In my previous post, I looked at Liberal Party fundraising for the second quarter.  Not surprisingly, fundraising for the Liberals is flat.

But in looking over the numbers, I noticed something unexpected.  Several riding associations emptied out their banks accounts to move money to the Liberal Party.

Why?

Then someone reminded me of what the Liberals were doing.  The party had taken out a big loan in order to stay in operation, using the riding associations as collateral.

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The second quarter returns of the major parties have been made available by Elections Canada.

The Liberals are the only major party that saw an increase in donations!

Yeah, but it was just a burp really. 

No surprise, but it seems clear that through the second quarter of this year, the Liberals still hadn't figured out how to squeeze any money from Canadians.

Note that the return covers a period to the end of June.  For all we know, the money is pouring in now, even as I type this.

But until we see those returns in 90 days, we can ponder a different mystery.

How did the riding association of Pierrefonds-Dollard get hold of $30,000 to transfer to the party?  No other transfer comes anywhere close to this.  It is half of all of last year's income for the riding association.

Very strange.

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We have some details concerning the payback plans for the Liberal Party leadership contenders who have all been granted extensions to pay back their outstanding campaign loans.

Except Stephane Dion, whose plan is still under review.

But of the others, the details are, well, difficult to reconcile with reality.  As such, I can't imagine why the extensions were granted.

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We have some details concerning the payback plans for the Liberal Party leadership contenders who have all been granted extensions to pay back their outstanding campaign loans.

Except Stephane Dion, whose plan is still under review.

But of the others, the details are, well, difficult to reconcile with reality.  As such, I can't imagine why the extensions were granted.

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British Columbia has a carbon tax.

Quebec has a carbon tax.

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion promises to inflict a carbon tax on Canadians if he ever becomes prime minister.

The obvious question -- how do these two levels of taxation interact -- is causing no end of confusion.

But really, there is no reason for confusion.  Stephane Dion has made it clear today that whether Canadians in some parts of the country will be required to pay two taxes is irrelevant to him.

He has the power to make every Canadian pay a price for everything they do, and he intends to use it.

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As widely expected, Elections Canada has waved away the failure of Liberal leadership contenders to payback their leadership debts by granting extensions.

OK, let's be clear.  Extensions are often granted by Elections Canada to candidates who fail to hit the deadline.  Sure it looks like special treatment for the Liberals, but it is not as bad as all that.

But then, maybe it is.  The devil is in the details.

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Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion is touring the country trying to sell people on his plan for a carbon tax.

It's all about being more environmentally responsible.  You know.  Recycling and all that.

But does recycling news stories count as recycling?

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Just how prevalent is the phrase "green shift"?

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As we all know, Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion is proposing a carbon tax, which he calls The Green Shift.  There is a company that has been in operation for years called Green Shift Inc that is suing the Liberals for using the name without permission.

But one is "Green Shift" and the other is "The Green Shift", or so argue Liberal Party apologists.

Perhaps it is a significant distinction, but only if the Liberals actually use it.  So what does it mean when Stephane Dion directs people to the website for Green Shift Inc, instead of the party's website for The Green Shift carbon tax?

To me it means that Green Shift Inc boss Jennifer Wright has a point when she says that the names are causing confusion, which is why she needs relief from the courts to force the Liberals to change the name and to pay for damages.

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Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand explained that one of the reasons the Conservatives are being targeted for investigation is that candidates and their agents weren't able to recall details of the advertising spending.

Well, that's why we write things down on things like receipts.  So we don't have to remember.

But that's not good enough for Marc Mayrand.

Marc Mayrand holds these people to a higher standard when it comes to remembering details like these. 

Amusingly, it is not a standard he seems to be able to meet.  In fact he misses the mark by a wide margin -- actually by nearly $20 million!

Posted by: Steve Janke at 07:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I received an email this week from the Liberal Party.  I am being hit up for a donation in support of Stephane Dion's carbon tax.

So far, so good.

But let's say I'm one of the majority of Canadians who doesn't know about Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan.  The email helpfully offers to send me to the website for the plan where I can "learn more".

But instead, I am sent back to the donation page on the Liberal Party site, where I'm expected to cough up cash.

That's misleading.  Even a bit spammy.

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Stephane Dion gets a rough ride while on the road...from his own nominee!

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Yet again, Liberals are undermining Stephane Dion's attempt to sell his carbon tax plan (aka The Green Shift) to Canadians.

This time, we have Liberal nominee Gerry Samson in Stormont-Dundas-South-Glengarry admitting, on the record, with Stephane Dion in the room, that Samson can't get local residents to believe him when he tells them that they will benefit from Stephane Dion's new tax.

Well, one guy in the audience loved the idea of the carbon tax.  But then as it turns out, he's a local Liberal Party riding association activist (ed. actually a director and a member of the riding association executive).  Of course, that wasn't mentioned in the media report.  He's described as just a local resident who was really impressed with Stephane Dion.

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Can Stephane Dion sell the carbon tax?

The question is misleading.

The real question is this.

Can Stephane Dion sell the carbon tax without alienating everyone around him?

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:53 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Stephane Dion is mistaken for a popular local politician.  When the mistake is corrected, enthusiasm for being in such close proximity to that carbon tax guy drops dramatically.

Hey, it's just an anecdote, so don't read to much into it.  But it is funny.

What's more interesting, though, is that the story became ammunition in a Liberal-versus-Liberal infighting.

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Is Saskatchewan going to hurt badly by Stephane Dion's carbon tax?  Well, Stephane Dion admitted as much, but Liberal MP Ralph Goodale has taken the time to explain this more clearly. 

Don't worry, he says.

Almost all the oil taken out of the ground in Saskatchewan will be consumed and turned into carbon dioxide emissions without a dime of tax being applied.

Oil company profits are safe!

You might wonder how this helps the environment.  On the other hand, you might have stopped asking that question after Liberal MPs Ken Boshcoff and Martha Hall Findlay have already explained that no one expects any actual environmental benefit from the carbon tax.

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Yesterday I wrote that the story of Blair Wilson was coming to a close.  I think that's likely to be true, but today I have to point out the Blair Wilson is putting up what might be a last minute fight.

Part of that is what might be an attempt to alter the understanding of what started the Elections Canada investigation in the first place.

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Blair Wilson had admitted to violations of the Elections Act, but there will be no prosecution.  It is also likely that there will be no seat for Blair Wilson once this parliament rises for the last time.

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Seventeen boxes of sensitive Conservative material related to the In-and-Out affair being removed from Conservative Party headquarters by grim-looking Elections Canada officials.

The images from last April were quite powerful.

Would you like an update?  Well, for one thing, the boxes didn't leave the building, at least not until the relevancy of the seize material was determined.

And that determination was that over 85% of the material had nothing to do with the question of advertising financing in the 2006 election.  That material has been returned, but without a phalanx of cameras recording the march back into Conservative Party headquarters.

And the rest?  Virtually all of it was material Elections Canada already had.

Makes you wonder just what the point of all this was.  Just to put on a good show for the cameras?

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Some strong language from Jennifer Wright, the head of Green Shift Inc, the company suing the Liberal Party over the use of the name "Green Shift".

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