Liberal Party Stephane Dion has a remarkable ability to take something as simple as a meeting and turn it into a battle of wills.

A battle of wills between himself and no one else.

And then Stephane Dion still manages to lose.

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In the polls, a lot of focus falls on Quebec.  The Conservatives doing well, the Liberals still struggling -- clearly part of the decision to go to an election.

But there is another shift happening that matters too.  In Atlantic Canada, the Liberals number have tumbled badly, and I think that is driving two high profile criticisms of Stephane Dion's carbon tax.

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History has been made today.  The Green Party has an MP in Canada's parliament.

Well, technically, the Green Party has an MP who is ready to sit in parliament, though it is unlikely parliament will sit before an election is called.

Indeed, after all is said and done, the Green Party might come out of all this never have had a sitting MP.

And certainly not an elected MP.

That might not matter much to some people, but I think these are more than just subtle distinctions.

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At the blog Repossessing Halton, there is a convincing argument building that suggests that Liberal Party MP Garth Turner dons the pseudonym "Milton John" in order to lurk on blogs critical of him, and post nasty responses.

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On the verge of an election, the rumours are flying fast and furious.  In this case, the Liberals are rumoured to making a serious play for their former stronghold of Outremont, lost to the NDP in a by-election. 

The secret weapon would be former Liberal cabinet minister Martin Cauchon.

But if I was Stephane Dion, I'd be worried about why Martin Cauchon would be willing to get back into politics.

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The BC riding of Nanaimo-Alberni is represented by Conservative MP James Lunney.  There is no Liberal candidate yet, and no one has filed papers yet to be the candidate.

Nevertheless the Liberal riding association president thinks the Liberals can win this riding, but it would help a lot if "leader" Bob Rae would come for a visit.

Huh?

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Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion has done it again.  He tries to act decisive, and ends up being made the fool.  In this case, he refused to meet with Stephen Harper until he, Dion, was good and ready. 

Well, Jack Layton decided the meeting was an opportunity to look like a responsible opposition leader, and has agreed to meet.

And now Gilles Duceppe is rumoured to be meeting with Harper ahead of Layton.

And with that, Gilles Duceppe has rendered Stephane Dion irrelevant.

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The Liberal Party under Stephane Dion wants to fight an election, or so they say, but later this fall.  Apparently kicking off an election now, in September, is a bad thing.

A good thing would be kicking off an election in October.

Why?  Really, what difference would it make?

In either case, Stephane Dion would still have to face a leadership review in December, either as the new prime minister or as the loser of a general election, so from that point of view, there really isn't a difference.

Then it struck me that, for the Liberals, there is one big difference in starting an election in October.  All federal parties that meet the criteria get their next Elections Canada quarterly allowance in October.  The way the Liberals have been complaining about starting an election now instead of just a few weeks from now tells me that the Liberals need that money, and desperately. 

Until that cheque arrived, Stephen Harper was going to get a free ride from the Liberals.

I think we ought to have an election now.  Having the proper functioning of parliament (which includes an effective opposition) short-circuited by a broke political party that lurches from quarter to quarter on the back of taxpayers is just wrong.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 07:51 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Last night I completed a survey of all the websites of sitting Liberal MPs.

I was looking to see how the Stephane Dion's carbon tax was being described, but as a bonus the survey itself turned up several interesting things.  The first thing you notice is just how un-shifty the Liberal caucus seems to be.

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Hey, did you notice that www.StephaneDion.ca doesn't go anywhere?

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The story, told over and over again, of the guile of the Devil entrapping the greedy and the foolish is one we are all familiar with.  That literary device is one of those minor gifts of our Christian heritage (where the embodiment of evil is a lesser being than God, and so must depend on his sly words instead of brute force to win souls to his side).

When I see what has happened to Joan Beatty's name online, I immediately think of this metaphor. 

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Astonishingly, some people aren't as perceptive as Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion, and think that a carbon tax is a complex plan that will negatively affect a lot of people.

In Ireland, the leader of the Green Party and the Minister for the Environment in the coalition government, John Gormley, has dropped plans for a carbon tax for exactly such reasons.

This the second time the goverment in Ireland has been forced to step back from implementing a carbon tax.

Why?  Who knows?  The reasons given make no sense.  Don't they know that this tax is simple to implement, makes everyone richer, eliminates poverty, has no effect on rural voters, and saves the environment?

That's what Stephane Dion has been explaining to Canadians.  Maybe he needs to give John Gormley a call and explain it to him.

Shouldn't take more than 15 minutes or so. 

Posted by: Steve Janke at 07:59 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Sometimes I just don't understand what Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion is talking about.

With Prime Minister Stephen Harper making it clear that he is setting down conditions for not triggering an election, Stephane Dion is saying that Prime Minister Harper could be convinced not to call an election once he realizes such a call would only work in favour of the Liberals.

So what is Stephane Dion saying?  That he doesn't want an election that would favour the Liberals?

Posted by: Steve Janke at 12:23 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I know it might seem boring, but tracking just how the Liberal Party's idea to name Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan The Green Shift, deliberately ignoring the existence of Jennifer Wright's Green Shift Inc, is damaging Wright's company serves a purpose.

It stands as a testimony to just how Jennifer Wright is right -- her company is becoming confused by one and all with the Liberal tax plan. 

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Sorry for the long break between posts, but I've been on vacation, and a series of unfortunate events conspired to keep me offline for the entire duration.

Heck, I only just found out about the Maple Leaf listeria outbreak.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 09:47 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Interestingly, a full 11 days after registering thegreenshift.ca to be the online home of Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion's plan for a massive carbon tax, the Liberals registered thegreentaxshift.ca.  That was only days after being told by Jennifer Wright that she did not want to share the name.  Days after registering this alternate name, the Liberals were served with a cease-and-desist order from Jennifer Wright of Green Shift Inc.

Despite registering this alternate name, the Liberals aren't using it, preferring to fight Jennifer Wright for "Green Shift".

Update: I found some more alternate names.  And they were all registered after the launch and after the call to Jennifer Wright, not before.

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Right on the heels of a news story reporting that the Liberals claim no reasonable chance of confusion between the Liberal Party's Green Shift tax plan and Jennifer Wright's Green Shift environmental consultancy firm, I find yet another example of confusion between the two.

As before, it is a Liberal who is unable to keep the two straight.

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No this isn't a double posting.  I just posted yesterday about how the Liberals lost candidate Parissa Aujla.

In reading an entirely unrelated story, I learned that another candidate has quit.

It happened at the beginning of the summer, and the reason given by Buffy Baumbrough for quitting was that she did not feel she could help the environment as a federal Liberal.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 09:11 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Shocking revelations at the committee hearings looking into Conservative Party election spending.

Thanks to Liberal MP Karen Redman, we learned two things:

• Other parties engaged in In-and-Out funding and are being investigated by Elections Canada
• The Liberals are sore at Conservative efficiency, and believe that is why the Conservatives need to be punished

Posted by: Steve Janke at 08:27 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The Ontario Young Liberals hosted a three day party in Guelph this past weekend.

That's great.

And they debate Liberal Party policy and strategy.

That's great.

And they want everyone to vote for Frank Valeriote on September 8 at the by-election.

Oops.

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