I'm not sure but I am told by some of my friends in Oz that even the right side of the Australian labour party are not so happy with gillard's atheism. I hope that the Coalition will beat labour on the Aug 21 vote. This may indeed play a factor.
The PM's admission that she doesn't believe in God has divided religious leaders, writes John Elder.
ON AUGUST 15, between 3pm and 6pm, Julia Gillard may feel a sudden draining of her energy. She'll shrug it off as a sign that the demands of campaigning are catching up with her. And she'll be right.
On that Sunday, Melbourne witch and high priestess Lizzy Rose and her coven will invite Ms Gillard's energy into their magic circle to speak about ''her intentions of where she is taking the country''.
Ms Rose says her divinations ''will prove to...
even labour candidates have littles use for the utter failure known as gordon brown. labour has been a disaster for the United Kingdom. A disaster for freedom and liberty. brown and his minions are destroying the heritage of a millenium. brown and labour must go.
LONDON (AFP) - A general election candidate standing for Gordon Brown's Labour party described him as "the worst prime minister" ever in comments published Tuesday.
In a new blow to the embattled premier, Manish Sood said Brown was a "disgrace" and that he should apologise to the British people and Queen Elizabeth II.
Labour is well behind in opinion polls and faces the prospect of losing Thursday's general election after 13 years in power.
"Immigration has gone up which is creating friction within communities. The country...
labour and gordon brown have been a disaster for the people of the United Kingdom. gordon brown has contempt for the average pensioner who actually votes for labour. Imagine what he says about other average voters. This should finish off the brownian nightmare. Of course we see the leftist elites saying he should called this woman a bigot to her face. Fortunately this happened live, Mrs Duffy might have benn questioned by new lanbour's thought police otherwise. I hope the Tories can manage an absolute majority, because the lib dems aren't much better than labour....
The speaker has ruled and has set things in motion for an election. HM Pm harper may make this am issue of confidence. I don't particularly want an election, but the Tories are ready,willing and able to fight an election on this issue. I doubt the opposition is ready, able or willing. iffy will back down.
The Speaker of the House of Commons has ruled that opposition members have the right to ask for uncensored Afghan detainee documents, and MPs must now decide how to view the records without jeopardizing national security.
It took Peter Milliken roughly 45 minutes to explain his historic decision, citing precedents that dated back more than a century.
He said the House has two weeks to create a system for viewing the sensitive detainee records....
When you look more closely, Canadians are quite the conservative bunch. They do not like anyone making waves, ripples perhaps, but certainly not any white-crested waves. This is not only true of so-called “born Canadians”, but also of the many people who have come to Canada from faraway shores. They, too, bring with them traditional and conservative views. It is therefore all the more surprising that the Conservative Party of Canada has been unable to win a majority government since 2006. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has often felt the need to defend his track record, saying that his approach is one of “gradual conservatism”. In a way, this makes sense, particularly against the background of Harper’s own comments in December 2005 when he said that the entire...
I am so disgusted by Montreal election that I will probably not vote. I haven't done this in many many years. I always vote. The corruption charges were the final straw. Tremblay is arrogant and incompetent, harel is a separatist who doesn't even pretend to speak English. The third candidate is a 9/11 truther. Then all the corruption allegations. What a choice.Robert Wagner, long-time mayor of New York City, was a politician's politician. He had a formula for tight situations. As revealed by his son at his funeral in 1991, it went: "When in danger, ponder. When in trouble, delegate. When in doubt, mumble." Magnificent. It worked well enough to give Bob Wagner 11 years in office in New York. Might the same approach commend itself to our own mayor of Montreal, the beleaguered Gérald...
Last winter, Canadians were faced with a constitutional crisis. The Liberal opposition, which had just been handed its worst electoral rout in its history after being rejected by well over 70 percent of voters, forged a “coalition agreement” – now known as the failed and aborted attempt at a coup d’état – with the two other opposition parties, the NDP and Bloc Québécois, for the purpose of taking over government. Several (left-leaning) pundits at the time were onboard, reminding people almost daily that striking coalitions was a common occurrence in European politics. Canadians protested and revolted against this blatant putsch, and it did not take very long for all three opposition parties to withdraw to their respective caves with their tails between their legs. This...
When will it ever end? The federal budget deficit keeps growing and growing with every new forecast. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has now conceded that the deficit will reach almost $56 billion. Nor, he said, would it be eliminated by 2013, as originally predicted, but linger on until 2015. The silver lining of this black cloud hanging over Ottawa’s coffers is that the finance minister has ruled out tax increases – but there will be substantial cuts to “pet projects and special interests”.
Cuts like these should have been made a long time ago, with or without a recession. It is those “pet projects and special interests” that make up the bulk of Ottawa’s irresponsible spending – and are the prime reason why the average Canadian family today must part with at least 45...
Like a recluse who has chosen a life in the woods, to be surrounded by fairies and forest spirits, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff sits in the middle of a forest in the latest Liberal pre-campaign ad. He talks about the need for a government that thinks big, a Canada that reaches out to the world and builds the economy of tomorrow. On the surface, Ignatieff appears to hit all the right notes, but his words contain a lot of code and subtext. When he speaks of a government that thinks big, most people should have cold shivers running down their......
Behold a man with a death wish: Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has decided that it is time to call Canadians back to the polls – less than a year since the last federal election. If everything goes according to the Liberal leader’s plans, Canadians will have the questionable privilege of exercising their democratic right (and duty) for the fourth time in just five years. But here is the thing: there is no issue that would make voters clamour for an election. In 2004 and 2006, people were mad enough at the then-Liberal government for its corrupt ways (“Adscam”) to want......
Angelo Persichilli sees many weaknesses for the grits if they try and force an election. ( I doubt the bloq and the dippers are all that interested). I also want to see the balance sheets to see how the grits have paid off their debts. I still find that hard to believe. I have yet to see the figures on the elections Canada website. I really doubt there will an election any time soon. The economy will improve and things won't be so rosy for the accidental tourist.Third, the Liberals don't have a well-crafted political platform that would allow them to present themselves as an alternative to the Conservative government.At present, they are only fishing for an issue that would justify a non-confidence vote. First they asked the government to spend more and now are crying foul because the...
Canadians have lived in uncertainty for the last five years thanks to a series of consecutive minority governments. The days when a strong majority governed the federal affairs of the state for five years or so seem long gone. When Paul Martin's Liberal government was elected in 2004, he started what appears to be Canada's new tradition for the 21st century: minority governments that can fall any day. In such a precarious state, always teetering on the very edge of a gaping abyss, any party that happens to hold the reins at any given time must be prepared for an......
The polls leading up to election day had been very close between the BC Liberals and the NDP, but premier Gordon Campbell prevailed and took his third consecutive win: B.C. Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell has won a historic third straight term as the province's premier, CBC News is projecting. Early results in the B.C. election show Campbell's Liberals leading with 46.2 per cent of the popular vote, ahead of Carole James's NDP at 41.7 per cent. On the referendum question whether British Columbia should adopt a form of proportional representation ("single transferable vote" or STV), current results suggest that BC......
Copyright © 2009 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished WITHOUT permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2009/05/bc-stv-referendum-on-electoral-reform.html.Today we’re not only voting in the Provincial election, but British Columbians are also participating in a referendum on electoral reform. This means we can vote to change our current plurality or “first past the post” electoral process to BC-STV or “single transferable vote”.
I’ve been looking for resources, I had some interview opportunities to learn more, but I just haven’t been able to rally and provide BC-STV information until now. As such, I turned to YouTube for help (I...
Copyright © 2009 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished WITHOUT permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2009/05/mary-mcneil-candidate-interview-vancouver-false-creek.html.In April I did three candidate interviews in one day, covering Vancouver West-End and Vancouver-Hastings and I thought those would be my last. Three more interviews later and I’m falling behind on content, as expected. I was however able to meet up with Mary McNeil, the BC Liberal candidate for Vancouver False-Creek so here are some notes from our chat on Friday.
Mary McNeil has a long business history in Vancouver which includes having organized several international summits (such as the 11th...
Copyright © 2009 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished WITHOUT permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2009/05/candidate-interview-with-carole-james.html.Continuing my election coverage I have requested interviews with several of the candidates for Premier and they have all been gracious enough to supply answers to my questions (in email or video form). The following are the responses from Carole James of the BC NDP (some of the questions are similar to those I have asked other candidates as well).
Question from Miss604: The social media community in Vancouver organized “Mental Health Camp” this past weekend and with this in mind - on top of the pressing topic of...
Copyright © 2009 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished WITHOUT permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2009/05/candidate-interview-with-jane-sterk.html.Continuing my election coverage I have requested interviews with several of the candidates for Premier and they have all been gracious enough to supply answers to my questions. The following are the responses from Jane Sterk of the BC Green Party.
Question: The social media community in Vancouver organized “Mental Health Camp” this past weekend and with this in mind - on top of the pressing topic of homelessness, are there any plans to support the untreated living in the Downtown Eastside?
Answer from Jane Sterk: The...
Copyright © 2009 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished WITHOUT permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2009/05/premier-gordon-campbell-guest-blog.html.I had the opportunity to interview Premier Gordon Campbell a little while ago although unfortunately our schedules couldn’t match up to make it actually happen. As such, the Premier took some time to answer a few questions for my readers (some of the questions were sourced from my Twitter contacts as well).
Gordon Campbell is a candidate in the Vancouver-Point Grey riding.
Question from Twitter: The social media community in Vancouver organized “Mental Health Camp” this past weekend and with this in mind...
Pardon my French, but Britain's prime minister Gordon Brown really is a buffoon of the highest order. His predecessor, Tony Blair, had successfully restyled the Labour Party to make it electable again, but Brown has apparently devoted every single one of his waking moments to destroying that legacy. Under Brown, Labour has returned to its nationalising, trade-union-butt-kissing, high-tax, pre-Thatcher days, thus effectively wrecking any chance for Britain to land on her feet once this recession has ended. As if all that Old Labour rubbish weren't bad enough, Brown is now also bringing out his Big Brother: The British government said......
Copyright © 2009 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished WITHOUT permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2009/04/drina-read-candidate-interview.html.While discussing her campaign over a mango smoothie on Davie Street I realized that it was probably Drina who got me started with all of these interviews back in the fall.
Drina Read is the Green Party of BC candidate for Vancouver West-End and being a long-time resident she’s very passionate about her community as well as the issues in which the Green Party strongly believes.
Drina has lived in the West End on and off for over 20 years as a renter and as such the renovictions and concerns of renters hit close to home....
Copyright © 2009 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished WITHOUT permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2009/04/haida-lane-candidate-interview.html.I ventured outside of the downtown core to meet up with Haida Lane, the BC Liberal candidate for Vancouver-Hastings.
“I’ve always had a passion for politics,” said Haida who start campaigning later in the game since the untimely passing of candidate Andrew Mak. “Given the opportunity and the need, I knew that this community could use better representation so I jumped on board and have been at a running pace since.”
Being a stay-at-home mom when her daughter was young, Haida began visiting the...
miss604 posted a photo:...
miss604 posted a photo:...
miss604 posted a photo:...
Copyright © 2009 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished WITHOUT permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2009/04/spencer-herbert-candidate-interview.html.Spencer Herbert is the current MLA for Vancouver-Burrard and is up for re-election in the new Vancouver-West End riding with the NDP.
I have been following his career since, as a member of the Vancouver Park Board, he left a comment on my blog a few years ago. I sat down with him at a local coffee shop near his office on Denman Street where we talked about the main concerns of the community, city, and Province. I also learned (as if I didn’t know already) that Herbert does indeed (heart) the West End.
“When...
Copyright © 2009 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished WITHOUT permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2009/04/bc-elections-2009-vancouver-districts-and-candidates.html.Last fall if you lived downtown or in the Fairview area, you went to the polls three times for the provincial by-election, federal and civic elections. Now BC is in full provincial election mode for May 12, 2009. Here’s a quick rundown of information for Vancouverites and in particular, those downtown.
The electoral districts for downtown Vancouver have changed as what used to be “Vancouver-Burrard” is now “Vancouver False Creek” and “Vancouver West End”. You can...
by Werner Patels There he was, sitting in the armchair on the set of CTV's Question Period to be interviewed by Jane Taber. Hunched forward, his hands clasped together, and his jaw clenched, NDP leader Jack Layton kept giving Taber the same answer over and over again: in spite of not having seen the budget, he has already decided to vote against it. There was a time when Layton was a likable fellow, even though many of his policy ideas are from a prehistoric era. But ever since he tasted power, after he managed to dupe former Liberal leader Stéphane......
by Werner Patels Ever since Prime Minister Stephen Harper's awkward economic update in late November, which prompted a constitutional crisis and a threat by the opposition parties to form a coalition government, the situation has changed quite considerably. For one thing, Harper has done almost a one-eighty and promised to do better with his Jan. 27 budget and economic stimulus package. For another, the idea of a coalition government does not look as appalling as it once did. Under the original plan, Stéphane Dion would have become prime minister, the very same man whom 74 per cent of voters had......
by Werner Patels Pins and needles – Canadians are about to enter the New Year filled with dread. In another four weeks, they will learn the details of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new budget and economic stimulus package. Will he give away the entire house? Will he make a bad situation even worse? More importantly, will the opposition force another election or, fasten your seatbelts, impose an unelected coalition government? Going by his erratic performance in recent weeks, the Prime Minister will likely do all the wrong things. Wrong in terms of what the opposition wants, but also seriously...
by Werner Patels In 2008, Canadians were called upon to do their civic duty more times than anyone cares to remember: a federal election, as well as several provincial and municipal elections. Voter turnout, accordingly, has dropped to new lows, such as in Alberta, where the current "majority" government of the provincial Tories was elected by barely 22 percent of those eligible to vote. Canadians suffer from tremendous election-fatigue, but their suffering will not end any time soon: unless some major turnaround occurs in Ottawa soon, voters may be asked to drag themselves to the polls in yet another...