650 CKOM’s John Gormley had an exclusive interview with Saskatoon-Biggar-Rosetown MP Carol Skelton this morning. She announced that she would not be running during the next election.
Carol isn’t up and leaving just yet, she’ll be sticking around until the election.
Both myself and Kate live in Carol’s riding and I am of the opinion that she is the best MP I’ve ever had representing me. If Kate hadn’t been doing a dog show, she’d probably have a much more extended article, but as she’s away I figured I should share the news.
Now then . . . who’s up for a draft Kate nomination meeting. 🙂
Cheers,
lance
Kate already goes to dog shows.
Been there, done that.
Kate an MP ? —- no-way !! —- She is much, much more valuable right where she is 🙂
Who’s up for a draft Kate nomination meeting. 🙂
What are you crazy? Put Canada’s best blogger in the commons. Then what would happen to SDA? The blogosphere could be ruined.
It could be fun though, aj.
🙂
But what party would Kate represent? Green? NDP? Marxist-Leninist?
Carol would have probably lost her seat in the next election over the equalization mess so I guess she just decided to bail.
‘Carol would have probably lost her seat in the next election over the equalization mess so I guess she just decided to bail.’
That is just so damn funny.
Not surprised. Having to deal with the kleptocrats in the Canada Revenue Agency on a day to day basis would make anyone want to quit politics.
“Myself” is a reflexive pronoun. It is common, but maddeningly incorrect, to use it as you do.
It makes sense to say, “I hate myself” or “I wash myself” but it makes no sense at all to say “Myself and Kate live in Carol’s riding.”
Sorry to pick, but I don’t understand why people do this.
p.s. I’d love to see Kate run. We’d have LOTS of ammunition against her!
I work in computers, exile, I don’t have an English degree. I use “ain’t” and I often fall into the lazy prairie drawl. Deal with it, I have.
Kate has stated several times that she has no political ambitions. That’s why I put a smiley in there.
Cheers,
lance
shameer – what equalization mess? Surely you don’t expect differences to be reduced and flattened to the LCD, by sucking everything from the ‘have’ provinces and giving it as welfare, to the self-defined ‘have-not’ provinces? You can do that in algebra, but the real world doesn’t and can’t operate according to such reductionism. Know what eventually happens? Zimbabwe is an example.
exile – what on earth could you say against kate as MP? Well?
ET: “what on earth could you say against kate as MP? Well?”
If you agree with her politically, no doubt you’d be pleased to have her as MP. But, as you know, I disagree with her on fundamental issues.
You could say lots against Kate but then I could call YOU anything that wasnt true.Just be careful about where you are leading this country.The muslims have shown that there is no seperation of church and state in this country or the US so in the attempted welcoming of other religions and cultures,the most radicle will win out and they will use political correctness to do it.
lance: “I work in computers, exile, I don’t have an English degree. I use “ain’t” and I often fall into the lazy prairie drawl. Deal with it, I have.”
I, too, “work in computers”. I don’t have an English degree, either. I’m a prairie person and I live quite close to you. (We don’t “drawl” though, unless we’re copying some American movie or tv show!)
The point is that you, like many other people, seem to think that “myself” is an elegant way of saying, “I”. There is nothing “prairie” about that kind of stupid pretentiousness – quite the reverse. (I certainly wouldn’t complain if you said, “ain’t” or used that venerable Saskatchewan expression, “I seen ….”)
Of course I “deal with it”. I deal with a lot worse than that every day. We live in a fundamentally illiterate culture and that’s how our rulers like it!
ET, I suspect that (in part) exile means that Kate has expressed, either directly or indirectly by the topics of her postings, many viewpoints that would generally be considered to be politically incorrect. They may be completely valid, they may be true, but the run against the vapid and mindless PC censorship that runs amuck in political circles.
I believe exile is correct…too much ammunition for the small-minded, intolerant, hypocritical and viscious MSM, academics and socialists to use against her.
Canadians generally don’t seem to want to know the unpleasant truth…they seem to want to only hear the pleasant and soothing lies…which is why the Liberals do so well.
exile- the fact that you disagree with kate politically is, presumably, an ideological difference. That’s not ‘ammunition’ against her; that’s a difference of ideology.
If one person promotes smaller gov’t, decentralization of powers, more individual responsibility etc, then, another person who wants large gov’t, centralization and less individual responsiblity – will hardly use these latter theories as ‘ammunition’ against the first person. They aren’t attacks against the individuals (ammunition) but are purely ideological differences. After all, both people would be rejecting each other’s ideologies.
I don’t get your point. If all you are saying is that you disagree with kate’s ideology, then, so what? Lots of us disagree with yours. So?
exile, we’re OT. If you want to continue: lance @ catprint dot ca. I promise not to call you nasty names. 🙂 Well, I might highlight that ‘pretentiousness’ part.
Cheers,
lance
exile – could you explain who ‘our rulers’ are? And explain how you know that ‘they’ like us to be ‘fundamentally illiterate’?
Or is this just your opinion.
eeyore – I think that Canadians are, despite the hard work of the MSM, ie CBC, CTV, Globe, Star etc, gradually becoming more ‘politically incorrect’ or honest and realistic. Think about the unforeseen change that has happened in Quebec, that most socialist welfare province of all, and its move towards the realism of the ADQ.
So, I think that it’s time for honesty and realism. Sure, the sophists and sycophants will remain, entrenched within the Liberal and NDP camps, but I think they are, more and more, talking to themselves. You can only live as a CloudDweller for a certain period of time; then, the weather changes and ‘boom’ – you hit the ground.
ET: “exile- the fact that you disagree with kate politically is, presumably, an ideological difference. That’s not ‘ammunition’ against her; that’s a difference of ideology.”
You asked: “exile – what on earth could you say against kate as MP? Well?” I took that to mean, “why would you oppose Kate as MP?” Since I would oppose her on ideological grounds, I answered as I did.
My earlier remark about “ammunition” had to to with her vulnerability to certain electoral tactics.
have you noticed the cbc’s url for the skelton (“skeleton”) story — http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/08/03/skeleton-election.html?
Sorry, Lance, I should have toned it down a bit. I could have made my point “more nicely”. Anyway, I’ll say no more about it 🙂
Carol phoned me at home a few months before the last election regarding a health care topic. I live in Ontario…I was impressed.Obviously she wasn’t after my vote.
Waiting for MSM to make this a out to be Harper’s fault.
Someone hinted that ‘rabbit’ is WK…makes sense to have a sockpuppet like that…popping out of holes, dropping turds and then running away like a mad hatter type.
[You can only live as a CloudDweller for a certain period of time; then, the weather changes and ‘boom’ – you hit the ground.] ET
lol — had to clean the screen anyways 🙂
Regarding Carol, I find her to be one of the most ineffective MP’s we have in this province. She is also one of the most insincere MP’s I have met and I have met many. When you talk to her she is not really listening to you and her responses are vague –perfect politician, I suppose but she won’t be missed.
Lance, exile and ET, you guys must be rolling in the aisles, or is it “windrows” or “swaths” every time Dion speaks in pubic.
Yeah, “him” I guess that’s why she been voted best MP, or hardest working MP for like five years running or something like that.
Are you sure you’re not Nettie Weibe?
Iam sure lance that kate is very busy with her business & her dog shows. I agree with you though, she should be considered, & kate should consider it & if kate is looking for the answer all she has to do is look to the left side of her blog. Why this Blog?
“this is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio, You don’t speak for Me”
We need people such as kate to speak, to standup & voice their opinion’s. Canada has been on a very dangerous socialist slope, we have been on it since PET only to have been slowed down temporarily by the PM. The socialist in this country are taking us to a realm that would be a disaster for this great country, So Yes lance Kate would be a great canidate.
Hey iam only a small retailer, I may not speak or write as afluent as some on here but iam sick & tired of seeing my hard earned monies go to the Socialist Bottomless Pits.
Take care all & have a great Civic Holiday weekend
Bryanr, in fact the Dionsky crew wants to move Canada far further left than even Trudeau envisioned. I have no doubt he would have scoffed at most of their ideas, especially the Kyoto crap.
“Carol would have probably lost her seat in the next election over the equalization mess so I guess she just decided to bail.
Posted by: Shameer Ravji at August 3, 2007 2:43 PM
How would the mess that the Liberals created over 30 years in power impact a Conservative candidate?
Kate would just have to remind everyone of Paul Martin’s stupidity and Danny Williams greed to turn that argument in her favor.
shamrock: i can still remember my teacher in public school during the 60’s showing the picture of PET riding his motorbike & wearing a Nazi helmet. Not knowing at the time that the picture was taken during the war years. She was just googly over him, always talking his dream. i went home & mentioned it to my dad. The next day he promptly took a picture of his brother in uniform & one of his gravestone in france to her, slammed it on her desk, glared & walked out. No more was said in class about PET after that.
I still think to this day though that he made a side trip to the priciples office(they were fishing buddies)
I fully agree though Dion is a scary thought.
shameer – what equalization mess? Surely you don’t expect differences to be reduced and flattened to the LCD, by sucking everything from the ‘have’ provinces and giving it as welfare, to the self-defined ‘have-not’ provinces? You can do that in algebra, but the real world doesn’t and can’t operate according to such reductionism.
Help us out, ET: in your version of the ‘real world,’ did Stephen Harper and his 12 Conservative MPs promise to exclude 100% of Sask’s non-renewable resource revenues from the equalization formula?
I ask because in Saskatchewan’s version of the ‘real world,’ they all did make that promise, Skelton included.
And then, of course, they infamously went back on their word as though they could redefine the promised equalization deal on their own terms, shortchanging Sask by hundreds of millions of dollars, according to figures they themselves used to throw around in the House of Commons when they were in opposition.
The issue isn’t about expecting differences to be flattened down to this or that, it’s about expecting Stephen Harper and his 12 Conservative MPs to keep their written promises to the people of the province.
And they haven’t.
In the ‘real world’ of politics, broken promises and bad faith cost votes: that’s a fact Stephen Harper and his remaining SK MPs may learn come the next election, to their regret.
stephen their is not a PM that has not said one thing & done something different.
PET shot stanfield down on Price & Wage controls, he turned around and introduced them, he shot down joe clark on a gas tax increase he increased gas tax .25, Chretian’s famous Do way with the GST, Now Dion wants to raise it. & of course we could not let Ontario’s Dalton I WILL NOT RAISE YOUR TAXES, & look what we got THE HEALTH TAX(that is not a tax in dalts eyes) Oh ya lets remember that all of that money goes to health NOT THE GENERAL COFFERS according to Dalt & Now the COLLE GATE AFFAIR.
thats it iam outa here again, everybody great weekend
Definitely a rat fleeing a sinking ship.
vf:
I was making a joke, ding dong. Sometimes people get so caught up in their partisan wars that they lose their sense of humour. Everything is interpreted as an attack of some sort.
Although suggesting I am Warren Kinsella (?) is pretty funny. Can’t image what brought that on, given that I don’t post much.
#bryanr
Ya got to get that new beer called NoHarm, manufactured by Gitup-n-Go! Its getting a following amongst lovers of sober common sense. The only reaction you get is a new sense of being fleeced.
oh that was a joke
…ha ha..
get the chip off your fur.
Thanks to Carol for not triggering a byelection that would cost taxpayers needlessly. Her announcement lets her party plan for the next election early (it is after all a minority gov’t and could fall at any time). I just wish those Liberal slackers that get one month past the last election and then when their pensions are secure pull the plug and we have to elect another MP.
No, stephen, I don’t recall any such promise from Harper and the 12 CPC MPs. I recall ONE CPC MP campaigning on such a promise. I recall Harper saying that it would be his preference, and Calvert constantly insisting on it, while New Brunswick remained firmly opposed to changing the way that equalization payments are figured out.
And that ONE MP Lukiwski – did he put it in writing? Harper, again, said that changing the equalization formula to take out non-renewables was his preference, but, that wasn’t a campaign promise nor was it a post election promise. If it couldn’t be done, it couldn’t be done.
My point, however, was not about the loss to Saskatchewan, embedded as it is in the high costs of NDP socialism and its bureaucracy, but about the very nature of equalization. I’m against it, for it ignores economic and ecological differences in this vast country and sets up ‘make work’ projects from the top down, to somehow, make ‘everything the same everywhere’.
If a province/area can only support a certain size population, then don’t pump in extra money in make work projects or welfare money etc so it will superficially support a larger population – who will be forever dependent on this external money. That’s what I mean by equalization.
Not surprised either. The best of the best don’t run in elections. They’re smarter than that.
What’s with National News Watch ??
Their headline; Federal Cabinet Minister Quits
click the link; Federal MP Carol Skelton Not Running Again
There is a difference.
Any other Canadian news aggregators ??
Carol is a class act. As usual the bottom feeders are out doing what they do best, trying to read something into it that just isn’t there.
Fabrications leading to fantasies running wild.
Everyone, I’m sad as a Tory to see Carol retire but lets face it, regardless of what the Liberals or provincial NDP might have done over the last 30 years the CPC did make a promise (which I disagree with) to Sask. and the Maritimes. I’m opposed to all of these side deals since they really undermine national unity and I agree with Harper’s stand. Legally he might have a strong hand but the perception is still there that we broke a promise and that’s something the MPs from SK, NS, and NL have to deal with. With regards to the CPC SK MPs, I think they’d keep the bulk of the seats in the next election with Liukiwski (sp?), Batters, Skelton, and perhaps Scheer facing the brunt of the backlash in that province.
I wish Carl all the best in her future endeavours. Kate would never run for public office.
I decided to look up this woman’s biography, not knowing much about her. I noticed that in all the biographies I could find about her on the web there is no mention of a post secondary education.
Can this be true that the Harper conservative government appoints federal ministers with possessing nothing more than a high school education (if she even has that)? No, this can’t be true, can it. She must have some post secondary education. She’s the Minister of National Revenue after all. The conservatives can’t really be that stupid, can they?
Somebody please tell me this woman has a degree (preferably in finance), or diploma or even a certificate of some sort.
The Minister of National Revenue has to be more qualified than simply being able to run a cash register.
I’d like to hear what your opinion is, Alby, of the Safeway cashiers appointed to Lorne Calvert’s cabinet.
Kate I believe you are referring to Sandra Morin. Even provincial ministers should have a defined minimum education level and some sort of a related experience in the field.
Sandra Morin however is a Saskatchewan issue and I don’t live in Saskatchewan, so who Lorne Calvert appoints to his cabinet doesn’t bother me.
This is disappointing news. Carol Skelton is my MP and she did a very good, even excellent, job. I’ll miss her. She was one of the very very very few politicians I admired.
The CPC’s going to need to find a good candidate: the NDP runs well in parts of that riding and Skelton’s margin of victory was never that much.
ET wrote this:
No, stephen, I don’t recall any such promise from Harper and the 12 CPC MPs. I recall ONE CPC MP campaigning on such a promise. I recall Harper saying that it would be his preference, and Calvert constantly insisting on it, while New Brunswick remained firmly opposed to changing the way that equalization payments are figured out.
And that ONE MP Lukiwski – did he put it in writing? Harper, again, said that changing the equalization formula to take out non-renewables was his preference, but, that wasn’t a campaign promise nor was it a post election promise. If it couldn’t be done, it couldn’t be done.
Well, then, I’m sorry ET, but your faulty recollection needs improving. Here are some facts: sorry if they confuse you.
As long ago as 2004, Stephen Harper wrote to Saskatchewan’s premier promising to exclude non-renewable resource revenues from the equalization formula:
Both the federal New Democrats and Conservatives responded that they would return to the ten-province standard. The Conservatives went further, noting that they would remove all non-renewable resources from the formula.
Throughout the lead-up to the 2005/2006 election, Conservative MPs like Andrew Scheer, Dave Batters and Tom Lukiwski (all fully recorded in Hansard, by the way) continued to push this point about non-renewable resource revenues and their exclusion from the equalization formula.
Furthermore, ET’s claim that only ONE Sask Con MP campaigned on the promise to do what Harper & Co had been promising since 2004 is made nonsense by Lukiwski’s own comments of January 17, 2006 (delivered on tape to the CBC), as repeated in Murray Mandryk’s column of May 8 of that year:
“We’ve consistently stated that if we are elected to government, we will be revising the equalization formula to remove non-renewable natural resources, which would result, of course, in Saskatchewan retaining 100 percent of its oil and gas revenue, amongst other things.
That ‘we’ is plural, by the way, ET, and reflects not only Lukiwski’s personal view, but also that of his party since 2004, not to mention the many, many similar statements made by his fellow CPC MPs in the House of Commons, while they were in opposition.
As for the post-election ‘preference’ language from Harper, it was recognized immediately for what it was: a shameful attempt to lay the groundwork for a betrayal of an unequivocal promise made to the people of Sask, including in writing.
Challenged by reporters with his own party’s record of betrayed campaign promises, Harper started to slither away from his well-documented position:
“I don’t think anyone has been elected on the specific details of the calculation.”
Odd indeed that Harper could be so sure that the very same election had both ambiguous (equalization) and unambiguous (Wheat Board) results: voters had clearly told him and his party that they were to do away with the Wheat Board by whatever means possible, even as they had demurred on whether he had to keep his written promises on equalization.
Remarkable, that.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, ET, whether Harper kept his equalization promises to Saskatchewan, don’t take my word for it.
Take outgoing MP Carol Skelton’s word, as recorded in the pages of the Regina Leader-Post of June 13, 2007, in an article by James Wood called ‘Sask Tories vote for controversial budget.’
The Conservatives had campaigned on promises to exclude non-renewable resource revenues from the formula for equalization funding, which has been estimated would mean an additional $800 million in federal cash for the province annually.
[snip]
But Carol Skelton, the Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar MP and Minister of National Revenue, said the budget is good for Saskatchewan because of increases to federal program and infrastructure spending that amount to $878 million, with more on the way
Responding to a question, she said “it makes up” for the promise not being met.
Really, “it makes up?” for a promise that wasn’t met?
How can that be, given that some like ET claim that the promise Skelton has admitted was broken was never made in the first place?
Despite ET’s attempts to present Conservative spin as personal recollection, the fact remains that Stephen Harper and his MPs promised one thing to the people of Saskatchewan, and delivered something very different.
Here’s hoping that’s remembered come election time.
Why on earth would we insist on some MINIMUM aducational standard for MPs?
Common sense isnt taught in schools anymore.
Need i remind you Alby, that The people of the riding select their MPs, Not a body of professors who determine a candidates fitness for office.
I don’t think Warren Buffet or Bill Gates have degrees. Either one of them could be a cabinet minister don’t you think?
Exile, with me it is “boughten” I don’t say anything but it drives me nuts.