Your post is the reason you're the top conservative blogger Kate. I'm so sick and tired of the whines at some blogs that have become obsessed with the media blame game. Hopefully this will make folks think about just what's more important? Supporting the crappy media or a great leader?

Thanks!

People will respect you if you have some guts and principle.

Watering down your conservative stance doesn't get you any points from those who won't vote for you in any case.

The message to the 'mushy middle' should be; 'Here is how conservative economics works for you'

If you can't sell that, then the problem is your delivery...

Cheers

Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief

1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North"

That's Cjunk, not Kate, Cat.

It is clear that 15% of Canadians are lemmings. If something as ridiculous as proroguing can shift the polls to that degree then the media DOES have the ability to play king maker. The media doesn't have to be powerful to have a large impact. They just have to be powerful enough to influence the 15% of Canadians who aren't intelligent enough to make their own assessment.

These are the list of agenda need to review by Harper and all other opposition soon:

http://www.sodahead.com/living/do-you-believe-people-can-change/question-853345/

start from anger management and abuse power and hate among politician who did not benefit regular people and their bullyness among us and we were wonder what is going on ??

Canadian before fix their political party need to fix their anger first

that is not politic they are running all is hate toward each other

future question we need to ask member of parlement

how many kid they have how many wife they have include all affair how many glss of win they drink how must they spend their home budget how they care about stop crime in city etc...
because if we do not know this answer we may spend so much money for thier politic bonouses

The biggest problem we have with Canadian politics right now is the media. I for one will continue to blame them for just about everything that is wrong with this country. AND I AM NOT WHISPERING.

Thanks for articulating my thoughts to a "T". There are a lot of us fiscal conservatives who want smaller government, less regulations, more common sense, tough on crime, I am really feeling abandoned by the pols, time for our own tea parties. I'll come out and scream.

ferrethouse says it well. The media thinks that it is now the 1st estate rather than the 5th.

Harper should use the Lame Stream Media's dislike of him to his advantage, if he's so shrewed he can do them some serious damage. I'd rather lose an election that watch the DietCon Party go further to the left.

The media thinks it is the 1st estate because Harper has abdicated control. This from someone who is supposed to be so political savvy and a great strategist.

Personally, I like the Palin style of dealing with the media.....BITE ME!

Although I have to say that anyone who hasn't noticed the decidely Liberal slant of the media since Donolo came on board isn't paying attention. It is absolutely crystal clear that he is calling on the Liberal sycophants to come to his aid. No doubt about it.

That said, the latest Nanos poll (a real polling firm) shows the Conservatives 2% up on the Liberals. But it will be interesting to see what Harper and the Conservatives have planned going forward. I have the sense they are using the "rope-a-dope" strategy which is causing Ignatieff to shadow-box an imaginary opponent before the fight has even started. We can hope.

Some people have mentioned it is to do with how the message is delivered which I agree with. But the media like most on the left despise us because they know their cushy jobs depend on the system they have built more than on their competence or even need for their services by society. The left also knows that conservatives given free reign will lead to some of them being chopped. This must happen to save society which is bigger than they are of course. The media is the problem and conservatives must deal with it. There are tactics to deal with them and they must be developed at an advanced level.

Media is only messenger here we can not simply blame it to messengers

May be this is time to reform conservative, liberal and NDP party in Canada

Or look for new suggestions for a new political party to help small and big pictures

You still can

Blame it to:

www.google.ca/#hl=en&rlz=1R2ADSA_enCA361&q=good+people+do+not+trust+or+like+to+join+political+party&meta=&aq=&oq=good+people+do+not+trust+or+like+to+join+political+party&fp=b4df0e9520ce60db

www.google.ca/#hl=en&rlz=1R2ADSA_enCA361&ei=zBJ3S-HpEIHP8QbPlenzCQ&sa=X&oi=spellfullpage&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=2&ved=0CAcQvwUoAQ&&q=why+still+good+people+do+not+help+political+party&spell=1&fp=b4df0e9520ce60db

www.bloggernews.net/14755

That's funny, as much as I despise the Toronto media, I've never thought, or read anyone state anything resembling your straw man statement: "we can’t do what we want to, because of the media!”

The reason the Conservatives can't "do what they want to" is because the Conservative’s do not have a mandate from the people of Canada to invoke the policies that you want. It’s not the Conservatives who aren’t conservative, it’s the people of Canada. Harper is the Prime Minister of Canada, not the Prime Minister of the Conservative Party of Canada. It’s really is that simple and that obvious.

But lets have a look at what Obama is doing. He never campaigned on instituting hard left policies like he has been. The result of those policies is the election of a Republican named Scott Brown in the most left wing of states, Massachusetts.

And you’re whining that Harper isn’t following that non-genius strategy!

Somewhat silly post.

The drop in the polls is due primarily to a lack of news and thus positive profile for the CPC. After proroging and the olympics end, the cpc will again be front and centre with quality policies and legislation. The LPC will be faced with arguing for more spending, higher taxes, no tough crime legislation, no elected senate reform etc. They will also look foolish demanding the govt fall whilst doing nothing to precipitate it.

It is important to understand that in a static environment the natural drift of canadian politics is back towards the LPC. This
is what happened over the past couple of months. However it is equally important to understand that that drift back to the left is about 4 to 6 % less than it was two to three years ago. And that with good policies etc. the higher limit for the CPC is just north of 40% - something that really hasn't existed before probably in my lifetime (45- plus years). Stephen Harper has wisely decided to treat the canadian body politic as if it was a huge tanker ship that for decades has drifted more and more to the left. He has chosen to nudge the rudder a few degrees tonthe right and hold it there and slowly - but surely - the course has now changed to a much more rightward course. Had he yanked the tiller extremely hard he would have been relieved of the captaincy.

Heckling from the right (cjunk et al) is heard, but not heeded.

Stephen Harper is engaged in a transatlantic voyage against strong headwinds - trying to bring the country to a more prosperous and safe conservative shore. He is not engaged in a half-hour romp on a jet-ski ride (allusions to Stock not intended).

In our first-past-the-post system the difference between 35% and 45% at the polls is zero to hero. The media can blow poll numbers around a small number of points, if they all start ranting from the same page like they did with the prorogue business, but they can't affect things in the long term.
If PMSH can get the Senate to work and produce bills and can be seen to be moving the nation's business forward in a timely manner then I don't think this drop in the polls will hang around long.
I would like PMSH and the Conservatives to start biting back harder against those leftoids who are trying to make 'war criminals' out of our soldiers, however.

Coping with an overwhelming media bias is a delicate problem.
Sarah Palin has harnessed the rabid media to HER advantage.
1) She slyly incites them to keep her visible....there is no such thing as bad publicity.
2) With a simple phrase on Facebook..."death-panels"....she dealt OBAMACARE a fatal blow.
3) Simply by writing on her hand, she has the Media now trumpeting her positions from the rooftops.
Harper, Prentice and the CPC are doing a McCain and it isn't working for them either.

Um, you do know this poll was commissioned by Liberal blogger Brent fuller of CATI right?

.

It cannot be said often enough, Corporate Canadian MSM hate conservatives and Harper in particular.

However now that the Shaw Family have struck a deal for CanWest Global one would hope they rejig the Global TV Network to mirror the Fox Network in the US.

I suspect that full throated prime time National TV conservative voices like Mark Steyn, Wendy Sullivan, Kathy Shaidle, or who knows, perhaps even Kate McMillan in Canadian TV would not only be a money maker for Shaw but a much needed game changer in Canada politically.

Listen up Mr. Shaw!

I agree with Gord Tulk and Blame Crash, but it would be nice to be thrown a bone from time to time. Maybe a sec 13 bone. Yeah that would be a great bone. Toss is over.

I am with Gord on this topic. The media in Canada are vicious bullies who will stoop to any level in order to sneer down their runny noses at people who they consider beneath them (all taxpayers who have not turned Bolshevik). One only needs to pan the way Canadian msm sneers at prominent people like Sarah Palin, Ronald Regan, George W. Bush, Stockwell Day, Glenn Beck, Margaret Thatcher....they gush and goo over goofs like Billy Clinton, Barry Obama, Gilles Duceppe, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Putin, China, Che Guevara, Castro, Chavez, Prince Charlie....In real life, any of the latter list would be considered unfit company; certainly not someone to trust with children or property. People who have a chip on their shoulders for responsible citizens (ie those that can be trusted) have nothing but some childish sneering to shelter themselves from exposing their own inadequacies. People always drift to company that reinforces their own self esteem - being a tobacco smoker, I like nothing better than to meet people who also smoke so I can feel comfort and camaraderie in sharing my fanatically hated habit with another person who enjoys the same habit. Smokers always find each other and drift away from the mainstream of any gathering to have their own outdoor party. Until smokers were marginalized and painted as evil killers the rift and hostility towards smokers did not exist. Before the WHO preached the fanatical anti tobacco doctrine to a bored group of people looking for a 'cause', people made up their own minds about smoking and property owners made their own rules too. Same goes for alcohol consumption/Prohibition -one of my Great Aunts was a part of the Prohibition crowd in the 1930s, she would not allow alcohol of any kind to touch her lips and if she found out that anyone she knew had had a drink or two she wrote them off her list of potential friends. Prohibition, like anti tobacco fanaticism, succeeded in dividing society, made 'black persons' out of former friends and took the fun out of living. Tarring and feathering certain segments of society is a tried and true method of creating unrest within societies - it is the tool of elitist wanna be World Order Controllers. The hopy dopy AGW is another example of dividing people and the bottom sing song line is always 'for the children'; ironically the 'for the children' choir are the same shrills who beat the drum for people who trumpet for the right to kill kill babies before/during birth!!

The Bolsheviks are masters of the art of creating division and chaos among people. Acceptable norms and behaviour are made into unacceptable criminal behaviors and vice versa - smoking pot is O.K. (even 'cool') smoking tobacco is criminal; spanking or disciplining a child is criminal, killing a unborn/recently born baby is responsible affirmative action, stealing from the boss is Okay (esp, if you are a Liberano Politician buying votes with your employer's money), protecting your own property against a thief is criminal...

The Canadian msm are tools of the Bolshevik mindset - the msm will gain prestige and $$ from a election of the Troika outfit in Canada and they will laugh and sneer at the fool citizens who voted with them; like they are doing in America, right now. The division the msm are intent on right now is marginalizing the Prime Minister from the people who supported the Conservative (sane) government in the last election. If they can separate PMSH from the positive image most people have of him they will succeed in getting the radical Troika in power and they can watch with glee as this nation eats itself from within. They have succeeded before (ever notice how many msm people smoke? hummm) and they think that they are on a roll now. So Conservatives who diss the Prime Minister are what the msm call 'useful idiots'; they just have to egg on the malcontents and their job is done for them. They will sneer at the idiots after the deed is done.

Sasquatch:

palin isn't running for anything. I doubt she will run for the potus nom in 2012. I doubt she would win if she did.

She no doubt helped and is helping with the fight against socialist obamism but she certainly did not deal the "death blow" to obamacare. That was largely a self-inflicted wound with a bit of help from a right-guy at the right time Mr. Brown.

PMSH and company are in power and perilously so - minority-rule could disappear as early as the end of may. Naturally they have to conduct their affairs in a more tempered and careful fashion than ms. Palin.

Canadians deserve the Liberals - the present motley
crew, collection of fools - just as they deserved
much much more of Paul Martin than they got.

The Americans were unhappy with George W. for no
very good reason - so we know what they did.

It is an interesting question as to how bad
Michael Ignatieff will be as Prime Minister. Given
that he is, apparently, related to Russian royalty,
and indeed some of his photos show the same
deer-caught-in-the headlights look of Nicholas II,
and he seems to have about the same grasp of
politics, I rather expect him to be a disaster.

Hey Joe Molnar

It would be nice to have an alternative to the MSM that we have here in Canada. You would think that anyone here looking to make money in broadcasting would have a look at the Fox model. I don't think we even need their model we just need a good honest news station. It would as you say "be a game changer".

Jema54- Nailed it! Absolutely!

There are fewer dumber, more irritating habits of The Right than to blame the media when ANYTHING goes wrong. The media's bad, but Harper sucks at communicating. Even if he had a message, which he doesn't, he couldn't sell it if Canada depended on it-which it just happens too.
Oh, and what planet are the people who say Harper is pushing Canada to the right living on? With a 40% increase in spending, no action of Sec13 or the CHRCs, and other government intrusions like his idiotic idea to expand the war on drugs, Canada hasn't been further to the left in some time, at least in terms of policy. Bring back Paul Martin!

Please don't leave IggyIffy and his anti-life Party outta the conservation.

It's not fair.
...-

"Liberal Party of Canada Leader: Party Will Never Open the Door ... **
In a response sent to several individuals who contacted him for comment on his party's stand on abortion, Ignatieff stated: "It is the longstanding view of the Liberal Party of Canada that women..."
www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09052506.html

Taliban Jack LaytoNDP demands equal time. Equality is Jacky's motto.
(Lizard May is on tap.)

Kacky's equality: "It is also a measure of why the Muslim world’s political culture is so terribly retarded relative to that of the non-Muslim world."
...-

"Anti-Semitism widespread in Muslim world

By SALIM MANSUR, QMI Agency"

http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/salim_mansur/2010/02/12/12859576.html

Gord,

It is up to the CPC, NOT the media, to create positive news and a positive profile.

The CPC does not control the message, they do not create the story, they are playing gutter politics, and have thereby become virtally indistinguishable from the Liberals.

Harper has not sold the Conservative ideal to Canadians. So, why should Canadians vote for something they don't know about? Is the Conservative ideal so "scary" that you have to manipulate people and parliamentary policy to garner votes?

It is my experience that Conservatives win when they talk and walk fiscal Conservatism in Canada.

Not getting a majority against Dion and Iggy speaks volumes about the future of the CPC.

Well, Harper continues to rush to the left in order to try to get a majority. It isn't working. Not only aren't the voters in the center buying it, much of his conservative base aren't buying it either.

When the next election rolls around, I look forward the the phone call from my Conservative MP's office (heaven forbid Trost actually ring doorbells) so I can ask them exactly why they think he deserves my vote again, when he's done nothing for the riding, his constituents, or the country.

Didn't have time to read all the comments but here's my analysis in short.

It's all theatre right now because the electorate will punish whomever forces an election. Look towards the budget and I suspect the Dippers or the Liberals will turn a blind eye and support it. Crisis avoided.

PMSH must resist the urge to stick-it to the opposition and put forward a budget that demonstrates a tightening of the purse. It will be difficult to bring the government down for not spending enough. JMO

Real conservatives stayed home in November 2008, too, djb et alia. How's that working out?

Exactly, andycanuck.

The CPC can create all the positive news they want and it's not worth squat if the MSM doesn't report it. I'd like to see the Conservative Party being more forceful but we seem to be at some kind of crossroads right now and Harper is playing the game his way. Once we get the majority then if things don't change then I'll stop voting. But I'm hardly about to vote NDP because I don't think Harper is being forceful enough in a minority government.

Indistinguishable from the Liberals? Give your head a shake.

oh please, Sarah Palin has natural political talent and I am saying it having no stake to support her. Comparison to "once a bright kid" (although a bit awkward) Harper is not fair. He had to work for recognition.

Sparky:

"It is my experience that Conservatives win when they talk and walk fiscal Conservatism in Canada."

cite the case.

"... they are playing gutter politics, and have thereby become virtally indistinguishable from the Liberals."

cite examples of "gutter politics" please

Q: "Real conservatives stayed home in November 2008, too, djb et alia. How's that working out?'
A: I imagine it's working out pretty well; vindication always feels good.

Gord, would you care to report all this "positive news" or are you just going to keep whining that the MSM doesn't do what the PMSH and CPC communications are supposed to do? THERE IS NO POSITIVE NEWS TO REPORT: it is all huge budget deficits and other BS. They even brought back the court challenges program. For serial.

The CPC isn't indistinguishable from the Liberals. It's worse.

Sparky:

"It is my experience that Conservatives win when they talk and walk fiscal Conservatism in Canada."

cite the case.

"... they are playing gutter politics, and have thereby become virtally indistinguishable from the Liberals."

cite examples of "gutter politics" please

Two comments.

1 Sure = new

2 So what are you going to do about it Cjunk? Vote NDP? I have never found that pissing on my hamburger because it isn't a steak makes it taste any better. Your mileage may vary.

3 It's not the media, it's the fact that the CPC is in a minority position.

4 I lied about 2 comments, so sue me.

I half - or more like one-third - agree with your Robert Fife post, almost entirely because of what you say about Prentice, whose recent pronouncements about the Oil Sands and statements on the importance of fighting global warming leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like he's grandstanding for benefit of the enemy, as it were. That being said, I really do think that you're underestimating the amount of damage that a hostile Canadian media can cause to the CPC, and, by extension, to Conservative supporters.

"Conservatives point to the prorogation scandal as proof that only the media frenzy surrounding it and dishonest reporting have caused the public to frown on the CPC."

Take out the word "only" and I'm one of those Conservatives. Parliament has prorogued 105 times in 143 years and it's never - not in my memory - been treated by the media as an outrageous act in the slightest. When they started hammering away at the partisan, drummed-up narrative that the recent prorogation (only 15 sitting days were lost, and it was only the second prorogation in Harper's 4 years as PM) was an insult to Canadians by an arrogant, mean man, it actually *did* cause a fair number of Canadians to think that he'd committed an unprecedented assault on Canadian democracy.

When Chretien prorogued Parliament for *four months*, it was his fourth prorogation in ten years. Trudeau prorogued 11 times in 16 years. The Conservatives' recent prorogation was just their second in four years. These absolutely critical facts were comprehensively elided by our larger media, particularly our broadcast media, because they decided to start spinning a yarn that Harper was insulting Canadian voters by proroguing. That's fraud, IMO, and it does have an effect.

Lots of people - I've met some of them - are completely unaware that the whole issue was a completely fake, partisan issue drummed up mindfully by an anti-Conservative media.

"Just this past week we learned that UK citizens are turning against the idea that global warming is human caused and that it will be catastrophic...If UK citizens can be made to switch their views by a handful of blogs and a few broadsheet editorials, imagine what an honest and skilled CPC communication campaign might effect."

Actually, Paul, the shift in opinion in the UK was almost certainly a result of coverage by the UK *media* who, unlike their Canadian counterparts, have been hammering at away at the Warmists for quite some time now. In this piece at the Telegraph, David Cameron details the sort of press coverage that's been going on in Britain, including the fact that British TV reporters have been going after warmists who are "goggling like rabbits in the headlights all over our television screens." That's not happening here, to put it mildly.

I wish that the Canadian MSM were beside the point and that they are not a pervasive and hugely powerful force in Canadian politics -and, by extension, public policy - but it's not the case, IMO. Perfectly reasonable people who are busy working and raising their families get their information in drips and drabs by watching local suppertime news once in a while, and national news occasionally; all such people, through no fault of their own, would be absolutely unaware that the Liberals prorogued a lot more often than our current government has, or that climate science is far from settled and that there's massive evidence of fraud, alteration of data, suppression of dissent in the climate "science" community, etc.

I think it's very easy for people who follow certain issues online, at blogs like SDA, and foreign newspapers, etc., to grossly overestimate the extent to which their informed views are shared by everyone else, and to concomitantly underestimate the effect of MSM coverage on the population as a whole.

I grant you this: it would be a mistake for Conservative supporters to excuse every Conservative policy decision by simply blaming the media; to do so would be to allow the media set the political agenda in this country. But I also think it's unquestionably true that the media, not so much in what they cover as in what they cover up (recent revelations about the warmists, for example) can be the deciding factor not just in what government policy is, but in who forms the government. It shouldn't be the case, but it is.

The CTV network has a Majority owner, that results is editorial control, called the Ontario Teachers pension fund....The MSM is a dying industry and CTV does not have entertaimnment inventory (a Film Studio like Universal). IMHO CTV is a BAD investment for any Pension plan

Why do you think that the CRTC/GOV allowed 2 socialist Broadcast Networks in Canada?

Cytotoxic. You're the only one whining around here. Take a deep breath. The grownups are talking and if you want to join in try not to sound like high school student venting in the cafeteria.

Read EBD's post. Twice. You'll learn a lot.

All as i can say is that it would be alot easier to govern properly if we didnt have to worry about the leftards in Ontario and the welfare cases in Quebec. Let the cards fall were they may, if Steve'o cant do the job then maybe the west can just provide some sort of real governance that stands for common sense and productivity. if your a conservative and live in the east.... get a passport. ;-)

Slap Shot said "IMHO CTV is a BAD investment for any Pension plan"

Then I'm glad the teachers have invested there. We should never have bailed them out back in the early 90's. They showed zero appreciation. I hope they invested in green technology as well. I would love to see them go bankrupt again.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=b2a20356-d439-4be7-a172-f9c44eddcca9&k=31551

"Former RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli and the federal police force he oversaw are facing further scrutiny for past actions - this time for the Mounties controversial announcement midway through the last federal election campaign that it had launched a criminal investigation of the Liberal government."

Lots of Liberals are still whining about the press reporting a criminal investigation of the Liberal government mid campaign....

Yes, well when the press is reporting that the government is essentially run by gangsters that would have a ballot box consequence. eg Adscam

I would say EBD is correct that what the press reports does have an effect. Also what it doesn't report eg. Climategate has an effect.

Noticeably, both are massive frauds...

Your garder variety average voter doesn't have the indepth time to try to understand the physics let alone the arcane data manipulation being played. But Al Gore will play the ignorance fiddle as will other 'accomplished politicians'.
I suspect a fair number of reporters don't understand the physics or data manipulation either...

Its the old what they don't know won't hurt them attitude. Or 'entitled to their entitlements'...take yer pick.

Cheers

Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief

1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North"

I don't care about any drop in the polls.

The LPC not only couldn't organize a corn roast in a crematorium, they couldn't afford to hold one.

We'll see if the LPC wants to engineer an election when parliament resumes again.

If they do, the NDP will eat their lunch and the CPC will still win resulting in resentment all around from the cost of 1/2 $Billion for an election during a recession 2 years after the last one, and a lack of support because the miserly LPC sycophants have to trudge though the snow to get to the polling booth.

The MSM may be carrying the Liberal's water but the stream of money has dried up and you can't make butter with a toothpick.

Eat it Liberal facists.
Your days in the driver's seat are over.

Gord Tulk,

So, are you saying that a fiscal Conservative cannot win in Canada? Then how did these fellows do it? At the time, all were more fiscally Conservative than their opponents. ie) Brad Wall, Ralph Klein, Mike Harris, Brian Mulroney, the "Old" Harper, Gary Filmon.

Most went on to lose when they strayed from fiscal Conservative roots.

Examples of gutter politics: Negative attack ads which go after personal destruction rather than policy, trying to kneecap the opposition by reducing government funding for federal parties, prorogueing parliament for a minor Senate advantage, not being forthcoming on the detainee abuse issue.

How about Harper using the KISS principle with the media. When the message is not direct, succint, simple and repetetive, then the door is open for the media to twist the message as they wish. And, they are.

How did Reagen and Thatcher do it?

If Republican Scott Brown can win in Massachusetts, one of the most Leftist bastions in the U.S., then Canada should be a cakewalk for Harper.

It is NOT the fault of Canadian voters or the media, that the CPC cannot get a majority. The problem lies with the message, or the messenger!

sparky said" So, are you saying that a fiscal Conservative cannot win in Canada?"

No I'm not. Learn to read and get back to me.

Brown wouldn't have won without Fox news.

Reagan and Thatcher were more than 25 years ago. You're probably not old enough to remember but times were different then.

Go vote ndp kid and for Christs sake quit whining.

Poll based upon 960 telephone interviews...somehow I think that this poll has as much validity as American Idol. But yes, they better campaign this time around, rather than giving Harper Valium with instructions not to say anything remotely Conservative.

Sparky: last first

1. The ads were not "gutter politics" I my and a lot of others opinion - the majority it would seem as they worked very well. Aggressively pointing out your opponents flaws is not gutter unless they are false or misleading accusations (see troops in our cities).

2. None of the pols you name won based on their fiscal conservatism. Usually it was because their opponents were arch left-wingers or politically corrupt or both. I would argue that of the ones on your list the strongest fiscal conservative is none other than Stephen Harper. Government spending on Services the federal government supplies has gone down when adjusted for inflation ever since the cpc won power. Budgetary increases have either been in restoring transfers to the provinces (and ultimately this will be ended in the next few years by giving the provinces tax points) stimulus spending committed to at the G20 in nov 2008 was in the form capital spending (largely done by the provinces and cities) and tax incentives not creating huge new bureacracies like Obama and mcginty and others have done.

You can expect that unlike every other country in the g20 Canada will pay off it's deficit by reducing spending and increased revenues from economic growth rather than tax increases (in fact we may see tax rate reductions in the next 24 months). That that is a very popular strategy in this country says volumes about how far to the right the Canadian body politic has moved since the CPC came to power.

Boy I sure do love people like Gord. They can't come up with a counter-argument or any evidence/logic for their own argument so they accuse me of "whining" when I own them, which is always. I accept your implicit concession. And EBD, your argument is still weak. Yeah, the media sucks. Dealing with it is what Harper's supposed to do. Instead he just looks at his feet, apologizes, and spend another few billion dollars. What a loser.

I actually only need a single name to counter and preempt all these pathetic pro-Harper pleas: Jeniffer Lynch.

Never get in a wrestling match with a pig. You both get covered in mud and shit. But the pig likes it.

Sorry for feeding the troll.

"Never get in a wrestling match with a pig. You both get covered in mud and shit. But the pig likes it."

Gord, you have just described perfectly the criticism being expressed in the post, which is that the CPC are in the mud with the other pigs, and nobody can tell the difference between them.

If you can't tell the difference then your not paying attention Fizzy.

Yawn. Moving on.

If you can't explain the difference maybe it's because there isn't one.

I think Indiana Homez is right on, it's quite simply true that the people are happy to coast along until the recession in over. anyone who forces an election at this time, is nuts.

It is definitely time to quit blaming the media, and for that matter to quit listening to them. It is also time for the Conservatives to quit acting like Liberals and be conservatives. This would mean a cabinet shuffle with the Jim Prentice types going to the back benches..If the Conservatives won't do what they promised bring back Reform.

Excellent post EBD.

To all the squawkers here who wish to destroy this nation by electing a coalition with the noxious Blocheads as head navigators and Gilles Ducippe as de facto Prime Minister, I have a message for you: as a western Canadian, I will push for a new west nation that spends time making citizens prosperous - the ROC east can feed Quebec on their own; should the Conservatives and our excellent Prime Minister lose the next election.

Just one point on cjunk's Fife piece.

You contradict yourself in your citation of the media and Global Warming public opinion in the UK.

The reason the UK numbers are turning is because the UK loves a scandal and Climategate et al is being reported there everyday in all the media, they still throw out the odd warmist propaganda but for the most part the scandal is being treated by the media for what it really is.

This simply proves the theory you are speaking against; without the fourth estate doing its job, which is evident in Canadian Media, there is no public education as to the truth. This then forces the Government to align itself with media views in order to avoid opposition outrage based on half-truth or exaggerated claims in the media. It is quite counter-productive for the country when the fourth estate aligns itself politically, and a minority Government that must compromise politically to achieve anything is then seen as weak to its base.

I suggest some research would negate your few blogs and broadsheet editorials statement.

This will help you get started

http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=climategate+UK&FORM=BNFD

Illiquid Assests: Actually, the UK media was very late to the game and when the poll was taken, only UK blogs (mainly EUR), and a handful of editorials carried climategate.

Also on the polls and polling...

Poll vs Poll
http://illiquidassets.net/?p=276

Sometimes you have to ask who the heck are answering these telephone polls.

Fuzzy the last poll was in Februray 3-4 2010 that showed the 10% swing, So I fail to see what the point is you are trying to make.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/05_02_10climatechange.pdf

Illiquid Assets: The poll was taken in the UK. The point is that a majority of UK media was under-reporting climategate. In fact, your Bing link demonstrates that point; that the main UK broadsheets and BBC were not headlining the scandal on a regular basis ... hence, MSM was not responsible in any big way, and where they were, there was as much covering up as fair reporting. Guardian pieces, for instance, never left the "science is still settled" theme until very recently.

Fuzzy, Headlining does not mean not reporting it and I am afraid that "under-reporting" really does not mean much unless you assume that your weighting of importance is the same as all news consumers, we are not yet down to a society that reads a headline only, or as your lack of investigation on this issue is demonstrating, maybe we are.

I said start at the bing search, I did not say end there.

But just to prove my point an example...
BBC Website - Search "CRU emails" recovers...over 90 Stories (unverified for bad articles) since breaking last year, I expect to find more on other keywords especially around the IPCC and Pauchari.

If your argument is that the UK MSM is slow in picking up the story then that is different from ignoring it like North American MSM. By your own admission UK MSM started reporting it, the poll was 10 days ago, so unless you are saying all the reporting was done in the last 10 days I would advance your position has been invalidated by your own explanation thereof.

Illiquid: MSM coverage of climategate didn't hit high gear in the UK until just after the poll ... the BBC coverage was almost non-existant and pro-AGW until very recently. They scrubbed a lot of climatechange from their website just the past few weeks. The UK public shift is a result of New Media.

Furthermore, getting back to the post, if UK citisens read international media, then why wouldn't Canadians do the same? You need to actually believe that Canadian MSM determines what Canadians think ... I personally think not.

I'm with EBD, and Jema-54... great posts. The assertion that the media has no influence on Canadian politics and therefore should be ignored is absurd. The Canadian MSM are clearly the enemy of anyone who isn't drunk on the Lib/Sep/NDP Bolshevik alliance. Are Canadians supposed to ignore this fact ? If the media of a country are so deranged and slanted to one side then this fact must be pointed out and challenged at every opportunity. Was Josef Goebbels ministry of information a danger to the German people? Did they have any influence with how citizens viewed the National Socialists? Was ignoring that influence a good idea? The media in Canada are the enemy of anyone who doesn't belong to the cult of Trudeauvia and this should never be ignored, or dismissed as nothing more then whining.