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