

Why?  That would be hard to know, since his blog has been erased, but thanks to the Google cache, we know what Jack Layton and the NDP would like to keep quiet.

Arif Jinha did not enjoy being treated as what he termed as an "advertising rep" for Jack Layton.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:39 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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In Europe, new emissions rules are coming into effect, and no one is happy.

The automakers are upset because the rules are too stringent.

The environmentalists are upset because the rules are not stringent enough.

Regular people are upset because the cost of a car will go up significantly.

And rich people?  Oh, they're fine.  Their cars are exempt from the rules.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 03:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Joyce Murray is the Liberal Party candidate fighting for the seat of Vancouver Quadra.  It is a strong Liberal seat, and no one would be surprised to see it go Liberal again.

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion would be especially pleased.  Not only would the Liberals retain a seat, Joyce Murray would bolster the Liberal reputation on the environment.  As an MLA in the BC legislature, Murray was the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection in Gordon Campbell's cabinet.

Like Stephane Dion, she didn't actually do much for the environment.  And that's a good thing for Stephane Dion should she win in Vancouver Quadra.  Stephane Dion does not need another MP in his caucus quietly doubting Dion's commitment to the environment.  Another pseudo-environmentalist would no doubt tell Stephane Dion just how much of a great environmental leader he is, without bringing up any uncomfortable facts.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:51 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The story of former NDP candidate Francis Chartrand continues to amuse me.  In particular, his blog seems to be the focus of weird happenings, with Chartrand posting and deleting posts in rapid succession as a result of his candidacy being spiked by the NDP brass. 

On top of his political career being nipped in the bud, now it seems like Chartrand's blog has been hacked.

Or has it?

Posted by: Steve Janke at 06:44 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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In my piece on the need of the NDP to perform well in the upcoming by-elections, I made some general comments about the by-election in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River.  Several people commented on David Orchard, who is running for the Liberal nomination, but who might not be given the chance to win.  There are reports that Liberal Party Stephane Dion is about to install a nominee, Saskatchewan MLA Joan Beatty, who currently belongs to the NDP. 

Some people seemed dismissive of David Orchard, but a letter posted on a Liberal blog suggests that David Orchard could have the last laugh if his campaign is terminated by the Liberal Party leadership.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:59 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Four by-elections have been called -- two in Toronto, one in Saskatchewan, and one in British Columbia.  These are ridings held by Liberals who have resigned, and so Stephane Dion's Liberals have to fight to hold on to them again.

Three ridings are probably safe, but the Saskatchewan riding might revert back to the Conservative Party.  If so, it is a net loss for the Liberal Party.

But I'm much more interested in seeing how the NDP figures in these fights.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 07:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Apologies for the crude title, but it is the title of a thread on the Pakistani Defence Forum at PakistaniDefence.com concerning the news that Benazir Bhutto has been killed today.  There is a poll there that is very revealing.  Though we might count supporters of Pervez Musharraf or elements of the Pakistani Security Services in the ranks of suspects, it is interesting to see the world's number one villain bubbling to the top of the list in this unscientific survey.

The United States.  Of course.  It's so obvious when you think about it. 

Presumably Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are cackling in neocon glee.

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I've always avoided calling Deputy Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff "Iggy".  It seemed too familiar, and I wasn't even sure if Michael Ignatieff liked to be called "Iggy".

If he doesn't like it, then it would seem childishly provocative to use that nickname.

I then read a reference to Michael Ignatieff not liking to be called "Iggy".  Fine.  But then if that's the case, why does his website use "iggy" in the substructure?

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Disgraced former Liberal MP Blair Wilson has not given up the fight.  Embroiled in a controversy over allegations of election spending irregularities, he has been told by the Liberal Party that he will not be allowed to run in the next election for the Liberals.

The justification?  Though Wilson has yet to have had any of the charges against him tested in a court, the Liberal Party has concluded that Wilson was not forthcoming on his applications to run as an MP.

Blair Wilson has promised to fight this decision, and has retained Jay Straith, the same lawyer who represented David Oliver in his fight against the NDP.

Looking over the rules, I think Blair Wilson has a fighting chance.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:08 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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How can three people take the same flight to the same place to complete the same task, and still two people can each spend full 33% more to do the task?

I don't have an answer for that.  It's just one of those things that shows how Liberals and NDP folks are more subtle and complex than Conservatives.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 12:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Stephane Dion believes Canada cannot meet the Kyoto targets.

Stephane Dion believes Canada can meet the Kyoto targets.

Who knows what Stephane Dion believes?  Who knows who tells Stephane Dion what to believe?

Does Stephane Dion believe in anything?

Maybe he believes in fairies.

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News is breaking on disgraced former Liberal MP Blair Wilson.  The MP forced to quit the Liberal caucus over allegations that he committed egregious violations of the Elections Canada Act has been told by Stephane Dion that he will not be allowed to stand as a Liberal candidate in the next general election.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 09:00 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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A new poll shows that...well...nothing much has changed.  So perhaps the excitement from last week's poll will fade away.

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Francis Chartrand was the former NDP candidate for Riviere-des-Mille-Iles in Quebec.  He was dumped as the candidate, and I posted on the shifting story as it appeared on his blog.  Well, guess what.  It has shifted yet again!

Fed up with this nonsense, I did a post-by-post walkthrough of his blog.  And boy, would he have made one find candidate for the NDP!  Nothing like having one of your candidates demanding the nationalization of everything and espousing an East German model for Canada to follow.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:35 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Jack Layton is in charge of the NDP.

You notice that I didn't say he is in charge only when he's in the room, or within earshot, or when he's had a good two hours notice of what is about to happen.

When pressed about the Irene Mathyssen case, Jack Layton is quick to mention that he had nothing to do with it.

And here I thought that as leader, Jack Layton is always responsible for what his caucus members say and do.

It's not fair, but then being leader sucks sometimes.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 02:20 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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So how does the CBC report on ethical lapses?

Not surprisingly, it depends on who has allegedly suffer a lapse in judgment.

But then it seems like the media establishment as a whole in this country is guilty of pulling its punches on the CBC-Liberal collusion story.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 12:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The allegation is that Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez colluded with the CBC, asking questions of Brian Mulroney written by a CBC reporter.  If you read blogs, you know all about it.  If you get your news from TV, radio, and newspapers, you might not.  That's not a surprise because professional courtesy makes news organizations loathe to accuse each other of wrongdoing.

It took less than 24 hours for bloggers to discover that Dan Rather and CBS had serious problems with the Killian Memo report in 2004, but it took a week before other networks in the United States dared to suggest that CBS had used faked documents to smear George W Bush.

In the same way, there is little reporting of the allegation of collusion between CBC news and the Liberal Party to embarrass or trap Brian Mulroney.

The National Post has broken that silence with a gutsy column by L. Ian Macdonald.  He makes the case that when Pablo Rodriguez asked his questions of Brian Mulroney during the Commons ethics committee hearing, it should have been immediately obvious that something was amiss.

Pablo Rodriguez rarely mutters a word in English, and yet there he was, asking  meticulously worded questions en Anglais.

I say gutsy because the column touches on two tricky issues.

The first is whether Pablo Rodriguez is even capable of functioning in English at that level.

The second follows from the first.  If you have doubts as to whether he can string that many English words together with that sophistication, then you have to conclude that Pablo Rodriguez was merely a sock puppet for the CBC.

But there is a third element not covered in Macdonald's column, and that is the conclusion that Pablo Rodriguez was looking out for Pablo Rodriguez, and the Liberal Party is now paying the price.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 01:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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We're all guilty of it.  We all think Stephane Dion has the power to call an election.  We're all wrong.

He can only do it if Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton are on board with the idea.  We're all assuming that the two of them are locked in election mode, just waiting on Stephane Dion.  An interesting article points out that this might not be true.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 06:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Stephane Dion wants to appoint a woman candidate in the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, which is fine, except for one thing.  Joan Beatty hasn't agreed to switch to the Liberals from the NDP.

It might seem like a small thing, but it suggests confusion and poor communication.  What's worse is this is not the first time the Liberals announced appointing someone as a nominee only to find out that the person had no intention to run, and worse, had never even been consulted.

In both of these cases, the potential candidates were women.  Stephane Dion thinks he is doing them a favour by handing them ridings without having to go through the trouble of a nomination battle.  He'd be doing them a bigger favour if he actually asked them first.

It comes off as rather patronizing, otherwise.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 01:30 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Stephane Dion, who is threatening to force an election in a matter of weeks, is dramatically re-arranging his core team.  Right, sounds like a man ready to go to the polls.  In any case, communications director Nicolas Ruszkowski is on his way out.  Personal reasons.  Of course.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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