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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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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.

A 3 hour Tour.

I wonder what Gilligan will say?

Background: Scroll down to Feb 06 at this link.






(thanks again Mike for the art work)

Evil Conservative Government gives more stimulus money per capita to Newfoundland....

Today's headline:

Evil Conservatives give more stimulus money per capita to Newfoundland than any other province. Gerard Kennedy spends weeks researching and is convinced that the Conservatives won a seat there during the last election; calls Elections Canada for an explanation.


The Liberals will never be satisfied with how or where the money is spent. If the government put all of the money in Liberal ridings all we would hear is how the Conservatives are just trying to buy votes. If it is spent to fast, they are reckless, too slow and they are dragging their feet, etc etc. The only way that these guys would ever be happy would be if it was them passing out the cash and that is only because some of it would be coming back to them in brown paper bags.

Who Killed Ignatieff's Breakthrough in Quebec?

Who killed Michael Ignatieff's breakthrough in Quebec?


The butler did it!



Blogging will be light for a couple of days as I am still taking full advantage of the renovation tax credit. The reno tax credit by the way is definitely a dog that hunts.


Don't you just love it when Ignatieff borrows a line from a former U.S President, it reminds everyone that with Ignatieff..



Thanks again to Mike for the photoshop work.

“We are more united than we have been for a generation.”

Michael Ignatieff August 31, 2009 : "We are more united than we have been for a generation."

Michael Ignatieff September 25,2009 after trampling on Denis Coderre's judgment and allowing Martin Cauchon to run in Outremont: "The result I think is good for the party, it reinforces the unity of the party,"

Today: Denis Coderre steps down as Ignatieff's Quebec lieutenant, demands that Ignatieff reshuffle his Toronto inner circle.

Background:"The rift between Ignatieff and Coderre broke open last week over who should be nominated as the Liberal candidate in the Montreal riding of Outremont. Former justice minister Martin Cauchon, who left politics in 2004, has signalled his intention to return to Parliament Hill and reclaim the riding he held for 11 years. However, Ignatieff announced last Monday that he would appoint businesswoman Nathalie Le Prohon, who was selected by Coderre, as the Liberal candidate in Outremont, The decision seemed to end Cauchon's hopes of a political comeback, but Coderre announced later in the week that another riding would be offered to Cauchon. Meanwhile, a number of Liberal MPs, including Bob Rae, rallied around Cauchon in his bid for Outremont.By the end of the week, Ignatieff had reversed his own decision about Outremont to allow for an open nomination contest in the riding." (h/t Searching for Liberty)

To quote a former Quebec lieutenant for the Liberal Party, Jean Lapierre: "So who is running the Liberal Party now?" "What is it worth a handshake from Michael Ignatieff?" More from Lapierre: "Is it a backbone or another wet noodle"

Update: A prominent Liberal Bloggers view of Denis Coderre and party unity.

Can you feel the love in the Liberal Party?

Cauchon vs. Mulcair

New poll up on the sidebar: Who will win in Outremont, Thomas Mulcair or Martin Cauchon?

So please vote and feel free to drop a comment below and tell us why you voted the way you did.

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My personal thoughts are that Mulcair gets re-elected. I know this goes against the thinking of lots of Liberals out there who now believe that Outremont is in the bag with the return of Cauchon, but I think that is more wishful thinking rather than based on anything factual.

Here are a couple of reasons why.

First off Mulcair already has the job of MP in Outremont and the power of incumbency should never be underestimated. This will be diminished somewhat by the fact that Cauchon was once the MP for the riding, but not enough to neutralize it completely. Advantage Mulcair.

Mulcair has to be considered a star candidate more so than Cauchon would be. Mulcair is the only NDP member from Quebec, which makes him very high profile no matter what, and there is
a strong chance that he may be end up as the next leader of the NDP. While some have suggested that Cauchon himself may be working towards the leadership of the LPC, that is not something that can really be used to his advantage in a campaign without causing problems and ruffling the feathers of current leader Michael Ignatieff. We all know that this is probably Jack Layton's kick at the cat and it is no secret Mulcair wants the job, and while Cauchon may want the leaders job as well, there is no way he or his people can touch the subject with a 10ft poll come election time without negative repercussions. Advantage Mulcair.

The last and perhaps the biggest reason that I see for a Mulcair victory is the baggage factor. Mulcair will be traveling light in an election while Cauchon comes with more than a Samsonite sales rep. The past is going to be inescapable for team Cauchon and no matter how hard they try to make the past a non issue, it will be, and you can bet that both the NDP and the press are going to make sure of that. Big advantage Mulcair.

What do you think?

Update: Speaking of baggage....

Khadafi avoids facing the Cannon

Reports are coming in saying that Libyan Leader Muammar Khadafi has cancelled a stop over in Newfoundland planned for later this week.

There is speculation that the trip was cancelled so Khadafi would not have to face Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon who was expected to express Canada's "strong disapproval" over the hero's welcome organized by Libya for Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people, including two Canadians.

Score another win for the Harper Government.

There has been no comment from Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff who said recently "" Canada is becoming the country that dares not speak its name!"

Wildrose Alliance: The official opposition in Alberta?

I am not sure how accurate this is but if it is true............

McLoughlin is reporting as many as 10 Tory MLAs could join the Wildrose Alliance Party if Danielle Smith takes the reins. That's a big shake-up that could place the Wildrose Alliance as the new Official Opposition. McLoughlin attributes his information to unnamed credible sources.

Why the "we can do better" party have doomed the CPC.

This is hard to admit as a conservative, but the new Liberal slogan "we can do better" is starting to worry me somewhat because it would appear that the Liberals can do better.

Some examples: They can do H1N1 vaccine better than GlaxoSmithKline , Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, CSL and Sinovac can, they can do infrastructure better by getting projects done 7 years ahead of schedule, and they can even do video better, just to name a few.

For conservatives having the Liberals doing all of those things better should be worrisome, but it pails in comparison to the their latest. The Liberals can do democracy better as they appear to have found a better system by doing away with nomination races along with all of that pesky voting stuff.

Here is what Sheila Gervais, a former national director of the Liberal Party had to say:

"We've turned into one big appointment society, it's a perfect democratic deficit storm."

"They appoint the leader. The leader in turn appoints the election apparatus . . . . None of them have an elected basis and then these people have the right to choose and appoint candidates?"

"This simply has very little link to some of our most basic tenets of democracy. There is no power to the people in these types of processes." (h/t The Halls of Macadamia)

Well said Sheila but you forgot to mention that Michael Ignatieff has NEVER actually won a nomination contest of any kind as he was also appointed in his own riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore* in 2005.



PM Harper might as well hand over the keys to 24 Sussex right now because if the Liberals can do democracy better, there is no telling what they will show us up on in any possible upcoming election. We are doomed.


Update: Democracy sort of lives in Outremont, but dies a painful death in the Montreal riding of Jeanne-Le Ber as Quebec lieutenant Denis Coderre has his judgement questioned, the candidate Ms. Le Prohon gets moved around like a piece of meat, and the Liberals of Jeanne-Le Ber get told what to do and have the option of choosing their candidate taken away from them by the guy who was appointed to his own job.

And so it goes in the Liberal Party of Canada.







*Well there should have been a nomination race for Etobicoke-Lakeshore in 2005 but the seeds of the "appointment society" were first sown when "Two would-be candidates for the nomination claim they were locked out of party headquarters when they tried to file their nomination papers by last weekend's deadline. Both were subsequently disqualified, leaving Ignatieff to be acclaimed." (h/t Warren Kinsella.)

Unintended Quote of the day

Michael Ignatieff: "Canadians don't want political games played with infrastructure funding," Ignatieff said. "You can't employ people with press releases."

"Look at the field behind me, it is not getting done," Ignatieff said.

( Ignatieff was quoted above while among an old soy bean field in Burlington where they say no progress has been made on the creation of the New City Park.) (h/t Bruce. Part of the crew @ Blue like you.)

All well and good except: Burlington Mayor Cam Jackson said the Liberals picked the wrong field to stage their press conference. The park project just got environmental approval last week and wasn't planned for years.

"This project was not slated to be done for seven years," Jackson said.

He added he won't criticize the Tories or the provincial government on infrastructure spending because he has projects happening all over his municipality.

Updated with video: (Thanks Robert)

It is amateur hour at the OLO and Ignatieff is proving again that he is out of touch with Canadians and out of touch with reality.

Related: Even Ontario Liberal MPP's think Ignatieff is out to lunch on this one. (h/t Searching for Liberty)

Michael Ignatieff can't see the forest for the trees.

Gerard Kennedy, stimulus, fail

The Liberal Non Confidence Motion

Michael Ignatieff: “After four years of drift, four years of denial, four years of division and discord — Mr. Harper, your time is up.”

The opportunity is quickly approaching for the Liberals to introduce their motion of non confidence on a government they claim that they can no longer support; but the question is....

Will they or won't they?

Oh to be a fly on the wall at the OLO.



Latest polls (PDF files)

EKOS

NANOS

Up in Smoke...........

Sometimes opening up an email can bring a smile to your face, thanks Mike.

CP. Just one question.

Dear Canadian Press: Since your story about pictures of the PM being removed from a government website has proven to be totally false; I think in the interest of openness, fairness, and public information that you should provide your readers with the names of these 'critics' who spawned this story spawned this story and headline? (edit: added 'and headline' to my poorly worded question. Thanks M)

The Canadian Press

Harper Photos Removed from Government Website.
Only a half-dozen of PM's 40 or more photos survive the cut after boosterism accusations

OTTAWA–The Government of Canada website set up to promote the Conservative economic action plan had a leaner look yesterday: more than 30 photos of Prime Minister Stephen Harper had been removed.

"Critics have complained that the website, actionplan.gc.ca, looks like a partisan promotion – complete with a Tory-blue colour scheme, glowing third-party testimonials, more than 40 photos of Harper and repeated references to "the Harper government" rather than the Government of Canada."


I think it is a valid question to ask and even more-so since we all still have this made up story so fresh in our memories and who there was that other time........


So let us know CP we will be waiting.




Remember it is your job to cover the news, not be the news; or worse, create the news.

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Update: This is the so-called evidence found at Impolitical.

Case solved:

The picture still remains on the site and can be found here.

Cauchon; and tough choices.

Choices choices.

It must be tough being a Liberal strategist these days.

Do you keep supporting the judgment of a guy who you had your doubts about in the past and who now is proving to be a political disaster in part because he is making decisions like this.

Or do you call it as you see it and come out on side with the judgment of your old boss , support his former Quebec Lieutenant and tell your new boss that this is a mistake.


What to do, what to do.



Update: Ignatieff the uniter in action.

Feelin' lucky?

"I don't get this Ignatieff guy. I can't figure out what he believes. Because I don't think he knows."

Read the entire entry from Kelly McParland at the National Post.


Slow blogging day today as I, unlike Michael Ignatieff, am actually doing something to help out the economy with a little help from the renovation tax credit. The same tax credit which Ignatieff voted against.

On Body bags and Boy Scouts

While Michael Ignatieff was busy spending some of his 34 years out of the country he once called Canada a "herbivorian boy scout".

Well that was then and this is now: Michael Ignatieff September 17, 2009 on a routine shipment of body bags: “When that is combined with the fact...that they haven’t sent preventative measures that can save those lives, it sends a message of callous lack of compassion.” "It sends a message, it simply says: 'We expect Aboriginal Canadians to die,'"

It makes for a nice soundbite but he seems to have forgotten the boy scout motto.

Be prepared!

Sorry if it offends your sensibilities Michael, I honestly think it doesn't and this is just another example of the opportunist and his "pretend to have emotions that you do not actually feel" in action, but preparing for a possible H1N1 pandemic includes PREPARING for the fact that people will die. To not do so would be nothing short of negligence on the part of Health Canada and you would be crying about that if given the opportunity.




Related: In his presser September 11th he said the following to a question about how the government could be doing more on H1N1: " public information, public health campaigns and get the vaccine ready. I mean in my view they have been treading water on this all summer."

Yes folks, the 'we can do better' party would put on their white lab coats and go out to make the vaccine themselves for Canadians. Take that you evil Stephen Harper.

From today: Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh said that First Nations communities like Ahousat on Vancouver Island are already reporting a flu outbreak, but the government's vaccine will be too late to help.

Some facts:The vaccine is not yet being used anywhere in the world. Australia is scheduled to be the first nation to start vaccinations but not until about September 30th.

H/T: To quote a comment at The Halls of Macademia. "Ujjal Dosanjh is talking out of his ass again."


Update: While the Liberals are playing politics the government gets work done.

Another Update: Oct 8, 2009: Even thought he Liberals tried to make a scandal out of this it was all much ado about nothing.

Liberals Vote Against the Reno Tax Credit.

They actually did it. In what can only be described as a textbook example of playing political games* the Liberal Party of Canada voted against the ways and means motion that included a provision allowing the HUGELY popular renovation tax credit to become law.

And they should be reminded of it each and every day.

Update: The arrogance of Ignatieff as he expresses his joy on voting against the renovation tax credit: (ht Halls of Macadamia)

“Personally, it felt like the right thing to do."

Hey Liberals, missing Dion yet?



*Voting against something that you support 100%, not for the good of the country or any of your constituents, but for your own benefit = political games.

Fact checking the Liberal fact checker.

Fact checking the Liberal fact checker. Alternate title: How many lies and distortions can we squeeze into a web page.

A couple from the LPC's Just the Facts: ( my comments in parenthesis)

Liberals vs. Conservatives on culture:
- The Conservatives slashed $45 million from the culture sector. ( yes they did but why the convenient leave out of this :spending on cultural programs in the second year of Stephen Harper's Conservative government will be $509-million or 15.2 per cent more than it was in in fiscal 2006, the last year of Paul Martin's Liberal government.)
- Liberals defend culture and artists. We have promised to restore the funding cut by the Conservatives in 2008. While the Liberals were in power, this key sector’s budget was a high priority. ( Paul Martin priority #2,467 I guess. How can you restore funding to a sector that is getting more money now than it was in 2007? So unless you are planning on making massive cuts to the arts, as Martin did in the early 1990's, it would be impossible to 'restore' funding to 2007 levels.)
- The Conservatives have left Radio-Canada to fend for itself while the Liberal Party wants to ensure its long-term financial stability. (the CBC gets 1.1 Billion dollars from the federal government, not exactly fending for themselves is it.)
- The Conservatives introduced Bill C-10 giving the government the discretionary power to censor films while refusing to subsidize productions considered contrary to “public order”. The Liberal Party, on the other hand, has fought tooth and nail against this censorship law. ( Note quote of the words “public order”. November, 2003, when Paul Martin was about to take over from Jean Chrétien as Liberal Prime Minister, and after what they described as a long period of industry consultation, Deputy Prime Minister John Manley and Minster of Heritage Sheila Copps proposed that Canadian film and video productions will receive tax credits provided that "public financial support of the production would not be contrary to public policy." So you have fought tooth and nail against a policy that it turns out was basically written by the Liberal Party have you? Considering that John McCallum called the bill "sensible" and not a peep was heard from ANY Liberal MP when the bill was before Parliament, I would hardly call that or even the re-write of history on the origins of the bill, fighting tooth and nail against it.)

Liberals vs. Conservatives on EI:
- While Liberals believe that all Canadians have the right to the same EI coverage, regardless of where they live, Conservatives rejected this proposal and failed to present anything constructive as part of this summer’s EI working group. ( but yet we have the government introducing improvements to EI and now we have the very same Liberals trying to fast track this non constructive and apparently non existent legislation through both houses of Parliament. Lies and political games with this one, a double bonus)



I wonder what a Liberal fact checker makes now a days? It looks like easy money to me; just distort or make stuff up, re-write history, hit enter and collect your brown paper bag of cash at the end of the week for services rendered.

h/t Christian Conservative.

Can we now put this lie to bed forever.

The court challenge from Democracy Watch over the timing of the last federal election gets thrown out.

The last election was legal and no laws were broken. Now if only the trolls, and the Liberal Party would stop with the "Harper broke his own election law" crap we can move on to reality and the present day.

Your daily Kinsella.

Your daily Kinsella. Today's episode: Why the The Campaign of Fear™ will not work.

Related: please read Joanne's latest at Blue like you.

Enjoy.



October 16th, 2006: "The problem is that Stephen Harper doesn’t really scare Canadians anymore, or possibly never did. That’s the Grits’ problem. "

January 5th, 2006:

"TO: LIBERAL CAMPAIGN BOSSES
FROM: YOUR REALLY GOOD PAL WARREN
RE: TOP SECRET AND SUPER CONFIDENTIAL STUFF

Dear guys: it won't work. Did last time, won't this time. Have a nice two weeks, and good luck in your return to the Liberian shipping industry.

...

As I related to a group of scary-smart U of T political science students last night, there are three reasons for this:

One, every Canadian who is not comatose understands that Harper can't form a majority government, even if he wants to, and he does. Paul Martin's top-notch handling of the Quebec file means federalism is hooped in la belle province for the forseeable future. The numbers for a majority aren't there. Folks know that.

Two, (Shameless Book Plug Alert) as noted in no less an authority than Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics, in order for an attack ad to work, it has to be factual or, at the very least, plausible. The Liberals' planned Harper Is Satan™ campaign is not plausible. Canadians have now had a couple years to see how Harper operates. He isn't neceessarily(sp) someone you'd cuddle with on the basement couch to watch 'Friends' reruns, but neither is any other politician. In this case, familiarity breeds a comfort level.

Three, as my sage pal John Wright opined a while ago, Canadians gathered around family Christmas/Hannukah tables at the end of last month and came to a collective decision: we want change, and if Harper's the only way to achieve that, so be it. Pass the cranberries.

The coming ad war won't assist the Liberals, but it certainly will have their bankers wondering if they plan to repay that fat line of credit.

Now, where is that helmet?"

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

I disagree with the man politically but I must say that he does have a certain flair for writing.

A Must Read Scathing Criticism of Ignatieff

An absolute must read on Michael Ignatieff.

Who is the author you ask. Well you will find that out at the end of the post.

"It is not very often that one gets to witness a "leadership frontrunner" immolate his own candidacy so blithely, so recklessly, but if you click here and you peer inside, you will see the corpse of Michael Ignatieff’s vaulting ambition. He is done – and if he isn’t, he should be.

Now, it is true that I objected to the learned professor before reading this essay, posted over the weekend on Pierre Bourque’s site. I objected to the manner in which his supporters trampled on democracy in a Toronto riding – literally locking out opponents. I objected to his support of George W. Bush’s illegal war in Iraq. I objected to the fact that he mocked Canada (Link dead) during the three decades he was abroad, and that he likened Israeli policy to the fascism of apartheid. I objected to what I perceived to be breathtaking arrogance – calling Canada a "herbivorian boy scout" one day, then jetting up here to run it the next.

And then came this essay. Below I have culled a representative sampling of some the things Ignatieff says about torture in his just-published tour de force. His Kool Aid drinkers – and he has many already, rest assured – will bombard me with emails, braying and screeching that I quoted him out of context. But the fact is that they are his words. And the fact is that, in politics, voters and reporters are not patrician Harvard students, willing to keep quiet until the very end of the great man’s hour-long treatise, or until the end of a 10,000 word essay in the New York Times Magazine. They can be counted upon to object right away to the objectionable. Up here in the frosty herbivorian Boy Scout camp, all that it takes is a few sentences, usually, to permit a glimpse into what passes for a soul. We have that skill, boy scouts that we are.

That said, here’s Michael Ignatieff on torture. If you don’t read them now, you’ll be reading them enough during the next election campaign.

"…torture is not served by collapsing the distinction between coercive interrogation and torture. Both may be repugnant, but repugnance does not make them into the same thing."

"…necessity may require the commission of bad acts…"

"An outright ban on torture and coercive interrogation leave a conscientious security officer with little choice but to disobey the ban."

"…it must be the case that other acts of torture occur because interrogators believe, in good faith, that torture is the only way to extract information in a timely fashion…"

"The argument that torture and coercion do not work is contradicted by the dire frequency with which both practices occur."

And, finally, the epitaph:

"I am willing to get my hands dirty."

"I am willing to get my hands dirty." That much, it seems, is true."

Wow. There is a lot of info there to digest including the "herbivorian boy scout" comment which I have not heard of until reading this.

If you were thinking that the author of this is not big fan of Michael Ignatieff you would be wrong because today he is in fact a big booster of Ignatieff, but back on March 27, 2006 when this first appeared on his blog, it was obvious that the author Warren Kinsella was not the fan that he is today.

Related: More from Warren and here.

"I could be sitting here as your prime minister, but I turned it down.."

“I could be sitting here as your prime minister, but I turned it down because I didn’t think it was right for someone who believes in the national unity of my country to make a deal with people who want to split the country up,”

The above was said in March 2009, on September 10th he used a similar line at least 2 times in his press conference, and on the 11th he again went before the cameras and repeated it at least 2 separate times in both official languages.

I think that this would have to qualify as Michael Ignatieff's favorite quote and I expect him to use it again in the upcoming days or weeks.

I have a problem with it though.

Is he sure that he would have been PM and that Jack and Gilles would not have a say in the matter? I am not sure that he is/was aware because according to one of his MP's he never read the agreement before he signed it?

John McCallum speaks on Ignatieff signing on to the coalition agreement.

Related: Other posts on John McCallum Here and Here.

Ignatieff on being an American. The numbers.

Last Saturday I posted a disturbing 2 minute and 8 second long You Tube video that contained part of a speech made by Michael Ignatieff. I asked the question(s) How many times did Ignatieff use the words "We", "us", "our" and "ourselves" in the short video.

Although that post generated around 3000 views nobody managed to post the actual numbers in the comments.

So without further ado here are the numbers:

"We" = 10 times
"Us" = 5 times
"Our" = 4 times
"ourselves" = 3 times

Oh, and 2 "being an American is not easy" for the record.

Iggy's response.

A couple of points on Ignatieff's response (in a quickly rushed presser) to the PM expressing what any leader of a national political party desires, a majority government.

This one is a doozy. In response to a question on the party subsidy being eliminated he responded that: That is exactly what produced the crisis in the first place! (exact quote will follow) From the first day of the coalition each and every one of the coup plotters went out of their way to deny that it was the subsidies that caused the crisis, it was the economy they said in unison and brushed off any comments to the contrary. Today Ignatieff finally told us the truth. The opposition parties were only interested in the money that they themselves would lose.


The other point I want to bring up is Ignatieff's comment that the Bloc is not the enemy and that he would not categorize them as separatists. Well Mr. Ignatieff it is too late for that isn't it.

"Micheal Ignatieff: "“I could be sitting here as your prime minister, but I turned it down because I didn’t think it was right for someone who believes in the national unity of my country to make a deal with people who want to split the country up,”


More thoughts: Does anybody believe that the PM did not think that his words would become public? The guy with the video camera might have been a hint. This was a private event but not a top secret meeting with people sworn to secrecy and aside from the M word is there anything else in there that is new or that the PM has not said in the past? The answer is no.

Unlike this guy who likes to pretend and say one thing in public and another in private.


Feel free to comment on Ignatieff's non response to direct questions on a coalition.




Lets get it done. A Conservative majority is possible and we can make it happen.

The Recession Hits The Mole.

Do you remember the various "mole" stories from a couple of years back about a Liberal insider who was leaking out all sorts of damaging stuff or just generally creating havoc from within the LPC?

If you do remember "The Mole" we have some bad news for you tonight.

It was announced today that the so called "Liberal Mole" has been laid off. The current recession was cited as the reason Mr.Mole was being let go, but insiders suggest that his position recently has become redundant since this guy assumed the leadership of the LPC.





The mole was good, said the insider, but the new guy is even better. It really is too bad the recession made us have to cut one of them.

.

Editorial comment: Keep up the good work new guy.

Video of PM Harper in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont on the new reality.

Nanos Poll tomorrow.

Nick Nanos has another poll coming put tomorrow that puts the Conservatives ahead with a strong increase in Quebec, shows Ignatieff has already gone stale, and shows that the NDP is going to be in real trouble if an election comes soon.

So in an effort to save electrons I will post the Liberal response a day early.

'It is an outlier poll'.

Too bad for the spin meisters that Nanos has the best record for accuracy in the last 2 elections.


Listen for yourself: Link available here (for a limited time) Did I hear Nik say that if you look outside the island of Montreal that CPC support could be near 30%?


Update: Here are the poll results (PDF)

Ignatieff is faking it all to become PM.

Here you go folks the smoking gun. Ignatieff is faking the entire thing.





I guess that Michael Ignatieff really was not among friends that day.


Is anyone surprised considering that he said this in 2007 in the New York Times:"Politics is theatre. It is part of the job to pretend to have emotions that you do not actually feel."





Bring it on because Canada really can do better.



H/T Lorraine from the comments at BLY.

Is the new Liberal ad as fake as Ignatieff?

I have not been following the blogs on this to this point but from what I see I think that LPC video looks like it was shot in front of a green screen in a studio.

There seems to be an outline around Iggy, there is a breeze that moves grass, leaves and everything other than Ignatieff's hair, and can anyone explain just why the Algonquin forest is moving behind Ignatieff? What do you think?


A fake forest, a fake Canadian. What a way to start a campaign.


Update: It appears that the forrest shots were filmed in downtown Toronto at Cherry Beach, or at least the background was filmed there.

“The only thing I missed about Canada was Algonquin Park”.

And sure enough he filmed his first television ad there.




Damn right we can do better!

Update: It appears that the video is just as fake as Ignatieff is. From the strange outline around Iggy, to the mysterious moving background, it appears that this was filmed in a studio in front of a green screen.

That sure is a far cry from what he was saying in this video.


Bring it on!

Ignatieff: How many...

Watch the video and count how many times Michael Ignatieff uses the words "we", "our", "us",and "ourselves".


Direct link to video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49We8C2tzMQ

A telling 30 seconds from the video: "and there is only one thing we can do about this and that is live the way we are supposed to live. As our constitution commands us. Being an American is not easy, it is hard. We are required as a country to keep some very serious promises. We are judged by a high standard the one that was crafted for ourselves in the founding document of this republic."


Seriously, this guy wants to be our Prime Minister and he is willing to spend 300 million of our tax dollars to do so.

The time to end this nonsense and instability will soon be upon us and only a conservative majority will do it.

h/t Kitchener Conservative.

Google News caught torquing headlines?

Google news Sept 4, 2009


The Real Headline:

Isn't it amazing how one little word can change everything.

Update: It has come to my attention that the original error may have been made by the National Post on this and not Google News.

H/T maz2 in the comments at BLY

I know I have said it before but BLY is a daily must read.

And you want to be my latex salesman Mr. McCallum

John McCallum, MP for Markham-Unionville, scheduled a press conference with MPP Michael Chan and Deputy Mayor Jack Heath in Markham this morning to call on the federal government to support Buttonville. Mr. McCallum, who has been in Sudbury for the Liberal caucus meeting, said he had not been told about the Armadale redevelopment plan.

"Well, I'm a little bit puzzled to tell the truth, because just two or three days ago I spoke to Derek Sifton and he was very pleased that the three representatives of Markham-Unionville - federal, provincial and municipal - were going to back him up and request financial support from the federal government," Mr. McCallum said yesterday.

Mr. McCallum said their message was going to be focused on the 300-plus jobs that would be lost if Buttonville went, as well as the importance of the airport to hospitals, York Regional Police and local citizens and businesses who use the airport.

"I guess I'll have to consult with my colleagues about what to say now," Mr. McCallum said.

And you want to be my latex salesman finance minister. By the way Mr. McCallum, what type of car do you drive?

Update:

Chucker has a post up on McCallum's latest comments.

Bob Rae lies about the coalition

Bob Rae was on the Dave Rutherford show earlier today and this is some of what he had to say.

Updated with better audio* and added document.

I see Bob Rae like his boss Michael Ignatieff likes to lie on the subject of the coalition. Too bad for him that we are paying attention.

Steve Janke has a run down of it here.



And here are 3 signatures. You decide whether or not this signed agreement would constitute a deal. A deal that formed a coalition whose goal it was to take the power of government.






* My apologies for the earlier volume problem as the video ran fine on my machine. So dear readers if you notice any major screw-ups like that on the blog please drop me a line in the comments.

Thanks Al

Renovation Tax credit. Will they or won't they?

So it looks like Ignatieff and the Liberals will get their chance to practice what they preach and vote against the government early in the session as a ways and means bill that includes the very popular renovation tax credit comes to a vote as a confidence measure.

Will the Liberals keep their word and vote against it or will they back down yet again and support the measure?

It is tough to say but this single issue might turn out to be much more than they ever imagined it would be.

First off I would not want to be a Liberal MP and have to explain to my constituents that I voted against the much needed and very popular renovation tax credit just for the purposes of playing political games. There is no good that can come out of voting against the renovation tax credit, zero, nada. You might as well just shoot yourself in the head electorally for any upcoming election if you did so; but what to do.

Here are a few possibilities:

You could play swallow the leader and vote against the super popular tax credit and make plans for a new career in the near future.

You could get a case of the red flu and miss the vote. Sure it looks kind of pathetic but at least you could claim not to have voted against the reno tax credit with a straight face.

You could go against your party and vote for your constituents and the country and support the measure. This might not go over too well with the party brass but I guess you could try to claim your one time pass to vote against your party just as the Newfoundland caucus did against the budget in January. I mean if they got to do it why not you.

Or another possibility, one that I think has a real chance of happening in the next couple of weeks, is that you can announce that you are done with the rhetoric and games and cross the floor. Oh I know some of you might be thinking that there is no way this would happen but with the large number of Liberal MP's who would be very vulnerable in any election, or who are due to hit the magic date for full pension in 2010, or just want to honestly do what their constituents want and not play games in such poor economic times, I think it is a real possibility that we will see someone cross the floor to the CPC over this issue.

We are a few weeks away from any such vote and in politics that is a very long time but considering that currently I can not find even a single MSM source that is agreeing with Ignatieff on the need for an election ( if the normally liberal friendly press has this figured out you know the public is way ahead of them) and the soon to be released poll numbers inevitably showing a nasty decline in Liberal popularity is sure to cause fractures in the Liberal caucus and even more headaches for the unelected leader of the Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff.

Stay tuned folks because the fun is just beginning.

Even more important than the empty suit Ignatieff's bluster.

The beginning of the end of Section 13.

Finally!








H/T our favorite combustible feline. BCF has a very complete listing of links on this.

CTV News Staff: Giving advice to Ignatieff.

CTV News Staff: Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's main task today: turn the doves in his caucus into hawks, and set forth a plan to take down the Tory government in the fall.

Since when does CTV news dictate what the main task is for the leader of the official opposition. Get over yourselves, it is not like you are Krista Erickson.