This morning Saskatchewan premier Lorne Calvert announced that the Raise A Flag campaign for a Saskatchewan Energy Accord will wrap up "because he wouldn't want to spend taxpayers' money to influence an election campaign."
(If that quote doesn't parse, change settings to "suspend disbelief", then reload.)
As of late last week Calvert was pledging before TV cameras that the website's online poll would go back up after a "security fence" was constructed to prevent "inappropriate" voting.
Apparently, this whole non-confidence vote thingie in Ottawa just sorta blindsided him.
Update
Thanks to reader Mark Pearson, a video clip of CTV news item from last week - it's 6 megs, so not dialup friendly. .mwv file
NEANER, NEANER, NEANER!!
"GOTCHA POLITICS" IS NO LONGER THE DOMAIN OF MAESTROS LIKE (ONTARIO'S SANDRA "LADY CHURCHILL") PUPATELLO AND KINSELLA!!!
CHEERS AND CONGRATS!
At least he got it Right in the end...
A security fence?
And if pigs had wings- they would be flying out of here very shortly, ( in large numbers).
Way to go, Kate!
Plato,
Don't ya know that inappropriate voting is caused by inappropriate people? Calvert's security fence is needed to keep the riff-raff away from the keyboards.
"Is this the party to which I am speaking? (snort)- Lily Tomlin. "The number you have dialed is no longer in service-please consult your directory and dial again. This is a recording."- Mabellamis
Yup, "security fence" was the term he used.
Can you imagine the anger of the government's IT security people when he suggested to the media that the website had been hacked?
I'll wager there were a few loud closed door meetings over that...
Thanks for posting this Kate. I've been watching the raiseaflag.ca site waiting for the updated poll but it never came.
As far as changing settings, I can only seem to find "disbelief" and Calvert's reason needs to be run through a grammar checker, a lie detector, a meat grinder and finally burned for the refuse that it is.
Bottom line is that they monitored this site. They knew that the poll itself was useless. We know they fixed the results. They knew we figured out that his comments last week both looked bad for him and insulted us - both as bloggers and those of us who are professional web developers.
However, today's comments don't do much for him either. My assessment of the raiseaflag.ca site is that they used a third party software to implement the poll. They have a web master, not a programmer. They aren't and won't be readily able to implement an improved polling software without the approval and cooperation of the party that built it in the first place. They don't have the technical prowess, the assessment skills or even the common sense to do this a) as promised, b) on time or c) properly and securely so they had to come up with an excuse. There is no "security fence" on the site as it is or as it was promised. We gave them the weekend to think about even though it was promised for Friday. They couldn't fix it so out comes the excuse. Unfortunately that also means that there are other government polls using the faulty MercuryCMS software out there ready to be corrupted at any time. Or worse yet, exposed by someone with some time on their hands.
Thank you Mr. Calvert for at least acknowledging that your people are unable to do the job. Even if you had to lie to us about the reasoning. Just remember that some of us can actually read between the lines.
Oh yes, and one more reminder. Most of the Gov't websites are still using that same faulty software and will be under close watch by us in the future. Take a bold leap and hire some people who know what they are doing.
I think you might have more honest government in Saskatchewan if you had someone with say ... roots in a church ... maybe a minister or preacher for example.
Wait .... isn't Calvert a churchie? Silly me.
Let me know if you don't receive my Email Calvert.
I am sending via Rubber bandwidth. Bwahahaha
Altruistic,
"hire people who know what they are doing"?
You must be aware that they hire.
a. family
b. friends
c. visible minorities
d. handicapped or special needs
e. campaigne workers
f. girlfiends
g. someone who may know what they are doing, but there is no one intrviewing that would be able to tell that.
Laugh with me some more at my blog eh?
Duke,
I guess it is true that not everyone they hire is out for excellence in their field.
If the people who do the hiring display as much knowledge about the field as Calvert himself, as I found out in the past, there is no wonder the "security fence" can't be implemented in the promised time frame. The HR people I met have different requirements for abilites then the team manager does.
But I like Kate's take on this.....the non-confidence thing just blindsided Calvert. You know what dude, you need some new political analysts then too!!
Altruistic
"You know what dude, you need some new political analysts then too!!"
Explain?
Duke,
I mean that if Calvert *really* did get blindsided by this non-confidence thing, if he really didn't see it coming until this morning, if he **REALLY** had no clue last week when the raise a flag site was causing problems( and he promised a fix by Friday ) that there was a looming federal election, then that means that Calvert a) never turns on a TV, b) doesn't read blogs, and c) doesn't have anyone to advise him of the current political environment.
In which case, if Mr. Calvert is out of touch with the country, then he must be out of touch with the people of Saskatchewan. Time for him to hire someone who can a) watch tv, b) read blogs, and c) advise him what's happening. Then he can hire someone else to interpret it for him.
Heck, they have enough money, he could probably hire a third guy to summarize it and convert it into a nice little 3 frame cartoon.
Altruistic, NDP are way too cheap to hire someone thy have to pay for expertise - most programers, like yourself, are capitalists!!! Culvert and his minnions would NEVER trust someone like that!
NICE GOING, Kate, I watched the interview, very well done. I know you can send culvert back to his gopher - or the other way around!! Did he ever look stupid. Maybe he will leave on his own - oh yeh, pigs don't fly. His mandate must be almost run out by now isn't it?
One second folks. Maybe we need to bring this up in a full-blown post somewhere but I was just thinking....
If raise-a-flag was shutdown so it doesn't appear that public money is being used to influence a campaign then we have a big problem.
1) Shouldn't we use the election to get what SK wants?
2) Aren't there other initiatives of Calvert's that need to be shut down for the same reason.....like, all of them?
Maybe we should just all sit quietly with our hands under our bottoms until the whole election is over. You know, wouldn't want to influence anyone....let nature take it's course...
Perhaps Calvert talks to god. He is a preacher.
Last time I heard, god wasn't into computers. He still operates on the "hearing voices" mode.
This flag was a survey and a plea to put pressure on the Liberal government.A lot of people on this blog are against a lot of things.What are you for?
I can tell by the conversation that you are young and inexperienced. Yes maybe Mr.Calvert talks to god. But your leader thinks God talks to him. Who's more dangerous.
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