Or are they?
If the results of this online poll are any indication, the overwhelming majority don’t want an election until next fall or later.

But even for an online poll, the wording is somehow… unfamiliar. It’s the way the question is formatted – “When would you like…”.
We’re not supposed to “like” elections. We’re Canadians, after all – trained to expect more passively worded phrasing such as

“Are you ready to brave snow, sleet and lineups to vote for the third time in 4 years?”

or

“Considering the brilliant economic record of the caring government of Canadian Values, do you agree with the Redneck Party’s coup attempt?”

I thought it might be useful to revisit where we were just over a year ago, when the Martin Liberals were facing the non-confidence vote that would eventually bring them down.

“Pollsters, strategists warn against Christmas election”. One wonders how they find the time, given the volume of lucrative government contracts they’re burdened with.
Where have we heard this before? Oh, right – last spring, when the weather was fair and the sidewalks dry and Harper had a 5 point lead in the polls.

Well, if one is to believe the media theme and the nature of the polls conducted this week, Canadians have recovered from this ballot driven anxiety. Google News currently brings up over 900 stories on the prospects of a Dion – Harper matchup.
Election campaigning has already begun – Toronto Star, Canada
Dion: election starts now Edmonton Journal
Dion says next federal election will offer choice between ‘two Calgary Sun
Eager for an election, leader puts Kyoto front and centre – Globe and Mail
downplays single-issue candidacy – StarPhoenix
Dion’s ready for an election – 570 News
It’s hard to have respect for the intelligence of the political elites when they keep tipping their hand about how little they have for ours.

Say what you will…

.. about their open hostility towards social conservatives….

CTV has accomplished what no political strategist has ever been able to do –

Restore the federal Conservatives to their correct position on the global political compass!
(h/t’s to Black Rod and Urban Refugee for the sharp eyes.)

Probably best to use this for leadership results post mortems.
Yesterday’s threads – Alberta PC and Liberal Party of Canada are getting so large they’re cumbersome to load.
Request – if someone can track down an audio clip of Mr. Dion’s response to a reporter’s question on squaring Kyoto with the Alberta oilsands;

“If we ken find…. sustenible development…”

I would much appreciate it.
I’ve pointed it out once already – this man has the makings of a “sustenible” drinking game!

Dinning vs Morton vs Stelmach.
What liberal bias? For sheer entertainment value, check out this this ridiculous Globe and Mail piece. I’ve taken the liberty of adding the emphasis the headline writers intended.

And they don’t get to blame the headline writers for this bit of sneer;

The religious right in this rural area southeast of Calgary mobilized behind Ted Morton, a social conservative who preaches so-called family values.

I look forward to future articles by Walton and Harding to apply “so-called” to the words “Canadian values”.
The G&M feedback link is here.

---

Results are being posted here, at Larry Johnsrude’s Edmonton Journal blog. (But not very quickly. I think he’s partying with the Stelmach people. Why are journos so bad at blogging?)
You can also follow reports at 660news.com, though there’s no continuous coverage that I’m aware of anywhere.
Or, just read the comments – it seems our readers are bringing them in faster than either of the sources listed above. (I’m updating as they come in)

Results so far in the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership race with 79/83 polls reporting:
48,543 Jim Dinning
44,046 Ed Stelmach
36,071 Ted Morton
(CTV Calgary hasn’t bothered updating since 11:00 pm mtn)

B. Hoax Aware comments “Amazing. The MSM has abandoned leadership election results reporting to sda !!”
A blogging note – you sure can tell when it’s a big political day around here… just past midnight (Sk time) and there have been 662 visits in the last hour.
And just for fun another poll going horribly wrong…
11:43 pm in Alberta …based on current tallies, and the likely results of the Morton second choice ballots, the SDA Decision Desk is projecting Ed Stelmach the new Premier of Alberta… Now, I’m off to bed, in anticipation of preparing crow for breakfast. Continuing coverage in the comments, presumably.

---

Morning update
Last Update: 1:25 AM– Sunday December 03
Results from the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership race with 83/83 polls reporting:
Ed Stelmach 51, 764
Jim Dinning 51, 282
Ted Morton 41, 243
I haven’t read them all, but the comments look to be a hoot.
Ural – “Let me be the first to congratulate the SDA Decision Desk on projecting the winner correctly a full hour and 20 minutes before MSM.”
Cal2 – “sure glad our Liberal Media CBCpravda kept up with the Alberta election – 13 hours between postings on the Pravda website 630 yesterday to 730 this morning . Bit of a contrast compared to the all day luvfest they had commercial free for their liberals.”
MaryT – “Everyone is asking what happened to Dinnings campaign, but no one has said, it became public that he donated mega bucks to Paul Martins campaign last January. That info shocked a lot of people. Be fun to read the Calgary Sun tomorrow. Maybe now the city elites will stop knocking rural Alberta. Ed took several polls in Calgary, explain that.”
Tomax7 – “…pretty sad when Albertan’s gotta get historic news from a Sask blogsite eh?”

Which probably took a little air out of Dion’s balloon, no?
2nd ballot results:
Ignatieff – 1481
Rae – 1132
Dion — 974
Kennedy – 884
Dryden – 219
Total valid 4,690
Dryden is giving an impassioned “I want my big government back” speech to his delegates. Tears well… walks to Rae.
Kenndy moves to Dion, as expected. CTV’s Lisa LaFlamme will be thrilled.
3rd ballot results:
Dion – 1782
Ignatieff – 1660
Rae – 1375
Total – 4817
Rae starts to walk… somewhere.
Weathervane Ralph now wearing a green scarf.
Well, isn’t this typical? CTV offers an opportunity for “ordinary” viewers to email Mike Duffy duff@ctv.ca with their observations and what does he do? He reads the ones sent in from political hacks. “We want to hear what you think?” he closes with. No, he doesn’t.
A bit more media trivia – Jim Travers outed CBC’s Don Newman earlier this week. Apparently nobody noticed, because everyone already knew.
Program advisory: The Godfather just took the stage. Turn down the volume on your sets,
I’ve been handed a note from the producers. A source highly trusted in the corporation, but who shall remain unnamed, has indicated that CBC plans to close their convention coverage to the chorus of Jesus Christ Superstar…
Post Mortem – in the final analysis, here is what happened. Despite a determined campaign to present a positive face to the nation, the Liberal Party’s decision boiled down to a selection determined by negatives.
The campaign of Michael Ignatieff gained early support, but eventually stumbled because a significant number of delegates were determined to vote for “anybody but”.
The campaign of Bob Rae gained later momentum, but eventually stalled because a significant number of delegates were also determined to vote for “anybody but”.
In the end they settled on the candidate who had staked out the highly coveted political ground known as “least offensive”.
So, there we have it.
The new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, and citizen of France…

Mr. Anybody But

It’s not often you get this kind of opportunity to make a side-by-side comparison.

Good God, does Michael Ignatieff talk slowly.
Or maybe he’s just considering the audience.
Whatever – the thing that has me scratching my head after the last couple of speeches are the references to the environmental “crisis”… “giving Canadians hope” … “bringing equal opportunity”… “helping aboriginals” and the children…. oooh, the hungry children.
Have none of them stopped to consider who has been governing for 12 of the last 13 years?
Update I’ve changed my mind.
I … think … he’s had … a stroke. “Let’s win …some seats … in …. Al——berta,”
BWAAHAAA… CTV just cut away from the convention in the middle of his speech. They’ve gone overtime.
As I said – these are the same people who have been confessing all evening long that they ran the country into the ground – so expecting them to get a few convention speeches wrapped up in time is probably unreasonable.
And going back to Rae – did his “Stephen Harper ordered steak” joke make you wonder if he hadn’t just called the Harper family “vegetables”? The delayed reaction at the convention suggests others were wondering what the hell they’d just heard, too.
Quick Wits – Wildrose in the comments – “Pretty funny watching Ken Dryden bash Conservatives for being too cozy with Americans – at a Convention where the keynote speaker was from the US.”

“And now a message from Power Corporation.”
h/t

“We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds”… Stephane Dion, still speaking (when you can understand him) at the Liberal leadership convention (rough quote);

“Stephen Harper held us hostage with the threat of an election so he could commit Canadians to two more years in Afghanistan”

Now, there’s the kind of political courage that just makes the knees go weak.
More.
You know, thinking it over since Dion finished – or rather, ran out of time and couldn’t finish – I wonder how he feels about the lengthy, glowing endorsement of Green Party leader Elizabeth May during his “introduction” by MP Glen Pearson (who also gushed approvingly of himself for some time).

Via Canadan Conservative because he has permalinks,

This photo, taken a minute ago on my cell camera, shows very, very many Liberals – who are very, very upset – waiting to “bump up” for the vacant delegate spots. This is where the leadership may now be won.
It is like the fabled helicopter lifting off the rooftop in Saigon, totally chaotic, and no other media is paying attention. They should.

Update – Macleans is,

Hot on the heels of a McLelland endorsement of Jim Dinning comes this from Ted Morton;

CALGARY — Tory leadership contender Ted Morton says Alberta should cut the amount it contributes to federal transfer payments so it can build more roads and sewers for an influx of workers.
Speaking on an Alberta radio talk show (Rutherford-CHQR-CHED), Morton says it makes no sense for Ottawa to pay out employment insurance to keep workers in Atlantic Canada and Quebec where they’re unemployed, when Alberta needs workers.

Speaking of Anne McLelland, don’t miss the Stephen Taylor interview.
Heh – “the Alberta Toronto is ready for”.

Brought to you by the team at Small Dead Animals – “where there are more daily readers than Liberals have delegates!”
We begin our broadcast with a friendly shout out to the Mole – still providing endless entertainment for conservatives!

Now to formal coverage of the Liberal leadership convention. First, the results of our poll…

“There seems to be a high percentage of voters who think the Liberals are entering a new ‘John Turner’ era, Lloyd.”

In local leadership news, Saskatchewan MP and former finance minister “Weathervane Ralph” has hitched his wagon to Bob Rae. Mr. Rae’s primary political achievement to date was to plunge the province of Ontario into massive debt during a single term stint as an NDP premier.
Which raises an obvious comparison (and a question I’d like our Liberal and NDP readers to ponder)…
How is favouring Bob Rae to become the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada differ substantively from an endorsement of former Saskatchewan premier Grant Devine for the office of Prime MInister?
(Open thread.)

Much of the news of this week reinforced the fact that political superficiality is second only to opportunism as defining characteristics of the Liberal party (which by default, includes much of Canadian media).
That said, I confess my curiosity was aroused by this headline;
“Trudeau mobbed at Liberal rally”.
“Could it be?” I thought to myself.
As it turns out, this was not the unveiling of the most ambitious embalming project since Lenin. (Talk about “life of the convention”!)
No – just another story quoting the giddy exhalations of the dead politician’s eldest y-chromosome beneficiary;

“I feel like a rock star,” [Justin]Trudeau said to himself as he signed autographs at an event meant to fire up support for Glen Pearson in tomorrow’s byelection in London-North Centre.
Pearson spoke, too, at his campaign headquarters in a strip mall on Adelaide Street, paying respects to the main attraction.
“We have someone in our midst who someday may be prime minister . . . We are in the presence of royalty,” Pearson said. “Thank you for giving us this big boost,”

And I thought this week’s “Celebrate Liberal Irrelevancy” media event had already been claimed by CBC’s The National, in bringing the meaningless opinions of Alexandre Trudeau on the “Quebecois nation” motion in Parliament to a national audience.
For those too disinterested to tell them apart, “Sasha” is the second[1] of the Trudeau sons. He recently shared these and other personal insights into Cuban dictator Fidel Castro ;

“Combined with a Herculean physique and extraordinary personal courage, this monumental intellect makes Fidel the giant that he is.”

I and other Canadians waited patiently over the commercial break for followup segments with Ben Mulroney and Catherine Clark, but alas….
Footnote:
[1] The third and youngest Trudeau son is perhaps best known for his valiant, but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to have a lake in British Columbia named after him.

The results from the first round in Alberta’s “Pick Your New Premier” vote.
Dinning 29470 30.2%
Morton 25614 26.2%
Stelmach 14967 15.3%
Oberg 11638 11.9%
Hancock 7595 7.8%
Norris 6789 6.9%
Doerksen 873 0.9%
McPherson 744 0.8%
CBC;

The race for the leadership of Alberta’s ruling Progressive Conservative party has been narrowed from eight candidates to three, with former treasurer Jim Dinning leading the pack after a first round of balloting Saturday.
He will face backbencher Ted Morton and former cabinet minister Ed Stelmach in a second ballot on Dec. 2.

Someone requested a new thread – so, here you go!
Vitruvius in the comments ;

The Edmonton Champagne Socialists, Mastercard Marxists, Limousine Liberals and Welfare Wankers Journal was dripping with condescension and disappointment in their coverage this morning, so things must be going well.

Running his campaign the way he did Ontario!
I believe this calls for an SDA poll…

Who will win the Liberal Leadership?
	Michael Ignatieff
	Bob Rae
	Joe Volpe
	Gerard Kennedy
	Stéphane Dion
	Martha Hall Findlay
	Scott Brison
	Ken Dryden
	It doesn’t matter.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

UPDATE – the plot thickens! – Anti-Ignatieff blog linked to Rae camp. (Via National Newswatch.)
UPDATE II – Darcey thinks the real story here is the involvement of the Globe & Mail in pimping a non-story.

There is nothing remarkable about the blog itself, just regular reprints and quotes of news articles critical of Ignatieff along with some pro-Rae ones. Seemingly small and insignificant but somebody took the time to track the guy down and obviously had to send some info to the Globe and Mail which also writes:

The dispute over Internet postings underlines the high stakes of the Liberal leadership race

Especially when Canada’s national newspaper gets involved.

CNews;

The perceived front-runner is Jim Dinning, a former Alberta treasurer who put the province on track to reach its prized debt-free status by slashing the budget – and thousands of civil service jobs – during the height of the Klein Revolution in the early 1990s.
Dinning has a wide base of powerful support, from the business elite and a majority of the Conservative caucus to much-respected former premier Peter Lougheed.
But all indications suggest Dinning will be challenged by Ted Morton, a social conservative whose strong stands against same-sex marriage and Ottawa’s involvement in what are considered provincial matters have made him increasingly popular to the party’s right wing and rural arm.
Also in the race are former Klein cabinet ministers Lyle Oberg, Ed Stelmach, Mark Norris, Dave Hancock, and Victor Doersken, as well as community activist and businessman Gary McPherson.

There you go, Alberta readers – open thread!

Mark Steyn at The Corner;

As one of NR’s house Canadians, can I comment on this North American Union the maple hegemon is about to impose on the continent?
Chances of an EU-style sovereignty pooling arrangement in North America? Zero per cent – whatever Tom Tancredo and the CFR say. In Europe, the EU controls trade policy, sales tax rates, immigration and a ton of other stuff including the approved curvature of bananas. In North America, the Province of Quebec sets its own tax rates, controls its own immigration policy and regulates a ton of other stuff including the color of margarine (it is illegal to sell butter-toned butter substitutes in Quebec – hence, no I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. It would have to be a wan off-white color and you’d very easily believe it’s not butter). Seven million Quebecers are not going to submerge themselves within 300 million anglophones – and, as Quebec determines Canada’s disposition in almost everything, an EU-style North America is not going to happen.
So relax, and enjoy Thanksgiving – unless you’re Canadian, in which case you enjoyed it back on Columbus Day. Which is one more reason there won’t be a North American Union. At any rate not until the Hispanic States of North Mexico and the Islamic Dominion of Canada decide to merge circa 2037.

A people unable to accept that they are more like Americans than they are each other.

Bumped to top, with updates. Scroll down for new entries…
CTV;

The federal government will introduce a motion recognizing that Quebecers constitute a nation within a united Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday.
“Do Quebecers form a nation within a united Canada? The answer is yes. Do the Quebecois form an independent nation? The answer is no, and will always be no,” Harper said in an address to the House of Commons following question period.
“The Bloc Quebecois has asked us to define that, and perhaps that’s a good thing, because it reminds us all Canadians have a stake in the future of this country.”
He called on his federal colleagues, and also to their separatist counterparts to, “do what we must to keep this country strong, independent, united and free.”

Have at ‘er.
(It’s probably best to click the video link at CTV.ca to hear the full speech.)
Text here
Update – as anticipated, lively discussion in the comments – a lot of it more interesting than you’ll get from the paid punditry. For the record, I’m an agnostic on this. While the political maneuvering is fun to watch, I stopped losing sleep over Quebec years ago. Go. Stay. Don’t care.
That said, I think those who do can likely take this as a good sign – “it looked like Gilles was going to stroke out on CPAC”.
(Coyne, on the other hand, is under suicide watch)
Evening update – and more most excellent commentary! ….from the Land That Permalinks Forgot – “Ten reasons why Stéphane Dion cannot go along with the ‘nation’ resolution”
…Ooops:

Harper’s proposal also won the approval of Stephane Dion, the lone Quebec contender who has fiercely criticized the Liberal approach on the issue. He said Harper’s motion is “very close” to a compromise he’s been floating among Liberal leadership candidates.
Dion said Harper’s recognition of Quebecers as a nation, is more in keeping with the sociological sense of the word, whereas the Liberal resolution is more ambiguous, suggesting Quebec is a “nation-state.”

Nov. 23 followup – A history lesson from Bob Tarantino – “As you were”
Meanwhile, is it lazyness or is it literacy? 50% of Canadian media misquotes the Prime Minister. Hey – it’s why they pay them the big bucks! Just one of many examples;

he introduced a landmark resolution that will see the province of Quebec recognized as a “nation within a united Canada.”

Cerberus;

I’m putting together a non-partisan spread of funny [Liberal leadership] candidate photos …. Please send me your links (real photos, not photoshops) for a little pre-convention fun that I will post the week after next.

Chronicle Herald ;

QUEBEC (CP) — A Montreal community health clinic has come under fire for excluding men from their neonatal classes to accommodate the sensibilities of Muslim, Sihk and Hindu women.

Via China e-Lobby;

Communist Embassy aide kicked out for spying on Falun Gong: Canada refused to renew the visa for Wang Pengfei, an aide at the Communist Chinese Embassy’s Education Office because Wang “was caught compiling information on Canadians who practice Falun Gong and inciting students to help him” (Epoch Times)

Stop The ACLU has the full 40 minute version of Glenn Beck presents: Exposed, in case you missed it.
Add your own in the comments.