I'm republishing two comments from a Shotgun thread here. Take a gander at them. The talking points are in the extended entry, as the list is long.
Now, I suppose this could be a crank, or a devious diversion scheme, to suck in the right wing blogs to pull the Conservatives from the real Liberal agenda to finish siphoning off another billion or two before taking a one way flight to their undisclosed MP trust funds (yes, they actually have those) in tax havens in the Barbados where they'll all live it up with Uncle Jean and Papa Alphonso on the Canada Steamship Cruise Line .... but, this looks legit, on the basis of the content and what has been coming out of both Liberal spin and the softening media coverage.
And it's not as though the Conservatives are busy taking blogger advice, anyway, so if there's no harm in giviing it space.
The second part first.
I should add that the Libs have been feverishly testing the campaign talking points I outlined above on representative voter groups across the country. The "strategy" is also being bounced off some contacts within the Asper and Thompson media, the CBC, and Global. More communications work rendered to the Liberals as donations "in kind". In a one party state, the regime has powerful friends everywhere.Based on preliminary survey results, they are convinced they will pick up seats from the Conservatives in B.C., Sask, & Man. They also believe the Conservatives will collapse in Ontario. Bye-bye, Belinda! They will hold Atlantic Canada. Here's a surprise: the Liberals will be pulling a nolo contendere in Alberta. Their numbers are abysmal and they don't see that the fight would be worth it -- particularly as Alberta will be the bogey man of Confederation in the Liberal campaign, yet again. Look for an announcement just after the government falls that Landslide Annie is getting some government-engineered plum appointment. My source said she'd rather cash in on a sinecure with some payola than run again in Alberta. The Liberals can't believe their good luck on how soft and shifty Conservative support is across the country. The Libs are getting prepared for a battle of Berlin fight with the BQs in Quebec -- street by street, and, if necessary, house by house combat. Emotions are getting so volatile, I wouldn't be surprised if, by the end of it all, some good ol' Dupplesies ballot box tactics aren't resorted to. The Liberals are determined not to lose any of the seats in Quebec. When all the seats are counted across the country, the Libs believe, based on their current polling and their election "strategy", they will come off with a very modest (read: squeaker) majority. No Liberals will be going to jail in that case, and CSL and Power Corp. (BNP Paribase et al.) will be getting will be getting some very nice contracts, courtesy the Canadian taxpayer. I think a Martin majority will be a disaster for the justice system and for good government. Hence this leaked info.
Still have no opinion on this, other than the notion that the Liberals picking up seats from the Conservatives in Saskatchewan seems damned far fetched. I don't know which ones they'd be. Half the calls coming in to talk radio on this topic are openly pro-separatist in the event the Liberals return to power at the hand of Ontario. Comments from our politically connected lurkers here?
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A. Gomery spin:
** testimony given at Gomery is unsubstantiated allegation; much has been contradictory and inconsistent; much has come from witnesses who are being indicted for fraud and other criminal activity. ** Gomery and his PC counsel are biased against the Liberals and his commission has been a miscarriage of justice. ** alleged events have been isolated to Quebec only. ** alleged events have been isolated to a handful of rogue operatives in business and the bureaucracy who betrayed the trust and the honest intentions of the Liberal Party. ** the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party is a victim of the alleged fraud. ** Only Paul Martin was interested in seeing justice done: he established the commission, he shut done the sponsorship program, his government laid charges against alleged perpetrators ** Paul Martin and his Liberal Government had no connection whatsoever to any of the people involved in the alleged events; he has purged any and all who have. ** Paul Martin and his Liberal Government had no knowledge of or participation in any of the alleged events ** the purported sums involved in the alleged events are minuscule compared to the ultimate significance and importance of the real issue: saving Canada. And the Liberals saved Canada. ** the Cons and Bloq are not interested in discovering the truth; they want to scuttle the Gomery commission, prevent his report from being released, and score cheap political points by exploiting unproven allegations taken out of context. ** Only the Liberal Party is committed to ensuring that justice is done. The Liberals are the party of ethics and integrity in government. B. general anti-Conservative, pro-Liberal spin ** If the Liberals lose an election to the Cons, the Cons will form only a minority government with no Quebec support. The PQ will win the next provincial election in Quebec, and will agitate for separation. The only voice speaking for Canada in this crucial situation will be a weak, regional, unstable, Franco-hating federal Conservative government. This must be avoided at all costs by returning a Liberal majority government. Only the Liberal Party, Canada's Party, can keep Canada together; only the Liberal Party is the party of national unity and Canadian values. ** Canada's greatest treasure and possession is the Charter of Rights, which was given to the country by the great Pierre Trudeau and his Liberal Government. The Cons want to rip the Charter apart and trample on Canadians' rights and freedoms. The Cons don't care about minority rights. ** The Cons are anti-immigration and don't like new Canadians; the Cons are afraid of the world and want a small, parochial Canada. The Liberal Party wants to embrace the world, and wants a big, welcoming, tolerant Canada. Liberals love new Canadians, and Liberals want to share our country's good fortune with others. The Cons will shut down immigration and make it difficult for new Canadians to re-unite with their families. The Cons will try to take rights away from new Canadians. ** The Cons oppose clean air for Canadians because they oppose the Kyoto Accord. The Liberals want clean air for Canadians, and their children and children's children. The Cons are anti-environment; the Liberals are pro- environment and want a sustainable future for all Canadians. ** The Cons are opposed to international treaties because, like George Bush and his Republicans, they hate the UN and the countries of the world community. The Liberals want to make the world better by working with the international community as a respected, proud, strong nation. ** The Cons thinks gays are second-class citizens; who's the Conservative Party's next target of intolerance and hate? ** The Cons want to take away Canadians' right to free and accessible health care. They want health care only for the rich. ** Ralph Klein and Preston Manning, and probably the whole western firewall crowd, have proved that the Cons have a secret agenda on destroying the public health system, and on giving tax breaks for the rich. (cf. recent report of Manning and Harris for the Fraser Institute) ** The Cons are against equalization payments from well-off provinces to those provinces that need a help up. The Cons are greedy and don't want to share Canada's wealth; the Cons want to keep the average Canadian down. ** The Cons have killed the Liberal budget that promised equity to the Atlantic provinces; now Nova Scotia and Newfoundland will suffer without their rightful resource payments. The Cons think Atlantic Canadians have a defeatist attitude, and a Conservative government would keep the region down. Liberals want to help Atlantic Canadians, as they proved in the Liberal budget the Conservatives killed. ** The Conservatives have plunged the country into an unwanted election during a perilous time for unity. Canadians voted for the progressive Liberal agenda of the Paul Martin Liberals, and the Cons have spat in Canadians' faces by ripping up the people's agenda the Martin government was delivering on ** The Cons have killed the Liberal budget that promised a national day-care program for hard-working Canadian parents. The Cons don't want to help hard- working Canadians who can't afford exorbitant day-care costs for their children. The Liberals want to help Canadian children get the best care for their development; they're the future, and the Liberal Party is the party of Canada's future. The Cons are the party of the distant past ** Liberals want to help Canada's aboriginals; the Cons want to keep aboriginals in poverty and ignorance. ** The Cons have a secret agenda so scary and creepy, they are afraid and ashamed to make it clear to Canadians what they really stand for. The Liberal Party has a transparent agenda that makes Canada stronger and unified, and enhances Canadian values and freedoms and equality. ** the Liberals inherited a financial mess from the Conservatives, and it was Paul Martin who cleaned up Canada's finances, balanced the budget, and has paid down the debt. Martin and the Liberals are the party of financial prudence and responsibility. ** the Liberals are the party of Canadian values; the Cons are non-mainstream and extreme. The Cons represent divisive, bigoted, xenophobic, Canada-haters. If the Cons come to power, they would break up Canada by allowing Quebec to separate, by stacking the judicial benches with their like-minded ilk who hate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and by stepping on average Canadians by giving money to their rich friends. ** The Cons would allow their pay-masters in the oil industry to rip off Canadians while wrecking the environment. ** The Cons have no government experience, no sophistication, and are simply political opportunists. ** Remember Mulroney and all his corruption and scandals? Mulroney's Conservative Government screwed Canadians and helped only his rich friends. ** The Cons would destroy Canadian culture by privatizing the CBC and getting rid of Canadian cultural institutions. The Cons would weaken the Canadian fabric that keeps us all bound together. ** The Liberal Party is the party that has given good government to all Canadians. Canadians keep electing Liberal governments, because the values of Canadians are Liberal values, and Liberal values are Canadian values. The Liberal Party gave Canada its flag, its social welfare programs, its rights and freedoms, and its strong and growing economy. The Liberal Party is the party of fairness, equity, tolerance, and justice. ** NDP supporters need to vote for the Liberals instead of throwing away their votes and which would ensure a Conservative government. The Liberal Party is the real party of social justice anyway; NDP values are Liberal values. NDPers must support the Liberals to save Canada from the Cons. ** If federalists in Quebec vote for the Bloq, they will be jeopardizing Quebec's place in Confederation, and all the privileges and advantages and financial benefits that entails. ** All Quebec federalists must vote for the Liberal Party, Canada's only truly national party, the only party that has saved and will save Canada. ** Steven Harper takes his orders from the backroom; Mulroney, Manning, Klein, and Harris are all telling him what to do. This backroom crowd will wreck health care for Canadians, but Paul Martin and his Liberals will save health care. Liberals think health care is for everyone; Harper and the Cons want to see your wallet before they let you, or your parents, or your children have an operation or treatment. Under a Conservative government, you'll have to be rich before you can have a hip replacement, a cardiac bypass, or dialysis treatment. ** The Liberals are the party of light; the Cons, the party of darkness. Canadians must ensure that the dark never extinguishes the light. |
Duplessis' motto was vote early and vote often.
Sounds familiar. A lot of these were used in the last election. If the Conservative Party cant overcome these then they dont really deserve to win and Canadians get the government they deserve "the party of light" (yeech, I didnt know Liberals read cheap fantasy novels :->)
The Grits have already started down this path - whether the talking points are from a true insider or not doesn't matter, as this is IMO a fairly accurate and nicely succint summary of Lib key messages. Liberal-sympathetic media have already kicked into action, sooner than I thought would happen - watch the ludicrous Mike Duffy's "analysis" from last night on CTV.ca for the spin on the Boulet luncheon (here it is: "Of course Mr Martin can't quite recall..One meets so MANY people"...)
Sounds like a job for an anti-socialist... Will have counter points for each of the above posted by noon...
The enemy of the people, the electronic arm of the Liberal party, - the CBC- was at it again today. Harry Forestell had on a political panel with purported representation from all 3 major non- separatist parties.
The purported Conservative spokesperson was Red Tory Hugh Segal , who gave a disgraceful performance shaking his head "No" as Saskatchewan NDPer Janice MacKinnon (sp?) stated this could be the worst scandal in Canadian political history.
Even the CBC host was clearly not prepared to go as far as Segal to downplay this scandal. Segal is recommending that the Conservatives not force an election. He claims they will end up with fewer seats than they have now. He wants to wait for the Gomery report ( by which time the Liberals will have manufactured an overriding issue- look for digital photos of Harper in bed with a small boy.)
The technique of putting forward a Liberal wearing Conservative garb is nothing new for the CBC. They perfected this practice with Dalton Camp.
Someone with influence on the CPC needs to get the party to issue a press release that Hugh Segal does not speak for the party.
As to when to go to the people, I say ignore the expertise of Mr. Segal. The time to go is as soon as the Gomery Commission stops hearing evidence. The CPC has nothing to lose by going to the people then. If the CPC can't ride this issue to victory they will not form the government in the foreseeable future.
Sadly, the scenerio painted in your post is not at all unlikely. I can only conclude that the reason for the blase attitute of the electorate stems from the fact that such a high proportion of same are directly or indirectly benefiting from largesse of one sort or another. As Napoleon once said "A man will fight harder for his interests than he will for his rights."
As for the sacred-cow CHA, this is a scare-tactic that has worked before and no doubt will score some points again. Unfortunately, the system is broken and the band-aids that are periodically applied to it are never put to efficacy tests to see if they result in more and/or improved service.
When Galileo was being tried as a heretic, he asked his inquisitors to simply look through his telescope. They refused. I guess it remains true to this day that people will believe what they want to believe.
"The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all."
John F. Kennedy
I just posted this at the Shotgun and thought it might also apply here.
It is quite telling of the mood of some T.O. voters.
"Having just been in Buffalo earlier in the week I was able to listen to talk radio in T.O.
After listening to Bill Carroll and Michael Coren's shows , callers in T.O. seem to be favouring a Liberal government returning . So many of the callers were pissed at the Libs but were not ready to put in the Conservatives , mainly because they were afraid of the hidden agenda.
When asked to elaborate on their uneasiness with the Torys you could hear crickets chirping or they would just say they couldn't trust stupid rednecks from Alberta to run the country.
Not one caller that I could hear was able to give a good reason other than cliched answers, or parrot what they heard elsewhere.
It seems to me that if the Libs get in again with even a minority Gov. that it will sow the seeds of a western sepratist movement.
I hope this happens soon so I can move back to a country I can be proud of once again."
What scares me is that this strategy is likely to work, especially on the golden sheep of Ontario. If Ontarians elect the Liberals again while Qu�beckers and Western Canadians mostly reject them you are going to see a referendum with a guaranteed YES vote in Qu�bec and the rise of a separatist movement in Alberta.
IF Quebecers and Western Canadians were really smart about the whole thing, they should threaten to separate then join the USA. That should make all those Liberals go nuts. Unfortunatly that will be a political bomb that no one is willing to play with.