Stelmach and Liepert: a comedy duo.

What a mess.  Alberta close H1N1 clinics to public.

Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert Oct 30, 2009: "We launched this program with the ask that the first week would be for those who were most susceptible and at high risk. We also launched by encouraging all Albertans to get vaccinated because all of the indicators we had was that far too many people were going to say this, too, will pass and I don't need to get vaccinated."

Really? They were asking that the first week of vaccinations would be for high risk people only.

Ed Stelmach Oct 28, 2009:"We're the province that is offering flu vaccines for every Albertan, not just to the high-risk groups."

Okay, so that was Wednesday and maybe the Premier was not aware of the long line ups and other problems, even though he would have been the only one in Alberta to not be aware. I guess he missed it when his Health Minister had to apologize to Albertans for the long lines on the 27th

But here is what he said on Thursday.
Ed Stelmach Oct 29, 2009:"We're not asking only those high-risk groups to get the vaccine first. It's open to all."

Nothing like conflicting messages to make Albertans feel better about how this government deals with their health. These guys could be the next Wayne and Shuster.

You can read more about just how messed up these 2 are here.

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For the record I received my H1N1 shot on the 27th, which was day 2 of the program, and before somebody compares me to Hedy Fry looking for my entitlements, I do fit the criteria.

Peter Donolo, Ladies Man.

You have all heard a lot about Ignatieff's new Chief of Staff, Peter Donolo, over the last couple of days. He is a real nice guy, he used to work for Jean Chretien, he is going to be the savior to Ignatieff, the Liberal messiah, etc etc.

But have you heard that he is a ladies man?

He must be because some of the ladies of the Liberal Party decided that they should give the new Liberal chief of staff some gifts to celebrate the appointment to his new job.

Caroline Bennett gave him some nice pamphlets on H1N1.

Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette gave him a complaint against Bob Fife and CTV that is so full of half truths and smear that the claim itself begs for a lawsuit from CTV.


And to be out done, Hedy Fry wanted to give Mr. Donolo the gift that keeps on giving: Entitlement. (an old favorite that Liberals everywhere are happy to receive) Being so much better than the common people that she was elected to serve, Hedy wants to make sure that Mr. Donolo, and herself, both get an H1N1 shot ahead of everyone else.

Something not seen in the above clip was that Dr. Caroline Bennett was standing beside Hedy at the time that she was announcing her gift for Donolo to the world. I can only take it that the good Dr's silence at the time was due to her realization that Fry had out gifted her and she was too busy thinking about how to top Hedy that she forgot to comment.

Don't worry Dr. Bennett; tomorrow is another day and you will get more chances to politicize the H1N1 issue for the new guy in the OLO.

Stay Classy Ladies.

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A real ladies man?



or just one of the reasons the last Chief of Staff lost his job?

I am going with the latter.

Liberal Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette goes off the deep end again.

Liberal Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette is at it again. Yesterday Hervieux-Payette filed a complaint with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council against the CTV network and Robert Fife claiming biased reporting on the part of CTV.

There is so much here I am not sure where to start. This woman has truly gone off the deep end.

First on her claim against CTV she states that “CTV tried to convince Canadians that Liberal senators killed Bill C-25 and supported criminals. CTV claimed that Conservative senators wanted to support the bill, while they clearly refused to do so. This is false. In fact, Conservative senators blocked debate and suspended the work of the Senate for 10 days but CTV misrepresented these facts as reported by Canadian Press.” First off why is she going after the CTV when they were reporting facts as reported by the CP? Should she not be going after them? Secondly, yes the conservatives did refuse a request to debate the bill but she is purposely leaving out some very important information about this. The bill that they wanted to debate was not the original bill, it was the one that was already amended by a handful of Liberals. Why in the world would any conservative senator want to debate the AMENDED bill by the Liberals and not the one that went through Parliament and had received UNANIMOUS approval. A little detail left out that means everything to the context of her claims.

She is grasping at straws and is going to look very foolish with her attacks on CTV but Hervieux-Payette is not done yet. In her press release she says the following: “We are dealing with a Conservative government that manipulates the Canadian public by putting its party`s logo on government cheques, models the symbols used by our Olympic athletes on its own logo, sweeps reports on torture in Afghanistan under the carpet and conducts misleading advertising campaigns … and CTV is paid to broadcast these schemes.”

Lets break this down. “We are dealing with a Conservative government that manipulates the Canadian public by putting its party`s logo on government cheques." Pure BS. This did not happen and there is no basis for the claim unless Hervieux-Payette somehow believes that those 2 giant novelty cheques were really issued by the government and are legal tender, otherwise this is nothing more than an outright lie. Either way it does not look good on her.

"models the symbols used by our Olympic athletes on its own logo" OMG, she actually went there. This one has already been dis proven so long ago that even Hedy Fry has walked away from it because of its foolishness. Really, I have to question anyone's sanity who tries to argue this one with a straight face after hearing from all those involved in the logo design and selection process. It is a lie and not a very good one at that.

And perhaps the best for last: "...and CTV is paid to broadcast these schemes." Read that again. "...and CTV is paid to broadcast these schemes." Wow! Reading this it looks to me as if she is claiming that the CTV is being paid (by someone, we don't know who) to broadcast these conservative "schemes" onto an unsuspecting public. I could be wrong but I don't read it any other way and I hope Hervieux-Payette has a good lawyer because that claim goes way over the top and it would be easy for CTV to claim damage to their reputation because of it.

Is there not anyone on the Liberal side who looks at this stuff before it gets out there to the public? I know things are a bit shaky over at the OLO at this point, but come on. She is making you look like fools.





For some background on Hervieux-Payette you can check out a recent post I made on her and her slam of Alberta. BTW those comments were so bad that Liberal Senator Tommy Banks from Alberta was going to express his opinion on them "directly to Senator Hervieux-Payette at the first opportunity."


Needless to say Mr. Donolo is going to have his hands full with this winner.

Update: Somebody else has similar thoughts on Hervieux-Payette. h/t Joanne

How did a Blackberry get into the Parliamentary gallery?

How did a BlackBerry get into the Parliamentary gallery?

If you have ever had the pleasure of viewing Parliament live, or even the legislature of your own province, you may have noticed a couple of things during that experience. They all have security, and they take away any electronics you are carrying. Be it a cellphone, Blackberry, camera, tape recorder etc, they all get taken away.


From Jane Taber at the Globe and Mail: "Mr. Kinsella was in the gallery, watching the proceedings. He quickly typed a letter on his BlackBerry to Mr. Baird, calling his answer “lame”

From WK's blog to save you the trouble: "Dear John:

I am sitting above you in the House of Commons gallery as I write this.......


So how did this particular BlackBerry, owned by this particular "Liberal Strategist", make it into the Parliamentary gallery?

ht Maz2

No longer using the name "Iffy"

Blog Policy Change: From this day forward I am going to try to refrain from calling Michael Ignatieff, Iffy.

It is not that I think it is a bad nickname, it is quite clever actually and the media has now even picked up on it, but rather I have stopped using it because I think that the nickname Iffy is giving too much credit to Michael Ignatieff.

He is not Iffy as Liberal leader. He is a complete disaster as leader of the Liberals and it should be obvious to everyone that Ignatieff is well beyond the point of just being Iffy.


Thank You,

The Management.

Still true today, perhaps even more so than it was in 2006.

An article from February 2006 in the Hill Times written by Angelo Persichilli on the troubles of the Liberal Party. An interesting read that still rings true today. h/t Wilson in a comment at BLY.

"The reality is that the Liberal Party, once a political powerhouse that could always find the right strategy to hold on to power, is now in such bad shape that it doesn't even know the difference between government and opposition, left and right, or right and wrong.

Since Pierre Trudeau had the "walk in the snow" exactly 22 years ago (Feb. 29, 1984), the Liberals are confused about what leadership is all about.

They preferred John Turner over Jean Chrétien in 1984 and were decimated. They had it right in 1990 with Jean Chrétien, the person who brought them to government and held on for 10 years. But they changed their mind and unceremoniously kicked him out, believing that Paul Martin was their new messiah.

We know what happened after that.

The difference between now and when Pierre Trudeau left is huge. Back then, the Liberals were only looking for a new leader. But now, they are looking for a party that only exists on paper.

In fact, during their 13 years in power, thanks to the divisions on the right, they did not realize the seriousness of their problems. Power is like a drug: it makes you believe that everything is beautiful, even the Gomery Inquiry."

Ignatieff's Communication Problem.

Jill Fairbrother, 48 is Michael Ignatieff's director of communications. A former lobbyist for a garden-care product firm in Mississauga, she is the girlfriend of Ian Davey, Ignatieff's chief of staff . The two met during the 2006 leadership campaign and there has been some muted criticism of the fact that the two work together in such senior posts in Mr. Ignatieff's office. Fairbrother is considered to be a part of the Rosedale gang, the inner circle of Ignatieff advisers from Toronto which also includes Ian Davey, Alfred Apps, Dan Brock, and Rocco Rossi.

In short Jill Fairbrother is the person who has the unenviable position of trying to spin correct all of Ignatieff's many communication blunders; not an easy task considering Ignatieff's propensity to put his foot in his mouth. She may currently have the hardest job in Canadian politics.


I first noted Fairbrother's name in the media back in late 2008 in a blog entry by Kady O'Malley, then at Macleans, who called out Fairbrother on a "non answer" to her query. Not a good start and Kady rightfully nails her on it, but that was only the beginning as Fairbrother would soon be officially appointed as Ignatieff's communications director and she would be very busy putting out the fires started by her boss. However not all of the communications problems can be neatly placed at the foot of the leader himself; some of the blame must be placed elsewhere, including the lap of Fairbrother.

Take for example the recent problems with cancellations :Ignatieff was going to go to China over Labour Day; he cancelled. He was to hold a huge fundraiser in the Toronto area; he's delayed it. He was to go back to Harvard University to participate in a panel celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy; he cancelled. He was to speak at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce convention; he cancelled. A case of Ignatieff just changing his mind a lot or more of a problem with his handlers and story control? Speaking of story control what happened with the recent story about how Ignatieff was going to have an "adult conversation" with Canadians over taxes, but instead had to come out the very next day and deny ever wanting to treat Canadians as adults turning the glee expressed by some Liberals over the idea into just another embarrassment. How did this story get to the press in the first place?

While Ignatieff may have played some part in the above problems he certainly cannot be blamed for this one: The dueling press conferences. (from the CBC) Running communications for a political party is a trying task at the best of times. Even more so when you're competing with...yourself.

Picture it: the Hall of Honour of the Centre Block. Liberal MP Wayne Easter and the party's spin-machine, Warren Kinsella, camped outside the door to the Conservative caucus meeting. Clearly waiting to do something. But, what...

Three sombre -looking Liberal staffers stand behind Easter with 8 x 10 photos of Conservative MPs who have, according to Easter, denounced the whole cheque-signing "scandal".Easter explains how this is must be stopped.

Wouldn't be a bad little stunt if only: in the room right next door the Liberal caucus is launching the Pink Book on women's issues.

Cameras and reporters gathered around Easter. And although there were other reporters and cameras in the room for the launch, one media event can't outdo the other.

Suddenly, Ignatieff's director of communications, Jill Fairbrother arrives in the scrum and abruptly whisks Easter away. She didn't look pleased. And the "stunt" ended awkwardly. Amateur hour. (Jane Taber covers the same story here)

More of the same: From the recent Toronto Star story on Ignatieff being wrong on Arar: The Star requested an interview to discuss Ignatieff's statement, but his spokeswoman, Jill Fairbrother, declined the request."It's clear and I don't think he'll have much to add if the subject is torture." When told that Ignatieff was wrong and asked if she could verify the quote, Fairbrother said she no longer had a tape recording of the interview. I am not overly knowledgeable of the job a of communications director but wouldn't keeping copies of interviews be one of those things that should be done for the protection of your boss? With 1 Terabyte hard drives available for under $100 at Futureshop I can think of no reason why every word spoken by Ignatieff cannot be saved.

Speaking of job descriptions; would becoming part of the story be listed among the duties of a communication director? Fairbrother's name again came to the forefront in the media around the time that Liberals in Quebec were enjoying the last few days of having a lieutenant when Denis Coderre tossed a hand grenade into the inner workings of the LPC. Denis Coderre:“The message sent by these recent events is the following: if you want to get your way in Quebec, you only have to short circuit the party’s Quebec authorities and instead go to the leader’s Toronto palace guard who have a total misunderstanding of Quebec social and political reality.” and "Should he follow his Quebec lieutenant while working closely with a credible team? Or his Toronto advisers who know nothing about the social and political realities of Quebec?" It is interesting to note that when Fairbrother became part of the above story that she, as the person paid to talk to the press for the Liberals, had absolutely nothing to say on the subject.


I said earlier that Fairbrother might currently have the hardest job in Canadian politics dealing with all of Ignatieff's communication foul ups, but it is clear that not all of those communications mishaps are the fault of Ignatieff, and Fairbrother is not doing him any favours or making her job any easier by being part of the problem. The Rosedale gang strikes again?


UPDATE: A must read from the CBC: Big Shake up in the OLO.
"It's not yet clear who will be shuffled but two sources said they expect that Director of Communications Jill Fairbrother will be moved, to make way for a francophone." ht Cantuc in the comments.

Also from the same story: "Liberal finance critic John McCallum said Donolo would be an experienced hand in the leader's office. "I think it will be good for the party."

Hey John, does that mean that Davey was NOT good for the party?


Wednesday Update: From Dan Cook's Blog: Tuesday evening: "Just trying to get a note out to staff. There is no news. No resignation(s). No new chief of staff." — Jill Fairbrother, spokeswoman for Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff

Tuesday evening: "I am pleased to announce the arrival of Peter Donolo, who has accepted the role of chief of staff." — Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff

Like I said, a communication problem.

Kennedy screws Ignatieff again.

Epic fail. Gerard Kennedy screws Ignatieff again!

David Atkin is reporting that Liberal and NDP MPs are getting more than their fair share of a $2-billion federal infrastructure fund. More detail and a defense of his data and methods can be found at his great blog here. This all coming on the heels of The Canadian Press reporting that Opposition ridings have received more stimulus funding than the governing party. Specifically "the major infrastructure component of the Building Canada program has allocated $1.4 billion to large projects in opposition ridings in Ontario, and just $436 million to Conservative ridings. The CP has another report here with more details. Combined with last weeks claims by Ontario Infrastructure Minister Smitherman and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities saying the same thing, the Liberal claims are dead.

Another embarrassment to the Ignatieff led Liberal Party courtesy of infrastructure critic Gerard Kennedy who was the point man for the Liberals leading the charge on stimulus pork-barreling.

How many times has that been now for Kennedy?

He first did it to Ignatieff during the convention when he conspired with Dion to give over his delegates to him during the LPC convention destroying Rae, and putting Dion over the top in a head to head vote against Ignatieff.

He did it a month ago when he dragged Ignatieff out into the wrong field in Burlington for a photo op where Ignatieff looked like a fool by pointing to a field where no work was scheduled to be done for 7 years.

And now we have this fiasco which the Liberals are going to have to burn the midnight oil trying to figure out how to spin their way out of by the time the news cycle starts Monday.

Good luck with that my Liberal friends and if you want some free advice here are a couple of tips.

#1 Don't try to now claim that the Conservatives spending more money in opposition ridings is only an attempt to bribe opposition voters into voting conservative. It will ring hollow and even your media buddies will call you on it if you are silly enough to try it.

#2 Don't take any more advice from Gerard Kennedy or put him in charge of any more research projects.


h/t Sandy


Update: Former Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish, now a councilor in Mississauga, Ont.: She says that having first-hand knowledge of political “spin” and the “slings and arrows of the press,” she is a non-partisan now who can set the record straight. Ms. Parrish says that Mississauga is receiving a huge amount of dollars from various stimulus programs and it was city staff, not federal and provincial politicians, who decided which projects to fund. So there! “The feds and the province decided how much we’d get. Council decided where it would be spent. And we are grateful for that autonomy,” she writes.

I never thought I would write something positive about Carolyn Parrish but I guess it is true; Ignatieff unites rather than divides =)

MSM Irony and Advertising.

Have you watched a Canadian television station or been to a web site for CTV, Global, or a local station lately? Do you remember seeing this ad or one like it?

My guess is that the answer is yes and that you are aware of the campaign by local TV to get money from the cable companies or local TV may disappear due to a lack of money.

Have read in the print media or watched these same networks/stations as some talking head, who is being paid by those stations, rants on about stimulus spending and the amount of money that is being spent on advertising implying that it must be part an evil conservative plot?

My guess again is that the answer is yes.

As unbelievable as it sounds, the media, all media including print, are complaining about how desperate they are for funds during the economic slowdown in one breath and in the very next they repeat Liberal smear and are slamming the millions being spent by the federal government on buying advertising in the MSM and are essentially slamming what could be called MSM stimulus package! The very same ad dollars that might be keeping them afloat.

Quick, somebody call Alanis.


I was going to suggest that maybe the government should follow the wishes of the various MSM outlets that complain the loudest about the advertising spending and cut it off to those outlets, but media manipulation and punishment is something better suited for the vindictive left then it is for our government, but that is what the MSM is asking for is it not?

More from the ADSCAM file

From the Globe and Mail: "Mr. Corbeil said the money derived from the $50,000 kickback was redistributed to Mr. Morselli, as well as two Liberal riding associations outside of Montreal Island, prior to the 1997 general election.

He added that the money from the six fake invoices, which he had approved, was used by Mr. Morselli to organize two Liberal events in 1999 and 2000. The goal was to pack halls with supporters of then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, whose loyalists were involved in internal fights with the supporters of then-finance minister Paul Martin.

Mr. Corbeil said the Liberal Party's Quebec wing was always short of money, and he said the fake invoices were used to obtain cash to pay for Liberal “volunteers” at party events and to organize matters like transportation." h/t Wilson

Money for 2 Liberal riding associations? Hey Michael, if you wouldn't mind stepping away from your crusade to smear the conservatives over stimulus spending for a minute, could you tell us which 2 ridings those were? There are more but these 2 would be fine for starters.

Money to BUY support for Chretien to show up his internal rival Finance Minister Paul Martin. If this wasn't so sad it would be funny.

Related: from yesterdays news. Protecting Adscam sources.

Mike Lake and Ralph Goodale.

From yesterdays Power Play with Tom Clark on CTV. View entire clip here. The were discussing the Liberals now debunked claim on favoritism with infrastructure cash.

Note from about the 30 second mark where Mike tries to give Ralph something.

Too funny.

And now a message from the grass roots of the LPC.

More mischief?






Don't blame me, I tried to stop him.

4 Things.

1. Those female Liberal MP's sure say the nastiest things: pg 24 of the LPC Pink Book "Under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, women are increasingly at risk for domestic abuse and violence." Pure politically motivated partisan bunk from a group where many already are very familiar with fake outrage. Apologies are in order IMHO.



2. The comparison of the use of those giant novelty cheques to Adscam. We have all seen the comments from desperate Liberals claiming this comparison but come on; the 2 are not even close. Adscam involved intentional deception for the purpose of the outright theft of taxpayer dollars for a political party. With 'chequegate' there was no real deception, which is really hard to do with giant cheques whose sole purpose in life is to be photographed at public events, and the purpose was to tell Canadians where their tax dollars were being spent. Only an idiot would believe the comparison, speaking of which this is Another epic fail from the Liberal war room.



3. The Liberal claim of partisanship with infrastructure money being spent in CPC held ridings. More spin but with this claim the Liberals are not only smearing the conservatives but also smearing the many federal bureaucrats who have worked very diligently on this file as well as those in all of the other levels of government involved with deciding where the money gets spent, including Ontario’s infrastructure minister George Smitherman who has called BS on these Liberal claims. Also of note here is the fact that since most of the Liberal ridings are in the GTA perhaps the reason that they are not getting as much money for rinks etc is that under the leadership of Mayor David Miller the liberal utopia that he built does not require the money. You can't improve on perfection now can you Liberals? (sarcasm off)

Update:The Federation of Canadian Municipalities pipes in supporting the government."I personally have not heard anything about a conspiracy or the fact that perhaps the money was going to the wrong ridings for the wrong reasons," The FCM has not had any experience with that at all."

More of the same this time from the T Star.



4. Just visiting Liberal leader and expert on torture Michael Ignatieff gets his facts wrong in Arar case. This was too funny not to make it into today's post, but in Ignatieff's defense he was out of the country at the time this occurred, under a Liberal Government no less.


Updated with Video of George Smitherman debunking the Liberal spin.

Selective Outrage from the left.

George W Bush was in town yesterday for a speaking engagement and as expected the protesters were out in full force for the cameras. Nothing out of the ordinary really as GWB has always had this ability to drive the left absolutely nutty, but watching the news last night I wondered just how many of those people protesting would be doing the same thing if it was Obama in town rather than GWB. Afterall the Obama administration has not exactly changed much if anything from the last guy in the way of policy, in spite of what they said during the campaign, and in some ways they have done some things that make GWB look good by comparison.

Case in point: the vilification of Fox News.

Normally in a non bizarro world if a President and their administration tried to control or manipulate the media, or direct opinion on the media, bloggers, the media, and the left would go batshit crazy over these efforts, and rightfully so. But in this case not so much. In fact they are getting support for their efforts from not only some others in the MSM but from lefty groups such as MoveOn.org Contrast that with what would have happened if GWB did the same thing with CNN or MSNBC.

Taken from a more Canadian perspective could you imagine what the reaction would be if PM Harper or someone from the PMO went on to CTV and Global and declared that the CBC was not a news organization because they had an agenda and therefore the CBC and any of their stories should be ridiculed and ignored? Yes it would get ugly and it would get ugly fast. Remember early on when the PM got the PPG all worked up because he had the audacity to try to have some control over HIS OWN pressers and asked reporters to put their names on a list to ask questions? The press and the left went nuts and we are still seeing the effects of that even today in stories from the MSM when they sneak references into their reporting of how the PM likes to 'control' everything.


So where is the outrage on what the Obama administration is trying to do?


Vilifying a news organization because you do not like the stories they are doing about you is not only petty & cheap, it exposes your lack of leadership, thin skin and inability to deal with criticism, and it just reeks of something seen in 3rd world countries and dictatorships and is not what one would expect to see from the leadership of a free and democratic country such as the USA. Wrong is wrong.

There are ways to deal with negative or even slanted press stories, fighting back with the truth is the best IMHO, but the government trying to control/manipulate or even vilify the press is not the way to do it and in fact it is a very dangerous game to be playing in a free and open society. But it is a game that the left, in this case because they dislike Fox News so much, is only too happy to play. The next time this game gets played however the left may not be so supportive and when they scream out in outrage it will ring hollow because the last time it was played everyone will remember that the left were on the side lines cheering it all on.





To be fair there has been some backlash from this coming mainly from the press but you know as well as I that the level of outrage we have seen over this so far is nowhere close to what it would have been if GWB or even PM Harper had done the same thing.

Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh Twitter trouble.

Ujjal Dosanjh the Liberal MP from Vancouver South and Liberal defence critic had to apologize today for a Twitter message that he had sent about an in camera for MPs-ears-and-eyes-only session of the Commons Defence Committee.

His Tweet "The Bloq thwarted the Liberal motion at the Defence Committee re investigating the Detainees issue. New Coalition partner w/Cons. #cdnpoli"

No word yet on whether David McGuinty will be asking for a full investigation on this breach of the rules.

A Tale of 2 McGuinty's

Premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty on the very real ehealth scandal: "We will not be moving ahead with a public inquiry.”

Liberal MP David McGuinty:"We believe this is probably the most massive propaganda effort of any kind ever seen at the federal level in Canadian history." as the Liberals file 55 complaints with the ethics commissioner, and ask Elections Canada, the Public Service Commission and the auditor general also to investigate the long standing practice of using (FAKE) giant novelty cheques which McGuinty believes Canadians are too stupid to know are not real.


Quite the contrast between brothers no?

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A couple of more interesting quotes from David McGuinty:

On Adscam: “There was an examination and the Liberals paid money back. That’s over and there are new standards.” ( Perhaps if the Liberals had used giant novelty cheques I might not have missed this payback of money that the LPC has to this day refused to tell Canadians which Quebec Liberals received the stolen cash.)

The Liberal star is clueless on 10-percenters: "I stand to be corrected, the NDP may have done that in the past,'' he said. '' I don't recall ever seeing a Liberal logo on a 10-percenter. That is a flagrant abuse of taxpayers' money. If you're using public resources to further the cause of your own party in held or unheld ridings, it's against the rules. And if it's not against the rules, it's against common sense." Yes it is true; David McGuinty wants us to believe that he has NEVER seen a LPC logo on any 10-percenter in all of his years as a Liberal MP, including the ones that HE has sent out , and he has the nerve to suggest that it is the conservatives who are treating the voters as idiots.

FYI David, note the LPC logo on this example of a Liberal 10-percenter.

Related: McGuinty Liberal MPP only too happy to pose with giant novelty cheque.

BC Teachers, Wildrose, Ogopogologogate

I was out with the flu for a couple of days and need to catch up on a few thoughts.


So the BC Teachers union invites their members to the following event. "Teaching 2010 Resistance," aimed at developing ways to teach children about the dark side of the Olympic Games, to be held Oct. 28 at Lord Strathcona Elementary, is being organized by the Olympic Resistance Network and Teach2010.org, which calls itself "a collaborative website for teachers to post and find resources for teaching the 2010 Winter Olympics from a critical perspective."

If the BCTF's claims that this is not political agenda, but rather just an exercise in critical thinking are to be believed, then when can we expect to see the BCTF invite their members to teaching seminars on such topics as objections to gay marriage, or why global warming may just be the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on man kind take place? This reeks.

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It is not all bad for Ed Stelmach; now when he is nervously looking over his shoulder he gets to see Danielle Smith right behind him rather than David Swann. Hey Swanny, all it would take would be a couple and BOOM, you are out of that cozy OLO office. Be careful.

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

Ogopogologogate! Copyright The Alberta Ardvark 2009. More political games and faux scandal from from the Liberals.

How much will one picture cost? No really. What will be the total cost, paid for by the taxpayers of Canada, to proceed with all of the investigations that the Liberals are now asking for:

• the Liberals have filed dozens of complaints with the ethics commissioner,
• they have asked Elections Canada to begin an investigation,
• they have asked the Public Service Commission to investigate,
• and, the Liberals have requested that the auditor general investigate

over something that the PM has already said was wrong and will not happen again. The overplay on this may backfire on the Liberals because it re-enforces the notion of the Liberals playing political games; but hey, that's just me thinking out loud.


The public is tired of this crap from all the parties. Do your fricking MP jobs and re-write the rules so we don't have ANY PARTY doing this in the future and stop playing expensive games of gotcha with my money.

It's Back!

It's back!


More of the same from the Liberals but this time at least Ignatieff is being up front with his big government tendencies. "The federal government is Canada's biggest employer, biggest landlord and biggest consumer of goods and services."

If that statement does not scare you as a taxpayer, nothing will.

Government does not create wealth Mr. Ignatieff, and if you have not yet figured that out you have no business in control of the money hardworking Canadians pay in taxes.



Update:
Speaking of cutting edge investment.

A Liberal speaks out on Ignatieff's bluster.

A new blog with an interesting name.

I found this blog during my travels today.

Nobody likes Ignatieff. URL = http://nobodylikesignatieff.com/

It looks to be a round up of various MSM articles and blog entries on Ignatieff from around the net compiled all in one convenient location for your reading pleasure.

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

To all of my fellow Canadians, both home and abroad, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. We have a lot to thankful for in this country so enjoy the day, you deserve it.


And to Michael Ignatieff and my other American friends, I wish you a happy Columbus Day.

Down in the polls Ignatieff tries lying his way out.

Having again abandoned his principles Ignatieff attempts to lie his way out of his own words and threats.

Michael Ignatieff: source CBC Story :“What I’ve said consistently for a month is in those cases where the government brings forth legislation we can support or approve or amend, we’ll do so. My strategy is not to make parliamentary government impossible.”


What a joke. Now Ignatieff wants us to believe that he never said "Mr Harper, your time is up. The Liberal Party cannot support this government any further. We will hold it to account. We will oppose it in Parliament." in early September with the same threats and talk of "principle" repeated to the press multiple times over the last month. (previous post with examples)


This has now reached the point of pure lunacy and it is becoming almost a daily occurrence to see 180 degree turns on statements and policy. I am at a loss for words as to how stupid this all is.

Speaking of which. How are the Liberals now going to reconcile what Ignatieff has just said with the fact that they voted against the renovation tax credit 3 weeks ago.

Does this mean that they really are opposed to the renovation tax credit?

It must be because after all Ignatieff has said 'consistently for a month' that they would support legislation they agreed with.

Or is that another lie? I am having a hard time keeping up.


To quote another blogger on Ignatieff: He is done – and if he isn’t, he should be.

Update: You can listen for yourself to Ignatieff's historical revisionism at Dr. Roy's.

When is a stand on principle not really a stand on principle?

When is a stand on principle not really a stand on principle?

When Michael Ignatieff says it?

updated with cbc story and one big lie from Ignatieff. See bottom of post.



Does everyone remember these words from Michael Ignatieff? "Mr Harper, your time is up. The Liberal Party cannot support this government any further. We will hold it to account. We will oppose it in Parliament. And if elections are called, we will be ready to offer a better future for our country. Canadians deserve better." Sept 1,2009 source

Over the next month Ignatieff would defend this stance numerous times saying that polls did not matter and that it was a matter of principle that he would oppose this government on everything.

"I won't be one of those politicians who pretends that he doesn't look at polls," Ignatieff said. "Sure I look at polls, but this was a matter of principle for me." Sept 20 source

"At the end of that week, our party stood up and voted no confidence in Stephen Harper’s government. It was a question of principle." Sept 21 source

"For us it's never been a question of elections, it's always been a question of standing up on principle and doing the job an opposition has to do." Oct 8 source



Another flip flop, another change of direction, another day under the leadership of Michael Ignatieff, a man who clearly has no principles.

How can anyone ever trust him again on anything?



Updated with link to CBC Story :“What I’ve said consistently for a month is in those cases where the government brings forth legislation we can support or approve or amend, we’ll do so. My strategy is not to make parliamentary government impossible.” (blog entry)

I call BS! Can ANYONE provide me with a link where Ignatieff had said he would work with the government this past month? Anyone? Anyone at all?

The man has no principles and now he is lying about what he said.

Pathetic!

Michael Ignatieff October 1, 2009: "How do I explain to these people that I keep letting this government go on and that is why in my hearts of hearts, after much reflection, we've decided as a party that we can't continue to give the government confidence in the House of Commons."

Ignatieff. All Class.

The real Mr. Angry.



He can't even drop the act for 1 second to say something nice or respectful. The man truly has no class.

As pointed out in the comments: With Ignatieff it is all about him as he gets the words wrong and uses the word "I" in place of "you": "What would I do if I sang out of tune".

h/t Hunter

Related: A much better singer, politician, and person.

update: Sing along @ Platty's

and another reaction from Mr. Angry, Michael Igntaieff.

Latest EKOS poll reveals a big problem for the conservatives.

By now you have all seen the numbers from the latest EKOS poll and it does not look good for the Liberals anywhere in the country. Anywhere in the country that is except for ALBERTA.

Yes your eyes are not deceiving you, I said Alberta.

Take a look at the numbers: While the conservatives are up EVERYWHERE in the country, and some times by as much as 5%, the conservatives actually went down in Alberta 2.1%! Worse yet are the Calgary numbers where the conservatives have actually went down a whopping 13.9%!

If this keeps up PM Harper had better be careful or he might not get re-elected in his own riding of Calgary Southwest.



Why is this happening? The answer is simple.



This guy is so toxic that he has done the impossible in the most conservative leaning province in Canada; he managed to actually derail the Harper juggernaut that has swept across the entire country including Quebec and Atlantic Canada. That is some accomplishment.

Sorry Rob, I know you are a supporter of his but there is NO other possible explanation as to why this has happened.

Mischief from within the Liberal Party.

Mischief is afoot in the Liberal Party of Canada. Is Michael Ignatieff the only one who hasn't figured it out yet? From CTV's Power Play with Tom Clarke.

The adult conversation that isn't to be, the entire Outremont fiasco, general confusion, Liberal Senators holding up legislation that Ignatieff wants passed, loyalty oaths and caucus secrecy that brings back memories of Garth Turner; it all ads up to internal mischief or as Tom Clarke called it "a more apprehended insurrection that we know to be true".


Big questions remain though; will Ignatieff be able to figure it all out it is too late and will he be able to handle it?


I don't have the answers but I do know that somewhere tonight Stephane Dion will sleep the sleep of angels.

h/t Biff

There is nothing to the floor crossing rumours but...

While Liberals everywhere are claiming that the recent floor crossing rumours are not true, according to Tom Clarke of CTV's Power Play the Liberals made Ruby Dhalla swear allegiance to the Liberal Party today at their caucus meeting.

Sounds to me like the Liberals were really not so sure about the rumours and were not believing the MP from Brampton-Springdale.


Nothing like a forced loyalty oath to promote party unity.

Liberal Senator: Quebec has a superior culture to Alberta.

Liberal Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette was at it again yesterday; this time attacking Alberta.

You may remember Hervieux-Payette from her response to a Minnesota family concerned about seal hunting where she said that they should be more concerned with "the daily massacre of innocent people in Iraq, the execution of prisoners -- mainly blacks -- in American prisons, the massive sale of handguns to Americans, the destabilization of the entire world by the American government's aggressive foreign policy, etc." than the seal hunt.

Yesterday on CTV's Power Play Hervieux-Payette was again her classy self when talking about her nanny state private members bill outlawing spanking. She was discussing statistics and how support for her bill was "off course" lower in Alberta than in Quebec because "we don't have the same culture" and went on to say in way of an explanation after being called out by host Tom Clarke "I am just telling you that maybe we (Quebec) have the appropriate way of dealing with children and education is different then hitting a child."

Not that her arrogant and clueless statement was enough she went on to laughingly say "We have some support in Alberta? That is news for me." again in response to Tom Clarke's observation that her statement was going to hurt Liberal support in Alberta and Western Canada.

The Liberal Party of Canada: not only are we more united than ever as a party but we continue to unite Canadians from coast to coast to coast for a better Canada.

You can watch the CTV segment here.


More on Hervieux-Payette from CTV. Apparently she is sexist as well as being clueless on the economy.

Quick snips.

Gerard Kennedy thinks Canadians have become timid people: Have the intervening years since the Vietnam War really made us that much more timid as a people? Make sure to read the comments from all the timid people who call Kennedy out on this foolishness.
You know, I think we started getting timid as a people just about the time Ignatieff left the country; coincidence?

The Silk Stocking's view.

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The understatement of the week award goes to an anonymous Liberal for the following bit of spin: "We have huge room for growth and will be orienting our efforts to achieving a broader and deeper level of commitment from women to the Liberal agenda.” Huge room for growth all right.

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The aftershocks still rumble through the OLO 3 days and 351,628 Views later.

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Another example of Liberal optimism or a case of sticking fingers in their ears and going "La la la la, I can't hear you?

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

Ignatieff plays the heavy:"He took actions earlier in the week that have consequences. He's living the consequences." What consequences would those be Michael? Not having to subject himself to one of your boring speeches while trying to eat another rubber chicken dinner? Poor Denis, how he must be suffering.

Hmm, this is interesting: "As for Coderre's absence at the meeting, several said they understood that he was in his riding caring for his sick father." Consequences? Nah, it couldn't be.

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

Ralph Goodale and John McCallum are having a bad day.

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Floor crossing rumours take a back seat to the news that Ruby Dhalla has been named as a "special" advisor to the Liberals on child poverty. I wonder how well her "beat them until they are no longer poor" strategy will go over. If only those poor children would have had nannies none of this would have happened.

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

Liberal MP's want the government to apologize to Suaad Hagi Mohamud before all of the facts have been determined. Never mind those little details about if or where she went to school, the name of that big lake beside Toronto, her own son's birthday or the date of her marriage, the name of the company she worked for, and of course the minor detail of how she was 6 cm shorter than her drivers license stated, just give her the cash you evil conservatives and say you are sorry. (updated with NP story on those the Liberals hurt with their smears)

Confusion reigns in the LPC.

Confusion continues to reign supreme in the Liberal Party of Canada.

First we have Ignatieff's claim last week that he would not appoint a new Quebec lieutenant. But his week that sound bite seems to have been tossed out the window as Ignatieff says that he will now name a new Quebec lieutenant. Chucker has the run down and it looks like the flip flop change of heart is due to Ignatieff's obvious confusion regarding the Quebec LP's constitution. For an author and alleged rabid reader he sure has a record for not reading political documents, including the LPC Constitution which he and the "Rosedale gang" trampled on in their hurry to get Ingatieff into Dion's OLO office.

Need more confusion?

Consider this little example: When Ignatieff said the following it seemed at the time to be quite clear "The Liberal party cannot support this government any further. We will hold Stephen Harper to account. We will oppose his government in Parliament." he reiterated this again just the other day when in the House Iffy read his non-confidence motion, but yesterday caucus president Marc Garneau indicated that this was not the case and that the Liberals will evaluate each vote in the House of Commons, and MP Alexandra Mendes agreed that there could be exceptions to categorical opposition to every Conservative bill.

Wow. What is going on over there?


Poor Iggy, when stories like this start showing up regularly in the MSM you know the jig is up.



An older example of Liberal confusion in action from the archives.

.

Something everyone has missed about the PM singing last night.

Here is something that everyone missed about the PM's performance last night. If you play a copy the PM singing last night backwards it says "Iggy is politically dead"




Bravo Mr. Prime Minister. Bravo.



CTV has the entire performance here (time limited link?)

Full HD version including intro:




For those interested: Sandy is tracking the MSM and blog reaction to tbis story at her place.

Joanne on Harpermania!

PM Stephen Harper sings the Beatles "With a little help from my friends"

There are none so blind...

There are none so blind as those that will not see. ( warning: a few WK links appear in this post)

Keep on doing what you are doing because so far it is working great and it does not take a "strategist" to see it either.


Warren sure seems to have a hate on for the National Post doesn't he. It appears that he has a hate on for them almost as much as he did for Paul Martin.

You remember Paul Martin right? The guy who became Liberal leader by instigating backroom shenanigans to hurry the departure of Jean Chretien. The guy that sent out the recruiters to the US to bring Ignatieff to Canada, and the same guy who then appointed Ignatieff in Etobicoke Lakeshore over the opposition from the Liberal riding association.


I guess that some hate lasts longer than others, but if you ask me there appears to be something very odd about the entire situation.

Today's Liberal Press Conference in Montreal.

Sources close to the Liberal Party have revealed to me that they are planning a press conference later today condemning the fabled NHL team, the Montreal Canadians, for this logo.
According to my source (Thanks Hedy) not only does the "C" look remarkably like the "C' on the current line up of Olympic apparel , the "H" in the middle obviously stands for "Harper".


Here is how it will go down:

There is expected to be plenty of outrage.


The media will cover it all, including the event getting live coverage on the 24hr networks.


Not one member of the media will state the obvious and call the Liberals out on how they are not only treating the media like morons with this ridiculous spin but also treating the general public the same way, and if we are really lucky Tom Clarke may make a snide little remark about lawsuits while saying nothing to the obvious spin feeding this joke of a story coming from the pundits sitting right in front of him.


Charlie Angus will again make an ass of himself.


Gayle and Ted will spin this as a show of party unity and a positive for Ignatieff.


The Liberals will lose more votes from people sick and tired of being treated as fools by a political party constantly playing these types of games, while telling you with a straight face they are not.


Bloggers will within a matter of hours of the presser, have exposed both of the Liberal deceit and the press that give the Liberals a free platform for their spin without challenge, for the dupes they are.


The Liberal Party will act as if nothing happened as no apology will be forthcoming from the Liberals or their strategists for smearing the Montreal Canadians, the HBC and all of the designers and employees involved, the Canadian Olympic Committee, and our athletes, (That is a lot of people but when the Liberals smear they do so with wide brush.) and no apology will be forthcoming from the Liberals to the people of Canada for playing politics with the Olympics and again treating us as all as fools.


The media will wonder why they are losing customers and revenue.

Update: More Proof from the Liberals. Come on Mr. Harper, it is like you are loading the gun for them. ;)

From the Stupid files..

From the stupid files: Hedy Fry shows us just how desperate the Liberals are with this bit of stupidity from today.



Hedy, the only embarrassing example of crass politics in all of this is your obvious attempt to treat Canadians as fools by trying to gain political advantage over this non issue.


From stupid files part 2: The National Post actually put this on their website.
Hey Kelly, does Mr. Jedras perhaps have some compromising pictures or something, because putting crap like this up makes no sense what so ever.

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

Update: In what may be the marketing gimmick of the year HBC has tried to take advantage of anyone foolish enough to believe the Liberal spin on this by making a special offer available for gullible Liberals.

Order your gear before Midnight Sunday and each Olympic sweater/jacket will come with a communion wafer in the pocket at no extra charge. Industry analysts are saying that because of this offer sales of Olympic Wear in the GTA are expected to skyrocket.



From a Canadian athlete on the stupidity of the Liberal accusation: " (link now dead. Try this)

We can't even peacefully unveil the Olympic '‘uniform' that the Canadians will wear without political upheaval from our government's opposition and their accusations that the logo was a devious scheme of the conservatives as part of "cheap partisan politics."

Well I'm not much into politics but if the conservatives need me, I'll vouch for them. I was part of the athlete panel who voted on the final logo and I assure you, I wasn't in cahoots with Steven Harper"

Justin Trudeau to vote against the Liberal non-confidence motion.

If there is any such thing as Liberal logic then Justin Trudeau must support his leader and vote against the Liberal's non-confidence motion later today.

Confused? Well so am I, but consider the following:

Here is what Justin had to say the other day in Kitchener Ontario when he mused that it is Prime Minister Stephen Harper who wants an election, and not his party leader, Michael Ignatieff. “Mr. Harper wants one desperately and he is going to try and bring this House down.”

Got that. PM Harper is the one wanting an election, and not Michael Ignatieff. Forget for a moment that it has been Mr. Ignatieff that has been saying that the Liberals will no longer support the Harper Government, that this government must be replaced, and that he has gone so far as to introduce a motion of non-confidence that if successful later today would trigger an election, flaky Justin is maintaining that it is the PM who wants an election and not Ignatieff.

So following along with this flawed example of Liberal logic in action, Justin has no other choice but to support his leader who he claims does not want an election and support the dictates of Liberal policy to not support the government by giving the PM the election that Justin claims the PM wants, by voting AGAINST the Liberal non-confidence motion coming up for a vote later today. Anything less would be hypocritical n'est-ce pas?

Still confused?

I remain so but the oxymoron of Liberal logic has always made my brain hurt.


Speaking of hypocrites: How is Judy Sgro going to vote later today? For those not following along at home, Judy recently said that “Ninety-nine per cent of us don't want an election.”


Update: As expected the hypocrite duo of Sgro and Trudeau voted for an election by supporting the non-confidence motion.