Canadian Alliance-Progressive Conservative merger good for parties, good for CanadaIn a letter written to the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Marjaleena Repo reminds Canadians that, although the 2004 merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party -- forming the modern Conservative Party of Canada -- has long been old news, there are still those who remain preoccupied with it.Apparently resenting the description of the Liberal Party/NDP attempt to form a coalition government -- also worth reiterating: a government that would have been irresponsibly mortgaged to the separatist Bloc Quebecois -- as a coup d'etat, Repo instead describes the CA-PC merger as the same:"In discussing the possibility of a Liberal-New Democrats merger, frequent reference is made to the Alliance-PC...
Ontario PCs and Reform Party dupilicating effortsLed by Brad Harness, the Reform Party of Ontario has declared its intent to revive the Reform Party as a provincial force in the province of Ontario.Whenever Ontario holds its next election, Harness and the Reform Party want to run candidates in half of Ontario's ridings, and be a major player in a handful.“We want to make a real impact in 15 to 20 ridings,” Harness insists.But the problem for Harness is that the Progressive Conservative Party Ontario is already championing many of the definitive causes of the Reform Party.Under the guidance of MPP Steve Clark, the Tim Hudak-led Ontario Tories will explore options such as electoral recall and veto referendum legislation, to be enacted upon winning government in a future...
Richard Neufield breaks Senate election promisesPrime Minister Stephen Harper has waited a long time to establish a Conservative majority in the Senate. He may have to wait a little bit longer, as Richard Neufield has pretty much written himself a ticket to be kicked out of the Conservative Party caucus.Appointed by Harper on condition of supporting the Conservative Party's Senate reform agenda, Neufield has gone partially back on the deal, reneging on his promised support for Senate elections."Before I came here, I only thought about it when it was brought up in newspaper articles, or someone was ranting and raving about the Senate when they talked about elections," Neufield explained while speaking in the Senate chamber. "But I thought we should have an elected Senate."If Neufield had...
The far left simply doesn't get it -- they didn't get it before, and they won't get it nowWriting mere hours before the outbreak of violent protests in downtown Toronto surrounding the set-to-begin G20 summit, Rabble.ca's Darren Puscas published an article entitled "Harper's aggressive plants: Canada at the G8 and G20 Summits".Among the plans Puscas treats as "aggressive" are the promotion of budgetary austerity amidst the European economy walking a tightrope between tenuous stability and total collapse, opposition to a global bank tax, opposition to Iran's nuclear program, climate realism, and the child & maternal health program.And one other thing: Puscas insists that Stephen Harper is propagating a "culture of fear" around the G8 and G20 summits:For the far-left, Puscas' article is...
Marci McDonald complains about "right wing attacks"Writing a column in the Ottawa Citizen, Marci McDonald -- of The Armageddon Factor fame -- complains that she's been treated rather unjustly by Canada's conservative media.Citing sources of attack such as Ezra Levant, David Frum and Blazing Cat Fur, McDonald decries the injustice of it all, and insists that she had no malignant intent in mind.She writes:"I've found myself in a firestorm of controversy, the object of distinctly un-Christian invective and the unbridled wrath of the right-wing blogosphere. Charting the uneasy minuet of religion and politics in Stephen Harper's Ottawa appears to have given me a level of notoriety summed up in a current title on the best-seller list: I am, as one friend quipped, the girl who kicked the...
Liberal, NDP have no reason for a coalitionWiriting for the National Post's Full Comment blog, Brian lee Crowley throws a bucket of cold water on the most recent version of coalition fantasies held by the Liberal Party and the NDP.Crowley simply points out that in order to justify imposing a Liberal/NDP coalition -- a coalition likely beholden to the Bloc Quebecois -- these two parties would need a reason.Right now, they don't have one.Crowley writes:"the question for Canadians is not “is a coalition possible,” but rather, “what important public purpose would it serve today?” Proponents of coalition have signally failed to give a satisfactory answer. “Because we hate the Tories” hardly qualifies.The attempts at justification to date have been pretty feeble."Some of them, as...
...When you're complaining that the police are manhandling you, don't show people what you did to make it necessary."Jason Kenney you're not welcome here!" But we won't let you leave, either....
BQ, NDP both favour abolishing SenateSpeaking at a recent panel discussion on the topic of Senate Reform, Bloc Quebecois MP Nicole Demers, NDP MP David Christopherson, Liberal Senator James Cowan and Conservative Senator Hugh Segal all discussed the topic of Senate reform.Two of those individuals -- Demers and Christopherson -- weren't interesting in talking about Senate reform at all. Rather, they were more interested in talking about Senate abolition."My party is against senate reform, my party is for the abolition of the senate," Demers insisted. "There is no way the senate can be reformed unless you reopen the constitution and to do that, you need the goodwill of 10 provinces. We know you won't get the goodwill of 10 provinces so it just makes no sense."Demers knows full well that if...
Hugh Segal elected to chair Senate committee on anti-terror lawsConservative Senator Hugh Segal has been elected to chair a special Senate committee on anti-terror laws. The committee will examine two anti-terror bills, including Bill C-17, which will restore anti-terror laws that sunsetted in 2007."It was an act to amend the Criminal Code with respect to investigative hearings," Segal explained. "Whether somebody could be held because there was a suspicion that they had either been involved in a terrorist act, or had information about a coming terrorist act, and what were their rights in that process, and what were the rights of the Crown."In order to make decisions regarding the legislation, the committee will investigate the overall terrorism situation in Canada."We're going to be...
NDP objects to appointment of high-rolling Tory donor to SenateThe Conservative caucus in the Senate has remained stable, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed BC Lions owner David Braley to the upper chamber.Braley joins Conservative Senator Jacques Demers among the roster of sporting figures who seem to have no business whatsoever in the Senate.The Liberal Party and the NDP quickly vented their outrage at the appointment, noting that Braley donated $99,000 to the Conservative Party prior to the ban on corporate donations.“It appears that the reason why he was appointed was because of close to $100,000 worth of donations to Conservatives in recent times,” complained Liberal MP Marlene Jennings. “I think it shows Mr Harper’s extreme cynicism, with regards to Parliament, the...
In the most recent dispatch from the far side of the Blogging Iron Curtain, the recent news that the Stephen Harper government has cut funding to 11 women's groups has evoked quite the response from Canada's far left.They aren't amused.Bloggers like lead Chickenwankers John Baglow and Robert Peter John Day (stalker extraordinaire) have raised a particular stink. About it. Baglow insists that the cuts demonstrate a "hidden agenda" on the part of the Harper government. Day invokes Frank Graves and insists that the cuts demonstrate that the Harper Tories are "mysogynistic".(Considering Day's own reputation in regards to mysogyny, Day's assertion is actually entirely laughable.)It's the typical knee-jerk reaction that has become so prominent among those who have long grown far too accustomed...
Unlike other critics, Lilian Eva Dyck could improve the billUnlike some other individuals who have opposed Bill C-258 -- Conservative MP Joy Smith's bill to impose mandatory minimum sentences on the human trafficking of children -- Liberal Senator Lilian Eva Dyck has raised some very reasonable concerns about the bill."While I agree that we do need such a bill, and while I believe that the intentions of the bill are laudable, Bill C-268 will not have any real impact on preventing child trafficking unless it is amended to incorporate tougher penalties and defines the criminal offence specifically as trafficking of minors for commercial sexual exploitation," Dyck recently told the Senate.Dyck is precisely right about the length of the mandatory minimum sentence imposed by the bill -- five...
Tories introduce Senate election billConservative Party introduces senate election legislationAs promised long ago, the Conservative Party has begun to move forward with its Senate reform agenda.And the road to Senate reform will begin in the Senate, as the Tories opted to introduce their legislation there.The bill will allow all of Canada's provinces -- not merely Alberta -- to elect Senators-in-waiting. The decision abour whether or not to actually hold the elections will remain up to individual provinces, but Canadians will no longer have to wait for each province to pass individual legislation.Senator Bob Runciman is particularly excited to have this legislation before the Senate."It boggles the mind that one of the world's greatest democracies appoints people to a House of Parl...
Terrorist-funding George Galloway inadmissable to CanadaA recent report by the Globe and Mail maintains that Citizenship and Immigration Canada took less than two hours to rule that British MP George Galloway was inadmissable to enter Canada to give a series of speeches.Many Canadians, knowing the facts of the case, would have taken less than two hours to make such a decision.The story alleges that Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was involved in the decision, via an email sent by his communications director to bureaucrats at the ministry.The report will almost certainly help those predisposed to argue that Galloway was ruled inadmissable due to political reasons snowball this story into a freedom of speech outrage.And the truth be told, they may be right about whether or...
Clifford Olson killed eleven people. Karla Homolka participated in the torture and murder of four people. Graham James sexually molested an unknown number of hockey players during his time as a coach.Yet somehow, to some people, conservatives are always the bad guys. Even if they haven't killed or molested anyone.That's about the only thing that can be taken away from this most recent dispatch from the most demented of the Chickenwankers.In a post about the controversies surrounding the pardon of James, the (seemingly) pending pardon of Homolka, and the thousands of dollars in pension funds being paid out to Olson, Sister Sage's Musings proprietor CK insists that an evil conservative conspiracy simply must be afoot:First off, contrary to what CK may think, decisions about pardons are not...
Labour Party pulls off brilliant viral campaignMany Canadians will remember the unimitgated, humiliating disaster that was the Canadian Liberal Party's "Anywhere but Copenhagen" photoshop challenge.As the 2010 British General election slowly shifts into gear, the Labour Party has released some of the entries into its own photoshop contest, inviting supporters to mock the "We Can't Go On Like This" poster that David Cameron and the Conservative Party have released as their keystone campaign poster.Unlike the Liberal Party, which embarrassed itself by publishing submissions that mused about conducting violence against Stephen Harper, the Labour Party has pulled this off splendidly -- in a sense.Among the better of the submissions is this one, attempting to brand Cameron essentially as a...
Finley, Tkachuk, Duffy, Wallin stand up for freedom of speechSeveral Conservative Senators have arrived late to the battle to reform Canada's Human Rights Commissions, but they have arrived all the same.Partially in response to a controversial letter written by University of Ottawa provost Francois Houle to Ann Coulter in advance of a planned speech there (which was cancelled just minutes prior to its scheduled start), Senators Doug Finley, David Tkachuk, Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy have begun to speak out against the censorious labours of Canada's human rights regime.The four have begun to lead a Senate inquiry into freedom of speech in Canada -- drawing long-overdue Parliamentary attention to the excesses of Canada's Human Rights Commissions."Despite our 400-year tradition of free...
Conservatives determined to reform Senate, Liberals seem determined not toThe governing Conservative Party is set to re-introduce their Senate reform legislation -- pushing, for the time being, for term limits on Senate appointments.Rumours had recently abounded that the Conservatives and the ever-recalcitrant Liberals had struck a deal on the length of those term limits; the Conservatives had been holding out for eight-year term limits, while the Liberals have been insistent on a longer period, like twelve years.It's not an altogether unreasonable preference.Yet reports that the government and the Liberals had reached a deal have turned out to be premature.Yet the Liberals must know that now that the Conservatives have a plurality in the Senate -- with a majority likely to follow...
Conservatives to campaign on end to political subsidiesWhen Pierre Poilievre appeared on CTV's Power Play recently, host Tom Clark was notably disappointed when Poilievre mused about the Conservative Party taking on the opposition parties over per-vote political subsidies, then declined to announce they would table legislation in the house.Clark may be less disappointed today, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office has confirmed that the Tories will campaign against per-vote subsidies during the next federal election.This comes after opposition parties voted to end the privilege for MPs to mail ten percenters outside of their riding."The position of our government is clear. If all the parties wish to abolish this particular subsidy for mailings outside of an MP's own riding, of...
Liberal Party scandal mongering falls shortWhen Prime Minister Stephen Harper called upon the G8 to undertake a maternal and child health initiative, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff seemed to think he had been handed a golden opportunity.By calling on Harper to ensure that the maternal and child health initiative included funding for abortion, Ignatieff must have imagined he could paint Harper as a right-wing extremist and pander to the pro-abortion movement by re-opening the abortion debate.That move has left Ignatieff with egg on his face, as his party narrowly lost a non-binding motion to ensure that abortion and contraception were included in the plan.Read that again: Ignatieff couldn't even pass a non-binding motion on the topic.A number of anti-abortion Liberal MPs declined...
One more reason to elect the SenateIn an article appearing in the London Free Press, the suggestion is floated that ehc new Senate, in which the Conservative Party holds a plurality, may not be all that different from the old Senate.Conservative Senate leader Marjory LeBreton insisted that opposition bills will be treated fairly, but that government bills will also be subject to less "filibustering" in the Senate.Progressive Conservative Senator Elaine McCoy, however, objects to the notion that the Senate would simply push the government's legislation through the upper chamber."That's a very odd attitude for a senator to have, that's a backbencher's (attitude)," McCoy grumbled. "I'm not sure that the new senators are being oriented to anything other than that sort of obedience."Of course,...
Time for "ten percenter" mailings to endOne of the news stories that has generated a quiet buzz in Canadian politics was a recent vote to ban the controversial "ten percent" fliers MPs are elligible to send out.In recent years this practice has been abused by MPs mailing fliers into ridings held by other parties. The Conservative Party is not the only party to abuse this practice, but they've been the most prolific.MPs are allowed to send fliers to a number of households equal to 10% of the number of votes they received in that riding during the last election.The purpose of those fliers is supposed to be to provide information to the constituents of those ridings, but far too often the mailings have been used for crass partisan politics.The time has long come for the 10% fliers to be...
Antonia Zerbisias concocts imaginary world in which gun registry saved OPP officerWith the tragedy that befell Ontario Provincial Police Constable Vu Pham still fresh in the minds of Canadians, it should be considered unsurprising that Toronto Star columnist Antonia Zerbisias intends to take full advantage.Zerbisias, as many should recall, has a significant obsession with the long gun registry. Her numerous columns on the topic are a continual re-hash of poorly-conceived and largely-undefended arguments in favour of the long gun registry that, although they are tailor-made to be ideologically soothing to supporters of the registry, don't hold much basis in logic.Among the various instances of anti-Conservative grandstanding, however, Zerbisias offers this particular nugget:"Candice...
NDP objects to patronage cutsIf any one portion of the federal budget could be considered implicitly safe for the government to cut, it should be patronage.Unless, of course, one takes into account the NDP.It turns out that the NDP is rather offended by some planned discontinuation of some 245 Governor-in-Council appointments across 200 government agencies."We expect a real assault on the public service," predicted NDP MP Pat Martin. "We're braced and we're ready for it and we're going to push back if [Stockwell Day] does intend to declare war on the public service. He's in for the fight of his life.""There's really very little fat to be trimmed unless you want to look at whole government programs," Martin insisted. "This is what has us nervous."The savings from the axed patronage...
Dobbin: Social engineering only illegitimate if it's from the rightWriting in an essay published on the ideologically-parochial Rabble.ca, Murray Dobbin articulates a few more of his "Stephen Harper the anti-democrat" arguments.Among some of the points raised in the essay, Dobbin decries what he calls "right wing social engineering":"One of the most popular concepts on the political right over the years has been the notion of 'social engineering.' The phrase is intended to describe a process by which liberals and the left 'engineer' society - that is, set out to remake it -- by implementing government programs, intervening in the economy, and redistributing wealth so that there is a measure of economic equality (in a system defined by inequality). The implication is that these changes...
Giving in to bigotry is a failure of leadershipWriting in the Metropolitan, Dan Delmar calls out many of the leaders in Canada who have opposed a ban on the burqa, the controversial garment worn by many Muslim women."The burqa (or niqab) is possibly the most offensive garment on the face of the earth: A head-to-toe covering worn by women who practice an extremist and some say perverted form of Islam," Delmar writes. "It is a symbol of repression, misogyny and, as French president Nicholas Sarkozy said last year, 'debasement.' It should not be tolerated in any civilized society."Whether or not a woman wears the burqa voluntarily doesn't seem to matter much to Delmar."We have somehow become a nation of nations, and as such, it is difficult to find common ground, shared values," Delmar...
Runciman appointment poses new HST-related trouble for Tory leaderAfter MPP Bob Runciman was appointed to the Senate, Tim Hudak issued a sparkling statement about Runciman's contributions to the Province of Ontario and to his party."Losing one of the most effective and tenacious MPPs in a generation, the Ontario Legislature will be a much quieter place without Bob Runciman," Hudak said. “As a Member of Provincial Parliament, senior cabinet minister and Interim Leader, Bob has been a consistent and determined champion for victims of crime, front-line police officers, the law enforcement community, and hard working Ontario families.""While his commanding presence will be missed in the Legislature, his many accomplishments including 1,000 new front-line police officers and establishing a...
Poirier appointment planned to eliminate by-electionWhen Stephen Harper's new batch of Premiers takes their place among the members of Canada's upper chamber, one of them -- New Brunswick's Rose May Poirier -- will be absent.Poirier's appointment won't take effect until February 28th. There's a reason for this.Poirier is one of two sitting provincial legislators -- the other being Ontario MPP Bob Runciman -- to be appointed as one of Harper's newest batch of Senators. Her appointment will take effect later in order to eliminate the need for a by-election in her riding of Rogersville-Kouchibouguac.New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham must call an election by September 27, 2010."Being in close proximity that we are to the next general election on September 27, if the appointment would have...
Stephen Harper makes five new appointments to SenateStephen Harper finally made his expected Senate appointments toay, as his party finally put itself in the driver's seat in the upper house.Bob Runciman, Vim Kochhar, Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, Elizabeth Marshall and Rose-May Poirier will all be joiing the Conservative Senate caucus.While Harper's last batch of Senators -- featuring among them former Montreal Canadiens coach Jacques Demers (who admitted he knew nothing about politics) -- was considered by many Canadians to be sub-par. This particular batch is much, much better.Bob Runciman is an outspoken advocate of Senate reform. He even introduced a recent bill that would empower the government of Ontario to hold elections for Senate nominees. (The bill was defeated by the McGuinty...
One of the things that Canadian denizens are learning about dealing with Robert Peter John Day recently is that there are, allegedly, consequences to tweaking the bully's nose and winning.Stunned by an ongoing streak of recent defeats, readers of the Nexus in particular are well aware that Day has gone into full-meltdown mode, and drug the dredges of the Canadian blogosphere into it with him.In some ways, this has worked out well for Day -- at least within his own little world. He gets to pander to his base, and gives himself the perfect excuse to delete comments that point out to him when he's wrong.One should take, for example, the recent episode concerning Prince Albert Conservative MP Randy Hoback. Day recently suggested that the Liberals and NDP should take note of things such as...