Is Paul Martin trying to rewrite history?

From the Star:(highlighting mine) Martin also writes that under the Conservatives, the military "bit off more than we can chew," by expanding its mission in Kandahar. As a result, reconstruction efforts were all but abandoned during the first year of the mission there. "We never envisaged a broad military campaign that would make reconstruction efforts more difficult."

"Under the Conservatives"?? Give me a break.

DND News release May 2005

CBC Time line.

CTV Story July 2005

The road to Kandahar.

Bill Graham on the Liberal plan.

John Manley on Martin sending our troops to Kandahar.

All the above found in about 2 minutes with a simple Google search.

Conservative Reporter has a much more detailed timeline here. Thanks =)


Is it like some kind of disease that Liberals get where they cannot ever take responsibility for their own actions and blame others, or do they just think Canadians are stupid and will believe anything they say?

Back to the Future with CTV and Dion

"Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2008" At least CTV got the year right in their 'updated' story.

Who will be the first Liberal to declare?

Who will be the first Liberal to declare their candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada? Take the poll on the sidebar and for added fun leave a comment as to the date that you think your pick will announce.

How can Dion expect to lead the opposition

How can Dion expect to lead the opposition when every word coming out of his mouth will be questioned as to whether it is his own policy/position, official Liberal policy, or maybe even one of the leadership candidates policies? Surely the man cannot be that deluded to believe that he still speaks for the Liberal Party on policy matters when he knows that Iggy and Rae among others have very different ideas about policy and which way to lead the party.

Perhaps Dion should leave policy alone and concentrate more on fund raising for his cash strapped party. After the great job he has done on this file since being elected leader in Dec 2006 his ideas are guaranteed to be winners and the cash will flow in.



His decision today to remain on as leader will turn very ugly, very soon.

What I would like to see Dion say today

Dion's Press Conference: Contrary to what those in the press have been claiming, I will not be resigning today but instead will put my fate in the hands of the grass roots of the Liberal party at the May convention. It is their decision and not the decision of some so called senior Liberals or insiders.

I have accepted the choice of Canadians in the election, and I would hope that my fellow Liberals can accept the choice of the Liberal delegates that selected me as leader. I look forward to working with the Harper government to make this parliament work for the good of our economy and the good of our country.

I am also here to announce that Joe Volpe has been kicked out of the Liberal caucus effective immediately, and will not think twice about adding a few more names if circumstances dictate.

Thank you, merci.


Do this Stephane and you will NEVER again have to face the "not a leader" label.

An insider here, a leaked memo there.....

It starts with an insider here, and a leaked memo there; next thing you know there will be potential leadership candidates selling memberships.

Come Monday, it will be alright, come Monday......


Update:
File this one under vanity but Liberal blogger James Curran has a brilliant post up at his place.

For the record I think Dion is getting treated like dirt by the Liberal Party and it is not going to help them in any way. Help bloggers like me, yes, but it will do nothing positive for their party.

They spent 30 days building him up, and it took less than 30 hours to start to tear him down.

Great incite as to the truthfulness of Liberals during the campaign when they all kept repeating that Dion would be a good PM and had their support.

From the comments "3 days ago every Liberal in the country was telling us that Dion was the best choice and deserved our votes. Today they are saying that he is not even fit to lead the Liberal party."

Volpe Speaks. Say it aint so Joe, say it aint so.

Re elected Liberal MP Joe Volpe has asked Stephane Dion to "signal his intentions" on whether he will step down as the leader of the LPC. Volpe being the diplomat he is did not outright call on Dion to quit but when questioned, Volpe had this to say "Dion has earned the right to stay on probably as an interim leader."

You really can't be much clearer than that, at least for a Liberal politician that is. source


Of interest: Joe Volpe was a candidate for the Liberal leadership in 2006 along with eventual winner Stephane Dion. Volpe dropped out after the first ballot results and threw his support behind Bob Rae.

Bob Rae huh, very interesting indeed.

The Gears of Liberal Party Leadership Machine

The gears of the Liberal Party of Canada's leadership machine meets the monkey wrench.



Coming May 2009 to a political party near you.

First comes the endorsment, now comes the call for him to be replaced

The Toronto Star.

Then and Now


update:
The Star has changed their headline as it turns out they were wrong, again.

Proportional Representation

With the election over we again hear calls for proportional representation, mostly from those that didn't get anyone elected, but here is something Elizabeth May or anyone else always fail to mention in their PR pr.

If we adopt some form of PR in Canada we would NEVER again have an independent elected to Parliament.

Think about that for a moment.

Think about last night and both André Arthur and Bill Casey.

Think back to 2004 and Chuck Cadman.

Think about an average person never again being able to run for Parliament unless they were members of some national political party .



That would not be a step forward for democracy, it would be a step backwards.

Campaign to keep Dion as LPC leader.

Today I am lending my voice to all those out there who want Stephane Dion to remain leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. I support this move and would like to remind Liberals everywhere that if John Turner was allowed 2 kicks at the cat; IMHO Dion deserves the same.

Come on LPC. Give the leader another chance. If CTV can give him a redo on an interview the very least you can do for Mr.Dion is give him a redo on his chance to be PM.

It is what we Liberals do.

Late night post election thoughts.

Call Ripley's : The electoral record of the Green Party of Canada now sits at negative 1 after having lost the seat that they never won in the first place.

Dion is in trouble as leader, but his party is going to be in it even worse. A blogging goldmine I tells ya.

Garth Turner gets tossed in a big way. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Some other notable Liberal losses: Dan Boudria, Karen Redman, Omar Alghabra, Robert Thibault, Paul Zed, Ken Boshcoff.

Cherniak is leaving blogging to go behind the scenes with the LPC.

Dion is not a big fan of CTV. "The last one I want to speak first is CTV. Understand that?" Note how tough guy Dion gives CTV reporter Roger Smith a little push after Dion's security has already made the point.

PM Harper in his speech tonight commented that he has been elected 4 times in the last 6 years. It will take some large stones on the part of the 3 leaders of the opposition parties to bring this government down anytime soon.

Locally Mike Lake was re elected in Edmonton Millwoods Beaumont with over 60% of the vote. Meanwhile in the parking lot of his campaign office some mysterious woman was taking pictures of people leaving the party ???

Rahim Jaffer losses to Linda Duncan of the NDP in Edmonton. Someone representing a party that wants to shut down the oil sands. Hey, Edmonton Strathcona voters; any guesses as to where the funding for that world class hospital and large university campus in the center of your riding comes from?

Tomorrow we start taking down the signs.

It will take all 3 opposition parties to bring the government down.

Congratulations to PM Harper, and all those out there who worked so hard to get a de facto majority government.


It is going to take all 3 opposition parties voting together to bring down the new government and cause our fifth election in as little as six years. I do not see this happening for at least 3 more years, or possibly longer.

The Original "I am" Speech.

"I am a Canadian,
a free Canadian,
free to speak without fear,
free to worship God in my own way,
free to stand for what I think right,
free to oppose what I believe wrong,
free to choose those who shall govern my country.
This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold
for myself and for all mankind."

Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker, from the House of Commons, Debates (on the Canadian Bill of Rights), July 1, 1960.


h/t Nick and Kathy,


Do not forget to vote.

Comments have been disabled on the blog due to archaic election laws.

Stephane Dion calls it a lie, but really who is the one doing the nose stretcher here?

Stephane Dion has been calling the PM a liar for the last couple of days because he does not like the way that his carbon tax has been treated by the Conservatives. It all boils down to the fact that Conservatives are not talking about the tax breaks that are going to be offered up by Dion's plan and Mr. Dion is not happy.

Well there is a good reason for that Stephane, because in the policy you are proposing, in this case it might be better referred to as bait and shift, those tax cuts are not going to even come close to the costs that the average taxpayer is going to have to shell out because of this twisted piece of bad policy.

The cost of EVERYTHING is going to go up, and if you want to talk truth why are you not telling Canadians that little fact about the fallout of your carbon tax?


Look at the following example with the results from the Liberal Green Shift calculator.

Joe makes 50K a year, lives in Alberta, is single and inherited his home.

He will get back $337 a year from those touted tax breaks under Dion's carbon tax. ( if he lived in Quebec he would only get back $282!! I wonder how many people in Quebec are aware of that little fact).

According to the Liberals: Joe is going to have to pay about $250 more to heat his home next year due to direct increases from the carbon tax leaving $87 dollars left over. But don't go out celebrating and buy up all that beer and popcorn just yet Joe, because you have not yet figured out how much more your electricity bill will be going up and the Liberal DO NOT even have an estimate for that. Any wagers that it will be well over the $87 dollars that Joe has left over?

A safe guess would be that the increase would be approaching that of his natural gas bill at around the $250 dollar mark*

So Joe gets hit with a $500 increase to his utility bills and now is $163 in the red. (The official colour of the Liberal Party of Canada BTW).

But we cannot stop there, oh no, because now Joe is going to be faced with cost increases from all over.

His property taxes are going to go up, estimate another $200 as municipalities try to recover their own massive cost increases for both heat and power. Damn city; do we really need public transit, those street lights on all night, our pools and facility buildings heated, roads plowed in winter or even to have our police or sanitation workers driving around in those costly vehicles? It is insane I tell you.

Provincial taxes would go up for many of the same reasons outlined above as well as a few more as the schools, universities, and hospitals come running to them to cover their carbon tax related cost increases.

The costs on food and consumer goods will go up as their shipping and manufacturing costs increase and the stores themselves pass on their own utility increases on to the consumer. This is already a given, but there is another reason that we can expect to see the price of everything increase and for that look to what happens to Joe next.

So poor Joe, who believed Dion and voted Liberal is now so far into the hole on this that he has to go to his boss and ask for a raise, as do all those others who work beside him. Joe's boss gives him and his fellow employees that raise, but now has to pass on these new added wage costs along with the direct cost increases that he is already paying on carbon tax to his customers causing his prices to raise.

Out of control inflation anyone?

It is a good thing Joe has a job. Imagine what this will do to the real poor in this country who can least afford it.



Mr. Dion; the next time that you speak about how those mean Conservatives do not talk about your tax cuts, please be honest with Canadians and tell them the real lie that those tax cuts are not even going to cover the known cost increases caused by your carbon tax, and certainly will not be enough to cover the many yet unknown cost increases that are sure to follow.


Poor Joe, poor Canada; and all for an environment plan that will DO NOTHING to reduce our GHG emissions.





*By taking only the top 7 electric generation facilities in Alberta with their 2004 CO2 emission numbers and multiplying that by $40.00/tonne you get a low estimate of the real cost to Alberta facilities coming out at over 4 billion dollars. With a population of 3.5 million people that comes out to $1200 per Albertan! So I figure $250 is a reasonable and realistic number for calculating on a per home basis what the average power bill would raise under Dion's carbon tax. The Liberals haven't even bothered to try and figure this number out, or at least they are not telling us about it if they did.

Liberal candidate Bob Friesen joins Martha Hall Findlay

Liberal candidate Bob Friesen joins Martha Hall Findlay and even leader Stephane Dion in admitting that the Liberals have no idea if the Green Shift will reduce CO2 emissions.

From the Winnipeg Sun: "It might not change behaviour," Friesen acknowledged during the debate.

Well, if it's not going to change behaviour, then it's just a straight tax grab."

Paid for by the Official Agent of the Liberal Party of Canada

Paid for by the Official Agent of the Liberal Party of Canada. Ok maybe not, but after reading the following, and only endorsement that I have seen for Dion, I think it should have the above disclaimer written across the page. You want your Liberal talking points, please read the following.

From the Toronto Star (big surprise) I was going to Fisk the entire thing but it is so full of holes and out right lies that it isn't even worth the effort; other than to comment that if the Star thinks that imposing a carbon tax on Ontario's manufacturing sector would be a good thing, then they are truly too partisan to be taken seriously and should be considered as nothing but an extension of the Liberal Party of Canada. Take note advertisers, the Star wants to destroy the Ontario economy.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has run a government that has put partisanship and ideology ahead of the public interest.

In fiscal policy, Harper has pursued a neo-conservative strategy to cut the GST – not, as economists had recommended, income taxes – in order to reduce dramatically the role of government. He inherited a $12 billion surplus from the previous Liberal government (under Paul Martin) and has squandered almost all of it. His moves have left the government with little room to manoeuvre in the current crisis.

In foreign affairs, Harper has diminished Canada's reputation as an independent voice and aligned his government with George Bush's White House on a range of issues, from the Middle East to the "war on terror." He has also worsened relations with China, the world's biggest emerging economy, and fallen behind other Western countries in developing ties with India, the second biggest.

Taking a cue from the Ontario Conservative government under Mike Harris, Harper has pursued policies of deregulation. He has either allowed sectors to be self-regulating (food, for example), or he has fired the regulator (Linda Keen at the nuclear safety commission).

On the environment, Harper scrapped the Kyoto accord and came up with a new plan that allows greenhouse gas emissions to continue to grow, especially in his home province of Alberta.

In federal-provincial relations, he has spent 33 months in power without once holding a conference of first ministers. And he has managed the neat trick of alienating the governments of both Quebec and Ontario. Even Pierre Trudeau didn't do that. Furthermore, his finance minister, Jim Flaherty, has unapologetically dissed Ontario as the "last place" to invest in Canada.

On the cities front, there have been some grudging moves by Harper's government to help municipalities cope with the enormous infrastructure challenges they face. But the federal Conservative attitude toward cities was best summed up by the aforementioned finance minister, who said dismissively that Ottawa is not in the business of "fixing potholes."

On the aboriginal file, while Harper extended a meaningful apology over residential schools, he also ripped up the Kelowna accord, thereby dealing a severe blow to relations with native communities.

And having castigated the Liberals for being anti-democratic when he was in opposition, Harper ran a government that was secretive and controlling to an astonishing degree. Independent voices in the Conservative caucus were expelled, ministers prohibited from saying anything much, and the media frozen out (until the election neared).

To top it all off, in calling this election Harper broke his own law fixing the election date for 2009.

Harper did all that with a minority. If he got a majority, there are very real concerns that he would go much further and pave the way for two-tier medicare, pursue more military adventures with the Americans, scrap the gun registry, and introduce more Bush-like tax cuts that would hamper any future government's ability to govern.

Harper's campaign has been no less mean-spirited than his government. It has been dominated by attack ads that ridicule his chief rival (Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion) and misrepresent the key plank in his platform (the "Green Shift"). The Conservatives have also pursued wedge issues such as youth crime and funding cuts for the arts.

Latterly, during the market meltdown, with Canadians fearful for their jobs and their savings, Harper sounded more like a broker than a prime minister with his message that "some good buying opportunities are opening up." And when Dion, who has a hearing problem, stumbled in a television interview because he had trouble comprehending a question, Harper absurdly seized on this as proof that the Liberals "really don't know what they would do on the economy."

For all these reasons, Harper and the Conservatives do not deserve to be re-elected on Tuesday.

We prefer Dion and the Liberals.

Dion, to be sure, has his faults. His communications skills are wanting, his approach can be somewhat academic, and he did not do his job as leader to make sure his party was fully prepared for this election. Mid-campaign, it appeared Dion might be leading the Liberals to a defeat of historic proportions.

But Dion has shown growth in this campaign and appeared finally to be connecting with voters at the end. He has also demonstrated strength of character in withstanding a withering negative ad campaign that would have brought lesser leaders to their knees.

Dion's intelligence is beyond question, as is his love of country.

As well, the Liberal team is definitely stronger, with candidates in the GTA like Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, Ken Dryden, Gerard Kennedy, Martha Hall Findlay, Navdeep Bains and Ruby Dhalla. Tellingly, Harper and the Conservatives failed to attract any name candidates to their local banner in this election.

Finally, the Liberal platform has much in it to like, including an emphasis on building infrastructure, fighting poverty, expanding child care and working with the provinces (especially Ontario).

The Green Shift, so ridiculed by the Conservatives, may seem complicated to the average voter. But it is actually simpler and more transparent than the Conservatives' own cap-and-trade plan, with "intensity-based" targets. The Conservative plan would also involve higher costs for consumers, but they would be hidden.

The New Democrats have an attractive leader in Jack Layton – articulate and knowledgeable. And the NDP platform is very similar to the Liberals', with one notable exception: its reliance on hiking corporate taxes by $50 billion. That could scare business away from Canada and is at odds with the direction taken by other liberal and social democratic governments.

As well, in Ontario at least, a ballot cast for the NDP would split the opposition vote and allow the Conservatives to go up the middle to victory – except, that is, in ridings the NDP already holds.

As for the Greens, their leader, Elizabeth May, has brought a feisty new presence to the campaign trail. But in this province, where the Greens are trailing well behind, a vote for them will clearly be wasted. It would be tantamount to voting for Ralph Nader, the Green candidate for U.S. president in 2000, who drew just enough votes away from Al Gore to allow the climate-change- denying Bush to win.

In summary, the re-election of Stephen Harper and the Conservatives would be bad for Toronto, bad for Ontario, and bad for Canada. Stéphane Dion and the Liberals are the best alternative.

Harpernomics

Most stable banking system in the world.

Record job creation for September.

Canada will lead G7 for GDP growth for 2009.


If this is Harpernomics; Ill take a few more years please.

Would Dion have pulled the plug?

With the current world wide financial problems and if the PM would not have pulled the plug on his government a little over 30 days ago, would Stephane Dion have finally got up enough nerve to vote non confidence in the government forcing an election?


I say would say that yes he would have and we would be heading into an election for the middle of November rather than this upcoming Tuesday.


What say you?

Drop off a comment or vote in the poll on the side bar.

Dion with Mansbridge . I call BS.

Stephane Dion: "I never broke my word and uh my record is there. When I say something I don't over commit and I deliver."


Do I really need to give examples of how this statement is pure BS.

Dr. Dion's prescription for an ailing economy.

Take this green pill* and call me in 30 days.

------

*Pharmaceutical Monograph:

NOTE: Not recommended for use in bad economic times or to help the poor.

Side effects:

Will pull 40 billion dollars out of the pockets of Canadians.

May not harmonize with existing carbon taxes.

Will harm the auto and manufacturing sectors.

Will cause inflation.

Will not actually reduce CO2 or come close to meeting Kyoto targets.

Will not be revenue neutral.

Will put an unfair burden on Canadian business.

Will cause trading partners great discomfort and possibly spark a trade war.

Will cause the price of EVERYTHING to go up.

Will not create jobs and may in fact eliminate jobs.

Will increase the cost of gasoline.

May cause stock prices to tumble.

Will create much increased regional discomfort and possible spontaneous amputation of same.

Will not really do anything at all to help the economy, but will raise money for Liberal spending schemes.

Will harm those that can least afford it. (The poor and those on fixed incomes or pensions)

What the....?

No, I am not talking about the recent drop in the polls, but rather the piss poor job the MSM are doing in this country covering the election. It truly is pathetic. The MSM seem to accept whatever comes out of the mouths of the leaders as fact and do not bother challenging anything or even asking the simplest of questions.

I refer to a couple of points in the MSM's coverage of Stephane Dion as examples. The first was during the last debate where Dion stated about his carbon tax that " The Premiers support our plan as a good one,". A statement that is pure hogwash. Dion lies and the media stays quiet. Aside from a post on this blog has anyone seen this mentioned anywhere else?

There are even more implications for this as Dion keeps telling us everyday about his 30 day action plan where he is going to meet with everyone and their dog to fix the economy. Are the Premiers going to be included in these meetings? Will Dion listen to them and their almost unanimous disdain for his carbon tax or will he just ignore them? Important questions, basic simple questions that are not being asked by those tasked with covering the election for their own news organizations and Canadians. h/t Jack Layton.


Even on the Liberal platform the MSM are falling flat. The Liberals plan calls for them to cut 12 billion dollars from current government spending to fund their platform, but does anyone know just where these cuts are going to take place and where this money is going to be coming from? The Conservatives cut a few million from some arts programs and the media are falling all over themselves covering it, but the Liberals proposed cutting of 12 billion out of the current budget gets completely ignored.

You need more? Has anyone in the MSM asked Dion about any details on how he would harmonize his carbon tax with that of B.C? I thought not.



As I said earlier; a pathetic job and a disservice to Canadians who rely on you to do your damn jobs and ask the important questions on our behalf.


Steve Jenke, not a member of the MSM, also finds a question that needs to be asked.

The Green Party owes Jennifer Wright some money

Earlier tonight at an all candidates radio/cable tv debate local Green Party candidate for Edmonton Millwoods Beaumont, David Allan Hrushka, tonight called the GP policy on the environment said

Since Jennifer Wright is the rightful owner of the Green Shift name, and the Liberal Party of Canada has, only through threats of legal action, come to a financial agreement to license this name, shouldn't the Green Party have to pay up for using it as well?

I feel an invoice coming your way soon Liz.

Oh and where in the Green Party platform can I find out more about those "municipal registered retirement savings plans" that your candidate mentioned tonight?

Awesome job Greens, awesome.

Nose Stretchers from Stephane Dion at the English Debate.

One big whopper from Stephane Dion tonight during the English debate and a couple of other shady claims that openly contradict his previously stated policies.

Dion's big lie was his claim about the Green Shift that 'The Premiers support our plan as a good one, so you are inventing something' (note: quotes on the fly so accuracy not 100%)

Wow! There is no way that this claim is even close to being true and there is no way that Dion does not already know this unless Rae or Iggy jumped the gun and whacked him on the head with something really heavy. Please, oh please Liberal spin meisters, try to defend this totally fictitious claim by your leader to Canadians.


Some more tall tales from Dion.

Claiming that the Kelowna Accord and the '2006' Liberal childcare plan would be brought back by the Liberals. In fact Dion made the audacious claim that it would happen October 14th if they won the election.

Where to start. On October 14th, even if you could con enough of Canadians into voting FOR the LPC rather than against the CPC, Dion would not be the PM or be in any position to do anything until he was actually sworn in. Duh! If he doesn't get this he has no business being our PM; kind of like Elizabeth May on the Canada Health Act.

Much more shady is Dion's claim that he is bringing these programs back while his own platform does NOT provide the funds for either of these plans. Yes there is partial funding for these in Dion's platform but not anywhere near the levels that were promised by Paul Martin and rejected in 2006 by Canadians.

On infrastructure: Dion first claimed that the Liberals would spend more on infrastructure when in reality their platform only copies the existing Conservative spending and will NOT be an increase at all. Later he made the claim the the Liberals would 'speed up' this already existing spending. Just where in that Liberal platform does this unfunded sped up money come from because Dion made it painfully clear that the 70 Billion of already existing spending commitments, and the timing of those commitments as written by the Harper Government could not be included in costing the Liberal platform.

It just doesn't add up, but that is what you get when you make up policy on the fly.



On healthcare: Dion said that "We saved healthcare." Too damn funny. Was that when Chretien cut billions of dollars in transfer payments from the provinces messing up healthcare to this day, or when the instigator of those cuts, Paul Martin, later fixed healthcare for a generation?


There are more but I think you all get the idea. From carbon taxes, to not going negative in the campaign, or not changing a single comma in a platform that has already been altered on the fly a few times already; Dion cannot be trusted on anything he says and certainly can not be trusted to be our PM.

It 's the economy St,,,St,,,,St,,,Stephen.

Great line Stephane and so very original. How did you ever think of it on your own?

And what was Paul Martin's view about going to Iraq?

Paul Martin, the "great" Finance Minister who set back health care in this country for years by his cuts of millions of dollars in transfer payments to the provinces for 6 years in a row also had an opinion about Canada joining the US in Iraq.


Any guesses as to what that position was?


Here is what Sheila Copps"There is no doubt in my mind that if Paul Martin had been the leader, we would have gone to Iraq with the United States."

Feel free to look up what PMPM's Defence Minister David Pratt had to say about Iraq as well.