Bill Greenwood in the comments;
I know of Sask. sons who work over 150 days a year in their home province-100 nights of hotels and 50 nights standing shivering or swatting mosquitoes beside a frac sand or nitrogen pumper. I say just try and nationalize our oil. See what happens.
Things have been so busy here that I nearly forgot to announce the “winners” of the Fill In The Blank Conservative contest.
To review – it all started with a comment by JulieM:
Okay, this is my first post here but that reminds me of the 2000 elections (I’m an American). I’m one of those “broken glass” Republicans who would crawl through broken glass (the pundits said) to vote against the Clintons.
Maybe someone can come up with some witty Canadian equivalent, perhaps “broken snow plow Conservatives,” or “dead battery Conservatives,” or, “Where in the #*@( are my mitts Conservatives.”
So based on a mathematical equation specifically formulated to produce a purely subjective result:
3rd place;
“Brass Monkey Conservative” – “Brian”
2nd – (and readers choice) ;
“40 Below Conservative” – “Fred”
And the winner is!
“Damn the Tim’s! Where’s the polling booth? Conservative” – “Alan”
And no contest is complete without an Honourable Mention in the Most Understated Category;
“Actually-voting Conservative” – Stephen J.
Thanks everyone!
You can catch the rest of the entries here.
Latest roundtable post is up.
Stephen Taylor and I have been working to check out something a reader emailed me about a couple of days ago. Because of my technical limitations and a busy workday yesterday, I asked Stephen to dig into the video of the ads up on the Liberal.ca website to see if there was something to the suspicions cast and he’s pulled together a devastating case.
I’ll be using Stephen’s text extensively in this post as well as the timeline he pulled together. Let’s review;
December 5th: The Liberals release three ads on their website. (1, 2, 3)
December 7th – Paul Martin at Montreal climate change conference: “To the reticent nations, including the United States, I say this: There is such a thing as a global conscience, and now is the time to listen to it, now is the time to join with others in the global community”
December 8th – Canadian ambassador to the US, Frank McKenna (a Liberal) reportedly receives a “dressing down” from the Bush administration over Martin’s comments on December 7th.
December 13th (morning) – US Ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins: “It may be smart election-year politics to thump your chest and constantly criticize your friend and your No. 1 trading partner”
December 13th (afternoon) – Paul Martin: Let me simply say to anyone who wants to question what I have been saying, beginning with (Conservative Leader) Stephen Harper, that I am the prime minister of this country, that our position on climate change will be determined by the government of Canada, that the fact is that we do expect our partners to honour their agreements — and I will defend Canada. Period.
December 16th – Liberals release new ads on their website (4, 5)
Check out the transcript of the 4th Liberal ad, which seems to underscore Martin’s bold response to Wilkins:
Keith White: “I think Paul Martin’s doing a fantastic job representing our interests… in America”
Neil Dhalla: “Paul Martin definitely has the ability to stand up to Mr. Bush”
Art Cowie: “Paul Martin’s taking a very strong stand on the lumber situation”
Bardish Chagger: “He has protected Canadians’ interests, he has fought for our softwood lumber.”
Nathan Van Beselacre: “It’s important to have good relations with our neighbours, but when there’s a problem you have to deal with it diplomatically. I feel he’s done so.”
However, this fourth ad (released Dec 16th) was filmed on the same day as second ad released on Dec 5th – long before the reported “summoning” of Mckenna to Washington.
(I’ve screencaptured Stephen’s shots – be sure to go over to his site for the live links.)
Note the positioning of the parked cars and the same clothes.
Note the pattern of the puddles over Dhalla’s shoulder. Note the time on the clock in the background (ad 4 was filmed 7 minutes after ad 2)
Same clothes, same rainy day.
The clips the ads obviously were filmed on the same day and sometime before December 5th.
Did the Martin campaign deliberately set out to sour relations with the Bush administration for political advantage? Did Wilkins fall into a trap that had been already laid? It might explain why he seemed a bit mystified over the reaction to his speech. On Dec.13, Norm Spector noticed something that David Frum had mentioned in the National Post.
The National Post’s David Frum is onto Paul Martin.
The story of White House reaction to that speech turns out to have been wildly overhyped. The White House official who met with ambassador McKenna on Friday was not the Vice- President, not the National Security Adviser, not even the National Security Council’s Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs: It was the head of the Council on Environmental Quality. Nor had McKenna been “summoned”: He had requested the meeting himself. As for the administration’s alleged fury, the true mood seems to have been closer to one of irritated resignation.
The ads are a little too prescient. Together with Frum’s revelation, what the LIberals have tried to pull off may represent an all-time low in the history of Canadian politics. I agree with Stephen ;
The Liberal braintrust obviously thought that clips of “ordinary Canadians” (er, Liberals) would be required defending what would be future rhetoric of Paul Martin taking on George W. Bush and the USA.
If the recent diplomatic row with Washington was merely part of a partisan ploy to gain anti-American votes (as many observers have suggested), does the timing of the filming of these ads further confirm that the Liberals were preparing to sour Canadian-US relations for electoral gain?
A social conservative wins the nomination in Mississauga-Erindale.
Hallab Mada points to Paul Martin’s seeming ineptitude when it comes to tire changing;
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As Candace points out in the comments, it’s possible he doesn’t know how. To be fair, it’s likely that the wagon carried no spare or jack – not that it mattered as the right rear tire was also going flat.
However, consider this alternate outcome;
Recognizing that his hay wagon stunt was degenerating into photo-op meltdown, Martin might have demonstrated common sense, compassion and leadership all at the same time. How?
By getting out to walk– by asking the driver to pull up, and leading the passengers off the overloaded, disabled wagon to spare the horses from the undue strain of pulling what was close to a dead weight.
A brief stop to pat Nellie’s neck on the way by, and he could have been a hero.
Instead, he planted a stupid grin on his face, and led a sing-a-long as soundtrack to his own utter stupidity.
The results for the largest competition of its kind (444,548 votes cast in total) the 2005 Weblog Awards have been announced. Click here for the full list.
Thanks to all of you who supported SDA (Best Canadian Blog) and congratulations to the other Canadian finalists. Be sure to pay them a visit!
My latest post is up at the CBC Roundtable.
An email from Elie Betito, the campaign director for Bonnie Brown, Oakville riding, to a voter unhappy with the Liberal’s handgun ban proposal. (I’ve included the text of the original email to Betito in the extended entry.) The headers confirm origin from Betito’s email address at Apotex.
It’s written to Stacey Cherwonak – a Forensic Firearms Tech with the RCMP.
From: Elie Betito
To: Stacey Cherwonak
Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 1:30 PM
Subject: RE: Your party’s announcement today…
take your NRA , GUN LOVING ASS BACK TO THE U.S. WHERE YOU BELONG, E. BETITO
Well then!
I’m not a psychologist – I just play one on the internet – but does this sound like the response of someone who’s happy and optimistic about the direction the campaign is going?
Update: Betito Resigns At least two readers have recieved replies to emails sent to Brown’s campaign office. Jim LeFrancois (for the Bonnie Brown campaign) writes that Betito’s position with the campaign was not that of “director” but “volunteer”. The email goes on to explain
He was a volunteer for the Liberal Party and has today resigned that position as a result of these intemperate comments. While not condoning this response it is worthwile noting that he responded in kind to a private email sent to him in language about as intemperant as the one he received-read the closing line.
Yes, it is worthwhile noting. The official Liberal.ca website has already been updated, but the Google cache clearly shows Betito’s address as the official contact for Bonnie Brown. As such, it’s a bit of a stretch to distance the response from the office in the way Mr. LeFrancois would like us to believe.
Amd this site lists info for the Oakville Liberal Riding Ass’n and provides Betito’s mailing address and identifies him as both primary contact and Riding President.
So, it seems that part of my information was in error, Betito was not the Brown Campaign “Director” – a correction I am happy to concede to the Brown Campaign Hairsplitter.
I don’t have a link, but apparently Canadian Press has picked up the story.
Flying the Liberal Party Boeing 727 to Regina for a photo op – $35,000
Purchasing Liberal-friendly winter weather apparel – $1,800
Renting two-horse work team from alienated western farmer – Priceless
(And just when they thought it couldn’t get any worse…)
Update: Local news covered this visit in more detail. Talk about “wheels coming off”. – Calvert “remained in his office all day” awaiting news that Martin had come bearing promise of an Energy Accord (equaling that Martin and Goodale gave the Atlantic oil producing provinces during the spring confidence crisis)… only to be told by his campaign that “he wouldn’t have time to talk to the premier.” In the news conference, Martin blamed the lack of an energy accord on the province not naming their negotiating panel soon enough.
We should invite him back more often.
h/t Candace.
In the likely event (think Bountiful, BC or prosecution of a Muslim polygamous marriage) that the Supreme Court of Canada is asked the question:
Is the right to marry more than one person protected under the Charter of Rights And Freedoms as a right to religious expression?
And comes down with a “Yes” in answer;
Would Paul Martin, as Prime Minister, ask Parliament to invoke the Notwithstanding Clause to take away that right ?
This is more than an invitation. It’s a challenge.
“Nevermind” says Linda McQuaig, Deep Thinker[tm] – that the US is kicking Canada’s ass when it comes to controlling CO2 emissions. Paul Martin was right to poke a finger at the Bush administration and what’s more, 61% of Canadians agree!
She slams the point home with this debate stopper;
“Still, we did sign Kyoto…”
If you parse her text carefully, you’ll realize that McCuaig knows perfectly well that Canada’s rise in emissions are about double that of the US. She simply lacks the intellectual honesty to admit it in print – or the journalistic work ethic to set aside a column that was undermined by fact and start anew.
The Notwithstanding Clause;
33. (1) Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or section 7 to 15 of this Charter.
… is not an extra-Constutional legal device designed to “thwart” the Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms.
It is a section contained WITHIN the Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms.
Read it for yourself, and demand our politicians protect the right to invoke the “notwithstanding clause” in our treasured Charter with all the vigour that they do others. As Paul Martin is quick to remind us – “I don’t believe the prime minister of Canada can cherry-pick charter rights.”
Hold him to his word.
I’ve mentioned before that motivation is the Achilles heel of the Liberal campaign. Are we detecting a limp?
The morning rally was the first the Liberals have staged in British Columbia since the campaign began. Although the supporters managed to create a cacophony of sound with the balloons distributed by the party for that purpose, the gathering was small by election campaign standards – the 19 candidates in attendance made up a substantial proportion of the crowd.
But that didn’t stop Mr. Martin from seeing the event in a positive light.
“What a tremendous crowd, what a great thing this is.”
February 7 update: Greg has retracted.
I was watching the National last night [Friday – ed]and was dumbfounded by one member of the “Citizens Panel” (roughly 27:30 minutes in) of “undecided” voters, as she effortlessly mouthed Liberal talking points. I thought it was kind of odd and even Mansbridge seemed a little uncomfortable. I googled the panelist’s name and in her bio were these little nuggets…
Revealed, at last.
Devin Baines says he got a call from the government.
On behalf of an NDP candidate.
Latest post is up at the CBC Roundtable.
Enjoy.
A vision of the past?
Add the spectre of security walls rising along “the world’s longest undefended border” to a federal election campaign already being driven by debate about Canada’s relations with the United States.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted late Thursday to consider erecting “physical barriers” along the American border with Canada, the firmest step yet toward building the kinds of fences now in place on the Mexican frontier to stop the northward flow of illegal aliens and smuggled goods.
New hope for a cure for freckles!
