Merry Christmas from the Anthill

It has been one hell of a year and I would like to wish everyone, both political friends and foes, a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.


Al

You might want to check those credentials

From the Toronto Star: "He cited a letter by constitutional lawyers to the Montreal newspaper La Presse, saying that a "growing body of expert opinion suggests the Prime Minister may be violating the Constitution by making these appointments without the confidence of the House of Commons."

If ANY constitutional lawyer believes that the PM does not have the right to make these Senate appointments, they should either have their credentials reviewed and or be made to pee into a cup because they have no clue as to what they are talking about.

I do not have the time but does anyone out there have a copy of this letter with the names of these so called constitutional lawyers? Drop a link into the comments if you come across the info.

Screw GM, Ford, and Chrysler...

We need to bail out these guys. Come on Canada, lets save this Canadian institution.

Kingsford to the rescue.

I was out doing my Christmas shopping this afternoon, a few days early this year but that is another story, and as usual I had a few names on my list that were giving me some problems as to what to buy them. I had managed to find something for all of my friends and family members but could not find the right gift for some of the others on my list; the members of the proposed coalition.

So after wandering around aimlessly from store to store looking for that something special to jump out at me, I finally found the perfect gift to send to all of the members and supporters of the coalition*.


What could be a more perfect gift than coal for the coalition?

Merry Christmas everyone.

* all except for Bob Rae. I bought him some astroturf.

Jack Layton to move into Stornoway as leader of the opposition.

An AWM exclusive: Don't call the movers yet Iggy.

Having had his plans of being in a coalition cabinet thwarted by newly anointed interim Liberal leader Micheal Ignatieff; Jack Layton has made a deal with Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe that would have the NDP named as the official opposition with Layton as leader.

Similar to the failed tripartite coalition agreement the 2 parties are expected to approach the Speaker of the House of Commons with a letter of intent outlining their cooperation in forming the official opposition as their 2 parties combined have more seats than the now current official opposition Liberals.

An NDP insider said; "If Mr. Ignatieff will not honour the coalition agreement that he signed then we have no other choice but to do what Canadians have already strongly voiced with their votes in the last election." adding that "74% of Canadians voted against the Liberals being the official opposition and we are following along with the great traditions of our democracy by doing what the voters intended."

Our phone calls to the Liberal Party of Canada were not returned.

“A guy like Chrétien don’t like separatists very much, whoever they are.”

The words of former PM Jean Chretien, Nov 2007: “A guy like Chrétien don’t like separatists very much, whoever they are.”

Forget for a minute that he is eerily speaking in the third person and then think back to his role in negotiating the coalition involving the separatist Bloc Quebecois and contrast that to the above statement.

How very typical of a Liberal politician, say one thing and do another. He doesn't like separatists, even if that separatist is the Dalai Lama, but he is more that willing to overlook that and deal with Canadian separatists if that helps the Liberal Party of Canada fulfill its goal of power in this country no matter the cost.

Is anyone surprised?


Speaking of JC; it would seem that he forgot to destroy the photos of his meeting with the Dalai Lama before denying that he had met with him.

Again, is anyone really surprised?






Updated with related story links here, here, here, here, and this one comes courtesy of former Liberal MP David Kilgour , the last Liberal MP elected in Alberta.

Iggy's Favorites: Seating plan for the HoC.

Currently the seating plan for the front bench of official opposition reads like this from left to right: Kennedy, Dryden, Hall Findlay, Dion, Goodale, Brison, Bennett,Fry, Bevilacqua, Macaulay, Guarnieri, Volpe, Ignatifeff and Rae.

Aside from the obvious 2 changes of Dion and Iggy, what other changes do you see in store for the front bench of the Liberals in the House of Commons when they return in late January?

Turnabout is fair play so I would like to see Dion and Iggy just trade places myself because the vision of Rae and Dion sitting beside each other at the end of the front bench would bring joy to my heart this holiday season and would make for some good TV on CPAC.


My prediction*: Honestly I expect Dion to go about 3 rows back and sort of do a Paul Martin style disappearing act, and I do think that all of those currently sitting left of Dion, Kennedy, Dryden, and MHF , are going to be getting a different view of the HOC soon as Iggy does some shuffling of his front bench for January.

It should be fun seeing just what Ignatieff comes up with for both the seating plan and shadow cabinet roles under his helm.

Feel free to speculate in the comments.



Current Seating Plan PDF.




*Void if Iggy is dumb enough to go coalition. In that case Jack Layton can sit next to Dion.

Scott Brison: Then and Now.

Scott Brison then:

"These gaffes are damaging to a leadership campaign but they will be terminal to a national general election campaign," Brison said in an interview.

However, Brison said that in nine years in politics he hasn't made as many "retractions and clarifications" as Ignatieff has made in just nine months.

Brison compared Ignatieff to Stockwell Day, who jumped from provincial politics to become leader of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance without any experience at the federal level.

Brison said Ignatieff is "smarter than Stockwell," now Harper's minister of public safety. But he added Ignatieff faces an even steeper learning curve, having spent almost 30 years out of the country as an academic and journalist.

Brison took Ignatieff to task for other recent so-called gaffes, including telling the Star that Canadians "live and operate in a heartless world and you need leadership that understands that."

"When you see the world as being heartless, that helps someone justify ruthless acts," such as Qana, Brison said.

He also chided Ignatieff for saying that Canada's peacekeeping tradition "died" with the genocide in Rwanda.

Brison said that remark could only come from someone who's spent 30 years outside the country and fails to appreciate how important peacekeeping is to Canadians and to Liberals in particular, who view party icon Lester Pearson as the father of peacekeeping.

He also scoffed at Ignatieff's recent admission that he's not sure he's "up to the price you have to pay" to succeed in politics.

"If you go in to have heart surgery and the surgeon says, `I think I'm ready to do this but I've never done it before,' you're probably going to look for a surgeon who's done it before," Brison said.

Scott Brison now: "Michael Ignatieff possesses an intellectual curiosity and thirst for ideas that will raise the level of debate both inside and outside the Liberal party."

Mr. Ignatieff's experiences as someone who knows the world make him uniquely qualified to strengthen Canada's role in the international community.

You can read the rest yourself here, or you can listen to a secret recording of the latest Liberal caucus meeting below.

Where is Gilles?

With the anointment of Ignatieff as the interim leader of the LPC and as he would become our PM if the tripartite coalition is successful in their underhanded bid to thwart the last election results ignoring the wishes of Canadians, I have to ask a question.

Where is Gilles Duceppe and why have we not heard his thoughts yet on the the selection of Iggy as interim leader of both the LPC and the coalition?

I can't see Gilles being too happy with this considering that Iggy has always had the support of the Liberals Quebec wing, but coalitions make strange bed fellows as we have seen over the last week or so.

So come on Gilles, it is time to go on the record about your new bed mate.

We the undersigned....

We the undersigned having given our 100% caucus solidarity to Stephane Dion last week and having forced him to resign this week, should never be trusted again.

----

The complete set of documents with all 77 signatures is available here.

---

I am not sure if I would want a guy who does not understand simple directions to print his name as my PM.

Dion resigns. Sorry no video available

Stephane Dion resigns with a caveat:

Statement by the Honourable Stéphane Dion

After the election on October 14 I announced I would stay on as Leader of the Liberal Party until my party could select my successor. One of my goals was to ensure an effective opposition to Stephen Harper’s government.

I believe that decision was the right one and I am proud of having forced Stephen Harper to back away from his attempt to force upon Canadians his most ideological and harmful plans in these tough economic times.

The alliance between the Liberal Party and the NDP to replace the Harper government, with the support of the Bloc Québécois, is a solid basis to give Canada a government that reflects both the aspirations of the majority of Canadians and the support of the majority of Members of Parliament. Such a government would be more stable than a minority Conservative government incapable of cooperating with opposition parties.

As the Governor General has granted a prorogation, it is a logical time for us Liberals to assess how we can best prepare our party to carry this fight forward.

There is a sense in the party, and certainly in the caucus, that given these new circumstances the new leader needs to be in place before the House resumes. I agree. I recommend this course to my party and caucus. As always, I want to do what is best for my country and my party, especially when Canadians’ jobs and pensions are at risk.

So I have decided to step aside as Leader of the Liberal Party effective as soon as my successor is duly chosen.

I will offer my unconditional and enthusiastic support to my successor in the same way I have always supported the leaders of our great party. I will work under the next leader’s direction with all my energy in order to give Canada a better government.

I wish to close by making it absolutely clear that my earlier departure does not change the facts of the situation that the Prime Minister has created in the last two weeks.

The Prime Minister and his government refused to lay out a plan to stimulate the economy. The Prime Minister has lost the confidence of the House of Commons. The Prime Minister shut down Parliament to save his job while thousands of Canadians are losing theirs. The Prime Minister has poisoned the well of trust and respect that is necessary for a minority government to work in Parliament - especially in a time of crisis.

Mr. Harper took an economic crisis and added a parliamentary crisis that he then tried to transform into a national unity crisis: this is no way for a Prime Minister of Canada to act.

It is my hope that the decision I have announced today will enhance the capacity of Parliament to function effectively for the sake of Canadians in this economic crisis.

Stéphane Dion, PC, MP.



A small problem. Dion is not the leader, he has already stepped aside and is only the interim leader, so when he speaks of his successor being duly chosen is he talking about another interim leader or an actual leader? By caucus or a leadership convention, within the LPC constitution or by some other creative method?

It is all so confusing, but I have no doubt that not having video of this was a very purposeful move by the Liberal Party of Canada as they kick Stephane to the curb.


Adieu Stephane.

Fun with advanced coalition math.

Class, simmer down. Today we are going to discuss coalition math.

The basic premise of coalition math = The Conservatives were elected with 38% of the vote therefore 62% of Canadians voted against them and the Prime Minister.

Forgetting the obvious that you do not vote against anyone but rather you vote for someone, lets look at the math in more detail.


CPC 38%

Lib 26%

NDP 18%

Bloc 10%


So 26 + 18 + 10 = 62

62? No it doesn't. It equals 54. What the hell?

Now why haven't I ever heard that number used by the coalition? Why is it always 64% ?



Time for recess while I check on my facts. Take 15 everyone.



This just in. The coalition expands to include the following political parties:

AAEV Party of Canada, CAP, Christian Heritage Party, Communist, FPNP, Green Party, Libertarian, Marxist-Leninist, neorhino, NL First Party, PC Party, PPP, Radical Marijuana, WBP, the Work Less Party, and all Independents.

That is going to be one ugly caucus meeting, but I am sure that all of those that cast votes for the above parties are 100% totally in favour of their votes for something being counted as if they were votes cast against something else.

Democracy and math, coalition style.

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

So now that we understand the insane logic behind the use of the 62% number by the coalition, lets apply the same logic to their own performance in the past election.

Liberal 74% against.

NDP 82% against.

Bloc 90% against.

So class if we use the same principles and logic that the coalition uses we can clearly see that

246% of Canadians voted against the coalition.

Sorry but that is all the time we have for today. Remember that next week you will have a guest instructor in my place.

A Mr. Broadbent will be coming in to instruct you on how to infiltrate and take over a political party without their knowledge. I am advised by Mr. Broadbent that you should read Chapter 1 "Get someone on the inside" before coming to class next week.

Class dismissed.

If it is good for the Canadian Goose it is good for the....

If it is good for the Canadian goose it should be good for the LPC gander.

If the Liberals wanted to impose the coalition on the country without a vote, why would one be surprised that they would want to appoint their new leader without a vote of Liberal members.


Too funny. Each and every argument against this is an argument against the coalition, but they are so upset at their own party that they have not made the comparison and figured it out yet.


Go Bob Go.

No, Go Iggy Go.

No, Draft Manley

No wait, Stay Stephane stay.



Yehaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Go liberal brain trust go.


Maybe they should just form a new party: The Backroom Deal Party of Canada.


Some Liberal opinions and some of them are not very happy about this.

What about Bob?



Wilson's comment here deserves mention: "How does it feel? Western Canadians feel your pain."

This time the Canadian Press has gone too far.

I know the MSM seem to lean towards Dion and his left wing buddies but this is ridiculous!

Edmonton's Rally for Canada

I just got back from the Rally for Canada Edmonton edition held today at the Alberta Legislature. It looks like the attendance was around 400 people. (397 against the coalition 3 for it)

Not a bad turnout considering the weather and the amount of snowfall we had overnight which has now turned to freezing rain that made the trek on the roads and sidewalk a bit of an adventure.

Good speeches, a very enthusiastic crowd including many who were not normally political but felt the need to come out in support of Canada, and some very creative signs were in amongst the crowd. Local MPs Tim Uppal, Brent Rathgeber, and Laurie Hawn were in attendance along with former MP Deborah Grey.

The 3 counter protesters were of the nasty sort and thought nothing of yelling down or cursing out anyone who questioned them. I was personally called a Nazi when I informed one of them that it was Her Excellency the Governor General that made the decision to shut down Parliament. I guess he must have been upset that his sign was wrong after spending an entire 5 minutes making it. Oh well.

Some pictures of the event to follow once I warm up and get them downloaded.


A couple of signs that I thought deserved mention.

I thought Dion said that he was going to concentrate on fundraising

Stephane Dion: "We have to bring our fund raising machinery into the 21st century, or the Liberal Party will be at a permanent political disadvantage. This work has to start now and must be successful in the coming months."





"I recently announced that my remaining time as Liberal Leader would be largely dedicated to fund raising,” said Mr. Dion.



I guess the fund raising was going so well that Stephane felt he had the time to form the most hated political movement this country has ever seen.


My cheque is in the mail and so are a few others.

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

Off to the rally for Canada. I hope to see you there.

My challenge to the union leaders who are organizing the pro coalition rallies.

Poll your own members, all of them, and ask them if #1 they support this coalition idea, and #2 if they want their dues going towards this or any kind of political activities.


I cannot expect much from this challenge considering the unions are the ones organizing rallies in favor of an unelected change in our government, but it would be nice if they would show the balls to actually find out what the opinions are of those that they are well paid to represent before they run off and spend their members money on such folly.

I know, I know, it is too much to ask but it is getting close to (the seasons celebratory season*).






* I should say Christmas but it has been edited to suit the sensibilities of the far left and the unions of which they belong, oh and Quebec too. I hear from the MSM that they are very sensitive to almost anything said on any topic and you can't be too careful nowadays.

Watch out Iggy

Be careful Michael; because if this guy tosses his hat into the ring your are going to have a fight on your hands.

John Manley on dumping Dion and getting the Liberal Party back into fighting shape. With a good dose of common sense thrown in for the entire country.

The coalitions last gasp

I would think with the polls coming out overwhelmingly against the coalition idea that this beast would be dead, but there seems to be a little hope left among the left that by getting rid of Dion and installing someone else as leader that there still might be a chance this could work.

Yes, because installing another temporary interim leader, who in the election 7 weeks ago received no votes or endorsement to lead us and was not even considered by voter for the roll of PM , would be enough to fool Canadians to change their minds.



Keep playing politics with this Liberals. After all it has worked so well for you up to this point.

I know you are all busy but...

Hurry; only 20 days left to destroy your party's brand before Christmas.

Thanks Jack

Anyone remember this? It made it onto more than a couple of Liberal friendly websites. I wonder if they will make him a new one for his role in the coalition.






Jack will also be proud of this decision.

You see Ma'am this is your problem right here.

You see Ma'am; this is your problem right here.

Just got rid of it, take about a year off and you should be good to go again.

Caution: Do not get caught in the stampede...

of coalition supporters running away from the following query and offer of a generation*.

"If anyone can make a coherent argument as to why the rise of a coalition government was a grassroots victory and not a backroom political deal, I will give that person a unicorn. An honest-to-god unicorn." source

ht UA




Avoiding questions seems to be a common trait among New Liberal Bloc Party members.

Here are a few of my own:


When did Jack Layton first approach the Bloc?

" " the Libs?

When are we going to see your economic plans?

Why are you refusing to go back to the people of Canada before changing the direction of our current government led by the people who kicked Dion's ass?

When did Canada enter this recession I keep hearing about and why are you not waiting to see what the Obama administration does before going off half cocked screaming into the wilderness on the economy?

Why are you ignoring the parliamentary tradition of calling an election within 6 months?

Is it possible for Jack Layton to be PM in this coalition?

If you do not have the balls to go to an election on this why not make the confidence vote a free vote? ( My personal favorite)



A few more from CCT

and a few more from the National Post.


Feel free to ad more of your own questions for the coalition in the comments.

The Canadian people need answers before you get to, as your leader said in that messed up video, called our house.


* apologies to Paul Martin

Dion late for the show....

Stephane Dion was late for the show, looked kind of red faced, and seemed to be getting a couple of bucks for the bankrupt Liberal Party for the product placement of a book entitled, and I kid you not, "Hot Air".

(Updated with added pic of our future overlord and his in focus bookshelf.)


So what happened next?

Jack Layton, a guy who signed away any ability to be a spokesman for the coalition goes ahead and muscles in to have his say outshining his new boss Dion in the process, then he goes on by inviting the entire NDP caucus to drop by the GG house for some kind of meet and greet.

I wonder if the media will give Dion another do over and only show newer and yet to be delivered copies of that video in the future? Any wagers?

How bizarre. The coalition is already a cluster F*&$.


Where is the Kids in the Hall guy when you need him to squeeze Dion's giant head.



A couple of other things to get off my chest. First off Canada is NOT in a recession so all this bluster about a crisis is just that, bluster. Yes there will be tough times ahead but the polices of the present government have already made us better off than almost any other country in the world. We are in no immediate need of expensive measures to deal with a problem that has not hit us yet and before our rather large and powerful neighbor to the south changes their government and announces their plans. Doing things too early is just as bad as doing nothing at all. The fake claims of the immediacy of the crisis is just more socialist bullshit.

And if I hear one more time that the government does not have the confidence of the house I might just slap someone. They DO have the confidence of the house until a vote is taken and that vote has yet to be held. Sorry coalition, but you haven't won that vote yet and there are many many MP s out there that know that they are betting their political careers on this vote. It is by far not yet a done deal.

Pesky facts I know, but they are at the time of writing, the truth.

Speaking of Parliamentary Tradition....

There is a lot of yapping that is coming from the other side about parliamentary tradition and what not in their power hungry attempt to unethically take control of the Government of Canada until mid 2011, but the left conveniently seem to have forgotten about one parliamentary tradition when doing so.

Our parliamentary tradition is that newly appointed Prime Ministers seek electoral sanction within six months. Louis St. Laurent, the former Liberal Prime Minister, holds the record for the longest period between his appointment (November 15, 1948) and his election (June 27th, 1949) but at least his party already had the endorsement of Canadian voters.(NP)

So how does this tradition fit in with the tripartite pact signed by Dion, Duceppe, and Layton?

I await your spin.

Justin Trudeau Papa would be so proud.

It kind of speaks for itself.




Courtesy of ParlVu and CTV. Thank you for keeping Canadians informed.

My apologies for the bad sound on certain parts of the clip.

Fight the New Liberal Bloc Party Coalition.

What can the Liberals really expect to gain from the coalition?

Other than a backdoor chance at a return to power, I got nothing. Anyone?






Update link dumps: all thing coup.

adding links for posterity: Original story BTF Another BTF .

Ipsos and Compass Ekos Leger PTBC poll roundup.

Joanne has rally mania.

Hey, this option is legal too.

The confidence vote happens and the Government loses. Dion starts to hear from upset people all across Canada and after being pushed by frightened leadership candidates he begins to realize that the coalition may not be that great of an idea and backs away.

Layton infuriated by this goes to the GG with Gilles Duceppe and offers up a NDP/Bloc coalition be allowed to form government with Gilles Duceppe as PM since the Bloc has more seats than the NDP.

The GG appoints the duly elected MP from Laurier—Sainte-Marie as PM.


As pointed out by coalition trolls everywhere this scenario would not only be legal & would fit with parliamentary tradition, it would also be the correct thing for the GG to do, and opposing it would make you undemocratic.

Think about that for awhile the next time a coalition troll or party pundit is making the case for this coalition that does not have the balls to put their unholy alliance to a vote before the Canadian people.

BTW, it will be these same 'if it's legal' eagles to be the first to scream if PM Stephen Harper exercises his legal authority and fills the empty seats in the Senate.

Any takers on whether or not the next election will get out more than 59% of the voters?

The election 7 weeks ago had the lowest voter turnout in Canadian electoral history with just 59.1% of the electorate turning up to cast their ballot.

Any takers on whether or not the next election will get out more than 59% of the voters?

I am placing my wager on the affirmative.

The unholy coalition with all of their bluster have just woken up this country's many complacent slumbering conservatives and changed the minds of many more Canadians who would not normally vote conservative to do so in the next election.

The fools have no idea what they have actually done.

Bob Rae files his papers and is officially in the race for PM.

Link:

THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - "Bob Rae has officially entered the race to replace Liberal Leader Stephane Dion."

Let the speculation begin.

To myself it is looking like we are now witnessing a merger of the 'so called' left of Canadian politics.

One question though. If Jack Layton figures this highjack of the Canadian Government will last for 2 years or more, and the LPC leadership convention is in March. Does Layton and the NDP now have some influence on who the LPC choose as leader (and possibly PM) ?