Yesterday around noon I dropped off my last load of lawn signs officially ending, for myself at least, the 2011 election campaign. During the past 40 days I have run the gamut of emotions from depressing lows to exhilarating highs, with the added bonus of running myself to near exhaustion at times in the process, and now that I have some free time I thought I would put together a post on some of my election 2011 thoughts and experiences from the local level. From the time the writ was dropped until the last sign was removed, it was 40 days that I will not soon forget.
The early days consisted mostly of helping to get the local campaign office up and running, which in our case consisted of turning a rather large empty space into the hub of the local campaign, and getting the signs out. Desks and furniture had to be brought in, temporary walls/dividers had to be fashioned, equipment such as computers, phones, copiers, shredders and even TVs had to be located brought in and hooked up, and the volunteers organized. Aside from some early grunt work of hauling things around and some minor 'construction' work, the set up of the office was capably handled by many others; I worked more on getting the signs out.
When the writ was dropped on the last weekend of March there was 3 feet of snow in my yard, there were huge windrows along every road, and the ground frozen solid, not the best situation to be putting out election signs. The signs were being stored in a shed on a rural property in the riding and a Bobcat had to be used to clear a path through the snow just to get access. But we got them out and we got them up. Within 2 days all major and minor intersections in the riding had signs placed in all directions, but because the ground was still frozen they had to be placed in the deep snow and within a couple of weeks every single sign had to be re-visited and put solidly into the ground.
More on signs: There were plenty of stories during the campaign on sign vandalism etc and while there were some places more effected than others, I think it is fair to say that EVERY candidate had to face some type of sign vandalism. If you have ever dealt with signs in a campaign you can sort of tell who is going after your signage and why; when you see a bunch of signs knocked over or pulled out ( including those from your opponent) it is a good guess that it is just kids who did so as they walked by. It is when only your teams signs that get hit while the oppositions remain standing, or when your signs have be damaged or made non reusable ( no details but sign people know what I am talking about) that the political motive questions start being asked. Why people do it is beyond me, it is just stupid not mention illegal, but no matter the reasons when they knock 'em down, someone has to go out there and stand 'em back up. BTW there were more than a few times that I stood up NDP signs that were knocked down along side our own ( You're welcome Nadine).
Blogging: One of the regrets that I do have was not doing enough blogging during the campaign. You would think that blogging would be a no brainer as it is a political bloggers 'busy season', but the time and my energy level were just not there. I have to look at my drafts but I can wager that I have at least 10 blog entries sitting there in various stages of completion that I started but did not finish/publish for various reasons. I had a great series that I had planned on Ignatieff, aka Mr. Democracy, for the final week of the campaign but to be honest I felt that it was a waste of time and towards the end I started feeling sorry for the guy and didn't want to pile on. On the positive side I did follow closely much of the wonderful work my fellow Blogging Tories did during the campaign and when I had the time I did quite a bit of Tweeting (a quick tweet is much faster than writing a blog post). Also my long running issue with Scott Reid and the CBC was finally resolved thanks to the Ombudsman, but even there what should have been a few days worth of good material only made it into a single blog post.
Door-Knocking: While I did quite a few other things during the course of the campaign, it was door-knocking that took up the most of my time and provided some of the most enjoyable moments along with some of the most depressing moments of the 2011 campaign. It is my favorite election activity as I enjoy going out and knocking on doors meeting people face to face getting instant feedback, and one of the more memorable trips occurred in the middle of a spring snow storm when I met up in Millwoods with the candidate and blogged about here. The trips into Edmonton-Strathcona though were memorable for much different reasons. The first trips I made into E-S were great; lots of positive feedback and when we left there were as many Hastman lawn signs out as there were Duncan signs. But those first trips were in polls on the edge of the riding and as we got closer to the University area things became much different. Most of people I met at the door were polite enough, although having a door slammed in your face even just once tends to make for a bad day, but it was clear that most of those met were Duncan supporters and in these polls the Duncan signs were everywhere. On one particular street there were 15 homes, 9 of which had Linda Duncan signs on the lawn, and this was not an anomaly as it was near impossible to go to more than 5-6 homes anywhere in these polls and not encounter an Orange NDP sign. Needless to say that after a couple of days of that sort of thing that ones confidence goes down somewhat and you become unsure if you are having any impact at all.
Election night: When it was all over and the votes counted we had won in Edmonton Millwoods Beaumont, lost in Edmonton Strathcona, consumed an over abundance of chicken wings, and for the first time ever the CPC had enough seats to form a majority government, but all I could really think about was that we didn't have to do this again for another 4 1/2 years and that in 2015 my daughter will be eligible to vote for the very first time.
It was over but for the clean up, which would begin bright and early Tuesday morning.
The campaign started when the government fell on March 25 on a Liberal motion of non confidence ( Insert joke of your choice here) the political situation for the Conservatives was not great, the weather was cold and miserable, and there was still 3 ft of snow on my front lawn. 40 days later and we now have a majority government, the sun is shining, the snow gone, my grass is starting to turn green and flowers are starting to come up.
It was worth all of the work.
Showing posts with label Edmonton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edmonton. Show all posts
Friday, May 06, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Edmonton Strathcona Update: Complaint filed with Elections Canada.
The Hastman campaign has filed an official complaint with Elections Canada alleging that 550 names on the Edmonton-Strathcona registered voters list are linked to addresses that don't exist or are invalid. It seems that many of these addresses are linked to businesses, including a gas station and industrial companies, an empty field, storage lockers and private mail boxes. "My team went through the entire voters list with a fine tooth comb and uncovered hundreds of illegitimate addresses," Hastman said. "It’s important that only valid addresses are included in the voters list."
And he is correct.
For those not aware: Edmonton Strathcona is currently the only non CPC riding in Alberta. It has been a political hot spot for some time and with the election has become a real political battlefield that I can guarantee you will show up on whatever channel you will be watching for election results May 2nd.
Spotted recently while door knocking in Edmonton Strathcona. The rare and elusive Liberal sign with the added bonus of it being in the same yard as a CPC sign!
And he is correct.
For those not aware: Edmonton Strathcona is currently the only non CPC riding in Alberta. It has been a political hot spot for some time and with the election has become a real political battlefield that I can guarantee you will show up on whatever channel you will be watching for election results May 2nd.
Spotted recently while door knocking in Edmonton Strathcona. The rare and elusive Liberal sign with the added bonus of it being in the same yard as a CPC sign!
On a more serious note: Here is what is happening on a daily basis to CPC signs in Edm Strathcona.
.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Election 2011: Battleground Alberta Edmonton Strathcona
One of the most watched ridings in the country this year is going to be Edmonton Strathcona, the only riding in Alberta that currently is not being held by the Conservatives.
Edmonton Strathcona is currently represented by Linda Duncan of the NDP, who won the riding in the 2008 election over incumbent Rahim Jaffer by less than 500 votes, and the NDP is getting very nervous about losing. So much so they have targeted the riding and have pulled out all of the stops to try and keep it.
And why are the NDP worried? Well it certainly is not because of the Liberal candidate, as there is NONE declared yet ( The LPC had better rectify this one fast or it will only add to the numerous coalition questions coming their way, and make a mockery of their 308 national party strategy) and it certainly can't be because of the Green Party candidate who seems to be asking people not to vote Green.
No, the answer to why Linda Duncan and the NDP are so worried is because of Ryan Hastman.
Ryan Hastman the tireless Conservative candidate (he now has knocked on over 17,000 doors in Edmonton-Strathcona) has been working hard reconnecting with conservatives in the riding who where turned off by the previous candidate, and anyone else who may have a difficult time with their MP rallying against the oil industry which is the life blood of not only the riding but the Province and the country.
Including this nose stretcher with Duncan lying about moose and bears. Oh my! "But it's all too little, too late, argues Alberta NDP MP Linda Duncan. "We pay attention to the tailing ponds because there's physical evidence in the dead ducks. But birds, moose and bears are dying in these ponds every day" ( 100% NDP/Duncan BS)
Do the good people of Edmonton Strathcona need someone in Ottawa who is voting against their best interests? No, Linda Duncan needs to go and Ryan Hastman is the man to make sure that happens.
Ryan and his team have laid the groundwork for retaking the riding but they are going to need the help of conservatives everywhere to make sure that goal is achieved.
It is time to get active and fight back. Give the Hastman campaign office a call and volunteer, even a couple of hours may make the difference, and help make sure that the single yellow spot on the electoral map of Alberta is removed for good.
The difference was less than 500 votes last time so don't be under the impression that your vote or your contribution, no matter how small in time or dollars, cannot make a real difference in Edmonton Strathcona.
Get out and get active!
Campaign Office located at 5611 Gateway Blvd (north)
Office phone: 780-433-0691
Website: http://www.ryanhastman.com/
.
Edmonton Strathcona is currently represented by Linda Duncan of the NDP, who won the riding in the 2008 election over incumbent Rahim Jaffer by less than 500 votes, and the NDP is getting very nervous about losing. So much so they have targeted the riding and have pulled out all of the stops to try and keep it.
No, the answer to why Linda Duncan and the NDP are so worried is because of Ryan Hastman.
Ryan Hastman the tireless Conservative candidate (he now has knocked on over 17,000 doors in Edmonton-Strathcona) has been working hard reconnecting with conservatives in the riding who where turned off by the previous candidate, and anyone else who may have a difficult time with their MP rallying against the oil industry which is the life blood of not only the riding but the Province and the country.
Including this nose stretcher with Duncan lying about moose and bears. Oh my! "But it's all too little, too late, argues Alberta NDP MP Linda Duncan. "We pay attention to the tailing ponds because there's physical evidence in the dead ducks. But birds, moose and bears are dying in these ponds every day" ( 100% NDP/Duncan BS)
Do the good people of Edmonton Strathcona need someone in Ottawa who is voting against their best interests? No, Linda Duncan needs to go and Ryan Hastman is the man to make sure that happens.
Ryan and his team have laid the groundwork for retaking the riding but they are going to need the help of conservatives everywhere to make sure that goal is achieved.
It is time to get active and fight back. Give the Hastman campaign office a call and volunteer, even a couple of hours may make the difference, and help make sure that the single yellow spot on the electoral map of Alberta is removed for good.
The difference was less than 500 votes last time so don't be under the impression that your vote or your contribution, no matter how small in time or dollars, cannot make a real difference in Edmonton Strathcona.
Get out and get active!
Campaign Office located at 5611 Gateway Blvd (north)
Office phone: 780-433-0691
Website: http://www.ryanhastman.com/
.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
In the last year...
Tonight marks the 1 year anniversary of Ryan Hastman's nomination as the Conservative candidate for Edmonton Strathcona; the only riding in Alberta that is currently not held by the conservatives.
For those that may not be aware, Edmonton Strathcona is currently being held by the NDP and represented in Ottawa by Linda Duncan. Duncan won a squeaker in the 2008 election by less than 500 votes over the now infamous Rahim Jaffer. Edmonton Strathcona is the one yellow spot on a sea of blue that quite frankly needs to be taken back, and thankfully we have the candidate to do just that.
From June 17, 2009, when Ryan Hastman won the Conservative nomination in another incredibly close vote, Hastman has been working tirelessly towards winning back the seat for the conservatives. Ryan has been to countless events both inside and outside the riding, he and his team have been aggressively fund-raising to build up the much needed election war chest, and most importantly he has been extremely active within Edmonton Strathcona having already knocked on over 9000 doors meeting with and talking to the people of the riding. From what I have been told, and from personal experience, I can tell you that the response at the doors has been very encouraging; so much so that the NDP has taken notice at a national level and is targeting the riding to help out the worried Linda Duncan
and she has good reason to be worried, because if honest hard work has anything to do with the results of the next election, there will be a much different outcome for Duncan and the NDP in "Battleground Alberta".
If you are interested in helping Ryan and the conservatives take back Edmonton Strathcona please visit his website (http://www.ryanhastman.com/) or drop him and his team an email at: campaign@ryanhastman.com Lets help Linda go back to her first love of attacking the financial engine of Alberta, the oil industry, but this time she can do it on her own dime and not on an MP's salary.
Update: The past year as written Ryan Hastman. ( I note the door count has increased to 9,500! My numbers were a couple of weeks old)
For those that may not be aware, Edmonton Strathcona is currently being held by the NDP and represented in Ottawa by Linda Duncan. Duncan won a squeaker in the 2008 election by less than 500 votes over the now infamous Rahim Jaffer. Edmonton Strathcona is the one yellow spot on a sea of blue that quite frankly needs to be taken back, and thankfully we have the candidate to do just that.
From June 17, 2009, when Ryan Hastman won the Conservative nomination in another incredibly close vote, Hastman has been working tirelessly towards winning back the seat for the conservatives. Ryan has been to countless events both inside and outside the riding, he and his team have been aggressively fund-raising to build up the much needed election war chest, and most importantly he has been extremely active within Edmonton Strathcona having already knocked on over 9000 doors meeting with and talking to the people of the riding. From what I have been told, and from personal experience, I can tell you that the response at the doors has been very encouraging; so much so that the NDP has taken notice at a national level and is targeting the riding to help out the worried Linda Duncan
and she has good reason to be worried, because if honest hard work has anything to do with the results of the next election, there will be a much different outcome for Duncan and the NDP in "Battleground Alberta".
If you are interested in helping Ryan and the conservatives take back Edmonton Strathcona please visit his website (http://www.ryanhastman.com/) or drop him and his team an email at: campaign@ryanhastman.com Lets help Linda go back to her first love of attacking the financial engine of Alberta, the oil industry, but this time she can do it on her own dime and not on an MP's salary.
Update: The past year as written Ryan Hastman. ( I note the door count has increased to 9,500! My numbers were a couple of weeks old)
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Linda Duncan, cry me a river.
"Duncan says she's not sure the people of Edmonton-Strathcona will be happy with Calgary dollars flowing north to try to influence their votes, she said.
But they will take kindly to this, right?
NDP National HQ raising money "to go and interfere" in Edmonton Strathcona.
Also from the Journal story: "Duncan said Hastman was on hand with Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose to hand out $14.8 million to the University of Alberta, also in Duncan's riding." While she was "was excluded from these events and not informed about when the cheques were going to be handed out."
Funny thing that. If you are so popular and are doing such great things for the riding, why didn't the U of A (or the other stakeholders) bother to invite you to these PUBLIC events?
Cry me a river Linda.
BTW I if knew about the U of A presentation as did hundreds of other people, why didn't Duncan? Nothing was secret about any of them.
Related: How Duncan supports her riding. Ms. Duncan voted for an amendment that would eliminate tax incentives for the oil and gas industry to provide funding for a bailout of the forestry industry in Quebec.
Friday, March 12, 2010
And in local news: NDP MP Linda Duncan is upset...
Linda Duncan the NDP MP for Edmonton-Strathcona is upset. She is upset that conservatives in Alberta want to win back her riding and are, gasp, holding fundraisers for the conservative candidate Ryan Hastman. Oh my, those evil conservatives will stop at nothing to target helpless little ol' Linda.
You can read the article here, but there is more to this story than what you read.
First off the article is factually wrong; sort of.
After reading it a few times I was unsure if Calgary-West gave/transferred the money to the Hastman campaign or if it came from a fundraiser. The first part clearly states there was a fundraiser in January, which is correct, but then we get Duncan's comment “I guess they have nothing better to do with their time and money than to go and interfere in other ridings.”, followed up by a comment from an Elections Canada official talking about .."constituency associations aren’t breaking any rules if they transfer cash or raise donations for another riding so long as they comply with federal contribution limits." which leaves me wondering; what really happened?
Here are the facts which have been confirmed by a senior conservative. A fundraiser was held in January specifically for raising money for Edm-Strathcona/Ryan Hastman campaign. The Calgary-West EDA did not, organize it, pay any monies towards it, receive any money from it, or transfer any money to Edm-Strathcona. This was just one of the many political fundraisers that take place almost daily somewhere in Canada; which brings me to the second issue I have.
What in that story is really news, and what prompted its writing?
Was it that the CPC wants to win back the seat? Like that is news to anyone.
Was it because of the issues in Calgary-West? I doubt it because nothing is mentioned in the article on that.
Was it possibly because of Rahim? Again I doubt it since he is not even mentioned and that happened on the 9th, 1 day after the Sun story appeared.
Did the author just decide to do a story on Edmonton-Strathcona out of the Blue? Could be ;)
Was the story fed to the author from either the conservatives, which makes no sense what so ever, or perhaps from the NDP?
I don't know the answers, and perhaps the author would like to drop me a comment or email to clarify, but what I do know is that Linda Duncan is confused about the facts and the NDP sure loves irony.
Remember Duncan's comment from above “I guess they have nothing better to do with their time and money than to go and interfere in other ridings.” because as it turns out that Sun article made its way into a fund-raising email from National NDP HQ. (the same day!)
Yes, NDP HQ is doing what Duncan accused Calgary-West of doing, 'interfering' in Edmonton-Strathcona, and all over a simple fundraiser.
Click on image to enlarge. (the top link goes to the Sun story, the other 2 to a secure donation page)
I like the top line: Have you seen today's story. Today? Damn, that was fast.
Why was this story written again?
You can read the article here, but there is more to this story than what you read.
First off the article is factually wrong; sort of.
After reading it a few times I was unsure if Calgary-West gave/transferred the money to the Hastman campaign or if it came from a fundraiser. The first part clearly states there was a fundraiser in January, which is correct, but then we get Duncan's comment “I guess they have nothing better to do with their time and money than to go and interfere in other ridings.”, followed up by a comment from an Elections Canada official talking about .."constituency associations aren’t breaking any rules if they transfer cash or raise donations for another riding so long as they comply with federal contribution limits." which leaves me wondering; what really happened?
Here are the facts which have been confirmed by a senior conservative. A fundraiser was held in January specifically for raising money for Edm-Strathcona/Ryan Hastman campaign. The Calgary-West EDA did not, organize it, pay any monies towards it, receive any money from it, or transfer any money to Edm-Strathcona. This was just one of the many political fundraisers that take place almost daily somewhere in Canada; which brings me to the second issue I have.
What in that story is really news, and what prompted its writing?
Was it that the CPC wants to win back the seat? Like that is news to anyone.
Was it because of the issues in Calgary-West? I doubt it because nothing is mentioned in the article on that.
Was it possibly because of Rahim? Again I doubt it since he is not even mentioned and that happened on the 9th, 1 day after the Sun story appeared.
Did the author just decide to do a story on Edmonton-Strathcona out of the Blue? Could be ;)
Was the story fed to the author from either the conservatives, which makes no sense what so ever, or perhaps from the NDP?
I don't know the answers, and perhaps the author would like to drop me a comment or email to clarify, but what I do know is that Linda Duncan is confused about the facts and the NDP sure loves irony.
Remember Duncan's comment from above “I guess they have nothing better to do with their time and money than to go and interfere in other ridings.” because as it turns out that Sun article made its way into a fund-raising email from National NDP HQ. (the same day!)
Yes, NDP HQ is doing what Duncan accused Calgary-West of doing, 'interfering' in Edmonton-Strathcona, and all over a simple fundraiser.
Click on image to enlarge. (the top link goes to the Sun story, the other 2 to a secure donation page)
I like the top line: Have you seen today's story. Today? Damn, that was fast.
Why was this story written again?
Friday, January 29, 2010
My confession: Yelling at theTV News.
I don't know about yourself but sometimes I find myself yelling at the TV and the so called professional news media while I am watching the news. I try not to do it, but sometimes I see something so stupid that it sort of just comes out.
Last night during the local Global Edmonton 6 PM news broadcast was just such an occasion.
Normally I would have just made my comments towards the TV (and any family member who dares to sit and watch the news while I am there) and left it a that, as it usually is just a one off, but last night it happened twice and a third story dumped a whole pile of irony into the mix.
First up a story on the the deal the province struck with the pharmacists to decrease the costs of generic drugs.
The story covered all the relevant information, they spoke with all the parties involved including the opposition Liberals; all was good until I saw the following up on my screen.
A pharmacist, or possibly a pharmacy tech, counting out pills to fill a prescription while in plain view in the background sits another prescription, complete with the medication, Azelaic acid in Glaxal Base, and the FULL NAME and address info of the person it was written out for! (Even though I am not a professional journalist or a news editor, I have edited out the name for OBVIOUS reasons) Global is not the only one at fault here, although they are the ones that filmed it and let it make the segment, the pharmacy that allowed the taping should have made sure that no identifiable information was in sight.
That is where first I found myself yelling at the TV and soon after I felt the urge again while watching a story about a neighborhood meeting against a proposed cell phone tower in their area. The story was well covered but the reporter forgot to ask anyone interviewed who was against the tower the most obvious question of all. Do you yourself own or use a cell phone? I know, I know, it is not something that I should get that upset about but I was already sort of worked up over the pharmacy story and really, would this not be a question that you would have asked someone opposed to a cell phone tower if it were you asking?
So that was 2, and as I noted earlier I might have left it at that, but soon after came a third story that almost dared me to do more than just yell at the TV.
The final story was a Trouble Shooter segment on the subject of privacy. That is right, privacy. It seems that yesterday was International Data Privacy Day and current and former Privacy Commissioners were in town for a little forum on how to protect your, and your customers, privacy in the electronic age.
You know; privacy protection such as on computers with social networking sites, customer billing, and of course privacy from Global TV cameras. Oh the irony of it all.
Thankfully I do have another outlet other than just yelling at the TV, and I thank you for visiting it and reading my little rants.
Update Feb 12th: The Alberta Privacy Commissioner responds. Nothing at all from Global, not even a damn auto reply.
Last night during the local Global Edmonton 6 PM news broadcast was just such an occasion.
Normally I would have just made my comments towards the TV (and any family member who dares to sit and watch the news while I am there) and left it a that, as it usually is just a one off, but last night it happened twice and a third story dumped a whole pile of irony into the mix.
First up a story on the the deal the province struck with the pharmacists to decrease the costs of generic drugs.
The story covered all the relevant information, they spoke with all the parties involved including the opposition Liberals; all was good until I saw the following up on my screen.
A pharmacist, or possibly a pharmacy tech, counting out pills to fill a prescription while in plain view in the background sits another prescription, complete with the medication, Azelaic acid in Glaxal Base, and the FULL NAME and address info of the person it was written out for! (Even though I am not a professional journalist or a news editor, I have edited out the name for OBVIOUS reasons) Global is not the only one at fault here, although they are the ones that filmed it and let it make the segment, the pharmacy that allowed the taping should have made sure that no identifiable information was in sight.
That is where first I found myself yelling at the TV and soon after I felt the urge again while watching a story about a neighborhood meeting against a proposed cell phone tower in their area. The story was well covered but the reporter forgot to ask anyone interviewed who was against the tower the most obvious question of all. Do you yourself own or use a cell phone? I know, I know, it is not something that I should get that upset about but I was already sort of worked up over the pharmacy story and really, would this not be a question that you would have asked someone opposed to a cell phone tower if it were you asking?
So that was 2, and as I noted earlier I might have left it at that, but soon after came a third story that almost dared me to do more than just yell at the TV.
The final story was a Trouble Shooter segment on the subject of privacy. That is right, privacy. It seems that yesterday was International Data Privacy Day and current and former Privacy Commissioners were in town for a little forum on how to protect your, and your customers, privacy in the electronic age.
You know; privacy protection such as on computers with social networking sites, customer billing, and of course privacy from Global TV cameras. Oh the irony of it all.
Thankfully I do have another outlet other than just yelling at the TV, and I thank you for visiting it and reading my little rants.
Update Feb 12th: The Alberta Privacy Commissioner responds. Nothing at all from Global, not even a damn auto reply.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Ignatieff Speaks in Edmonton.
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is in Edmonton for a few days and last night he held a little town hall style gathering where he took questions from the audience. I would put the crowd at about 450, which is larger than Stephane Dion's numbers last July, and has to be considered a good turnout for an Alberta event.
Ignatieff had plenty to say. Here is how it went down.
(long post warning)
The usual local Liberals were in the room, including Senators Tommy Banks, Grant Mitchell, and Claudette Tardif, former Liberal MP Anne McLellan and a host of other committee chairs and organizers. Alberta Liberal party leader David Swann was in the room with a couple of tag along Lib MLAs, and a city councilor.
After a brief mix up as to who was going to introduce Ignatieff, Tommy Banks took the stage and gave a little talk about how lucky we are in Canada to not have the political upheaval that some other countries endure and the reasons that "we have chosen Michael Ignatieff" as the leader of the LPC. I guess Senator Banks had forgotten the details of how Michael Ignatieff became leader and that the members did not 'choose" him or about how popular the coalition was with Canadians, but the partisan crowd ate it up.
Michael takes the stage. I can feel my pulse race ( Sorry about that. I think I may have been channeling Kady O'Malley there for a second.)
Ignatieff warmed up the crowd a bit talking about Canada Day, the size of the "Edmonton" crowd and about an earlier town hall that he had just finished with some members of the Alberta Francophone community. Ignatieff commented that "the west has always been french, never forget that" and that this part of the world has always been french and "always will be french". I am not sure that his explanation of how since we have french names for some of our mountains and lakes it is enough to declare that the west is french,or if he could get away with saying that the east has always been english, but he is the intellectual, not I. He opined briefly on provincial politics by saying that the reason that the room was full was partly due to the "monopoly party government" in the Province of Alberta, but quickly returned to federal politics by taking a shot at the Harper government on income trusts even though that horse left the barn a long time ago. He went on to preach for more big government by committing more to education as well as for a state run childcare program. No mention of how he is planing to pay for this, but tonight was not to be about pesky details. He also brought up what to me sounded like a plan to regulate, or more than likely just a plan tax the crap out of, certain foods/additives in the name of health. If you use salt, sugar or oil you had better watch out because Ignatieff is coming for you and your wallet if he ever gets elected. I found it kind of ironic for Ignatieff to be talking about this while half of the audience was still chowing down on their double cheeseburgers with sides of salty oily salads from the Liberal fundraiser BBQ attached to the event, but irony and the Liberal Party seem to go well together. He talked very briefly on energy and the need to conserve; screwing up when he said "not getting enough miles per litre" which he quickly corrected into "litres per gallon". I have to cut him some slack on this one since as he was visibly tired from what no doubt was a busy day and I screw up more than my fair share on a regular basis to complain about this. To his credit Ignatieff did keep his opening comments relatively short in an effort to make more time for questions from the audience.
Question#1 was about prorogation and the gentleman asked if Ignatieff would do away with the ability to prorogue Parliament. Ignatieff with his answer blatantly borrowed from Barrack Obama as to why he could not do away with this power saying that "is way above my pay grade" to understand the constitutional issues/history of prorogation. Ignatieff added that he too shares the anger of the questioner about prorogation bringing up some of the history of the coalition and how it formed because of the fiscal update with no mention of the provision to cut off political parties from the public purse, which was the real reason that the 3 parties tossed all of their principles aside to form the coalition. Interestingly enough he went on to say how he saved the PM by deciding against going with the coalition idea, which he had just agreed to support, in order to prevent the turmoil that it would have caused, even though he apparently thinks that he could have won an election at that time with polls reading in the 50%+ range for the CPC.
Question #2 related to seniors financial issues. Ignatieff answered by talking about the current economic situation and was very critical (Remember this for later on) of the "51 billion dollar deficit" budget that would stretch into a "170 billion dollars" over 5 years, saying that this is where the PM has taken Canada over the last 3 years. He also talked about a discussion on national pension reform and brought up healthcare costs and how the Liberals would defend the principles of the Canada Health Act by fighting the provinces if they ever "go down those roads" of having any type of user pay private system. I guess he was out of the country for too long or maybe it is above his pay grade to be familiar with this supreme court ruling or that there are plenty of examples where this is happening already in Canada.
Question #3 was on a carbon tax from someone familiar with Ignatieff's history on the idea. Ignatieff hinted that while he still liked the idea of a carbon tax, the political reality of such a tax makes it impossible to implement in a poor economy. He never ruled it out completely say if the economy improves, but votes ("practical politics") seem to be more important than the environment right now for the LPC.
Question #5 was a polite question which basically asked when Ignatieff was going to stop supporting the Harper government and force an election. Now of course he was not going to give a specific date or let too much out of the Liberal bag but he did give some specifics when he said that he would pull the plug if there were not significant changes to EI saying that he will "not settle for anything other than substantial reform". He also again brought up the coalition, praising Dion for forming it, and how it forced what was basically a "bad Liberal budget" to be passed for the benefit of Canadians, but adding that he thought that the coalition would lead to "permanent division" in our society. ( Remember how he hated the deficit budget in question #2, but now says it was good for the country.)
Question #6 was on medical isotopes, which is not above his pay grade to answer it would seem. This one was spin from the start when Iggy said that in 13 years of Liberal government that there was never a loss of isotope production in Canada while in the 3 years of conservative government it has happened twice. Look this is a serious issue but the PM does not take the limo down to Chalk River at the start of each day to crank out some isotopes before heading to the Hill for oral questions, give me a break.
Question #9 was about the recent proposed legislation giving more powers to police/security agencies for monitoring. Lots of fluff in the answer talking about rights but it looked like Ignatieff agrees with the legislation.
Question #11 Asbestos. While in the past Ignatieff has flip flopped on asbestos, tonight there was to be no beating around the bush on this one as Ignatieff answered by saying that "Canada has to be out of the asbestos business. We should not export it and we should not produce it".
The last question of the night dealt with farming and the difficulty with the selling/promoting locally grown products. There was nothing particularly special about Ignatieff's answer so I will not go into it other than to just highlight one comment that he made which sort of sums up why he is not yet ready for the job and shows the kind of trouble that he might find himself in if this was a real election campaign and not just a summer BBQ/speaking engagement. While talking about a book that he was reading just that very afternoon on the plane coming from Toronto to Edmonton, Ignatieff forgot the name of the book. Not a big issue really and not one that should cause much trouble for the Liberal leader, but it was not that he forgot the name, it was the little "joke" that he made about why he forgot that was the problem. Consider what a certain Liberal blogger who claims to be their war room guy, or even what the media would do if the PM had said the following about forgetting the title of the book: "I am having a senior moment I can't even remember its title". Do any of you think that this would not be spun to no end and that there would be a post dedicated to this small snippet possibly called "Making fun of seniors" at the top of his blog or appearing as the headline of a newspaper? It is a good thing for Ignatieff that I am not that petty.
Well that's it, take from it what you will and if you have read this far I thank you for taking the time.
Alberta Ardvark, going into the belly of the beast so you don't have to.
Update: Ignatieff had some thoughts for the press after the event last night.
"Governments have a role in saying there's energy demand out east; are there ways of moving some of that Alberta oil east to Sarnia for refining?
"But it's not for governments to say where the oil should flow," he was quick to add.
But he said it anyway. h/t SDA.
Update and Clarification: There have been some who believe that I have taken Mr.Ignatieff out of context with my use of the "the west has always been french, never forget that" quote. So I am going to do my best to transcribe what he said both before and after the quote and leave it up to you to decide if I did just that.(bolding mine)
"I would like to say one thing. Which is that before this evening began I had a session in french across the road. I had a session in french with members of the Franco-Albertan community of whom they have such a distinguished representative in Claudette Tardif. I saw something wonderful in that hall, which is I saw a great Canadian tradition, uh the west has always been french, never forget that. Yellowhead; where does that come from? It comes from Tête Jaune. Some anonymous (I can't make out the french term used) that named the mountains, that named the rivers. This part of the world has always been french, always will be french. That tradition was in the room, and there is another tradition which has renewed and strengthened our country. People who have came from francophone Africa, from the Congo, from Rawanda ..." He continues on about how great it is to have all of these people together and how it is good for the country.
Out of context? You tell me.
Ignatieff had plenty to say. Here is how it went down.
(long post warning)
The usual local Liberals were in the room, including Senators Tommy Banks, Grant Mitchell, and Claudette Tardif, former Liberal MP Anne McLellan and a host of other committee chairs and organizers. Alberta Liberal party leader David Swann was in the room with a couple of tag along Lib MLAs, and a city councilor.
After a brief mix up as to who was going to introduce Ignatieff, Tommy Banks took the stage and gave a little talk about how lucky we are in Canada to not have the political upheaval that some other countries endure and the reasons that "we have chosen Michael Ignatieff" as the leader of the LPC. I guess Senator Banks had forgotten the details of how Michael Ignatieff became leader and that the members did not 'choose" him or about how popular the coalition was with Canadians, but the partisan crowd ate it up.
Michael takes the stage. I can feel my pulse race ( Sorry about that. I think I may have been channeling Kady O'Malley there for a second.)
Ignatieff warmed up the crowd a bit talking about Canada Day, the size of the "Edmonton" crowd and about an earlier town hall that he had just finished with some members of the Alberta Francophone community. Ignatieff commented that "the west has always been french, never forget that" and that this part of the world has always been french and "always will be french". I am not sure that his explanation of how since we have french names for some of our mountains and lakes it is enough to declare that the west is french,or if he could get away with saying that the east has always been english, but he is the intellectual, not I. He opined briefly on provincial politics by saying that the reason that the room was full was partly due to the "monopoly party government" in the Province of Alberta, but quickly returned to federal politics by taking a shot at the Harper government on income trusts even though that horse left the barn a long time ago. He went on to preach for more big government by committing more to education as well as for a state run childcare program. No mention of how he is planing to pay for this, but tonight was not to be about pesky details. He also brought up what to me sounded like a plan to regulate, or more than likely just a plan tax the crap out of, certain foods/additives in the name of health. If you use salt, sugar or oil you had better watch out because Ignatieff is coming for you and your wallet if he ever gets elected. I found it kind of ironic for Ignatieff to be talking about this while half of the audience was still chowing down on their double cheeseburgers with sides of salty oily salads from the Liberal fundraiser BBQ attached to the event, but irony and the Liberal Party seem to go well together. He talked very briefly on energy and the need to conserve; screwing up when he said "not getting enough miles per litre" which he quickly corrected into "litres per gallon". I have to cut him some slack on this one since as he was visibly tired from what no doubt was a busy day and I screw up more than my fair share on a regular basis to complain about this. To his credit Ignatieff did keep his opening comments relatively short in an effort to make more time for questions from the audience.
Question#1 was about prorogation and the gentleman asked if Ignatieff would do away with the ability to prorogue Parliament. Ignatieff with his answer blatantly borrowed from Barrack Obama as to why he could not do away with this power saying that "is way above my pay grade" to understand the constitutional issues/history of prorogation. Ignatieff added that he too shares the anger of the questioner about prorogation bringing up some of the history of the coalition and how it formed because of the fiscal update with no mention of the provision to cut off political parties from the public purse, which was the real reason that the 3 parties tossed all of their principles aside to form the coalition. Interestingly enough he went on to say how he saved the PM by deciding against going with the coalition idea, which he had just agreed to support, in order to prevent the turmoil that it would have caused, even though he apparently thinks that he could have won an election at that time with polls reading in the 50%+ range for the CPC.
Question #2 related to seniors financial issues. Ignatieff answered by talking about the current economic situation and was very critical (Remember this for later on) of the "51 billion dollar deficit" budget that would stretch into a "170 billion dollars" over 5 years, saying that this is where the PM has taken Canada over the last 3 years. He also talked about a discussion on national pension reform and brought up healthcare costs and how the Liberals would defend the principles of the Canada Health Act by fighting the provinces if they ever "go down those roads" of having any type of user pay private system. I guess he was out of the country for too long or maybe it is above his pay grade to be familiar with this supreme court ruling or that there are plenty of examples where this is happening already in Canada.
Question #3 was on a carbon tax from someone familiar with Ignatieff's history on the idea. Ignatieff hinted that while he still liked the idea of a carbon tax, the political reality of such a tax makes it impossible to implement in a poor economy. He never ruled it out completely say if the economy improves, but votes ("practical politics") seem to be more important than the environment right now for the LPC.
Question #5 was a polite question which basically asked when Ignatieff was going to stop supporting the Harper government and force an election. Now of course he was not going to give a specific date or let too much out of the Liberal bag but he did give some specifics when he said that he would pull the plug if there were not significant changes to EI saying that he will "not settle for anything other than substantial reform". He also again brought up the coalition, praising Dion for forming it, and how it forced what was basically a "bad Liberal budget" to be passed for the benefit of Canadians, but adding that he thought that the coalition would lead to "permanent division" in our society. ( Remember how he hated the deficit budget in question #2, but now says it was good for the country.)
Question #6 was on medical isotopes, which is not above his pay grade to answer it would seem. This one was spin from the start when Iggy said that in 13 years of Liberal government that there was never a loss of isotope production in Canada while in the 3 years of conservative government it has happened twice. Look this is a serious issue but the PM does not take the limo down to Chalk River at the start of each day to crank out some isotopes before heading to the Hill for oral questions, give me a break.
Question #9 was about the recent proposed legislation giving more powers to police/security agencies for monitoring. Lots of fluff in the answer talking about rights but it looked like Ignatieff agrees with the legislation.
Question #11 Asbestos. While in the past Ignatieff has flip flopped on asbestos, tonight there was to be no beating around the bush on this one as Ignatieff answered by saying that "Canada has to be out of the asbestos business. We should not export it and we should not produce it".
The last question of the night dealt with farming and the difficulty with the selling/promoting locally grown products. There was nothing particularly special about Ignatieff's answer so I will not go into it other than to just highlight one comment that he made which sort of sums up why he is not yet ready for the job and shows the kind of trouble that he might find himself in if this was a real election campaign and not just a summer BBQ/speaking engagement. While talking about a book that he was reading just that very afternoon on the plane coming from Toronto to Edmonton, Ignatieff forgot the name of the book. Not a big issue really and not one that should cause much trouble for the Liberal leader, but it was not that he forgot the name, it was the little "joke" that he made about why he forgot that was the problem. Consider what a certain Liberal blogger who claims to be their war room guy, or even what the media would do if the PM had said the following about forgetting the title of the book: "I am having a senior moment I can't even remember its title". Do any of you think that this would not be spun to no end and that there would be a post dedicated to this small snippet possibly called "Making fun of seniors" at the top of his blog or appearing as the headline of a newspaper? It is a good thing for Ignatieff that I am not that petty.
Well that's it, take from it what you will and if you have read this far I thank you for taking the time.
Alberta Ardvark, going into the belly of the beast so you don't have to.
Update: Ignatieff had some thoughts for the press after the event last night.
"Governments have a role in saying there's energy demand out east; are there ways of moving some of that Alberta oil east to Sarnia for refining?
"But it's not for governments to say where the oil should flow," he was quick to add.
But he said it anyway. h/t SDA.
Update and Clarification: There have been some who believe that I have taken Mr.Ignatieff out of context with my use of the "the west has always been french, never forget that" quote. So I am going to do my best to transcribe what he said both before and after the quote and leave it up to you to decide if I did just that.(bolding mine)
"I would like to say one thing. Which is that before this evening began I had a session in french across the road. I had a session in french with members of the Franco-Albertan community of whom they have such a distinguished representative in Claudette Tardif. I saw something wonderful in that hall, which is I saw a great Canadian tradition, uh the west has always been french, never forget that. Yellowhead; where does that come from? It comes from Tête Jaune. Some anonymous (I can't make out the french term used) that named the mountains, that named the rivers. This part of the world has always been french, always will be french. That tradition was in the room, and there is another tradition which has renewed and strengthened our country. People who have came from francophone Africa, from the Congo, from Rawanda ..." He continues on about how great it is to have all of these people together and how it is good for the country.
Out of context? You tell me.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Local: Edm-Strathcona News.
For those of you that live in Edmonton-Strathcona and have a current membership there is going to be a nomination candidates forum this Thursday May 28th at Austin O'Brien School 6110-95 Ave at 7 p.m.
The person you choose is the one that gets to face off against incumbent Linda Duncan of the NDP in the next election. So come out, listen to, and talk with the candidates, become informed and choose wisely.
The person you choose is the one that gets to face off against incumbent Linda Duncan of the NDP in the next election. So come out, listen to, and talk with the candidates, become informed and choose wisely.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Attention Privacy Commissions.
Tomorrow as I am going about my daily business and driving around Edmonton; I will randomly stick the camera out of my vehicle window and will be taking some digital photographs. If I am feeling really crazy I might take a short video as well but no guarantees.
I plan on publishing these pictures on the internet and I will not be blurring out any faces, license plates or any other potentially identifying material in those images. Deal with it.
If anyone would like to explain to me why myself, or even Google, cannot do this I would love to hear from you in the comments.
I plan on publishing these pictures on the internet and I will not be blurring out any faces, license plates or any other potentially identifying material in those images. Deal with it.
If anyone would like to explain to me why myself, or even Google, cannot do this I would love to hear from you in the comments.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Our Mayor is an idiot.
Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel has asked the city's legal department to investigate whether or not it is possible for the City of Edmonton to pass a law banning knives capable of killing.
What knife is NOT capable of killing Your Worship?
Not sure? How about all of them; but don't ask me when you can over pay the lawyers in the city's legal department with my tax dollars.
I am off to Walmart this morning to get a new set of steak knives, a keychain jack knife, a Leatherman tool, a couple of butter knives, and so not to cause an international incident with the Swiss, I plan on picking up one of their army knives.
My apologies for the many typos this morning.
What knife is NOT capable of killing Your Worship?
Not sure? How about all of them; but don't ask me when you can over pay the lawyers in the city's legal department with my tax dollars.
I am off to Walmart this morning to get a new set of steak knives, a keychain jack knife, a Leatherman tool, a couple of butter knives, and so not to cause an international incident with the Swiss, I plan on picking up one of their army knives.
My apologies for the many typos this morning.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Mayor Stephen Mandel: I for one welcome our new alien overlords.
Global Edmonton News Hour August 27, 2008: In story about Mayor Mandel lining up to the Provincial Government money trough after the recent announcement of a large provincial budget surplus.
This sounds about right for our fiscally challenged mayor to be looking for more izzy money, but while watching the interview I noticed something very strange taking place behind Mayor Mandel, and it has me a bit worried.
Your eyes do not deceive you; that is a Klingon with purpose unknown mingling with some city councilors. All while the mayor distracts the media from the real story. Damn you MSM!
No matter the result of this strange alien encounter at city hall; I think that this city council will find a way to increase my taxes because of it. But don't blame me; I voted for Kodos!
This sounds about right for our fiscally challenged mayor to be looking for more izzy money, but while watching the interview I noticed something very strange taking place behind Mayor Mandel, and it has me a bit worried.
Your eyes do not deceive you; that is a Klingon with purpose unknown mingling with some city councilors. All while the mayor distracts the media from the real story. Damn you MSM!
No matter the result of this strange alien encounter at city hall; I think that this city council will find a way to increase my taxes because of it. But don't blame me; I voted for Kodos!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
