Liberal Defection?

Political Animal 49 Comments

There’s an unconfirmed report that Liberal candidate Gilles Savard has PULLED OUT of the race in Jonquiere-Alma, and thrown his support behind Conservative Jean-Pierre Blackburn…
Via Maz2 in the comments
Update: Now being confirmed on CTV newsnet and radio.
Gilles Savard has issued a press release stating he was misquoted;

“I would never drop out of the campaign at this point. The confusion probably comes from the interpretation of statements that I made while commenting on the results of a survey and realizing the lead that this survey gave one of my opponents. I have never even considered not completing this campaign.”

49 Replies to “Liberal Defection?”

  5. More symbolic than anything. DemocraticSpace.com has the Liberal polling at 7%. Even if all the Liberal candidates would-be votes went Conservative, the Block would still carry the riding.

  8. I heard somewhere that PMPM has a short temper, and is known for throwing tantrums.
    I don’t feel sorry for him, but I worry a bit about the safety of his staff today…;)

  12. No, no, no! I just heard on the radio that PMPM is predicting a LIBERAL WIN on Monday. Apparently he can smell it.
    (Maybe it’s just the aura preceding a Grand Mal.)

  13. Unfortunately for Paul Martin, he is now headed for what appears to be political “Berlin Bunker” territory.
    The voters will be shortly appearing with their “katusha rockets” of ballots.

  14. If true this one has me wondering.
    Could see Martin bellowing on TV how a Liberal has sacraficed a “sure thing” therefore Quebecers should vote Liberal in the other 74 ridings as only the true saviors of Canada would make such a sacrifice.

  15. Wow, just Wow …
    Can it get any worse for the Liberals?
    I’d make a comment about ‘Rats leaving a sinking ship’ but that would be reasonably tastless and undeserved (the rat part that is; the ship is totally sinking).

  20. Been watching Politics with Don Newman and he still hasn’t even mentioned it yet, though he’s still harping (no pun intended) on Harper’s social agenda…or how it’s viewed from the left, at least.
    I’m shocked…SHOCKED I TELL YOU!

  21. In light of the Buzz/PMPM press conference the other day, when Buzz basically insulted Albertans as “un-Canadian” and PMPM did not correct him, there should be some Western Canadian Liberal candidates resigning next.

  23. Just as an addendum, I tip my hat (if I were wearing one, at least) to Mr. Savard. For him to step aside in a bid to defeat the sepratists shows that he is more interested in promoting federalism than Bucky or Basil showed themselves to be.
    Also serves as a reminder that not all candidates on a given side, no matter your political preference, is all bad.

  24. How’s that Mickey Mouse song by Disney go? “It’s a bad day to be liberal”… no no… “It’s a small problem after all, It’s a small problem after all, It’s a small problem after all, and it’s all Jean Chretien’s fault”.
    Ha Ha… I can hear Paul Martin in the plane going “It’s starting to drive me insane, insane. It’s starting drive me INSANE, INSANE!”
    Headlines tomorrow “Martin and Hargrove dead in Murder/Suicide incident. Police believe Hargrove was found cheating with an NDPer”

  25. RELAX everybody all he has said so far is that if you are an undecided voter, than support the a cp’s. He has stated he is not pulling out of the race & that he still wants those who are committed to him to stay with him. Plus it is a tough riding to crack, Bloc won last time by 55%.

  26. I will say though that I admire Gilles Savard… that his name? Anyway, he’s a man of high principle, and even as a Liberal, he’d get my vote any day.

  28. This Gilles Savard…he sounds like a Lieberal with integrity…hold it, he is no longer a Lieberal. Good for him.
    Kinda like the Gambler, by Kenny Rogers…Gilles knew when to fold ’em and walk away.
    Too bad paulie Wallie doens’t do the same thing, except RUN. (far, far away. fundamentally speaking)
    Go team Martin. LOL
    the mad redneck

  29. To change the subject slightly, how about some nominations for the first 5 things the Harper government should do, and the first 5 pieces of legislation?
    For legislation:
    1. Remove the stupid ‘of course, restricting your free speech about elections is a reasonable limit’ sections, from the Elections Act.(And pay the legal fees ex gratia, of the NCC: its the right and correct thing to do.)
    2. Repeal the Firearms Act, and remove the gun registry and the FAC requirements from the criminal code. Criminals don’t care about licences or FAC’s. Remove the technical storage requirements: we don’t charge people for not locking up their kitchen knives, we charge them for using kitchen knives in an assault. We should only charge someone regarding a gun, if another criminal offence has occurred or if there has been criminal negligence in the use of the firearm. Then we *SHOULD* whack the idiot. Shut down the Firearms Centre. Pink slip the lot and destroy every record, publicly and openly. Shred the paper and disks and wipe the hard drives.
    3. Remove the criminal power provisions from the Wheat Board Act. If the CWB is such a great entity as a commercial pool, then it should not need the power of the state to enforce its position.
    4. Amend the Radiocommunication Act to remove the words “in Canada” from the definition of ‘lawful distributor’. This will mean that DirectTV is a lawful distributor of satellite signals and can lawfully transmit them and authorize decoding. Bet you thought that DirectTV was a ‘lawful distributor’..Nope.
    5. Repeal and shut down all of the slush fund foundations and boondoggles which Cretin and PMPM set up outside the purview of Parliament. There should be about 15Billion stashed away in those patronage muckholes. (Canada Fund for Africa Act. Strategic Infrastructure Act…. And make all crown corporations report publicly as if they were listed securities issuers, and bring them under the Freedom of Information Act.
    6. Amend the Elections Act to hold elections on the first monday of June, every 4 years, commencing Monday, June 7, 2010, except if an interim fall of the government election has occurred within the 2 years prior thereto, in which case the election shall be held 1 year later and its successor 4 years thereafter.
    For ‘things to do’;
    1. Someone pointed out the other day, that Harper should have all of the shredders locked up! Agreed.
    2. Call Donald Rumsfeld: a) Thank him for the support provided by the US forces following the suicide bombing in Kandahar, b) ask to buy 20 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, with the proviso that we want 5 of them delivered in Afghanistan, tomorrow, and we would like to rent the use of 8 pilots there and 20 more here for 3 months for training purposes, c) ask Don to conference call you to Lockheed and order 10 Hercules C130H’s.
    3. Change the House rules, to *require* clause by clause reading and approval of all sections of Acts, in committee, the vote to be by anonymous electronic vote; votes on 1st and 2nd reading to be anonymous in the House, and no 3rd reading is allowed on the same day as any other reading;to fix the size and membership of committees and give them power of subpoena including documentation, and power of contempt; to consider requiring that all Acts be read, in full, in the House, a quorum being present at all times;
    4. Appoint a committee of MP’s and fund a staff for the sole purpose of reviewing and recommending the repeal of acts and regulations, with a mandate to bring forward an Act to sunset clause ALL or a large majority of existing Acts and to consider term limits for MPs and placing MP’s pensions on an actuarially sound basis, not funded from Consolidated Revenue.
    5. Appoint a committee of MP’s for the sole purpose of closing down un-needed government agencies/corporations.
    6. Regarding an instance of #1, send some OPP fraud squad investigators to Zaccardelli’s office, and find out who authorized Constable Dumb to get a search warrant for Laurent Beaudoin’s house, and Constable Dumber to get a search warrant for Julie O’Neill’s house.
    7. And another instance of same: there must be a whack-o-paper relating to Goodale getting stroked by the Wheat Board to have the wheat exporters charged with a non-existant crime….
    Just for starters.I even threw in extras..
    And I haven’t even mentioned the immigration fiasco.
    And I haven’t even mentioned the Indian Act fiasco.
    And if *I* were dictator for a day, there would be even more fun!
    Geoff

  30. Here’s what’s got me worried:
    From Mike Duffy on Mike Duffy Live, just now:
    “Word is that the ‘liberal organization on the ground is so superiour to any other than they are going to win on Monday”
    Translated: just what ridings are those little rats out vote buying and concocting ‘new’ members at 10 bucks a throw ( who never existed)!!
    They did this in BC and are under investigation for that and other ‘skulduggery’, but nobody is talking because the files are sealed.
    They did an on air survey of some of these ‘new liberal members’…who said they had never joined. Of course, that was the ones they COULD talk with..others being dead and in the ground!

  31. Wells is Paul Wells? >>
    Latest from Wells on the Jonquiere candidate. Not quite what we thought it was.
    UPPERDATE: As the story says, it’s a bit more complex than that. The Grit candidate is dropping out, but still urging voters to vote Liberal. It’s just that they won’t have a candidate to vote for, because he can’t be arsed. His main organizer, meanwhile, has jumped ship to the Tories and is working for the Conservative candidate, Jean-Pierre Blackburn, who was already competitive and must now be considered the next Conservative MP from Lucien Bouchard’s home town.
    Posted by: Raging Ranter | >>
    http://andrewcoyne.com/2006/01/latest-liberal-attack.php#comments

  32. Geoff:
    Well said, my sentiments exactly.
    In fact, a good use for an elected Senate would be to go through every bit of legislation on the books since Confederation, and get rid of the stupid/wasteful/statist stuff. One house passes legislation, the other has the power to get rid of it.
    Keep them gainfully employed forever!

  33. What’s up with Angry in the GWN’s website. Has it been closed? Keep getting “Cannot find server” messages.
    And by the way has anyone seen the pathetic “web blog” on CTV’s Election 2006 site?!
    LOL! They don’t publish entries without first some CTV msm kommisar perusing for PC-ness.
    These establishment dinosaurs are SO-O-O far behind the ball; still trying to control the agenda and thwart the will of the Canadian people.

  34. Snowbunnie, I watched Duffy too, well, kept going back and forth between Puffmeister and Dead Newman. Frankly, I’m a little more than worried given their concerted efforts to let the Libs sound off, drawing up the scary hidden agenda if Harper should – SHOCK AND HORROR – someday appoint judges. With a nod to impartial hosting, Puff did read a 1989 interview with Paul Martin saying he wanted Mulroney to enact legislation banning abortion. Susan ANGRY BAGHAG Murray says that was then, don’t you know, and the Libs, as a party, fall in line on social issues. I do wish it was all over. They are pulling out all the stops, ramping up the rhetoric and not allowing the Tories to get a word in. Actually, it’s the NDP strategists who are going at the Libs, so that’s one good thing.

  36. “Puffmeister and Dead Newman”..
    Hilarious Irn Lady!! 🙂
    I don’t trust the media OR the libs..or the NDP for that matter.
    Trying to wrest the wheels of this country from the frozen fingers of the lying corrupt proves extremely hard when they have their tentacles out in every nook and cranny..
    “People are now having ‘second’ thoughts and this has energized the liberals and Paul Martin in todays campaigning, ”
    Gag me with a spoon… or with this coverage… When does truth will out?
    January 23, 2006!

  40. I know this is O/T, but BBC World News just featured a piece on the Bloc Quebecois fortunes in Quebec…and I found it telling when Gilles Duceppe told the interviewer: “We are as different from Canada as Great Britain is from France.”
    No doubt the rejection of association with France from the time of the 1995 referendum still plays in the mind of sovreigntists even 11 years later.
    Is it just me, or did Stephen Harper’s move to bring down the government exactly when he did make him look more like a chess grandmaster? Especially given the Tories’ steadily increasing fortunes in La Belle Province.

  45. No matter how you slice it, it looks like the lib fortunes in that riding are done. Misquoted and all.

  46. There are no Conservatives within a thousand miles of Quebec. I never said the things I said, and I retract everything I didn’t say, god will roast your wicked Conservative stomaches in hell for hearing me say those things which I most emphaticly did not say.

  48. Dear Gilles Savard,
    Maybe you should go along with the misquote and just back your Conservative counter-part. Gilles, you’re such a fool.

  49. compare lcd projectors nec lcd projectors http://hochubumer.allsoch.ru/lcd_projectors/epson_lcd_projectors.html facts about lcd projectors lcd projectors in the elementary classroom http://hochubumer.allsoch.ru/lcd_projectors/lcd_video_projectors.html and …. nec lcd projectors and lt epson lcd projectors http://hochubumer.allsoch.ru/lcd_projectors/lcd_projectors_in_atlanta.html cheap lcd projectors under $ stampede lcd projectors http://hochubumer.allsoch.ru/lcd_projectors/what_is_the_difference_between_dlp_and_lcd_projectors.html lcd vs dlp projectors lcd computer projectors http://hochubumer.allsoch.ru/lcd_projectors/stampede_lcd_projectors.html .Thanks.

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation