Bob Rae, best wishes for the upcoming year 2002.

Yes that is correct, 2002.

Either Bob Rae must believe that we are about to into the year 2002, or he is totally incompetent at his job of being the Liberals foreign affairs critic.

Bob Rae (Globe and Mail)

“If we continue down the path that (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper wants to take us on, we're really going to be essentially engaged in a counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan, and I think that's extremely unwise,” he said.

“I don't think that's where people want to be. I think they want to see us in a peacekeeping role. I think they want to see us in a peacemaking role.”

Is Bob Rae, a person whose job it is to know, the only person in Canada to not know the reality of what are troops are and have been doing in their NATO lead and UN approved role in Afghanistan since January of 2002? Hey Bob, I mean you must know, it was in all the papers and it was the current group of people you hang around with that first sent our troops there to begin with.

Either that or maybe Bob Rae does think it is still 2001. Possible, because he does seem to have issues with his memory in remembering other things from the past as well.

This is almost too unbelievable for words, the Liberal critic for foreign affairs has shown himself to be a clueless idiot and he is not called on it by the press. Do you think if any conservative said anything even half as stupid as what Bob Rae said that we wouldn't all be hearing the screams of the Liberals in every MSM source out there? Yes, me to.

H/T Freedom is my Nationality.

Having it both ways.

How is it possible, as Dion says, to have Canada make mega tonnes of money and not harm our economy while we reduce our CO2 emissions, while at the same time accepting the argument from China and India that they must be allowed special circumstances because it will harm their respective 'developing' economies?

So which one is it Stephane? If you believe in one, you can't believe in the other.


Or maybe you can if you just make stuff up to suit your needs.

Making stuff up; Dion Style

I just finished watching Stephane Dion doing the year end interview thing with Graham Richardson for CTV's Mike Duffy Live.

What a revealing interview it turned out to be.

It would seem that Dion, the self proclaimed hero and environmental champion, either has no clue about CO2 and Norway, or he does know and just decided to lie to the nation and hope nobody was paying attention. It is really too bad for old Stephane that some people were.
HT CBL

In a nutshell Dion stated that achieving the now impossible to achieve Kyoto targets would not be a burden on the economy but rather a boom for it, sort of rephrasing his earlier mega tonnes of money BS. When asked to give an example of another resource based (oil) economy the intellectual named Norway, a country that has increased it's emissions by 25% since 1990 and is now over it's goals by more than 30%.

How could Dion, a so called academic be this wrong with the facts on an issue that he claims is so important to him?

He didn't know and made it up or he did know and just lied about it. Either way he looks like a fool. Are you Liberals really sure that this is the guy you want to go to the polls with whenever the Liberals stop "postponing" the election? Because if what he said during the interview is any indication of what he is going to say during an election campaign, you had better start looking for a good venue for the next LPC leadership convention soon.


While we are on the topic of making stuff up, I see Dion again tried to smear the PM with a quote taken completely out of context, the 'so called greenhouse gases' quote. This originally came about when PM Harper was asked about how the governments environment plan differed from the Liberals plan: . "As we implement our clean-air agenda, the focus is a little different than the other parties. They focus only on so-called greenhouse gases and ignored smog entirely." He was speaking about smog and air pollution being included in the CPC plan, not about whether or not GHG were real or not. BTW these 4 words are very often used by many others as well.


So either Dion was listening to the likes of Cherniak who tried to run with the smear and does not know the true nature of the quote(that might explain the need for a new communications director for the LPC) or he does know and chose to use it anyway in an effort to deceive for political gain. Again, either way it does not look good on Dion with his promise to run a clean campaign.

Not that you can ever believe any Liberal promise, campaign or otherwise, but this stuff is ridiculous.


I also wanted to get into how the Liberals can possibly reconcile their ideas that reducing CO2 will benefit the economy, while at the same time not wanting to put the 'economic burden' of reducing CO2 on 'so called' developing countries such as China and India, but my time is short. Though somehow I am sure there will be more than a few opportunities to do so in the next few months as Liberals never seem to think anybody notices these contradictions in their policies.

Update from the comments: Norway's emissions raise more than 80% not 30%.
In graphic form at CBL

And now in video, also courtesy of Canadian Blue Lemons



.

Did the CBC write some of the Liberals Questions to BM today?

Watching CTV after the testimony of former PM Brian Mulroney, Duffy was speaking with former Liberal MP Jean Lapierre who stated that he was told that the CBC wrote some of the questions used by some of the Liberals at the committee hearing today. Those questions dealing not with the airbus, Schrieber fiasco, but with the proposed cellphone spectrum auction.

Could this be true?

Update: Dean Del Mastro on Duffy states that a Liberal researcher has confirmed the story.

Stephen Taylor has some more info here.

Dec 20th Update: Why did Pablo ask such a detailed question in english?





More to come, that is if the MSM feel like looking into their own backyard.

Update 23:45 : not much from MSM on this YET, but many (not Liberal) bloggers are:
As usual Joanne gives us her take, as well as Sandy here, and Angry gives us his view and has included video of our friend Pablo asking the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney the off topic questions. Watch how Paul Szabo justified this line of questioning as being in the mandate of the ethics committee. The same questions that may have been suggested by the CBC!

Saturday update: It looks like this is finally getting some attention, Joanne has a nice roundup of links here.


Dec 18th update: Another response from the CBC and they do indeed think it is a big deal, so how is it that some Liberals can continue to claim otherwise?

All Aboard

"You can have unilateral disarmament. Some might call it noble -- but it's not necessarily smart.''

John Baird nails it with that quote. Unless China, the US, and India cut their emissions the "climate change" problem will not get solved but rather only become worse with time. It is simple math; yet the climate change consensus crowd who are always shoving 'science' down everyones throats ignore the only real pure science of the argument, the math.

BTW, how can a country that has 1.4 trillion dollars sitting in the bank, and that amount growing by 1 billion per day, be considered poor and a developing country? 1 billion per day!! Perhaps if China were serious about reducing CO2 emissions they could spend their own money on the problem rather than the 15 billion a year they get from indulgences the carbon trading market, and that money could go to a country that will actually reduce their emissions rather than increasing them like China does.

If the goal is CO2 reduction, China has to be on board.

Karlheinz Schreiber names Doucette

Oh the humanity! I can't wait to see what he says next week.

______________

Update:
.
Watch as NDP MP Pat Martin on CBC Politics seems to think Jerry is involved in this as well.
video here approx 39:00 (note video expires in 1 week)

Why a Public Inquiry is Still Required

Because a Canadian citizen, as well as a former Prime Minister, have been persecuted by not only the Liberal Party, using the powers of government to do so, but also the press in what looks like a political witch hunt from the start.

Let's give the 2 key players what they deserve and have both called for, a public inquiry into how these false stories and political allegations have ruined their names, and why.

So why are we doing this again?

I had my doubts about the need to have an inquiry into the Schreiber/Mulroney affair in the first place, and after today it is looking more and more like this has been a big waste of time and money.

What is being investigated? And why?

Airbus: there is no connection at all to Mulroney and Airbus. Everyone including the RCMP and the Liberal Party of Canada agreed that there was no such connection.

June 23, 1993, mere days before Mulroney left office: Schreiber has stated that an agreement in principle was made with Mr. Mulroney, but NO money changed hands and no money amounts were discussed.

The 2+ Million dollar defamation settlement: This is in regards to the allegations that Mr. Mulroney was involved somehow in Airbus, and everything that exists out there supports Mr. Mulroney's position on this matter that he was not involved.

300K in cash: While this amount of cash could raise questions, there is no law against using cash in this country. Out of curiosity, at what amount of cash does this become an 'issue'? $20, $200, $2000, $200,000 ?

Mulroney's statement about his dealings with Schreiber: Schreiber confirmed that what Mr. Mulroney said was true, and that he did not have any dealings with KHS on Airbus or any other matter at that time.

The letter to the PMO: This never was an issue as the Privy Council already cleared the matter up.

Again, where is the crime and why is the government investigating?

----------------

Update: It was a good day and a bad day.

It looks like a good day for KHS as he was granted bail and can now sleep at home in relative peace, although the media will be all over him for the foreseeable future it will be better than jail.

And someone who is not having such a good day would be Liberal MP Robert Thibault. So Robert, how is that defamation suit from Mr. Mulroney coming along?

Dion's best line of the week.

"It was an attempt of sabotage," Dion said. "Fortunately, nobody in the world knew who was Jack Layton."

This from a speech to a gathering of LPC Riding Presidents in Montreal on the weekend as Dion expressed distaste for the partisan conduct of NDP Leader Jack Layton, who showed up at a Montreal climate change conference chaired by Dion in 2005 and predicted the conference would fail due to Canada's lack of credibility on the issue.

Funny coming from a man who is going to Bali, uninvited to scream @ anyone who will listen to him about Canada's 'lack of credibility' on the issue. Fortunately for us, few will know who he is, but somehow I do expect Dion will get much more press in Bali than old Jack did when the conference was held in Canada. Why is that?

To the 307 Liberal Riding Presidents in Montreal....

Please have some sympathy for this man, Allan Armsworthy, as you party put on a brave face to cheer on your "leader" this weekend in Montreal.

After all, poor Allan has nothing to do until after the next election when the good Liberal supporters of Central Nova will again get to choose for themselves a Liberal candidate; instead of having Dion unilaterally decide that the Liberals are no longer a national party and that they should support a nazi obsessed person from another political party instead.

So please do enjoy your party, but also remember to take some time to think of Allan and all those other abandoned Liberals in Central Nova.

-----------------

A bit of NON truth in advertising from the Liberal Party of Canada website linked above:

Central Nova:

"Your riding is currently not held by a Liberal Member of Parliament. Here are five ways you can help the Liberal team win back your riding today.

1. Join the Liberal Party and help us make Canada a better place.
2. Become a volunteer and create change in your own neighborhood.
3. Make a donation to help us fund our next election campaign.
4. Spread the word about the Liberal vision for Canada with your friends and neighbours.
5. Stay informed — sign up for Liberal e-news and learn more about what the Liberal team is doing for you."

So exactly how are the Liberals possibly going to "win back" the riding if they have no candidate running? Maybe they should add a number 6 to the above list.

6. Get rid of Stephane Dion and bring democracy and leadership back to the LPC.

Now there is some truth in advertising.



Al

All you can eat pasta, cooked up by KHS

I noticed that a few people have jumped all over the new revelation by Karlheinz Schreiber that there was no pasta business "All this nonsense with the pasta business is five years later...."It had nothing to do with any pasta business.... It didn't simply exist...."Pasta had nothing to do with it. It was for light armoured vehicles."

Interesting because this is what he said under oath in testimony in 2004, Mr. Schreiber said under oath: "I was involved in the pasta business and enriched Durham semolina products and this is the moment when I spoke to him about Archer Daniels. And he provided me with some material on it," he said.

According to an affidavit he swore on Nov. 7, Mr. Schreiber expected the former prime minister to help establish a light armoured vehicle factory in Nova Scotia. When the deal fell through after the Liberals took power, Mr. Schreiber said -- up until yesterday -- that he then expected Mr. Mulroney to help him promote a business he incorporated in June, 2001, called Reto Restaurant Systems International Inc.

Source

Another day, another bit of sworn testimony changed to suit the current needs of KHS.

Entertainment tonight from the ethics commitee, sort of

Thanks Mary. I am standing a few feet away from the doors to the ethics committee room where Karlheinz Schreiber is expected to testify later today, and all I can say is that you can feel the excitement in the air as people start to file by on the red carpet. It is a who's who of media celebrities as they gather to cover an event that the average Canadian could care less about. One thing you can say about the Canadian MSM Mary, is they know where their bread is buttered.

The security is tight today as the throng of reporters busily attempt to interview anyone who walks by, or in the event no one is walking by, themselves. I just talked with the CBC's Nancy Wilson about today's events which see called "very interesting", and we both agree that their has not been this much excitement among the press in Ottawa since the PM had his last press conference. I wanted to speak with Blogging Tory Stephen Taylor, but some members of the PPG ran him off with a pitchfork when they spotted him earlier in the day, so he was unavailable for comment.

Still plenty more to see today as, oh wait, look over there; I see Jane Taber and CoJo doing as who is hot and who is not on fashion segment. Both of them are wondering if Mr. Schreiber will be wearing his orange jumpsuit today or a new suit that his lawyer Edward Greenspan picked up in Chicago on business recently. On the other side of the red carpet I think I see Mike Duffy interviewing Jim Travers, no wait, it looks like Don Newman is interviewing Travers, no wait again, Duffy and Newman are now fighting over who is going to interview Travers, oh the humanity. Good thing that Chantel Hubert has now stepped in to separate the two or it could have been very messy.

It is indeed a media frenzy here Mary! or perhaps circus would be a better word.

Before I go I will leave you with this bit of breaking news. I just ran into Ben Mulroney doing a bit for CTV, and he promised me that he would be doing an exclusive interview with one of the big names from the hearings. I couldn't get him to reveal the name, but he promises that it will be big, your guess is as good as mine so I guess we will just have to wait and see who it is and ignore the idol chatter until then.

Back to you in the studio Mary, or was that Cheryl?

Toronto: the fishbowl

I think most are already familiar with the recent poverty report from the United Way which claimed that 1 in 3 Toronto families live in poverty. True or not, I am not to judge, but I think this report, and the expected response from socialists everywhere, offer up a golden opportunity to prove that pie in the sky elaborate government programs do not work or even come close to what they intend to do.

Put Toronto in a fishbowl and conduct the grand experiment.

Let Premier McGuinty pour tons of money into the targeted problem, and encourage him to do so even if it means increased taxes. Lets encourage Mayor Miller to continue on with the grand ideas he already has to deal with the poverty issue and come up with a few more as well. I would hate to have someone say that it could have been accomplished if we only had a few more dollars, so lets have the PM open up the cheque book for the a short length of time to pay for all of these wonderful ideas until the experiment is over.

Then we can sit back and look into our fishbowl and see the true utopia that is Toronto; where poverty and all that stems from it, like crime and various other social strife, are history.

Come on all you on the left, this is your chance do what Cuba and the Soviet Union never could do and prove that socialism works. Put my money where your mouth is and lets see what happens when your slogans are put into action.


I already have a good idea how it would turn out, what do you think would happen?


Al

Kevin Rudd's position on a post Kyoto agreement

Australian Labor Party leader and newly elected PM Kevin Rudd: "I have made absolutely clear that we would need to see clear-cut commitments from the major emitters from the developing world for us to become party to that agreement" Source

Sounds an awful lot like the position of PM Harper doesn't it?




While I am on the subject, how is it that liberals and other assorted lefties are so adamant that Canada, even if other countries like China and India do not do their fair share, must shoulder the burden on climate change no matter what the consequences?

Compare that to Afghanistan where liberal logic dictates that we must abandon our task because we are doing more than other countries? Confused? I think the left are as well, but that has never stopped them before.

Karlheinz Schreiber, the rider

After some deep sleuthing in places better not spoken of in public; I now present the rider from:

Karlheinz Schreiber, The Cross Canada Tour. Now in it's 8th hilarious year.


1. Limousine to and from the Committee hearing/s.

2. Bail.

3. 3 cartons of DuMaurier Lights.

4. The Justice Minister must delay his deportation.

5. A pretty little flower pot of white gardenias.

6. At least 2 days to review papers.

7. A 10 litre glass bowl filled with Smarties* in the dressing room. Under no circumstances are there to any blue Smarties or I just won't talk.

8. ........

Canadians do not want an election now..

They want one in February

Linda Diebel's challenge: 6 months later.

Bumped with update scroll to the bottom.

May 17, 2007 "Give Stephane Dion another six months before deciding whether he's a leader or not, says a journalist and author of a new biography of the Liberal leader." source CTV

6 months have now passed since Linda Diebel gave her interview to CTV in regards to her then new book, Stephane Dion: Against the Current Viking Canada, 1 edition (May 12 2007),
and I was curious to see if her own opinions had changed on Dion's leadership, and whether or not she feels Canadians opinions had changed in the last 6 months since she issued her challenge.

After a very promising initial reply from Ms. Diebel; she has not replied any further to my questions. I do not want to guess as to what her reasons might have been for not going any further in our communications, but I really not surprised given the last 6 months in the political life of Stephane Dion.


If you are interested: Video link to CTV Question Period interview with Linda Diebel.

--------------

Update: Canadian Cynic has taken me to task for the above post and rightly so. It was very naive of me to expect any liberal to actually mean what they say and stand by their own words. Silly Ardvark.

Also in the comments at CC , I received my first death threat:

"Speaking as a 'Liberal' ( actually I'm not I just hate morons and hypocrisy ), maybe we should start executing people like Alberta Ardvark so that conservatives will know they can be killed too. Otherwise they might all just turn out to be traitors."

but as CC was alluding to in his post, I do not have to worry about what liberals have to say, as this clown didn't even have the conviction to stand by what he wrote for even 1 minute as he/she/it added the line "Just a little joke.. ha ha."

Ha ha ha, indeed.

No judge in Canada

By chance I happened to talk to a Crown Prosecutor last night and asked him a question. I asked him his opinion of the Karlheinz Schreiber story and he had a really nice answer that I would like to share with you all.

He said that no prosecutor would ever put Schreiber on the stand as a witness for the prosecution because he lacks credibility with his ever changing stories, and that "there is no judge in Canada who would convict anyone" based on anything Schreiber had to say.

Late Night T&O

Thoughts and opinions with a few links for Nov 16th 2007.

----

As promised in an earlier post, the great Steve Janke has more on the details of the old in and out.

--------

The airbus story goes on and on, and like myself, Bob Fife thinks all of this is only going to benefit Shreiber.

"Mr. Schreiber is saying that he's not trying to use the court system to delay his extradition to Germany," CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said Thursday.

"That's just completely unbelievable."

Fife said Schreiber has had opportunities over the last 15 years to come forward with any allegations of wrongdoing.

"If he knew about this meeting with Mr. Mulroney he should have told people a long time ago," said Fife.

"The only reason he's talking about this now is that he's on the doorstep to being extradited to Germany."

My guess is Mr. Mulroney will also do well himself in all of this, and the liberals will again not be happy the longer this drags out over time.

---------

So the Liberals might be revisiting something else other than the GST. Could this be the issue that gets the Liberals up off of their hands? Just do your jobs and fix the damn thing up in committee. All parties basically agree and if you can't do what you get paid for and work together on such a small bill, then lets get on with the election so things can be accomplished.

-------------

Some fake news to outrage the masses. This kind of thing of course has gone on before, but yet so few are aware of it because they get their news from the MSM.

--------

Dr. Roy has a little bit on Sharia Law in Saudi Arabia. Even with all of its problems, I think I will stick with Canadian law thank you very much.

----------------

Speaking of Canadian justice; There is a big difference between a volunteer army and one that drafts people into it. The SCoC agrees, Elizabeth May and Shirley Douglas are outraged, Keifer Sutherland had no comment.

Late Sunday thoughts on timely topics

This is something that has bothered me for some time on the GST debate. We always here that 'economists' like/support the GST, but nobody ever seems to go into why they like it so much.

It is pure and simple; the GST may be the 'perfect tax' when compared to all other taxes out there. If you were trying to design the perfect tax vehicle, I think the GST would fit the description perfectly. Think about it; for the most part the GST collects money that has already been taxed once, and no one escapes paying it. You get to tax money a second time, and everyone including both the wealthiest and the poorest of Canadians of every age group and ability has to pay it. What is not for an economist to love about this. Come to think of it, this might be why the Liberals love it so much as well.

The so called in and out non scandal has not been such a hot topic recently but some Liberals still feel that there is something in it for them to keep it going. Interesting; I think something is in it for them, but when it finally does arrive I doubt that they will be very happy about it. As a person who is much more in tune than myself to what is happening recently told me; Why do you think when the Liberals are done asking questions on this in question period, that the NDP and Bloc do not jump on board and ask their own questions on the subject to nail the government? Hmmm, why is that? More on this to come.

As promised.



Airbus. Why is everyone taking the word of Karlheinz Schreiber to be the gospel truth lately? If there is one person who stands to really gain anything from a long drawn out costly inquiry it is Karlheinz Schreiber. Does anyone else think that this guy might confess to having Jimmy Hoffa in his freezer if he thought it would keep him in this country longer than he should be? He has been fighting extradition to Germany for about 7 years now in an effort to keep German authorities from getting their hands on him and showing the world just how much of an upright citizen he really is. Half of what he says contradicts his own previous accounts, much of it before the courts, and the other half he has conveniently saved for just before he gets Das Boot right out of the country.


The latest is that Karlheinz Schreiber wrote a letter to the PMO possibly containing more details about the entire affair, the PMO denies this but the Liberals think they are on to something and are again outraged. I must say I am shocked as well. How can it be that the PM does not read each and every piece of mail he receives, especially letters from people who are about to get deported and have matters before the courts. I think the Libs must be confused with how things used to be done at the PMO that they forgot that there is now someone else in the big chair who does things a bit differently.

Not that it matters much but something else most seem to forget is the 2.1 million dollars that Mr. Mulroney won in that libel suit against the Liberal government was donated to charity.

I think the PM is doing the right thing by announcing a probe into this matter, and if there is indeed something more to all of it, I think it will be well handled in a responsible way.

More than 116,000 Canadians

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae


I remember those that have fallen, and those that have served.








The Toronto Star has other thoughts. H/T SDA

The Big Squeeze

From one side the Conservative Government, and from the other the NDP, who are trying to portray themselves as the official opposition since the Liberals have decided to sit it out.

From CTV: "OTTAWA -- NDP Leader Jack Layton has won the backing of the prime minister to hold a nation-wide referendum on the abolition of the unelected Senate, "

Now sit back and see what the Liberals, both in the House and in the Senate, decide to do. Hang on to your hats folks, the fun has just begun.

Abducted child is found safe, and now....

Good news as the baby that was abducted yesterday has been found and has been reunited with her parents. Nineteen-year-old Brenda Batisse, who allegedly took the baby girl, has been arrested and is facing abduction charges.

So using my psychic abilities I will predict how the story will unfold over the next little while.

First their will be relief that the child has been found and returned safely.

A discussion will ensue about how to tighten up hospital security so this kind of thing never happens again.

Next will come the discussions about the crime itself and what kind of punishment should be dealt out. During these discussions, the soft on crime left will ignore the crime itself and the premeditation involved. We will hear how the alleged abductor had a hard life and that it really is not her fault, but rather that of society that caused the alleged abductor to behave this way, and as a result this woman should not be sent to prison. The left will bring up the sex of the alleged abductor, and how society treats women in general, as a 'straw man' in their zeal to do what they think is the correct thing.

These arguments will be effectively shot down when it is pointed out that all these feelings of sympathy for the alleged female abductor would not be the same had the abductor been a man.

Update: While I was not totally correct with my predictions the courts come through in the appeal as her sentence gets cut in half.

Sign o' the times

I have a feeling we will be seeing this one again in an election campaign.

© CPC
In what could only be described as a dumb political move; Dion again demonstrated his lack of political/leadership skills by saying, that if the Liberals are ever returned to power, he might rescind the cuts to the GST made by the Harper Government. Wow! What an election platform plank this will make. Good luck with that one my liberal friends.

More bad news for the Liberal Party of Canada

I was going to post a little roundup on the misfortunes of the LPC over the last couple of days when I came across another one to add to the list.

Stephen Taylor has some questions for Garth Turner about how he is raising money. It is a must read about how our old friend Garth might be in violation of Election Canada rules. Interesting timing since Garth and the Libs have been trying to stir up the pot over CPC practices. I will be watching this one carefully over the next little while.

The sponsorship scandal is again raising it's ugly head courtesy of former PM Jean Chretien. It looks like JC has had his lawyer busy trying to quash some the Gomery Commissions findings that placed some blame with the PMO and hurt JC's feelings. JC has never been happy about the entire sponsorship issue; in his book he stated that Martin made to much of a deal out of it and should have swept it under the rug instead of calling an inquiry. As usual, in the Liberal Party, the buck stops nowhere. H/T Christian Conservative


Some big news out of BC where the MP Blair Wilson,Liberal critic for revenue (the irony here is priceless) is in some hot water for spending allegations in the 2006 campaign. Wilson resigned today after first denying anything was improper, but it looks like someone upstairs was trying to do some damage control and Wilson's tune changed a bit. I wonder how Stephane will deal with the above mentioned Garth Turner allegations? Better keep that Press Release handy; just cross of one name and add another.

So much for the big plan of painting the conservatives as a crooked party. It was a dumb idea to begin with, but now with the Wilson story, Garth's potential troubles, and of course JC bringing up the grand daddy of all, the sponsorship scandal, the Liberals continue to look like buffoons.

This last one may not be much, but having just read the Susan Delacourt story in the Star, where everything seemed to be coming up roses for the Libs in the GTA area*; the president of the Sarnia-Lambton federal Liberal association, Anne Marie Gillis, has resigned because of the poor leadership of Dion. The Liberals are desperately hoping that the major cracks and trouble seen in Quebec wing will not pour cross over the border into their last major area of support in the country, but didn't those cracks in Quebec just start out small as well? Here's hoping.

*How could a survey of the Liberal party's 47 riding presidents in the GTA possibly be representative of anything? It would be like asking the Board of GM what type of vehicles are the best, or asking Leafs coach Paul Maurice who will win the cup. The entire story looks like a sad attempt at cheer leading that the Star, and Delacourt, should both be ashamed of.


Late update: It seems that Blair Wilson at one time was contemplating running for the LPC leadership and the entire country into the ground with his management skills. H/T KerPlonka

Liberals: " small minded, racist fear mongers."

OK, that is not the exact quote, but I only changed one word and fixed the typo. The word change was easy to justify because in this matter, both the Government and the Liberals are of the exact same opinion.

This found on the ever so tolerant left leaning Liblogs :

"The Falling Sky Saved By Tories
Ah! At last. The real Tories step forward and introduce the first piece of legislation with any real substance. And isn't it true to who they are; small minded, rascist (sic) fear mongers."

This all dealing with the proposed legislation that would require people to show their face when being identified to vote. That is all people, not just some people, but all people (sounds equal and fair to me, but I am just a knuckle dragger from Alberta) Oops, I guess the writer of the above quote is as well.

The Liberal position here. Stephane Dion said; "We disagree with the Elections Canada decision and we ask them to revisit their decision... It's important to identify the person. It may be done in a very respectful way, but it must be done."

Even Taliban Jack Agrees: "NDP Leader Jack Layton said he continues to hold out hope that Mayrand will change his position before the byelections, but is prepared to support a legislative move."If not, it appears it will be necessary to change the law to make it clear," Layton said." So do some progessive bloggers now think Jack Layton is racist as well?

So who again are these small minded, racist fear mongers?


Another Liberal has some thoughts on PM Harper Dion here.

Mayor Miller, Jim has a foolproof idea for you.

Attention Mayor David Miller.

Jim Travers from the Star has a great liberal idea that is guaranteed to solve your money problems.

You see, and the statistics do not lie, because the crime rate is down there is no real need to worry about crime in general, and subsequently there will be no need for Toronto to have such a large and costly police force. You could cut about 25% right off the top, and save the city MILLIONS of those badly needed dollars.

Simple, and how can it fail? A great liberal idea, carried out by a liberal mayor; a dynamite combination for success if there ever was one.

It could get even better once this country wakes up to Harper's secret agenda and we return the Liberals to their rightful place in power. With the Libs back in power it is obvious that an even greater drop in the crime rate will be sure to follow, and the police force could again be easily cut to a size of about half of what exists today.

Just think what you could do if you had 50% of that police budget to do the things that really matter.

Marc Garneau pulls a Dion

Former astronaut and failed Liberal candidate Marc Garneau is expected to be parachuted in by Dion as the Liberal candidate in the Montreal riding of Westmount-Ville-Marie, one of the 'so called' safest Grit bastions in the land.

Garneau said just a few weeks ago that he is closing the door on politics and he said he was discouraged that Dion was going to hand pick the Liberal candidate for the Quebec riding in which he was interested and he seemed to rule out a comeback any time soon, saying: "I've gone into the private sector now for as long as I can see in the future.''


He should fit right into the Dion led Liberal Party, where what they say does not matter and Liberal self interest seems to trump everything else.

In case anyone has forgotten, this is some of what Stephane Dion had to say on Liberal support for the thrown speech :

"There's no chance ... Liberal MPs would rise in support of a Throne Speech that we judged was going against the best interests of Canadians and the honour of our country" (National Post, August 27, 2007)

"Never, as leader of this party, will I recommend to my caucus to support a bad Throne Speech or a bad budget bill," Dion said (Montreal Gazette, August 28, 2007)

"We want this Parliament to work,'' he told reporters on his way into a Liberal caucus retreat to plot strategy for the fall. Still, if the Tories insist on proroguing Parliament and starting a new session with a speech from the throne, Dion said Liberals won't hesitate to vote against it if it doesn't include a firm February, 2009, end date for Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan and a comprehensive climate change plan. (CP, August 29, 2007)

Yup, he will be right at home in the Liberal Party of Canada.

Can't Stop the Bleeding

It is hard to imagine how things could get much worse for Stephane Dion, but with the upcoming thrown speech and now the release of Jean Chretien's book "My Years as Prime Minister," I think the embattled Liberal leader is going to wish that he had went back to teaching instead of taking the helm of the LPC.

Chretien reportedly takes plenty of shots at Paul Martin in the book, bringing again to light the bitter feud and bad feelings that occurred within the party, and there is NO WAY the MSM is going to ignore the obvious comparisons to what is going on today under the Dion led LPC.

What could turn out much worse for Dion is that Chretien fully blames Paul Martin for not doing anything to achieve the targets set out within the Kyoto Protocol. In case anyone forgot, Stephane Dion was Martin's minister of the environment while nothing was done on the Kyoto file. The saying "We didn't get it done" will again fall into the lap of Dion and he is going to have to pick sides between the man who first brought him into politics, and the man who he served as environment minister for 2 years, and their respective versions of events.

More negative press from the MSM who now are almost in a shark like feeding frenzy over the blood in Liberal waters.

Even when Dion tried to do what looked like a good idea and cut the corporate income tax rate, he was over shadowed in the news cycle by his green pal Al Gore winning a Nobel Prize, and the announcement of the formation of a blue ribbon panel on Afghanistan, a move that more than a few in the press labeled as "brilliant" on the part of Prime Minister Harper. I used the term 'looked like a good idea' above because I have wisely learned to be very wary of Liberal math. In this case a 4 % cut will be more than offset by the excess costs and carbon taxes that the Libs will slap on business if they ever return to power.

By the way, who the hell is this idea supposed to appeal to? With Dion taking the party hard left, this is probably not the best way to get your base support up amongst those on that side of the political spectrum.

All this and later this week Dion has to handle the Liberal response to the throne speech all under the spotlight of increased media attention. It is almost enough to make me feel sorry for ol' Stephane. Almost.

Al

I just have to comment on some of those that PM Harper selected to be on the panel looking at our UN/ NATO mission in Afghanistan and the future. Mr. Manley is already being labeled a traitor, a non Liberal, and even a fool for taking on this responsibility, and he deserves kudos for doing so. I also must congratulate our future Governor General* Pamela Wallen for also taking up this challenge on such an important issue.


* I do not know this to be fact, but she does seem to have all the credentials of the previous 2.

The Mounties always get their man.

Canada's most wanted man, Emrah Bulatci, who is charged with the first-degree murder of a N.W.T. Mountie, was captured about an hour ago in a home in west Edmonton.

This arrest followed the killing of RCMP Const. Christopher Worden, 30, who was found shot to death Saturday morning after he responded to a call in the town of Hay River, N.W.T.

The Mounties get their man, a dangerous fugitive is now behind bars, and a family as well as a nation continues to grieve. Meanwhile the judges and lawyers that let scum like this out on the streets will continue on in their little dream world, not seeming to care what the results of their actions are.

"On Feb. 7, Emrah Bulatci was arrested in Edmonton on six charges, including possessing a restricted weapon, breaching a firearm ban and possessing proceeds of a crime exceeding $5,000.

The next morning, he was released on $20,000 bail."

"The man accused of gunning down an RCMP officer in the Northwest Territories accumulated at least 25 criminal charges across Alberta in the last three years." source

Only 25 charges? Maybe Jack Layton can nominate him for citizen of the year.

Al

Dion sees his shadow. No election for 6 months.

So, the very absent from any recent public events, Stephane Dion came out of hiding today to shuffle around the bones of the Liberal Party of Canada.

He named our old friend Garth Turner as a "special" advisor. I wonder if Garth's special talents will be used to help Dion with the clean campaign that he is eventually planning to run; because we all know Garth is never in the muck. ( I almost chocked typing that)

Dion also named, in what I consider a very bizarre choice, the infamous Bob Rae as the LPC's foreign affairs critic. The unelected Rae, who hit single digits in his popularity as former Premier of Ontario, was also a challenger of Dion's at the leadership convention late last year, and remains hungry for Dion's job. I say bizarre choice because even though everyone is blaming Iggy for a lot of the knife play as of late in the LPC, I have yet to see Rae make any of the 'support Dion' type of speeches Iggy has made.

Think about this; in who's best interests is it to have all of Dion's and the LPC troubles be front and center in the MSM for all to see, and have these leaks blamed on the #2 choice at the convention, Iggy? Ignatieff supporters may indeed be responsible for much of the backroom antics that are going on, but I doubt it could be considered a benefit to their guy to be blamed publicly for either the antics or the leaks. Maybe it is a case of keeping your enemies close, but judging by Dions lack of leadership skills and political smarts, I doubt it.

Dion who had earlier in the day spoken about how his party was or would not be obstructionist in Parliament, also named Pablo Rodriguez as critic for the Economic Development Agency (Quebec). We all remember Pablo as the sponsor of the private members' bill that appears to make the government comply with Kyoto, while in reality might just be the textbook definition of obstructionism, as well as a colossal waste of taxpayer paid time. Perhaps Pablo could help Stephane out with the current Jamie Carroll problem; as Pablo has called for him to be fired even after Dion publicly stated his support for Carroll. One big happy family.


Oh, and Dion did see his shadow today, so according to Wiarton Willies guide to Liberal politics, that means no election for at least 6 more months. Hey, taking advice from a groundhog might just be a good thing for the Liberals, heaven knows they are not getting any leadership from anywhere else.

Al

Another Quebec Liberal 'Star' Candidate says no to Dion

This kind of sums up the week for the leaderless LPC.

"Paul Leduc, a three-term mayor of a large Montreal suburb, says that he's changed his mind about running for the Liberals and that one of the party's household names provided him with phone numbers for journalists and urged him to go public with his story." Source .


Not only are potential stars walking and or running away from Dion, they are being encouraged to go to the Canadian media with it!

Those knives that many have been secretly sharpening over the last 20 months are out big time as everybody in the country watches. Canadians get to see the leadership of Dion and the mess his party is in. Quebec is almost in open revolt, and even amongst the die hard loyalists, there is trouble as Libloggers are openly calling for Dion to step down, and others call for him to fire his long time advisor Jamie Carrol. All this and much more will be brought to the Canadian people by the MSM, who enjoy the smell of political blood even more than they enjoy tormenting the conservatives.

Makes you wonder why so many Liberals want a fall election? Or does it?



Al

And in the meantime PM Harper continues to demonstrate to Canadians just who the better leader is.

Did Dalton lie trying to cover up an earlier lie?

I didn't want to post much about the Ontario election as I do not live there, but after reading tonight about the debate and how Dalton McGuinty came out and addressed his broken promise about raising taxes, even making a video/commercial about it, I had a question.

McGuinty, in trying to cover and justify his lie with the reasons why he raised taxes, said this:

"I got there and ahh, discovered that there was no money"

Now my question; Is that really true? Did McGuinty not know while he was the leader of the opposition and before he took over the big chair, that the Eves government was running a deficit? Was the news of an Ontario deficit some big secret that no one was aware of, or is this an example of a Liberal using one lie to cover for another?

I think the MSM might have a question or 2 that they may want to ask Dalton about this. Over to you MSM.

Signed, uninformed about Ontario politics in Alberta.

It isn't paranoia if 'they' really are out to get you.

I was trying to guess what poor Stephane Dion must be thinking about since the disastrous showing by the Liberals in the vote this past Monday. It really was not that hard to do, even with me being a non academic and all, because after about 1 minute I realized that there are very few people that he can trust inside his own party.

The poor guy; he has Liberals who want him gone now, he has a few Liberals that will stick with him to an election, but a large portion of this group will be pushing for an election quickly just to get rid of him, and of course a small group of Liberals who really believe in Dion as leader. But how does he really know who to trust, or even whose advice he should listen to amongst the high paid help that surrounds him, many of whom were likely supporting a different candidate at the LPC convention last year? It is not like he ever has been Mr. Popularity among Liberals to begin with, and with what happened on Monday, it will take more than wishful thinking or even an Extreme Makeover Ottawa edition to help with the problems in the LPC, and of course with the perceptions of the Canadian voter who is watching this mess unfold.

Canadian Dollar on par with the US Greenback

As of 1250hrs local time the Canadian dollar reached par with the US dollar.

It has been a long time since anyone has seen this.


Al

A few thoughts on Outremont

This result is not really a surprise to anyone but a few deluded Liberals who thought everyone else was wrong and they would pull it off in the end.

How can some claim that the Bloc losing support is an ominous sign for their future, but the Liberals losing support is just some kind of weird anomaly?

BTW, Thank you PM Harper for setting the conditions for the demise of the Bloc.

Hey Stephane, do you still think the fiscal imbalance never really existed in the minds of Quebecois?

How can Dion not be blamed for this as he hand picked the candidate and parachuted him into the riding? The same thing he wants to do to women all over Canada against every principle of grass roots democracy; all because it is the 'pc' thing to do and he thinks he knows better.

Would J. Trudeau have faired better? Or perhaps another candidate chosen by the local Libs?

Does anyone else think that the Liberals are going to find a way to like the next thrown speech a lot more now?

It is a good thing that Lizzy didn't pull the Green Party candidate, or else the NDP would have only won by 16 percent instead of nearly 20.

How do some Liberals figure that bad mouthing Iggy and using him as a scapegoat will make him more of a team player?

And while I am on the subject of Iggy, I wonder if he favours the Ginsu over the trusty butcher knife? Only time will tell.

The media smells blood, and that blood is Dion's. This story is not going to die and will linger much longer than any Liberal would like it to; all due to the MSM.

Does anyone else think that somewhere out there Frank McKenna and John Manley are laughing hysterically right now?

Al

It is good not to be the king.

It is good not to be the King, or at least Stephane Dion appears to think so.

Take a look at this story from the National Post which in my opinion sums up Stephane Dion's political strategy perfectly.

"Stephane Dion appears to believe that the job of the official Opposition is to oppose everything, even if it means proposing things you know you would never enact as prime minister."

That's pretty much it for the way Dion has operated; well except for the tired old Harper is scary stuff the Libs like to toss around, but I can forgive them for that as old habits die hard.

The above UN declaration, Afghanistan, income trusts, anti-terror legislation, softwood lumber, and the Atlantic Accords are just a few examples of how Dion has changed the Liberal position and alienated long time Liberal supporters along the way.

Pretty brave for a guy who was the 4th choice for leader of the Liberal delegates at their convention. Those waiting for him to fail must be smiling with glee watching this Ph.D run the Liberal Party of Canada into the ground so they can ride in to save it. Long live the King.

Busted: CTV Bias

Just a little example of media bias from CTV.

Courtesy of SDA


Wow, CTV uses the CPC logo in their story and includes the line "A Conservative party supporter could theoretically donate more than $60,000 over the legal limit under a recently discovered loophole, according to a newspaper report."

FYI here is a bit from the newspaper story (Globe and Mail Article) referred to in the CTV piece. Please note where it says ANY Canadian.

Loophole tears lid off political donations

Gap allows for contributions more than $60,000 over limit

DANIEL LEBLANC

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

August 1, 2007 at 4:05 AM EDT

OTTAWA — Any Canadian could exceed by more than $60,000 the legal donation to a political party under a loophole discovered by The Globe and Mail.

Elections Canada confirmed yesterday that an individual could theoretically contribute $199.99 to each of the party's 308 riding associations across the country - a total of $61,596.92 - without attracting anyone's attention.

That's because parties are required to inform Elections Canada only of individual donations of $200 or more. Smaller donations to riding associations are lumped together, with no breakdown for cross-checking.

Under the government's showpiece Accountability Act, passed last year, individuals can donate a maximum of $1,100 to a political party.

So why did CTV decide to single out the CPC in their story, when even the original G&M story rightfully pointed out that the loophole could be used by any Canadian?

I would like to see the answer to that, but I won't be holding my breath waiting.

Gone Fishing!

I should have posted this weeks ago, but I was holding out hope that I would be able to find the time to keep up with this blog. However, reality being what it is makes finding free time impossible and I will be taking the summer off to enjoy the weather along with some of the other great things this country offers during the short summer season rather than be indoors on the computer.



See you in September or perhaps in a post or 2 in between now and then.

Al, aka The Alberta Ardvark

2 people charged in 2005 murder of 4 RCMP Officers

RCMP announced Sunday that after 28 months of investigation — including an undercover operation that Dennis Keegan Rodney Cheesman, 23, and Shawn William Hennesey, 28, both of Barrhead were each charged with four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the infamous 2005 incident where constables Peter Schiemann, Tony Gordon, Brock Myrol and Leo Johnston were gunned down at a farm and marijuana grow op near Mayerthorpe Alberta. CBC Coverage here

While not on the property at the time of the murders, the 2 men are accused of being a party to the offence for aiding and abetting gunman James Roszko.

Doctors who want to kill you

2 of the 7 so far arrested for the terror attacks in the UK are said to be medical doctors.


Not alienated youth, not poor Arabs, but practicing doctors who seem to have not taken their oath seriously and tried to kill hundreds of innocent people.

The common denominator again is the same, but will anymore people wake up and see it.


Al

Leadership, Dion Style

It would seem that Stephane Dion wants the PM to "Clarify" what he meant when he said Quebec is a nation, even though Dion voted in favour of the House Motion back in November.

So in other words, even though Dion had no idea what the House Motion really meant, he just went along and voted for it.

Now that is what I call leadership.

NASCAR, Sponsorship and the Left.

Unbelievable.

The left seems to be under the impression that the Canadian public actually gives a rat's ass about how the Conservative Party of Canada spends it's own money.

NEWSFLASH!!! They don't, and all of this feigned outrage from the Liberals and NDP is only making themselves look foolish to those whose votes they covet. Get over it. The cost of this is not covered by government money, but your wages are, so speaking as a taxpayer please stop wasting time on a non issue. If you still are that upset over this, than please send in your 10 bucks and become a member of the CPC to have your say. (Come and join in with the many thousands of other Canadians who already have signed up to the CPC, you will be glad you did)


Speaking of sponsoring racing in general; does anyone else find it strange that the Liberals are even talking about this? I seem to remember the last time the Liberals were involved in auto racing that a rather large amount of Government money was (mis)spent in Quebec on placing large Canada signs at various events. Many Liberals like to refer to this period as "The Happy Times", but now prefer to forget it ever occurred or that anyone in government was responsible. A strange strategy indeed.

Is anyone really surprised by this?

Dion, in typical Liberal fashion, was against the Atlantic Accord before he was for it. The arrogance of the Liberals continues to amaze me as they treat the citizens of this great country as idiots who will believe anything that is told to them.

Today Liberal leader Stéphane Dion pretends to care about the Atlantic Accord. However, Dion’s record was clear – he fought tooth and nail AGAINST Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador receiving any benefits at all from their offshore resources. How does Dion explain his record?:

The facts:

- Stéphane Dion and the Liberals have always denied that the fiscal imbalance even exists

- Dion voted AGAINST the implementation of the Atlantic Accord on November 15, 2004

- The federal government says it no longer wants to talk about Nova Scotia's so-called "campaign for fairness". Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion met with Premier John Hamm yesterday, and told reporters the campaign is over. Dion says it's only fair that as provinces take in more money on their own, they receive less in equalization transfers. (BN, May 15, 2002)

- Premier John Hamm's Campaign for Fairness on offshore royalties was flawed from the start, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion said Tuesday. "I suggested to stop arguing about the past," Dion said after meeting with Hamm for more than an hour. "It's a mistake to link (the offshore) to equalization payments, because then other provinces want to be part of it." (The Daily News (Truro), May 15, 2002)

- Federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion says Ottawa has had enough of Nova Scotia's campaign for fairness. The province wants to keep equalization payments, even as it takes in new revenues from offshore development. Dion told reporters yesterday that wouldn't be fair to other provinces. (BN, May 15, 2002)

- Federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion says he's fed up arguing about Premier John Hamm's ``campaign for fairness,'' (Halifax Daily News, May 15, 2002)

- Dion said he doesn't like the name of Hamm's campaign, or its insistence that Nova Scotia got a raw deal in the past. (Halifax Daily News, May 15, 2002)

- Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion, who stated the federal Liberals see no need to amend the equalization formula to accommodate the Atlantic premiers' wish to keep all their oil and gas booty (Report Magazine, August 20, 2001, quoting Globe and Mail op-ed by Dion)

- “Look, we have received two requests from some premiers. Premier Hamm has requested to not take into account his offshore revenue in the equalization payment formula. We have explained why it would be unfair for the provinces.” (CBC Radio, The House, August 4, 2001)

- Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion said last week that ``goes against the whole idea of equalization'' and could cause resentment among the ``have'' provinces, such as Alberta, that pay into the fund. (Edmonton Journal, April 18, 2001)

- Federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion argued recently that it would be unfair to allow provinces such as Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to hang on to both equalization payments and their oil and gas revenues if that gives them fiscal capacities surpassing those of British Columbia or Ontario (Ottawa Citizen, July 19, 2001)


When you have no ideas of your own and base your policy on the opposite of what the Harper Government does, is it any surprise to anyone that Dion would now try to play the hero in the face of his own record?

This is going to be tough for some Ontatrio Liberals to swallow.

The Liberal Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, backs the Harper Government budget. The very same budget the the Liberal dominated Senate is thinking about amending or even killing completely,which seems to be against the wishes of their great leader Dion.

That last set of commercials are starting to look more brilliant as each day passes.



Update: Joanne has a blog entry and a link to an article from Chantal Hébert warning Liberal Senators that playing around with the budget may not be in the best interests of anyone, including Dion and the Liberal Party.

Sheila Copps, on turfed Nova Scotian MP Bill Casey.

Even Sheila knows that Casey had to go.

Media Priorities

How does a story about a new free trade agreement between Canada and 4 European countries not make it into national news casts, while stories about how Bono is not happy with our Prime Minister make all the telecasts?

I guess on a day where the story of Paris Hilton being sent back to jail led off the Global National News cast, that I cannot expect overly much from our so called national media.


I love this quote from the PM: "I've got to say that meeting celebrities isn't kind of my shtick, that was the shtick of the previous guy." Priceless.

Does anyone want to loan me $705,000?

I seem to be a bit short this week and 705K should cover me 'till payday.

$705,000 also happens to be the amount that Stephane Dion borrowed for his run at the LPC leadership late last year.

Was it borrowed from a financial institution with appropriate interest charged?
No.

Does it have to be paid back?
No.

Will it allow those that lent the money to have the 'ear' of Dion?
No, idea , but I doubt he will keep any of these people on hold if they call.

Will this type of borrowing be allowed in the future?
No. Not as long as the Harper government manages to get their legislation to plug this loophole through the House and the super speedy Liberal dominated Senate.

Lets all hope the legislation makes it.

Why waste money on ads...

when you can just show Dion in action.

Snakes on a Plane: Egypt Edition

700 of them to be precise.

Free Homes. It is in the Constitution.

Did you know the the Canadian Constitution guarantees housing, shelter and food to everyone in Canada? I was not aware of this either, but according to 'protester' David Cunningham of the Anti-Poverty Committee, these rights are included in the constitution.

Listen to the interview here, the constitution comment starts around the 7:45 mark. Ht SDA

Damn, and I have been wasting all this time working to pay for all of those things when all I had to do was put out my hand and get my constitutionally granted house.

Time to head downtown and trash Premier Stelmach's office. Maybe someone could let the CBC know that I am on my way so they have time to set up their cameras.


Al

Another GT Moment

This little gem from our old friend Garth Turner, who has written a little critique of the CPC website on his blog. He seems to have an issue with some spelling on the CPC site and writes the following:

"Do the young ones know how to spell ‘aloud’? If the Cons are feeling so confident, then why’s half their web site a trashing of Stephane Dion? Have the blackhead-poppers replaced Doug Finley? Do Conservatives think Canadians want negative politics? Have they read a poll lately? Do they think stupid, out-of-contenxt pictures will make people vote for them? Are these the folks you want running the country?

And, no, we’re not making this up."

I do not know who the "we" are who write your blog Garth, but maybe you could get one of them could run a spell checker.


updated: The old Garth supports cuts to the court challenges program among other things, but his current party is against that. Ht: Christian Conservative

Duceppe Out of PQ Leadership race

Breaking: Gilles Duceppe has decided not to seek the leadership of the PQ and has chosen to throw his support behind Pauline Marois.

Update : CTV has the story here.

Nicolas Ruszkowski's first order of business

For Nicolas Ruszkowski, who has been brought on to help improve Stephane Dion's image, this should be his first order of business.

No more pictures like this one.

Stephane Dion with disgraced former Liberal candidate Farhan Chak

AFP, Call your lawyers.

A good rule of thumb for MSM in general, and AFP in particular:-- Fact checkers are always cheaper than lawyers.

Some more advice:-- A simple 30 second Google Search can go a long way in preventing your organization from looking incompetent to your customers/audience.

For those of you in what we Bloggers like to refer to as the MSM (main stream media),which is of course a money making business where credibility should matter, would it not make sense for you to actually check stuff out before you send a story out on the wire around the world where it is picked up by and sourced by other news organizations, bloggers and anyone else who is interested? Basic fact checking; is that really too much to ask for?

It just might be if you take a look at a recent story, that I think most of you are already familiar with: the Mike Lake / Bigfoot story.

Consider the following:

On Feb 16, 2007 a petition was brought to the constituency office of MP Mike Lake by Ross Shuliak and Todd Standing of Sylvanic.com. The petition asks for the government to provide protection for the creature known as Bigfoot, and was signed by over 300 people mainly from Western Canada.

Watch it on video here *Please note in the video where Mr. Shuliak acknowledges that, by Mike Lake accepting the petition, it does not constitute his support for the petition.

March 28th, 2007. Mike Lake tabled the petition in the House of Commons and at no point did Mike Lake speak about the petition in the HoC, nor has he ever indicated his own support for the petition, but rather he presented it to the Clerk of Petitions where it was deemed to be in order and was accepted.

April 5th 2007. Here is how the Edmonton Sun covered the story (Original link but now PPV) (Highlighting mine)

Max Maudie Edmonton Sun: "An Edmonton MP has presented the government with a petition to protect Bigfoot.

Edmonton-Mill Woods- Beaumont MP Mike Lake offered the petition up March 28 in the House of Commons on behalf of a constituent who’s convinced Bigfoot exists and needs legal protection.
“You don’t make judgment calls on petitions,” Lake told Sun Media yesterday. “We try to do it as a service to constituents.”
Asked whether or not he believed in Bigfoot, the Tory offered a firm “No,” followed by a chuckle.
“But if he did exist, I’m sure he would vote NDP,” Lake kidded.
Todd Standing, 33, is the Bigfoot seeker behind the petition, signed by about 500 people, he said.
He claims to have at least 12 seconds of video footage that proves Bigfoot exists. He’s worked it into a 30-minute documentary.
The movie is called Sylvanic, a derivative of a native word used in southern British Columbia to describe the “shadow guardians of the mountains,” said the moviemaker.
The fact the petition will now be considered by the government is a “huge victory,” said Standing.
“Now that we’re in the nation’s business, people are going to start taking me seriously. People ask me, ‘Why would you do it? It doesn’t make any sense.’
“Of course it makes sense, because I’ve really found the species. Anyone could go out and execute these animals, and I can’t allow that to transpire.”
He won’t say where in the Rocky Mountains he caught Bigfoot on camera.
“When you have a Bigfoot discovery, men with guns show up,” he said. “People lie and deceive and cheat because it’s worth millions when you (find Bigfoot and) become famous.”
The government hasn’t yet responded to the petition, but has 45 days from the time it was presented to do so."
The facts were clear and concise, and the story passed without much notice or fanfare from anyone; that changed however, when another story made it out on the wire, because in this story the facts had somehow changed.

May 2nd, 2007. A new AFP story appears: Picked up world wide by the other media outlets and bloggers alike. A Google search reveals over 12000 hits on key words from the story. (Highlighting mine, and shortened for brevity)


OTTAWA (AFP) - Bigfoot, the legendary hairy man-like beast said to roam the wildernesses of North America, is not shy, merely so rare it risks extinction and should be protected as an endangered species.
So says Canadian MP Mike Lake who has called for Bigfoot to be protected under Canada's species at risk act, alongside Whooping Cranes, Blue Whales, and Red Mulberry trees.
"The debate over their (Bigfoot's) existence is moot in the circumstance of their tenuous hold on merely existing," reads a petition presented by Lake to parliament in March and due to be discussed next week.
"Therefore, the petitioners request the House of Commons to establish immediate, comprehensive legislation to affect immediate protection of Bigfoot," says the petition signed by almost 500 of Lake's constituents in Edmonton, Alberta.
A similar appeal has been made to the US Congress.
Down through history, there have been numerous, if unsubstantiated sightings of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch in North American folklore......


Another version or perhaps morphed evolution of the same story from a Canadian Newspaper, The Province *Not sourced directly to AFP, but too similar in wording for coincidence.

Protect Bigfoot as species at risk: MP

Published: Thursday, May 03, 2007

OTTAWA -- The sasquatch, the legendary hairy man-like beast said to roam the wilderness of B.C. and other parts of North America, should be protected as an endangered species, says MP Mike Lake.

He wants the sasquatch -- a.k.a. Bigfoot -- to be protected under Canada's Species at Risk Act.
A petition to the House of Commons, signed by almost 500 of Lake's constituents in Edmonton and due for debate next week, asks the government "to establish immediate, comprehensive legislation to effect immediate protection of Bigfoot."
A similar appeal has been made to the U.S. Congress.
Bigfoot researcher Todd Standing, who was behind the petition, claims to have proof of the sasquatch's existence and says he fears for its safety.
One might think that The Province might know that petitions do not get debated in the HOC in Canada, but then again I am a media optimist and still hold out some hope.


May 5th, 2007. Another slightly morphed version? appears and can be seen here. This version differs in that it comes from The Press Association and it now refers to the petition as "His petition", but it also continues to get some basic facts wrong.


To put it nicely, the above stories do not reflect the facts as they occurred, and even a simple fact such as where those 500 people who signed the petition live was not even checked out. Just about any Blogger would do a better job than this, and even a new Blogger would never be so stupid as to attribute words and views to Mike Lake that are simply not true and which could be easily verified in minutes. There is a term for this, but I cannot think of it at this time; perhaps the legal department at AFP might be able to help me out with my little memory lapse, but I digress.

A simple Google search or even a phone call could have prevented it all, but once the story managed to hit the wires, more fuel was to be be added to the fire as numerous bloggers of all political stripes and from all around the globe have commented on Mike Lake based on these news stories. To be honest, I can not blame them at all if the source of news they were using was itself corrupt; after all, a trusted source for news had come up with the story so why would anyone suspect that AFP did not check the facts? They are the pros after all.
A tip of the hat to Calgary Grit, Cowboys for Social responsibility, and Scott Tribe, Liberal Bloggers who all love to nail it to the Conservatives on a regular basis, but upon learning the facts of this story have since changed their stance on the entire affair. It is not often that Conservatives and Liberals agree that a news story is bogus, but in this case the truth is clear.


So there you have it. A very poorly researched news story is released, it gets picked up by MSM and bloggers worldwide, is read by countless numbers of people who now believe it to be the truth, and all the while doing yet untold damage to the credibility of Mike Lake.

What can be done? I do not know, but if AFP were to issue a correction on this ASAP, and perhaps think about employing more fact checkers, it would be a good start.


And lastly for your entertainment may I present yet one more 'version' of the story.
This morph sums it up nicely as it now includes the little gem that Mike Lake is a member of the RCMP.
I mean if the original story is not factual anyway, why not just add a little homegrown make believe into it before posting it to the web. Note how in this version Mike Lake has some new words attributed to him, not found in any of the other versions of this story. "According to Mr. Lake, the creature that is also known as the Sasquatch is real, and is endangered."


From the RCMP version:
A member of the Canadian Mounted Police by the name of Mike Lake has officially notified the Canadian Parliament that he believes that Bigfoot should be added to the Nation's, Species at Risk Act. This is similar to the Endangered Species List in the United States.

According to Mr. Lake, the creature that is also known as the Sasquatch is real, and is endangered. The reason, he says that there have not been more sightings in North America of Bigfoot is because the creature is endangered, not necessarily shy like many believe.

Garbage in, garbage out I guess.



Al